In an instant the vision of Jesus’ Transfiguration was over (Mark 9:8). The three Apostles were in great fear, having fallen to the ground with their faces downward, but Jesus came to them and touched them, and when they looked around, they found themselves alone, once more, with Jesus. He was no longer bright as the sun, but appearing as they had always known him (cp. Matthew 17:6-8; Luke 9:36). It seems that it would be a troubling experience to see Jesus, as he truly is (Mark 9:2-3, 6), or to hear the voice of God, as that sound would truly be (cp. 2Peter 1:17-18). If it were to occur to any of us, how would we describe the event? How would any of us be able to describe a color no one has ever seen before? How would we be able to express in our language what occurred in a world in which our words were too feeble to articulate (cp. 2Corinthians 12:4)?
Jesus told his three disciples to tell no one of the vision, until they had a better context in which to describe it, namely, until after he had risen from the dead (Mark 9:9). No one had ever risen from the dead before that time. Oh! Jesus had raised a young man who had died that day (Luke 7:14-15), and had raised a young girl who had died only moments before (Mark 5:41-42), but such things could be explained as errors in judgment—that is, folks could argue ‘they weren’t really dead.’ There simply wasn’t a context in which the Apostles could place “rising from the dead” (Mark 9:10). Was Jesus speaking in parabolic language? Was it a metaphor? What did it mean? So, when they could understand Jesus’ words: “risen from the dead” (Mark 9:9), they would have a context in which they could put their vision of his Transfiguration. It was an otherworldly event that required death to self in order to become something one was not, thus, reversing Philippians 2:6-8 for Jesus and Genesis 3:7 for man (cp. Romans 12:2; 2Corinthians 3:18).
It is in such a context, then, that we must place the disciples’ question “Why do the scribes say Elijah must come first?” (Mark 9:11). Why would they ask this question at this particular time? We need to keep in mind that, just prior to the Transfiguration, Jesus spoke of his coming in his Kingdom in power (Mark 9:1; cp. Matthew 16:28). The very same Greek word (G2064) that is used for Jesus’ coming there is also used for the coming of Elijah in verse-11. Therefore, it is logical to assume the Apostles understood both the Transfiguration and the coming of Elijah in the context of the coming of the Messiah. Nevertheless, we must not conclude the Transfiguration is the fulfillment of Jesus coming in power (cp. Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27).[1] Rather, the Transfiguration pointed to the day of his coming in power. After all, Peter later preached Jesus coming was yet to occur (1Peter 1:5-7, 10-12, 20; 4:5, 7, 17), and certainly Jesus told his disciples that his coming still lay in the future and couldn’t have been fulfilled with his Transfiguration (cp. Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27).
The Apostles’ question about the coming of Elijah had to do with the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy about the Day of the Lord:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.(Malachi 4:5-6)
Jesus replied to their question by saying that John the Baptist was that Elijah who was foretold by the prophet (Mark 9:12-13; cp. Matthew 11:13-14; 17:12-13). John was the one who “restored all things” (Mark 9:12) in preparation for the coming of the Messiah (cp. Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4).
_______________________________________________
[1] See my earlier study: What Does the Transfiguration Tell Us?
Smoodock's Blog 