Introduction
† Matthew 16:27-28 and Colossians 1:13 belong together because one passage speaks about the coming of the Son of Man in His kingdom, while the other shows that believers had already been transferred into that kingdom.
† Jesus placed His coming within the lifetime of some who were standing in front of Him. Paul later wrote to living first-century Christians and told them that God had already transferred them into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
† These passages create a serious problem for any interpretation that moves the coming of the kingdom thousands of years beyond Jesus' original audience.
† Jesus didn't say that some standing there would have descendants who would see it. He said that some of the people standing there wouldn't taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.
† Paul didn't tell the Colossians that they were waiting thousands of years to enter Christ's kingdom. He said God had already delivered them from darkness and transferred them into the kingdom.
† The kingdom isn't something Christians are still waiting to begin. Christ reigns, His people belong to His kingdom, and we live under His rule today.

Matthew 16:27-28
For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every person according to his deeds. "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."
† Jesus identified the event as the coming of the Son of Man in the glory of His Father, accompanied by judgment and the kingdom.
† Then Jesus gave His audience the time limitation. Some of the people physically standing before Him would still be alive when this happened.
† The words some of them that stand here can't naturally describe people living thousands of years later. Jesus was speaking directly to His first-century audience.
† This agrees with Jesus' repeated teaching that judgment and His coming would occur within that generation (Matthew 10:23; 23:36; 24:30-34).
† If everyone standing there died and the event still hasn't happened, the plain time statement Jesus gave them loses its meaning. The fulfilled view allows both the event and the time statement to stand exactly where Jesus placed them.

Colossians 1:13
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
† Paul didn't describe the kingdom as merely a distant future hope. He told the Colossian believers that God had already transferred them into Christ's kingdom.
† Notice the completed actions. God delivered them and transferred them. They weren't waiting for Christ's kingdom to exist before they could enter it.
† This helps explain Matthew 16:28. The kingdom was being established through Christ's redemptive work and would be fully manifested in the covenantal judgment that brought the old covenant age to its end (Hebrews 8:13; 12:26-28).
† Christians today don't need to wait for Jesus to become King. Jesus is King now, and those who belong to Him are citizens of His kingdom (Ephesians 2:19; Philippians 3:20).

Mark 9:1
And Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God when it has come with power."
† Mark records the same unmistakable time limitation. Some standing with Jesus would remain alive until they saw the kingdom of God come with power.
† The audience wasn't imaginary. The people standing there were real first-century people with normal human lifespans.
† This statement places the coming of the kingdom within their lifetime, not thousands of years beyond them.
† Matthew emphasizes the Son of Man coming in His kingdom, while Mark emphasizes the kingdom coming with power. Together they describe the same first-century expectation (Matthew 16:27-28; Mark 9:1).

Matthew 24:34
Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
† Jesus again established the timeframe. The generation hearing His prophecy wouldn't pass away until all the things He had described were accomplished.
† This includes His description of the Son of Man coming on the clouds and the gathering of His elect (Matthew 24:30-31).
† Matthew 16:28 says some standing there would still be alive. Matthew 24:34 says that generation wouldn't pass away. These statements reinforce each other.
† We don't need to redefine this generation into a generation thousands of years removed from Jesus' listeners. The first-century fulfillment honors the audience, context, and time statements.

Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let's show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
† The writer of Hebrews said those believers were receiving an unshakable kingdom.
† The context contrasts what could be shaken with what would remain. The old covenant order was ready to disappear, while Christ's kingdom couldn't be shaken (Hebrews 8:13; 12:26-27).
† This wasn't describing the destruction of planet Earth. It was describing a covenantal shaking connected with the removal of what was temporary and the establishment of what would remain.
† The kingdom Christ established doesn't need to be replaced by another earthly system. His kingdom remains because it can't be shaken.

Luke 21:31-32
So you too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place.
† Jesus connected the fulfillment of the signs directly with the nearness of the kingdom of God.
† He told His disciples that when they saw these things happening, they would know the kingdom was near.
† He immediately followed that statement by declaring that their generation wouldn't pass away until all things were accomplished.
† The disciples weren't instructed to look thousands of years into the future. They were told to watch for events they themselves could see (Luke 21:20, 28, 31).
† Matthew 16:28, Mark 9:1, and Luke 21:31-32 give the same basic message, people then living would witness the coming of the kingdom.

Revelation 1:1-3
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near.
† Revelation begins with two unmistakable time statements. The events must shortly come to pass, and the time was at hand.
† Those statements agree perfectly with Jesus' promise that some standing before Him would live to see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matthew 16:28).
† Revelation doesn't begin by telling its first-century readers that the prophecy concerned events thousands of years beyond them. It tells them that the events were near.
† The same urgency appears at the end of Revelation, where the prophecy wasn't to be sealed because the time was near (Revelation 22:6, 10).

Historical References
† Josephus, writing about the Jewish War, recorded the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. His account provides important historical background for understanding the judgment Jesus had pronounced upon Jerusalem and His generation (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Books 5-7).
† Josephus described famine, internal violence, Roman armies, the burning of the temple, and the devastation of Jerusalem. These events fit the historical setting Jesus described when He warned His disciples about Jerusalem's coming destruction (Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-24).
† Tacitus, the Roman historian, also described the Jewish conflict and the Roman campaign against Jerusalem, providing non-Christian historical testimony concerning the first-century war (Tacitus, Histories, Book 5).
† Eusebius later connected Jesus' warnings with the events surrounding Jerusalem and recorded the tradition that Christians left Jerusalem before the city's destruction (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Chapters 5-7).
† These historical writers don't establish biblical doctrine, Scripture does. They provide historical testimony showing that the generation Jesus addressed experienced an extraordinary covenantal judgment culminating in Jerusalem's destruction in AD 70.

How It Applies To Us Today
† We aren't waiting for Christ to receive His kingdom. Christ reigns now (1 Corinthians 15:25; Revelation 1:5).
† We aren't waiting to be transferred into a kingdom that doesn't yet exist. In Christ, believers belong to the kingdom of God's beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).
† We don't have to live as though Christianity is waiting for Jesus to someday become victorious. His death, resurrection, ascension, reign, and covenant victory established the reality in which His people now live (Acts 2:32-36; Hebrews 10:12-13).
† Matthew 16:27-28 gives us the timeframe. Some standing with Jesus wouldn't die before seeing the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.
† Colossians 1:13 gives us the kingdom reality. God's people had been delivered from the authority of darkness and transferred into Christ's kingdom.
† Hebrews 12:28 tells us what kind of kingdom we've received. It's a kingdom that can't be shaken.
† We don't live waiting for the kingdom to arrive. We live in Christ's kingdom now, under the reign of the King who has already been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).
† Our message isn't that Jesus failed to come when He said He would. Our message is that Jesus kept His word, fulfilled His promises, established His kingdom, and reigns today.

Q & A Appendix
Q: Did Jesus say people standing with Him would still be alive when He came in His kingdom?
A: Yes. Jesus specifically said that some standing there wouldn't taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matthew 16:27-28; Mark 9:1).

Q: Could Matthew 16:28 refer only to the Transfiguration?
A: The Transfiguration provided a powerful preview of Christ's glory, but Matthew 16:27 describes the Son of Man coming in His Father's glory with His angels and rendering to each person according to his deeds. That judgment language reaches beyond the Transfiguration and agrees with Christ's first-century judgment statements elsewhere (Matthew 10:23; 23:36; 24:30-34).

Q: Did Paul teach that Christians were already in Christ's kingdom?
A: Yes. Paul said God had delivered believers from the authority of darkness and transferred them into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians 1:13).

Q: Are Christians still waiting for Jesus to become King?
A: No. The New Testament presents Jesus as already exalted and reigning. Peter proclaimed that God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ, and Paul taught that Christ must reign until His enemies are placed under His feet (Acts 2:32-36; 1 Corinthians 15:25).

Q: Does believing the kingdom has come mean God's kingdom has stopped growing?
A: No. A fulfilled coming of the kingdom doesn't mean the end of Christ's reign or the end of the gospel's work. Christ's kingdom is an unshakable kingdom, and His rule continues (Hebrews 12:28; 1 Corinthians 15:25).

Q: What does this mean for Christians living today?
A: It means we're not waiting outside the kingdom for prophecy to be completed before we can enjoy its blessings. In Christ we have redemption, citizenship, access to God, and life under the reign of our King now (Colossians 1:13-14; Ephesians 2:18-19).

Q: What about those who say a thousand years is like one day to God, so the time statements don't have to mean soon?
A: That doesn't erase the plain meaning of Jesus' words. Peter said that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day, emphasizing that God isn't limited by time as humans are (2 Peter 3:8). He didn't say that when God tells people something will happen soon, near, or within their generation, those words can mean thousands of years. Jesus didn't merely say soon in Matthew 16:28. He identified living people and said some standing there wouldn't taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matthew 16:27-28). Turning their lifetime into thousands of years doesn't explain the passage, it contradicts the time limit Jesus gave.

Q: Doesn't God experience time differently than we do?
A: Yes, God is eternal, but He communicates with people using words they can understand. When Jesus said some standing before Him wouldn't taste death until they saw His coming in the kingdom, the timeframe was measured by their human lifetimes, not God's eternity (Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1). Otherwise, time statements in Scripture would become meaningless.

Q: If the kingdom came in the first century, why is there still sin and suffering in the world?
A: Because the coming of Christ's kingdom never meant the physical earth would immediately become sinless or that human history would end. Christ reigns in the midst of His enemies (1 Corinthians 15:25), and believers have been transferred into His kingdom (Colossians 1:13). The kingdom is present and unshakable even while the gospel continues to go into the world (Hebrews 12:28; Matthew 28:18-20).

† This is the fulfilled perspective we proclaim at Fulfilled Prophecies †
© Fulfilled Prophecies - Dan Maines.

Source Index
† Matthew 16:27-28; Colossians 1:13; Mark 9:1; Matthew 24:34; Hebrews 12:28; Luke 21:31-32; Revelation 1:1-3
† Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Books 5-7; Tacitus, Histories, Book 5; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, Chapters 5-7