The Lord speaks of His final journey to Jerusalem in the full recognition that it is there He has to meet the enmity of man. He does not look towards that city with the thought of His being made the offering for sin under the hand of God there, but rather of His being the victim of man's hatred.
His death, of course, had each of these characters in it. It was the death of the Lamb of God for the putting away of sin. It was the death of the righteous Witness against the world whom they, in full enmity, slew and crucified. It was at one and the same moment, the death of the atoning Lamb and the death of the Martyr, but it is in the second of these characters that the Lord anticipates here.
His road to Jerusalem was such that all His saints can be in that same road with Him, and He calls on them to follow Him along in this road. His words clearly display His mind on this occasion, for we could never follow Him as the Lamb, or the atoning Victim. But we may and should follow Him as the Martyr or righteous, suffering Witness against the world. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." v. 24.
Comfort Along the Road
This makes the character of this path of Christ very simple and distinct. But there is comfort along this road if we have faith to receive it. It is a weary and rough path such as nature does not like. We do not like to be the companions of an insulted, despised, rejected, suffering Master. A journey on such a road as that is rough, and strength and heart naturally fail. There is comfort provided for it, however, if we have faith to receive it and drink it in.
“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." v. 28. This is the comfort. The saints are not set on this road to Jerusalem, this path across a world that is at enmity with them and preparing death for them as men at Jerusalem were then preparing it for Jesus, until they are given to know what the end of that journey is to be. They do not until they are introduced to the glory that lies on the other side of the sorrow and the martyrdom, and until they see the mount of transfiguration that is higher as well as more distant than Calvary.
The Glory and Joy that Follows
This comfort the Lord gives His saints when He calls them to follow Him on the road to Jerusalem (v. 28.) And in this character of it, let us notice that verse 28 is an epitome of that magnificent chapter of Acts 7. One of the purposes of the Spirit in Acts 7 is to tell us that from the beginning, and all along the line of Scripture, the Lord has never called His elect into a place of sorrow without telling them, or giving them some notice of the glory and joy that will end the sorrow.
Abraham was called from all that nature could value, but it was the God of glory that had appeared to him and spoke to him with words of promise.
Joseph was separated and in principle was a martyr, but he had dreams which already told him of ultimate exaltation.
Moses was reviled, refused, and exiled both by brethren and strangers, the seed of Abraham and uncircumcised Egyptians mistaking him and persecuting him. But he already had that beauty upon him which faith discerned to be of God, the token of divine favor.
Stephen was hated like his Master, interfered with and killed, but his face had already shone like that of an angel. He was marked as a child of resurrection before he was hurried to death as a martyr.
So in Matt. 16:2828Verily 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 16:28) some were to taste of death. Peter himself was to be bound and led whither he would not (John 21:18, 1918Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. (John 21:18‑19)) and suffer as a martyr. But they were to be taken beforehand to the place of the glory and shown the heavenly blessedness in which all their sorrow was to end. The value of this is such that the Lord says that though the whole world were gained, it would be nothing in comparison with the loss of the soul at the end.
Words of Truth