Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
What are your thoughts on Jesus coming before the disciples went to all the cities of Israel?
Sorry if someone already suggested this (I don’t have time to read all 7 pages of responses), but I believe Jesus plainly says here exactly what He meant; that He would “come” prior to His disciples going over the cities of Israel.
It behooves us to know what Jesus meant by “be come”. In II Peter 1:16-18 we find:
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
Here is found a clear reference to Christ’s transfiguration, where Peter, James and John were eye witnesses to Christ’s power and “coming” in a glorified state of majesty, accompanied by old-testament saints but, far more importantly, by the audible Voice of the Father, from the excellent glory, in which the Father honored and glorified the Son.
So it is clear that the 12 has not preached Christ to every city in Israel prior to our Lord’s transfiguration, regardless of what one makes of the other prophesies contained in Matthew chapter 10.
This explanation also resolves passages, such as Matthew 16:28;
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
It was only a few days after our Lord spoke the above (as well as Mark 9:1 and Luke 9:27) that He fulfilled these prophesies of His coming into His Kingdom. Consider who was present on the Mount:
1. The glorified God-Head ( in Christ dwelt all the fullness of the God-head bodily) in intensely resplendent light and glory
2. Moses, an Old Testament saint whose body was dead and God had buried.
3. Elijah, an Old Testament saint whose body did not die but, like Enoch’s, must have been changed in order to walk with God where He had taken them.
4. Three New Testament Apostles.
Who will be in the Kingdom of God that are not respresented by the persons on the Mount, at what Peter described as Christ’s “coming” in power and glory?
Consider the subject under discussion at this “ coming”: Jesus’ upcoming passion, i.e., the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation. So the King of Glory, Jesus Christ (to whom the Holy Spirit was given without measure) and the representatives of the subjects of His Kingdom, meet at the same place and time to discuss the soon-to-come means of salvation for the the future inhabitants of the new world. And the Father speaks the words of endorsement (coronation), confirming Christ as King.
Was this not a significant “coming” of our Lord into His Kingdom?
If we don’t broaden our understanding of the various uses and meanings the scripture makes of certain words, we force ourselves into overly complex interpretations.