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Matthew 17:2 |
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And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
Note 1 at Mt 17:2: It is interesting to compare Jesus' transfiguration with Moses'. Jesus' face shone as the sun, and His garment was as white as the light. This certainly exceeded what Moses experienced (Heb 3:3), yet Jesus' face did not continue to shine when He came down off of the mountain as Moses' face did.
Moses' face reflected the glory of God, but Jesus was the glory of God (Joh 1:14 and Heb 1:3). Moses put a veil over his face to conceal the glory of God (Ex 34:29-35) so that the people would not be afraid to come near him. Jesus' body was His veil that concealed His true glory within. During His transfiguration, He pulled back the veil of His flesh, and those with Him simply caught a glimpse of the glory that He had with the Father before the world was (Joh 17:5). At Jesus' death, the veil of His body was "rent in twain" (Mt 27:50-51 and Mr 15:37-38) giving people direct access to the glory of God (Heb 10:19-20).

