“It is good for us to be here!”

Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.) (Luke 9:28-33)

If this isn’t a picture of modern day Christianity, I don’t know what is? Peter wakes up and sees the Jesus he thinks he knows, changing before His very eyes.  And He not only sees Jesus, but two other historic giants, Moses and Elijah.

This is a word picture of the unfolding revelation of Christ, the Jesus of time being transfigured internally into the Jesus who lives in the unseen realm of eternity!

And what is Peter’s response to this awesome revealing of the Christ who is not limited by either time or space?

“It’s good for us to be here!”

Huh?

Good for you to be here? And for what reason, Peter?

This is all happening for the benefit of you and the countless millions who will come after you!

Tell me what you can add to what you see here today, to what is in the unseen and the eternal? What can you do in your natural strength to add to the revelation of the transfigured Christ? If you only knew the truth, you wouldn’t be talking about building shelters (of limitations) around us, but would just sit back and bask in the Glory that is in the here and Now!

You see, my Son, this is a picture of your future IN me, a Glory you have never seen will be yours, Peter! And if you try to build a shelter of limitations by placing me in a religious box, you will miss out on all that I have preordained for your life!

You are looking at all of this but you don’t SEE! And in your looking, your first reaction is, “let me help, Lord?” I love you Peter, but you don’t have a clue as to what you are saying. You are acting like every other man, in their initial reaction of the unseen! No Lord, please let me DO something? DOING is engrained in me, it is all I know, Lord?  Let me build something with my own hands to add to this incredible revelation? You will see Lord, it will be amazing!

This word picture is all about our perception of the Living Christ! Man builds in vanity, and in his own human strength and ingenuity!  It’s also what the Bible calls “foolishness” to God!

But unless the Lord builds this house, everything else becomes vanity and futility! Think about it, what exactly is it we can we do to add to our Life IN Him, but REST in the fact the shelter has already been built! He is our shelter, He is our strong tower, and apart from Him we are like sheep who have left the sheepfold, and who are now out of the care of the Master Shepherd!

Building something FOR God is idolatry in it’s highest form! It is independent self run rampant! This is why institutional system’s of man centered (Pastors) religion always have as their focus…building! Building programs, building hierarchal governments, building bigger brick and mortar buildings! And the reason they continue to build everything they do, is to make up for what they lack inwardly! There attitude is the same as Peter‘s! Lord, let me build this mega-ministry FOR you! And in the building of their massive buildings, no matter what the category , the building becomes the central focus of everything!

“Lord, it is good for us to be here…FOR you! We will build a place for you where the people will come! They will come by the millions and observe the building we have built for you with our own hands!”

“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house (we are that House) with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house (we are that House) will be greater than the glory of the former house (built with human hands),’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And IN this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.” (Haggai 2:6-9)

But many of the older priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple (made with human hands), wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many of (the young men) shouted for joy, so aloud that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off. (Ezra 3:12-13)

The reason the older men wept is because they were remembering Solomon’s temple! The inlaid gold and the ivory! The glory of the former house was now gone! God decided it was time for a transfiguration! A transformation from a focus on things outward to the inner and unseen things! This new temple in comparison, was no more than a wooden shed!  And yet another wonderful picture of Christ!

There was nothing about Him that men desired!

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, NOTHING IN HIS (outward) appearance that we should desire Him. (Isaiah 53:2)

And for the so-called ministries of today:

Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves. (Psalm 49:11)

“Lord, it is good that I am here!” And it was good Peter was there, but not for the reasons which Peter thought. It was good for Peter to see the Jesus who transcended time and space, the Jesus who had no limitations, and the Jesus who refused to be housed in a dwelling place made by human hands! Even if those hands were of the one he loved, and would soon deny even knowing Him!

This is the same Peter who ate of His body and drank of His blood, when many of His other followers abandoned Him! This was the same Peter who was at the temple, proclaiming the testimony of Christ, risking his life before the ruling religious leaders of the day!

Praise His Name! For this same Christ who was transfigured before Peter has also rescued us from the domain of darkness and “transfigured” us into the Kingdom of His dear Son! (Colossians 1:13)