Jesus the Power Source.
 

Mark 9: 2-32

2 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.
3 His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. 4 And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
5 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—
6 because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.
7 And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”
8 Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.
9 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.
10 So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
11 And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
12 Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
13 But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.”

A Boy Is Healed

14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.
15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.
16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”
17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.
18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”And he said, “From childhood.
22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

Jesus Again Predicts His Death and Resurrection

30 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.
31 For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”
32 But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

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Mark 9:2 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.

In Mark 9:1 Jesus made a promise.

Mark 9:1 "And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power."

Remember there were no chapter and verse in the original text, so this verse 1 follows verse 38 of chapter 8.

Matthew and Mark place the Transfiguration “six days” after Jesus’ promise of the kingdom. (verse 1).

Six is the number of man and seven the perfect number of God. The relevance of the six days could be the fact that Jesus had completed His dealings with man and was now moving towards His heavenly goal of bringing in the kingdom and glorifying His Father.
Peter, James and John seemed to be leaders amongst the disciples and maybe this was why He took them.
 
3 His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

V2 Transfigured. metamorphoō means altered in form.

The same word is used in Roman 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed (metamorphoō) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 
Also in 2 Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed (metamorphoō) into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus.
Elijah the Prophet who was transported without seeing death and Moses who died without entering into the promised land and the one that God buried.

4 And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

Besides representing the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah), they also represented those who are alive in Christ and those who are dead in Christ.

There are those that die in Christ like Moses and there will be those that will not see death like Elijah.
However at the Rapture, the Resurrection, both will receive glorified bodies. Those that sleep in Jesus and those that are alive and remain at His coming. 1 Thess 4:16,17.
 

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

Jesus was to do what the Law and the Prophets could not do. Bring salvation to men and uher in the kingdom of God.

Here was evidence to the three disciples, of life beyond the grave. (Elijah and Moses)
Also the fact that we will recognise those that have passed before us.

5 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—

No wonder Peter wanted to stay, he still hadn’t fully grasped the fact that there were still things that had to be accomplished. Remember the two stage healing of the blind man in Chapter 8, teaching that the disciples had not fully grasped who Jesus really was and what He had come to do. There was still a lot to do and they had a part to play in it.

6 because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.

Lack of knowledge very often, causes fear, Fear of the unknown.

Needless to say, this had to come to an end, for there was work to be done, which entailed going back down the mountain.

This was not the end but only the beginning.

7 And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”
8 Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.
 

Following the transfiguration of Jesus, the three Apostles, Peter, James and John must have been in awe of what they had just experienced.
This is not just one seeing these things but all three.
One might consider this to be an illusion, Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. No wonder they wanted to stay there and build tabernacles.

Notice: Peter spoke out of fear.

Its so easy for us to want to stay in a safe place. The church can be like this for some Christians.
We get converted, we are assured of salvation, we have nice Christian brethren, we all believe the same things, we all understand where we are coming from.
Why not just stay here in this nice Christian bubble.
Out in the world, there is danger, there is conflict, no one wants to hear our gospel. We only find ridicule, opposition and tribuation.
However to tell others of the kingdom of God, we must go down the mountain. We must leave our cosy environment. There is still work to do.

Jesus told them to tell no one what had happened, until He had risen from the dead.

9 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.

Needless to say, they did not understand what Jesus was talking about, What He meant by rising from death.

10 So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.

They were obviously full of questions.

11 And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
 

The coming of Elijah before the Messiah was clearly prophesied in Malachi 4:5-6. So the disciples wondered, “If Jesus is the Messiah, then where is Elijah?”

12 Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
13 But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.”
 

Jesus was speaking of John the Baptist and his death also. John was not Elijah come back to life but John came in the spirit of Elijah as one who prepared the way for Messiah. Just in the same way that Jesus had come in the spirit of Joseph, the suffering servant. Which the disciples could not grasp.

When Jesus came to the disciples, He saw this great crowd and they were arguing with the scribes.
Whatever they were disputing, it was a case of challenging the disciples about their beliefs.
Jesus approached and asked, “What are you discussing with them?”
 

14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them.
15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him.
16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”

It was then that a man presented his mute son who was bound by a mute spirit.
It makes one wonder why these scribes, instead of disputing with the disciples, had not released this boy from the demons themselves.
It was obvious that these people were asking Jesus disciples to cast out this spirit but they could not.

This is typical of the unbeliever and the world view, they challenge Christians about their message of deliverance and salvation, whilst having no alternative to offer.

17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit.
18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

The Jewish Excorcist’s of the day believed that before you could cast out a mute spirit, one would have to know its name.
Of course there was no way of finding this out as the boy could not speak.
To them, this was an impossible situation.
 

19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”

Even though Jesus had given His disciple power over demons, Mark 6:7 And He called the twelve to [Himself], and began to send them out two [by] two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.

This demon was too strong for them.
Jesus saw this as a lack of faith on their part. “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?

20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

This kind of problem, one might think is not a case of demonic activity but simply an epileptic fit or convulsion.
However, this is not correct, for Jesus immediately recognised that it was a spirit that was causing the convulsions. Very likely the spirit knew that his time was short.

It is very easy for Christians to put all maladies and infirmities down to demonic possession, however, this is not the case.
On the other hand, it is easy to put all things down to natural causes, when in fact demons are real.
 

21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”And he said, “From childhood.
22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

All things are possible with God. Faith the size of a grain of mustard seed is all one needs to see the miraculous works of God.

Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
 

This same thing is what Jesus said to the boy’s father.

23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

The father replied, “I do believe”, which he must have done, otherwise why would he have brought his son to Jesus in the first place.

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

So often we believe that God can do things but we find it difficult to believe that He will. We also need to pray, Lord help my unbelief.

On this occasion Jesus delivered the boy from the demon.

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”
26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”
27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

What a lovely example of the gospel. Man can do nothing. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
What man cannot do, Christ can. He breaks the chains of bondage and raises the dead. This is a spiritual battle. It is the god of this world, (the devil) who has blinded the minds of the unbeliever to keep him from seeing the glory of the gospel.
It is Christ tat can diliver from the powers of darkness.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Even though Jesus had given the disciples the power to cast out demons. They could only do it by faith.
This kind of demon is cast out only through prayer and fasting. Not that it is the prayer or the fasting that casts out the demon but that prayer and fasting brings one closer to God and puts one in total dependence on God. It is in the name of Jesus that demons are cast out.
 

28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
 

Jesus Again Predicts His Death and Resurrection.

Jesus was teaching the disciples many truths and revealing the truth about the prophecies of scripture.
He talked about the fact that He was to be betrayed, that He would be killed and that He would rise on the third day. However they found these things difficult to understand and were afraid to ask.
 

30 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.
31 For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.”
32 But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

This was not the first time that Jesus had told them these things. He had told them earlier in Mark 8:31:

Mar 8:31  And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 
 

The reason they could not grasp what Jesus was saying, probably was the fact that this was the Messiah, the chosen one of God. The one that the Jews were waiting for. The King that would come. The son of David.

Yet here Jesus was, talking about His suffering and death. This is not what the disciple were expecting and they could not get their heads around such a situation. Better to ignore it and sweep it under the rug.

Their lack of understanding only caused them to fear. So the teaching of Jesus continues.

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