The Glory and Joy that Follows

This comfort the Lord gives His saints when He calls them to follow Him on the road to Jerusalem (v. 28.) And in this character of it, let us notice that verse 28 is an epitome of that magnificent chapter of Acts 7. One of the purposes of the Spirit in Acts 7 is to tell us that from the beginning, and all along the line of Scripture, the Lord has never called His elect into a place of sorrow without telling them, or giving them some notice of the glory and joy that will end the sorrow.
Abraham was called from all that nature could value, but it was the God of glory that had appeared to him and spoke to him with words of promise.
Joseph was separated and in principle was a martyr, but he had dreams which already told him of ultimate exaltation.
Moses was reviled, refused, and exiled both by brethren and strangers, the seed of Abraham and uncircumcised Egyptians mistaking him and persecuting him. But he already had that beauty upon him which faith discerned to be of God, the token of divine favor.
Stephen was hated like his Master, interfered with and killed, but his face had already shone like that of an angel. He was marked as a child of resurrection before he was hurried to death as a martyr.
So in Matt. 16:28 some were to taste of death. Peter himself was to be bound and led whither he would not (John 21:18, 19) and suffer as a martyr. But they were to be taken beforehand to the place of the glory and shown the heavenly blessedness in which all their sorrow was to end. The value of this is such that the Lord says that though the whole world were gained, it would be nothing in comparison with the loss of the soul at the end.
Words of Truth