Matthew 16:27–28 has been interpreted in numerous ways over the centuries. A plain reading of the text gives the impression that what is being described by Jesus was going to take place within the time frame of that generation—their generation. This is Part One of a two-part series titled “What Did Jesus Mean When He said, ‘There are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man Coming in His kingdom’?” You can read Part Two here.
A friend sent me the article “‘Last Days’ or ‘Past Days’ Madness” by Dr. John Sweigart. The author attempts to refute some preterist arguments on the topic of eschatology related to the timing of “the coming of the Son of Man.” What I found interesting is that the author spells my name in four different ways: DeMars (5 times), demar (2 times), demars, and the correct way DeMar only twice one of which is in the bibliography where he lists my book Last Days Madness.
These mistakes (intentional or not) do not mean that his analysis of the topic is wrong, but it does make one wonder how accurate he is on the overall analysis of what he is criticizing if he can’t correctly spell the name of the person he is critiquing.
He begins with a critique of my exegesis of Matthew 16:27–28 that reads as follows:
For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.
Almost any interpretation can be put on a verse or series of verses if the grammatical and historical contexts and the time indicators are not first determined. The time when Jesus said certain events were to take place is important. There is no doubt that this topic is the chief problem for those who maintain that the events of Matthew 24–25 and other prophetic passages are yet to be fulfilled, either in our generation or in some future generation. What does Jesus mean when He said “there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom”? If we maintain that the event Jesus is describing is still in our future, then how should we interpret His statement that some of those with whom He was speaking would still be alive when He did in fact “come in the glory of His Father with His angels”? Some claim that the “coming” Jesus had in mind was the transfiguration. But the transfiguration cannot be its fulfillment since Jesus indicated that some who were standing with Him would still be alive when He came but most would be dead. If we adopt the view that the transfiguration is the fulfillment, we must conclude that most of the people with whom Jesus spoke were dead within a week of Jesus’ prediction (Matt. 17:1)!
Like Sweigart, dispensationalist Stanley D. Toussaint disagrees: “The Lord is simply asserting the fact that it would not be a long time before some of them saw Christ coming in His kingdom, which occurred in the Transfiguration.”[1] If this is what Jesus wanted to communicate, then why did He say that some of those who were standing before Him would not taste death, that is, would not die before they saw Him coming in His kingdom? Toussaint comments that preterists, those who believe that these verses have been fulfilled, read “more into the text than is being said.” In reality, Toussaint dismisses what is plainly stated. Moreover, if he believes Matthew 16:27–28 has been fulfilled in the transfiguration, then he is a preterist! He has refuted his own anti-preterist argument since he believes that the fulfillment is in the past.
Others see the events of Pentecost, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, as the fulfillment. But the same problem arises—nearly all the disciples would have been dead within a period of a few months after the events described by Jesus in Matthew 16:27–28. Such a scenario does not fit with the language of the text and what we know took place since only Judas was dead by then.
The Bible Interprets Itself
A helpful biblical commentary on Matthew 16:27–28 is found in Matthew 10:23 and John 21:18–23. In Matthew 10:23, Jesus sends the 12 apostles out to preach the message “that the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (10:7), that it was near for them, “at the door” (Matt. 24:33; Luke 21:31; James 5:9). Asa result, they were only to “go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6). They were not to go to the Samaritans or the Gentiles (10:5). Jesus warns them that they will be persecuted and hated (10:16–22). We know from the context that the command was (1) only for the 12 apostles to accomplish, (2) it was local (the cities of Israel), and (3) had a particular terminus point in time:
But whenever they persecute you in this city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you shall not finish going through the cities of Israel; until the Son of Man comes (10:23).
Notice the audience reference. The “you” is a reference to them,[1] not some far distant generation. We learn from Paul’s epistles that the redemptive message was “to the Jew first” (Rom. 1:16) and then to the nations (Luke 24:47).
[1]This is why the following from F.F. Bruce does not fit the audience reference, the immediate context, or the place when this event was to take place: “What, then, does the saying mean in this context? It means, simply, that the evangelisation of Israel will not be completed before the end of the present age, which comes with the advent of the Son of man…. Paul, from his own perspective, expresses much the same hope when he foresees the salvation of ‘all Israel’, the sequel of the ingathering of the full tale of Gentile believers, being consummated at the time when ‘the Deliverer will come from Zion’ (Rom. 11:25–27). F. F. Bruce, The Hard Sayings of Jesus (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1983), 109.
Why the End of the World is Not in Your Future
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Buy NowThe “coming” that Jesus is referring to is His coming in judgment before that generation passed away. Jesus makes this clear in the Olivet Discourse where He issues a warning to that generation in Matthew 24:34 where Jesus limits the prophetic events to “those who are in Judea” (24:15–20). Similar “coming” language is used in Revelation 2:5, 16, 25, and 3:3, 11. None of these “comings” refer to a distant physical coming of Jesus. They are local judgment comings. James told his readers that “the coming of the Lord is at hand,” that is, “near” to those who first received his letter (5:8). “Near” is defined as “right at the door” (5:9; see Matt. 24:33).
It’s amazing to see the hermeneutical hoops futurists jump through to skirt the obvious. Look how many keystrokes it took for this author to explain away the obvious in a long and convoluted article.
In addition to what we find in Matthew 10:23, there are Jesus’ comments about the prophesied death of Peter. After Jesus describes for Peter how he will die (John 21:18), he asks about John the Apostle: “Lord, and what about this man?” (21:21). Jesus says to Peter, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” (21:22). History tells us that Peter died before Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70, and John lived beyond Jerusalem’s destruction, a perfect and expected fulfillment of what Jesus said in Matthew 16:27–28.
To show the extremes some people will go to defend a position, consider this from David Dolan’s book Israel in Crisis. Dolan tries to explain Jesus’ comments in John 21:18–23. Because Dolan holds to a futuristic eschatology, he must force Jesus’ words to fit into his futuristic structure:
In further nonbiblical research, I discovered that many early church authorities believed that John had never died. This was based on the Lord’s mysterious words in John 21 and also on the fact that, unlike the other apostles, no credible account exists about his death. I suspect that may be because John did not die.[3]
Dolan speculates that John could have been living on a Greek island for two millennia, wandering around the world hiding his true identity disguised, or caught up into heaven like Elijah where he has been supernaturally preserved until he is needed. John 21:23 refutes this notion: “yet Jesus did not say to [Peter] that [John] would not die, but only, ‘If I want to remain until I come, what is that to you.’”
If we are still waiting for the fulfillment of Jesus’ prediction of His coming “in the glory of His Father with His angels,” then some of those who were with Jesus are still alive! An impossibility, to be sure. Once again, we must look for an event that was far enough in the future where most of Jesus’ hearers would be dead, but not so far in the future where they all would be dead. Is there such an event? Yes! The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans.
As we read further in Matthew’s gospel we find that Jesus had His present audience in view. The chief priests and the Pharisees understood who Jesus was indicting with His words. When they “heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them” (Matt. 21:45), otherwise, why would they plot to silence Him (21:46)? An entire chapter in Matthew’s gospel is devoted to an indictment of the religious leaders in Israel (Matt. 23). Jesus concludes His indictment with these words: “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate” (23:38). The following two chapters in Matthew’s gospel are a prophetic description of what would happen to their generation (Matt. 24:34).
Continue reading Part Two of this article…
Last Days Madness
In this authoritative book, Gary DeMar clears the haze of ‘end-times’ fever, shedding light on the most difficult and studied prophetic passages in the Bible, including Daniel 7:13-14; 9:24-27; Matt. 16:27-28; 24-25; Thess. 2; 2 Peter 3:3-13, and clearly explaining a host of other controversial topics.
Buy Now[1]Stanley Toussaint, “Critique of The Preterist View of the Olivet Discourse,” a paper presented at the Fourth Annual Pre-Trib Study Group in Dallas, Texas (December 11–13, 1995), 20.
[2]This is why the following from F.F. Bruce does not fit the audience reference, the immediate context, or the place when this event was to take place: “What, then, does the saying mean in this context? It means, simply, that the evangelisation of Israel will not be completed before the end of the present age, which comes with the advent of the Son of man…. Paul, from his own perspective, expresses much the same hope when he foresees the salvation of ‘all Israel’, the sequel of the ingathering of the full tale of Gentile believers, being consummated at the time when ‘the Deliverer will come from Zion’ (Rom. 11:25–27). F. F. Bruce, The Hard Sayings of Jesus (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1983), 109.
[3]David Dolan, Israel in Crisis: What Lies Ahead? (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 2001), 143.