Transfiguration was lifting to higher plane

Approximately one week after Peter's confession to the Lord that "thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" and of Jesus' promise that the keys of the kingdom would be given (Matt. 16:13-19), the Master took Peter, James, and John to a high mountain to pray. (See Luke 9:28.)

It is the fall of the year, a time when the Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated among the Jews. It is six months before Passover, six months before the Redeemer will be crucified, buried and resurrected. It is a time of sober reflection for the Lord and of inquiry for the apostles. Mark thus writes that Jesus took "Peter, and James, and John, who asked him many questions concerning his sayings." (JST, Mark 9:1)The Spirit of God was poured out abundantly on this occasion. Christ and His meridian First Presidency were transfigured - lifted spiritually to a higher plane for a brief season - in preparation for what they were about to see and receive. "Transfiguration is a special change in appearance and nature which is wrought upon a person or thing by the power of God. This divine transformation is from a lower to a higher state; it results in a more exalted, impressive, and glorious condition."

According to the synoptic Gospels, Moses and Elias appeared. Luke points out that they "appeared in glory, and spake of [Jesus'] death, and also his resurrection, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." (JST, Luke 9:31.) Elder James E. Talmage observed: "In faithfully treading the path of His life's work, He had reached the verge of the valley of the shadow of death; and the human part of His nature called for refreshing. As angels had been sent to minister unto Him after the trying scenes of the forty days' fast and the direct temptation of Satan, and as, in the agonizing hour of His bloody sweat. He was to be sustained anew by angelic ministry, so at this critical and crucial period, the beginning of the end, visitants from the unseen world came to comfort and support Him."

These ancient prophets appeared not only to comfort and prepare our Lord for what lay ahead, but also to join with Hime in conferring priesthood keys or directing powers; these keys would enable the Twelve to lead the Church of Jesus Christ after the Savior's mortal ministry was completed. Both Moses and Elijah had been translated in their own day, taken from the earth without tasting death. They came to the holy mount with physical bodies in order to confer sacred authority.

Moses the Lawgiver, Moses who gathered and led ancient Israel for 40 years, appeared. If we may draw upon modern revelation as a commentary upon ancient scripture, we conclude that Moses conferred upon Peter, James, and John the keys of the gathering of Israel. This is precisely what he did during that Pentecostal season in Kirtland, Ohio, at the time of the dedication of the temple. (D&C 110:11.) Gathering consists of coming to Christ, to His gospel, to His true Church, and to the congregationas and gathering sites of His saints.

Elias appeared. As we know, the word Elias in the New Testament generally refers to the Old Testament prophet Elijah. Again, if we may lean heavily upon modern revelation, we would suppose that Elijah assisted the Savior in conferring upon Peter, James, and John the sealing powers, the right of presidency associated with binding and sealing on earth and in heaven, the very power Jesus had promised earlier and which He would soon deliver to all the Twelve. (Matt. 16:19; 18:18)

The Prophet Joseph Smith explained: "The Spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers, and endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the earth; and to receive, obtain, and perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God." He taught further, "Then what you seal on earth, by the keys of Elijah, is sealed in heaven; and this is the power of Elijah, and this is the difference between the spirit and power of Elias and Elijah; for while the spirit of Elias is a forerunner, the power of Elijah is sufficient to make our calling and election sure."

The messenger Elias who appeared in 1836, whose specific identity is not mentioned in the revelation, "committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed." (D&C 110:12.) That is, in modern times Elias restored the Abrahamic covenant, the patriarchal order, the keys associated with that order of the priesthood we know as the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. (D&C 131:1-4.) Elias conferred the power whereby men and women who have been gathered out of the world may then, through temples, be organized into eternal family units. We would suppose, because celestial marriage is at the heart and core of the gospel covenant, that some heavenly messenger restored like powers in the meridian of time.

Indeed, the powers of Elias and the powers of Elijah are inextricably tied.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written: "Elijah brought back the sealing power so that marriages and other ordinances that are bound on earth shall be eternally sealed in the heavens. Those married by this authority are husband and wife in this life, and they so remain in the life to come, if they are true and faithful in all things. When Elias appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on the third day of April in 1836 in the Kirtland Temple, he...restored the great commission, given of God to Abraham our father, whereby the seed of Abraham has power to gain eternal blessings forever through eternal marriage; that is, Elias restored the marriage discipline that had eternal efficacy, virtue, and force in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

"Jesus Himself gave [Peter, James, and John] all else that they needed to preside over His earthly kingdom; to lead all men to eternal salvation in the mansions on high; to send the gospel to the ends of the earth; and to seal men up unto eternal life in the kingdom of His Father."

Or, as the Prophet Joseph Smith pointed out: "Men will set up stakes and say thus far will we go and no farther. did Abraham, when called upon to offer his son? Did the Savior? No. View Him fulfilling all righteousness again on the banks of Jordan, also on the Mount transfigured before Peter and [James and] John, there receiving the fulness of priesthood or the law of God, setting up no stake but coming right up to the mark in all things."

Mark adds the fascinating detail that John the Baptist was also present on the Mount of Transfiguration. (JST, Mark 9:3.) Whereas Moses and Elijah would have come with physical bodies to confer priesthood authority, the Baptist would have been a spirit. He, like myriads of others, would wait but six months more before "their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame." (D&C 138:17.) Peter, James, and John were apostles. They held the Melchizedek Priesthood. There would therefore be no need for John to confer any authority upon those chosen to lead the Twelve. "Perhaps he was there, as the last legal administrator under the Old Covenant, to symbolize that the law was fulfilled and all old things were done away, thus contrasting his position with Peter, James, and John who were then becoming the 'first' legal administrators of the New Kingdom."

Modern prophets have suggested that Peter, James, and John may have received the temple endowment on the mount. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that "when there is no house of the Lord and the work is urgent, the Lord makes it possible that...the ordinances that pertain to the house of the Lord may be performed in the wilderness, on a mountain top, or in a lake or a stream of water. I am convinced in my own mind that when the Savior took the three disciples up on the mount... He there gave unto them the ordinances that pertain to the house of the Lord and that they were endowed. That was the only place they could go. That place became holy and sacred for the rites of salvation which were performed on that occasion."

In addition, the Apostle peter, in speaking of this supernal experience many years late, implied that the First Presidency may have received on the Mount of Transfiguration the more sure word of prophecy, the knowledge that they were sealed up unto eternal life. (D&C 131:5-6.)

"Moreover I will endeavor," Peter wrote, "that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (2 Pet. 1: 15-19.)

Joseph Smith, in offering prophetic commentary upon this passage, said: "And though they had heard an audible voice from heaven bearing testimony that Jesus was the Son of God, yet [Peter] says we have a more sure word of prophecy. . . . Now, wherein could they have a more sure word of prophecy than to hear the voice of God saying, This is my beloved Son?

"Now for the secret and grand key. Though they might hear the voice of God and know that Jesus was the Son of God, this would be no evidence that their election and calling was made sure, that they had part with Christ, and were joint heirs with Him. They then would want that more sure word of prophecy, that they were sealed in the heavens and had the promise of eternal life in the kingdom of God. Then, having this promise sealed unto them, it was an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast. Though the thunders might roll and lightnings flash, and earthquakes bellow, and war gather thick around, yet this hope and knowledge would support the soul in every hour of trial, trouble, and tribulation."14

A bright cloud overshadowed the three chief apostles, followed by a voice: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only." (Matt. 17:5-8.) It was the voice of the Eternal Father bearing record of the Word of His power. The Shekinah or dwelling cloud manifested the glory and presence of God, even as it had in ancient Israel. (See Ex. 33:9-1 1; Num. 9:15-22; 11:25.) It "came down from heaven to shield the face and form of God from His earthbound creations," Elder McConkie has written. "Elohim was there in the cloud. That He was seen by the Son we cannot doubt. Whether our Lord's three companions saw within the veil we do not say."15

Finally, a modern revelation speaks of a vision that came to Peter, James, and John on the mount. "He that endureth to the end and doeth my will," the holy word attests, "the same shall overcome, and shall receive an inheritance upon the earth when the day of transfiguration shall come" - that day we know as the Millennium, initiated by the Second Coming of the Son of Man in glory - "when the earth shall be transfigured, even according to the pattern which was shown unto mine apostles upon the mount; of which account the fulness ye have not yet received." (D&C 63:20-21, emphasis added.)

And so the three chief apostles descended the holy mount different men than when they had ascended it. They were lifted spiritually, empowered, endowed, sealed and prepared. Theirs was a perspective of what was, a view of what was to be and a confidence in the God of heaven that would enable them to lead the Church of Jesus Christ into a difficult and uncertain future.

Robert L. Millet is Dean of Religious Education and a professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University.

Endnotes

1See Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols., comp. Bruce R. McConkie, Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1954-56, 3:152.

2Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Co., 1976, p. 158.

3Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed., Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1966, pp. 725-26.

4Jesus the Christ, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Co., 1972, p. 373.

5See Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 2:1 10-1 1.

6See Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, comp. Edward L. Kimball, Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1982, p. 439.

7Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 337, 338.

8A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Co., 1985, p. 508.

9Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, 4 books, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Co., 1979-81, 3:57.

10The Words of Joseph Smith, comp. Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, Provo, BYU Religious Studies Center, 1980, p. 246, spelling and punctuation corrected.

11Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols., Salt Lake City, Bookcraft, 1965-73, 1:404.

12Doctrines of Salvation 2:170, emphasis added; see also p. 165; Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 1:44; The Mortal Messiah 3:57-58.

13See Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary 1:400; The Mortal Messiah 3:58.

14Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 298.

15The Mortal Messiah 3:60-61.

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