A STUDY OF MATT 16:28

WHEN DID THE SPIRITUAL PHASE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BEGIN?

BACKGROUND

We have just concluded our study of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. However, in a study that I subsequently did of Matt 16:28 I discovered some clues as to when the kingdom of heaven begins in its spiritual form. As you will see as you read this study of Matt 16:28, the original language for that text gives us some very good clues as to the beginning of the spiritual phase of the kingdom of heaven and also some additional insights into the architecture of man.

DID SOME OF JESUS’ APOSTLES NOT DIE?

Matt 16:24-28 is a very puzzling scripture for most of us and one that I have had more questions about than maybe any other. The reason for this is that many of the modern Bible translations seem to give the impression that Jesus would return to rapture believers to heaven during the first century while many of his followers were still alive. However if we go back to the Greek Bible we can get quite a different picture of what Jesus was saying. If we put this passage in context with what we understand about the rapture from other New Testament passages and with the long held church belief that Jesus descended to Hades at his death to take the saints in Abraham’s Bosom to heaven, we get a very different picture of what this passage is all about. The real key to translating this passage lies in picking out the proper Greek word interpretations in line with this context. Let’s begin by reading Matt 16:24-28.

Matt 16:24-28

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

I used the olivetree.com tool called "KJV with Strong's definitions" in conducting this study. The words that I chose sometimes differ from the NIV. The Greek word used for death in Matt 16:28 is Strong’s word 2288. This particular Greek word for death implied that the person dying was going to Hades. That understanding may help us place Matt 16:27 in context. Matt 16:27 may be referring to Jesus visit to Hades at his death to take the saints there to heaven and give them gifts as stated in Eph 4:7-9. When Jesus says in verse 28 that “some of those standing here will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom,” he may be saying that many of those who were listening to him would not die and have to go to Hades. The reason for that was that he would change the paradigm at his death by covering the sins of all believers so that they would no longer have to go to Hades. When they died they would immediately go to be with Jesus in his kingdom in heaven.

The NIV translation of Matt 26:28 reads as follows: “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Using selected possible meanings from the Greek as shown on pages 3-7, this passage could

I tell you the truth (with absolute confidence), some who are standing here will not (certainly not) taste (experience) death (misery in Hades) before (whatsoever) they see (will see and know) the Son of Man coming (has established) in his kingdom (Messianic kingdom).

Let me restate it with the translations that I have chosen.

I tell you with absolute confidence, some who are standing here will certainly not experience misery in Hades whatsoever; they will see and know that the Son of Man has established his Messianic kingdom (The spiritual phase of the kingdom of heaven which was set up at the time of the death and resurrection of Jesus).

When viewing verse 27 in this context, we see that it is not speaking about the rapture at all, but about Jesus mission into Hades and his setting up of the spiritual phase of the kingdom of heaven at that time. Jesus told those he was speaking to, which included his disciples, that some of them would not have to go to Hades upon their death because he was going to set up his kingdom in heaven for them to go to at their death. Why did he use the word “some” here? Because Judas and other non-believers were apparently in the crowd and they would still have to go to Hades when they died.

HOW CAN SOMEONE FORFEIT HIS SOUL?

Verse 26 also confirms the context that we are using. As we will see, it is about a person going to Hades or hell. Verse 26 speaks about a person “forfeiting his soul” or giving his soul away in exchange for something else. We might ask, “How can a person forfeit his soul?” First we must understand what a soul is. It is the “living person.” Genesis chapters 1 and 2 explain very clearly what the soul is; God created our spirit and our physical body separately and when he placed the spirit into the physical body it became a “living soul,” or a living being. When the spirit departs from the body at death and goes to heaven or Hades there is no longer a living person; thus there is no longer a soul. This is referred to in the Bible as the first death.

The Bible clearly tells us that we will receive a new resurrected soul at some point. If we are believers in Jesus we receive it at the rapture (1 Cor 15:49-53). Unbelievers receive it just before the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:5, 11-15). Rev 20:6 says that believers will not have to face the second death, while Rev 20:14 says that unbelievers do face a second death. This second death is a second death for the soul. The first death for the soul takes place when the spirit leaves the body at physical death on earth. The second death for the soul takes place when the spirit again leaves the body when the resurrected body of the unbelievers is thrown into the lake of fire that is called hell. The spirit apparently continues to live at both deaths.

Understanding this makes it possible for us to comprehend what Jesus is talking about when he speaks of a person “forfeiting his soul.” Anyone who does not believe in Jesus forfeits his soul. He gives it in exchange for something else, possibly the riches of this world, a life of sin, etc. The soul is forfeited at the Great White Throne Judgment when it is lost forever.

INTERPRETATION OF THE WHOLE OF MATT 15:24-28

We will next go back to the Greek and reinterpret all of Matt 16:24-28 to see if we can gain any further insight or reconfirm what we have already learned.

Matt 16:24-28

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would (has a desire to) come after me (follow me to where I am going), he must deny himself (forget his personal interests) and take up (take up and carry) his cross and follow me (follow me, who will go there first). 25 For whoever wants to save his life (keep himself safe, sound and well) will lose it (lose his life entirely), but whoever loses (put entirely out of the way) his life for me will find it (his life in that he comes to know God). 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world (riches of the world), yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come (to go) in his Father's glory (kingly majesty of the Messiah) with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth (with absolute confidence), some who are standing here will not (certainly not) taste (experience) death (misery in Hades) before (whatsoever) they see (will see and know) the Son of Man coming (has established) in his kingdom (Messianic kingdom).

We will not restate it using the Greek words that we have chosen. You will notice that I have taken a couple of personal liberties in the translation.

Matt 16:24-28

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone has a desire to follow me to where I am going, he must forget his personal interests, take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever is concerned with his own personal interests will lose his life entirely, but whoever puts them entirely out of the way for me will find his life in that he will come to know God. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the riches of the entire world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to go in the kingly majesty of the Messiah, with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you with absolute confidence, some who are standing here will certainly not experience misery in Hades whatsoever; they will see and know that the Son of Man has established his Messianic kingdom.

We will next discuss the meaning of each verse. In verse 24 we see that Jesus is soon going to go to a place to which believers are going to want to follow him. Where is that place? It is heaven. At his death Jesus went to Hades and took those being held in Abraham’s Bosom, awaiting his payment of their pardon, to heaven with him. We are told in Eph 4:8 that he gave them their rewards or gifts. Verse 24 further tells us that anyone wanting to follow Jesus to heaven must become a follower of Jesus and love as he loved, in such a way that we are willing to sacrifice our desires for the needs of others.

Verse 25 amplifies what verse 24 says. We serve God in the way that we serve others. We find God as we serve others. “Whatever you have done for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you have done for me,” Matt 25:40.

Verse 26 points out that it is very foolish to worry about the things of this world. They are very temporary. We cannot take anything into eternity with us. No matter how important we are in this world or how much we accumulate in this world, it has nothing to do with getting us into heaven. The time represented by this life on earth is but an extremely short blip on the timescale of eternity. “Only one life, it will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” If we do not do the things required by verses 24 and 25 we will sacrifice our living soul; our resurrected soul will be destroyed in the fires of hell.

It seems to me that verse 27 is saying that Jesus was going to go to Hades upon his death, take those being held there in Abraham’s Bosom to heaven with him and give them their rewards for service on earth. The word “come” in verse 27 can also mean “to go” in the Greek. That seems to me to much better fit the context of what I see. The term “Father’s glory” can mean “kingly majesty of the Messiah.” It seems to me that we are seeing a description of Jesus going to Hades and then to heaven where he sets up the spiritual aspect of his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. We see his angels being with him. There are two events described in the Bible involving angels, gifts being awarded and Jesus accompanying believers to heaven. These are the rapture and the taking of the saints from Hades to heaven at Jesus death. This passage must be speaking of one of these two events. We are left to determine which event is being discussed. It seems to me that the next verse, verse 28, gives us the answer. Here Jesus is apparently telling those he is speaking to that they will not have to experience misery in Hades.

We have already thoroughly discussed verse 28 so we will not repeat that again. It seems to me that when we look at the whole passage of Matt 16:24-28 we have another confirmation of the conclusion that we have drawn. That conclusion is that verse 28 is not telling the disciples that some of them would not die; it is telling them that some of them would not have to go to Hades at their deaths. Their spirits would go immediately to heaven when they died.

 ADDENDUM

When I have been asked about Matt 16:28 in the past, before my recent study of the Greek meaning of some of the words, my answer was that it may have been fulfilled in the transfiguration experience which followed the discussion in Matt 16:24-28 by six days (Matt 17:1). That may still be a valid answer. In fact, given the holographic design of the Bible, both may be correct. The transfiguration experience did model the future millennial kingdom in the following ways:

Jesus appeared in his glorious state as he will appear in the millennium (Matt 17:2).

Moses represented those who had died, been resurrected, raptured to heaven and brought back to earth by Jesus for the millennium (verses 3 & 4).

Elijah represented those who had been raptured to heaven without having to go through death and brought back to earth by Jesus for the millennium (verses 3 & 4).

The Father was also with them, and apparently spoke to them through the Spirit, represented by a cloud (verse 5).

When they go to the foot of the mountain, there was a crowd waiting for them. This crowd represented those people who will remain on earth after the 2nd Coming. They are new believers and need to be taught. They also will be hurting from all of the pain of the tribulation period (verses 14-16).

Satan will have been driven out of the world by Jesus. Nobody else could do it but him (verses 17-19).

At that time, those of us in resurrected bodies will also have powers to do apparently miraculous things (verses 20-21).

What a beautiful and instructional model of the coming millennial period.

WHEN WILL THE LITERAL PHYSICAL KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BEGIN?

The answer to that question is very simple. It begins seven years after the rapture of the church to heaven. When will the end of the world as we know it come? The answer again is very simple. It will end soon after the millennium when the final judgments take place. Thus we can see that we are at least 1007 years from the end of the world. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. For an extensive discussion of these topics see the Revelation study and the study of God’s plan for man.