Transfiguration
READ Matthew 17:1-2
Why
did they go onto a high mountain?
Mountains can serve as temples for those
without means to build one in a traditional way.
A mountain is the closest you can get,
physically on earth, to God’s kingdom in heaven.
A mountain is where the earth and sky or heavens
seem to meet.
You have to expend some real energy and
time to get to the mountain top – they must be climbed, which can be dangerous
for the untrained and ill prepared. They
are “set apart” from the rest of the world, for this reason – not because
others are not allowed to go but because only a few prepare themselves to
actually make the ascent.
Why
did Christ’s clothes and countenance light up with glory?
He was transfigured.
He was blessed with the glory He had before
He chose to condescend to be born into this mortality, including the robe of
light He wore.
READ Mark 9:2-3, 6-7
Why
was Christ transfigured?
He entered into God the Father’s presence.
And the Father testified to the apostles
of Christ’s divine sonship.
Where
does God dwell?
In everlasting burnings and immortal
glory (see D&C 137:2-3; TPJS 406:1; TPJS 392:1’ TPSJ 414:2).
When
Christ is transfigured, what is happening to His mortal body?
It is quickened by the Spirit, so that it
can enter the presence of God without incinerating (see D&C 67:11).
His body was temporarily transformed or
infused with a much greater degree of light than He enjoyed normally as a
mortal, even despite the genes given Him by His father.
To
use an example of “quickening” we are all familiar with, what makes mist,
water, and ice change from state to state?
Temperature or heat.
Heat increases the speed at which atoms
move and lowers the attraction they have to each other, enabling them to change
from ice to water to vapor or back again.
How
must your physical body adapt if you want to survive in the physical presence
of God?
If you want to be able to exist in
everlasting burnings, you have to be quickened or vibrating at his frequency to
“abound” in His presence (see D&C 88:49-50).
The baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost
are also given as a sign to the recipient that they may know it is safe
for them to enter into God's presence and not be consumed.
READ Luke 9:32
What
happened initially to Peter, James and John when the pillar of fire from heaven
opened?
They were “heavy with sleep”.
They either passed out or were made to
fall to sleep.
Why
might this have happened?
To protect their conscious, mortal minds
and their telestial, physical bodies from the glory of whoever was on the Mount
when Christ was transfigured (i.e. the Father).
Handing Off the Dispensational Keys
READ Mark 9:4 (JST)
Who
else appeared to Christ on the Mount?
Moses and Elias.
Who
was Elias?
John the Baptist.
READ Mark 9:11-13 (JST)
What
is the connection between Moses and John the Baptist?
They were the first and last prophets of
the prior dispensation.
Why
would Moses and John the Baptist appear to Christ and his 3 mortal disciples?
They were handing off the keys of the
kingdom from one dispensation head to the next.
Moses was the first prophet from the
prior dispensation and held the keys while John the Baptist was the final
prophet of the last dispensation and also held the keys.
Christ was the dispensation head for the
new dispensation.
Judging from
the fact that Peter, James and John came to Joseph Smith to give him priesthood
keys, they were the final prophets of that last dispensation.
The Endowment and Vision of Glory
READ Matthew 17:5 and Luke 9:34-36
What
was the “bright cloud” that they feared as they “entered”?
The true veil of heaven.
What
is the vision the 3 apostles were told to keep to themselves?
Possibly the temple endowment, which is
teaching them what they must know to open the portal and ascend to heaven
themselves.
Why
were they told to keep what they had learned secret?
There would be no endowment given to the
others until after the resurrection.
Why
might have these three received an endowment at this time while the others did
not?
They were inquisitive and asked to know
more (see Mark 9:2 JST).
They held dispensational keys, as the
last three prophets alive during Christ’s dispensation.
Remember that John “tarried” on earth and
still does, so the keys were resident upon the earth, albeit not in the possession
of any Church, as the apostasy got into full swing and John was rejected.
READ D&C 63:20-21
What
else did the Apostles see “transfigured” after they had passed through the veil
on the Mount?
The transfiguration of the earth at the
Millennium and the return of Zion to the earth (both its establishment on the
earth and the return of Enoch’s Zion from the heavens).
The triumph of the latter-day kingdom of
God or Zion (see Luke 9:27-31).
