Jesus had a way of communicating things in cryptic style, while being crystal clear in one sense and as clear as mud in another sense (or should I say, clear to one person and not clear to another). Here is an example from the book of Matthew:
Matthew 16
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
(Matthew 16:24-28, NLT)
This statement of Jesus is very broad and wide-sweeping. He covers: salvation (v.24); not by religion (v.24); the meaning of life (v. 25); futility of materialism (v.26); the return of Jesus; the end of this age; the judgment (v. 27); and the commencement of Jesus’ kingdom on Earth.
The Breakdown
Here’s a quick blurb on each verse:
24. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”
a. Notice that He doesn’t demand that you follow Him. He only says if you want to, then…
b. “Your own way” can be anything that mankind comes up with to make himself “right” with God.
c. “Take up your cross” is to do to your flesh what Jesus did to His…not literally. Our sin nature resides in the flesh (see Romans 7:18). Our true life that lives on is the soul. Death separates the sinful flesh from the soul so the soul can be free of it. (Like removing a nasty latex glove from the hand, the skin is clean while the glove is not.)
d. “Follow Me” is all-inclusive in our lives. It must be our goal in life, our main activity in life, and our very attitude in all things. It is to seek Him always, and attempt to act as He acted, to speak as He spoke, and to love as He loved.
25. “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”
a. “Try to hang on to your life”. Obviously, none of us can hang on to our life in the sense of never dying. The mortal life doesn’t last very long these days. There’s nothing one can do to avoid death. And yet, people will do all kinds of nasty things to others with the excuse of preserving their own life or even just their way of life. He is saying this to keep us from chasing after empty promises and notions and to help us realize that life is more than what you see and are now. This entire world and everything in it will someday be burned up. Nothing in life—even life itself—is more important than following Jesus.
b. “You will lose it”. That’s a straight up warning from the Judge and Creator of your life that if you don’t do what He says, He’ll judge in such a way that you will lose all that is dear to you—especially your life. “Life” means a quality of life that is favorable to you. Everyone will live on into eternity, only a few will follow Jesus and receive a life that is of good quality. If your life is based on all things mortal, then when all things mortal are gone, what will you have left? Investing in eternal life brings a happy afterlife.
c. “But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” Take it literally, take it metaphorically, take it as hyperbole…however you slice it, if we are all about (and for) Him in this life, He will bring us close to Him in the afterlife.
26. “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
A more masterful communication of the clear choice of God and His ways versus the world and materialism could not have been made. It’s a clear choice: temporary pleasure and ignorance, followed by loss and separation; or eternal happiness and fulfillment that never goes away.
27. “For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.”
In this statement He jumps to His millennial reign over Earth. When He says He’ll judge people, He means in several ways and throughout the entire one thousand years. His arrival is with judgment of wrath upon the whole planet, by way of meteor strikes, massive thunderstorms, earthquakes, everything dying in the oceans…stuff like that. His sitting on the throne for a thousand years will see a lot of judging over the affairs of man. His final judgment will bring the end of this time of Earth, Heaven and Hell.
28. “And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”
One time, I read this verse in the Orthodox Jewish Bible (just by chance) and it came to life for me. Well, I had to find out what it meant, but when I did I saw this verse in a whole new way. Here it is:
“Omein, I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Bias of the Ben HaAdam [Moshiach] coming in his Malchut.”
(Matthew 16:28, OJB Orthodox Jewish Bible)
That word Malchut is what got me. I had to look it up to see what it means. Here’s a quick excerpt from a Jewish website:
“Malchut signifies the sea into which the river flows. It is the actualization of the entire revelation which began as a single tiny point of trickling water. Whereas chochma is the potential to be, malchut is the actual being, the final manifestation, the original intention.”
(https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380807/jewish/Malchut.htm)
When our Savior was lifted up from the grave and went to the Father, He came back and showed Himself to His followers (over 500 were present together at one time). Before going to the Father, He told Mary to not touch Him (because He had to go to the Father). Later, He allowed them to touch Him (think of Thomas). He went to the Father and His Glorification was complete. Jesus became a glorified man, along with maintaining His Godhood. People saw Him glorified. He had reached the final state of humanity: glorification.
Therefore, when Jesus said, “some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom”, what I think He meant is that they would see Him in His fullness, not that they would see Him physically returning (some 2,000 years later). And that would have happened in the first century. And two centuries later, here we are, waiting for the fullness of the Kingdom. And we can presume that those people have long been dead. And of course, we know He was indeed in a glorified state just before His ascension. But there’s more.
The Greek word for “Kingdom” is βασιλεία (basileia), which looks a lot like basilica, a kind of cathedral, or church. (I know, Greek is not Latin, I get it.) But this is still interesting. What if He really meant that those people in that time would see Him coming in His church? Now I’m not trying to change the meaning of Greek, Latin, or English here. And I’m not crying about having a bad translation, either. If it means kingdom, then it means kingdom. But words aren’t just about their strict definitions. They can be used to convey all kinds of thoughts into the mind other than their strict meanings. When I saw “basileia”, the transliteration of kingdom, it struck me that Jesus could have meant both His Church and His fullness as a human. After all, on earth, the kingdom of heaven is primarily shown through His Church. And by Church, I mean all of His followers who are saved by the cross. So it is not a stretch to apply this word to mean His Church (His earthly body). And this relieves us of any contradictions with history (that other “solutions” produce).
If Jesus began His Malchut in the generation during His first advent, and if “the Day of the Lord” begins with His wrath, then His return/wrath will be on the third day of His Malchut (using Peter’s 1,000 years are as a day to the Lord). He was literally in the tomb from Friday evening to early Sunday morning (technically He rose on the third day). Well, if what I am saying is true, then He will return to earth on “the third day” of His Malchut.
If Jesus were trying to be intentionally confusing, it wouldn’t have been the first time. He actually did that fairly regularly, so this would not have been a departure from His usual style in communication.
My take away from this is that Jesus prophesied that His kingdom, manifested in the Church, would be seen on Earth in a very short time (before that generation passed away). Indeed, His kingdom would be seen by hundreds of His followers from that very place, making His words true, without causing any secondary waves in the fullness of Bible prophecy. The fullness of His essence was also observed physically by way of His glorified body. Yes, they saw the fullness of the Messiah with their own eyes (but did they believe?).
Another Example (deeper it goes)
Now I’m going to discuss another passage that is commonly confused with what we just looked at. It’s from Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, where He told James, John, Peter and Andrew all about the end of the age and His second coming. Some people think that Jesus said that the generation who lived in the first century would still be alive when He returns (presumably in the 21st century). Let’s compare the two passages and see what Jesus was talking about.
28 “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. 29 In the same way, when you see all these things taking place, you can know that his return is very near, right at the door. 30 I tell you the truth, this generation [or this age, or this nation] will not pass from the scene before all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.”
(Mark 13:28-31, NLT)
The Greek word for “generation” is Γενεὰ (Genea). It means generation.
When we compare these verses with each other, we should see that He is talking about two different groups of people. On the one hand, in Matthew 16:28, He talks about those who were standing there. (Literally, ὧδε (hōde) – “here”, and ἑστώτων (hestōtōn) – “standing”.) That’s really emphatic language to mean the people in Israel in the first century. In Mark 13:30 (as well as Matthew 24:34) He says, “this generation [or this age, or this nation] will not pass from the scene before all these things take place”. What generation and what scene? I would say He means the generation in the scene he just described. Nothing else makes any sense whatsoever (except maybe to a flat-earther or an evolutionist). He means the generation that will see all of the things He described in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. What else makes sense and keeps the Bible in harmony? He must mean “this generation that I’ve been talking about”. To say that He means the generation of His hearers is not logical, if we believe that His words are true. Likewise, it does not make sense to have Matthew 16:28 talking about some future generation, since some future generation would not be “standing here” with them.
This isn’t difficult, but we just need to look into things that don’t make sense initially. If we ignore these solutions for potential conflicts in the Bible, then we might be guilty of not correctly handling the Word of God.
Again, Matthew 16:28 cannot be about the last generation of the age. Mark 13:30 and Matthew 24:34 cannot be about the generation of the first century. Let’s not look at the two as if they are saying the same thing. They’re not. There’s a 2,000-year gap between these two groups (our first clue).
Prophecy is consistent. We just need to acknowledge that and study it accordingly. Like, don’t give up at the first sign of a potential conflict. Look into what is really being said and scrutinize it with an open heart and mind. Our God is an amazing communicator. If you disagree, you are probably not on His wavelength. He is only clear to the ones who are His followers. To everyone else, He speaks nonsense.
Ask God to make sense to you. But remember, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10).
Live long and prosper…in Christ.
Gary
