<p>19:28&nbsp;<em>And Jesus said to them: Truly I say to you: You who have followed me-&nbsp;</em>This is in response to Peter's claim that they had &quot;left all and followed You&quot; (:27). The Lord doesn't include Peter's claim that they had &quot;left all&quot;, but rather focuses upon the 'following Me'. This may well have been because He knew that Peter had not in fact &quot;left all&quot; to the degree that Peter thought he had (see on :27). They hadn&rsquo;t then grasped the idea of what really following involved; they hadn&rsquo;t in one way or another laid down their lives with Christ. And then there is the problem of &ldquo;twelve&rdquo;. Judas didn&rsquo;t follow to the end, and will not sit upon a throne in the Kingdom. The Lord surely means, therefore: &ldquo;You who will have followed me&hellip;&rdquo;. Or is that He spoke of &ldquo;the twelve&rdquo; as a title for the group of disciples, and what He meant was that even at that early stage He counted their desire to follow Him to the cross as if they had done it? We must see our failing, following brethren likewise. He counted His sheep as following Him (Jn. 10:27) even then, although he knew they were not then strong enough to follow Him to the end (Jn. 13:36). The risen Lord especially wanted the women to tell Peter that He was &lsquo;going before him&rsquo; to Galilee (Mk. 16:7)- with the implication that even in his weakness and dejection, He wanted Peter to still try to follow Him and re-live the cross in his life.</p>
<p>The Lord was so generous spirited towards His disciples. He knew that Peter would not follow Him as planned, to the cross- indeed, none of them would (Jn. 13:36,37), but He speaks to them as if they would be successful ultimately in following Him.</p>
<p><em>In the regeneration</em>- The reference is to the last day, when the Kingdom of God as it was in the form of Israel will be regenerated / restored. But the only other occurrence of the word is in speaking of baptism as &ldquo;the washing of regeneration&rdquo; (Tit. 3:5). The Kingdom experience and process begins now- a thought which although common in the NT probably fails to grip us as it should. For is our own depressed and passive spiritual experience today really the Kingdom life as it could be? The Greek word literally means &lsquo;the re-naturing&rsquo;. The final and ultimate change of nature will be at the last day, but the essence of such regeneration begins now.</p>
<p><em>When the Son of Man</em>- As so often, the term is here associated with the glory and judgment reigning of Jesus. This is because His glorification is on the basis of His having been so human.</p>
<p><em>Shall sit on the throne of his glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones-&nbsp;</em>The Lord foresaw the twelve&nbsp;<em>who at the time included Judas&nbsp;</em>sitting in glory upon twelve thrones. The question therefore arises as to whether or not the Lord knew Judas would betray Him, and if He did [as He says He did], then why did He apparently trust Him? Samson trusted Delilah and yet knew on another level she would betray him. This is just a common psychological condition. It helps explain why the Lord Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas would betray him (Jn. 6:64), and yet how He could really trust in Judas as his own familiar friend, confide in him (Ps. 41:9), tell him that he would sit with the other eleven on thrones in the Kingdom (Mt. 19:28). This was ever a serious contradiction for me, until considering the Samson: Delilah relationship in depth. A man can know something about someone on one level, but act and feel towards them in a quite different way than this knowledge requires. David likewise must have known Absalom&rsquo;s deceit; but he chose not to see it, for love&rsquo;s sake. &ldquo;They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things [just as Absalom did in the gate]...but I, as a deaf man, heard not&rdquo; (Ps. 38:12,13). Paul surely knew how Corinth despised him, how little they knew and believed, and as he himself said, the more he loved them, the less they loved him. And yet in all honesty he could say: &ldquo;As ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence and in your love to us&rdquo; (2 Cor. 8:7). Yet the more abundantly he loved them, the less they loved him- not the more abundantly. Yet he saw them as loving him abundantly. One also gets the sense that the Gibeonites&rsquo; deception was somehow guessed by the elders of Israel, but against their better judgment they disregarded the tell-tale signs (Josh. 9:7). Or Amasa, taking no heed to the sword in Joab&rsquo;s hand- against his better judgment, surely (2 Sam. 20:10). This is a feature of human nature; and for me so far, the contradictions evident in the Jesus: Judas relationship and the Samson: Delilah relationship are only explicable for me by realizing this. The whole thing is an eloquent essay in the Lord's humanity and the depth of His 'in-loveness' with Judas the traitor. And this Lord is our Lord, the same yesterday and today. Our self-knowledge will be deepened by realizing that we too have this spiritual schizophrenia: it's not that we are spiritual one day and unspiritual the next. We are both flesh and spirit at the very same moment. Appreciation of this will help us cope with the more evident failures of our brethren. It doesn't necessarily mean that they must be written off as totally unspiritual and insincere because of acts and attitudes of evident unspirituality. The Spirit is still there, at the very same moment. Think of how Samson slept with a whore until midnight, and then in faith rose up and was granted the Spirit to perform a great act of Christ-like, cross-like victory over the enemies of God's people. Let&rsquo;s note that when the Lord repeats this teaching at the last supper, He mentions only that the faithful will &ldquo;sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel&rdquo; (Lk. 22:30). Surely He realized that &lsquo;the twelve&rsquo; were not now all faithful.</p>
<p>Lk. 22:30 speaks of the disciples sitting eating and drinking at the Lord&rsquo;s table, judging the twelve tribes. The suggestion is that the seats at His table somehow turn into thrones of judgment. In this case the idea may be that being in fellowship with the King means that we are co-rulers with Him; His table of fellowship becomes the basis of judgment for the Israel who refused Him and His disciples. Or in another sense, the seats at His table merge into seats of glory and of judgment. If we are at His table now, we shall be rulers in His Kingdom.</p>
<p><em>Judging the twelve tribes of Israel-&nbsp;</em>There are many problems in trying to work out the chronology of events at the judgment seat. I suggest they are resolved by understanding that there will be a collapsing of time [and space too, if Einstein&rsquo;s relativity theory is correct] at the day of judgment. This would explain difficulties such as how we and the disciples can come before the judgment throne of glory when we and they are seated there (Mt. 19:28 cp. 25:31); and how the judgment of the world seems (from some Scriptures) to be simultaneous with the judgment of the household.</p>
<p>The Lord has repeatedly spoken in terms of establishing a new Israel, and so He may have in mind here the tribes of spiritual Israel. In Revelation, the disciples form the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem; the entire edifice of the Christian church was built upon men who were so weak in faith, understanding and perception. But&nbsp;<em>krino</em>&nbsp;[&ldquo;judging&rdquo;] can just as well mean &lsquo;condemning&rsquo;. In this case the Lord&rsquo;s picture would be of the despised disciples playing a part in the judgment and condemnation of natural Israel who had rejected Christ.&nbsp;</p>
