"And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount." [2 Pe 1:18]
Jesus, whom The Spirit calls, “the radiance of [The Father’s] glory,” [Heb 1:3] is the very material presence of God’s glory: the complete and full manifestation of God The Father’s supreme glory. All of that majesty “wherewith [The LORD] hath girded Himself” [Psa 93:1] is present and existing in Jesus; His character, His life, and His very substance, accurately represent The Father in full for He is “the exact representation of [The Father’s] substance.” [Heb 1:3]
Regarding Peter and those with him, it says in Luke that “when they were awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him.” [Lk 9:32] Those dear men saw the beauty of God through the person of Jesus, as He became exceeding bright and shining. Matthew records that Jesus’ “face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light;” [Matt 17:2] And Mark, that “His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow.” [Mk 9:3] Truly it must have been a sight to behold. But notice too how the mountain is spoken of. In Luke, we read,
“And it came to pass about an eight days after these saying, He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.” [Lk 9:28]
Each gospel writer refers to the mountain with an indefinite article and in a generic way. But notice how Peter refers to it in His epistle, saying, “the holy mount.” The mountain is no longer just an ordinary mountain: Peter uses the word “the.” It is a specific mountain, one marked out from the rest, for now it is no longer just “an high mountain” [Matt 17:1] but “the holy mount.” The mountain has been sanctified: it is now holy. This is because of Jesus. That regular, old mountain became holy when Jesus stood upon in glory, in all of The Father’s excellent glory.
A similar thing is present in The Old Testament as well. The LORD told Moses in his day the tabernacle would be set apart by God’s glory. It says in Exodus, “And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.” [Ex 29:43] And later in Exodus we read, “…So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of The LORD filled the tabernacle.” [Ex 40:33-34] When God’s glory descended upon and filled the tabernacle, it was sanctified; that is, it was set apart. No longer was it just a regular, old tent: it was where God was. It was holy, it was sanctified, and that so because of God’s glory. And now, we see the exact same logic in the New Testament. Jesus appeared in glory upon that mountain, and it was sanctified, it was transformed from what it was before into “the holy mount.”
This same logic can be used of us also. We now, through Christ, are sanctified by His glory just as the mount and the tabernacle. For He, who is “the radiance of [The Father’s] glory,” has come to “dwell in [our] hearts by faith.” [Eph 3:17] And God “hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” [2 Cor 4:6] Just as the tabernacle and that mountain were touched by God’s glory and set apart, made holy for Him, so too our hearts and bodies and lives: for God has come to dwell in us and has set His glory upon us through Jesus who prayed, “and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them…” [Jn 17:22]
We are now, as the tabernacle and temple were, dwelling places for God. Like Paul wrote, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” [1 Cor 6:19] And as it is written of that future, heavenly city, so too it is true of us presently:
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” [Isa 60:1-3] “…The LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.” [Isa 60:19]
Just as New Jerusalem will be set apart from all cities, God Himself dwelling within it and His glory shining out from the midst of it, so too are we now. For Jesus Christ through The Holy Spirit dwells in us, making us His temple, and we are made beacons of glorious light through which we draw men to Him.
Praise be to God who has sanctified us by His glory. We are no longer just regular people, but we have been set apart by the King Himself for He now dwells within us. So therefore let us live in a way that brings Him honor.
Click here to see other posts in Daily Meditations on The Glory of Jesus, Vol I