But do religious people believe it? If so, why all these flummeries that God has said nothing about? If you will read the verse again, you will notice that he has given us all these things through the knowledge of Christ. The knowledge of Christ means the knowledge that has been revealed about him—the gospel of Christ. Hence, through the gospel God has not only given us all things that are essential to life and godliness, but all things that pertain to life and godliness. If there is, therefore, anything in your religion that did not come to you through the gospel, it does not so much as pertain to life and godliness. Is it not time to check up on our religion and see if we have anything that we cannot find in the New Testament? Any person of intelligence can do that for himself.
Please explain Matt. 16:28. I have to contend with the Boll theory. What I want to know is how the disciples were to “see” the Son of man coming in his kingdom.—W. C. Anderson.
“Verily I say unto you, There are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”
In this verse it is stated that some would _taste_ of death—some of them would _see_ the Son of man coming in his kingdom. _Taste_ and _see_—are these terms used literally? A little study of both words will help. “Oh taste and see that Jehovah is good.” (Ps. 34:8.) “Sweet are thy words unto my taste.” (Ps. 119:103.) “Tasted of the heavenly gift”; “tasted the good word of God.” (Heb. 6:4, 5.) If you make _see_ represent the actual functioning of one of the five senses, why not make _taste_ do the same? No man actually tastes death as he tastes food. The future-kingdom folks stress giving words their literal meaning, but even they will not say that a man tastes Jehovah, his word, or death, as he tastes food. So also the word _see_ has a variety of meanings, or uses. To see often means to know. “Taste and see (know) that Jehovah is good.” To see often means to experience. We see joy and we see a good time; we see trouble and sorrow. Taste death—experience death, or suffer death. The parallel passages, Mark 9:1 and Luke 9:27, say: “Verily I say unto you, There are some of them that stand by, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come with power.” “But I tell you of a truth, There are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.” To see the Son of man coming in his kingdom and to see the kingdom of God come with power and to see the kingdom of God are different expressions of the same idea. When the kingdom of God came with power, it was Christ coming in his kingdom. Just as certain as some of those standing by would die before the kingdom came, or the Son of man came in his kingdom, just that certain some would live till that event occurred. Ye—those standing by, not those of some future date—shall see the Son of man coming in his kingdom, or see the kingdom of God come with power, and they would see it before they died. The future-kingdom folks do not see that part of what Jesus said; they see only “see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” And yet no man literally sees a kingdom, as he sees a material object; for the “kingdom of God cometh not with observation”—that is, not in such a manner that it can be watched with the eyes; i. e., in a visible manner. (Luke 17:20.) Jesus made that statement in answer to the Pharisees’ question as to when the kingdom of God would come. Hence, some of the disciples to whom Jesus was talking would see Jesus coming in his kingdom; yet they would not see with their eyes. Jesus himself declared that his kingdom would not come in that manner.