“And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tents: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah' – not knowing that he said” (vs30-33).
Only the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is to be worshiped, not Elijah, Moses, or anything else. Christ saves the soul, and the law and the prophets speak of Him.
Yet, we are ignorant, even after all that we know (vs33). The most privileged believer stumbles around blindly at times, faltering, sinning, falling down, and showing how evil and weak we are. We read, “Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make THREE tents: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (vs33). Yet, Christ and the Father stay with us because Christ DIED in our stead, and God's love is secure. We ought to be humbled, however, by our sinfulness and folly. We ought know that we are not the Christ and come down from Mt. Pride. It is not wise for know-nothings to pretend that we know all things, as if we stand by our power and wisdom. We are heirs of grace, taught by God, and yet foolish. If I am spared wrath IN SPITE OF what I am, then let you and me be gentle teachers, humble souls, and let us EVER lean on God for strength (2 Tim 2:24-25).
Secondly, the Lord answers our problems, because we cannot (vs37-40). I was lying in bed thinking, “How can I overcome sin?”, when this text opened to me. Jesus said, “Bring your son here”, “Bring the problem to Me, I'll do it. I'll fix it. I'm God” (vs41-42).
Yes, the DEVIL is stronger than us, and he whips us to prove it. We read, “And behold, a spirit seizes [my son], and suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. So I implored your disciples to cast it out, but they could not” (vs39-40). Yet, Satan is not stronger than our Savior, and He shall arise, just like Joshua and Israel defending the Gibeonites, and He shall rescue you (Josh 10:12-130. Power greater than human ingenuity and human zeal will FORCE Satan away. Christ GIVES you and me fighting strength, as we bring the issue to Him. We say, “Lord, help me with this”, and He says, “I will. Trust me completely. Trust me for the power of “no” and the reality of supernatural strength to keep this avowed obedience. Trust Me to undo the devil and throw him down”.
You can't whip sin, but the Son subdues you. You can't hope in your circumstances, but the Son makes you able. See everything by the light of God's Gospel, the Son.
Thirdly, do away with sectarianism and all the categorizing of Christians (vs49-50). People are either in or out of the kingdom, and all who are in are the same: brothers. We read, “Now John answered and said Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us. But Jesus said to him, Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side”. It isn't, “My group is better than yours, but we're both saved”; it is “My group is different than yours in some ways, but we are equals and to help each other”. We lift up all who preach Christ (Rom 14:1).
If the bible calls a man wrong or heretical, then we agree. Free will works religion is not the gospel, for it depends on the will power of men (Rom 9:11-15). Signs and wonders are not of God in this generation. They do not have the apostles signs or speak with tongues according to scripture, etc. We must WILLINGLY castigate false doctrine as evil, and yet, when men obey the gospel, we must get off our high horses and humble ourselves as brothers. They love Christ, too.
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