4 And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus.
5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
6 For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified.
7 Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!"
(NAS)
Here is my take on this from a purely pragmatic angle
Peter got to go with Jesus and see what is probably the most awesome revelation of Christ until John saw him again in Revelation. This is the real deal. This is the answer to the phrase “Open the eyes of my heart I want to see you” stuff.
Elijah and Moses come there. I haven’t a clue why. Generally it has to do with Moses being the LAW, and Elijah being the PROPHETS. The Law and the Prophets are testifying to Yeshua as the Christ.
Peter somehow understands it is them. Maybe Jesus introduced them!!! Anyhow, Peter realizes he is now in the Presence of Jesus, and the archetypes of the Jewish faith. The scripture doesn’t record that someone asked him (Peter) a question, and yet it says Peter answered. Answered what?
He told Jesus essentially “I want to make a few buildings here and hang out here all the time. If I could have that, I would be in Heaven on Earth!!!”. This is like David on Psalm 27 saying this is all I want, to enjoy the Presence and the Revelation of God. Except no one asked him anything, and he was so freaked out he was probably just babbling, as I would as well. His heart came bubbling out over his lips and showed what he thought. And I for one am with him.
Interestingly enough, we find out that at that moment the boys were down the hill trying to cast out a demon and having no luck….
At this point Jehovah God appears in His clouds, and says “This is my Son, listen to Him!” And then everyone came to, and everything was back to normal.
A couple of divergent symbolic interpretations
God shows up, and we want to build a building, start a program, and bring people to our mountain. This one is self evident. And I relate to it. We are the church of the transfiguration, and we have the GOODS. Instead of going down the mountain with something, we want the folks to come here and do the thing our way.
God shows up to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, and we want to continue accommodating the Law and the Prophets at the same time as entertaining and enjoying Jesus. We want our religion, and our cake. We want what we know and can measure and refer to, and Jesus too. We can mix it all together, instead of just knowing Christ, and experiencing Christ. Moses and Elijah came to be WITH Christ where He was at. They wanted to end up with Him, even if it meant coming back into space and time and broken creation. But we immediately entertain it, and even relate to it.
We want to keep the Law and the Prophets and God says “Listen to my Son”, and I bet the emphasis is on the word HIM not anything else. He is saying listen to my beloved Son. He’s the one to listen to.
In a negative sense, the Law can represent overly intellectual and/or stereotypically fundamentalist mindsets and practices. The Prophets represent (to me) the Charismatic or “Prophetic” practice. Most people come down on one or the other. And God is saying “You don’t build 3 tabernacles, but one, for my Beloved Son ONLY. Hes the only one, and all things need to sum up in Him”. This one is my original thought about this, because I see it all the time.
- Doctrinal emphasis/Hyper Evangelicalism/Intellectual Assertion: These kind of folks get really into this stuff, and indentify with what they understand, or what they can comprehend and control. They can easily become overly indentified with their practice instead of Christ.
- Hyper-Charismatic: These kind of folks get really into gifts and expressions that give them a lot of personal payoff. In fact sometimes this leads into what I am beginning to call spiritual masturbation. Since I lean more towards this group, I am more exposed to it. We all get into a group and end up using the Presence of God to feel real good, but none of it is truly intimacy, but simply a pornographic type of false intimacy designed to stimulate us without actual intimacy. Without intimacy, there is no fruit.
Why Jesus alone?
Ps 146:3-10
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-- the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.
(NIV)
