The Olivet Discourse Part Five
It is written:
““Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” (Matthew 24:34)
Jesus here promises that the signs He had prophesied would come to pass in the generation of people then living (and they did come to pass in 70 A.D., when the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem).
If Jesus had wanted to teach that “this generation” meant some far-off generation in the future shortly before the Second Coming, He would have used a different phrase in the Greek New Testament.
“Lindsey’s claim for contextual support for his position is void of any validity. The only acceptable meaning is this present generation. Had Jesus meant a future generation He would have had to use a different demonstrative pronoun. Just as we have the term “this” for something close at hand, and “that” for something at a distance, so did the Greeks. Jesus said, “This [Greek haute] generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” For Him to have meant a future generation, He would have had to have used ekeine which has the significance of “that.” Thus the “time-text” stands. The things mentioned prior to our “time-text” had to be fulfilled while the generation living at the time Jesus spoke these words still possessed physical life here on this earth.” (Everett Carver, When Jesus Comes Again, 5161-5171 (Kindle Edition); Prestonsburg, Ky; Reformation Publishers)
When Jesus was talking about people who would be living in “that” day and age (at the time of the Second Coming), He used that terminology (cf. Matthew 7:21-23; 10:19; 24:36; 26:29).
Thus, Matthew 24:34 shows us that this verse was an ending of the signs which would be fulfilled in the generation of people living in the first century.
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