Smoodock's Blog

Presently I am involved in an in-depth study of two verses: Matthew 16:27-28. I have chosen to do this, because it has come to my attention that the whole of the futurists’ argument for a Second Coming of Christ—in our future—hangs upon their determined effort to separate verse-27 from verse-28 by at least 2000 years. This is both contextually and grammatically invalid. Moreover, it hasn’t one iota of foundation elsewhere in the word of God, either in the New Testament or in the Old Testament prophecies. The gap theory (as I call it) has everything to do with eisegesis and nothing to do with exegesis.

Notice the context of Matthew 16. Matthew begins with the Pharisees and Sadducees seeking a sign from Jesus that he is the Messiah, the Son of Man as it could be termed (Matthew 16:1-4). Next, Jesus warned his disciples of the leaven or doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:5-12), which always leads to unbelief or a lack of faith in him (Jesus). When he had his disciples alone, he asked them who others thought he, the Son of Man, really was. After their replies, Jesus asked them who they thought he, the Son of Man, was, and Peter gave what is called his great confession, namely, that Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah, the Son of God (Matthew 16:13-20).

Thus far, the context is wholly about who Jesus is. After Peter’s confession, Jesus began to tell his disciples that he, the Messiah (Son of Man) would be persecuted and killed by the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem, but Peter immediately retorted that such a thing cannot happen to the Messiah. Jesus immediately rebuked Peter, because he spoke out of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who deny him (Matthew 16:21-24; cf. John 12:34).

Then Jesus said to his disciples, if they wished to continue following him, they would have to take up his (the Son of Man’s) cross and follow after him. That is, they would have to identify with his shame, and take the abuse offered to him and perhaps even die themselves like he would be slain (cf. Matthew 16:21), because (gar – G1063) one cannot save his own life; it is in the laying down of one’s life that he gains life; because (gar – G1063) what profit is there in gaining the world if you lose your life? …because (gar – G1063) the Son of Man will come in the glory of the Father and reward / judge every man according to his works (i.e. vindicate his disciples who faithfully follow him), and he would do it, when he came into his Kingdom, and before all of the people listening to him on that day would die off (Matthew 16:25-28).

The whole of Matthew 16 has to do with the identity of the Messiah, who he is, what would be done to him, how he expected his disciples to act, and what he would do in response to it all in their expected lifetimes. There is no room for a 2000 year gap. Such a thing violates both the context and the grammar that connects the disciples suffering with the coming of the Lord.

Now, let me show this from the Old Testament, from the Song of Moses. As an introductory comment Moses told the people: “I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days” (Deuteronomy 31:29 – emphasis mine). Notice that Israel would become utterly corrupt, and God would judge them in their latter days. In other words, the Song of Moses was not about our latter days, or about 2000 years after the Messiah. It was not about the end of time or the end of the Gospel age. The Song of Moses was all about Israel’s latter days and how utterly corrupt they would be at that time.

Now think about what God says through Moses. He would hide his face from Israel in order to see their latter end, because they would be an arrogant (Deuteronomy 32:20; cf. Acts 2:40) and faithless generation (Deuteronomy 32:20; Matthew 17:17). God would mourn over them, wishing they were wise and could see their latter end (Deuteronomy 32:29). Then God says through Moses:

If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.(Deuteronomy 32:41-43; emphasis mine)

Notice how similar this scripture is with what Jesus says in Matthew 16:21-28. The Lord comes in judgment against those who have persecuted his servants. He avenges their blood and is merciful to his people (the elect, i.e. Jesus’ disciples). This is what all the New Testament writers referred to, and what was done when Jesus, through the Roman armies, destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, cir. 70 AD.