What if you didn’t get the whole story in Sunday School?

Bible teachers are incredibly valuable in the work of helping believers grow in their faith through their understanding of Scriptures. That’s foundational for everyone; thank God for the teachers!

The gravity of Scripture – given their authorship by God, and their intended purpose to communicate His character and insight to every generation of believers – demands that the study of the Word of God never be completed. There’s always more to discover…

Here’s a story that is familiar to you, but I’m going to suggest it carries discoveries that you may have never considered before. We know it as the account of Jesus – and Peter, James and John – on the Mount of Transfiguration. Both Matthew and Luke include it in their biographies of Jesus.

“About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 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.)

Through the three years of Jesus’ ministry, there was a frequent occurrence: at the end of a day of ministry, the Apostles would make camp and bed down while Jesus left them to go to a mountain to pray. He always went alone… except for this time.

Our minds have an image of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane the night of His betrayal; He’s kneeling in front of an olive tree and praying in agony as He addresses His Father about the 24 hours before Him: betrayal, mock trials, crucifixion, burial and Resurrection. That’s a one-off.

Those prayer sessions on the mountain, during the three years leading to Gethsemane: what were those about?

The only time He brought the core team – Peter, James and John – into one of those encounters, His agenda on the mountain was to come back into connection with the Powers of Heaven (an informed view of prayer, for sure). What happened there? Allow me to reconsider that encounter…

Jesus is the Son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Master of the Universe that He, His Father and the Holy Spirit had created. He is the Ruler of all – actively overseeing all of what God has created – and the Universe requires that kind of hands-on leadership.

In keeping with God’s plan for history, the Lord Jesus Christ left His throne in Heaven for 33 earth years to step into His role as Savior for the fallen human race. While he was absent from His throne, who would step in to oversee the active management of the cosmos? Management 101 is in play here: in healthy organizations, responsibilities are delegated down, not up the chain of command.

In Jesus’ absence from Heaven, He delegated temporary authority to Moses and Elijah, while maintaining occasional summits – on mountain summits – to advise them in their assignments.

There’s an intriguing similarity in those three key characters in God’s story: each was a great leader during their time on Earth. One of the marks of their great leadership was their intentional effort to prepare and recognize succession.

For Moses, it was Joshua. For Elijah, it was Elisha. For Jesus, it was the 12 Apostles. None left to chance the designation of succession: their hand-offs of power to their next-gen successors assured that momentum would accelerate after they transitioned out.

Do you aspire to great leadership? Consider this incredible insight from the Ultimate leader: no leader is finished with his/her mission until their intentional development of the next generation has produced a protégé who is capable of more than just maintaining: they would take what they were given and lead to even higher levels of impact on their watch.

Who is your Joshua? Have you identified your Elisha? Where are the multiple Apostles who will do greater things than you did in your era, as Jesus foretold regarding His chosen successors?

I live to manifest godly leadership; don’t you? Who better to give that example than Jesus…