Before Tasting Death

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

BEFORE TASTING DEATH

Mark 9:1

9:1 And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power." 

NIV

This is really a part of the whole discourse Jesus was telling them in the preceding chapter. Why the framers of chapters put it at the beginning of nine is unclear, but the truth of it is still extremely relevant. Obviously those Jesus was talking to have indeed been dead for many years, that is they did indeed taste death. The question is, did they see the kingdom of God come with power before they died? If they did, then we have to know, without any doubt at all, that we are living during the time of a powerful kingdom of God. If they not only saw, but were a part of the kingdom of God in all its power, then so are we. Some people might think Jesus was talking about the end of the world, when he would return riding a white horse, with thousands of angels and all the saints who had died, defeat Satan and establish his kingdom on earth, and therefore those people did not see it before they tasted death. But that is not what Jesus was talking about. We have to know that at the time Jesus was telling his disciple this, they were a small band of people, maybe with a few other followers, the message was somewhat limited to a small area of the world and it had really been a force to reckon with yet. But before those disciples tasted death, they witnessed Pentecost. They experienced the power of the Holy Spirit descending upon them and they saw Peter, stand up and preach with power, bringing thousands to the knowledge of the saving power of Jesus Christ in one day. They saw what was a little band of brothers, become a church of tens of thousands of believers scattered all over the region, They saw Paul converted and travel the world preaching with power, bringing the church to a force that changed the world. Many of what they experienced is recorded for us in the letter written about the Acts of the Apostles. So the kingdom of God did come with power before they tasted death, and therefore we are in fact living in the time of the kingdom of God in all its power. We have experienced Pentecost, we have experienced the Holy Spirit descending upon us, and we are filled with the power of God. We are experiencing the power of the kingdom of God, seeing the church, us, making an impact on the world, or at least we should be. Maybe some of us who attend church, some small dying churches, are not seeing the power of the kingdom of God. Why is that? Maybe some of us attend larger churches but we are just going through the motions of being a Christian, trying to live without the presence of sin, or at least no admitting the presence of sin in our lives and we do not see any power at all. We are not seeing the kingdom in all its power, in fact, we are not much different than the rest of the world, expect we say we believe in Jesus Christ. Where is the power? Should we not experience the kingdom of God with power? It is here, it is available for us to be a part of. We merely need to lift up our hearts and minds, our spirits and enjoy the power of the kingdom of God before we taste death.