What Generation?

“What Generation?”

What’s all the hub-bub about A.D.70 in eschatology (end times) discussion? Let me try and break it down as best I can in regard to the generation Jesus is discussing in Matthew 24. I hope I can make it as clear as possible, feel free to leave any questions as comments and I’ll get back to you as soon as I am able.

In Matthew 23 the disciples had just heard Jesus give all His "WOES" to the Pharisees. Jesus had ended his woes with this statement;

Matthew 23
38Look, your house is left to you desolate.

Then, Chapter 24 begins like this;

Matthew 24
1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.

So the house that is being left desolate is the very Temple they had just left and called attention to as they walked away from it. The disciples were surprised that Jesus said it was left desolate, and was going to be destroyed. It wasn't until Christ rose from the dead that the disciples then understood that Jesus body was the new temple. The building was temporary.

John 2
21But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

After Christ’s work on the cross, making a Temple of stone would be the denial of Jesus as Messiah, and mocking His redemptive work on the cross. The disciples wanted to know when the Temple would be torn down with no stone left upon another the way Jesus predicted.

Matthew 24
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

Now we must pay attention to when Jesus said these things would take place. Jesus had already told the Scribes and Pharisees that it would happen in their generation!

Matthew 23
36 I tell you the truth; all this will come upon this generation.

The generation that rejected Christ as their Messiah was the generation Jesus was passing judgment on here. Now, if you want to say this destruction is about a third temple, you have to believe this new temple will be made of the exact same stones as the old temple was made of when Titus lead the destruction of it in AD70. Why is that? Because Jesus Himself said;

Matthew 24
2"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

A new temple in our day (or sometime in the future) in order to meet Jesus prophecy would have to be built from the SAME stones of His day. He plainly said "You see this right HERE, not one stone HERE will be left on another.

It seems clear to me that Jesus was talking about the very Temple they had just left and were walking away from, thus leaving it destitute. Surely, when Jesus gave the disciples this answer they did not have some distant temple of the future in mind. It seems safe to assume that they had the very Temple they had just left in mind, and that is what Jesus had been talking about.

So why was Jesus so harsh to those in that generation? Why did the judgments so many today await a future generation actually happen to the generation that lived in Jesus time? Let’s take a look at some scripture to help us answer this as well.

Matthew 23
31So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!
33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.

Even John the Baptist gave a similar warning.

Matthew 3
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Jesus warned them another time as well.

Matthew 11
16"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
17" 'We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge
and you did not mourn.' 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

20Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

The Pharisees even knew of whom He spoke; let us realize it as they did.

Matthew 21
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.

The Old Covenant order would end with the destruction of Jerusalem. This would be the "sign" of the end of the age, the end of the Old Covenant, and the consummation of the New Covenant. As such, it seems safe to conclude that the “Generation that shall not pass” is the generation in whose lifetime all these signs will occur.

Matthew 23
36I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

What generation? The generation in which Jesus is speaking seems obvious. The same rules apply to this passage as well.

Matthew 24
34I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

It surely doesn’t, or even cannot mean some far off generation not being spoken to at that time? Here is a list of "this generation" when used elsewhere in the entire New Testament. None of these speak to some far off future generation, so why would these passages in Matthew change the interpretative rule? Bear with me as there are many “this generation” passages.

Matthew 11
16"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

Matthew 12
41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one[1] greater than Jonah is here.

Matthew 12
42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

Matthew 23
36I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

Matthew 24
34I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Mark 8
12He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it."

Mark 13
30I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Luke 7
31"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?

Luke 11
29As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.

Luke 11
30For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Luke 11
31The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

Luke 11
32The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.

Luke 11
49Because of this, God in his wisdom said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

Luke 17
25But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Luke 21
32"I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

In closing it seems clear to me in scripture that the “this generation” that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 is the generation of Jews who lived in Jerusalem between A.D. 30 and A.D. 70. Using the interpretative rule of scripture it would seem to demand as much. If 14 other “this generation” passages in scripture never point to a generation other than the one being written/spoken to , then it doesn’t seem smart and or even safe to suddenly make “this generation” in Matthew 24 do otherwise, does it?