Kindly explain Mark 9:1: "And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power."
The context supplies the answer to this question. Jesus had been speaking about His coming "in the glory of His Father," (Mark 8:38) when He uttered the words quoted, and the next thing related is the Transfiguration, which is thus described: "And after six days Jesus took with him Peter, and James, and John, and led them up into a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. And His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he knew not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear Him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves." (Mark 9:2-8)
We are not left to conjecture that this was what Jesus meant when He said that some of those standing by should see the kingdom of God come with power; for Peter, who saw the transfiguration, states the matter very plainly. He says: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount." (2 Peter 1:16-18)
The transfiguration of Jesus, then, was a representation of His Kingdom, "with power and great glory," (Luke 21:27) even "the glory of the Father." (Romans 6:4)
There were with Him also Moses and Elijah, "who appeared in glory," (Luke 9:31) as representatives of the two classes of the saints who will be transfigured with Jesus at His coming, namely, those who have fallen asleep, and those who are alive and remain until His coming.
The question is often asked how Moses and Elijah could be at the mount with Jesus, if "the dead know not anything." (Ecclesiastes 9:5)
This question does not take two things into account: Elijah never died, but was translated to heaven as Enoch was. (2 Kings 2:11) There is therefore no room for any difficulty in this case. Moses, however, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-Peor; but no man knows of his sepulchre unto this day." (Deuteronomy 34:5-6)
How then could Moses be on the mount with Jesus, unless the dead go to heaven and are conscious? This brings us to the second thing that is usually overlooked, which is brought to view in: "Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you." (Jude 9)
Michael is "the great Prince which stands for the children of your people," (Daniel 12:1) who in the time of trouble at the last day stands up for their deliverance. There can be no question but that Christ is the one referred to. It was He who disputed with the devil about the body of Moses. It is by "the voice of the Archangel," (1 Thessalonians 4:16) that the sleeping saints will be called to life at the coming of the Lord; and as there could be no dispute between Him and the devil about the body of Moses, except as to who had a right to it, we know that in the case of Moses, the resurrection day was anticipated.
The devil is the one that "had the power of death," (Hebrews 2:14) "[who] opened not the house of his prisoners [voluntarily]." (Isaiah 14:17)
But Christ entered into his prison-house, the grave, voluntarily, and disarmed the devil, (Luke 11:21-22) and He has the keys of death and the grave, (Revelation 1:18) so that He can release whosoever He will. Christ was "slain from the foundation of the world," (Revelation 13:8) and therefore before His crucifixion on Calvary He had the same power to open the grave of His people, and to call them forth to life, that He has now; and this power He often exercised.
The case, then, is very plain: Christ was on the mount in the dazzling glory in which He will appear at the last day, and Moses and Elijah appeared in glory with Him as representatives of the saints who have slept and those who have remained alive, who will be "changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump," (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) from mortality to immortality. When Christ comes from heaven He will "fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto himself." (Philippians 3:21,RV)
If we should stop here, we should have only the bare outline of facts, and should perhaps not learn the lesson designed to be conveyed by the recital. Let us therefore note very briefly and plainly a few things, some of them by way of review, and some for the purpose of getting additional light.
a) In the mount of transfiguration Christ appeared in His kingdom; the power of His kingdom was seen by those who were present.
b) He himself was transfigured. The glory in which He was clothed was the glory that came from within Him. "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
c) This is exactly what will take place with all the saints at the harvest "in the end of this world," (Matthew 13:40) when they are gathered home. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matthew 13:43)
The light with which they will then be clothed will be a light that is already within them, for they will shine forth.
d) This therefore is a manifestation of the truth that "the kingdom of God is within you."
There is no trifling, no play upon words, when Jesus told His disciples that some of them should see the kingdom of God come with power. The kingdom of God was there in the person of Jesus, and on the mount of transfiguration the disciples saw the power of it in Him, as well as in Moses and Elijah. God is "glorious in holiness," (Exodus 15:11) and so is His kingdom in His people. The grand lesson that we are to learn from this representation is "the power that works in us," (Ephesians 3:20) to enable us to do the will of God on earth even as it is done in heaven. All the power indicated by the glory of God,--the power by which Jesus was raised from the dead, and by which the bodies of all the righteous will be changed at His coming, and fashioned like unto His glorious body,--is the power of the kingdom of God within us, by which when believe we overcome sin, and are now changed into the same image from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18) "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you." (Romans 8:11)
With these truths before us knowing that the Lord is in His holy temple, dwelling between the cherubim, and that our bodies are the temple of God, we may pray with the Spirit and the understanding as never before, "You Shepherd of Israel, You that lead Joseph like a flock; You that dwell between the cherubims, shine forth." (Psalm 80:1)--Present Truth, February 27, 1902.