The Book of Mark

[Allyn]

Mark is a shorter gospel book and is much faster paced than Matthew or Luke. It doesn't have near as many passages dealing with the coming kingdom, judgment, etc. I will cover the major verse (8:38-9:1) and leave other one to be read at your convenience. The verse I will not cover is Mark 1:15.


(Mark 8:38 ­ 9:1) 38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." 1 And Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."


Because of the break from verse 38 in chapter 8, and verse 1 in chapter 9, some have tried to make this mean that Christ was referring to the Transfiguration, which is the next chronological event in scripture, or even Pentecost. The problem with that is many. First, why would Christ say that some of them would not taste death if the event in question (the transfiguration) were only 6 to 8 days away, or Pentecost, which was not that far away? Saying that some of them would not taste death necessarily implies that some of them (not just one) would taste death. Since none of the Apostles had died by the time of the transfiguration, and with the exception of Judas, none of them had died by Pentecost, these events should be ruled out as it would be extreme overkill on Jesus' part. Also, when you contrast this verse with Matthew 16:27-28 you see that his coming is to be with glory, with angels, and Christ will reward at this coming. Did Christ come with angels at the transfiguration or Pentecost? No. Did He do any rewarding at the transfiguration or Pentecost? No. Christ is speaking of His second coming only. Not Pentecost or the Transfiguration.