day thirteen

Week Two Focus: Purify (Heart)

The Appropriate Moment

In Mark 9:2-9 is a story we call The Mount of Transfiguration. Matthew 17:9 calls it a vision. What ever happened, Peter, James and John were privileged to have an incredible encounter with Christ. And it was an experience Jesus insisted they not share until the appropriate moment. In the account in Mark it says Jesus ordered them not to relate to anyone what they had seen….until.

There is always a time for the revealing of the fruit of your sweet communion with God if not in word than in deed, but it must be in due season, when grace abounds, and when God has given command.

Matthew Henry says: “This enjoining of silence to the disciples, would likewise be of use to them, to prevent their boasting of the intimacy they were admitted to, that they might not be puffed up with the abundance of the revelations.”

I believe Jesus did not want these 3 to “take there stand on visions they have seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind” (Colossians 2:18), but to remain focused on Him, whom God reminded in Mark 9:7 that “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him!”

Peter’s tendency for quick talk is revealed in verse 5…”Peter said…”

Imagine…Jesus is transfigured before their eyes. Christ is radiant. His garments are exceedingly white. His face shone like the sun. “And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him” (Matthew 17: 3). And what does Peter do? He interrupts there conversation! “Peter said…”! Imagine interrupting Moses, Elijah and Jesus. When overcome with emotion before Christ and His sweet revelation to you, never use emotion as a sign that you can do or say whatever you want.

The Word reminds us in Proverbs 29:20, “Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
Thomas Merton wrote: “God does not tell His purest secrets to one who is prepared to reveal them. He has secrets which He tells to those who will communicate some ideas of them to others. But these secrets are the common property of many. He has other secrets, which cannot be told. The mere desire to tell them makes us incapable of receiving them.”

When God reveals intimate truths, experiences, and revelation, never share it when it’s first been buried in you, but share it upon its resurrection. When the truth becomes life in you then it will be life in others. Remember, Jesus told them not to talk about what they had seen until His resurrection.