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sense also to taste of death need not necessarily mean to die. When the ruler of the feast
"tasted" the water that was made wine, he certainly did not drink the whole six pots
(John 2: 9)! and when the Lord said "none of those men which were bidden shall taste of
my supper", it is equivalent to the more modern colloquial phrase, "they shall not have a
bit of it". When Peter became hungry and would have "tasted" he wanted a very little,
not a full meal (Acts 10: 10). Again, the phrase in Acts 20: 11 does not indicate what we
call a meal. The curse under which the enemies of Paul bound themselves was not that
they would not eat, but that they would not even taste food, so great was their enmity.
Those who during this present evil age experienced in any measure the powers of the age
to come are said to have "tasted" of the heavenly gift, and to have "tasted" the good word
of God (Heb. 6: 4, 5). They "sampled" these things, but it will be true of them, as of the
Queen of Sheba, that "the half has not yet been told". I Pet. 2: 3, 4 is quite in line with
the rest. The new born babes, though feeding on the milk of the word, have but "tasted"
that the Lord is gracious. As they grow thereby and feed upon the stronger food, they
will realize that blessed truth more. Every passage we have referred to leads us to draw
distinctions between tasting and fully eating. Coming back to Matt. 16: let us notice
how this helps us:--
"Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here who shall not taste of death till
they see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom."
It is a difficulty with many that these men died before the Lord's return. Now apart
from all other factors in the true explanation, this difficulty is a fallacy. The Lord did not
say "shall not die", but shall not taste of death, and he refers to what He had just been
teaching them:--
"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and
follow Me, for whosoever will save his soul shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his
soul for my sake shall find it."
This is surely "tasting" death. To take up the cross and to lose one's soul--this,
though not actual death, is tasting death. The disciples however were not permitted to
suffer anything for their Lord until they had first of all seen the vision of His glory so
closely connected with His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem
(Luke 9: 31). This word "decease" impressed Peter, for he uses the very same word
immediately before he speaks of the transfiguration in his second epistle. This time it
was his own decease, but the link is there and visible. That bitter sorrow of soul "even
unto death" experienced by the Lord in the garden of Gethsemane reveals the awful
character of the taste of death to which Heb. 2: 9 refers, while the words "nevertheless,
not as I will, but as Thou wilt" link it with Heb. 5: 4-10. Who were they that were
chosen to be near the Lord in this dread hour? The very three who witnessed the
foreshadowing of His glory on the mount of transfiguration. When the Lord tasted that
bitter cup, He prayed:--
"O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be
done" (Matt. 26: 42).
As we stand upon this holy ground and witness that agony and bloody sweat, we see
the Lord Jesus tasting death. How pointed therefore the words are to those who are