THE GOSPEL OF MARK
Chapter 9, Part 2
Review: The Transfiguration
In our last message, we studied the Transfiguration, where Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus in His glorified state, talking with Moses and Elijah.
One thing we did not mention was that the disciples witnessed this event in real time—it was not a vision.
As quickly as the Transfiguration occurred, the de-transfiguration followed.
Let’s begin with Mark 9:8.
Mark 9:8 NKJV
“Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.”
Tell No One Until the Resurrection
Mark 9:9–10 NKJV
“Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.”
Jesus’ command that they should tell no one about what they had seen is a recurring theme.
In Mark 5:43, after raising Jairus’s daughter from the dead, Jesus told Peter, James, and John not to tell anyone.
After Peter proclaimed Jesus as the Christ in Mark 8:29, Jesus commanded the disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ.
Peter would later write about what he witnessed on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Peter: An Eyewitness of His Majesty
2 Peter 1:16–21 NKJV
Peter makes it clear that the disciples did not follow “cunningly devised fables.”
They were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
Peter personally heard the voice from heaven proclaim:
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Peter also confirms that biblical prophecy did not originate with man:
“Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
The Transfiguration was not a story invented by the disciples. Peter testified that he was there.
He saw Christ’s glory.
He heard the Father’s voice.
“Who Do You Say I Am?”
Jesus did not want people simply repeating what someone else told them about Him.
During His ministry, His works authenticated His Messiahship. The Jewish religious establishment had the evidence necessary to recognize Jesus as Messiah.
But Jesus asks every individual the same personal question:
“Who do you say I am?”
That question must be answered personally.
The decision to follow Christ and proclaim Him as the Christ must also be personal.
Once we receive Christ, we become children of God.
God does not have grandchildren.
John 1:12–13 NKJV
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…”
The Greek word translated “received” in John 1:12 is lambano, carrying the idea of taking to oneself or making one’s own.
You are not a child of God simply because you were raised in church.
You are not a child of God because your parents believed.
You are not a child of God because your grandparents believed.
You are not a child of God simply because you were baptized.
The question is personal: Who do YOU say Jesus is?
Why Must Elijah Come First?
Mark 9:11–13 NKJV
As Jesus and the disciples come down from the mountain, they ask Him:
“Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
Jesus answers that Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But He also tells them that Elijah has already come and that people did to him whatever they wished.
Matthew gives us additional clarification.
Matthew 17:10–13 NKJV
Matthew tells us that the disciples understood Jesus was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
To understand this, we need to examine what Scripture says about John’s ministry.
The Voice Crying in the Wilderness
Isaiah prophesied:
Isaiah 40:3 NKJV
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”
John the Baptist used this very passage to identify his ministry.
When priests and Levites were sent from Jerusalem to question him, they asked:
“Are you Elijah?”
John answered:
“I am not.”
When they asked who he was, John responded:
“I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
— John 1:23
John understood his calling.
He had come to prepare the way for the Lord.
The Messenger Who Prepared the Way
Malachi also prophesied:
Malachi 3:1 NKJV
“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.”
The religious leaders were the keepers and students of the Scriptures.
Paul writes:
Romans 3:2 NKJV
“Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.”
This raises an important question:
Shouldn’t they have known the time and season of His coming?
Shouldn’t they have been waiting for Messiah?
The answer is yes.
And that raises the same question for us today.
Are We Waiting for Jesus to Return?
Should we know the times and seasons surrounding His coming?
Should we be eagerly awaiting His return?
Yes.
Scripture calls believers to live in expectation of the return of Jesus Christ.
Titus 2:13 NKJV
“Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Paul contrasts those whose minds are fixed on earthly things with those whose citizenship is in heaven.
Philippians 3:20–21 NKJV
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…”
Jesus will transform our lowly bodies so that they are conformed to His glorious body.
Ask yourself:
Am I eagerly waiting for His appearing?
This Hope Should Change How We Live
John tells us:
1 John 3:2–3 NKJV
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Then John tells us what that hope should produce:
“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Waiting for Jesus is not supposed to be passive.
The hope of Christ’s return should affect the way we live right now.
Was John the Baptist Elijah?
Now we return to Jesus’ statement:
Mark 9:13 NKJV
“But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.”
Matthew records:
Matthew 17:12 NKJV
“But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished.”
Yet John himself said:
“I am not.”
So how do we understand these passages?
The answer is found in the announcement of John’s birth.
In the Spirit and Power of Elijah
The angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias and told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son.
That son would be John.
Gabriel declared:
Luke 1:17 NKJV
“He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
John was not claiming to literally be Elijah.
Rather, his ministry went before Christ in the spirit and power of Elijah.
Jesus also said:
Matthew 11:14–15 NKJV
“And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
John’s ministry prepared the people for the coming of the Lord.
John Prepared the Way of the Lord
Zacharias prophesied concerning his son:
Luke 1:76–77 NKJV
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins.”
John’s purpose was clear:
Prepare the way.
Point people to Christ.
Give knowledge of salvation.
Elijah Is Coming
There is also a prophecy specifically concerning Elijah:
Malachi 4:5 NKJV
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”
This can be distinguished from Isaiah’s prophecy concerning:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD.’”
— Isaiah 40:3
John came preparing the way for Christ’s first coming in the spirit and power of Elijah.
Malachi speaks of Elijah coming before the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
Jesus Came to Save
At His first coming, Jesus explained the purpose of His mission:
John 12:46–47 NKJV
“I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”
And:
“For I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.”
Jesus came as the Light.
He came offering salvation.
But Jesus also warned that rejecting His Word carries consequences.
John 12:48 NKJV
“He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”
Assurance of the Resurrection
Paul gives believers tremendous assurance concerning what awaits us.
2 Corinthians 5:1 NKJV
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
Our present bodies are temporary.
Our hope is eternal.
God has prepared something far greater for His children.
Paul says that God has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Therefore:
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:7
And then comes this wonderful assurance:
“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:8
Key Takeaways From Mark Chapter 9, Part 2
- Peter, James, and John were eyewitnesses of the Transfiguration.
- Peter later testified that they had personally witnessed Christ’s majesty.
- Every person must personally answer the question, “Who do you say Jesus is?”
- Becoming a child of God is personal; faith is not inherited from our parents or grandparents.
- John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus.
- John ministered in the spirit and power of Elijah.
- Scripture also speaks of Elijah coming before the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
- Believers are called to eagerly await the return of Jesus Christ.
- Our hope in Christ’s return should affect how we live today.
- Jesus came as the Light of the world and to save.
- Believers have the assurance of resurrection and eternal life with Christ.
Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
The Transfiguration revealed the glory of Jesus Christ.
Peter could later say:
We were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
But Peter’s eyewitness testimony cannot make the decision for us.
Our parents cannot make it for us.
Our grandparents cannot make it for us.
Our church cannot make it for us.
Each of us must answer Jesus’ question personally:
“Who do you say I am?”
And for those who belong to Christ, Scripture gives us a blessed hope:
Jesus is coming again.
So we eagerly wait for our Savior, live in a manner that honors Him, and walk by faith until the day when we see Him as He is.
I also preserved the distinction your notes make between John the Baptist coming in the “spirit and power of Elijah” and the separate prophecy in Malachi 4:5 concerning Elijah before the day of the LORD.
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