WHO ARE THEY WHICH SHALL NOT TASTE DEATH UNTIL THE DAY OF THE LORD’S COMING?
Question:Whom does the Lord say shall not see death until he comes?
Matthew 16:27-28;
” For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
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.”
The Lord was speaking concerning his second coming and how things shall be on that day.He said that he will come in his Father’s glory with his angels to judge men according to what each has done.As he said these words,the Lord also added a very special statement saying that ” among those who are standing here with me,some will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”
Reading the verses coming before these,you will see that Jesus was saying these words to his disciples,and not to a multitude.Remember,there are some things Jesus did say openly even to the crowds.But there are also things he did tell only his disciples.For example, this one:”there are some who will not taste death before they see him coming.”This means that among the 12 disciples,there were some who would not die before the glorious coming of the Lord was revealed to them.
Question:Is it true what the Lord said that there were those who would not die,or did he mean something else?
The Bible records the deaths of some of the 12 apostles of Jesus.History also evidently confirms that the rest of the apostles of died as well.Therefore, not one of them remained alive but they all died.Consequently, Jesus did not mean that the the disciples would not die till they witnessed his second coming.(Though the Lord is able to keep one alive until he comes again.)But in this context,he implied that there were among them some who would not taste death before they were shown visions of the Lord’s coming in glorious splendour in the last day.
Now, the disciples would be given revelation showing the Lord’s coming through visions.The visions may be as a dream or a clear appearance.If the vision comes in form of a dream,this usually happens to one person at a time.But if the vision comes as an appearance,this usually happens to more than one person at a go and all of them see similar things at the same time.
When did the apostles see visions of the Lord’s coming in power and glory.
Reading down through to verse 1 of the next chapter,the Bible says:
Matthew 17:1-9;
“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.”
Verse 2 says,”THERE HE WAS TRANSFIGURED BEFORE THEM.HIS FACE SHONE LIKE THE SUN, AND HIS CLOTHES BECAME AS WHITE AS THE LIGHT.”This is the glory in which the Son of man shall come on the last day.Every eye shall behold him.His face will shine as the sun and his clothes will be as white as the light.All the nations shall fall face down and mourn.The Lord shall judge the wicked of the earth.
Among the 12,three of them,that is,John, James and Peter were given the grace to see the glory of the second coming of the Lord before the actual day.Hence, the Lord’s Word was fulfilled right there that they had seen his glorious coming before they died.
All who will be left in the world after the event of rapture are the ones who shall see him coming on the clouds in glory.By then,the saints will be in heaven.
How can we tell further that all this is true? Apostle Peter again testified elsewhere in the scriptures, how he had seen the second coming of the Lord.
2 Peter 1:16-18;
“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.”
Peter says that he and the other two did not hear a story otherwise made up by any one, concerning the Lord’s Power and his coming.They themselves had witnessed it while with Jesus himself on the holy Mount.
God bless you.
Maran atha!