Hi Paidion…
As I understand it… “the kingdom of God” aka “kingdom of heaven” (one and the same Mt 19:23-24) being “near” or “at hand” was Jesus’ way of proclaiming to Israel her year or time of liberty under “the reign of God” is here i.e., the RETURN of Yahweh to Zion… this was another way of saying “your exile (covenant death) is over”. This was Israel’s GOSPEL, “the good news” (εὐαγγέλιον euangélion), elsewhere described in terms of “the consolation of Israel” (Lk 2:25, 38; 23:51; 24:21; Mk 15:43; Acts 1:6; Ezek 37:11-12) – restoration/redemption/resurrection etc…
Isa 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” cf Isa 61:1-3; Lk 4:18-19
IOW… the kingdom or reign of God was now present “in the midst of you” in Jesus… and to as many as grasped this (him) reality to them was conferred “authority” in said kingdom/reign (Jn 1:12; Lk 12:32, 22:29; Mt 21:43)
Now when Jesus said “The kingdom of God does not come with observation” he meant “the kingdom of God is not of this world” in terms of a geo-political reign; whereas that is exactly what the Israelites were waiting for, a Messiah to rout the enemy, in this case Rome… this is why “they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king”, Jesus however flees from this, Jn 6:15.
Now with regards to Lk 9:27 Mark expands with more clarity on this saying…
Mk 9:1 And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” [NKJV] marginal note reads: having come.
What needs to be pointed out here is that Mark sees some of the disciples living to see Christ’s return and kingdom coming by using the perfect participle while Matthew sees it in the future. In other words Mark is saying that some of the disciples would live to be able to look back on this event knowing that the coming of the Lord and His kingdom had already come:
Mk 9:1 And Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power."
[NASB]
Mk 9:1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
[ESV]
Mk 9:1 Verily, say unto you–There, are, certain of those here standing, who shall in nowise taste of death, until they see the kingdom of God, already come in power. [ROTHERHAM]
Mk 9:1 And he said to them, `Verily I say to you, That there are certain of those standing here, who may not taste of death till they see the reign of God having come in power.’
[YOUNG’S LITERAL TRANSLATION]
Mk 9:1 Then he added, "Believe me, there are some of you standing here who will know nothing of death until you have seen the kingdom of God already come in power!"
[J.B. PHILLIPS]
Mk 9:1 And he said to them, Truly I say to you that there are men standing here who shall not taste death till they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.
[LAMSA’S PESHITTA]
Mk 9:1 He went on to say, "In solemn truth I tell you that some of those who are standing here will certainly not taste death till they have seen the Kingdom of God already come in power.
[R.F. WEYMOUTH]
R.F. WEYMOUTH, footnote:
Already come] Or ‘already arrived;’ the perfect participle. The imperfect act ‘coming’ is mentioned in Matt. xvi. 28, the completed act of ‘having come’ is mentioned here.
In power] Some suppose that the reference is to a spiritual and judicial Coming of Christ at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., just within the lifetime of His earthly contemporaries.
