“TILL THEY SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN HIS KINGDOM”
Mat 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
First off when the Lord refers to the ones who shall not taste of death “till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom,” it is my understanding that the Lord is not referring to His actual prophesied coming at the end of the final installment in Israel’s program when He physically returns to the earth and establishes the kingdom of heaven on it. Instead it is my understanding that the Lord is referring to a special foretaste type, (yet at the same time real and legitimate), ‘seeing’ of Him “coming in his kingdom,” which was going to be given to certain of His disciples for a very special reason. And it was going to be given to these particular disciples not only before the time of the actual fulfillment of the Lord’s prophesied coming, but especially before any of them would begin to suffer in the manner that He has just been talking to them about. Once again, this special, (yet real and legitimate), ‘seeing’ of the Lord “coming in his kingdom” was going to be given to certain of the disciples as a sort of foretaste and/or preview of the fulfillment of His prophesied coming. And though these disciples would not fully understand and appreciate the purpose and significance of it at the time it was given to them, they not only would do so later on but it would also become an important part of their ministry to the remnant of Israel during the duration of the final installment to Israel’s program leading up to the time when the Lord would physically return to establish His kingdom.
Joh 21:21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
Joh 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
Joh 21:23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
One thing that makes it evident to me that the Lord is not referring to His actual prophesied coming at the end of the final installment to Israel’s program is that the disciples will not be ‘tasting of death’ after He returns and establishes the kingdom. They are only subject to ‘tasting of death’ from the beginning of the time that the Lord refers to in the context of Matthew 16, until the conclusion of the final installment to the program when He physically returns to establish the kingdom. After the Lord returns to establish the kingdom the disciples will not be subject to death, but will be partakers of the Lord’s victory over death as Israel’s Redeemer, just as the prophets set forth. However by what the Lord says in Matthew 16:28, He makes it clear that these He is speaking about will be subject to ‘tasting of death’ after they ‘see Him coming in His kingdom.’ Hence He says that they “shall not taste of death, TILL they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” So then since the Lord says that they shall not taste of death “till” this event occurs, once it does occur then they will be subject to ‘tasting of death.’ Therefore in order for these disciples to be subject to ‘tasting of death’ after ‘seeing the Son of man coming in His kingdom,’ the Lord must be referring to something other than His actual prophesied coming at the end of the final installment to Israel’s program. He must be referring to them ‘seeing Him coming in His kingdom’ in some other way than the actual fulfillment of His prophesied coming.
2Pe 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2Pe 1:17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
2Pe 1:18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
Moreover what Peter sets forth later on to the members of the remnant of Israel in II Peter I makes it clear to me that Peter understood that what the Lord was referring to in Matthew 16:28 was the special foretaste and/or preview of Him coming in His kingdom that God gave to Peter, James, and John six days following, as recorded in Matthew 17:1–9. And by what Peter says, when that event occurred at that time they saw a real and legitimate foretaste and/or preview of the Lord as the Son of man “coming in his kingdom.” Furthermore, the apostle John in John 21 also records something special that the Lord said to Peter particularly about John, which concerned the issue of John ‘tarrying until the Lord came.’ But as John points out, by what the Lord said to Peter He did not say that John “shall not die,” but rather “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” In connection with this it is significant to note that the Lord said something about John that was very similar to what He said earlier on in Matthew 16. Now even though the Lord was not speaking about the exact same thing as back in Matthew 16, He still spoke of John as ‘tarrying until He came.’ And in saying this, John makes it evident that the Lord was not referring to him ‘tarrying’ until His actual prophesied coming took place. Instead the Lord was referring to the special aspect of John’s apostleship that was uniquely given to him, which as it turns out would have John ‘tarrying until the Lord came’ just as he did in connection with God using him to record the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
Mat 17:3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Mat 17:4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Mat 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Mat 17:6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
Mat 17:7 And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
Mat 17:8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
Mat 17:9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
Therefore on at least one other occasion in what the Lord said to His disciples He made reference to one of His disciples seeing His coming in a very special and significant way. But once again in doing so the Lord was not speaking about the actual prophesied event of His coming, but He was speaking about a special foretaste of it, or a preview of it, or a prevision of it, which would be used in a very special way in their ministry to the remnant of Israel during the final installment in God’s program with Israel. So once again, first off my understanding is that in Matthew 16:28 the Lord is not referring to His actual prophesied coming at the end of His day, but to the special foretaste and preview of Him coming in His kingdom that would be given to certain of the disciples six days later; with Peter, James, and John being those certain disciples.
Mat 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Mat 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Next it is important to take note of the fact that when the Lord talks about this He uses the expression “taste of death.” And in connection with this it is important to understand that this is an expression that is just as often used to denote someone experiencing perilous and life-threatening afflictions from ones who hate him and want him dead, or someone experiencing ‘brushes with death’ by means of an accident or some other life-threatening event, as it is an expression that denotes someone actually dying. Hence it is not uncommon for us today to be reading some account of someone who was in some life-threatening situation and for the writer to say that the person ‘had a taste of death’ in that situation. The person did not actually die in the situation, but since the situation was life-threatening to him he is said to have ‘had a taste of death,’ or to have ‘tasted of death.’ Likewise people who are in situations in which someone is ‘out to kill them’ and are being hunted down as such, are sometimes spoken about as ones who ‘taste of death day after day.’
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mat 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Now in view of the context of Matthew 16:21–27 it is my understanding that this is what the Lord is referring to when He speaks of the ones “which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” He is referring to the perilous and life-threatening situations that He has just been speaking to them about, and warning them about, starting to get underway. And indeed the disciples would soon be encountering those perilous situations. For the climactic stage in Israel’s program was at that time entering into the phase when Israel’s apostate leadership was going to begin to earnestly intensify its opposition to the Lord Himself and would end up killing Him. And then they would turn their hatred and opposition upon the disciples. For this cause the Lord says what He does to them in Matthew 16:24–27, by which He instills in His disciples not only the awareness of what is in store for them, but He also underscores the absolute need for them to give particular heed to what He is going to be teaching them from this point on. And they would need to give special and determined heed to what He was now going to be teaching them. Because the plain fact of the matter is that their ability to withstand the intensity of the opposition that is coming, and to be able to “follow” the Lord in it and not be ones who would rather save their own lives than lose it for His sake, is going to require them to learn some very special things and to operate upon those things implicitly. If they do not learn these special things, and if they do not believe them and operate upon them implicitly, then they will not be able to endure what is coming. They will ‘cave in under the pressure’ and will seek to ‘save their own lives’ rather than ‘lose their lives for the Lord’s sake.’
Mar 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
In view of this being the case, after saying these things to His disciples the Lord then says what He does in verse 28. And by what the Lord says He tells them about the coming occurrence of a very special event that His Father has designed to take place with some of them. And as it turns out, this special event of some of them ‘seeing the Son of man coming in his kingdom’ in a foretaste and preview type manner not only involved the very disciples to whom the general oversight of all the disciples had been committed, but it also involved them being impressed in a very special, striking, and unforgettable way with the exact mechanics and glory of the Lord’s coming at the end of Israel’s last days. Moreover it involved Peter, James, and John being particularly impressed with the absolute need for them to take heed to what they were going to be taught from this point on, and how that it would form the foundation from which they would teach the rest of the disciples all of the special doctrines that they would need to operate upon once the Lord returned to the Father. For once the Lord returned to the Father then they would all be in the position to begin to “taste of death” themselves as they began to suffer for His sake. And when that began to happen, they would then need to operate upon what they were taught, including the eye-witness account of Peter, James, and John, to whom God the Father gave a special foretaste of what ‘seeing the Son of man coming in His kingdom’ would actually be like when it actually took place.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries