Matthew chapter 17

Jesus stood with Elijah and Moses. This is most interesting to me. It appears that Elijah and Moses are a part of the Heavenly Sanhedrin. Since we do not know what they were talking about, I will make some assumptions. They may have been talking about the soon coming punishment of sin, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and/or things that were going on in heaven. The scripture states that Jesus shined. I will say, He superseded the confines of His natural body and His glory began to shine. We saw this slightly with Moses. His face shined after being in the presence of God. The disciples did not know exactly what to do, but it is clear that they not only saw Elijah and Moses, but they knew who they were. There is no place that states Jesus made introduction of them. How did the disciples just know who they were? They were not alive to personally meet Moses and Elijah when they were on earth. We -spirit- knows more than our minds.
Father covered Himself in a cloud and spoke to the disciples. Father was in the cloud because the scripture says the cloud shined. Clouds do not have the capacity to shine on their own. Something made them shine. God was shielding the disciples from Himself in that cloud. When He spoke the disciples fell to the ground. They were shook by the sound of His voice. What a mighty God we serve. Father said that Jesus is His beloved Son and the disciples were to hear Him or obey Him. Again, we see Jesus asking the disciples not to tell anyone about the experience. He said wait until He is raised from the dead, and then tell what they saw. Everything has a time. It just was not time yet. We must learn not to tell everything we know or experience. Wait on the leading of the Holy Spirit to share some experiences and information. The disciples questioned about the coming of Elijah before the Son of Man. Jesus said Elijah did come (John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah) but he was not recognized by the people. Jesus again told them that He would die and be resurrected. They just were not catching on to what Jesus was telling them.

A man approached Jesus for help in getting his son delivered from a spirit. The disciples tried and were unsuccessful. Jesus said their unbelief prohibited them from casting out the devil. We must believe. No matter what the external world says, the Word of God is always right. Believe. All things are possible to him that believes. Jesus did explain further that fasting and prayer is required to accomplish some acts of faith. Believe…fast…pray. That is the combination that Jesus spoke of in this passage to be successful at overcoming the power of the enemy. You can cast the devil out of yourself and your life. You have the authority to do it. When you spend time in fasting and prayers you will overcome the enemy every time.

It is getting close to the time of the sacrifice of the Lamb. Jesus tells his disciples again, that He will be crucified and on the third day, He will rise from the dead. Sometimes the truth is so simple and plain that we overlook it. These men and possibly women simply overlooked Jesus directly telling them what would happen to Him. They did not understand that He was the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. They did not understand the Passover that they regularly kept. Jesus is the Passover Lamb.

Jesus told Peter that the children are free from paying taxes. This is very interesting to me. Jesus said, "so that we will not offend the tax collectors, go to the sea, throw in your line, the first fish that comes up will have some money in its mouth, pay both of our taxes." "So that we will not offend them…" That is amazing to me. We don't have to abide by some rules of man, but to avoid getting them flustered, we pay the bill. Jesus does not seem to be the least bit annoyed or aggravated with paying the tax bill. He takes it very lightly. He gives Peter instructions to pay the bill. Just pay the bill. All of your bills are paid by your source. Take God as your only source of supply and He will pay the bill. He has no problem in paying it. Now there are many avenues through which God can get the supply to you, but He must become your only source. It is from Him that everything flows to you. There are various channels that the supply may take on its way to you. The best news… it's coming. Glory to God!