Matthew 17: God is ONLY
I LOVE the story of the transfiguration. Here Jesus takes His inner circle up a mountain (Peter, James and John). It had been six days since Peter’s confession of “Jesus as the Christ” and now they are about to get another lesson. Here on this mountain Jesus is transformed before them, glowing like the Sun and white as light. As He is being transformed Elijah and Moses appear with Jesus. To the Jewish person, these 2 men were 2 of THE GREATEST men of all time. I think it’s interesting that Peter knows who they are. They wouldn’t have had pictures, but that is beside the point.
We have a classic Peter moment here. It was like he felt he HAD to say something. So he exclaimed (probably blurted out) “We should build 3 shelters and stay here.” WHILE Peter was speaking (blurting the first thing in his head. Kinda like I do a lot) a voice from the cloud(God) spoke up and said “This is my Son in whom I am pleased”. This obviously freaked the disciples out (as it would to any of us) and they fell face first to the ground. I imagine they were trembling, wondering, HOPING Peter hadn’t said something wrong. Then this verse.
Matthew 17:7 7 Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.
Don’t miss this. Who did they see? ONLY JESUS! Not Elijah, Moses, John the Baptist or any other prophet. ONLY JESUS. God is ONLY. He is THE ONLY! I think this is important. Just 6 days earlier (ch. 16) Jesus asked “Who do people say I am?” Their response was “Some say John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the other prophets (Moses).” And here they see THE OTHER PROPHETS with Jesus. And after the voice speaks, who is left? ONLY Jesus.
This is so significant to these Jewish men. It is NOT about Elijah, John the Baptist, Moses or ANY OTHER PROPHET. They were great prophets, but THIS…this is Jesus. THIS is My son and HE is the one and ONLY. God is ONLY! There is no other. We need to remember that. God is ONLY and there is no other.
No job. No ministry. No church. No pastor. No spouse. No house. No money. No possession NOTHING compares to JESUS. He is ONLY! He’s all we need.
Who have I been relying on or looking to instead of ONLY Jesus? What has taken the place in my heart instead of ONLY Jesus? Where are my weak spots that seem to pull me away from ONLY Jesus?
Looking to the ONLY,
Jeff
