IX.

(1) And he said unto them.--The division of the chapters is obviously wrong. The verse ought to come, as in St. Matthew and St. Luke, in immediate connection with the foregoing discourse. The present arrangement may have been made with a view of connecting it with the Transfiguration, as that which was the fulfilment of the promise; but if so, it was based on what is at least a doubtful interpretation. (See Note on Matthew 16:28.) The form of the words in St. Mark agrees with St. Luke's report, "until they shall see the kingdom of God," rather than with St. Matthew's "the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Come with power.--The Greek verb implies that they should see it not "coming," but as having actually come in its completeness.

Verse 1. - Till they see the kingdom of God come with power. In St. Matthew 16:28 the words run thus: "Till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." In St. Luke 9:27, "Till they see the kingdom of God." All these evangelists connect their record of the Transfiguration with these predictive words - a circumstance which must not be lost sight of in their interpretation. The question, therefore, is whether or how far the Transfiguration is to be regarded as a fulfillment of these words. One thing seems plain, that the Transfiguration, if a fulfillment at all, was not an exhaustive fulfillment of the words. The solemnity of their introduction forbids us to limit them to an event which would happen within eight days of their utterance. But there was an event impending, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, involving the overthrow of the Jewish polity, which, coming as it did within forty or fifty years of the time when our Lord uttered these words, might reasonably have been expected to take place within the lifetime of some of those then standing there. And that great catastrophe was frequently alluded to by our Lord as a type and earnest of the great judgment at the end of the world. What relation, then, did the Transfiguration hold to these two events and to the prediction contained in this verse? It was surely a prelude and pledge of what should be hereafter, specially designed to brace and strengthen the apostles for the sight of the sufferings of their Master, and to animate them to endure the toil and the trials of the Christian life. So that the Transfiguration was an event, so to speak, parenthetic to this prediction - a preliminary manifestation, for the special advantage of those who witnessed it; though given also "for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Such were the views of St. Hilary, St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, and others. "When our Lord was transfigured," says St. Jerome, "he did not lose his form and aspect, but he appeared to his apostles as he will appear at the day of judgment." And elsewhere he says, "Go forth a little out of your prison, and place before your eyes the reward of your present labor, Which 'the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man.'"

9:1-13 Here is a prediction of the near approach Christ's kingdom. A glimpse of that kingdom was given in the transfiguration of Christ. It is good to be away from the world, and alone with Christ: and how good to be with Christ glorified in heaven with all the saints! But when it is well with us, we are apt not to care for others, and in the fulness of our enjoyments, we forget the many wants of our brethren. God owns Jesus, and accepts him as his beloved Son, and is ready to accept us in him. Therefore we must own and accept him as our beloved Saviour, and must give up ourselves to be ruled by him. Christ does not leave the soul, when joys and comforts leave it. Jesus explained to the disciples the prophecy about Elias. This was very suitable to the ill usage of John Baptist.And he said unto them,.... Both to his disciples, and the multitude,

verily I say unto you, there be some of them that stand here; that were then living, and upon the spot,

which shall not taste of death, or die,

till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. When Jesus was declared both Lord and Christ, by the wonderful effusion of the Holy Spirit; the Gospel spread in the world both among Jews and Gentiles, in spite of all opposition, under the power and influence of the grace of God, to the conversion of thousands of souls; and that branch of Christ's regal power exerted in the destruction of the Jewish nation; See Gill on Matthew 16:28. This verse properly belongs to the foregoing chapter, to which it is placed in the Vulgate Latin version; and so it concludes one in Matthew, and ought not to begin a new chapter.