Mark 9:6-10

Mark 9:6 (KJB)
For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

Peter was so frightened at the sight that he really did not know what he was saying nor did he really know what to say, but Peter had to say something. No doubt his outburst was owing to the fact that he was frightened because of the event he was seeing on the Mount. Sometimes fear manifests itself in different ways. Three tabernacles for three glorified people would not have fit that experience.

Mark 9:7 (KJB)
And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

Then all of a sudden while Peter is still speaking, God the Father from Heaven forms a cloud of glory around Jesus, Moses, and Elijah and simultaneously truncates Peter’s speech. God informs the three disciples that Jesus is His beloved Son and they were to listen to Him. Peter was probably talking and God wanted the disciples to listen to Jesus and not Peter. Peter wanted to stay on the Mount longer but God told them that they must listen to Jesus and He will guide them in the coming weeks. The appearance of this cloud was the culmination of this event.

Mark 9:8 (KJB)
And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

Then when they finally looked around them, they saw that Jesus was the only one who was there with them. This verse gives us a good principle for the Christian life. We too should only see Jesus and not look to man. This mountaintop experience was not given for the disciples enjoyment but it was part of their preparation for ministry as there were many needy people in the valley below where they would soon start ministering again. It is the same in our Christian life, whenever we receive a mountaintop experience, it is for the purpose of further training in our Christian walk.

Mark 9:9 (KJB)
And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.

Jesus then gives them a charge that they were not to reveal any of the events which took place but this time He gave them a time frame when they could reveal it. Many times before Jesus forbade people from making Him known but here He tells the disciples that they may speak of it after He is risen from the dead. This prohibition seemed to include the other disciples who were not to know anything about this. It may have been that Jesus wanted to keep things in order because if people knew that He just spoke with Moses and Elijah, then they would want to make Him king. Jesus knew the cross came first and then the crown. There was too much focus on an earthly kingdom and that is what Jesus wanted to divert their thinking from.

Mark 9:10 (KJB)
And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.

Peter, James, and John were obedient to the command that the Lord gave them in that they were to keep this to themselves for the time being. What they discussed among themselves was their non-understanding of “rising from the dead.” They still could not comprehend the fact that Jesus had to die first and then He will rise from the dead on the third day. They were generally ignorant of the idea of a resurrection even though the Pharisees believed in it and taught it. Jesus had been telling the disciples for a while that He must suffer and die and then be resurrected. The major Jewish teaching was that there would be a reigning Messiah and not a suffering Messiah and that is where they were getting confused.

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