After
six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them. His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Elijah and Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus.
Mark 9:2-4
Mark 9 [1.] He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see God’s Kingdom come with power.”
Mark 9 [2.] After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them. His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Elijah and Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus.
Mark 9 [5.] Peter answered Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let’s make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For he didn’t know what to say, for they were very afraid.
Meaning:
These verses describe the transfiguration, one of the most astonishing moments in the Gospels. Six days earlier Jesus had promised that some of his hearers would see “God’s Kingdom come with power” (Mark 9:1). Now three of them see the glory that was usually hidden behind his ordinary human appearance, and they see him speaking with two of the greatest figures of Israel’s history. Matthew adds that “His face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2).
- “After six days … onto a high mountain”
Mark rarely gives exact time references, so “after six days” stands out. It echoes the giving of the law at Sinai, where “the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud” (Exodus 24:15-16). In the Bible, mountains are places where God reveals himself, and this scene deliberately recalls Moses on Sinai, complete with glory, a cloud and a voice from heaven (Mark 9:7).
Mark does not name the mountain. Mount Hermon, near Caesarea Philippi where Peter had just confessed Jesus as the Christ, and Mount Tabor in Galilee have both been suggested. Jesus took only Peter, James, and John, the same three he took into the house of Jairus (Mark 5:37). They were chosen to be witnesses of what others could not yet understand.
- “He was changed into another form”
The Greek word is metamorphoo, from which “metamorphosis” comes. Jesus was not lit up from outside like a stage actor. The glory came from within, as the divine Son was briefly seen as he truly is. Even his clothing became “exceedingly white, like snow,” whiter than any launderer (a fuller, who cleaned and bleached cloth) could make it. In Daniel’s vision the Ancient of Days appears in the same way: “his clothing was white as snow” (Daniel 7:9). The carpenter from Nazareth shares the glory of God himself.
This glory was not borrowed or reflected; it was his own. John later wrote, “We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father” (John 1:14).
- “Elijah and Moses appeared to them”
Moses gave Israel the law, and Elijah was the great prophet who called Israel back to God. Together they represent the Law and the Prophets, the whole of the Old Testament. The last words of the Old Testament name them side by side: “Remember the law of Moses my servant … Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet” (Malachi 4:4-5). Both men had met God on a mountain, Sinai or Horeb, and both had unusual departures from this world. Their presence shows that all the Scriptures point to Jesus.
Luke reveals the topic of their conversation: they “spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:30-31). Even in this moment of glory, the talk was about the cross.
The Significance of Mark 9:2-4
- Glory behind the road of suffering
The transfiguration comes right after Jesus first spoke about his death and called his followers to carry their cross. The vision did not cancel the cross; it showed who was going to it. Peter later testified that he saw this glory “on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:17-18). Believers who face hardship can remember that the One they follow is the glorious Son of God.
- Being changed into his likeness
The same verb used for Jesus’ transfiguration is used of believers: “But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Christ’s glory is not only something to admire, it is the goal God is working toward in his people, until the day when “we will be like him” (1 John 3:2).
Cross-References:
Matthew 17:2: "He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light." Matthew’s account adds the shining of Jesus’ face.
Exodus 24:16: "Yahweh’s glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud." The six days on Sinai form the background of Mark’s “after six days.”
Malachi 4:4-5: "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes." Moses and Elijah appear together at the close of the Old Testament, as they do on the mountain.
2 Corinthians 3:18: "But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit." Those who behold Christ’s glory are themselves being transformed.
Conclusion: On a high mountain, six days after promising that some would see God’s Kingdom come with power, Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. His clothing shone whiter than snow, and Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, talked with him about his coming departure in Jerusalem. The scene reveals the divine glory of the Son who was on his way to the cross, and it gives believers hope that they too will be changed into his likeness.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible