An exposition of The Gospel According to Matthew
by David L. Cooper, Th.M., Ph.D., Litt. D.
Installment seventeen

AT THE CONCLUSION of the last article, we saw that our Lord gave a promise to certain ones who were standing with Him that they should not taste of death until they should see the Son of man coming in His kingdom (Matt. 16:28). In the parallel passage found in Mark 9:1, we have these words: "Who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power." These statements are supplemental. What does this promise signify? It can mean only one of two things: first, that the Lord would grant a vision of His coming in His kingdom (the second coming in glory) to certain ones who were standing there, during their own natural lifetimes: or, second, that the ones to whom He made this promise would be sustained in life supernaturally throughout the entire Christian Dispensation and would never taste of death until the Lord Jesus returns in glory at the end of this age. Which of these two interpretations seems the most probable? Instantly our minds turn to the first, as the most logical and the most plausible. This interpretation is confirmed by Peter's reference to it, found in II Peter 1:15-21 An examination of this passage shows that Peter interpreted the significance of the vision at the time of the Transfiguration as referring to the "power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." In view of this fact we may be certain that Jesus promised certain ones of His disciples that He would give them a vision during their own natural lifetime which would picture to them His coming in power and great glory.

According to Matthew 17:1 six days after our Lord made His promise to certain disciples, He took Peter, James, and John with Him and went up into a high mountain and was there transfigured before them.

Where was this mountain? There are some who think that it is Mount Tabor in lower Galilee. This supposition is purely speculation. In fact everything is against it. Jesus with His disciples was in the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, which nestled near the base of Mount Hermon, in Syria. The more plausible suggestion is that in all probability the mountain where our Lord was transfigured before His disciples was none other than Mount Hermon itself. From Jerusalem on a clear day one can see this mountain, with its snowcapped top. It is probably around 150 miles northeast of Jerusalem.

When the miracle of the transfiguration occurred, our Lord's face did shine as the sun and His garments "became white as the light." Then suddenly there appeared talking with Him Moses and Elijah.

Peter in his customary impetuous manner spoke up and said, "Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." In making this suggestion Peter did not know what he was talking about, as we learn from Luke's statement of the case.

From Luke's record we learn that the three Apostles were weighed down with heavy sleep. At the time of the transfiguration, however, they became fully awake and saw Jesus in His glory and Moses and Elijah talking with Him. It was when they were about to depart from Him that Peter made the suggestion concerning building three tabernacles.

This occurrence gives us some idea as to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though He laid aside the glory which He had with the Father from before the foundation of the world, when He became incarnate (John 17:5), He did not give up any element of His essential being. In fact such a thought is contrary to all scripture teaching. Being God, He could not change His nature from being what He was. Thus in the incarnation our Lord simply laid aside the outward manifestation of His glory and veiled Himself behind the thin form of His earthly human nature. But on the occasion of His transfiguration, He allowed that glory to shine forth through His fleshly nature and the Apostles for the first time got a glimpse of His real nature. At the time of His resurrection His body became immortal. Nevertheless, as He associated with His disciples during the forty days after the resurrection, He did not allow, as a rule, His glory to shine forth as at the time of the transfiguration. It is, however, quite likely that on certain occasions He did manifest His glory as on this one. The fact that both Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on this occasion is most informative. The fact that they did come and were talking with our Lord is proof of the consciousness of the soul after death. Death, as we often hear, does not end everything. As to the saints, when they pass out of this life, they really begin to live as never before, for they depart and are with Christ which is very far better than remaining here. Of course the believers go to be with Christ upon death since our Lord won the victory at Calvary. But before the death of our Lord, the believers went to that apartment of Sheol known as Paradise, whereas the wicked when they died went to another apartment, to which the rich man went (Luke, chapter 16).

Samuel departed this life and went to Sheol, to the place where the righteous went at that time. When Saul consulted the witch of Endor, Samuel appeared on the scene. She, however, did not call him up from the nether world. The Lord permitted him to come and to deliver a message on that occasion. But it was Samuel, nevertheless. The witch became terrified when she saw him. What she experienced on this occasion was entirely different from that to which she was accustomed. We may infer from all the facts that, usually when she had a seance, some demon impersonated certain characters. But when the real character, Samuel, came up, his appearance was so very different from the experiences which she had had that she became terrified.

Moses died and the Lord buried him. He, like Samuel, went to that apartment of Hades to which the righteous went. Not so with Elijah. He was translated that he should not see death. Though we are not told, we may infer that he was taken to glory, his body being immortalized.

On the occasion of which we are studying, these two, Moses and Elijah, appeared with our Lord and were conversing with Him. That they were talking about His decease and the future glories, we may be certain.

Moses was the great lawgiver of Israel and stood for the ideals and the realities of the old economy. Elijah, a true prophet, stood for or represented those who follow the Lord amidst trials and difficulties, but who are faithful and true to Him. His translation, so that he did not see death, prefigured the translation of the saints who in the end of this age, will not die but will be caught up to be with the Lord forever and ever.

Since these two outstanding representatives appeared with our Lord, and since the entire scene set forth the power, the coming, and the regal majesty of our Lord--as Peter explained in II Peter, chapter 1--we may see reflected in this scene the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as He will be when He returns. Moses stood for the saved under the old economy of Judaism, whereas Elijah, in this little symbolic picture, represents the true believers of the present age. If this interpretation be correct--and I do not doubt it--then we have a picture of the glorious era when the saints of the present age shall be made perfect along with the saints of former ages and shall reign with the Lord in glory upon this earth for one thousand years.

When Peter suggested making a tabernacle to each--Jesus, Moses, and Elijah--a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of it saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Peter, in his impetuousness, was unconsciously putting Moses and Elijah on an equality with the Lord. Instantly the divine voice tabued this idea and called upon them to look to the Lord Jesus Christ alone and to obey Him. There was a time when the children of Israel were commanded to obey Moses. Later, in the days of Elijah they were called upon to heed the message which God gave to this dauntless prophet. Now, since the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, has come, the voice from heaven declared that all men should hearken to Him. No one has any hope of salvation except those who come and accept Him and His atoning blood. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby they may be saved except the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).

When this voice came to the Apostles, they fell upon their faces and were greatly terrified. Then Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and be not afraid." Then they lifted up their eyes and they saw Jesus only. This means that Moses and Elijah had disappeared. He was remaining with them, to continue His work of redemption, to the end.

When Elijah appeared with Moses as they talked with Jesus in the transfiguration scene, naturally the Apostles thought of that prediction found in the last two verses of the Old Testament, which foretells the coming of Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. But Elijah's appearing at the transfiguration scene caused great concern to the Apostles. They were bewildered as to the hope of Elijah's coming. They therefore asked Jesus why the scribes preached that Elijah would come first. In the vision of the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared together with Jesus as He was glorified. Thus it appeared to the Apostles that the prediction concerning Elijah's appearing first must be wrong, or their understanding of it was incorrect. Hence their question.

Jesus in substance told the Apostles that the scribes were right in saying that Elijah comes first; for He declared, "Elijah indeed cometh, and shall restore all things: but I say unto you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they would." From this statement we see that Elijah is scheduled to come and to restore all things--the things mentioned by the prophets as occurring at the coming of Elijah. Thus we may confidently expect Elijah to come first--before the Lord appears in glory--and to restore the things mentioned in the prophets.

Notwithstanding this prediction that Elijah will come and will restore all things, our Lord asserted that Elijah had already come, that the people had not recognized him, and that they had done unto him as they chose. The Apostles correctly understood these statements as referring to John the Baptist. How can this be? In order to understand the various statements and to harmonize the data, we must take a rapid glance at passages bearing upon this subject. In Malachi 4:5,6 God makes a promise that He will send Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Note the Lord said that this one whose coming He announced was to be Elijah the prophet, the man who lived in the days of Ahab, who was translated so that he did not die. According to this promise he is scheduled to come immediately before the great Tribulation Period, the great and terrible day. When John began his ministry, a deputation was sent from the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, asking him if he were Elijah. To their inquiry he gave a most emphatic denial. John certainly knew who he was. Since he said that he was not Elijah, then we may be certain that he was not. But when the announcement was made to Zacharias of his birth, the angel Gabriel said that he, John the Baptist, should go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah. This language shows that John the Baptist was not literally Elijah, but that he was, a man like Elijah, a man of similar temperament, courage, and valor. Now since Malachi declared that Elijah must come before the great and terrible day of the Lord, since Gabriel said that John the Baptist would go before the face of the Lord in the power of Elijah, and since John declared that he was not Elijah, and since Jesus in this passage declared that Elijah indeed comes and shall restore all things, we may be certain that Elijah is yet scheduled to appear before the great and terrible day of the Lord to perform a ministry in Israel that will be essential for that day and time. Moreover, since John the Baptist was to go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, we may be certain that that is what Jesus had in mind when He said that Elijah had already come and that people had done to him as they chose. The orthodox Jews today are looking for the appearance of Elijah. Part of their ceremony at the paschal supper makes provision for his coming.

While Jesus and the three disciples were upon the mountain, a man whose son was an epileptic brought the afflicted child to the other Apostles in order that they might heal him and cast the demon out of him.

Notwithstanding the fact that these Apostles had, when they were on the third Galilean tour, performed many mighty works--healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead and bringing them back to life--they were unable on this occasion to heal this epileptic boy.

When Jesus and the three disciples came down from the mountain, they found the nine Apostles, the father of the epileptic child, and a great multitude. There seems to have been great excitement among the people.

When Jesus arrived on the scene, the father came kneeling to Him and telling the sad story that his child was suffering grievously, oftentimes falling into the fire and sometimes into water. Moreover he informed the Lord that he had brought the boy to His Apostles in order that they might cast out the evil spirit, but that they had been unable to do so.

Upon hearing the man's story our Lord said, "0 faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? bring him hither to me" (vs. 17) The Apostles, who had enjoyed such a marvelous ministry as we have just seen, had lost their faith and with it went their ability to perform miracles. Hence our Lord spoke of that faithless and perverse generation.

Why was it that they lost their faith? Doubtless they had neglected the prayer hour and secret communion and worship of God. We know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, but that faith must be nourished by living in close touch with the Lord, in fellowship with Him. As they became negligent in their prayer life, in their devotional exercises, the power which had characterized them when they were on that preaching tour gradually slipped from them.

Finally the disciples came and asked Jesus, "Why could not we cast it out?" They had been helpless before this demon--due to their lack of faith and fellowship with the Lord. In reply our Lord said, "Because of your little faith: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you" (vs. 20).

God delights to exercise the faith of His children. A study of Hebrews, chapter 11, gives us a clear understanding of what faith is. As we go through the account of the worthies of old found in that chapter, we see that faith is simply an attitude of trust toward God, implicit trust. Moreover a careful study shows that faith is simply trust, unswerving confidence in God that He will do what He promises. Some have erroneously concluded that belief is not considered faith in the Scriptures until after it has manifested itself in some overt act of obedience. This is a mistake. Sarah by faith received power to conceive. She simply believed the promise of God, which trust was counted to her for righteousness. God honored her faith and gave her the child of promise. Some who were weak physically were strengthened bodily by simply trusting God. There was nothing which they were commended to do or could do. They simply believed God and the Lord injected power into their bodies. Certain women, by faith, received their dead back to life again. They did nothing but take their stand in an unswerving attitude of dependence upon God and looked to Him to fulfill His Word. Some even by faith stopped the mouths of lions. They did nothing but trusted God who worked upon the lions and kept them back from hurting these servants of His. In fact, a careful study of Hebrews 11:32-38 shows that the great heroes of faith were great because of their enduring suffering. In view of the teaching of this chapter, it is indeed erroneous to assert that faith is not counted for faith until after it has asserted itself some act of obedience. Faith is simply the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1).

On the other hand, whenever a person has faith and the Lord instructs him to do something, without hesitation he does it. But the faith expressing itself in action is no more faith than a believing attitude of the child of God who by faith understands that the worlds were created by the Word of God. God promised Abraham that his seed should be as numerous as the stars of the heavens. He believed that promise and his faith was reckoned to him for righteousness. He never turned his hand upside down, yet he was justified by faith. He took God at His word. Years later, when Isaac was a young man, God commanded Abraham to offer him upon an altar as a sacrifice to Himself. By faith Abraham did that. Originally he was justified by faith, pure faith, simple faith, and faith only; but that faith by which he was justified led him to obey the Lord when he was commanded to offer his son upon the altar. May God strengthen and increase our faith! It is only as we have faith that God can bestow the riches of His goodness upon us and can use us in a greater way than at the present time. If we simply had faith as small as a grain of mustard seed--unalloyed faith--we could say to this mountain, Be ye removed to yonder place, and it would be moved. But if we had such a faith as this, we would not promiscuously speak to this or that mountain and tell it to be moved. Only when the moving of a mountain would glorify God and honor Him, would those who have such faith exercise it in performing such a marvelous feat.

After the fourth retirement Jesus with His disciples returned to Galilee. While He was there on this occasion, our Lord again foretold His death and His resurrection on the third day. This prediction caused grief on the part of the disciples.

In certain passages our Lord, in speaking of His resurrection, said that He would rise after three days; in others, on the third day; and in one other (Matt. 12:39,40), He stated that, for three days and three nights, He would be in the heart of the earth. There was a certain definite period between the time of His crucifixion and that of His resurrection. In referring to this definite period, our Lord used the three phrases. The fact that He did use these three terms to refer to a very definite period of time shows that the Jews used these terms with somewhat of a margin.

How long was our Lord in the tomb? A glance at the last verses of Luke, chapter 23, and the first verse of chapter 24 makes it plain--in my judgment. According to 23:50-54 Christ was buried on "the day of the Preparation, and the sabbath drew on." Then the women who had followed Him from Galilee watched Joseph as he buried the body of Jesus in his own new tomb. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. Then on the sabbath they rested according to the commandment. Thus the weekly sabbath, which was a day of rest according to the commandment of Moses, followed the "Preparation," mentioned in verse 54. But note that in verse 1 of chapter 24 we are told, "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they [the women] came unto the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared." When they arrived, they found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Moreover two angels who were present informed them that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and they instructed them to give this information to the Apostles, which thing they did. Thus there are three days mentioned in this passage and each succeeded the other. The first was the "Preparation" which was followed by the sabbath. It was on this day that Christ was crucified at nine o'clock in the morning and buried between three and six. This "day of the Preparation" was followed by the weekly sabbath on which according to the law of Moses the Jews rested. At the end of the sabbath and early on the first day of the week the women came and found the tomb empty. If this language is allowed to speak its message, there was one full day and portions of two other days during which our Lord was in the tomb. He was therefore crucified on Friday morning, buried late Friday afternoon, was in the tomb during Saturday, but early on the first of the week He arose, leaving the tomb empty. This period between the burial and the resurrection is thus spoken of as "after three days," "on the third day," and "three days and three nights."

According to the law each male was required to pay the half-shekel or the Temple tax. This money was used for the maintenance of the services at the national shrine, the Temple.

The next incident after our Lord's prediction concerning His passion and resurrection is that of Jesus paying the Temple tax. Matthew is the only one who gives us an account of this incident and records it in 17:24-27. When He and the disciples came into the city of Capernaum, the question was put to Peter, "Doth not your teacher pay the half-shekel?" To this query the Apostle Peter answered in the affirmative. Knowing what had been said, Jesus, upon Simon's coming into the house, said to him, "What thinkest thou, Simon? the kings of the earth, from whom do they receive toll or tribute? from their sons, or from strangers?" Peter's reply was, "From strangers." Jesus rejoined by saying, "Therefore the sons are free." Notwithstanding this fact, Jesus did not wish to give any offense; hence He instructed Peter to go to the lake, cast his hook, take up the first fish that he caught, and open its mouth. In it, declared our Lord, "thou shall find a shekel: that take, and give unto them for me and thee." The Apostle did as he was commanded and found the facts to be exactly as our Lord foretold.

The Temple tax was usually paid in the early Spring, around passover. Jesus began to withdraw from the country on account of the opposition, which faced Him, as we have already seen, about the first of the year. Evidently He had not paid the Temple tax then. Having been out of the country for about six months, upon His return Peter was asked if Jesus, being a good Jew, paid the Temple tax, to which Peter replied yes. Evidently He had seen Jesus paying it before. Jesus observed scrupulously the law and the prophets, as we know.