Jesus mentions signs that never took place in 70 A.D.
What is the context of Mathew 24? The entire context of Mathew 24 between verse 4 and verse 51 is Christs' answer to the question....
WHEN shall these things be. (one stone on top of another)
WHAT shall be the sign of they coming.
WHAT shall be the sign of the "consummation of the age."
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Actually, except Christ's actual return, and the signs that preceed that actual event, all the signs he spoke about were seen, if not terminated, in the generation of the Apostles. Let me show you:
We see in Acts 5:36-37; 8:9-10; 13:6 and 1 John 4:1 that false prophets were on the scene before 70AD. We also see in 1 John 2:18 that "many antichrists have appeared".
Josephus reported the same things (Josephus, Ant. 20.5.1; 20.8.6; J.W. 2.13.4; 6.5.2.).
Anyone who picks up a history book can find plenty of evidence for wars and rumours of wars. After Nero's death in AD68 wars and rumors of such abounded in the Roman Empire, and the war against Israel itself lasted from 66-70AD.
Acts 7:59-60; 11:19, 28; 12:1-2, as well as Josephus and Eusubius report famines (Josephus, Ant. 20.2.5; J.W. 6.3.3.; Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.8-26.), and Acts 16:26 and Josephus report earthquakes (Josephus, Ant. 15.5.2; J.W. 4.4.5; 5.10.3.)
We see persecution of Christians throughout all of the NT, indeed, by the Jews. But Mark 13:9 lists the "courts and synagogues", and Acts 4:3; 5:17-47; 6:11-8:3; 12:1-5; 14:1-6, 19; 16:19-24; 17:5-8, 13; 18:12-17; 20:3; 21:27-28:20; 2 Cor 11:24-33; Heb 10:32-34 all do the same as well.
1 Tim 1:19-20; 6:10; 2 Tim 1:15; 4:10; Heb 2:1-4; 6:1-6; 10:26-31 records betrayals and falling away from the faith by "professing believers".
Lawlessness was a characteristic of the Jewish war, according to Josephus, and we know that by the time the Romans surrounded the city, the zealots had, from the temple...the very place that was supposed to be the place of God, incited murder and mayhem.
Mark 13:9-11 links the preaching of the gospel to "all the nations" with the first-century Jewish persecution of believers. Acts 2:5-11; Rom 1:8; 16:25-26; Col 1:6, 23 also record that the gospel was "preached in the whole world".
So...basically...what we're looking at here, is...biblically, "all these things" that Jesus has spoken of, have began to take place. The Disciples have seen all of these things. The beginning of the "birth pang" signs, which will proceed for the whole interadvental period. And they also saw the destruction of Jerusalem. What this means, biblically, is that Jesus could return any generation, suddenly and unexpectedly.
By no means does that indicate the prophecy was meant only for Jews or the generation Jesus is speaking to. "This generation" is the one that sees all of the events pass that Jesus mentions between verses 2-33.
Only the most unnatural reading of "generation" can lead us to conclude that it is not talking about thepeople Jesus is talking too.
If Christ had wanted to refer to "the generation alive" he could have used the Greek word
Genos, which means "descendant, family, relatives, nation, people, class, kind" instead. Rather, he used
Genea; Generation. And every other time Genea is used in Matthew, it is used in context of "this generation". Therefore, it is only with extreme difficulty that anyone can...or should, make "generation" mean something other than the generation living when Jesus spoke.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Jesus uses the word 'THIS' because 'this' is the generation that will see and endure what he is talking about. The word THIS is better understood in some verses as "even so" even as" and "so thus." And in some translations "these" and "the same." The antecedent to "this Generation" in verse 34 is ALL of what Jesus said between verses 4-33. Look at it this way... "SO THUS, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
Vines says about the word THIS... Even (Adverb, Etc.), Even As, Even So: or houto, "so, thus," is frequently rendered "even so," e.g., Mat 7:17; 12:45; 18:14; 23:28; "so" in 1Cr 11:12; 1Th 2:4, RV.
Even if we make the sentence say "so thus, this generation..." it still says "this". And unless Jesus was being highly deceptive to the men he was speaking face to face with, which was not at all his style, we must understand "this" to be "this".
Regardless,
αὕτη , seems to be used, just as thoroughly, or more so, in the NT, as "this". Matt 9:26, 13:54, 21:42, 22:20, 22:38, 26:8, 26:12, 26:13; Mark 12:11, 12:16, 12:31, 12:43, 12:44, 13:30.....And about 50 more...
Verse 35-36 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Jesus is talking TO the people in front of him about the people who will SEE these things. Not ONCE does the passage suggest Jesus is deviating from talking about "the end" or any other generation other than the one that sees and endures what Jesus said about...
See...the problem with that is that he IS talking to the people in front of him. His Disciples are right there and they've just asked him 3 questions. Are we to imagine that Jesus is really not answering them? That what he is talking about has zero to do with them, but is, inf fact, only to do with an audience that won't be born for another 2000 years? Despite the fact that those sitting there clearly felt he had been talking to them...so much so that when the Roman army was decending on Jerusalem, they fled, just like Jesus told them to. There is a reason why pretty much no Christians died in that seige.
And not once? How about the plain language of it? How about the plain understanding of it? How about when Luke's version tells us outright it's the destruction of Jerusalem? How about all those signs that Christ tells us we'll all see, throughout all this period, and we do...from them, to us? To limit that passage to only "end time us" you make is absolutely pointless for anyone before us. Which makes the biblical mandate of all scripture being profitable for all Christians useless. And it just invalidates much of what Christ said and actually happened. There is absolutely no biblical proof, no written statement in either Matt, Mark or Luke, that state the Disciples didn't believe Jesus was talking to them. None. So what makes you assume that he wasn't? They would have absolutely believed that he was. If you asked someone something, and they began to answer you...speaking to your very face, would you understand that they were actually speaking to a generation 2000 years from now? How non-sensical!
Christ prophecised the downfall of Jerusalem. In fact, when he made the claim it would happen in the life-time of his Disciples...which IS how they would have taken it, he was, in point of fact, laying his "prophet" credentials on the line, so to speak. If it didn't happen, then he would have been proven to be a false prophet. But, as it did happen, and happen exactly as he predicted, that tells us two things: he was indeed speaking of 70AD, and he is indeed a prophet...just as he is priest and king.
Mathew was written in late 60's A.D, or even as late as 80 A.D. It makes no sense that the prophecy would be recorded where it would have already passed, or where it was meant only for Jews. That's no more than a perverted pre-trib fabrication. The entire chapter is meant for everyone because Jesus was replying to the question, "
WHEN shall these things be. (one stone on top of another)
WHAT shall be the sign of they coming.
WHAT shall be the sign of the "consummation of the age."
And by the way, there's still one stone standing upon one another!
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