26 - Matthew 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.’ -Matthew 16:28.

Before the birth of Christ it was revealed unto Simeon by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. He saw him as a babe, a mere babe - a visible pledge of the future Christ rather than a fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies; still, he was content, and ready to depart in peace. But the mature Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is now in the midst of his disciples. Are they content? Have they all their hearts can desire? Have they nothing more to expect from the future? There has never yet been a fulfilment of God’s promises which has not brought with it new promises. The Alp surmounted brings a new and higher Alp into view. The glory of the present is never permitted long to make us regardless of the future. "Unto him that hath shall be given." A glance at the context will show that our Lord had been speaking to his disciples of that very distasteful and mysterious subject, his crucifixion, and of the necessity for their fellowship with him in his humiliation and rejection and loss of earthly things. They must take up their cross and follow him; they must lose their life and all that they deem valuable in the world for his sake. But he shall rise again; and they too shall participate in his glorious triumph over death and the world. They are not required to surrender the hope of future glory. For a season men may appear to have the victory, fulfilling their heart’s desire concerning Christ; but the Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father, with his angels, and reward all according to the service rendered. But does not this reward seem far away in the shadowy future? can their faith and hope leap the broad gulf of crucifixion and take hold of anything beyond? We can imagine how the poor faith of the disciples is staggered by this prospect. What, are we actually to die? Christ is here with power that subdues the elements and evil spirits, and even breaks down the tremendous barriers of death; we have been called to the inestimable privilege of following him, assured that he could only lead us to glory and universal victory; and now are we asked to follow him to a shameful death, to lay down our lives as malefactors, and be content to leave our hopes with God till some remote, uncertain time in the future? Christ, the Lord of glory, after having actually come into this world and called us to the knowledge of himself, to sink with us into a pit of oblivion, and all the magnificent promise of this time be swallowed up in darkness like an illuminated cloud at evening? The far future is no reality to us; our natures cannot take hold of anything so misty and undiscernible; reward is no reward unless it meets a conscious want of our soul.

Jesus knoweth our frame. He knows the aliment that our poor faith demands. "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;" or, as it is in Mark, "Until they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." While it is true that you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and lose your life for my sake, be assured that, in a most important sense, a soul-satisfying sense, some of you shall not taste of death till they shall have seen the glorious advent of my kingdom. In what sense? We note that the account of Christ’s transfiguration follows immediately. It was the next great event that occurred. Peter, whom our Lord found occasion so severely to rebuke on the occasion when the words of our text were spoken, was one of the favoured ones that saw the transfiguration of Christ’s person on the holy mount; and many a long year afterwards he referred to this privilege in his Second Epistle (2 Peter 1:16-18): "We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory . . . when we were with him in the holy mount." What we ourselves saw of the power and coming, the mighty and majestic advent of Christ, that we made known unto you. It would seem that Peter had in his mind the remarkable scene in Daniel 7:1-28., where one like the Son of man comes with the clouds of heaven, and is brought near to the Ancient of days, and receives dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him. When the disciples heard from the cloud of glory the voice, saying, "This is my beloved Son, hear him," it was made as plain to them as anything could make it, that Jesus was invested with absolute supremacy over all dominions. All the world should one day see and know it; but in the meantime they were permitted to be witnesses of the august and sublime recognition by the Father of his all-glorious and all-subduing Son. So, when Christ rose from the dead, he himself bore new testimony, saying, "All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me." In fact, this is what his resurrection signifies. With Christ believers are crucified; with him they rise; with him they go forth conquering and to conquer. The kingdom of Christ differs from all others in various particulars: we here mention but one. His subjects do his will, not from fear of penalties, not from the hope of extrinsic reward, but from love. His will is theirs. He reigns in their affections. Imagine the world prostrate at his feet because of the revelation of his power, and ready to do what is required because of the peril of disobedience; is that the kingdom of Christ? That is the sort of honour that the kings of earth value; but the Prince of the kings of the earth will none of it. That is not his kingdom. Look rather at the gathering of the disciples on the day of Pentecost and thenceforward. The Spirit of glory and of God rested upon them. Their faces shone with joy unspeakable. They loved one another with pure hearts fervently, with Christ’s own love. No man counted anything his own. Each sought the interest and happiness of all. They were kings and priests unto God. They were filled with the Holy Ghost and with faith; even with all the fulness of God. They smiled at the prospect of suffering for Christ’s sake; victory sat upon their brow when men were stoning them to death, or rather to rest. Then they who had heard the promise saw the fulfilment, saw the Saviour coming in his kingdom. "Coming;" a present participle that regards the future. Are there those standing among us who shall not see death till they see the Son of man coming into his kingdom with majesty and supremacy, that every eye shall be constrained to recognise? Let us hasten the coming of the glorious day, by hasting to make way in our own heart for the advent of the Prince of Peace, by surrendering ourselves, body, soul, and spirit, to the direction of the blessed omnipotent Spirit, whose unapproachable prerogative it is to glorify Christ.