Question:
Please explain Mark 9:1: “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.”
Answer:
The prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled about a week later. “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. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.” (Matthew 16:28–17:3; cf. Luke 9:27–28).
The transfiguration of our Lord was a miniature representation of His coming and kingdom. When our Lord comes, there will be first His glorious person and then His people, some of whom will have been raised from the dead immortal, and others changed to immortality without tasting death. See 1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. These two classes were represented at the transfiguration. Jesus the King was there, “transfigured before them,” and He was not alone, for “there talked with Him two men, who were Moses and Elijah; who appeared in glory.” Luke 9:30, 31. Moses stood as the representative of those who will be raised from the dead (See the reference to his resurrection when Michael, the Son of God, raised him from the dead. Jude 9). The voice of Christ, the Archangel, raises the dead (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16; John 5:28, 29). Elijah represented those who will be translated without seeing death (see 2 Kings 2:1, 11, 12). Peter, who was present, declares that this scene manifested “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:16-18). Each one of the Gospel writers who recorded the transfiguration—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—speaks of it in connection with the promise of Jesus.
