The same truth is illustrated in the book of Revelation where those living under the

dominion of the Antichrist at the end of the age, choose to die rather than receive the

mark of the Beast. As far as this present life is concerned, they had given up everything,

but the Apostle John, in a vision, sees them raised from the dead later on, not only living

in the millennial kingdom, but on the throne with Christ, reigning with Him (Rev.xx.4-6).

But verse 5 reads "the rest of the dead did not come to life again until the thousand years

were ended" (R.S.V.). So here we have a clear illustration of what being shut out of the

kingdom means in the Sermon on the Mount.

Taking up the cross is a voluntary act of a believer who is willing to suffer pain and

loss now for Christ Who takes note of this, and gives immense gains in the life to come

for eternity. Thus we see that the phrase "the saving of the soul" in the N.T. applies to

faithful believers, not to the unsaved.  Moreover, we can now distinguish between

coming to Christ as sinners needing salvation, and choosing to come after Christ (literally

behind Christ, that is with Christ in front, leading). This can only be experienced after

being saved.

"To deny himself" (16: 24) means more than what we mean by "self-denial". It

means to say `no' to self, to refuse to make our aims, our pleasures, our wills the laws of

life, thus giving them the first place. For these we must substitute the claims of Christ,

His Truth, and the well-being of others. Such a choice is far from easy, but we dare not

alter or tone down the conditions laid down by the Lord.

All this section of the Gospel must be seen in its context of reward for faithfulness in

service. It does not refer to salvation. If this is introduced here we create difficulties that

are insoluble. The Lord Jesus at this point reveals that His coming back to the earth is in

great glory with the accompaniment of the angels of heaven, and He concludes with the

Once more we have the untranslatable particle an with the subjunctive mood which

implies some uncertainty of the timing, not the fact of the Lord's return. By His own

statements that we have considered, the Lord Jesus brought His Second Coming near to

the first, and we know that the conditions that obtained in the Acts period showed that

this second coming was an imminent possibility, for all the epistles written during this

period show that it was near. (See the author's The Unfolding Purpose of God, p.43).

We note that the next chapter commences with an account of the Transfiguration.

Some expositors feel that this is the fulfillment of the verses we have been considering,

for Peter, James and John witnessed it, and the three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and

Luke record it (Matt. 17: 1-8; Mark 9: 2-8; Luke 9: 28-36) in exactly the same

context. Before we reject this, we should consider Peter's testimony in his second epistle

which refers to his experience at the Transfiguration of Christ: