Significant numbers of evangelicals are walking away from the faith. Why? What reason might they give? One answer is coming to believe that Jesus predicted things that turned out not to be true. How so? you might ask. Most certainly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things are accomplished. (Matthew 24:34) Mark 13:30 and Luke 21:32 say the same. What are the things to which Jesus refers? Wars, famines, and earthquakes are on the list. Well, those things happen in every generation. No problem. There is the complete destruction of the temple and its desecration. The Romans did a pretty good job on that score. What about the darkened sun and moon and the shaking of the heavenly powers. Symbolic language like this appears in many places in scripture; it is hard to definitively ascertain what it means. But finally, an apparent knockout blow: Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Matthew 24:30–31) Clearly, first century Christians did not witness this. We live two-thousand years later and still we wait. So, “Was Jesus wrong?” If he was, then how do we trust anything else predicted in the New Testament, including the resurrection? As Paul states, If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain. Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised. For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised. (1 Corinthians 15:14–16) Peter responded to those who already were beginning to doubt: Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (2 Peter 3:3–4) This brings us to the key question of this article: “How do we as Christians respond?” Answers to three key questions that follow will hopefully clarify. Did Jesus think he would return within the lifetime of his living disciples? Why did Jesus say what he did in the way that he did? How do we interpret those verses which appear to say something that Jesus did not mean? Let’s begin. Did Jesus think he would return within the lifetime of his living disciples? Jesus announced: This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole world for a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14) Who were the proclaimers? A motley group including fishermen, a zealot, a tax collector, and a thief. Did Jesus really think this crew could complete the mission while facing persecution, being turned over to the authorities, and likely killed? I think not. Jesus also knew that his kingdom would start small and gradually grow step-by-step. He wrote: What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.” Again, he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom? It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” (Luke 13:18–21) In other words, he expected the kingdom of God to take root and gradually come to worldwide dominance. At the height of Roman power, it would be preposterous for anyone to think this could happen in a single lifetime. Then we have Jesus’ admission: “But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matt 24:36) And his warning: “Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” With all of this in mind, and considering other similar statements by Jesus, we have strong evidence showing that Jesus did not anticipate his return to occur in short order. Why did Jesus say what he did in the way that he did? We know that Jesus often spoke in ways that were baffling. An example, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves.” (John 6:53) After that statement, most who were following him left, never to return. So, with regard to the question at hand, what was he trying to convey? Urgency! Suppose he said, “All these things cannot be fulfilled till evil fully runs its course.” My guess: Peter goes fishing. No pressing motivation exists for other disciples to walk towards martyrdom. One could conclude: “No urgency – no Jesus revolution.” A fog of forgetfulness would engulf the decades after the crucifixion. Jesus’ words brought immanency not only to those first believers, but to all who followed. Serious believers keep watch expectedly today just as they did throughout the entire New Testament era. How do we interpret those verses which appear to say something that Jesus did not mean? C. S. Lewis called Matthew 24:34 “the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.” Untold scholars of the modern era conclude that Jesus is nothing but a deluded false prophet who died as a complete failure. Let’s see if this is true. Like many other dilemmas in the scriptures, this one is not new. John Chrysostom (late 400s CE) believed that the phrase this generation refers to the Church against which the gates of hell could not prevail (Matthew 16:17–19). He was Greek fluent and understood that the word from which we get generation does not necessarily correspond to those alive at a particular time. He is onto something. Consider the following sampling of Old Testament verses: He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from Yahweh, righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face. (Psalm 24:4–6) Praise Yah! Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who delights greatly in his commandments. His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed. (Psalm 112:1–2) But before we jump to a conclusion it is important to add additional context. This starts with Genesis 3:15. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” There are two offsprings here. One contains all those whose father is Satan, and the other whose mother is the woman. Jesus clarifies this when he confronts the pharisees: You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. (John 8:44) So, we have two generations. The generation of righteousness as described in Genesis/Psalms and the generation of evil, as described by John. In Matthew, both John the Baptist and Jesus equates this group to vipers pointing back to Genesis 3:15 (Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33). Luke makes it clear when Jesus declares: The blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. (Luke 11:50–51) This passage doesn’t make sense if they are only talking about the pharisees. Rather, it widens the context. The pharisees are the offspring of their father the devil and are members of the generation of evil. So, when Jesus declares, “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place,” he is telling us: “The serpent’s offspring will not cease to exist until all these things take place” or “Evil must certainly run its full course before the anticipated return.” References John Chrysostom, Homily Matthew 77:1, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200177.htm Philip La Grange du Toit, “This generation in Matthew 24:34 as a timeless spiritual generation akin to Genesis 3:15”, Verbum et Ecclesia 39(1), 2018, https://www.academia.edu/37238959/_This_Generation_in_Matthew_24_34_as_a_timeless_spiritual_generation_akin_to_Genesis_3_15 C.S. Lewis, "The World's Last Night" (1960) Thanks for listening, Dan Harvey, author of "Experiencing the Apocalypse" and "Wrestling with Faith," https://secondlooknow.com/
Fantastic! Every generation faces the same test. Every generation has its vipers and its children.