Messiah: The Glory of the God-Man, Matthew 16:28-17:2

I have always loved going to movies ever since I was a kid. One of the things I always loved about going to see at the movie theatre was to see the previews of coming attractions, to watch all the trailers, to watch what was coming out, especially if I knew something was coming out that I was anticipating and I could finally see what they had done with it and whether it might be a good film or not.

What we get in this passage is a preview of coming attractions at the end of chapter sixteen, and then we get a trailer in the first part of chapter seventeen focusing on the future kingdom. It is a snapshot for us, as it were, of what the kingdom is going to be like—just a foretaste of the kingdom—and Jesus is giving this to His disciples to strengthen their faith and give them a little understanding of what is taking place; reinforcing what He has taught since Matthew chapter thirteen, that the kingdom is not going to come now. The kingdom is not here in any way, shape or form. There is not a spiritualized kingdom; there is not a mystery form of the kingdom; the kingdom is future. The kingdom was a literal, physical, political kingdom that was going to be on the earth. Jesus would be reigning from a literal throne of David in a literal Jerusalem; this is what was prophesied in the Old Testament. It is very clear that this was what was to come and what was offered by John the Baptist, by Jesus, and then by His disciples to the Jewish people.

But we reached that climax in chapter twelve where the leaders of Israel rejected Jesus and said that He performed His miracles in the power of Beelzebul, attributed His power to Satan, and at that point Jesus announces that they had committed this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which was a rejection of the kingdom, assigning the power of Satan to the Messiah, and from that point on the kingdom was never offered Israel again prior to the crucifixion. It would be offered again in Acts but at this point there is no re-offering of the kingdom; it is postponed.

The build-up to what occurs in chapter seventeen really starts in verse 13 of chapter sixteen at the end of the previous section where Jesus is training His disciples, and it culminates at the situation that occurs in Caesarea Philippi. We learned that if we really want to be a disciple then there are things that we must do. We must accept that we have been given a new life and that there are responsibilities associated with that new life, and challenges related to that new life, and we have to learn to submit to the authority of God. We can't just live our lives without concern or care for these obligations that the Lord has placed on us as new members of His royal family. So these different conditions that are placed upon discipleship by our Lord in the Gospels are simply saying it is great that you are saved, you are a member of the family, but if you are going to act like a member of the family this is what is expected of you.

The focus on this setup at the end of chapter sixteen is to help the disciples to understand that the contemporary ideas of the Messiah were that the Messiah would come in glory and would defeat the enemies of Israel and establish His kingdom. What Jesus is emphasizing is that this is not the way it is laid out in Scripture. The crown doesn't come before the cross, the crown doesn't come without the cross; the crown comes after the cross—first the cross, then the crown. The messiah must come and first suffer before He is glorified. The emphasis on His glory comes secondary here. We see it mentioned in v. 27, “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels ...” That is the first clear statement that there is going to be a suffering and death (v. 21) followed by another future coming (v. 27). In the section in the first part of chapter seventeen we are going to see the teaching on the glory of the God-Man.

The place where this is taking place is in the north of Israel. Jesus has taken His disciples, according to 16:13, up to Caesarea Philippi. Jesus emphasizes that the next thing on the timeline is that He is going to suffer. But Peter just doesn't hear that.

Then Jesus gives a tagline, which gives a bit of a preview of coming attractions. Matthew 16:28 ^NASB “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.” That is a tantalizing line. The phrase “ the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” is pregnant with significance. The term “Son of Man” comes out of Daniel chapter seven where Daniel sees these visions of the future kingdoms that are going to come. He understands the Persians are going to come, that the Greeks will replace them, and the Romans will replace the Greeks. And there is something unusual about this future kingdom that is Rome because it is depicted as a voracious monster that has ten horns. It is depicted not only as the Roman empire of history but also the revived Roman empire that will come at the end of history. And then Daniel has a vision of the throne room of God where he sees the Son of Man. That title “Son of Man” emphasizes the humanity of this figure. The Son of Man is the Messiah; it is a messianic title. It is Jesus' most common term to describe Himself. In the vision the Son of Man approaches a figure called the Ancient of Days, who is God the Father. The Son of Man approaches the Ancient of Days and requests the kingdom, and then the Ancient of Days gives the kingdom to the Son.

This is all yet future, because the picture we see of Jesus during the church age is what? He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. He is seated and waiting—for what? He is waiting for the time to come when He will request of the Father the kingdom. That time period which is yet future to us is what is pictured in Daniel chapter seven. The Son of Man requests the kingdom, the Father gives Him the kingdom, and then the Son of Man will come to the earth and defeat the kings of the kingdom of man on the earth. That is what occurs at the Second Coming.

This is what Jesus is alluding to here in verse 28. “... 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.” That is, they will see the glory of the Son when He comes as King. Right now you don't see the glory of the Son, but you will see the glory of the Son.

Then Matthew tells us, “Six days later”. What went on during those six days we don't know, but Jesus was continuing to teach His disciples many things and probably answering many questions. They were still hovering in that area of Caesarea Philippi north of the Sea of Galilee before they head south towards Jerusalem.

Matthew 17:1 ^NASB “Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.” This is the most intimate circle among the disciples for Jesus. Jesus is going to take them aside for a special revelation. They are going to get that preview of coming attractions, a foretaste of the kingdom. Matthew 17:2 ^NASB “And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” The verb here is METAMORPHOO, from which we get our word metamorphosis. It means a complete transformation. Jesus is completely transformed. He doesn't become something else, He is still who He is; He is the God-Man. Suddenly it is like a veil is removed and His glory shines forth.

It is important to understand the background to all of this and what is going to be said in the next seven or eight verses. It is critical to take some time and go through an understanding of what the Bible teaches about Jesus as the God-Man—what is called the hypostatic union, the union of two substances in one person.

When we go back into the Old Testament and look at all the messianic prophecies there are basically two things emphasized. Some of them pull them together in one but most emphasize one or the other. The first is a string that emphasizes the fact that this Messiah is divine. For example, in Isaiah 9:6 He is the mighty God. He is called Immanuel in Isaiah 7:14—God with us. A number of other places emphasize the deity of the Messiah and then there is another strain that emphasizes His humanity. He is the son of David, the descendant of David. That makes Him genuine humanity. He was born of a virgin. These two were not clearly understood by the prophets of the Old Testament or even at the time of Christ, and in some interpretations in Judaism they sought two messiahs. When we get to the New Testament it is very clear that Jesus is the God-Man Messiah: deity united with humanity in one person. That is the essence of this term, the hypostatic union.

The central passage to look at on this is in Philippians chapter two. The context is that there is a little bit of divisiveness and conflict going on in the church at Philippi and the problem always is arrogance. What Paul is emphasizing here is the necessity of humility in human relationships. Humility is a poorly understood concept today. As expressed in this passage it is submitting to authority. Moses was called the most humble man in the Old Testament. It wasn't because he was walked over by everybody because he wasn't—he exuded authority and led three million Jews through the wilderness for forty years—it was because he submitted to the authority of God. That is the essence of humility and is exactly what we see in this passage.

But in giving this illustration the apostle Paul wants us to understand that this is exemplified in the Lord Jesus Christ. It begins, Philippians 2:5 ^NASB “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus”. In other words, if you are going to have a ministry, if you are going to walk with the Lord, if you are going to go anywhere in your spiritual life, then you need to develop this humility. You need to be able to think like Jesus thought; you need to have a mental attitude that Jesus had. The Greek word he uses here is PHRONEO, which means to think or to reason, or to have a certain attitude or mental outlook. You need to be characterized by this Christlikeness in the way you look at life: that we are not here to impress people with who we are but as believers in Christ we are to impress people about who Jesus Christ is. He is to be the focus.

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus”. What exactly is that attitude that Paul is talking about? He goes on to explain this in the next verse. Philippians 2:6 ^NASB “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men.” Those two verses really nail down what is meant by the hypostatic union. He is fully God, undiminished deity, eternally God in all of His essence. And then He adds to that humanity, so that He becomes a genuine, true human being. He doesn't lose any of His deity but He adds to it humanity.

In the exegesis Paul uses the word “existed”, the Greek word HUPARCHO, which has to do with existence. We are going to see a contrast here because when we look at verse seven where it says, “being made in the likeness of men” he uses the word GINOMAI, which indicates in many passages becoming something that you weren't already. This clearly reinforces in reference to His humanity becoming something He wasn't already. The deity part always existed, so this is talking about an eternal existence. It is a concessive participle, which means that despite what you might think something else is true. It is usually translated though or although, “He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped”. The word “form” [MORPHE] refers to the nature or essence of something. It is talking about His divine essence. It is saying that even though He existed eternally as God [with the essence of God], despite that He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. So this statement here is a clear emphasis on His divine essence. This is emphasized by many other passages, e.g. Hebrews 1:3. Jesus didn't take on divinity, He was always God, the eternal second person in the Trinity, Cf. Colossians 1:17; John 1:1.

The word “regard” is a word for thought, and is found in various places, e.g. James 1:2. It is a word for thinking, to reason, to work your way through something, to evaluate something. It is saying that Jesus didn't think, didn't consider, when He added up all the data. He said it is not worth holding on to my deity, asserting my deity, I have a mission to accomplish in terms of the plan of salvation. We could paraphrase this: “who although He eternally existed with identical essence to God, He did not think that deity was something to grab hold of, to assert”.

Question: Is this thinking part of His humanity or part of His deity? Answer: It is before He became a man, so it is part of His deity. As pure God, before the Incarnation, before the hypostatic union, Jesus in His omniscience thinks this through, instantly recognizing that it is worth everything for the salvation of human beings.

“a thing to be grasped” is the Greek word HARPAGMOS, which is the noun form of HARPAZO. HARPAZO is the word translated “rapture”, and it means to snatch or to grab something. He doesn't think that equality with God is something to be grabbed, something to be grasped, and it has the idea of holding on to something or asserting yourself. So He is not asserting His deity. He is willing to give up that which is His natural right as God to enter into human history where He is going to be rejected, going to suffer, and indefinable, indescribable misery on the cross so that you and I can be saved.

We paraphrase this: “who though He eternally existed with identical essence to God did not think equality with God was a claim to be selfishly grasped at or a claim to be asserted.” What happened in the Garden of Eden? Satan came along and said to Eve: “If you eat the fruit you are going to be like God”. She grabbed for it. Jesus is God and He doesn't grab for it. He was willing to relinquish His privileges as God in order to enter into human history to suffer for us.

This is then defined. Philippians 2:8 ^NASB “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” It says “He humbled/emptied Himself”. A lot of people have debated the meaning of the word “emptied” but it is clearly a contrast with what went on before and it is a word found in the Greek, KENOO, often referred to as the Kenosis problem. Some people say that means He gave up His deity. That is not what it means. He never stopped being fully God. When Jesus was in the manger He was holding the universe together in His deity. He never relinquished one bit of His divine power. What happens in the hypostatic union, what happens in the Incarnation, is Jesus is not going to use His deity to solve His problems living in the devil's world. He is going to enter into human history as a man and He is going to face life just like you and I do to show that by depending exclusively upon the power of God, the Word of God and the Spirit of God He can handle whatever life throws at Him, whatever happens in the devil's world.

This word KENOO can mean to make empty but it can mean to divest yourself of a position, and that is the idea here: I have a right to my omnipotence but I am not going to use it; I have a right to assert who I am and what I am but I am not going to do it. If He did, He would have just blown everybody away. We see one tiny little glimpse of that in John when the soldiers of Herod and Pilate come to arrest Him. There is this flash of His deity and everyone falls to the ground.

He emptied Himself not by giving anything up but by taking on humanity, by receiving to Himself the form of a bondservant. That is the idea of humanity, further identified as “being made [GINOMAI] in the likeness of men”. He empties Himself by receiving the form of a servant. This is the same word used earlier (being in the form/essence of God); now He is going to take upon Himself the essence of servant. This refers to His immaterial nature, as well as the next word “likeness” at the end, which refers to His physical nature. He is true humanity in terms of His physical body, in terms of His soul and makeup.

What we see here is this contrast. Though He existed in the essence of God He emptied Himself by receiving the essence of a bondservant. He divests Himself of the right to emphasize His deity. He didn't get rid of it; He is still fully God. That is why the miracles, like changing the water into wine—to show that He is still God. He walks on the water to show that He is God; He is in control of creation.

This is how He veils His glory. It is still there but it is now veiled. As someone once said, it is veiled by darksome clay. He exposes it on the Mount of Transfiguration. This term hypostatic union refers to the union of two natures, divine and human, in the one person, Jesus Christ. He is one person. Whatever He does, one person does it. Those natures are inseparably united, without loss or mixture of separate identities (He doesn't blend together), without loss or transfer of properties or attributes (His attributes don't leak on to the other side), and the union is personal and eternal.

A billion years from now Jesus is still going to be a human being in a resurrection body—with scars. He humbled Himself by being obedient to the point of the cross. Humility is submitting to the appropriate authority when it is time to submit to that authority.

Philippians 2:9 ^NASB “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.” This is the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. But His glory comes after the cross. [10] “so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Glory comes later. But what happens in Matthew is that Jesus is going to give a preview of these coming attractions to His disciples and it is something that they will never forget. Peter will refer back to this in 2 Peter: “we saw Him in His glory”.

The tagline that is given at the end of Matthew 16: “... some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” is fulfilled just six days later when these three disciples see the unveiling of Jesus' glory.

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