Matthew 16:28

The Heavenly Glory Of Jesus Is Revealed (16:28-17:8).

His disciples having acknowledged Him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and He Himself having spoken of His future appearing in glory, He now determines to reveal something of His glory to His three chosen disciples, so that after His resurrection they will be able to tell all His disciples what they experienced. By this Peter, James and John are to some extent set off from the remainder, and seen as especially fit to be trusted with the secret. And on a high mountain He is then transfigured in front of them, and is seen to be talking with Moses and Elijah. This would appear to indicate very vividly (among other things) that the Law and the Prophets both point to Him. But central to all is the Voice that speaks, and what it says, ‘This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased, listen to Him'.

His feeding of the crowds had twice manifested His divine creative power, now He would reveal His divine glory. In the Old Testament both had occurred together. Thus the Transfiguration caps off the picture that has already been given. It reveals that He is the Son of the living God indeed.

Analysis.

a “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who stand here, who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of man coming in His kingly rule” (Matthew 16:28).

b And after six days Jesus takes with Him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and brings them up into a high mountain apart' (Matthew 17:1).

c And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light (Matthew 17:2).

d And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him (Matthew 17:3).

e And Peter answered, and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here (Matthew 17:4 a).

d If it is your will I will make here three dwellingplaces, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Matthew 17:4 b).

c While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear you him” (Matthew 17:5).

b And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were very much afraid (Matthew 17:6).

a And Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus only (Matthew 17:7).

Note that in ‘a' they will see the Son of Man coming in His Kingly Rule and in the parallel they see no one but Jesus only. In ‘b' the three are taken ‘into a high mountain' apart, and in the parallel they fall on their faces very much afraid. In ‘c' He is transfigured and His glory shines out, and in the parallel a bright cloud overshadows them and they hear a voice from Heaven. In ‘d' Moses and Elijah appear, and in the parallel Peter offers to erect tents for them. Centrally in ‘e' Peter says it is good for him and his fellow disciples to be there. Nothing could have been truer.

Note on Matthew 16:28.

Before we consider this whole passage we should perhaps consider the meaning of Matthew 16:28 which has been the subject of much controversy. And in order to consider it we need to see the three versions of it, as found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, side by side.

16. 28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who stand here, who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of man coming in His kingly rule.”

Mark 9:1 ‘And he said to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some here of those who stand by who will in no way taste of death until they see the Kingly Rule of God come with power.” '

Luke 9:27 “But I tell you of a truth, There are some of them who stand here, who will in no wise taste of death, until they see the Kingly Rule of God.”

Note that all the versions emphasise the certainty of the truth of the statement, all speak of those who stand there, all refer to their not all tasting death until what follows occurs, the difference therefore lies in the final words. ‘Until they see' 1) the Son of Man coming in His Kingly Rule, 2) the Kingly Rule of God come with power, 3) the Kingly Rule of God, and even here the emphasis in each case is on God's Kingly Rule, in Matthew's case as exercised through the Son of Man.

It is noteworthy also that all the statements follow the idea of the Son of Man coming in glory, either His own or His Father's, something which is emphasised. Yet one striking consideration here is that, although all differ, none of the three versions of this verse refer to that glory. Their emphasis is on their ‘seeing the Kingly Rule of God', in Mark's case ‘with power', and the glory appears to be avoided. Contrast how in Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:30; Matthew 25:31 we find the repetition of the idea of glory. And this is especially interesting in the light of the fact that His coming in glory is never spoken of as introducing His Kingly Rule. Its emphasis is on His being the Judge as a result of possessing that Kingly Rule.

This suggests strongly that this verse is intended to refer to the fact that He is seen first as coming in His Kingly Rule (with power), in order to establish it, but not in glory. Luke's phrase especially is quite basic. In view of Jesus' words concerning the presence of the Kingly Rule of God as already being on earth (Matthew 17:21) and as something that is spreading (Matthew 16:16) this would suggest that Luke at least is talking about the Kingly Rule of God as being ‘seen' in its establishment on a wide basis on earth (Acts 1:3; Acts 1:8; Acts 28:23; Acts 28:31). Mark's addition of ‘with power' tends to confirm this, rather than otherwise. The idea is of the invasion first, and then the taking up of His throne in glory follows. What then does Matthew's ‘the Son of Man coming in His Kingly Rule' refer to? One reply to that question could be that he answers the question himself in Matthew 28:18. For there Matthew is indicating that he sees Jesus as returning after receiving all authority in Heaven and on earth, in order to go forward personally with His disciples to establish His Kingly Rule among the nations. He is to be seen as ‘coming in His Kingly Rule' as with them He goes forward to establish that Kingly Rule. The doubt that may be raised is that in those verses there is no mention of the Son of Man. But countering that is the fact that calling Jesus the Son of Man after His resurrection, in a context where He is called the Son, might not be seen as fitting. He is no longer the Son of Man, He is the Son. Another alternative possibility is that ‘coming in His Kingly Rule' refers to His approach to the throne of God ‘in royal power' so as to establish His dominion and glory with God's help (Daniel 7:13; compare Matthew 26:64 where that idea is also probably in mind). That being so the most reasonable interpretation of these words in all three versions is that they refer to Jesus' coming work of establishing the Kingly Rule of God on earth in its expanded manifestation as it reaches out to ‘all nations', in Matthew's case by the fact of His very presence with them, having received His Kingly Rule, and in the case of Mark and Luke by the Holy Spirit revealing God's Kingly Rule and bringing it about and extending it in Acts.

Other suggestions include that it refers to the Transfiguration (see below), to the Kingly Rule as having already come and needing to be appreciated, to Pentecost, to the Destruction of Jerusalem and to the Parousia. All are of course undoubtedly manifestations of His Kingly Rule, but in our view none of these quite fit comfortably in with Jesus' way of expressing it

End of note.

Matthew 16:28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who stand here, who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of man coming in His kingly rule.”

Following what we have seen in the note this is Jesus' firmly declared confirmation to His disciples that within the possible lifetimes of the youngest present (the some who will not taste of death) they will see the Son of Man coming in His Kingly Rule, that is, His Kingly authority.

Looking at the chiasmus there may well be the indication that this verse is partly fulfilled in the Transfiguration, for ‘seeing the Son of Man coming in His Kingly Rule' is there paralleled with ‘seeing no one but Jesus only', and the Son of Man certainly appears in the Transfiguration in glory. They could thus be said to have seen in His transfiguration His manifestation as the King in His glory (Daniel 7:14), and as the manifestation of the One Who has come in His Kingly Rule, a preview of the greater manifestation in Matthew 25:31. And this ties in with the fact that in each Gospel the Transfiguration scene is firmly attached to these words. Taking the words strictly literally the Transfiguration fulfils all the requirements of the verse. And this suggestion is further backed up in that 2 Peter 1:16 can be interpreted as describing the Transfiguration in terms of revealing ‘the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ', where the revelation of His power and His coming are seen as synonymous and as being revealed at that time.

But it is argued that the Transfiguration probably cannot be seen as the full fulfilment of these words, because that would appear to make nonsense of the words ‘some standing here', which seem to indicate that a good number will taste of death before this ‘coming of the Son of Man in His Kingly Rule'. On the other hand that is not what He said. He did not say that many would taste of death, only that some would not until they had seen what He is speaking about. We can thus argue that Jesus deliberately did not want to be too specific about what He was planning, and knew that only some would see the Transfiguration. It is all thus very much a matter of interpretation. It could be argued that all that Jesus was wanting to get over was that only some would see it and that it would happen ‘shortly', certainly within their lifetime. On the other hand, as we have seen, the total lack of the thought of ‘glory' which has so prominent a part in descriptions of His second coming (Matthew 16:27; Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:30; Matthew 25:31 twice), and of the Transfiguration, militates against Matthew 16:28 signifying either the Transfiguration or the return in glory. If that is so it therefore rather appears to point to the establishment of His Kingly Rule on earth in powerful fashion (as in mind in, for example, Matthew 11:12; Matthew 13:38; Matthew 13:52), prior to His glorious appearing, and as something that will take a good number of years to achieve (enough time to see the deaths of a good many present). It is by this process therefore that the Son of Man's coming in His Kingly Rule is to be manifested (see Matthew 28:18 and compare Matthew 26:64). So all in all we may see this as Jesus' assurance to His disciples that even though He is to suffer in the future, they are to recognise that this will not prevent the coming in of God's Kingly Rule in the power of God, which is the purpose of His coming.

‘Until they see the Son of man coming in His kingly rule.' The natural reading of ‘until' would be that in the end all would taste of death. This would then confirm that it does not refer to the Parousia (for no believers could die after the Parousia when all had been gathered in) and would suggest therefore that the Parousia would not take place within the lifetime of any of them. It suggests that they will see the Kingly Rule beginning to be established by Him but will in the end die leaving that establishment to be carried on, until the Parousia finally arrives.