This Crooked and Perverse Generation

from Google Images

In recent studies I have been demonstrating that the Greek word genea (G1074), usually translated generation in both the New Covenant scriptures and the Septuagint’s Old Covenant testimony, cannot mean race. Nevertheless, some scholars claim genea means race, which seems to be nothing more than an effort to rescue their dispensational point of view of the Olivet Prophecy. However, an honest reading of the New Covenant scriptures, especially the 39 verses that mention this Greek word, would clearly demonstrate that the word race is never even implied by the New Covenant writers, when they use this Greek word.

 

Does ‘This Generation’ Mean Race?

from Google Images

In Matthew 24:34 of the Olivet Prophecy Jesus told his disciples “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (KJV). “All these things” include the Second Coming of Jesus and the judgment that his coming would bring (Matthew 24:30), and resurrection (Matthew 24:31; cf. Matthew 13:30, 38-43). Consequently, many dispensational scholars conclude that “this generation” refers to the Jewish race. That is, the Jewish race “shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled.” Is this true? Can the Greek word genea (G1074) mean race? The natural reading of Matthew 24:34 is that this generation refers to the group of people who lived at the same time as Jesus and his apostles. It would have been a generation of about forty years.

 

What Did Jesus Mean by ‘Generation’?

from Google Images

We need only to use the Gospel according to Matthew in order to show exactly how Jesus and his contemporaries understood the word generation. Nevertheless, there seems to be a great deal of confusion in Christian circles, today, over the understanding of this word, as it pertains to knowing the time of Jesus’ Second Coming. Because some of our modern scholars want to place this generation far into the future from when the Gospel had just begun in the first century AD, most believers have come to accept and believe that the return of Christ was prophesied to occur in our day or, perhaps, even more than 2000 years after Jesus’ crucifixion. Nevertheless, if we truly believe that it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18; Romans 3:4; Titus 1:2), then we need to pause and reconsider what believe about the timing of Jesus’ Second Coming.

 

What Does ‘This Generation’ Mean?

from Google Images

The phrase this generation occurs sixteen times in the New Covenant scriptures.[1] The problem is that scholars don’t agree on how we should understand the term, especially at Matthew 24:34, where we are told that this generation shall not pass until all these things (i.e. the things Jesus described in Matthew 24:4-33) occur. Some scholars conclude this generation refers to the race of the Jews, meaning there will always be a Jewish people until the time of Jesus’ second coming.[2] Nevertheless, the word is never used in this sense in the whole of the New Covenant record. Other scholars conclude that this generation refers to the final generation before the end of the world.[3] However, such a conclusion hardly honors Jesus’ standing as a prophet, because, if there could be an end to the world, there **must** be a final generation that wouldn’t pass until the end occurred. So, how should we understand this phrase?

 

The Ark of the Covenant

from Google Images

Where is the Ark of the Covenant?[1] Will it ever be found? Does it even exist at all? According to the Biblical record, it is never mentioned after Nebuchadnezzar had both Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed in the sixth century BC. What happened to it after this is disputed in extra-biblical literature. Some rabbis claim it was carried off to Babylon, while others claim it was hidden by Jeremiah in a cave on Mt. Nebo[2] located in modern Jordan (2Maccabees 2:4-7), where Moses stood to look at the Promised Land before he died (Deuteronomy 34:1-5). Still others claim it was hidden somewhere on the Temple mount, itself. More modern claims that the Ark had been found have been mentioned, but for various (convenient) reasons, nothing has ever been produced in the form of objective evidence that the Ark still exists.

 

The Eunuch

from Google Images

In the past few studies I’ve been discussing the implications of Luke 20:27-38, while Jesus never mentions the eunuch in this segment of scripture, the future of the eunuch in the next age is, nevertheless, drawn from what Jesus claimed about that age, the age of the sons of the resurrection, and I hope to show the truth of this statement in this study, which shall be drawn from Isaiah 56.

 

They Will Never Die

from Google Images

In my past few studies I’ve been highlighting Jesus discussion with the Sadducees in Luke 20:27-39, which, although it is not a parable, the phrases Jesus uses in that discussion are metaphoric in nature, so I’ve been highlighting this discussion, because it is often misunderstood by many believers, including scholars. The discussion is not about the literal conjugal relations of a man and a woman, although this is the point of view of the Sadducees. Nevertheless, Jesus turns the falsehood of a literal interpretation of a resurrection into a spiritual point of view, and this will be the point of view I take in this particular study.