Luke 9:18-36
Luke 9:27I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."
The context for this verse starts with Jesus asking who people think he is. Peter saying he was the Christ wasn't just a nice thought, but with John the baptist and Elijah as possibilities in the public domain, people were aware of the significance of Old Testament history. The conversation about Jesus' identity and the ramifications of this on people is at the very crux of anything he could have said regarding 'Kingdom' speak. After all the King has requirements on his subjects in his Kingdom. Then he says some will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God and this has given rise to opting for the significant date of AD70, when among other things the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, being the start of the Coming Kingdom. Josephus tells of terrible times of great suffering. Lets park for a while the fact that healing and prosperity are standard in the coming kingdom yet are strangely missing from our present dispensation and investigate what "seeing" the Kingdom of God actually was.
As we are all aware the Old Testament would be building up to the coming of the messiah and the completed work. We see many significant characters but two stand out more than most. These are Moses and Elijah. Moses story is better known and we cannot consider Moses without mentioning Joshua. Combined, they made sure the chosen people of God entered the Promised Land. Moses did not enter yet bodily died before he set foot in the place.
Elijah's journey is not as well understood but has similar elements. Apart for his life's work the main significance her is his exit. Elisha with him, he was called at the Jordan and at Gods command purposely took the same exit route from the Promised Land that Joshua had taken to go in. So significant was this route the prophets came to comment at the significance by saying Elijah would be taken from the earth. Moses and Elijah were both ones who established major principles that would become foundational to God's Kingdom in as much as they set the next generation of leader into an entirely different ball game. Through them God was able to establish his principles that changed the circumstance of the next generation. What Moses and Elijah set into motion are part of our experience as Christians today as a direct result of what they set into motion as principles in the Old Testament.
Having had the 'you are the Christ' conversation, telling them he would rise and reminding them they should daily abandon their own lives to follow, then he makes the statement about seeing the kingdom of God before dying. After this some went up the mountain and Moses, Elijah and Jesus.... glowed! usually the glowing is cited as 'they saw the Kingdom of God because they glowed' but what we are seeing is more than that:
Moses died and was buried. Elijah left the earth bodily. These exits were forerunners of how Jesus fulfils two composite elements of God's Kingdom. Firstly Jesus took on our sins, died and was placed in the ground (Moses?). This puts an end to the function of the Law as schoolmaster. Secondly Jesus rises bodily from the earth thus echoing all that Elijah established in his exit with Elisha**. We now know he was able to do both these things because he resurrected. In Christ all is fulfilled and anyone familiar with the Old Testament would know that the promised Messiah would bring all things together and make sense of what can often seem, even to the Jews, as disconnected events in their history.
Seeing the kingdom of God then is not living in the coming Kingdom. The disciples who saw this witnessed in one event the individual composite parts of the Kingdom of God and because the whole conversation began with 'who is...,' it is right for Jesus to tell them some would see the characterisation of God's Kingdom within the context of identity, the who's who of God's Kingdom. Its a little like seeing the early American presidents and their image speaks of their contribution to American constitution for example. Also with Jesus the man, we peer past the Jew and see how he lived, died and rose again to save us.... he represents salvation. Those seeing the three on the mountain that day were seeing God's Kingdom in much the same way.
All this is backed up by the fact that the writer of the gospels ties the transfiguration to 'seeing the kingdom of God' by saying 6-8 days later (or... after that statement....this happened).
So that's just one verse quickly explained.... I'm sure there's a heap more.
** Elijah's exit was establishing the principle of repentance and there are blogs here that explain this huge topic.
4 comments:
First, it would be quite incongruous to believe SOME of them would still be alive a week later. What kind of prophetic wisdom is that? I could have made that prediction. Besides, it wasn't only SOME, but ALL of them were still alive the next week. Are we supposed to believe that Jesus didn't know that?
Second, Matthew records a few more words that Jesus said in this same conversation about what was going to happen when they saw the Son of Man coming in the Kingdom: Matt 16: 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Matthew added that Jesus said that when they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom that there would be angels present and that there would be judgment handed out. Neither of these things occured at the transfiguration.
Thanks Jack,
Firstly, some , not all, went up the mountain and witnessed the event. So Jesus knew that three were going to go and not all the disciples.... 'SOME'...
Second we can separate 27 and 28 as two separate events and 28 being what they saw on the mountain. 27 is the Lords return. like this: "(27)Ill take you all on holiday next year (28)but some of you will see me in the travel agents next week."
Jack the 'elephant in the room' here is the fact that you must be claiming the Lord did come with his angels in 70AD and Judgement occurred then? I think we would have been told by historians with such an event. Also this world may be just a little different than it is?
It's interesting what folks coming from different perspectives see as 'the elephant in the room.' To me, the elephant & burden of proof rest on splitting things that Jesus is saying in one complete sentence into two vastly different time frames; for you, the elephant seems to be 'if Jesus' parousia occurred within a generation of when he predicted it, then why a.) Didn't masses of people see such an event 'plainly' taking place, and b.) Why is there still pain & suffering in the world, etc. - isn't the New Heavens & Earth supposed to take care of that?
In my reading, prophetic language is symbolic language exploring the spiritual meaning of temporal events. So that God 'coming on the clouds' is an OT metaphor for judgment appropriated by NT writers; it does not necessitate Jesus riding in like the Silver Surfer; Jerusalem's destruction is a difficult-but-merciful ending of one covenantal promise, one way of approaching God, and the inauguration of another - a new covenant heavens & earth.
You & I might not have many disagreements about a certain unfolding character of this Kingdom, the New Earth. While I shy away from 'already & not yet' language as a kind of religious doublespeak, I don't think that static, changeless 'perfection' is a very Hebraic concept; it's a bit more pagan. I think that God's unfolding new-ness is a changing dynamic, and that we (those awakened to our identities hidden with Christ in God) play an active role in realizing this New Ecology of God's reign.
Just a few responses...
Thanks Mike,
I think I struggle with the idea that Jesus would ascribe visions of the 'silver surfer' type return and not mean literally what he said. After all the OT prophecy concerning his first coming was in every way practical, literal and took place in space and time. For the coming dispensation to then be described as an almost evolving gradual reality appears inconsistent with prophecy et al. Prophecy itself is like a growing snowball in detail and intensity but the fulfilment of the prophecies were real, practical and tangible. Did you read the actual blog or just the responses?
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