I've heard people quote Mathew 24, about Jesus describing the ends times, all over the place. But I rarely, if ever, hear of anyone discussing the 34th verse:
Mathew 24:34:
Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass until all these things be fulfilled.
Revelation 1:1, seems to concur. John opens the book with:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew his servant things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified by his angel unto his servant John:
It is John's use of the word "shortly", and Jesus' use of "this generation" that has always bothered me. I does seem to me, imho, that even jesus was foretelling the second coming would happen in their lifetime. People have been telling me that I take these verses out of context, but for the life of me I don't see how. I've also been told of "interpretations" of these verses, but they seem to me to be very specific and really don't need interpreting, at least to me.
Can you guys help? What am I missing here.......
P.S. I looked back several pages, and didn't find this discussed yet. If this thread is redundant, then please forgive me......Thanks in advance for any responses....
:angel2:
droog1,
The generation that Jesus was speaking about at Matt 24:34,is the generation we are living in NOW.
Many times the scriptures do not tell everything about a subject in one place. You must look up other scriptures that speak about the same time. Consider Luke 21:28,31,32. These scriptures talk about the seeing of these things START to take place, know that the Kingdom of God is near. Then they say that this generation will not pass away until all these things occur.
The things that are written in Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, are all about the same generation.
Notice Mark 13:1-4, Here Jesus' disciples asked Jesus when the things that he had just told them about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple would take place. As can we seen by what the other scriptures say, the disciples were asking Jesus when he was going to set uo his Kingdom. At Matt 24:3, they asked Jesus when would he come again and a set up his Kingdom at the conclusion of this system of things.
Remember, the disciples did not realize that it would be over 2,000 years before he would return to begin his rule, Luke 19:11. Even just before Jesus went back to heaven the disciples still did not understand.
Jesus gave not only an answer to there question about when the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple would take place, but Jesus also gave them a long range prophecy about his return. History tells us that the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple took place in 70CE, then Jesus told them something they did not understand at that time, that he would return to his Kingdom in heaven, but would rule in the midst of his enemies for a period of time. The word for coming at Matt 24:3, actually is more correctly translated, PRESENCE, a time when Jesus would be on his throne, but would not take full control of earth for a period of time. That is why there are so many thing that would happen, as mentioned at Matt 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, all these happening before Jesus would take full control of earth.
Matt 24:33, tells us; when we see all these thing occurring, know that Jesus is near at the door. What Evidence can we point to to pinpoint the generation spoken about??
Notice that Jesus spoke about war, World War, when he said that Nation would fight against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom, Matt 24:7. In this verse he also mentioned famine and earthquakes, Luke mentions pestilences and fearful signs. The only way to tell our generation from another is: The occurrences of these things MUST be on an unpercedented scale, because some of the things always were in existence.
Wars; there have been more people killed in the 20th generation than in all the wars since Jesus walked the earth, well ove 200, 000,000. I would say that is unprecedented. There have been over ten times as many major earthquakes since 1900 than in the thousand years before. We know about famine and pestilences.
Now; when did these thing start to occur on this unprecedented scale. Histortians, educators and politicions tell us that time was 1914. WW1 started in 1914, 1918 was the Spanish Flue that killed an estimated 150,000,000, some say more. We have had more famine than ever before, and what about peatilences such as Aids, ebola, bird influenza, and no telling what horrors we will see in the near future.
Very enlightening scriptures are at Rev 12:1-12. Notice that these scriptures speak of Jesus and the beginning of his Kingdom rule. Right after Jesus took his seat as the Messianic King, war broke out in heaven, Satan and his angels were thrown down to earth. Verse 12 tells us the consequences of this; WOE to the earth and the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing that he has a short period of time. This short period is where we are right now, Satan is the reason we are having unprecedinted troubles, all just before Jesus takes complete control.
Another interesting point is mentioned about this same time period, Rev 6:2-8. Verse 2 tells us about Jesus receiving his crown as king, then were are informed about the other Horses of Revelation, RED-WAR, Black-Famine, Pale Horse-Famine, DEATH by many means. Death follows closely. Did you notice that these scriptures fit perfectly with Jesus prophecy and Revelation prophecies???
Just to back these up, look up also Matt 24:29-31, the same generation we are in. The Tribualtion here mentioned is the destruction of Babylon the Great, and immediately Jesus come to take full control of earth, calls together his Chosen Ones, and brings this system to an end. Consider also 1Thes 4:13-17, speaking about the same time period. Then 2Thes 1:6-9, and 2:1,2, 2Pet 3:-7.
