| Finding the Way |
Chapter 17 |
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Peter could not have kept the heavenly messengers in the little booths made of branches which he wanted to set up. They were no longer of the earth, and could not now dwell in houses made with hands. They had been for centuries in the spirit world, and could not have resumed again the narrow limitations of a booth of boughs or even of a palace. Besides, Moses and Elijah had not come to earth to stay. They had been sent only on an errand of love to the Master, as He was setting out for His cross. They had come to cheer and encourage Him. Their errand need but a brief time, and when it was finished they hastened back into heaven. A little later the disciples “lifted up their eyes, and saw no one, save Jesus only.” No tabernacles, though built of earth’s finest materials, could have kept those holy ones on the earth an hour after their sacred mission was accomplished. Peter’s wish was vain.
Nor would it have been possible to keep Jesus on the mount. Work was waiting for Him that very hour at the foot of the mountain. A father was there with his demoniac boy. For Jesus to have stayed in the tabernacle which Peter wished to build for Him there amid the glory would have been to neglect the call of the human need, in order to enjoy spiritual pleasure Himself – and this was never Christ’s way. Then He was just setting out on His last journey, at the end of which stood the cross. Not even the bliss of heavenly communion could keep Him from the work and the suffering before Him. To keep the Master on the Mount of Transfiguration would have been to hold Him back from His mission. This no constraint could have done, for He had come only to do His Father’s will and to redeem the world.
For the disciples, too, there was work waiting. They had duties to perform. They need further preparation for their great work, and then they were to be sent out to win the world for their Lord.
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