Among all the heroes of faith recorded in the Bible, only three reached a level of physical glorification in their lifetime. The first was Moses (Exodus 33-34) after two 40 day fasts on Mount Sinai. The second was the first martyr, Stephen (Acts 6-7), as he was being stoned by religious persecutors. The third was Yeshua, Himself, on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17, Luke 9).
In all three cases, their faces shone with light.
Exodus 34:29 – “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai … he did not know that the skin of his face was shining…” Acts 6:15 – “All those sitting in the Sanhedrin looked upon him [Stephen] and saw his face like the face of an angel.” Matthew 17:2 – “Yeshua…was transfigured before them; His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white like light.”
Yeshua told His disciples that they would experience momentarily (“taste”) what the kingdom of God on earth will be like. He prayed and was transformed into glory. In the world to come, we can attain glorified bodies that will shine with light like His (Philippians 3:21).
At His “transfiguration” Yeshua demonstrated to His disciples that in the world to come, we would be able to increase or decrease this glory power according to our own volition. That is part of our reward. The more a person serves Him by faith in this life; the more his resurrected body will shine with light in the next. We are willing to suffer now for Him, so we can be glorified later with Him (Romans 8:17). The degree of glory in each person’s resurrected body will differ, just as stars differ in their magnitude (I Corinthians 15:41).
The idolatry and immorality of ancient Israel at the time of the golden calf could not stop the glory power on Moses. (That could be compared to modern secular society.) Nor could the stone throwing of the Pharisees and Sanhedrin stop the glory power on Stephen (That could be likened to religious persecution today.)
However, the carnal talk of Peter and the disciples cut the glory short in a moment of time. It is the carnality within our own midst that limits the flow of the power of God.
