Hold Fast to the Truth

May 7, 2019

Hold Fast to the Truth

Jesus’ appearance was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus.

Mark 9: 2b-4

About a week before going up on the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, John and James, Jesus had performed several miracles. Following the miracles, Peter proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus then predicted his crucifixion and resurrection; Peter reprimanded Jesus for such foolish talk. Jesus reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (Mark 8:33). After this, Jesus took his three disciples to the mountain top. After their encounter with Moses and Elijah, Jesus told them “not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (Mark 9:9). They didn’t tell anyone else, but among the three they kept discussing what Jesus meant.

Jesus went to great lengths to help his disciples understand God’s plan of redemption. They were slow to grasp the truth. So are we. Even more troubling, when we do grasp the truth, we can easily lose it.

In Acts 20, we read about the elders from the Church in Ephesus going out to meet Paul on his way to Jerusalem. Paul will be arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome. The elders know they will never see him again. They prayed together on the beach. They cried together on the beach; such was their great love for God’s Kingdom and one another. But then something happened.

Revelation 2 contains Jesus’ message to the Church in Ephesus where Jesus says, “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!” (Revelation 2:4). Wow! The church had grasped the truth, but then lost it and was in danger of losing the anointing of God. (Revelation 2:5)

My Takeaway: Immediately before going up the Mountain, Jesus issued a very stern call to discipleship which ended with this warning: “If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). This is a harsh warning, but a warning we all need to hear. When we lose reverence for Jesus and his message, we lose his truth.

Sē’lah

Alex

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.