Coming from the deep snow state of Ohio, I remember being caught once in an old fashioned Midwestern blizzard.  What began as buckets of rain at 9:00 PM gradually turned into fat, wet snowflakes by 11:00.  The snow fell and didn't stop for three days.  I was working a night shift at the time and was having coffee in a local café at 9:00.  I didn't get out of that café until 6:00 AM the next morning but by then it was too late: conditions had turned to a whiteout.  A whiteout is defined as when your view is totally shutdown past about six feet in front of you.  I made the mistake of attempting to walk home in it, alone.  Though I knew well where I was and how to get home, very quickly I became completely lost and disoriented because of the blinding light.  I stuck my arm out in front of me into the falling whiteness only to see it vanish.  My vision was now gone at about three feet of distance.  I was stuck and lost and knew if something didn't happen soon, I would freeze to death; my dead, frozen body to be uncovered weeks later in someone's front yard.  I called out for help.  Nothing.  Twice.  Nothing.  Three times the charm.  Nothing.  It was at that moment a light strangely appeared right next to me.  It was a man with a bright Coleman camping lamp.  He led me to the warmth and safety of the front door of his home.  It had been only fifteen feet away.  I had been a mere fifteen feet between life and death.  Usually we think of darkness as blinding us but we can be blinded by the light too.  It is at such times we need to call out for help
and carefully listen for God's response.

 

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’  So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.  To the elders he had said, ‘Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.’

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.  The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.  Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.  Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

 

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.  Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’  While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’  When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’  And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’

 

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.  For he received honour and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’  We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.