Matthew 19:28 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ye which have followed, &c.— Ye who have followed me, shall in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon, &c. sit also upon, &c. See Doddridge, and the version of 1729. The latter has the passage thus: In the new age, when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, that have followed me shall likewise sit upon twelve thrones, &c. This appears to be a very natural sense of this difficult passage: many commentators, however, understand it differently, and agreeably to our translation. "Jesus replied (says Macknight) to the inquiry of Peter, that he and the rest of the apostles should certainly have a peculiar reward even in this life; because, immediately after his resurrection, when he ascended the throne of his mediatorial kingdom, he would advance them to the high honour of judging the twelve tribes of Israel; that is to say, of ruling his church and people, of which the twelve tribes were a type. You who have followed me in the regeneration, παλιγγενεσια, you who have left all and followed me, in order to assist me in accomplishing the creation of the new heavens and the new earth, predicted Isaiah 65:17 when the Son of man shall sit, &c. you also shall sit, &c. In the 7th chapter of Daniel, the prophet, speaking of the Messiah's kingdom, says, Matthew 19:9. &c. I beheld till the thrones were set, (not cast down, as it is in our translation,) and the Ancient of days did sit, namely, on one of those thrones; and behold, one like the Son of man came to the Ancient of days, while he sat on his throne, and they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom. By the kingdom which was given to the Son of man, the prophet meant his mediatorial kingdom; and by the glory, his being seated beside the Ancient of days on one of the thrones, in testimony of his exaltation to that kingdom. The throne of his glory therefore, which our Lord speaks of in the text, is the throne of his mediatorial kingdom; called thethrone of his glory,in allusion to the representation which Daniel had given of it. In this kingdom the apostles likewise were to be seated on thrones, and to judge the tribes; that is to say, were to be next to the Messiah in dignity and office; his ministers, by whom he was to subdueand govern his church. In Luke 22:28 we find this promise repeated to the disciples in words more fully to the same purpose. See the note on that place. Our Lord adds, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, according to the common interpretation of these words, they imply, that at the general judgment the apostles shall assist Christ in passing sentence on the Israelites; yet this explication may justly be disputed, because the promise thus understood would make the apostles very much inferior to all other saints, of whom it is said that they shall judge the world, and not the world only, but angels also, 1 Corinthians 6:2-3. Besides, the promise, in the ordinary sense of it, is not applicable to Judas at all, who, having proved so bad a man, cannot be supposed capable of the dignity of Christ's assessors at the general judgment. Our Lord certainly well knew that Judas would fall from his office and dignity; but as Matthias filled his place, and stood entitled to the promise, he did not think fit to enter into any particular distinction, but speaks to the whole body of the apostles in words which he knew would be accomplished to the far greater part of those to whom they were addressed. In the Hebrew language, to judge signifies to rule or govern. See Judges 12:7. 1 Samuel 8:5 wherefore, by the apostles sitting on the thrones, judging the tribes, may be understood their ruling the Christian church of which the Jewish was a type, by the laws of the Gospel which their Master inspired them to preach, and by the infallible decisions relative to faith and manners which he enabled them to give in all difficult cases. Such seems to have been the true nature of the dignity which Jesus promised to his apostles: however, as they had always been accustomed to look on the Messiah's kingdom as a secular empire, they would naturally interpret their sitting on thrones, and judging the tribes, of their being made chief magistrates in Judea under their Master; and would thence take courage again, after having been greatly dispirited by the declaration which Jesus had made concerning the impossibility of a rich man's entering into hiskingdom." See Macknight, Fleming's Christlogy, vol. 1: p. 28. Grotius, Wetstein, and Bishop Bull's Works, vol. 1: p. 281.