Are You Transfigured?

              Reading Matthew 17:1-5, I began pondering Jesus’ transfiguration.  This brought to mind what Paul taught us.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

              I am certain that when I became “a new creature,” my clothing and my face did not shine, as did Christ’s in His transfiguration.  However, my face did change.  It opened with a smile of hope, a hope of knowing where I would spend eternity.  I later understood that when I was “transfigured” I had received the Holy Spirit.

              Not only had I accepted a gift from God, that of an eternal, forever, everlasting existence with Jesus and His Father, I now had the Holy Ghost to help me in my daily walk.

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

              Not only had I received the gift of eternity, I also had escaped the forever, eternal, everlasting hell.  The Saviour, my Jesus hung on a Cross.  He died and forgave me from that “Old Rugged Cross.”

              As the new “transfigured,” “new creature,” my walk and my talk changed (which in part I wanted to change.  However, my “want to’s” did not have a firm direction.)  That is why Jesus the Christ gives us the Comforter.  With the Holy Spirit, I now could achieve direction for my “want to’s.”  Without the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, (The King James Bible) I would have achieved only the direction I chose.  (One of my “want to’s” was to be in Church under the Word of God.  With all that God had given, I grew in the Lord.) 

              Had I not taken the time to be “transfigured” on January 19, 1993, I would be a lost soul living under the direction of my father the devil, “ole Satan” himself.

John 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

There I was just as the devil, now a man of God: (a messenger for Him.)  It is impossible to imagine what my new adopted Father, (our God in Heaven,) has done for me (it cannot be told) through His Son, Jesus.  I do know His power is all mighty.

              Reader, do you know where you stand with our Lord Jesus?  Have you gone humbly and broken hearted to your knees in believing submission to Him?  If you have, you have been “transfigured” and made into a new creature.  Have your “want to’s” changed?  Have you outwardly begun to shine as a new Christian?   This is the hour, this is the day, succumb, accept Him, be “transfigured” by (Romans 12:2) “…the renewing of your mind...”                                                           

Bro. John R. E Chastain

Matthew 17:1-5  And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,  (2)  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.  (3)  And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.  (4)  Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.  (5)  While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.