Mark 8:38 RSV
For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed,
WHEN HE COMES IN THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER WITH THE HOLY ANGELS.
This verse is actually the conclusion of this paragraph, having no connection whatever with Mark 9:1.
The paragraphing here has spawned much error. Mark 8:38 and Mark 9:1 regard utterly different subjects, and one may regret the gratuitous extension of this paragraph by the later versions to make Mark 9:1 appear in this context.
WHEN HE COMES IN THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER WITH THE HOLY ANGELS.
Mark 8:38
This is a clear and dramatic reference to the second coming of Christ at the end of the dispensation when he shall appear apart from sin and with the purpose of executing eternal justice upon his creation.
The presence of the holy angels in conjunction with the second coming is affirmed throughout the New Testament.
It appears in the parables of the kingdom (Matthew 13) and in the writings of Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:7 f).
It is the function of the angels to separate the precious from the vile at the time of the final judgment (Matthew 13:41; Matthew 13:49).
Therefore, the coming of Christ in this verse must be identified with “the judgment” so frequently mentioned by Jesus (Matthew 12:41-42, etc.).
Mark 8:38 is an “independent saying,” thus giving scholarly confirmation of evident implications of the text itself.
Mark 9:1 RSV
And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
The second coming of Christ in glory with ten thousand of his holy angels did not occur during the lifetime of the Twelve; therefore the coming of the kingdom of God in this verse is impossible of understanding as a reference to Mark 8:38.
Having incorrectly joined the two verses (Mark 8:38 and Mark 9:1), the commentators have found it impossible to give a logical interpretation.
There are no less than eight radical and diverse explanations of Mark 9:1, which is here summarized:
- Jesus here taught that the second coming would occur within a very short while (this interpretation demeans the Lord of glory).
- The seeing of the kingdom of God come with power refers not to physical seeing of it but to intellectual perception of it!
- The “taste” of death mentioned in Mark 9:1 does not refer to physical death but to spiritual death.
- The persons who will not taste of death until the kingdom comes with power are those who will be alive and caught up, without death, at the second coming.
- The coming of the kingdom with power refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
- Others have thought of Pentecost and the spread of the gospel.
- The coming of the kingdom promised here is a visible manifestation of the Rule of God displayed in the life of the Elect Community.
- Mark 9:1 is a reference to the Transfiguration!
Only the most imaginative devices can construe the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, witnessed by only three persons, as the coming of the kingdom of God with power.
All of the above interpretations are advocated by renowned scholars, taught by numerous so-called Christian churches, and the very proliferation of their explanations suggests a FUNDAMENTAL MISUNDERSTANDING.
It is the opinion here that “the kingdom of God” is a reference to the church of Jesus Christ.
The failure of the scholars to see this derives from their failure to include the light that falls upon this place from the parallel in Matthew where Christ used the terms “church” and “kingdom” interchangeably (Matthew 16:18-19).
Understanding the church and the kingdom as one and the same thing satisfies all the teachings in Mark 9:1.
The kingdom of God coming with power on Pentecost took place at a time after both Jesus himself and Judas had tasted death, and also within the lives of the others.
There is no other explanation that this student has ever encountered which so completely fulfills all the requirements of the sacred text as does this.
Mark 8:38 RSV
…when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 9:1 RSV
“Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
The final five verses of Mark 8 and Mark 9:1 are a collection of independent sayings of our Lord which Mark grouped together.
This grouping on the part of the inspired evangelist, however, does not require that any connection be established in every case between two adjoining statements.
We often get a series of quite disconnected sayings of Jesus set together because they stuck in the writer’s mind in that order.
We must not try to find some remote connection between these sayings; we must take them individually, one by one, and interpret each one as it comes.
Mark 8:38 has reference to the final judgment of humanity, an event which is still future; but Mark 9:1 has reference to an event which occurred in that generation, now nineteen centuries in the past.
The efforts of some commentators, many “Christian” churches, and well-meaning, but completely wrong so-called “pastors” to construe these verses as a reference in both cases to the final judgment, or any other event still in the future, has the effect of a charge of ignorance against the Saviour of the world.
Interpreting Mark 9:1 as a reference to the final and glorious phase of the kingdom of God as ushered in by the second coming of Christ and the appearance of his holy angels leads to such conclusions as those of Grant who stated that “This expectation (the coming of Jesus in the glory of the Father) was universal in the early days of Christianity, and must go back to Jesus himself.”
Of course, such a view makes the Lord Jesus Christ to have been mistaken and incorrect in such a statement as Mark 9:1.
This is ground enough for rejecting all such interpretations.
There is no need whatever to construe Mark 9:1 as a reference to the second coming of Christ or the beginning of the glorious phase of the kingdom.
The great preachers of the Restoration have long held Mark 9:1 to be a prophecy of the establishment of the church on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Acts 1:8 RSV
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”
The Spirit came on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:1-4).
Acts 2:1-4 RSV
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
As the kingdom was to come with power and as the power was to come with the Spirit, and as the Spirit and the power came on Pentecost, therefore, the kingdom came on that day.
