“And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.”
– Matthew 17:4–6
Oh, there’s so much here. This story of the transfiguration in Matthew 17 as Jesus leads Peter and James and John up on a high mountain by themselves, and Jesus is transfigured before them, his face shining like the sun, his clothes become white as light.
Matthew 17:4–6 Narrates Jesus’ Transfiguration
Peter and James and John get a glimpse into the glory of Jesus in a whole new way, and Peter speaks up. Instead of just standing in awe, Peter says, “It’s good that we’re here, Lord. I’ll make three tents, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” because Jesus is talking with a Moses and Elijah. It says in verse three, and that’s when the voice of God, the Father, booms from heaven and says, “This is my beloved Son. This is not someone who’s on the same plane as Moses or Elijah. This is my Son with whom I am well pleased. Be quiet and listen to him.” And when the disciples heard that they were terrified, and they fell on their faces.
Again, there’s so much here, but I just want to encourage you today and lead us to pray today with this thought in mind: it is good to sit in quiet and gaze on, contemplate, worship Jesus in all of his glory. It is good to set aside time amidst the busyness of our lives and the busyness of the world around us, just to pause in a Psalm 46 kind of way to be still and consider His glory and just listen to him by his spirit speaking to our hearts and opening our eyes to who he is, to fall on our faces.
Matthew 17:4–6 Encourages Us to Contemplate Jesus’ Glory
I don’t know if you do this regularly, but I want to encourage you to do this regularly, to fall on your face before God, to kneel, to lie prostrate before God, and just consider his glory and worship him. Be still and know that he is God. Take time in your life just to gaze upon God in all of his glory through his word, through listening to him. Take time to read his word from your knees and just praise him in awe of who he is.
Jesus, we do that right now. And I know people listen to this in the car or on a run or doing a variety of different things, and we thank you for the opportunity to pray wherever we go and whatever we’re doing. At the same time, teach us we pray, to stop and to just see you worship you, praise you, consider all of your glory, all of your attributes, your beauty, your wonder.
Jesus, there is no one like you, no one. Moses is not like you. Elijah’s like you. No one in history is like you. You are unlike anyone or anything. Jesus, you are the incomparable one. God, you are the incomparable God. There is no other God like you. And we want to pause in our lives, and to gaze on your glory, and to be overwhelmed in awe, and to fall on our faces before you. God, we pray help us. Teach us to kneel and to live in awe of you, in all of your glory.
Praying for the Arabic Algerian People
And God, even as we pray that in our lives having seen Jesus, hearing your word, we pray for people who’ve not seen Jesus, who’ve not heard your word. God, we pray for Algerians, Arabic speaking, Algerians. God, please, we pray for the spread of your word and your glory among them that they might see you; Jesus, that they might know you, that they might experience what we have the privilege of experiencing, seeing you in all of your glory. Jesus, receiving your love and your mercy in our lives. Oh God, we pray in light of Psalm 46, be still.
We know that you are God and that you will be exalted among all the nations. You will be exalted in all the earth. May it be so among Algerians in our lives. We pray in your name according to this picture of your glory in Matthew 17. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
