Some Standing Here...
There’s a passage that comes into my line of sight from time to time on Social Media. As it pertains to eschatology (the study of last things)—immortality, “heaven,” “hell,” judgment, etc.—I always have to consider if I should respond or just keep scrolling. Most of the time, I just keep scrolling or I’ll refer to my series on New Testament Eschatology. But I didn’t address this passage in that series, so I thought I’d address it today.
Mark 9.1 (CEB[1]): Jesus continued, “I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s kingdom arrive in power.”
Here’s the part that gets me. Some people are quick to point out that this was fulfilled by the following section:
Mark 9.2-9 (CEB): Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified.
Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Human One had risen from the dead.
The claim goes that the Transfiguration equals “God’s realm arriving in power.” But a simple question refutes that interpretation:
Who died?
Within those “six days,” who died? Jesus said, “ … some standing here won’t die before they see God’s kingdom arrive in power.” So again:
Who died?
There’s nothing within the text to tell us, so we can’t even make an educated guess.[2]
I also want to point to the beginning of the verse states “Jesus continued …” This tells us that this is a continuation of what came before in chapter 8. At the end of chapter 8, we read—
Mark 8.34-38 (CEB): After calling the crowd together with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
From this passage, we can see that Jesus wasn’t only talking with his disciples but a crowd, too. That means, when chapter 9 started, that same crowd was still present. But that’s not all; Jesus said he’d come “in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Let’s put that last sentence with 9.1—
Mark 8.38-9.1 (CEB): “Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Jesus continued, “I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s kingdom arrive in power.”
So, a few things: Jesus ties this coming to the “unfaithful and sinful generation” of first century Judea. That is, his contemporaries. He said he would come to them “in the Father’s glory with the holy angels” before some of the people there standing with him would die. That they would see “God’s kingdom arrive in power.”
How does the Transfiguration “six days later” fulfill that in any way? No one was there other than Peter, James, and John. Jesus said that his “unfaithful and sinful generation” would witness his return. Where was everyone else? Where were “the holy angels”? How is Jesus’ transfiguration God’s glory or “God’s kingdom [arriving] in power”?
Simply put: It’s not.
There’s no way that the Transfiguration fulfills what Jesus said.
Matthew’s version of this story is more telling.
Matthew 16.24-28 (CEB): Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? For the Human One is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Human One coming in his kingdom.”
In Matthew’s take, Jesus is specifically talking to the disciples (v.24). And he tells them that he’s “about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels.” When that happens, he’ll “repay each one for what that person has done.” He then tells them that some of them “won’t die before they see the Human One coming in his kingdom.”
So, again, how is the Transfiguration equal to Jesus “coming in his kingdom”? When did he “repay each person for what [they had] done” at the Transfiguration? And, where are the “angels”? Are we supposed to equate Moses and Elijah with the angels? The Greek word translated “angels” is ἄγγελος (angelos) and it means, “one sent, a messenger, angel.” So, if we push it, I suppose we could make Moses and Elijah “messengers” and force them to be what Jesus meant.
But we’re still left with some people dying and Jesus repaying everyone for what they’d done, which doesn’t happen at the Transfiguration.
Others claim that Jesus’ resurrection is where Mark 9.1 (and Matthew 16.28) finds fulfillment. And while I’ll admit that Jesus’ crucifixion is Jesus stepping into his glory, his resurrection still has the same looming questions: Who died? Did Jesus repay everyone for their actions? Where were the angels? How is the resurrection of Jesus’ equal to him “coming in his kingdom” or the coming of “God’s kingdom”? How is the resurrection of Jesus fulfilling his message that “the time promised by God has come at last” (Mark 1.15)?
Some could make the case that by the time of Jesus’ resurrection, Judas had already hung himself (Matthew 27.1-5) and that angels were present at the tomb (John 20.11-12). Granting that, there’s still a problem: Jesus said in both Matthew and Mark that “some standing here won’t die” before the event takes place. This indicates it would be more than one person; it would be multiple people. Even if we just use Matthew’s take, it would include more disciples than Judas.
Finally, other’s say that Jesus is talking about the “Second Coming” at the end of time/world/whatever you wanna call it. But this is problematic, too. Specifically, who’s still alive? That is, Jesus said some people standing with him—whether the disciples or the crowd—would die before the event. Conversely, “some” people would still be alive when it happened. So, again, who’s left? Who’s still alive from the first century awaiting Jesus’ return?
My point here is to illustrate that when certain historical events are taken off the table (or are purposefully not included before the conversation or interpretation even begins), we’re left with incomplete information. There’s one event from the first century that fits the criteria much better than any I’ve provided here. Many people had died, even among the disciples. Cataclysmic events took place, even “in the heavens.” And people were judged because of their actions.
I’m referring to the war between the Jews and the Romans, which led to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 CE. This took place roughly 40 years after Jesus’ Passion.[3] By the time of the war, most of the original apostles and Paul had been martyred. Josephus, an eyewitness and historian of the war, stated that over a million Jews died in the war[4] and almost 100,000 were enslaved. This would be the consequence of their actions, as Jesus had forewarned them about. Remember, he condemned his contemporaries saying they were an “unfaithful and sinful generation.” He told them that they would be “held accountable for all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Berechiah’s son Zechariah, whom you (the Jews of Jesus’ generation) murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. I tell all of you with certainty, all these things will happen to those living today” (Matthew 23.35-36; ISV[5]).
According to Eusebius (Bishop of Caesarea and scholar), however, Christians were spared from the war:
Church History: 3.5.3:[6] But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed (graciously given) to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come thither from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.
This “separation” of the Jews of Jesus’ generation and the Christians reminds me of something Jesus said:
Matthew 25.31-33 (CEB): Now when the Human One comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his majestic throne. All the nations will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right side. But the goats he will put on his left.
Josephus also wrote about astounding things in the sky. Here are a couple:
The War of the Jews: 6.5.3:[7] “ … There was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year.”
Keith Giles points out—
Keep in mind what the shape of a sword is and how closely a sword appears to a cross. If swords and crosses are similarly shaped, then perhaps this statement by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse was fulfilled by the sign of the sword in the sky: “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30; NIV[8]).[9]
Further on, Josephus wrote:
War: 6.5.3: Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day (i.e., the 21st day) of the month Artemisius, [Iyyar, the second month of the Jewish calendar which falls between April and May] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding the cities.
This reminds me of the “War in Heaven”:
Revelation 12.7-10 (CEB): Then there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they did not prevail, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. So the great dragon was thrown down. The old snake, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the earth; and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, “Now the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ, have come. The accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down.”
I’ll stop here, as this post is already too long. To put it simply, the only historical event that comes close to matching Jesus’ claims in Mark 9.1 and Matthew 16.28 is the catastrophic war between the Jews and Romans, which led to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 CE. If we ignore this pivotal time in history, we’re at a disadvantage in our discussion and interpretation.
~~~
In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
[1] Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations and references—and scripture quotations marked (CEB)—are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
[2] Or “educated wish.” If you know, you know.
[3] A “generation” lasted about 40 years; see Hebrews 3.7ff, 1 Corinthians 10.1-13.
[4] Some modern scholars dispute this figure.
[5] Scripture quotations marked (ISV) are taken from The Holy Bible: International Standard Version. Release 2.0, Build 2015.02.09. Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
[6] Eusebius, (c. 313 CE). “Chapter 5: The Last Siege of the Jews After Christ.” Church History, 30 December 2024, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_II/Volume_I/Church_History_of_Eusebius/Book_III/Chapter_5. The “3.5.3” indicates book 3, chapter 5, section 3.
[7]Josephus, F., (c. 75 CE). “Chapter VI: Containing the Interval of about One Month. From the Great Extremity to Which the Jews were Reduced to the Taking of Jerusalem by Titus.” The War of The Jews or The History of The Destruction of Jerusalem, 29 December 2024, https://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/war-6.htm.
[8] Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
[9] Giles, K., (2018). “The 7 Signs of Josephus Reveal End Times Destruction.” Patheos, 29 December 2024, https://www.patheos.com/blogs/keithgiles/2018/02/7-signs-josephus-reveal-end-times-destruction/
So many pieces to the puzzle of reconstructing the historical context of the Bible! Thank you for doing the good work of challenging easy interpretations and pointing to the broader reality behind the texts.