Makestraightpaths.com examines the teachings of the religious group variously known as “the Family,” “The Family International,” the “Children of God,” or the “Family of Love,” and evaluates these teachings from a Christian perspective.

This page is one in a series on the Family practice of contacting the dead, who are said to act as 'spirit helpers.'

The Transfiguration

Matthew 17:1-8, Luke 9:28-36, Mark 9:2-8

One of the most controversial Family teachings concerns their long-standing belief that Christians may freely communicate with “spirit helpers.” To the Family, spirit helpers are  people who have died, or angels, or other spiritual beings who are active in the ‘spirit world,’ an unseen dimension that coexists with the visible material world. According to the Family, these beings are unrestricted by human limitations and actively assist Christians in their work for the Lord. For a general summary of Family teaching regarding spirit helpers and an introduction to this series, click here. 

The story of Jesus' transfiguration mentions two people, long dead, who appeared on earth and were seen and heard by those still living. In this case Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus while Peter, James and John stared on in amazement.

The Family claims that this passage proves that not only is it possible to contact the dead, but that the Bible condones such communication. After all, if Jesus himself talked with the dead, surely his followers could follow his example!

This page examines the story of the transfiguration in light of the Family's doctrines about spirit helpers, in order to determine whether this story promotes communication with the dead.

Matt 17:1-8

Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. 7 And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid." 8 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

NASU

Jesus' majesty revealed

During the transfiguration, Jesus' appearance was changed.

The New Unger's Bible Dictionary

While our Lord was praying He was "transfigured," i.e., His external aspect was changed, His face gleaming like the sun, and His clothing being so white that it shone like light. The cause of this appearance was that His divine glory shone out through His human form and was not, as in the case of Moses, caused by God's having appeared to Him.

When God appeared to Moses, his face shone brightly. The transfiguration is different, however, because Jesus is God encased in human flesh. For a few brief moments on the mountain, the human flesh no longer concealed the glory of God, and the disciples saw Jesus as the eternal Son of God.

Later on, in his second epistle, Peter recounted to the churches what he had seen.

2 Peter 1:16-18

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased" — 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

NASU

Peter, James and John "were eyewitnesses of His majesty" as God revealed to them who Jesus really was. It is also possible that John was referring to the transfiguration when he wrote, "we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father" (John 1:14).

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary

Unlike Moses, who radiated the divine glory that shone upon him (Exod 34:29), Jesus' transfiguration comes from within. He is transfigured and his garments as a result become radiant. Some have interpreted this event in light of John 1:14 and Philippians 2:6-9. At the transfiguration the glory of the preincarnate Son of God temporarily broke through the limitations of his humanity; the "kenosis" of the Son was temporarily lifted. In 2 Peter 1:16, however, the transfiguration is interpreted rather as a glimpse of the future glory of the Son of God at his second coming (cf. Matt 24:30). Still another interpretation is that the transfiguration is a proleptic glimpse of the glory that awaits Jesus at his resurrection (Luke 24:26; Heb 2:9; 1 Peter 1:21).

Robert Stein, the Transfiguration  

God himself was shining through.

John MacArthur

Jesus Christ in His human form is veiled.  The body is a veil.  It is a wall.  It closes out the reality.  But when He pulls that veil back for a moment, it is the blazing sun that is seen.  And that's what they saw.  And that's what you see as you look at this text.  There's no doubt who He was.  This is God who is synonymous with glory, the revealed essence of His nature.  When Jesus came into the world He is God but He took that veil of humanity and clothed the glory.  But here He gave a glimpse.  This is God, don't let anybody come and tell you Jesus isn't God, the glory came from within.  And so His deity, His majestic Kingship, His regal majesty, His royalty as the Son of God, the anointed One of the Father is seen by the transformation of the Son.

Preview of the Second Coming, Part 2

 

Moses and Elijah

The appearance of the two most important figures from the Old Testament had special significance: Moses was present as the representative of the Law, and Elijah as the representative of the prophets. Or rather, Moses came as the giver of the Law, and Elijah came as the guardian of the Law. Both were here on this occasion to give glory and honour and worship to the one who was the fulfilment of their lives. The entire Old Testament points towards the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah, and so here on the mountain, these two key Old Testament figures came to bear witness to the deity of the Son of God.

Allen Ross:

In the transfiguration Moses and Elijah appear and talk with the Lord. Moses represents the Law, and Elijah the Prophets; Moses represents those who have died in the Lord, and Elijah those who have not. Moses wrote the Law which anticipated the sacrificial atonement of the Messiah; Elijah was to come to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of the Lord. Moses went up Mount Sinai and because he was with the Lord of Glory there, his face shone when he came back down; Elijah did not die, but was taken up to glory in the whirlwind and the chariot of fire. Here the two of them speak to Christ, and the parallel accounts tell us they spoke of Jesus’ “departure” (Greek exodus). They spoke of His coming death; but by the term the Bible uses we know they spoke of it as the fulfillment of the great deliverance in Egypt. Jesus’ death would be the exodus from the bondage of sin in the world.

The vision was then clear: Christ was revealed in His glory, and He was joined by Moses and Elijah to indicate that He was about to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, and that death cannot destroy the glory that will follow. Moses and Elijah were and are alive, and are glorified. Jesus may face death in the days to come, but death in God’s service is the way to glory.

The Transfiguration  

 

David Guzik:

a. Why Moses and Elijah? Because they represent those who are caught up to God (Jude 9 and 2 Kings 2:11).

i. More specifically, Moses represents those who die and go to glory, and Elijah represents those who are caught up to heaven without death (as in the rapture described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)

b. Also because they represent the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah). The sum of Old Testament revelation comes to meet with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration.

Matthew 17

 

John MacArthur:

Moses gave the law, its great giver;  Elijah, its great guardian.  And what do they represent?  The law and the prophets.  And what is the law and the prophets?  It's the Old Testament.  And why are they there?  They are there as the Old Testament saying, "This is the One of whom we spoke."  It is the affirmation of the law and the prophets.  Tremendous scene.  It is Old Testament verification.  It is all that Jesus said when He said, "I have come to fulfill the law and the prophets, coming and gathering around Him, standing in His glory and saying, Yea, it is He."  It is the affirmation.

Preview of the Second Coming, Part 2

Some commentators see a tremendous amount of meaning in the incident.

The New Unger's Bible Dictionary

Premillennialists see in the transfiguration scene all the essential features of the future millennial kingdom in manifestation: (1) The Lord appears, not in humiliation, but in glory (Matt 17:2). (2) Moses is present in a glorified state, representative of the redeemed who have passed via death into the kingdom (Matt 13:43; Luke 9:30-31). (3) Elijah is also seen glorified, representative of the redeemed who have come into the kingdom by translation (1 Thess 4:13-18; 1 Cor 15:50-53). (4) The unglorified disciples, Peter, James, and John, represent in the vision and for the time being Israel in the flesh in the future kingdom (Acts 1:6; Ezek 37:21-27). (5) The crowd at the foot of the mountain (Matt 17:14) represents the nations who are to enter the kingdom after it is established over Israel (Isa 11:10-12). The scene as a whole represents the second coming of Christ in glory to establish His kingdom, or in the words interpreting the scene: "the Son of Man coming in His kingdom" (Matt 16:28). Agreeable with this interpretation of the transfiguration episode is Peter's comment in 2 Peter 1:16-18. As the preaching of the kingdom was fast approaching its end in the rejection and imminent death of the King, it became necessary to encourage the disciples in the expectation of the messianic kingdom promised to Israel in the OT. The transfiguration bore out this assurance.

 

The word from heaven

Not only was the glory of God shining through Jesus, not only were Moses and Elijah present as testimony to the Messiahship of the glorified Christ, God the Father Himself spoke, giving His own confirmation:

Luke 9:35 Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!" NASU

This is God's testimony to the eternal authority of His own Son, now God encased in human flesh, but soon to rise to the Father's right hand in all His glory.

Allen Ross

The word from heaven made three clear points: Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is loved by the Father and pleasing to the Father; and Jesus must be obeyed. All of these ideas were being challenged by the religious leaders of the day, and questioned by the people. The disciples, however, knew Jesus was God’s Son (in some way), that He was doing the will of the Father, and that He was to be obeyed. Now, this direct revelation confirmed their faith—and it surely encouraged Jesus as well as opposition had begun to mount and would increase.

The experience on this mountain reflects the experience of Israel on Mount Sinai. There in Exodus (19-24) the glory of the LORD hovered on the top of the mountain as Moses received the Law. And because of the presence of the LORD, Moses face began to reflect the glory of the LORD. But to ensure that this was indeed the Law of God that was to be obeyed, God spoke. The Bible says that the people heard the sound of His voice; they did not see the LORD, but they heard the words (Deut. 4). That vision, and that sound, confirmed to them that the Law was from the LORD God and was to be obeyed.

The Transfiguration

Family application

One of the ways that the Family uses this passage is as a supposed confirmation that departed saints may come to earth to act as 'spirit helpers' to living saints.

This is a blatant misuse of the passage.

The transfiguration serves as testimony to the deity of Jesus, His authority on earth and in heaven and His fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. It is not a story about a follower of Jesus talking to his spirit helpers.

Moses and Elijah came because Jesus was God incarnate; He was God in the flesh on earth; He was the visitation of God Himself to humankind. The only reason they were there was because Jesus is God.

They did not come as messengers. Although they spoke of Jesus' forthcoming death in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31), Jesus already knew of it. A week before the transfiguration, Jesus had explained to His disciples that He would be killed (Luke 9:22).

The events of the transfiguration are not repeatable; they stand as testimony to the deity of Christ, not as a procedure for His disciples to follow.

Finally, it is important to note that God's own application of the incident was that His people should listen to His Son (Matthew 17:5). Family members who wish to use this passage to justify their practice of listening to spirit helpers may find themselves disobeying God's instructions.

Conclusion

The transfiguration was an unrepeatable demonstration of the majesty of Christ the king, in which His glory as God shown through the flesh He was encased in for a brief moment. Moses and Elijah came as representations of the Law and the Prophets, giving homage to the one that the Law prepared Israel for. They were the giver of the Law and the guardian of the Law testifying to the fulfilment of the Law.

This incident is a testimony to Christ's deity. To suggest that it may apply to people who hear messages from spirit helpers is to do violence to the text, manipulating it beyond recognition. In fact, to say that the story means that people may listen to spirit helpers precludes the possibility of saying that it means that Jesus was displaying the majesty of His deity. In other words, either the transfiguration shows that Jesus was God in human flesh or it shows that although he was not God, he was able to communicate with God with the dead.

In their eagerness to locate proof texts to support their erroneous doctrine of spirit helpers, the Family displays their ignorance of the Scriptures and their willingness to twist them in order to support their own preconceived notions.

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