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October 30, 2023 |
| Some Will Not Partake of Death | ||
Jesus said something that confuses a lot of people. He said some will not partake of death until a particular event occurs. I think most of you already know the verses that I'm talking about here because you've also wondered what he meant by that.
Three of the four Gospels have Jesus speaking this phrase, which says that there are some people who are not going to be partaking of death, which means not dying, before they would see something. We are going to focus on Luke's account, but we will see verses used from the other accounts to help us understand.
Jesus calls this something that will be seen "the Kingdom of God" in Luke's gospel, but it isn't clear what he means by that.
I tell you the truth; there are men who stand here who will not partake of death until they behold the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:27)
Matthew's account says it a little differently.
Amen, I say to you, that there are men who are standing here who will not taste death until they will see the son of Man who comes with his Kingdom.
This makes it clear that Jesus is talking about himself, but it leaves a lingering question about what Luke's account is saying.
It also leaves us asking what event Jesus is speaking about. It sounds like he could be talking about the Second Coming, but that causes problems.
One way of understanding this "not partaking of death" is that the Second Coming happened almost 2,000 years ago, within the life of the disciples, and that somehow we've missed it. Some other people think that Jesus meant that some of those people he spoke to didn't die, and are still kicking around, along with us today. Some people who only look at Luke's account think that Jesus really meant to say "the king of Heaven," which they say means the transfiguration, which happens a little bit later. To change the words like that, you need a good reason, and they don't have that.
There are many odd things in these few verses that careful reading shows us.
All of the Gospels that record Jesus saying this also record the transfiguration coming a few days later. It seems certain that there is a connection there.
But it happened after these words, about eight days later, Yeshua […] 29 […] was transfigured (Luke 9:28-29)
This verse strongly links Jesus' words to the transfiguration by putting together a sequence of events: the words, 8 days, and the transfiguration. The only reason to describe a sequence is to show that there is a connection between them. In Matthew's account, a chapter break comes immediately after Jesus' words, and that keeps many from seeing the connection.
And after six days Yeshua took Kaypha, Yaqob and Yohannan his brother and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. 2 And Yeshua was transformed before them […] (Matthew 17:1-2)
So we see good evidence of a connection, but it isn't clear what the connection is.
Also, it does seem that, when Jesus says "Kingdom of Heaven," he means the Second Coming. So he would be saying that some of his disciples would behold all of the events that we expect to happen at the Second Coming. These events only happen once, according to the Bible, and history tells us they didn't happen then, so it doesn't seem right that he's saying these things are going to happen during their normal lifespan.
Also, some of those events are big worldwide events that you couldn't miss. How would only some of the people see them if Jesus is talking about normal lifespans? So that's curious.
It is just as odd to think that there are men walking around in our time who are about 2,000 years old. That also conflicts with what God said about lifespans for mankind after the flood.
It also does seem strange that Jesus would say they would see it in their lifetimes, when he knew it was going to happen in 6 or 8 days. Why all the drama of saying "not partake of death"? That phrase especially sounds like he is saying some of his listeners are going to die before the others see it, eight days later. We believe he was talking to his disciples only, and none of them died during those 8 days.
To understand all of this, we're going to look at more of the context, starting with the verse before Jesus said these confusing words.
Whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words, of that one will the son of Man be ashamed whenever he comes in the glory of his Father with his Holy Angels. 27 I tell you the truth; there are men who stand here who will not partake of death until they behold the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:26-27)
Matthew adds:
[…] then he will repay each man according to his works. (Matthew 16:27)
Jesus words in Luke v26 and Matthew v27 are really important to understanding what is going on. Those are absolutely referring to the Second Coming. Note that he says he comes in the glory of his Father. That's critical to understand.
Then, in the next verse, Jesus says, "Behold the Kingdom of God". Now it becomes clear that "Kingdom of God" is not a reference to the Second Coming. It's a different thing. So Jesus is talking about two different events. He mentions them together because they have something in common. It isn't immediately obvious, but when you separate out the two events, you are left with that something, and it is "coming in the glory of his Father".
That is really the topic that Jesus is speaking on - those who will and won't see him "coming in the glory of his father."
This explains the second event he mentions. It is a reference to the transfiguration in 6 or 8 days, where he "appears in the glory of his father". What does his father say at the transfiguration?
[…] Behold, a cloud overshadowed them and a voice came from the cloud, which said, “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I delight; hear him." (Matthew 17:5)
That's the father glorifying his son.
We understand now what Jesus was saying, but we still need to clean up some of the oddities. Why does he say the phrase, "Some of you will not partake of death"? That really confuses people, as I said.
The length of his audience's lives isn't Jesus' point at all. He isn't saying the Second Coming will occur before all of these people have died, and he doesn't mean that some of them will live long enough to see the Second Coming. He is saying that none of them will live long enough to see him in his father's glory at the Second Coming, but some of them would see Jesus in his Father's glory at the transfiguration. The first part of my sentence is the implication that comes from the second part.
There were a lot of people at that time who were expecting Jesus to become the King of the world immediately. Some of his disciples asked about that. Here he makes it clear that it was not an imminent event. There were believers who were expecting it would be a short time from when Jesus ascended into Heaven until he returned. Jesus is making it clear here that it's going to be a while. His apostles passed that on to the believers.
Another oddity was that Jesus called the transfiguration "beholding the Kingdom of God." That is true but subtle. He's saying that the Second Coming of Jesus is the coming of the Kingdom of God. That's really important to understand. He will be the embodiment of the Kingdom of God.
When he gets here the second time, he is going to be the Kingdom of God. He will appear as he appeared at the transfiguration. The things that he will do will expand that kingdom to encompass the whole world, setting up an earthly kingdom.
From all the artists' drawings of the Second Coming, I know there are people expecting to see Jesus coming clothed in a white sheet, just like he wore when he ascended. That's not what it's going to be. It's going to be like what the disciples saw at the transfiguration.
And Yeshua was transformed before them and his face shone like the sun but his garments became white like light. (Matthew 17:2)
The kingdom of God is now a spiritual kingdom, and that will be until he comes. At that time, it goes from being a spiritual kingdom to being a physical kingdom.
Jesus wasn't really saying something complicated, but he said it in a way that can easily be misunderstood. By carefully reading the whole context, including the same story in the other gospels, and noting the oddities, it isn't difficult to understand him and resolve the oddities.