(Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-10; Luke 9:28-36)

You will remember that peter had said that Jesus was the Son of God. Six days later Jesus took Peter, James and John up on a high mountain to pray. As he was praying, He was changed before them. His face became bright like the sun and his clothes became as white as light. His disciples saw two men talking with him about his coming death at Jerusalem. These men were Moses and Elijah, Who had lived hundreds of years before.

Now peter and the two brothers were very sleepy, but they were able to stay awake. They were afraid and peter did not know what to say, so he said, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you want, I will make three shade houses here-one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." As he was saying this, a bright cloud came over them. A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my own dear son. I am pleased with him. Listen to him." God was telling the disciples that a new age was coming. No longer were they to listen to the men of the Old Testament, such as Moses and Elijah, to tell them what God wanted them to do. Instead, they were to listen to Jesus. The old law would pass away when Jesus died on the cross (Eph. 2:15; Heb. 8:13). But Jesus would bring in a better way to obey God (Heb. 8:6). We must be sure that we do not make the same mistake as peter; we must not make the teachings of the Old Testament as important as the teachings of Jesus. He is the way to God-the only way (John 14:6)

When the cloud went away, the disciples saw Jesus standing all alone. As they went down the mountain, he told them, "Do not tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of man is raised from the Dead." At that time they did not know what he meant when he said that he would be raised from the dead, but they obeyed and did not tell anyone. Jesus did not want people to know that he was the Son of God until they knew he had done for them-died for their sins and rose to live again.