Mark 9:9

Mark 9:9 says, And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. Can you imagine seeing what the disciples had just seen and then being told by Jesus not to tell anyone about it.  Peter, James and John had been allowed to witness the victory of Jesus before His seeming defeat, but the time was not right to share this news.  After Jesus's death, burial and resurrection this prohibition was removed. Verse ten adds, And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.  These three disciples still did not understand what resurrection from the dead meant, because it had yet to occur.  Until we understand all that Jesus's resurrection from the dead means after His crucifixion, we cannot understand everlasting life through faith in Him.  His crucifixion paid the price for our sins, but His resurrection defeated the death penalty.  It wouldn't be worth a lot if our sins were forgiven, but we were still under the power of death and did not have everlasting life with God.  Verse eleven continues, And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? They then asked Jesus why the scribes said that Elijah must come before the Messiah could.  The scribes were looking for Elijah to physically return, but the scriptures really referred to someone with the same spirit as Elijah.  We need to make sure that we study the Bible looking for a spiritual understanding and not with a physical, or earthly, one. Verse twelve states, And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.  Verse thirteen adds, But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him. Jesus told them that Elijah must indeed come first in that spiritual sense, but that he had already come.  Jesus was speaking about John the Baptist, who came calling on the people to prepare for the coming Messiah.  We as Christians today are to call on lost people to come to Jesus and accept Him as their personal Savior and Lord.