Mark 9:1.....And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. You can be sure none of His disciples had any idea of what He was talking about!..... But verse 2 tells us.....And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. So far.....in Scripture there have been just a few times when this kingdom of God was made visible to physical men..... The first time I can recall......and we really never witnessed the event in Scripture......But we were told in Exodus that Moses met with God on Mount Sinai.....there he received the laws of God (from God personally in the presence of His angels).....and when he came down what was different about his face?.......It glowed......and then later every time he came out of the tabernacle that was set up in the wilderness those 40 years (after every meeting with God) his face would again glow!....... The second time was when Elijah was taken up to heaven......Elisha (Elijahs servant) asked Elijah for a double portion of his spirit before he would be translated to heaven........ Elijah said to Elisha (in 2 Kings 2:10)...... Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And then verse 11 tells us.......And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. The third time was when the armies of Syria surrounded Elishas house to capture him and take him back to Syria......Elishas servant was terrified when he looked out the window and saw the army of Syria surrounding the house...... But Elisha told his servant (in 2 Kings 6:16)......Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. The question is......were those horses and chariots of fire on that mountain before the servant could see them?.......Yes they were! Elisha knew they were there!.......But they were totally invisible to anyone else until Elisha prayed for his servants eyes to be opened and then his servant could see them too!....... Next question.....Are we surrounded by myriads of angels today?....Are they there all around us?.......Of course they are (even though we cant see them).....But how do know they are there?......By faith!.....Faith that comes from what God has revealed to us (with our spiritual eyes) in His word by His Spirit!.....
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 12:52:59 +0000