“And when they had lifted their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only” (Mt. 17:8).
The last words will suffice us for a text, “Jesus only.” When Peter saw our Lord with Moses and Elias, he exclaimed, “Master, it is good to be here,” as if implying it was better to be with Jesus, and Moses, and Elias, than to be with Jesus only. Now it was certainly good that for once in his life he should see Christ transfigured with the representatives of the law and the prophets; it might be for that particular occasion the best sight that he could see, but as an ordinary thing an ecstasy so sublime would not have been good for the disciples.
We shall first notice what might have happened to the disciples after the transfiguration; we shall then dwell on what did happen; and then, thirdly, we shall speak on what we anxiously desire may happen to those who hear us today.
First, then what might have happened to the three disciples after they had seen the transfiguration? There were four things, any of which might have occurred. As a first supposition, they might have seen nobody with them; they might have lifted their eyes and found the entire vision melted into thin air; no Moses, no Elias, and no Jesus. They would not have gone down the mountain that day asking questions and receiving instruction, for they would have had no teacher. They would have gone down among scribes and Pharisees to be baffled with their knotty questions, and to be defeated by their sophistries.
There are some in this world, and we ourselves have been among them, to whom something like this has actually occurred. You have been under a sermon, or in reading the Word of God, for awhile delighted, exhilarated, lifted up to the sublimer regions, and then afterwards when it has all been over, there has been nothing left of joy or benefit, nothing left of all that was preached, that you could take with you into the conflicts of everyday life. The whole has been a splendid vision and nothing more. There has been neither Moses, nor Elias, nor Jesus left.
As we go about our life work, may our religion be a matter of fact, a walking with the living and abiding Saviour. Though Moses may be gone, and Elias too, yet Jesus Christ abides with us and in us, and we in Him, and so shall it be evermore.
Now, there was a second thing that might have happened to the disciples. When they lifted up their eyes they might have seen Moses only. There are too many who see Moses only, inasmuch as they see nothing but law, nothing but duty and precept in the Bible. I know that some here, whenever they read the Bible or hear the gospel, feel nothing except a sense of their own sinfulness, and, arising from that sense, a desire to work out a righteousness of their own. They are continually measuring themselves by the law of God, they feel their shortcomings, they mourn over their transgressions, but go no further. Oh, how blessed is it to escape from the voice of threatening and come to the blood of sprinkling, where “Jesus only” speaks better things!
But there was a third alternative that might have happened to the disciples: they might have seen Elijah only. Instead of the gentle Saviour, they might have been standing at the side of the rough-clad and stern-spirited Elias. Elias may be taken representatively as the preparer of Christ, for our Lord interpreted the prophecy of the coming of Elias as referring to John the Baptist. There are not a few who abide in the seeking, repenting, and preparing state, and come not to “Jesus only.” Their souls are rent and torn by Elijah’s challenge, “If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him,” but they remain still halting between two opinions, trembling before Elias and not rejoicing before the Saviour. At the girdle of John the Baptist the keys of heaven never hung; Elias is not the door of salvation.
Only by faith in Jesus can you be saved, but complaining of yourselves is not faith. Jesus only is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus only is the sinner’s Saviour. O, that your eyes may be opened, not to see Elias, not to see Moses, but to see “Jesus only.”
But there was also another alternative: they might have seen Moses and Elias with Jesus, as in the Transfiguration. At first sight it seems as if this would be superior to that which they did enjoy. But, inasmuch as every man prefers noon to midnight, the disappearance of Moses and Elias was the best thing that could happen.
Why should we wish to see Moses? The ceremonials are all fulfilled in Jesus; let Moses go, his light is already in “Jesus only.” And why should I wish to retain Elias? The prophecies are all fulfilled in Jesus; let, then, Elias go; his light also is in “Jesus only.” It is better to see Moses and Elias in Christ, than to see Moses and Elias with Christ. The absence of some things betokens a higher state of things than their presence. In all my library, I do not know that I have a Lennie’s English Grammar, or a Mavor’s Spelling Book. Nor do I regret the absence of those works because I am beyond the need of them.
So the Christian wants not the symbols of Moses, or the preparations of Elias, for Christ is all, and we are complete in Him.
And as you grow in grace you will find that many doctrines and points of church government which once appeared to you to be all important–though you will still value them–will seem but of small consequence compared with Christ Himself. Like the traveler ascending the Alps to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, at first he observes that lord of the hills as one horn among many, and often in the twistings of his upward path he sees other peaks which appear more elevated than that monarch of mountains; but when at last he is at the summit, he sees all the rest of the hills beneath his feet, and, like a mighty wedge of alabaster, Mont Blanc pierces the very clouds. So, as we grow in grace, other things sink and Jesus rises. They must decrease, but Christ must increase until He alone fills the full horizon of your soul, and rises clear, bright, and glorious up into the very heaven of God. O that we may thus see “Jesus only!”
We must now speak on what really happened. “They saw no man, save Jesus only.” This was all they wanted; to see their comfort. They were sore afraid: Moses was gone, and he could give them no comfort; Elias was gone, he could speak no consolatory word; yet when Jesus said, “Be not afraid,” their fears vanished. All the comfort, then, that any troubled heart wants, it can find in Christ. Go not to Moses nor Elias, neither the old covenant nor to prophecy: go straight to Jesus. He was all the Saviour and Master they wanted.
He was enough as their power for future life, as well. They needed not to ask Moses to lend them official dignity, nor to ask Elias to bring them fire from heaven; Jesus would give them of His Holy Spirit, and they should be strong enough for every enterprise. And all the power you and I want to preach the gospel, and conquer souls to the truth, we can find in Jesus only. For “Jesus only” shall be our reward. To be with Him where He is, to behold His glory, to be like Him when we shall see Him as He is, we ask no other heaven.
Let us now think of what we desire may happen to all now present. I do desire for my fellow Christians and for myself, that more and more the great object of our thoughts, motives, and acts may be “Jesus only.” I believe that whenever our religion is most vital it is most full of Christ. Moreover, when it is most practical, it always gets nearest to Jesus. If I want to labor much, I must live on Jesus only; if I desire to suffer patiently, I must feed on Jesus only; if I wish to wrestle with God successfully, I must plead Jesus only; if I aspire to conquer sin, I must use the blood of Jesus only; if I pant to learn the mysteries of heaven, I must seek the teachings of Jesus only.
O look to Him! Though Moses should condemn you, and Elias should alarm you, yet “Jesus only” shall be enough to comfort and enough to save you. May God grant us grace, every one of us, to take for our motto in life, for our hope in death, and for our joy in eternity, “Jesus only!”