Since Jesus told his disciples that they would not die until they saw the ushering in of the kingdom [Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27] but that didn't happen (God interrupted with the grace dispensation and, well, they died) doesn't it appear that Jesus told them a lie? Are the twelve going to be resurrected? Even if they are, it still wasn't what Jesus told them.
First of all we know that Jesus is the truth, and cannot lie as the God-Man, so why did they die if he said that they would not? You answered it, yourself, within your question, i.e., the dispensation of grace where the Mystery program was revealed!!!
When Christ said those words, he himself did not know about the mystery program or the dispensation of grace although he was God in the flesh! How do we know? He said so himself!
While on earth as "The Son of Man," Jesus of Nazareth operated under the complete and total will of his Father to Israel and did nothing of his own accord or power. Although he remained God, he chose to limit the free/independent use of his deity to that revealed by the Father in Israel's Old Testament scriptures. And because Paul's preaching of Christ is not in the Old Testament, Christ himself did not know it!
Look at these verses:
Mark 13:32
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Here when discussing his own return to Israel, he tells his disciples that he himself did not know when! How is that possible if he is God? Well, again, he operated as the Son of Man, limiting his omniscience to that the Father revealed to him.
Paul says in Ephesians 3, that his preaching of Christ, called the Mystery, was that... Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
That included Jesus, himself!
Philippians 2:5-8
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Look what the Lord says in the book of John which presents him as Israel's Jehovah God.
John 5:19
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
John 5:30-31
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
John 6:38
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
So we see that although our Lord was God, he chose to limit the independent use of his deity during his earthly ministry to Israel!
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Will the 12 be resurrected...and even if they are, it is not what Jesus told them?
First of all, he did tell them he would raise them if need be...
John 11:25
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Matthew 19:27-29
Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Again, Jesus told them what he knew and believed then!!! You and I have the privilege of looking back and even knowing about the change in dispensations, but He did not!!!
As far as his Father revealed to him, he told them the truth—that is what right division of the scriptures is all about!
Had Israel not rejected him and his kingdom, all that stuff he said would have come true. Just like those courses of judgment on Israel did not have to happen if they had obeyed. Had they received the kingdom then, the dispensation of Grace would not have come! But it did, so what Christ said to them before was trumped by what he says to us today thru Paul!
The 12 will be resurrected into his earthly kingdom when he starts that program again in the future when he is finished with us.
There will also be some members of the little flock of Jewish believers (future from us today) who will read Matthew and not taste death until they see him come.
Hopefully this
helps...Maranatha!
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