This Generation Will Not Pass Away:

[Overcomer]

Jesus talks about the destruction of the temple and signs of the end times in Matt. 24:1-35:

1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 Do you see all these things? he asked. Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.

3 As 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?

4 Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, I am the Messiah, and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation,[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel"let the reader understand" 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now"and never to be equaled again.

22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Messiah! or, There he is! do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 So if anyone tells you, There he is, out in the wilderness, do not go out; or, Here he is, in the inner rooms, do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

29 Immediately after the distress of those days


the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

30 Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32 Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Verse 34 has been the subject of many a debate. My questions are as follows:

What did Jesus mean when he said "this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened?" Who is "this generation"?

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to post 572 by EarthScienceguy]

Our exchange is primarily about what Jesus meant by "this generation" and who he so identified.

Your two answers cite two specific generations separated by more than 2000 years.

Jesus means the generation that sees these things happen.

Jesus is telling the scribes and Pharisees that they are even worse than those the persecuted the prophets. Because they not only were they sent the prophets and they were sent prophets and the Messiah Himself. So condemnation was on that generation specifically. Their punishment would happen in their generation and it did.

Grace and peace to you.

[EarthScienceguy]

[Replying to Checkpoint]

Our exchange is primarily about what Jesus meant by "this generation" and who he so identified.

We are discussing the meaning "This generation" in the context of Matthew 24 not Matthew 22. Jesus is speaking of two different generations according to the context of the passage.

[EarthScienceguy]

[Replying to post 574 by marco]

This is one of the prophecies in Daniel. Daniel 8.

3 I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. 4 I watched the ram as it charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against it, and none could rescue from its power. It did as it pleased and became great.

5 As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. 6 It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage. 7 I saw it attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it; the goat knocked it to the ground and trampled on it, and none could rescue the ram from its power. 8 The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.

9 Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. 10 It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. 11 It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down. 12 Because of rebellion, the Lords people[a] and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.

13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled"the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot of the Lords people?

14 He said to me, It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.

But then the vision is interpreted.

He said: I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end.[c] 20 The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. 21 The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king. 22 The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power.

23 In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. 24 He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. 25 He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.

26 The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been given you is true, but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future.

How could dates be given when all of time had not been divided yet by the birth of Christ. They based time on different major events. Dates are given in Daniel they are simply measured from a specific event.

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to Checkpoint]

Our exchange is primarily about what Jesus meant by "thi<"generation" and who he so identified.

We are discussing the meaning "This generation" in the context of Matthew 24 not Matthew 22. Jesus is speaking of two different generations according to the context of the passage.

To say that is to self-contradict. Jesus did nor do that, and would not do that.

His :this generation" is not "two different generations", but one, singular.'

Its overall context is all he said in connection with the word "generation''.

Grace and peace.

[onewithhim]

I apologize for coming late to this discussion, and if this post of mine repeats something that has been said before, I am even more apologetic. Please peruse my information and let me know what you think.

Of course the Scripture in question is Matthew 24:34: "Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things happen."

Here is the explanation from what I believe to be inspired by Jesus himself, as he is using his earthly Watchtower organization to dispense spiritual food at the proper time (Matt. 24:45):

Prior to 1914--the year when the "Time of the Gentiles" came to an end, according to Bible prophecy---a group of faithful anointed ones were actively serving God. Most, if not all, of those particular anointed ones have died. We understand that in mentioning "this generation," Jesus was referring to TWO GROUPS of anointed Christians.

The first group was on hand in 1914, and they readily discerned the sign of Christ's parouseia in that year. Those who made up this group were not merely alive in 1914, but they were adult, spirit-anointed sons of God in or before that year.

The second group included in "this generation" are anointed contemporaries of the first group. They were not simply alive during the lifetime of those in the first group, but they were anointed with holy spirit during the time that those of the first group were still on earth. (And not every anointed person today is included in "this generation" of whom Jesus spoke, because some of them were not anointed when some of the 1st group were still alive on earth.)

Today, those in the 2nd group are themselves advancing in years. Yet, Jesus' words at Matt.24:34 give us confidence that at least some of "this generation" will by no means pass away before seeing the start of the Great Tribulation. This should add to our conviction that little time remains before the King of God's Kingdom acts to destroy the wicked and usher in a righteous new world.

(WT, Study Edition, January 2014)


Folks can continue to say that Jesus was wrong, or they can pay attention to this explanation of Matthew 24:34. Let's not "sleep on as the rest do." (I Thess.5:6)

[onewithhim]

[Replying to Checkpoint]

Our exchange is primarily about what Jesus meant by "thi<"generation" and who he so identified.

We are discussing the meaning "This generation" in the context of Matthew 24 not Matthew 22. Jesus is speaking of two different generations according to the context of the passage.

To say that is to self-contradict. Jesus did nor do that, and would not do that.

His :this generation" is not "two different generations", but one, singular.'

And I didn't say "two generations." I pointed out that the "generation" that Jesus spoke about consisted of two GROUPS. These overlapped, making up ONE generation.

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to post 581 by onewithhim]

And I didn't say "two generations." I pointed out that the "generation" that Jesus spoke about consisted of two GROUPS. These overlapped, making up ONE generation.

Yes,that is what you did say, in your post.

However, what I wrote was not a response to your post but to post 577 written by EarthSkyguy, who has given me no reply yet.

I did not respond to your post because I did not see it until you made me aware of it today.

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to post 581 by onewithhim]

And I didn't say "two generations." I pointed out that the "generation" that Jesus spoke about consisted of two GROUPS. These overlapped, making up ONE generation.

Yes,that is what you did say, in your post.

However, what I wrote was not a response to your post but to post 577 written by EarthScienceguy, who has given me no reply, yet.

I did not respond to your post because I did not see it until you made me aware of it today.

Grace and peace to you.

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 583 by Checkpoint]

I kind of knew you were addressing someone else, but I just wanted to make clear what I was saying about the generation, so no one could say that I thought there were two generations.

[Checkpoint]

[Replying to post 583 by Checkpoint]

I kind of knew you were addressing someone else, but I just wanted to make clear what I was saying about the generation, so no one could say that I thought there were two generations.

Fair enough.

As and when my vision is sufficient. I will be happy to discuss this issue further.

Grace and peace.