Charles Stanley (August-21-2024) Daily Devotional: Seeing the Kingdom.
Truly understanding that Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords changes everything.
Matthew 16:28 - ``Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."; Matthew 17:1-2 - Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light
Jesus’ words in today’s passage sound too good to believe. He said the kingdom of heaven was at hand and promised that “some of those who are standing here” would see it. But the next day—and the five after that—were just normal days in the same dark world.
On the sixth day, however, Peter, James, and John were with Jesus for what we now call the Transfiguration. And what an amazing thing they witnessed! As their Master’s appearance changed, they saw His face shining “like the sun” and His clothes a luminous white.
The next day the three disciples awoke as usual in the world they had always known—but they were different. They had seen the promised kingdom. And they carried that hopeful memory for the rest of their days, living in the light of the kingdom Jesus had revealed.
In his epistles, Peter wrote about that hope in the King and His coming kingdom. He said that he, James, and John were “eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16 - For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty). He believed what he saw and trusted that Jesus’ promises were “a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19 - So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts).
The Transfiguration offers us the same hope today. Since the King’s majesty has been revealed to us as well, we can endure our dark places by living in the light of the coming kingdom.
