◄ Mark 9:5 ►
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."
Study Bible
Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi,

Peter spoke as the disciples’ leading representative, yet his words arose amid overwhelming fear and wonder. His readiness to address Jesus reveals both personal devotion and the prominent role he would later hold in strengthening the early church. Peter honored Jesus as his Rabbi, meaning teacher and a title of respect, and acknowledged His authority over the disciples. The glory displayed on the mountain, however, pointed beyond even the honored title of Rabbi to Jesus’ unique identity as the beloved Son of God.

Mrk 11:21 Peter remembered it and said, “Look, Rabbi!”…
Jhn 1:38 Jesus turned and saw them following. “What do you want?”…
Jhn 4:31 Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

it is good for us to be here.

Peter rightly recognized the privilege of witnessing the unveiled glory of Christ with Moses and Elijah. The mountain scene offered the disciples a foretaste of the kingdom’s glory and confirmed that Jesus was not merely another teacher or prophet.

Mat 17:4 Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here…
Luk 9:33 As Moses and Elijah were leaving, Peter said to Jesus,…
2Pe 1:18 And we ourselves heard this voice from heaven…

Let us put up three shelters—

Peter may have connected the event with the Feast of Tabernacles, when Israel remembered God’s wilderness provision and looked forward to His dwelling with His people. His proposal also showed that he did not yet understand that the vision was temporary and that Jesus must soon descend the mountain to walk the path toward the cross.

Lev 23:42 You are to dwell in booths for seven days.…
Neh 8:15 and that they should proclaim this message…
Zec 14:16 Then all the survivors will go up year after year…

one for You,

Peter placed Jesus among the three glorious figures, but the Father’s coming declaration would distinguish Jesus from Moses and Elijah. Jesus alone is the Son to whom the disciples must listen.

Jhn 1:14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.…
Heb 3:3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory…
Jhn 2:19-21 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days”…

one for Moses,

Moses represented the Law and stood as Israel’s great covenant leader. His presence testified that the Law finds its fulfillment in Christ, the promised Prophet like Moses who would speak God’s final word.

Exo 34:29 And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai…
Heb 3:5 Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,…
Jhn 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth……

and one for Elijah.”

Elijah represented the Prophets and the expectation of the Messiah’s coming kingdom. Together, Moses and Elijah bore witness that the Law and the Prophets converge in Jesus, whose glory surpasses them both.

Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet…
2Ki 2:11 As they were walking along and talking together,…
1Ki 19:8 So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Peter
One of Jesus' closest disciples, known for his impulsive nature and strong leadership among the apostles. In Mark 9:5, Peter speaks to Jesus during the Transfiguration.

2. Jesus
The central figure of the New Testament, the Son of God, who is transfigured in this passage, revealing His divine glory to His disciples.

3. James and John
Brothers and disciples of Jesus, present with Peter during the Transfiguration, witnessing the divine revelation.

4. Mount of Transfiguration
The specific mountain is not named in the text, but it is the setting for this significant event where Jesus' divine nature is revealed.

5. Elijah and Moses
Two pivotal figures from the Old Testament who appear with Jesus during the Transfiguration, representing the Law and the Prophets.
Teaching Points
The Glory of Christ Revealed
The Transfiguration is a powerful revelation of Jesus' divine nature, reminding us of His authority and glory. As believers, we are called to recognize and worship Jesus as the Son of God.

The Fulfillment of the Law and Prophets
The presence of Moses and Elijah signifies that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. This teaches us that all Scripture points to Christ and finds its ultimate meaning in Him.

The Importance of Listening to Jesus
Peter's suggestion to build shelters reflects a misunderstanding of the moment. The voice from the cloud instructs the disciples to listen to Jesus, emphasizing the importance of heeding His words above all else.

The Role of Discipleship
The Transfiguration serves as a reminder of the call to discipleship, where we are invited to witness and participate in the divine mission of Christ, even when we do not fully understand it.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the Transfiguration of Jesus in Mark 9:5 deepen our understanding of His divine nature and mission?

2. In what ways do Moses and Elijah's appearances during the Transfiguration connect to their roles in the Old Testament, and how does this enhance our understanding of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets?

3. Reflect on Peter's reaction to the Transfiguration. How can we learn from his response when we encounter moments of divine revelation or spiritual insight in our own lives?

4. How does the instruction to "listen to Him" (referring to Jesus) challenge us in our daily walk with Christ, especially when faced with competing voices and distractions?

5. Consider the significance of the Transfiguration in the context of Jesus' journey to the cross. How does this event prepare the disciples (and us) for the reality of Jesus' suffering and resurrection?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 24
The appearance of Moses on the mountain connects to his own experience of divine revelation on Mount Sinai, emphasizing the continuity of God's revelation.

1 Kings 19
Elijah's encounter with God on Mount Horeb parallels his appearance at the Transfiguration, highlighting his role as a prophet who points to Christ.

2 Peter 1:16-18
Peter later reflects on the Transfiguration, affirming the truth of the event and its significance in confirming Jesus' divine nature.
Sermons
The TransfigurationR. Green Mark 9:1-8
A Vision of HomeMark 9:1-10
Christ the Light of the BodyC. Kingsley, M. A.Mark 9:1-10
Dust of Gold Gathered from a Variety of AuthorsJ. Morison, D. D., J. Morison, D. D., J. Morison, D. D., Bengel., Bengel., Dr. Brown., Hall.Mark 9:1-10
Ecstasy Cannot be ContinuedA. P. Foster.Mark 9:1-10
Elias with MosesH. M. Luckock, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
Exceptional Hours in LifeJ. Parker, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
How We Know There is a HeavenDr. Newton.Mark 9:1-10
It is Good for Us to be HereBishop Hall., T. M. Lindsay, D. D., J. H. Godwin.Mark 9:1-10
Man's TransformationR. W. Evans.Mark 9:1-10
Moses and Elias Talking with JesusJ. Parker, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
On the Holy MountW. M. Taylor, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
Secrecy Enjoined Till the Son of Man be Risen from the DeadJ. Parker, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
The Decease At Jerusalem; Or, the Power of the CrossDr. Newton.Mark 9:1-10
The Glorified SaintThomas Jones.Mark 9:1-10
The Hiding of the Higher LifeJ. Parker, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
The Influence of Heaven Here BelowA. P. Foster.Mark 9:1-10
The Lessons of the TransfigurationS. Cox, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
The TransfigurationJ. W. Boulding.Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration and its TeachingsDean Goulburn.Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration Gives Us a Pledge and Earnest of Our Personal Identity in the Risen StateH. M. Luckock, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration of ChristW. J. Brock, B. A.Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration of ChristDr. Newton.Mark 9:1-10
The Use of Religious ExcitementBishop Walsham How.Mark 9:1-10
Transfiguration of ChristW. H. Lewis, D. D.Mark 9:1-10
A Glimpse of GloryJ.J. Given Mark 9:1-13
The TransfigurationA.F. Muir Mark 9:2-8
Glimpses of the Glory of JesusE. Johnson Mark 9:2-18
People
Elias, Elijah, James, Jesus, John, Peter
Places
Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, Galilee, High Mountain
Topics
Answereth, Answering, Booths, Elias, Elijah, Eli'jah, Let's, Master, Peter, Rabbi, Says, Shelters, Tabernacles, Tents, Thankful
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Mark 9:5

     2363   Christ, preaching and teaching
     5113   Peter, disciple
     7420   Rabbi

Mark 9:2-7

     2580   Christ, transfiguration

Mark 9:2-8

     4254   mountains

Mark 9:2-13

     5092   Elijah

Mark 9:5-6

     5815   confusion

Library
February 2 Evening
One star differeth from another star in glory.--I COR. 15:41. By the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all.--Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Christ's Lament Over Our Faithlessness
'He answereth him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?'--Mark ix. 19. There is a very evident, and, I think, intentional contrast between the two scenes, of the Transfiguration, and of this healing of the maniac boy. And in nothing is the contrast more marked than in the demeanour of these enfeebled and unbelieving Apostles, as contrasted with the rapture of devotion of the other three, and with the lowly submission and faith of Moses and Elias. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Omnipotence of Faith
Jesus said unto him, If them canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.'--Mark ix. 23. The necessity and power of faith is the prominent lesson of this narrative of the healing of a demoniac boy, especially as it is told by the Evangelist Mark, The lesson is enforced by the actions of all the persons in the group, except the central figure, Christ. The disciples could not cast out the demon, and incur Christ's plaintive rebuke, which is quite as much sorrow as blame: 'O faithless …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Unbelieving Belief
'And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.'--Mark ix. 24. We owe to Mark's Gospel the fullest account of the pathetic incident of the healing of the demoniac boy. He alone gives us this part of the conversation between our Lord and the afflicted child's father. The poor man had brought his child to the disciples, and found them unable to do anything with him. A torrent of appeal breaks from his lips as soon as the Lord gives …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

An Unanswered Question
'What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?'--Mark ix. 33. Was it not a strange time to squabble when they had just been told of His death? Note-- I. The variations of feeling common to the disciples and to us all: one moment 'exceeding sorrowful,' the next fighting for precedence. II. Christ's divine insight into His servants' faults. This question was put because He knew what the wrangle had been about. The disputants did not answer, but He knew without an answer, as His immediately …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Salted with Fire
Every one shall be salted with fire.'--Mark ix. 49. Our Lord has just been uttering some of the most solemn words that ever came from His gracious lips. He has been enjoining the severest self-suppression, extending even to mutilation and excision of the eye, the hand, or the foot, that might cause us to stumble. He has been giving that sharp lesson on the ground of plain common sense and enlightened self-regard. It is better, obviously, to live maimed than to die whole. The man who elects to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Salt in Yourselves'
'Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.'--Mark ix. 50. In the context 'salt' is employed to express the preserving, purifying, divine energy which is otherwise spoken of as 'fire.' The two emblems produce the same result. They both salt--that is, they cleanse and keep. And if in the one we recognise the quick energy of the Divine Spirit as the central idea, no less are we to see the same typified under a slightly different aspect in the other. The fire transforms into its own substance …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'This is My Beloved Son: Hear Him'
'And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son: hear Him.'--Mark ix. 7. With regard to the first part of these words spoken at the Transfiguration, they open far too large and wonderful a subject for me to do more than just touch with the tip of my finger, as it were, in passing, because the utterance of the divine words, 'This is My beloved Son,' in all the depth of their meaning and loftiness, is laid as the foundation of the two …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Jesus Only!
'They saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.'--Mark ix. 8. The Transfiguration was the solemn inauguration of Jesus for His sufferings and death. Moses, the founder, and Elijah, the restorer, of the Jewish polity, the great Lawgiver and the great Prophet, were present. The former had died and been mysteriously buried, the latter had been translated without 'seeing death.' So both are visitors from the unseen world, appearing to own that Jesus is the Lord of that dim land, and that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Transfiguration
'And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them. 3. And His raimemt became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 4. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Receiving and Forbidding
'And He came to Capernaum: and being in the house He asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? 34. But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 35. And He sat down, and called the Twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. 36. And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, 37. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

July the Ninth Scholars in Christ's School
"He taught His disciples." --MARK ix. 30-37. And my Lord will teach me. He will lead me into "the deep things" of God. There is only one school for this sort of learning, and an old saint called it the Academy of Love, and it meets in Gethsemane and Calvary, and the Lord Himself is the teacher, and there is room in the school for thee and me. But the disciples were not in the mood for learning. They were not ambitious for heavenly knowledge, but for carnal prizes, not for wisdom, but for place. …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Lenten Fast.
"This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer."--ST. MARK ix. 29. You remember the narrative from which I have taken this verse. Jesus, as we read, had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and when He was come to the multitude, a certain man besought him saying, "Have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed, and I brought him to Thy disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus rebuked the devil, and the child was cured from that hour. Thereupon His disciples …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

The Child in the Midst.
"And He took a child and set Him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name, receiveth Me: and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me."--ST. MARK ix. 36, 37. It is one of the characteristics of our time, one of its most hopeful and most encouraging signs, that men are awaking to higher and purer conceptions of the Christian life and what it is that constitutes such a life. We …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Of Hell
"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:48. 1. Every truth which is revealed in the oracles of God is undoubtedly of great importance. Yet it may be allowed that some of those which are revealed therein are of greater importance than others, as being more immediately conducive to the grand end of all, the eternal salvation of men. And we may judge of their importance even from this circumstance, -- that they are not mentioned once only in the sacred writings, but are repeated …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

A Caution against Bigotry
"And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name: and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not." Mark 9:38, 39. 1. In the preceding verses we read, that after the Twelve had been disputing "which of them should be the greatest," Jesus took a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, said unto them, "Whosoever shall receive one of these little children in My name, receiveth …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Faith's Dawn and Its Clouds
In the text there are three things very clearly. Here is true faith; here is grievous unbelief; here is a battle between the two. I. Very clearly in the text there is TRUE FAITH. "Lord, I believe," says the anxious father. When our Lord tells him that, if he can believe, all things are possible to him, he makes no demur, asks for no pause, wishes to hear no more evidence, but cries at once, "Lord, I believe." Now, observe we have called this faith true faith, and we will prove it to have been so. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

The Child in the Midst.
And he came to Capernaum: and, being in the house, he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

Absolute Surrender
"And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine and all that …
Andrew Murray—Absolute Surrender

Thoughts Upon Striving to Enter at the Strait Gate.
AS certainly as we are here now, it is not long but we shall all be in another World, either in a World of Happiness, or else in a World of Misery, or if you will, either in Heaven or in Hell. For these are the two only places which all Mankind from the beginning of the World to the end of it, must live in for evermore, some in the one, some in the other, according to their carriage and behaviour here; and therefore it is worth the while to take a view and prospect now and then of both these places, …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

The Three Tabernacles
And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. MARK ix. 5. Caught up in glory and in rapture, the Apostle seems to have forgotten the world from which he had ascended, and to which he still belonged, and to have craved permanent shelter and extatic communion within the mystic splendors that brightened the Mount of Transfiguration. But it was true, not only as to the confusion of his …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

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