Jesus’ promise in v1 is quickly fulfilled. Here for a brief moment, something of the veil which hid Christ’s Divine glory was taken back, and a little glimpse of his majesty revealed (v2-3). Peter is so overwhelmed he does not know what to say (v6).

Moses and Elijah appeared and talked to Jesus about His departure. This was to encourage Jesus as He approached such a terrible death. Moses represents the law and Elijah the prophets showing that Christ was fulfilling the Old Testament.

Jesus’ greatest encouragement though comes from the Father (v7). In the Christian life we must find our greatest encouragement in God.

Even though Jesus’ death and resurrection had been explained to the disciples, they still failed to grasp it (v10). Jesus doesn’t allow the mention of Elijah (v11), to divert from the important teaching of the suffering of the Son of Man (v12). We must always be careful to have the teaching central to our lives.

After the awesome experience on top of the mountain, Jesus and His disciples now come down to earth with this incident of a son who couldn’t speak. The boy’s condition was caused by Satan but the power of Christ is greater and this boy is released (v25-27). The wonderful truth for us is that we can also experience the great liberating power of Christ but there are certain things we need to do. Like the father (v23-24), we need faith in Christ alongside prayer and fasting (v28-29).

To overcome the influence of evil in our own lives and in others, earnest crying unto God with faith is required. If we don’t do this, others will be able to complain about us as the father complained about the disciples (v18), that they failed to deliver.