Bible Explanations
19. Generation
Preterism believes that everything foretold by Christ in
Matthew 24
took place before AD 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed. This bases itself
solely upon one particular
interpretation of the word "generation" in Matthew
24:34:
"Verily I
say unto you, This generation shall not pass,
till all these things be fulfilled."
If it ONLY means a period
of twenty or
forty years (i.e. "generations" being father to
son
in series), then
Preterism could be correct.
However,
we only need to find ONE instance where the word "generation"
CANNOT have this meaning, and we have pulled Preterism down to
the ground.
The other interpretation of the word "generation"
is to mean "family line" or "set of people"-
i.e. meaning either one particular family tree (e.g. Matthew 1:1)
or numbers of families in parallel,
e.g. in the
phrases
"generation of the righteous" and "generation
of
the wicked."
Take all instances of the
word "generation"
in the New Testament:
All where "generation" ONLY
means
twenty or forty years:
Luke 1:50 - "And
his mercy is on them that fear him
from generation to generation."
Acts 13:36 - "For
David, after he had served his own generation
by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers,
and saw corruption."
Hebrews 3:10 - "Wherefore
I was grieved with that generation,
and said, They do alway err in their heart; and
they have
not known my ways."
All where "generation"
could
mean either "twenty or forty years" OR "set of
people":
Matthew 11:16 - "But
whereunto shall I liken this generation?
It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto
their fellows"
Matthew 12:39 - "But
he answered and said unto them, An evil
and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall
no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas"
Matthew 12:41,42 - "The
men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment
with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented
at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is
here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with
this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold,
a greater than Solomon is here."
Matthew 12:45 - "Then
goeth he, and taketh with himself seven
other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and
dwell there: and the last state of that man is
worse than
the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation."
Matthew 16:4 - "A
wicked and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the
sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed."
Matthew 17:17 - "Then
Jesus answered and said, O faithless
and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long
shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me."
Matthew 23:36 - "Verily
I say unto you, All these things shall
come upon this generation."
Matthew 24:34 - "Verily
I say unto you, This generation shall
not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
Mark 8:12 - "And
he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith,
Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto
you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation."
Mark 8:38 - "Whosoever
therefore shall be ashamed of me and
of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also
shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of
his Father with the holy angels."
Mark 9:19 - "He
answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation,
how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring
him unto me."
Mark 13:30 - "Verily
I say unto you, that this generation
shall not pass, till all these things be done."
Luke 7:31 - "And
the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken
the men of this generation? and to what are they like?"
Luke 9:41 - "And
Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse
generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring
thy son hither."
Luke 11:29-32 - "And
when the people were gathered thick
together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek
a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas
the prophet For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall
also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen of the south
shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation,
and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. The men of Nineve shall rise up in the
judgment
with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented
at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is
here."
Luke 11:50 - "That
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 unto the blood of Zacharias,
which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say
unto you, It shall be required of this generation."
Luke 17:25 - "But
first must he suffer many things, and be
rejected of this generation."
Luke 21:32 - "Verily
I say unto you, This generation shall
not pass away, till all be fulfilled."
Acts 2:40 - "And
with many other words did he testify and
exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation."
All where "generation" ONLY
means "set of people" or "family line":
Matthew 1:1 - "The
book of the generation of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham."
Matthew 3:7 - "But
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
Matthew 12:34 - "O
generation of vipers, how can ye, being
evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh."
Matthew 23:33 - "Ye
serpents, ye
generation of
vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"
Luke 3:7 - "Then
said he to the multitude that came forth
to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned
you to flee from the wrath to come?"
Luke 16:8 - "And
the lord commended the unjust steward, because
he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their
generation wiser than the children of light."
Acts 8:33 - "In
his humiliation his judgment was taken away:
and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from
the earth."
1 Peter 2:9 - "But
ye are a chosen generation, a
royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should
shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light"
We see that a vast majority
of these
occurrences of the word "generation" in the Bible
could have either
interpretation put on it, including the disputed Matthew 24:34.
However, we also have some incidences where the word can ONLY mean
"set of people," and so Preterists cannot use
Matthew 24:34 to assert that all the events of Matthew 24 have occurred
before AD 70, when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
In all three gospels, the
phrase is used
in conjunction with the idea that God's Word will not pass away.
Therefore it cannot mean "until AD 70," but must mean
that "the generation of the righteous" will always
exist
on the earth for as long as God's Word is here (i.e. until Christ
comes again).
Three references exist in the
Old Testament
to "a thousand generations":
Deuteronomy 7:9 - "Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he
is
God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations."
1Chronicles 16:15 - "Be ye mindful always of his covenant;
the
word which he commanded to a thousand generations."
Psalm 105:8 - "He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the
word which he commanded to
a thousand generations."
Whilst this COULD mean
"twenty or
forty years," if it did, it would mean that Christ will not
come again for another 20,000 years minimum. This is what some
Postmillenialists really believe. But we have been told to expect
Christ to come at any time "as a thief in the night,"
and never
to name a date or time. How complacent it would make us if we
believed that there was this long period of time before His return!
Surely the more obvious meaning would be "to a thousand families."
Other Old Testament
references which
ONLY mean "set of people" or "family line"
are more numerous:
Genesis 2:4 -"These are the generations of the heavens
and of the earth."
Genesis 6:9 - "These are the generations of Noah: Noah
was a just man and perfect in his generations, and
Noah walked with God." Note the plural.
Genesis 25:13 - "And these are the names of the sons
of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations"
Note the plural, yet only one "generation" of
twenty to
forty years is listed! Therefore this must mean families.
Leviticus 3:17 - "It shall be a perpetual statute for
your
generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither
fat nor blood."
Numbers 15:23 - "Even all that the LORD hath commanded
you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded
Moses, and henceforward among your generations"
Note
the plural.
Psalm 14:5 - "There were they in great fear: for God is
in the generation of the righteous."
Psalm 22:30 - "A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted
to the Lord for a generation."
Psalm 24:6 - "This is the generation of them that
seek
him, that seek thy face, O Jacob."
Psalm 49:19 - "He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
they shall never see light."
Psalm 73:15 - "If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should
offend against the generation of thy children."
Psalm 78:4-6 - "We will not hide them from their
children,
shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and
his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he
established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known
to their children: that the generation to come might know them,
even the children which should be born; who
should arise and declare them to their children:"
Psalm 112:2 - "His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the
generation
of the upright shall be blessed."
Proverbs 30:11-14 - "There is a generation that
curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. There
is a generation that are pure in their
own eyes, and
yet is not washed from their filthiness. There
is
a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are
lifted up. There is a generation, whose teeth are
as
swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour
the poor
from off the earth, and the needy from among men."
Isaiah 41:4 - "Who hath wrought and done it, calling
the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and
with the last; I am he."
Isaiah 53:8 - "who shall declare his generation?"
Isaiah 58:12 - "thou shalt raise up the foundations of many
generations."
Jer. 7:29 - "the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the
generation
of his wrath."
Also note that in the New Testament
the
same word in Greek for "generation" is also
translated
"offspring," and can ONLY mean "family line":
Acts 17:28,29 - "For in him we live, and move, and have our
being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are
also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of
God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold,
or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."
Revelation 22:16 - "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify
unto
you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring
of David, and the bright and morning star."