Fish with coin in mouth
Verses 1-2
After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
Skeptics, scoffers, doubters, atheists, etc… love to claim that Jesus was just an ordinary man. It’s their excuse to dismiss his divinity and thus his spiritual authority. The transfiguration of Jesus, however, demonstrates without question that Jesus is by no means an ordinary man. How many times have you seen an ordinary man’s face become as bright as the sun and his clothing become as white as light? He may be fully man, but he is also fully God.
…Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)
Verse 3
Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus.
For nearly my entire Christian life, I assumed that these were the spirits of Moses and Elijah because at this point Moses had been deceased for a thousand years. However, I recently heard someone suggest that Peter, James and John are seeing Moses and Elijah during the time of their earthly lives. The suggestion was that perhaps God was doing something miraculous with time. Merging three different points in time as well as different geographic locations into one. In the book of Exodus when Moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God, he was perhaps, at that time, meeting with Jesus during this present time of transfiguration. Likewise, when Elijah went up on Mount Horeb to speak with God, he too may have been conversing with Jesus during this present moment of transfiguration. If this was the case, were Moses and Elijah aware of one another? I don’t think so. The accounts in Exodus and 1st Kings don’t seem to suggest that. Furthermore, I am by no means suggesting that this is the absolute correct interpretation. I am merely speculating. However, because nothing is impossible for God; his ability to manipulate both time and space in a miraculous way is certainly plausible. God resides outside of time and is therefore not bound by time. You can praise God at the realization that he already knows the entire timeline of your life and is already present in your future times of need. When you have problems in this life, don’t think you have to wait for God to show up. He’s already there.
It should be noted here that Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the prophets. Recall from Matthew chapter five that Jesus came to fulfill the law and prophets.
Verse 4
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, I will put up three shelters —one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
I am not putting forth effort herein to interpret verse 4 because I think Peter is very likely just running his mouth and speaking nonsense. In the next verse we see that God interrupts Peter, and stops him from speaking any further, which is why I’ve concluded that Peter’s words are likely not important.
But if that’s the case, why include them in the Bible? We know that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
So therefore, there must be some sort of significance to what Peter is saying, but what could it be? Mark’s account gives indication that they were scared and that Peter didn’t know what to say.
Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For they were all so terrified that Peter did not know what else to say. (Mark 9:5-6)
Therefore, I am concluding that the purpose for including Peter’s words is to emphasize to the reader that the holiness of God is terrifying and to stand before the glorified Jesus Christ is something to be feared, especially by those who are unsaved.
In my commentary on Matthew chapter 11 when Jesus was reprimanding the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, Jesus said:
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.” (Matthew 11:21-22)
In my commentary I stated that there appears to be different severities of judgment. Jesus said that it will be more bearable for one on the day of Judgment than for the other.
We know the timeline goes something like this; upon death, the unsaved go to hell until the day of judgement. Then they are resurrected out of hell in order to stand before God and give an account. The unsaved are then judged and afterwards thrown into the lake of fire along with Satan and his demons.
I have heard, and am willing to believe that there are different levels of hell which have greater or lesser severity. However, I do not believe the same is true for the lake of fire. I am willing to assume that the lake of fire is a uniform punishment for Satan, his demons, and all who rejected Jesus Christ as their savior.
Therefore, the thing in Matthew chapter 11 which is more bearable or less bearable on the day of Judgment must be the act of being judged by God. Not the punishment, but rather having to stand before the almighty God to explain yourself and receive His reprimand. For one to be more bearable and another less bearable is perhaps comparable to a child having to go before his earthly dad and telling him he spilled some milk vs telling him he burned the house down.
Whatever be the case, I believe the message being conveyed by Peter’s words in this present chapter are that seeing the glorified Jesus Christ is terrifying. Therefore, the take away is that we ought not go to our graves having never put our faith in Jesus Christ, because we will be terrified to stand before Jesus Christ to be judged.
The saved, however, are not judged for their sins; praise God, because Jesus took our sins.
Verses 5-8
While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell face down in terror. Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
A cloud enveloped Jesus, and Moses (the law) and Elijah (the prophets). A voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”. When the disciples next looked up, they saw only Jesus. What is the implication? Recall when Jesus was walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself. (Luke 24:27)
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets. God instructs us to Listen to Him. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (Luke 14:15)
By looking up and seeing only Jesus, the disciples (as well as us, the readers of God’s word) are being shown that Jesus is all we need. Again, Jesus is not negating the law and prophets, he is the fulfillment of them.
God said “Listen to Him”. After his resurrection Jesus is going to inform the disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” (Matthew 28:18)
The one who has all authority, should be listened to. If the one who has all authority says go, we should go. And if he says “remain where you are”, we should remain. This is why faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26b)
“Listen to Him!” is God’s advice to us. Putting one’s faith in Jesus Christ means that you fully trust Him. That you believe what Jesus said is true.
Remember there are two ways to reject Jesus Christ. The first is to reject his claim of authority. Those who declare that Jesus was an ordinary man (i.e. he is not the savior) are rejecting his authority. People who say that Christianity is not the only path to salvation are rejecting Christ’s authority. The second way to reject Jesus Christ is to not do what he said. A bank robber can claim he has faith in Jesus Christ, but the act of robbing a bank is a rejection of Jesus Christ because Jesus said “you shall not steal” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”. By robbing the bank, he is robbing his neighbors. Furthermore, we presume the bank robber uses a gun while committing his crime. Threatening people with violence is not doing what Jesus said. Thus, the bank robber has rejected Jesus’s instructions. By his actions, the bank robber demonstrates he has rejected Jesus. We can conclude therefore, that there is a big discrepancy between his claim of faith in Christ and that of his present behavior.
Verse 9
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Do not tell anyone about this vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Jesus needed the disciples to remain alive until they could begin the church and begin spreading the gospel. Had they gone about telling everyone in Jerusalem about the transfiguration they had just witnessed, they likely would have been crucified right along side Jesus.
Verses 10-13
Having now seen Moses and Elijah and the transfiguration of Jesus, these disciples are trying to understand the meaning of it all. They ask Jesus, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
Jesus replied, “Elijah does indeed come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”
Then the disciples understood that He was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
But I don’t think that’s the end of it. Yes, Jesus is saying that John the Baptist was like Elijah and represents him, and the disciples were satisfied with that explanation. However, I want to zero in on verse 11 in which Jesus says “Elijah does indeed come, and he will restore all things.” Notice that Jesus is not speaking in past tense. John the Baptist at this point has already been beheaded and is deceased. But Jesus is using the future tense in his dialogue. He said “Elijah does come” “Elijah will restore”
Let’s review the prophecy that the disciples were inquiring about:
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall. Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts.
“Remember the law of My servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:1-6)
To me, this is clearly an end times prophesy. This is talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ. So even though John the Baptist represents Elijah, I think Elijah himself is still yet to come. Furthermore, I am concluding that Elijah is one of the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation chapter eleven.
And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.
When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified. For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.
But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them. And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them. (Revelation 11: 3-12)
Verses 14-20
It appears that Jesus is becoming exasperated when he says “How long must I put up with you?”
I doubt very much that Jesus’s exasperation is directed toward the father who very understandably would be desperate to help his son. But this man, when explaining the situation to Jesus stated that the 9 disciples were unable to cast out the demon. This, despite the fact that Jesus gave them authority to do so (Matthew chapter ten). It can only mean that they are doubting what Jesus said. He gave them authority to cast out demons yet their own doubts and lack of faith prevented them from helping this man’s son. Jesus then promptly casts out the demon and heals the boy.
Afterward the disciples came to Jesus privately and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” Jesus answered, “Because you have so little faith.”
Faith in what? Their own abilities to cast out demons? No. The lack of faith that they are displaying is in not believing what Jesus told them. They doubt Jesus. Again, Jesus gave them authority to cast out demons, but by doubting Jesus’s words (i.e. the word of God) they are unable to perform the task.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)
Think of your bible (the word) as being a part of God. It is the words that came out of his mouth. It is a record of what God has said. Thus, if you want to put faith in Jesus Christ (which is how we are saved), you must therefore believe that what God said is true. Likewise, if you believe that what God said is true, you will do what he said.
Let it not be that Jesus becomes exasperated with you and I. Instead, let’s walk in faith.
Jesus continues, “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
When I was in elementary school, we lived in Colorado. I recall my parents visiting an elderly woman that lived in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. While at her house I looked out her back door at the mountain rising steeply in front of me. Looking at it, I recalled this Bible verse and wondered if I said to that mountain “Move” would it move.
But remember, the doubt that Jesus is exasperated with is not that the disciples doubted themselves, it was that they were doubting what Jesus had told them. Thus, to properly interpret this verse about moving mountains, we have to conclude that if Jesus sent you to move a mountain, and you had faith that what Jesus said is true, you could then say to the mountain move and it would do so. The emphasis is not upon your will, but God’s. No matter how much faith you put in yourself, you can not move a mountain unless God sends you to move it.
Also, I want to point out that many people have attempted to explain away this verse by suggesting that the mountain is merely an analogy to some type of obstacle one might have in life, but is not referring to an actual mountain. But I must sharply disagree and would be willing to point my finger at such people and say to them, “For how long must He put up with you?” Because nothing is impossible for God. He created the Rocky Mountains by simply speaking to them. If God spoke from heaven and said to you, “Go to the Rocky Mountains, and tell them to move from there to here.” You could actually say to the mountains move, and God would move them according to his will.
Looking at the pictures below, do you believe that God could make the landscape on the left, look like the landscape on the right? If you’re answer is Yes, you have faith the size of a mustard seed. If you said no, keep asking the Lord to help you have more faith.
Can God move an actual mountain?
Verse 21
If you are reading from any of the following Bible translations you might notice that your Bible does not include verse 21 in Matthew chapter seventeen, but rather it skips it.
• Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
• English Standard Version (ESV)
• New International Version (NIV)
• New Living Translation (NLT)
• Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
• New American Standard Bible (NASB) – 2020 Edition
Many people have pointed to this as “Proof” that all of these Bible translations are corrupted. But the reality is quite the opposite. Verse 21 does not appear at all in the oldest and most reliable copies of the Bible that exist. Rather, it was added at some point later. All of the above Bible translations were derived from the oldest and most reliable manuscripts and therefore, do not include verse 21. Each of these Bible translations had over 100 Bible scholars work on them. I am confident in their findings and conclusion that verse 21 does not belong, therefore, I am choosing to skip it in this commentary.
Verses 22-23
When they gathered together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.” And the disciples were deeply grieved.
The Son of Man is of course referring to Jesus and comes from the book of Daniel chapter seven. What he’s describing is the atonement for sin which will save all of those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. He’s going to be killed on the cross, a sinless perfect sacrifice which takes upon himself all of our sins. By rising again on the third day, Jesus will conquer death on our behalf. Those who put their faith in Jesus will:
1. Have their sins forgiven. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)
2. Will enter into eternity to live forever with Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3:16-17)
This is the reason why Jesus is the only path to salvation. Who else died for your sins? No one. Who else conquered death? No one. Jesus Christ is the only path by which we can enter into eternal life.
Verses 24-27
On being asked if Jesus is going to pay his tax, Jesus says to Peter “From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs and taxes: from their own sons, or from others?” The implication here is that Jesus is the son of God and that as such he is exempt from taxes. However, Jesus is humble and is not going to announce to the tax collector that he ought to be exempt.
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:7-8)
Jesus then says to peter “But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours.”
I enjoy metal detecting on the beach. When a person walks into the water and then gets slammed by a big wave, it can easily knock all their jewelry right off their fingers, wrist, ears and neck. So it’s not uncommon, using a quality metal detector to find gold and silver at the beach.
When reading these verses, I picture the following scenario: a person, perhaps a Roman soldier, went to the beach at the sea of Galilee, and while walking in the water he was struck by a wave and it knocked a four-drachma coin from his pocket. That coin could have laid there in shallow water for a day, a month, or a year, but on this particular day, God sent a fish to go pick it up. With the coin in his mouth, God then sent that fish to go bite Peter’s hook.
This event shows the miraculous ways in which God can provide. Furthermore, the fact that Jesus knew of said coin and fish and accurately predicted that Peter would catch the fish is just another example that Jesus Christ is much more than merely a man.