"This" Generation or "That" Generation? What Did Jesus Really Mean?

Continuing with the topic of

IDENTIFYING THE TIME: "THIS GENERATION" (Matt 24:1-34)

Gary DeMar writes in "Is Jesus Coming Soon?" page 20, "Like all of Scripture, Matthew 24 cannot be understood fully without surveying it's context which flows from chapter 23." He continues, "Furthermore, the prophetic words Jesus spoke in chapter 24 are directly related to the events describe in chapter 23". Just to note, this is how Matt 24:34 reads using the ESV translation,

"Truly, I say to you, [His Disciples] this generation will not pass away until all these things take place." ("things": temple destruction, signs leading up to the end of the age [of old covenant], persecution, etc.)

And this is the way traditional evangelical dispensational churches read Matt 24:34,

"THE generation that 'sees' these things will not pass till all is fulfilled."

Here are some problems when it's read that way; "First, projecting this passage into a future fulfillment ignores its clear, literal interpretation. Jesus said, 'this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.' Some try to get around the clear meaning of the phrase by claiming that there was a partial fulfillment in A.D. 70 but there will be a greater or secondary fulfillment sometime in our future.

"This is not the plain and literal reading of the text."

'All these things' were clearly to take place within the 'this generation' time frame. The text does not support the interpretation that there is a gap between the A.D. 70 events and some future events two thousand years from the time when Jesus first made the prophecy. ' This generation' and 'all these things' are tied together. There is nothing in the Olivet Discourse to lead us to believe in some type of 'double fulfillment' where these events repeat themselves in a future tribulation period with a rebuilt temple."

And to add, many of my pre-trib, dispensational brothers like to quote this fortune-cookie theology,

"If the literal sense makes good sense, seek no other sense lest you come up with nonsense."

I then ask them, "Then why don't you apply that to your own literal reading of the Scriptures? Especially when it comes to Matthew 24, Ezekiel 38 & 39."

Let scripture interpret scripture. What do you say? Thanks for reading. God Bless.

Did Jesus say, "This Generation" or "That Generation"?

Getting back to the subject of the book, "Is Jesus Coming Soon?" by Gary DeMar, he asserts what many in the church assume in Matthew 24 1-34 about "End Times", especially Dispensationalists. On page 20 it begins, "Chapt 24 begins with, 'Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple building to Him' (24:1). So then, the 'house' that would be left 'desolate' was the first-century temple that had been rebuilt under the direction of Herod the Great."

• Page 21 continues, "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation (23:36). Jesus and His disciples were discussing questions related to the time and signs of Jerusalem's destruction since that was the topic of discussion."

Furthermore, page 22 reads, 

• "Truly I say to you, all these things will com upon this generation." (23:36)
• "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place (24:34)

What things? The things Jesus was speaking of about the false prophets, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in various places and the temple being left "desolate". All this was sandwiched between the two time texts listed above. Like, as Gary puts it, "eschatological bookends".

Lastly, on page 23, Mr. DeMar asserts, "Dispensationalists do not believe that the phrase 'this generation' refers to the generation to whom Jesus was speaking but rather to some future generation. There are a number of problems with this position."

I will list those in future posts. Stay tuned!

Is Jesus Coming Soon?

Over this past weekend, I finally received my copy of "Is Jesus Coming Soon," by Gary DeMar (Americanvision.org). The book is fairly an easy read. Only about 63 pages, big type and a few church art history drawings and paintings scattered throughout the book. I was intrigued right from the start. I couldn't keep it down. I even took it to church with me on Sunday and read some of the introduction as church was starting. Anyway, at the beginning of the book, there is a great chapter entitled, "A 10 Minute Guide to Bible Prophecy". It's a basic intro to eschatology mostly on Matthew 24. This book is in total contrast to the soap-opera style "Left Behind" madness and sensationalism that unfortunately dominates end-times teaching these days. In the weeks to come, I will be posting quotes that I've highlighted throughout the book. Like the one below:

"Why doesn't soon mean soon when Jesus promised to return before that first-century generation passed away nearly 2000 years ago (Matt 24:34)? When the Bible uses words like 'near,' 'shortly,' 'quickly,' and 'at hand,' they refer to times and events that are proximate to that contemporary audience." (page 2)

Even the controversial philosopher, and atheist, Princeton professor Peter Singer, asserted in a recent debate* vs Dinesh D'souza (Is God Great?), said something to the fact that Jesus Christ seemed to have made false prophecies. That, according to Matt 24, He promised His own disciples that He was coming back soon..."And He never did".

Sounds like Professor Singer has taken the traditional dispensational interpretation of Matthew 24 that has saturated most evangelical churches instead of the actual Biblical view. D'souza could of corrected him on this issue, but he had to unfortunately stick with his apologetic approach of "I'm going to reason logically without the use of the Bible"; clearly biblical humanism, but that is a post for another day.

*April 25th, 2008, "Is God Great" debate vs Dinesh D'Souza at BIOLA University

Note: To my unbelieving readers, this is mainly an "in-house" debate, however you are free to comment. But you may not understand the hermeneutic of eschatology without having some in-depth study in it first.