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Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

Luke 9:30-31

At the Transfiguration of our Lord, Jesus spoke with these two figures from the Old Testament. This was nothing short of a miracle, that the glory of heaven came briefly to earth and these two great men of faith were able to speak with Jesus. There is much we can derive from this about the after life of a believer - we are conscious, we are with God, we are able to follow the events on earth, we have a greater capacity to understand the plan of God - but the Lord only gives us a brief glimpse of such things, and we are wise if we do not read too much into them.

The greater question is why did Jesus wish to speak with them? The Scripture never states why, but in our conjecture we may remember the loneliness of these two servants on earth, the similarities between their service and Christ’s. Christ the man, the man with no sin, but the man nonetheless, gained their insight and encouragement for His final ordeal. Moses was given to anger. Elijah was given to depression. Both had served in faith and in courage, but both had also stumbled near the end of their lives as they felt the burden of obedience too great to bear.

The word is correctly translated “departure” in this passage. Not ceasing to exist, but a leaving of this world and an entering into eternity, the realm of the Spirit. Among whatever other things were shared, it is worth noting the dignity of the death of Christ. Despite the pain and shame of the cross, it was a going out from this world of shadows and form and entrance into light, it was liberation from the limitations of the flesh and entrance into life. It can be said that every believer’s death is like this - a door through which we exit this world and enter the presence of God, and therein lays the dignity of a believer’s death.

But Christ’s death was something more than only this, a great deal more. In His death was payment for the sins of the world, and in His departure He served as our leader and liberator. The curse of the darkness of sin is upon all of us and each of us. Part of the penalty of sin is the enslavement to it that we each experience. Even these two great men - Moses and Elijah - had felt this reality in their lives. They by themselves alone could not lead us out of death and into life, rather they both served as prophets who pointed us toward the coming Messiah.

Perhaps the conversation between these three was the simple reaffirmation of the kingly dignity of Christ, that in His death He would lead captivity captive, that He would make a public spectacle of the demonic powers who stand ready to accuse us (Col. 2:14-15), and that He would lead us who believe into eternity.

The physical reality of death is normally void of dignity. We die in weakness and are buried quickly to avoid witnessing the decay of our bodies. Often our minds go before our bodies wear out and a dark confusion sets over us. (Sometimes we can see the benevolent hand of God in such things.) But let us look behind the curtain of death and see it in God’s view as it should be seen, as a thing of redemptive dignity because Christ has led the way for us into eternity.

The goal of our life on earth is not just to have a well-rounded earthly life, to have a career, a family, and our retirement. Such things are nice, but the goal of our life transcends these. It is to know God and to live in the love and life of Christ, and to prepare for eternity with Him. This reality gives us a redemptive dignity every day: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).

Evening Devotionals, Grief and Loss death, dignity, eternity, transfiguration

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul prayed that God would remove his “thorn in the flesh” and God declined to do so. He had something greater in store for Paul, something that Paul could not understand at first and needed to accept in faith. The Lord has a different perspective on these matters than we have. Paul was concerned for his health and God was more concerned for his spirit. We think in the short-term and God thinks in the long-term – eternity. We want what we want now and He wants our heart and plans for us to have the best.

There are numerous occasions in the Scripture where someone’s request earnestly offered in sincere prayer was not granted. Moses prayed that God might send someone else (Exodus 4:13), then he prayed that God might not punish the Israelites for their disobedience (Exod. 32:32-33); then he prayed that he might still be allowed to cross the Jordan (Deut. 3:23-27) – all three requests refused by God. David prayed that his child might live (2 Sam 12:16-20); Job that his troubles may be lifted (Job 30:20); Christ prayed that the cup of suffering might pass (Mark 14:36).

There is purpose in the permissive will of God – He allows difficulty to come to help accomplish His will. Often it is just so that we might remember that this life is temporary and prepare spiritually for what is eternal. Our journey is often like Paul’s, that we gain much more than we lose through our difficulties.

He had journeyed in prayer – He had sought to find relief and deliverance. His pain drove him to God. Many things God will remove when we pray. Many things God will give when we pray. But sometimes God says no, for whatever reason – and there are many possibilities – we have asked something that He is unwilling to grant. Prayer purifies our motives, for we typically pray too selfishly. Continuing in prayer will be an inward journey of purifying our motives and our desires. Three times Paul had prayed and this indicates the intensity and fullness of his prayer. He had prayed until he had gotten a firm answer and had accepted that this was God’s will for him. This, too, is part of the journey of prayer, to trust the Father’s love even when He says no. He never says no to His promises, it is only the timing that is the matter of contention. He will, in His time and in His way, remove all of our troubles and bring us into the victory of His Kingdom.

He had journeyed in understanding – He came to a mystery, to a conundrum, to a question for which his former Pharisee-ism had no correct answer, except to say that he must have sinned somehow and offended God. Paul knew better than that, but still he sought a clearer understanding. Can this pain be the will of God? Can this difficulty be the blessing that comes from the hand of the loving Heavenly Father? Can the Good Shepherd give such a bad thing to one of His sheep? Paul could have in some way look back upon his life as a former persecutor and think that perhaps this was simply the just returns to Him as a persecutor, to remind him of the pain he had put others through. But God did not leave the thorn out of punishment for sins of the past – for all the punishment of our sins has already been laid on Christ and we cannot pay for our sins by our sufferings. God left the thorn because of the greatness of Paul’s blessings in the present – because of the greatness of the revelations he had received, and for his spiritual benefit. He needed the humility that this thorn brought, for his humility was what opened his heart up to the many spiritual blessings of Christ. When God’s interests out weigh our interests, as they regularly do, He will choose His will, not ours.

He had journeyed in grace – He came to a deeper experience than he ever could have understood before – the sufficiency of the grace of God. God’s love and power covered him like a tent covers someone out in the wilderness – this is the imagery of “rest on me” in verse 9. He had learned what Thomas a Kempis noted, that the love of the giver is much more valuable than the gift of the lover. We too often seek the hand of God when we should seek His face. So God left the thorn that Paul might be more blessed in humility and in grace. He had not earned the blessings he received because of his sufferings – then it would not be grace – rather they were merely the vehicle God provided that brought him to this realization.

It is interesting that no where else in the New Testament does any one give a clear identification of what this thorn was, nor even mentioned it. Paul saw himself as more than a conqueror in Christ, not as a victim to this thorn. He gained intimacy with God, he gained understanding of spiritual truth, and he gained the abundance of grace poured out on him. He had lost nothing but had gained everything.

Evening Devotionals, Grief and Loss grace, thorn in the flesh