No doubt Peter very much liked to be told that the keys of the kingdom of heaven would be given to him; but when Jesus began to show His disciples that He must suffer and be killed and the third day rise again, Peter could not bear to hear it. He even dared to take Jesus to him and begin to rebuke Him for saying such a thing; he said, “This shall not be unto Thee.”
But Jesus turned and said to him, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
Peter had spoken Satan’s words for him, and the thoughts that filled his mind were thoughts that men think, thoughts that are, oh! so different from God’s thoughts.
And then Jesus said to His disciples, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” But He told them too that He would come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and that He would reward every man according to his works, and He said that some of those who were standing there that day while He spoke, should not taste death till they had seen Him coming in His kingdom.
It was only six days after this that Jesus took Peter, and James, and John up into a high mountain by themselves, and there He was transfigured before them. His face shone as the sun, and His clothes became white as the light, and two men appeared in glory with Him there.
Peter and James and John were heavy with sleep, but when they woke up they became wide awake, and they saw His glory, and the two men, and knew that it was Moses and Elijah who were talking to Jesus. As they departed from Him, Peter called out to Jesus and said, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” Peter did not know what he was saying. The vision was so lovely he did not want it to pass away, but as he was saying these things a bright cloud came over them and surrounded them; it was the cloud of the glory of God, and the three disciples were very much afraid as they entered into it. “And, behold, a voice out of the cloud, said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”
The voice which spoke was the voice of the Father; that voice had been heard before speaking to Jesus when He was baptized by John the Baptist, but now it spoke to Peter, James and John.
God spoke of old to the Israelites through Moses, for He gave the law through Moses; later on He spoke through Elijah and the prophets; but now, today, He speaks in His Son, His beloved Son. The voice that came from the glory cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.”
“And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.”
As they came down from the mountain the next day Jesus ordered them to tell no one of the vision till after He rose from the dead. After He was risen they were free to tell others how they had been eye-witnesses of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He had received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the excellent glory, a voice which Peter says, “we heard, when we were with Him on the holy mount.”
Peter, James and John obeyed that voice from heaven, they listened to the word of Jesus and spent their lives in teaching them to others. But that voice came for us too though we did not hear it on the holy mountain, it speaks in our hearts today, “This is My beloved Son ... hear ye Him.”
Have we heard Jesus? Have you heard Him? He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5: 24).