"I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." Matt 24:34
OK, here's the deal. I've got a theory (oh stop rolling your eyes), and although I don't have a great deal of scripture to support it, I don't see anything that actually disproves it, at least so far, and so that's where you come in I guess, because I want to test my theory.
Matt 24:23 has done a good job of causing a gigantic rift in the way we interpret end time prophecy. It caused C.S. Lewis to shug his shoulders and say "maybe Jesus go it wrong" (or something like that), and today most of us are left to choose between preterism, which requires spiritualizing some of the events, or futurism, which kind of clumbsily shifts the generation in question forward to some point in time.
The reason we do this is that we almost unaminously interpret the word "generation" as being a timespan. It seems more scriptural to do so, because what comes closest to mind is the 40 year generation wandering around in the desert. However, the Hebrew word for generation seems to have the same uses as the English word - it could be a timespan, but it could also be a "strain" or "lineage".
So to test this, let's start off by totally decoupling the normal use of the word, by which we use it as a delimiter within which to frame the end-time events, and instead view the verse in question as if it was an separate event. That would mean that what Jesus was saying was that the passing away of "this generation" would be the very last event in a long chain of events.
Now, do we have anything else in scripture that speaks of such an event? I think we do. Remember, the Olivet discourse is a “condensed” version of the Book of Revelation. Both seem to parallell each other as far as the “main events” are concerned (wars, famine etc. etc), and, here comes the important thing in this discussion, both lead up to the destruction of the wicked – i.e. the second death. In Revelation it is the very last event that occurs before the new heavens and new earth come down from heaven.
So could Jesus have been referring to this event in Matthew 24:34?
Well, so much for the event. Let’s look at the idea that Jesus may have been referring to a certain strain of people, rather than a physical generation. Doing a quick word search for “generation” in the NT reveals that whenever Jesus referred to "this generation" he described its attributes – wicked and adulterous, unbelieving and so on. He also pointed out that “this generation” was scheduled to be condemned at the judgement. Now was it just the "generation" that lived at the time of his ministry? Or is there a "wicked and unbelieving" generation that has existed from that time until this very day?
If Jesus, when speaking about "this generation" was only refering to one generation in time - the one that stood right in front of him then my theory wouldn't make much sense. But take not of this. When speaking to the pharisees of that generation in Matthew 23:35,36 Jesus tells them what will eventually happen to them:
“And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.”
At first glance it looks like Jesus is referring to the generation standing in front of him, which he is, but notice towards the the end of these verses it speaks about Zechariah “whom you murdered” despite the fact that Zechariah was murdered hundreds of years before the pharasees even existed.
Obviously "this generation" is not restricted to the lifespan of people living during his day. He is speaking about ALL who have the nature of these people - those of the same spiritual lineage.
I think in Matt 24:34 Jesus was answering the question on everyone's lips:
How long will we have to put up with evil in this world?
OK, here's the deal. I've got a theory (oh stop rolling your eyes), and although I don't have a great deal of scripture to support it, I don't see anything that actually disproves it, at least so far, and so that's where you come in I guess, because I want to test my theory.
Matt 24:23 has done a good job of causing a gigantic rift in the way we interpret end time prophecy. It caused C.S. Lewis to shug his shoulders and say "maybe Jesus go it wrong" (or something like that), and today most of us are left to choose between preterism, which requires spiritualizing some of the events, or futurism, which kind of clumbsily shifts the generation in question forward to some point in time.
The reason we do this is that we almost unaminously interpret the word "generation" as being a timespan. It seems more scriptural to do so, because what comes closest to mind is the 40 year generation wandering around in the desert. However, the Hebrew word for generation seems to have the same uses as the English word - it could be a timespan, but it could also be a "strain" or "lineage".
So to test this, let's start off by totally decoupling the normal use of the word, by which we use it as a delimiter within which to frame the end-time events, and instead view the verse in question as if it was an separate event. That would mean that what Jesus was saying was that the passing away of "this generation" would be the very last event in a long chain of events.
Now, do we have anything else in scripture that speaks of such an event? I think we do. Remember, the Olivet discourse is a “condensed” version of the Book of Revelation. Both seem to parallell each other as far as the “main events” are concerned (wars, famine etc. etc), and, here comes the important thing in this discussion, both lead up to the destruction of the wicked – i.e. the second death. In Revelation it is the very last event that occurs before the new heavens and new earth come down from heaven.
So could Jesus have been referring to this event in Matthew 24:34?
Well, so much for the event. Let’s look at the idea that Jesus may have been referring to a certain strain of people, rather than a physical generation. Doing a quick word search for “generation” in the NT reveals that whenever Jesus referred to "this generation" he described its attributes – wicked and adulterous, unbelieving and so on. He also pointed out that “this generation” was scheduled to be condemned at the judgement. Now was it just the "generation" that lived at the time of his ministry? Or is there a "wicked and unbelieving" generation that has existed from that time until this very day?
If Jesus, when speaking about "this generation" was only refering to one generation in time - the one that stood right in front of him then my theory wouldn't make much sense. But take not of this. When speaking to the pharisees of that generation in Matthew 23:35,36 Jesus tells them what will eventually happen to them:
“And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.”
At first glance it looks like Jesus is referring to the generation standing in front of him, which he is, but notice towards the the end of these verses it speaks about Zechariah “whom you murdered” despite the fact that Zechariah was murdered hundreds of years before the pharasees even existed.
Obviously "this generation" is not restricted to the lifespan of people living during his day. He is speaking about ALL who have the nature of these people - those of the same spiritual lineage.
I think in Matt 24:34 Jesus was answering the question on everyone's lips:
How long will we have to put up with evil in this world?
