"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 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."
In this lesson, Jesus relates to His disciples the things that will be required of those among them who would choose to take on the duties of an Apostle.
He said, in essence, that in every thing they would do, His cause must come first. They would be required to abandon their own lives, altogether, and take up His purpose.
This was, more or less, their last chance to get in, or get out.
This was, more or less, their last chance to get in, or get out.
Jesus made the promise that some among those disciples would be present when He made His glorious return from the grave to reunite with His Church in the Spirit.
There are some who believe that when Jesus said, "There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.", He meant that some of the Apostles would still be living when Jesus returns to redeem us all to heaven, I disagree with that assessment.
Seeing that only eleven of the original twelve were present when Jesus returned to them as the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, I believe this reference was made because Judas would not be among them when He completed His sacrificial ordeal and again met with them as Himself in the Spirit.
Another concept of this lesson provides that Jesus demands absolute faith from those of us who have trusted Him with our eternal salvation. We must take ourselves completely out of the picture and trust Jesus to present us before God the Father as wholly righteous and perfect in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.~
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