Mark 9:1-12 the Reveal

In Mark 9:1 is as continuation of the chapter 8 account.  In this verse Jesus to the crowd and disciples that some of the would not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power.    I believe this refers to the coming of the Holy Spirit, referred to in Acts 1 and 2.   Really the birth of the Church, the great proclamation to go into the world, given power to do so, and spread the good news.   The Gift of the Holy Spirit given to all believers for the furtherance of the Kingdom.

Pretty amazing things really.   No doubt the crowd of people were confused at Jesus' words at the time.

In Acts 9:2-12 We have the account of the 'transfiguration' of Christ.   Jesus took 3 of his disciples up to a mountain to be alone, where they witnessed the appearance of Moses, and Elijah standing beside Jesus and God proclaiming "This is my dearly loved Son.   Listen to him.   Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and only Jesus was with them." (vs. 7)

Jesus had told his disciples not to tell anyone what had happened until His resurrection .    This was an event that the disciples had to witness and testify too later on.   This is cool, because if they started to blab about this event right away, people would see them as mad men, but when the 'proof is in the pudding' as some say, when Jesus rises from the dead, the truth of this amazing event will came to light.

In these verses we also have Jesus mentioning that Elijah did come again, and was abused, as the scriptures foretold in Malachi, and did get everything ready for the Messiah.   The Elijah figure being John the Baptist.

This was 'the big reveal' for the disciples, this was a cool Old Testament type even happening in the new testament.  This is where we see a glimpse of the fulfillment of the old with the new.  So what am I getting out of this passage today?

For me I think it's the importance of the whole book.  Old and New Testament.   We have a tendency to write off the Old Testament because of its fulfillment in the New.   But how do we know what was fulfilled unless we pay attention to the law (represented by Moses), and the prophecy (represented by Elijah).    It's like taking the Lord of the rings books from Tolkien and reading 'The Return of the King', without reading 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.   We won't know the significance of why a hobbit has a ring, and what's the big deal about him destroying it unless we read the whole trilogy.