Mark 9:7

Moses and Elijah, representing the law and the prophets, are shown in the story of the transfiguration to be less than equal to Jesus. The law and the prophets are overshadowed by the gospel. All three of them are standing there and the cloud comes, and the voice says, "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" (Mark 9:7). And in case the disciples were confused about which man they were supposed to be listening to, when they looked around the other two were gone. Only Jesus remained. Peter's mistake is that he fails to distinguish the law from the gospel. He thinks that Moses and Jesus will make good equal teammates.

If we fail to understand how the law and the gospel work together, our struggle to obey the law will make us forget about the gospel completely. If you start to worry about how well you're doing in God's eyes, you will forget that He saved you as a sinner. Remember what Paul said: "Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death" (Romans 7:9-10). The commandment that we think will bring us life, like "be a good Christian," will actually bring us death. The way in which it brings us death is by making us forget the truth, blinding us to the good news that we once knew, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Peter, by suggesting that Moses and Elijah be on equal footing with Jesus, is actually eclipsing the radical goodness of the good news that Jesus embodies. Both God's law and God's gospel are good. But only one of them is eternal. There will not be any sin to restrain in heaven, giving the law an expiration date. But the gospel's life is eternal, which is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians that the gospel's glory is far greater than the law's.

The cloud comes and the voice from heaven singles out Jesus. The gospel always has the last word. For the pardoned children of God, forgiveness always trumps condemnation.

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,