If I have proved anything in this series it is that men bring a lot to the table when they present their eschatology. The Bible never speaks about the end of time, but some men’s eschatology has to do with the end of time. Some even speak of the end of the Gospel Age, but the Bible seems to indicate that the Gospel Age will never end! Some men’s eschatology deals with the end of the universe, but God tells us that he will not destroy his creation. Many Bible students like to place gap where gaps don’t exist (like between Matthew 16:27 and 28), and large gaps where small gaps might be indicated (like in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week of years). So, we have God’s word, but men seem to like to add their own words next to God’s, or perhaps they sincerely don’t know what they’ve done.
Anyway, I am in the midst of my study of Matthew 16:27-28:
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:27-28)
I have written a number of studies defending the proposition that the above excerpt is one, united statement that Christ made before his disciples, and Mark includes quite a number of other folks (Mark 8:34 in the light of Mark 8:38 and 9:1). The point is that Jesus went on to say some of those who stood listening to him on that day would survive to see him come into his Kingdom (Matthew 16:27; Mark 9:1). This, of course, is devastating to futurist eschatology of all persuasions who look for the Lord to return to this earth sometime in our future. Yet, Jesus claimed here, in Matthew 16:27-28, that he would come in his Kingdom and in the glory of the Father, to judge each man according to his works, and this would take place in the first century AD. If this is true, all futuristic eschatology (premillennial, postmillennial, amillennial, dispensational) – all futuristic eschatology is wrong.
What I want to look at in this segment of my study is what Paul said to Timothy in his second letter:
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;(2 Timothy 4:1)
Paul says to Timothy “the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge…” (emphasis mine). The word shall is mello in the Greek (G3195). Thayer defines the word as “to be about, on the point of doing or suffering something…” So, what do we have here, and how does it relate to the object of my study, namely Matthew 16:27-28?
Paul shows us that the coming of Christ, and the Judgment, and the Resurrection of the Dead and Jesus’ Kingdom are indivisible. They all come together at the same time. Moreover, notice that Paul says Jesus was “about to judge” (mello – G3195). the living and the dead—at his appearing and his kingdom! All three, judgment, resurrection and the coming of the Lord are “about to” take place. Therefore, one cannot place Jesus coming in the Kingdom, the judgment and the resurrection of the dead 2000 years into the future. It all occurred in the first century at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and this is exactly what Matthew 16:27-28 tells us. Jesus was to come in his Kingdom in the glory of the Father and judge each man according to his works, and it was all to occur in the generation of the folks who listened to him on that day.
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