Matthew 16:28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Mark 9:1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
Luke 9:27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
The most generally received opinion, and which seems to be best, is, that the coming of the Son of man here meant his resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and sending the Holy Spirit, after which the kingdom of grace came with a mighty power, subduing all nations to the Lord Jesus Christ.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit, a person is able to understand the kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I say able to understand not will understand. Narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life and wide is the path that leads to eternal torment. Each person chooses a path. They choose to believe and be humble before God, seeking and desiring to grow in their understanding and knowledge of the Holiness of God and how to live in obedience and reliance because of this. It is not blindly following a mythical fairytale but rather following the true living God, Creator of all there is, and living to honor and glorify His Son, Jesus Christ, who gave His life for a ransom of all who would believe, trust, and have faith in His atoning work on the cross.
Denial, rejection, neglect, and complacency all can find root in a person’s heart and lead them down paths straight to hell. Likewise, repentance of sin, humble surrender, following, obeying, trusting, and relying on Jesus Christ will lead to eternal life in heaven. Limping along in life with little to no commitment to the salvation of your soul allows you to walk blindly through this life on a path with eternal consequences. There are those who flat out deny anything to do with God and on the day of final judgment, they will stand before God knowing fully of their foolishness and that their denial and god’s judgment are right and true. There are others who play at being a Christian. They do good things and outward appearance would give an onlooker the thought that this person is a Christian. This person has never truly repented and trusted in Jesus Christ alone. No, they have applied a worth to their good works, and that along with believing there is a God will give them good standing before God. It is these who will be very surprised at the final judgment, they will call out Lord, Lord and He will respond, “depart from Me for I never knew you”.
There is no halfway, part way, committal to repentance, surrender, serving, following, obeying, trusting, and relying on Jesus Christ. All will stand before the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ. Behold He knocks on the door of your heart and asks you to let Him in. Will you open that door fully with a desire to have Him come in or will you just crack the door and say not now but come back later, or maybe you ask Him to stay just outside of your heart and be close enough in the event you change your mind. The day of salvation is now. Do not wait for another second to allow Jesus Christ into your heart.
