What did Peter, James and John see on the Mount of Transfiguration?

Upvote:-1

Trying to understand this from the human perspective is not the right way for God is spirit. Just like trying to understand how Mary became pregnant without having any sexual intercourse.
I would say that this is a demonstration of God promise that on His second return, those who died in faith will rise along with the living.

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Matthew's Gospel alone uses the Greek word ὅραμα to describe the Transfiguration. This can be translated into English either as 'that which is seen' or as 'vision', leading to differences among different Bible translations - those that prefer 'what you have seen' include NIV, NLT, God's Word Translation and World English Bible, while most others use 'vision' to describe what they saw:

Matthew 17:9 (KJV) And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

In Mark, the original New Testament Gospel, and in Luke, there is no suggestion that what the disciples saw was a vision. In all three gospels, the disciples knew without hesitation that the two strangers to whom Jesus spoke were Moses and Elijah. It would be pure speculation to say that Peter, James and John were granted the ability to see spirits on just this one occasion, especially as they were instructed to tell no one of their experience, and Peter even went on to deny Jesus. It would probably also be speculation to say that they simply saw a vision, in spite of Matthew. There is probably no single answer that would satisfy all Protestants.

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Peter, James and John saw Moses, Elijah and Jesus in the Kingdom of God on the mt. Of transfiguration. Just look at the preceding verses where Jesus tells all disciples That some of them will not die before they see the Kingdom of God!

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According to Matthew 17:9, what they saw was a vision, and not the physical bodies of Moses and Elijah.

Matthew 17:9

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Upvote:3

In Jude 9, we read:

But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “ The Lord rebuke you!”

This is often taught as the body of Moses was taken into heaven.

We also know that Elijah ascended in a fiery chariot in a whirlwind:

And as they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven

This would mean that the bodies of those mean would have been kept in heaven, so it could very well be that the two men were actually physically present.

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