Luke 9:26, commentary and pictures

Whoever is ashamed of Christ and His teachings will be disowned by Him with shame when He returns in His own glory and His Father's and the holy angels. The warning is part of His condition for following Him, to deny self, take up the cross daily and lose life for His sake in order to save it, rather than gain the whole world and lose oneself. He will then come no longer in lowliness, suffering and poverty as at His first coming, but as heaven's victorious King, King of kings and Lord of lords, escorted by all the angelic host in garments of perfect whiteness. Being ashamed means hesitating to obey the truth, being ashamed of the cross and of standing under His banner as a doer of the Word and keeper of His law, and letting selfishness, laziness or love of human praise keep one from faithfully serving and helping to save others. Only those who acknowledge Him now by accepting His sacrifice, taking up the cross, bearing suffering, reproach and shame for His name, and giving themselves wholly to His service in self-denial and self-sacrifice will be openly owned by Him, raised or caught up to meet Him, and welcomed into His kingdom with glory, honor and everlasting life.

Words and Setting

To come after Him requires denying self, taking up the cross daily and following Him, and losing life for His sake in order to save it, rather than gaining the whole world and losing oneself. Whoever is ashamed of Him and His words will be disowned by the Son of Man when He comes in His own glory and in His Father's and of the holy angels. Only those who on earth follow Him in self-denial and self-sacrifice and give themselves wholly to serving the Lord who redeemed them will be received into heaven as members of the royal family and receive everlasting life when He takes possession of His kingdom as joint-heirs with Him. This belongs to His teaching about discipleship and the cross, in which He Himself chose to endure the cross and its shame for the joy of saving humanity and restoring the world to loyalty to God.

It stands among His final instructions before He was taken from His disciples and must be studied to get its meaning. It warns that a time of trials and persecutions everywhere will come, and calls for hearts in full harmony with Him and intelligent knowledge of His work and of what He will do for those who follow on to know the Lord. Following on brings continual increase of light, for His going forth is prepared as the morning, because He was in the world reflecting light upon the people and desired them to remember all that He had said to them. It points beyond present poverty, humiliation, and suffering to the Son of Man's coming in glory with the glory of God and the hosts of heaven, connected with judgment when each person is rewarded according to works. The nearby promise that some then present would see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom encouraged the disciples, though they did not understand how it fit with His foretold rejection and death.

Coming in Threefold Glory

The verse reveals the second coming in threefold glory — His own glory, His Father's glory, and the glory of the holy angels. That glory stands in contrast to His first coming in lowliness, suffering, obscurity, and poverty. The One who was then rejected and crucified will appear as heaven's King.

He will no longer be seen as a prisoner or criminal, but as the victorious King of kings and Lord of lords. He will return surrounded by angels and acknowledged by all as King and equal with God. His enemies will recognize their mistake and confess His divinity, and the angels will bow before Him in adoration. Those who rejected and mocked Him, including the priests and rulers who condemned Him, will see Him at His coming and face judgment that reveals whom they were opposing.

He will come with all the angelic host escorting Him on His way. He will appear clothed in glorious garments of the whitest white, garments of perfect whiteness. His coming answers to the high priest coming forth to the waiting congregation in robes of glory after finishing his service in the holy of holies. His splendor will bring light to the homes of His saints, who will see the first light of His second appearing.

He will be admired by those who have served Him. While the wicked flee, His followers will rejoice in His presence. Those who love and wait for Him will receive glory, honor, and immortality, with the righteous dead rising and the living righteous caught up with them to meet Him. Those who chose sin and conformity to the world and rejected Him will then recognize the worth of sharing His glory but will know they have no part in it. Their worldly wealth and status will then seem worthless as they face the consequences of refusing mercy.

Warning and Faithfulness

Whoever is ashamed of Christ and of His words will be disowned by Him and met with shame by the Son of man when He comes in His own glory and in His Father's and of the holy angels.

Being ashamed means hesitating to obey the truth, which denies Christ. It is to be ashamed to stand under His blood-stained banner, ashamed to own to being doers of the Word, ashamed to place oneself on His side as keepers of His law, feeling it dishonoring to love His commandments and to respect the memorial of God's work of creation. To become disloyal because neighbors are disloyal, loving their praise more than God's approval, is to let truth become a dead letter. By refusing the offer of salvation and rebelling against the government of God, such ones will be found among transgressors outside the city of God, to perish with their chosen worldly companions and to share the fate of Satan and his angels.

Being ashamed also includes being ashamed of the cross and failing to serve Him faithfully. When selfishness, laziness, or shame keep one from helping to save others, the result is Christ's rejection at His coming, the loss of one's own soul, and answering for the good one could have done. A person's conduct can make Jesus ashamed of him despite the great sacrifice of giving His life for salvation. Deeds and words that disgrace Him are recorded in heaven, and leading worship or preaching from the Bible does not excuse unholy behavior or make it faithful service to God.

Sharing His glory requires following Him through cross-bearing. His followers must willingly bear suffering, reproach, and shame for His name, as He faced humiliation and death, giving up attachment to the world's pomp and pleasure rather than denying Him. Believers should have courage to accept the truth in Jesus and not be ashamed of following Him.

Only those on earth who follow Him in self-denial and self-sacrifice, denying self, taking up the cross daily, following Him, and losing life for His sake in order to save it rather than gaining the whole world and losing oneself, will be received into heaven as members of the royal family and receive everlasting life when He takes possession of His kingdom as joint-heirs with Him, giving themselves wholly to serving the Lord who redeemed them. Acknowledging Him in this world means professing to be a child of God by accepting His sacrifice and offered salvation and taking up the cross, choosing the way of life over the way that leads to hell, showing in this life that heaven is wanted, and being laborers together with God instead of waiting passively, fighting the good fight faithfully and running the race with patience and being temperate in all things to obtain an eternal crown. Such ones will not be met with shame, but He will openly own them and their wives and children with an abundant entrance into His kingdom. They are His pure, holy, undefiled representatives, sanctified to God in body, soul, and spirit and kept sound, clean, and pure in mind and practice, and theirs is the welcome into the joy of the Lord.