2 Peter 1:17 – For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Like Moses before him Peter had a revelation of Jesus when the cloud of glory engulfed him. Moses communed with God in the cloud during the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, this is where the Lord gave Moses a revelation of Himself in many ways in his moments in the cloud. One of these revelations was the tabernacle with all of its furnishings. Every part of this tabernacle was a picture of Christ. You could say Moses had a revelation of Jesus in the cloud. Peter was caught up in the cloud on the mountain in the event we call the Transfiguration. During that time of intimate communion with the Father the glory of God was clearly seen on Jesus. This revelation was a confirmation to Peter that Jesus was the Son of God, this is what Peter held onto for the rest of his life. Here is how Jonathan Edwards describes this event.
“The apostle Peter was convinced of the truth of the gospel from the sight he had of Christ’s majesty and glory at his transfiguration. It was such as removed all doubt; he saw such divine glory, it was so admirably excellent, and had such a bright and evident appearance of divinity, that it perfectly assured him that Christ was the Son of God, as he professed to be. And doubtless, if he might rationally be assured from that, then a person may be rationally assured from the spiritual discoveries of the divine majesty, holiness and grace, and admirable harmony and excellency of the gospel, that it is divine and true. Doubtless there is such an admirable excellency, beauty and glory in the gospel; and if there be, why mayn’t some men see it? And if they do see it, why may it not be a certain evidence to those men of the divine authority and truth [of the gospel], as much and much more than Peter’s seeing the outward glory of Christ at his transfiguration? Peter, when he saw this, his mind was strongly carried to believe, and he was sure that Christ was a divine and holy person without sitting down to reason about it; he was convinced and assured at once irresistibly, and was as it were intuitively certain.”
Have you seen the glory of God clearly revealed to us in His Son? We live in the time where Christ is seated in glory at the Father’s right hand. When we turn our love toward Him we too can come under the influence of the glory of God. You may not see the cloud (although some claim that they have) you will have the overwhelming sense of God’s glory and presence come over you. In those moments you will have a revelation of the excellent nature and attributes of the Lord. The blood of the cross will become precious, the church will become beautiful, the word of God will become your treasure, and Jesus Himself will become ‘altogether lovely’ to you.
