DEVOTION
THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
TASTE OF DEATH
Matt 16:24-28
24 Then Jesus said to his
disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What
good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going
to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each
person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are
standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his
kingdom."
NIV
Having considered taking up
our cross and following Jesus and either gaining or losing our life, we should
ponder on what Jesus said about Jesus going to come in his Father’s glory with
his angels. What makes this a bit difficult to understand is that Jesus also
told his disciples that some of them will not taste death before they see the
Son of Man coming in his kingdom. First, we think Jesus is speaking about that
last day of judgment in that he said that each person will be rewarded
according to what he has done. We know he is not speaking about how many, or
how good of deeds we have done, for that would mean that one Christian might be
rewarded better than another. This could not be the case for we know God does
not show favoritism. It would also cause a sense of competition about Christians
to see who could outdo the other in doing the best or larger number of deeds to
gain a bigger crown with more jewels. That is so against all of scripture, even
the idea of jewels in a crown is never mentioned. Yes, there are crowns, such as
the crown of life, or crown of glory or righteousness, but that is for all who
overcome and are faithful to the end. The
reward is our salvation, while those who did not accept Jesus will be rewarded
with perishing. It comes down to whether we are in or out, or whether we gained
or lost our lives, as to whether we gained the world, yet forfeited our soul, or
we lost our lives by taking up our cross and following Jesus. As far as those
who that are standing there with Jesus, his disciples not tasting death before
they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom, we cannot see that as the same
day as the Day of Judgement, as it would not fit the context. However, Mark and
Luke make it clearer in that they record Jesus saying the kingdom coming in
power. This little band of believers except for Judas would see the Day of
Pentecost and the kingdom of God explode through the power of the Spirit. In
fact, John would see the Jewish nation scattered, the temple destroyed, and the
gospel spread throughout Asia, Greece, Rome, and across the known world. The kingdom
would continue to expand more and more beyond their lifetimes. However, tasting
death, if we are believers, is just a momentary experience, for we will be
resurrected onto life and life everlasting. We do not think that Jesus was making
death a bad thing, but simply something that we would taste. There are many
things that taste very good, and some that taste bad, such as the second death.
But although we will taste death, it will be good tasting because it is flavored
with eternal life. Therefore, for us, we look forward to the taste of death. Besides, it is just a taste, we are not having the whole meal.
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