It is the nation which was in view when he uses the term, "this generation." When Israel failed, it became culpable for all the dire results that failure brings. No, he meant that Israel was the nation chosen to be the instrument of God to teach the whole world what he is like. The Lord surely did not mean by this that the Pharisees and their contemporaries would bear the blame for all the injustice of the ages. Truly, I say to you, all this will come upon this generation." He was speaking in severe and sharp tones to the Pharisees, and he said: "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. It is almost certain that this is what the Lord meant, for he used the word "generation" in this very sense in the previous chapter, Matthew 23:33-36. "This people will not pass away till all these things take place." The Indestructible People And the second explanation involves a very forced and unnatural meaning for the word "this." The only other alternative is that the word "generation" means the Jewish people. Of course, if he meant the disciples' generation then his words have long ago been proven false. Each of these meanings has been suggested as a possible explanation of his words.īut the truth is, he meant neither of these. Did he refer to the generation to which he was speaking, i.e., the disciples and their contemporaries? Or did he perhaps mean the generation which would be alive when the events he predicted will begin to be fulfilled? If that is what he meant, he would have been saying that when these events begin they would be completed before the generation would pass. Many have wondered exactly what he meant by these words. "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place." Then the Lord offers a second guarantee, contained in an often misunderstood statement in verse 34: When the world reaches the stage he describes, and the possibility of the coming of the Lawless One looms on the horizon of current affairs, then "he is near, at the very gates." We are now nearing the end of two thousand years of history and each man can judge for himself whether or not the world is approaching these events. History will confirm his predictions as it unfolds. The trend of world events is the guarantee that he has been telling the truth about the future. What the Lord means is that as history unfolds and it becomes apparent that the world is heading toward the conditions he describes, then men can be very sure that his coming is near. Luke tells us that he said this is not only about the fig tree, but also of "all the trees" (Luke 21:29). Of course that is perfectly true, but that is not what he is saying here. Some have misread this to mean that the fig tree is a symbol for the nation Israel and that the Lord means to say that when Israel shows signs of life as a nation that then the end is near.
Everyone knows that when the trees begin to put forth their leaves it is an infallible indication that summer is near. It is another pattern from nature which illustrates the point he wishes to make. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates." "From the fig tree learn its lesson as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that sumer is near. Even Jesus anticipates a certain degree of honest doubt, for at this point in his discourse (verse 32) he breaks off his description of the last days to give three powerful guarantees that all he has said will actually come to pass. In fact it would be rather strange if you haven't. If you have, you are not the first one to do so. How can we be sure all this will happen? No doubt you have asked that more than once before now.
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