Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:1-5)
Why did Jesus take only Peter, James and John to the Mount of Transfiguration? He chose them among His twelve disciples to testify of His transfiguration because of what they represented:
Peter symbolised decision. In spite of being a sinner and having many flaws, he was decisive, bold and always ready to face challenges. Every time the Lord Jesus challenged him, he was up for it. And a person can only be born of God when he is decisive.
James symbolised prayer, obedience and perseverance. In life, being “Peter” alone is not enough; we must also be prayerful, persevering and obedient.
John symbolised love, loyalty and faithfulness. He was with the Lord Jesus all the time, even when He was crucified. This demonstrates his gratitude, for he knew that he was no one without Jesus.
Every child of God needs to be transformed and have His image, according to His likeness. Although we are all God’s creation, not everyone has His character; this is because they have not yet known Him personally. According to the Lord Jesus, there three kinds of people in the world:
a) The children of the devil, who hear but do not put it into practice. They want to keep on doing what is wrong, loving what is wrong, be deceiving and violent…
b) Those who hear the Word of God, believe in Him, but unfortunately have not yet been born of Him; they are but God’s creation.
c) The children of God. For a person to become a child of God, there must be total surrender, and this can only happen when he does as Peter, James and John did.
God demands that we give all that we have so we can receive the Holy Spirit, because only through Him, will we have His “DNA”, that is, a godly nature. But in order to be able to receive His DNA, first we need to give Him our DNA. And when a person gives his DNA to God, even if he is a child of the devil, God will give him His DNA, that is, the Holy Spirit.
For this reason, we would like to invite all those who want to be transfigured to climb the altar and make a pact with God for the transformation of his life. The idea is that you give your DNA, represented by a strand of your hair, in order to receive the DNA of God.
On Sunday 12th February, we will climb the altar to give our DNA together with our determination, materialised through our voluntary offering. On this day, I will be broadcasting live from the same mountain where the Lord Jesus was transfigured, in the image and according to the likeness of the Son of God, ministering the transformation to the lives of all those who surrender themselves 100% to Him.
Bishop Celso Junior
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