The Transfiguration: A Prelude to the Resurrection

“He took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; His face shone like the sun and His clothes became as white as light.” Mt. 17: 1-2.

No other event in all of the Bible displayed such drama and excitement as did this superb vision seen by Peter, James, and John, as they witnessed Jesus Christ in His Glorious Resurrected state. There are no words in our vocabulary that can describe what we shall view, not here but in eternity with the beatific vision of Almighty God, The Triune God, and our time with the Lord in all His Glory.

We are told that God kept hidden for ages what His plan would be like in three stages; like a play the first act shows only silhouettes behind a curtain, then act two reveals the actors a little more, until act three reveals the entire cast. John Powell’s book; “The Mystery of the Church” shows this mystery of God being unveiled in a like manner. God keeps hidden from man His full plan of sharing His Life and Love with us, then the plan is revealed in Christ, and finally realized through us. This event is a prelude to the second act completed with the Resurrection and Christ’s Glory.

See in the following scripture passages signs which allude to this most spectacular event which shows the power of God to give us a veiled image of the events to follow in salvation history.

“Above the firmament over their heads something like a throne could be seen, looking like sapphire. Upon it was seated, up above, one who had the appearance of a man. Upward from what resembled his waist I saw what gleamed like electrum; downward from what resembled his waist I saw what looked like fire; he was surrounded with splendor. Like the bow which appears on a rainy day, was the splendor that surrounded him. Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” Ez. 1: 26-28.