The kingdom of God in power revelation

The kingdom of God present with power ahh-hamoment by lcl

Scripture occasionally presents us with an idea or passage that is not easily understood. Customs or language barriers from the past are not known or an idea is foreign to us. One such example is a perplexing passage given in Mark and Luke. Jesus is openly teaching the deciples about trusting Him and the Father enough to be willing to suffer death to accomplish the will of God.

Mar 8:34 And calling near the crowd with His disciples, He said to them, Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

Mar 8:35 For

Mar 8:36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Mar 8:37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mar 8:38 Therefore whoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man shall also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

Mar 9:1 And He said to them, Truly I say to you that there are some of those who stand here who shall not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God come with power.

Likewise Luke says:

Luk 9:23 And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Luk 9:24 For whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whoever will lose his life for My sake, he shall save it.

Luk 9:25 For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses himself, or is cast away?

Luk 9:26 For whoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My Words, the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him when He shall come in His own and in His Father’s glory, and that of the holy angels.

Luk 9:27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God.

Can you see the question? Most of us would first think that, in verse 27, Jesus is speaking of when He returns to earth to set up God’s earthly kingdom for 1000 years.

Zec 14:3 And Jehovah shall go out and fight against those nations, like the day He fought in the day of battle.

Zec 14:4 And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall divide from its middle, from the east and to the west, a very great valley. And half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

Mat 24:27 For as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Mat 24:30 And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory.

Mat 24:31 And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Rev 6:2 And I saw. And behold a white horse! And he sitting on it had a bow. And a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. Rev 19:11 And I saw Heaven opened. And behold, a white horse! And He sitting on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war.

But, there is a problem with this interpretation. All the deciples died and this has not yet happened. Did Jesus make a mistake? Not hardly! What do we do now?

1. Ask for God’s help inunderstanding.
2. Re-read the surroundingpassages.
3. Listen for a still small voice of guidance to open the mind to other possibilities.
4. Search other sources to find clues to solve thepuzzle.

Reading further from the original text we find:

Mar 9:2 And after six days Jesus took Peter and James and John and led them up into a high mountain, apart by themselves. And He was transfigured before them.

Mar 9:3 And His clothing became shining, exceedingly white as snow such as no fuller on earth could whiten them.

Mar 9:4 And Elijah with Moses was seen by them, and they were talking with Jesus.

Mar 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son. Hear Him.

Luke also records as:

Luk 9:28 And about eight days after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray.

Luk 9:29 And as He prayed, the appearance of His countenance was altered, and His clothing was dazzling white.

Luk 9:30 And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, Luk 9:31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His exodus, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Luk 9:34 And as he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them. And they feared as they entered into the cloud.

Luk 9:35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, hear Him.

Consider the facts:

1. Peter, John and James were withJesus.
2. Jesus was transfigured to His personal state of God’sglory.
3. Wouldn’t Moses and Elijah be considered as angels in God’sglory.
4. The Father’s glory and power werepresent.
5. The later verses do occur close to the verse in question and could be considered a continuation of the originallesson.
6. The discussion topic between Christ, Moses and Elijah was the same that Christ had been discussing with the deciples before His transfiguration on the mountain. This, among other things, is what The Father was affirming when He said to listen to His son in Mark 9:7 and in Luke9:35.

Another substantiating piece of the puzzle is found in William Barclay’s revised commentary on Mark 9:2-8, pages 209 and 210. “It was a dream of the Jews that when the Messiah came the cloud of God’s presence would return to the temple. The descent of the cloud is a way of saying that the Messiah had come, and any Jew would understand it like that.”

These thoughts clinched it for me! This was what Jesus was talking about! God was absolutely affirming that Jesus was speaking the truth, and should be listened to. The will of the Father was to be carried out by Christ and His followers. For the short time of the mountain transfiguration heaven had indeed come to earth and had been witnessed by 3 deciples. They, in turn, could now witness to us, in scripture, that Christ’s words were true and should be followed.