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The Blood-Stained Path to Kingdom Glory (Matthew 17:9–13) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking, our deep dive for you today into
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the Gospel of Matthew, specifically looking at a stack
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of theological commentaries breaking down Matthew 17.9
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through 13. We're looking at a a staggering
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moment in redemptive history here.
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The text covers the immediate descent from the Mount of
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Transfiguration. You have this striking shift
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happening right in front of us. Jesus and his inner circle.
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Peter, James and John are coming down from a literal waking sight
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of uncreated light. They have just received a
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tangible taste of the coming millennial Kingdom, complete
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with the glorified presence of Christ, Moses and Elijah, and
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the audible voice of the Father. But now they must leave that
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mountain and step right back into the grim, dusty and hostile
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reality of the present evil age. They are walking back into a
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world that is thoroughly antagonistic to the King and His
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truth. OK, let's unpack this.
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Our goal is to investigate how this specific text testifies to
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Christ and the Gospel, refuting modern glory theology and
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grounding your affections in the sovereign decree of God.
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We are looking at a passage that completely shatters human
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expectations and forces us to look at the cross.
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Right. And modern culture consistently
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seeks a crown without a cross. People want the victory, you
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know, the comfort and the visible triumph.
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But they absolutely despise the suffering, the shame and the
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shedding of blood. Yet this text demands we view
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Christ's majesty strictly through the lens of His
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impending sacrifice. You cannot have the glory of the
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mountain without the agony of the valley.
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We see here the divine logic of redemption, a logic that
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completely contradicts the pragmatic, self loving
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ideologies of our time. I mean, the world suggests you
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should seek your best life now and avoid pain at all costs.
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But Christ brings his disciples down from the heights of Tabor
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and immediately begins to instruct them on rejection,
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suffering, and death. It is a severe reality check.
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The majesty they witnessed was entirely real, a genuine preview
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of the millennial Kingdom. But that Kingdom will only be
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inaugurated through the substitutionary atonement of the
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Son of Man. This passage is a devastating
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critique of any theology that attempts to bypass Golgotha to
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get to the glory. That contrast is so vivid.
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Imagine being Peter, James or John in that precise moment.
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You have just seen the veil of Christ's humanity pulled back.
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You have seen his face shine with the sun, a brilliance that
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is hard to even conceptualize. You want to shout it from the
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rooftops. In our modern context, you'll be
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pulling out your phone, taking a video and broadcasting it to the
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entire world. You would want to go straight to
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the scribes and the Pharisees and say, look, we have the
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proof. We saw him in his Kingdom glory.
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But as they are making their physical and spiritual descent
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from Mount Tabor, moving from an atmosphere of pure, unfiltered
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glory back into a broken world, Jesus issues a stripped command.
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In verse 9 Matthew records. And as they were coming down
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from the mountain, Jesus commanded them tell no one the
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vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.
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I was reading through several lexical commentaries on this and
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Jesus does not offer a polite suggestion here.
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The Greek word used by Matthew is entelato.
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This is a strict authoritative charge from the King of Kings.
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He is issuing a royal edict to his inner circle.
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He is essentially slapping a divine non disclosure agreement
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on the most spectacular event these men have ever witnessed.
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What's fascinating here is the precise language Jesus uses to
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describe what they saw, and a specific deadline he places on
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their silence. He calls it a vision, using the
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Greek word harama. Now we need to clarify that term
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because in modern English, a vision sounds like a dream or a
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hallucination. But in the context of Greco
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Roman usage in biblical literature, harama denotes a
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sovereign revelation of reality. It is an objective site of
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uncreated truth. They were completely awake.
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They saw the divine nature of the God Man unveiled before
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their physical eyes. Yet Jesus puts a firm deadline
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on this disclosure until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.
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Theologians frequently call this the Messianic secret, but we
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must understand the core reason behind it.
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The Transfiguration cannot be rightly proclaimed without the
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cross. To preach the mountain without
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Golgotha is to preach a false prosperity gospel, prioritizing
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immediate triumph over substitutionary atonement.
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If the disciples had gone down the mountain and started
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preaching about the shining face of Jesus, the crowds would have
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rallied to make him a political king by force.
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They would have sought A conqueror to overthrow Rome,
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completely ignoring their own desperate need for a Savior to
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overthrow their sin. Yeah, absolutely.
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I was looking at chapter 3 of the Westminster Standards in
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preparation for this and it struck me how this gag order
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connects directly to the decree of God.
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Jesus is not just trying to avoid a rowdy crowd or manage
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APR campaign. He is protecting the eternal
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decree that the Mediator must suffer first.
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The Father had sovereignly ordained that the Mediator must
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purchase redemption through his blood before he enters into his
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full public glory. The path to the crown was
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decreed from eternity past to be paved with suffering.
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Jesus will not allow His disciples to short circuit that
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redemptive plan with premature announcements of His Majesty.
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This brings up chapter 8 of the Confession as well regarding the
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office of Christ as Mediator. He has a specific work to
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accomplish. He is the Lamb slain from the
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foundation of the world. Any attempt to herald His
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Kingdom reign before He accomplishes the atonement is a
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direct assault on the divine plan.
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The disciples are forced to hold this incredible secret and you
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can almost feel the tension building in their minds as they
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process what they permitted to know versus what they are
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permitted to say. That tension is entirely
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palpable. It sets the stage for their
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burning question. In verse 10.
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They ask, then why did the scribes say that first Elijah
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must come? You can picture the disciples
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confusion. Their minds are reeling.
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They literally just saw Elijah on the mountain talking with
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Jesus. They saw the glorious King, so
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their theological training kicks in, and they expect a public,
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undeniable, politically victorious forerunner to appear
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and said everything right. They're struggling to harmonize
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the spectacular vision they just witnessed with the traditional
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scribal teaching they grew up hearing in the synagogues.
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The scribes taught that Elijah would come and blow the trumpet,
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rally the nation, clear out the corrupt politicians and usher in
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an era of unprecedented peace and victory for national Israel.
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The disciples are essentially asking, Lord, if you are the
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promised Messiah and we just saw your Kingdom glory, shouldn't
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Elijah be down here right now leading the parade?
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Why the secrecy? They are experiencing a massive
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clash of timelines. They want the visible triumph
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right now and they are using the scribes teachings to justify
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their impatience. They want to force the
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eschatological clock to strike midnight immediately.
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To really grasp the weight of their confusion, we have to look
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back at the Old Testament, specifically the background of
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Malachi 4.5. That text states, Behold, I will
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send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day
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of the Lord comes. The scribes were actually
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theologically accurate and expecting a herald.
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Their doctrinal premise was sound based on a literal reading
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of the text. God had indeed promised a
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forerunner. However, while the scribes had
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the right text, their application was severely flawed.
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They treated biblical prophecy as an eschatological checklist
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to master rather than a summons to repentance.
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They wanted a herald who would validate their own self
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righteousness. They were looking for a prophet
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who would pat them on the back, confirm their status as the
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spiritual elite, and lead a violent revolt against the Roman
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occupation. They expected Elijah to arrive
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and instantly fix all the political and social problems of
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Israel, making their lives easier and their nation
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dominant. They missed the moral
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requirements of the covenant entirely.
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They were blind to their own sin, and therefore they were
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blind to the true nature of the Forerunners mission.
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They had the Bible open in front of them, but their hearts were
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entirely closed to its actual demands.
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Spot on. This is a classic example of
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reading scripture through the lens of personal preference
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rather than submitting to the author's intent.
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The religious elite wanted a conqueror, not a convicting
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preacher. When we look at Jesus response
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in verse 11, we see something brilliant.
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He does not dismiss the Old Testament.
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He affirms the text perfectly. He says Elijah does come and he
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will restore all things. He upholds the absolute
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authority of the prophets. He does not tell the disciples
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that Malachi was wrong or that the scribes fabricated the idea
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out of thin air. He confirms that the prophetic
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expectation of Elijah is real and valid.
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But he introduces a major shift in how they are to understand
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the timing and the nature of that fulfillment.
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He uses a specific phrase. He will restore all things.
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This demands we ask, what does restoration mean in this
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context? The disciples likely thought it
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meant restoring the throne of David in a political, earthly
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sense right at that very moment, driving out the Romans with the
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sword and setting up a golden age of Jewish supremacy.
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But Jesus is pointing to something much larger in scope
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while also managing the immediate reality of what has
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already taken place historically.
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This is where we need to apply a precise dispensational
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premillennial framework to understand the layers of
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prophetic fulfillment. The future tense of the Greek
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verb used here, apocotosto, say, which translates to will
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restore, points to a literal Elijah returning during the
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future tribulation period prior to the second coming of Christ.
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As Reformed and dispensational theologians, we maintain a
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strict Israel Church distinction.
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God has not permanently castaway national Israel.
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The literal physical Kingdom promised to national Israel has
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been postponed due to their rejection of the King at his
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first advent. Therefore, the exhaustive
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fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy regarding Elijah
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restoring all things to national Israel remains a future event on
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God's prophetic calendar. We can look to Revelation
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Chapter 11 and the ministry of the two witnesses during the
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Tribulation as the specific time when this future literal
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fulfillment will occur. These witnesses will have the
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authority to shut the sky just like the historical Elijah did.
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It is a literal fulfillment of a literal promise, so the
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application of that future restoration is a vital component
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of biblical eschatology. Yes, the literal hermeneutic is
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non negotiable here. However, we must also clarify
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the true meaning of restoration even within that future context.
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The restoration is primarily moral and covenantal.
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It means turning hearts back to the Father, exposing deep seated
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hypocrisy, and calling a rebellious nation to weeping and
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repentance before the severe judgement falls.
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It does not mean funding a political revolution or
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flattering the messianic fantasies of the proud.
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The restoration God seeks is a restoration of holiness, a
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turning away from idols, and a brokenness over sin.
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The scribes missed this entirely.
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They thought restoration was about acquiring real estate and
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political leverage. God says restoration is about a
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broken and contrite heart. This is the crucial distinction
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for you as a listener. When you read biblical prophecy,
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you must remember that God's primary objective is the
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vindication of His own holiness and the redemption of His people
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from sin, not simply the rearrangement of earthly
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political structures. Here's where it gets really
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interesting. Jesus drops an absolute Thunder
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clap on the disciples in verse 12.
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After affirming the future restoration.
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He pivots and says, But I tell you that Elijah has already come
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and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they
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pleased. This is the plot twist of the
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entire narrative. The disciples are looking for a
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future glorious arrival in the clouds, and Jesus tells them the
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arrival has already happened in the past, right under the noses
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of their religious elite. He's speaking, of course, about
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John the Baptist. The forerunner came.
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He preached in the wilderness. He wore camel's hair, just like
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Elijah. He called the nation to
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repentance, and the world violently rejected him.
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We know the grim historical reality of John's fate.
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He was locked in a dark, damp dungeon and eventually beheaded
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by haired Antipas. And why?
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Simply to save face at a drunken banquet because of a foolish
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oath made to a dancing girl. It is one of the most grotesque,
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degrading deaths imaginable for a man of God.
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The text says the rulers did to him whatever they pleased.
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They treated the greatest prophet of the Old Covenant like
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absolute garbage. They discarded him.
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They silenced him. We are looking at a functional
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fulfillment of the Malachi prophecy here.
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John the Baptist was not the literal reincarnated Elijah,
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which is precisely why John explicitly denied being Elijah
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when the priests and Levites asked him in the Gospel of John
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chapter 1. However, John came in the spirit
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and authority of Elijah, exactly as the Angel Gabriel announced
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to Zechariah in Luke chapter 1. John fulfilled the preparatory
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role of the forerunner for the first advent of Christ.
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He was the voice crying in the wilderness, making the path
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straight. But we must focus our attention
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on the culpable blindness of the religious leaders.
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Jesus says they did not recognize him.
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I want to highlight the Greek verb used here, a pagneson.
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This was not a simple cognitive lapse, is not an honest mistake
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where they just missed a few subtle clues in the text.
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This word implies A rebellious, willful refusal to acknowledge
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the truth. They saw John's holy life, they
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heard his piercing calls for repentance, they watch the
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crowds flock to him, and they deliberately chose to reject his
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authority because it threatened their own position and
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influence. That willful blindness connects
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directly to the doctrine of total depravity.
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The human heart, apart from the regenerating grace of God, is
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utterly hostile to its Creator. The world's violent rejection of
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the herald exposes a deep seated hatred for the King himself.
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When a true prophet arrives and confronts the idols of legalism,
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pragmatism and self righteousness, the religious
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establishment will invariably lash out.
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John the Baptist threatened their self security.
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He called the Pharisees a brood of Vipers.
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He didn't play their political games, so they destroyed him.
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This is the natural, unvarnished disposition of fallen humanity.
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It proves that man is not basically good.
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Man is entirely corrupt and when confronted with absolute
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holiness, his default reaction is to murder the messenger.
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This is the reality Jesus is trying to force into the
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disciples minds. He is breaking down their naive
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optimism about the religious leaders in Jerusalem.
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He is pulling back the curtain on the sheer wickedness of the
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human condition. That reality leads us to the
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central turning point of this entire passage.
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Jesus draw the devastating parallel in the second-half of
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verse 12. He says so also.
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The Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.
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If the world rejected the herald, it will absolutely
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reject the King. Jesus is connecting the dots for
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the disciples. He's showing them that the
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bloody, degrading fate of John the Baptist is a preview of his
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own impending crucifixion. He uses the title Son of Man,
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which we know from Daniel Chapter 7 is a title of supreme
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divine authority, everlasting dominion and glory.
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Yet Jesus pairs that title of absolute majesty with the
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promise of certain violent suffering.
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This completely shatters the disciples categories.
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They cannot fathom A suffering Son of Man.
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In their minds. The Son of Man crushes his
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enemies. He doesn't get crushed by them.
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But Jesus is insisting that the cross is not an accident.
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It is not a detour. It is the absolute core of his
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mission. I want to focus on that specific
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wording. When you look at modern seeker
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sensitive movements today, you see a constant, exhausting
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effort to bypass the offense of the cross.
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They want to offer a Jesus who enhances your lifestyle.
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They preach a Jesus who functions as a life coach,
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someone who fixes your marriage, balances your finances, and
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helps you reach your personal goals without ever mentioning
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the blood, the wrath of God, or the absolute necessity of
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substitutionary atonement. It is a bloodless religion, but
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the indicative of the Gospel. Christ crucified for Gilkey
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sinners, is the only valid basis for our standing before God.
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You cannot have the benefits of the Kingdom without the blood of
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the King. The disciples wanted the crown
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without the cross, and modern evangelicalism often makes the
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exact same catastrophic error. We want the shiny, triumphant
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Jesus, but we balk at the Jesus who is mocked, beaten, and
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nailed to wood. We try to scrub the crucifixion
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out of our theology because it offends our modern
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sensibilities. We must analyze the Greek verb
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melee used in this phrase, which translates to is about to or
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will. Certainly this word indicates
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absolute divine necessity in redemptive history.
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Christ's suffering was a guaranteed certainty.
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It was not a tragic accident, it was not a failure of God's plan,
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and it was most certainly not a simple moral example of how to
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handle unjust persecution, as some false teachers claim.
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This explicitly refutes the errors of Arminianism and
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liberalism. Arminianism often paints a
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picture of a God who is simply reacting to human free will,
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hoping people will choose him and adapting his plans as he
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goes. It makes the cross look like a
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backup plan when the Kingdom offer was rejected.
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Liberalism, on the other hand, guts the cross of its atoning
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reality, turning Jesus into nothing more than a political
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martyr or a teacher of ethics who got caught on the wrong side
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of the Roman government. Both of these views are toxic
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and entirely foreign to the text.
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Right Reformed theology insists, based on the clear, unambiguous
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teaching of Scripture, that the cross was the sovereignly
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ordained path from the very beginning.
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It was decreed an eternity path to satisfy the infinite
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unbending justice of God. This echoes the Suffering
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Servant prophecy of Isaiah 53 where the prophet says it
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pleased the Lord to crush him. The Son of Man had to suffer to
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bear the wrath that His people deserved.
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The suffering was purposeful, it was substitutionary, and it was
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absolutely certain. Jesus is looking at His
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disciples and telling them I am going to Jerusalem to die.
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It is fixed. It is certain.
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He is trying to anchor their faith in the sovereign plan of
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God before the chaos of Passion Week hits them.
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He knows that when they see Him arrested and beaten, their faith
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will shatter if they do not understand that this is
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precisely what the Father ordained.
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The cross is not a moment of weakness, it is the ultimate
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fulfilment of divine justice. Following this heavy, sobering
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declaration, we see a distinct narrative shift at verse 13.
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Matthew records. Then the disciples understood
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that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
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The fog finally lifts. They connect the scribal
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teaching about Elijah to the historical reality of John the
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Baptist, and by extension, they are beginning to grasp the
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absolute necessity of Christ's own suffering.
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They move from confusion to clarity.
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We need to contrast the disciples granted illumination
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with the scribes spiritual blindness.
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The scribes had the formal education, they had the scrolls,
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they have the cultural authority, and they had hours of
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intense debate in the synagogue's, but they could not
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see the truth standing right in front of them.
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The disciples, who were uneducated fishermen and tax
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collectors, were granted the ability to understand heavy
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prophetic mysteries. Why?
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Because back on the mountain in verse 5, the Father commanded
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them from the cloud, listened to him, and here we see the result
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of that obedience. True interpretation of Scripture
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requires submitting to Christ's voice over human tradition.
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The disciples understood because they listen to the King's
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authoritative explanation of the text.
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That is a brilliant point. The disciples did not figure
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this out by forming a study committee.
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They figured it out by submitting to the Word made
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flesh. If we connect this to the bigger
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picture, we see that illumination is always a gift of
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divine grace. The disciples understanding
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wasn't achieved through sheer intellectual strength, rigorous
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academic study, or human cleverness.
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The Apostle Paul tells us in Corinthians that the natural man
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does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
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folly to him. The scribes relied on their own
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intellect, their own logic, and their man made traditions, and
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they remained entirely in the dark.
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The disciples, despite their frequent failures and slow
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heartedness, were granted sight because the Son of God opened
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their minds to understand the Scriptures.
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It was the direct fruit of submitting to Christ's
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authoritative explanation. We cannot miss the fact that
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human reason alone is insufficient to grasp the
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gospel. This teaches us that true
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theological insight is never a product of human autonomy.
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It is a gift given to those who humble themselves before the
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Word of God and rely entirely on the illuminating work of the
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Holy Spirit. We cannot master the biblical
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text. The text must master us.
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The disciples learn to let Jesus at the terms of interpretation
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rather than forcing Jesus into the preconceived boxes built by
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the scribes. When you approach the Bible, you
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have to leave your cultural expectations at the door.
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You have to let the King dictate what the text means.
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The disciples had to unlearn years of bad synagogue teaching
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in order to accept the reality of a suffering Messiah.
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That is the difficult work of sanctification.
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Letting the Word of God dismantle your flawed
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assumptions is a painful process, but it's entirely
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necessary for genuine faith. So what does this all mean for
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you? If you are sitting in a Pew on
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Sunday morning, you are surrounded by messages that
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promise you victory, comfort and success.
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If you just have enough faith, you're bombarded with versions
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of Christianity that look nothing like the rugged, blood
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stained path Jesus describes here.
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We have walked through the descent from the mountain, the
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strict command of silence, the massive confusion over Elijah,
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the reality of total human depravity, the divine necessity
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of the cross and the gift of spiritual understanding.
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Now we must apply this to the head, the heart and the hands.
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Let's start with the head, with our doctrine.
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How does a proper grasp of this moment in Matthew 17 protect
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your mind from modern prosperity theology?
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For the head, we must rigorously guard against the prosperity
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gospel and various forms of mysticism that currently plague
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the modern church. True faith recognizes that the
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decree of God and His Providence, as beautifully
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articulated in Westminster Confession chapter 5, operate
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just as much in the valley of rejection as they do on the
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mountaintop of glory. Let me break that down.
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God's Providence is His most holy, wise, and powerful,
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preserving and governing of all His creatures and all their
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actions. This means that when you face
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hostility, when you are misunderstood for the sake of
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the gospel, or when you experience intense,
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unexplainable suffering, God has not abandoned His throne.
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He is actively governing those trials for His glory and your
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sanctification, just as He sovereignly ordained the
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suffering of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of His own
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Son. You must trust that His
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Providence covers the darkness just as much as the light.
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That is a hard truth, but it is the only truth that will sustain
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you. You must reject any theology
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that equates faithfulness with earthly ease.
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Your doctrine must be robust enough to handle the reality of
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the cross. If your theology falls apart
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when you get a bad medical diagnosis or when you lose your
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job because of your Christian convictions, then you have
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bought into the theology of the scribes, not the theology of
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Jesus. Moving to the heart, to our
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affections, this passage offers incredible comfort for the
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weary. St.
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If you are exhausted, if you feel beaten down by the world,
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or if you are struggling under the weight of your own failures,
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look at the Savior presented here.
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Christ is not a distant, glowing icon who demands perfection from
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afar. He is sympathetic high priest.
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He knows what it means to be hated by the world.
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Absolutely. Think about what he did.
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He willingly stepped down from the Mount of Transfiguration,
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stepping away from the visible glory of the Father, knowing
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full well that the path ahead involved beating, mockery,
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rejection, and a torturous death on a Roman cross.
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He faced the absolute worst of human depravity, and he did it
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willingly for the joy that was set before him, the joy of
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redeeming His people. This reality confronts our idols
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of earthly safety and success. We naturally crave comfort.
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We want people to like us. We want a smooth path.
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We spend so much energy trying to insulate ourselves from any
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form of pain. But the King of Glory chose a
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path of agony to save us. Recognizing His willing
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sacrifice should shatter our idols and draw our hearts in the
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deep, overwhelming gratitude and love for Him.
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You are loved by a Savior who walked into the teeth of human
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hatred specifically to rescue you from the wrath of God.
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Finally, we must apply this to the Hamlaws, to our daily
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obedience. This brings up what Reformed
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theologians call the third use of the law, as detailed in
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Westminster Confession chapter 19.
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It's the idea that the law isn't just a mirror showing us our sin
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anymore. It's a map.
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It shows a believer how to walk out their gratitude.
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The law no longer condemns the believer, but it directs the
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believer in how to live a life of grateful obedience to the
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Savior. And in the context of this
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passage, obedience means taking up your cross.
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It means embracing the suffering that comes with following a
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rejected king. Let's make this practical.
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For singles, this means finding your complete fulfillment and
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identity in your union with Christ.
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It means completely rejecting the culture's idolatrous demands
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for sexual autonomy or worldly success.
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Even if it means you are mocked or marginalized, you have to
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stand firm. Yes, and for families it means
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teaching your children the hard truth that the Christian life is
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a battleground, not a playground.
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You are raising soldiers for spiritual war, not consumers for
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a comfortable society. You have to prepare them for the
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reality that following Jesus will will cost them something.
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For office bearers and the church pastors, elders and
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deacons, it means standing ready to suffer loss, mockery and
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intense opposition for holding fast to the objective truth of
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Scripture in a culture that despises it.
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If you were an elder, you cannot be a people pleaser.
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You have to be willing to bear the scars of faithful ministry,
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just as John the Baptist did and just as our Lord did.
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The call to leadership is a call to a cross.
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This entire discussion culminates beautifully in the
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means of grace, specifically the Lord's Supper.
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When we gather as a church on the Lord's Day and observe the
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sacrament, we are looking at the combination of what Jesus
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predicted in verse 12. The broken bread and the poured
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wine are the visible word. They are the tangible physical
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markers of the Son of Man, who certainly suffered for His
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people. When you take the bread, you are
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remembering the literal body that was battered by the very
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people He came to save. When you drink the cup, you are
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remembering the literal blood that satisfied the unbending
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justice of God. The Lord's Supper connects our
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physical senses to the historical reality of the cross,
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cementing in our minds that the path to the Kingdom was paved
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with the substitutionary death of the mediator.
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It brings the heavy theology of Matthew 17 right off the page
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and places it onto our tongues. True discernment requires
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accepting the King entirely on God's terms.
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You cannot invent a version of Jesus that suits your
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preferences. The blood stained path is the
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absolute only way to Kingdom glory.
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We cannot have the crown without the cross.
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I want to leave you with a final thought to consider on your own
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as you process this text throughout your week.
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Think about the two literal mountains in Christ's earthly
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ministry, Tabor, the site of the Transfiguration, and Mount
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Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion.
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On Tabor, the disciples saw the uncreated light of God's glory
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shining through the Savior. But the supreme display of God's
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glory, His justice, His wrath, His grace, and His mercy was
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most completely achieved through the dark, humiliating shame of
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Golgotha. The light of Tabor required the
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darkness of Golgotha to secure our redemption.
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If that is true for the head of the church, consider your own
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life. How might God be using the
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unseen, mundane or painful trials you're experiencing today
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as the very instruments preparing you to inherit the
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coming millennial Kingdom? If the king entered his glory
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through suffering, you must expect that your own preparation
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for that Kingdom will involve the fiery trial of the valley.
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Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into the Word of
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God. We encourage you to rest
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entirely in the finished sufficient work of the Saviour.
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Until next time, keep your eyes fixed on the Son of Man, the
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Crucified and risen King.