Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 172

June 21;    Matthew 17:2;    17/260(III);    ‘It’s What’s Inside’

Matthew 17:2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

The Bible tells us prophetically, and very clearly in Isaiah 53 that the Lord Jesus would be an ordinary looking Man, with nothing about His physical appearance that would draw us to Him.  The Lord is making an incredibly important point here, our success and power in this world has nothing to do with the way we look.  I do believe it is important to stay in shape physically and to get a good education, but in reality, the world does not need our physical prowess or our mental acumen.  I believe that this verse teaches this better than any other verse.  The Lord Jesus took His ‘inner circle,’ Peter, James and John with Him up on a high mountain and revealed who He is spiritually.  The brilliance of Jesus’ spiritual nature terrified them and then Jesus was joined by the spirits of Moses and Elijah.  I believe that Moses and Elijah appeared to let the Apostles know that throughout history, there have been men, who though they were not Jesus, were powerful spiritually.  Jesus was saying pictorially, this is who I really am and since there have been godly men who ‘shone’ in the spiritual realm, the three of you can too.  The spiritual nature of the Lord Jesus blinded and terrified demonic forces.  They knew that Jesus had authority over them.  Our Lord wanted them and us that who we are spiritually is how we are going to change this world for Jesus.  In our spirit is the love of God and the character of the Lord (the fruit of the Spirit).  In our spirit is the power of the Holy Spirit, which empowers us to live and minister victoriously.  Build your spirit by the Word and prayer and shine like Jesus did.