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.

 

Children of the Resurrection

from Google Images

In my previous study I began to highlight Jesus’ discussion with the Sadducees (Luke 20:27-38), which on the one hand called the resurrection into question, but Jesus also placed the resurrection in the context of preaching the Gospel. Many Christians think Jesus spoke of an age when men and women wouldn’t marry or have children, but this is not the point of Jesus’ reply to the Sadducees (Luke 20:34-36). The context of the discussion concerns how men become the children of God (Deuteronomy 14:1). The Sadducees argued that the resurrection couldn’t be valid, because their myth (Luke 20:27-33), if placed in the context of the levirate marriage law, made the resurrection appear as though it were a ridiculous doctrine.

 

Marrying and Giving in Marriage

from Google Images

During the final week of Jesus life on the earth, he was approached by the Sadducees, who deny the authenticity of the resurrection (Luke 20:27). In their debates with the Pharisees, who did believe in the resurrection (Acts 23:6-8), they would often offer a myth or a fabricated story in an effort to express what they assumed to be a silly idea. That is, they thought the resurrection, itself, was a myth and more, simply a silly idea. Therefore, they approached Jesus with a myth (Luke 20:28-33) they no doubt used many times to prove the resurrection was a false claim. Their myth centered around the levirate marriage law in the Mosaic Covenant (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). This is the law behind the marriage of Ruth and Boaz, the great grandparents of David, the King (Ruth 4:1-10, 18-22).

 

In The Fullness of Time

from Google Images

Many of the commentaries that I have place Matthew 25:31 and following at the end of time, or the end of the Gospel age. Some don’t even have Christians participating in this judgment, because they had been removed from the earth in the previous age. Yet, nothing like this appears in the plain reading of the scripture. Nothing is said about the end of time. That has to be brought to the table by the person interpreting the scripture. In other words, it is a doctrine of men, because it cannot be found in the scriptures. Neither could the end of the Gospel age be a proper interpretation, because no such thing is ever mentioned in scripture (cf. Daniel 2:44). It, too, is a doctrine of men. What does the scripture actually say?

 

Eternal Inheritance

from Google Images

When we come to Matthew 25:31-46, many scholars believe Jesus was speaking of the end of the world, the end of time—some say even of the universe. Many conclude it is not only the time of the coming of Christ (Matthew 25:31), but also of the time of the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). Yet, no writer of the New Testament nor any prophet of the Old, ever taught about or even mentioned “the end of time.” Why would anyone even imagine the end of time at this point in the Olivet Discourse? While I would agree that Matthew 25:31 and following is, indeed, the time of Jesus coming, and that it is also the time of the resurrection and of the Great White Throne Judgment, Jesus did not prophesy of people and events 2000 years removed from the first century AD. After all, he came as the Servant of the Jews for the sake of the truth, in order that God could fulfill the promises made to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Romans 15:8).

 

Judgment at the End of the Age

from Google Images

Presently, I am looking at the parables of Jesus, with a special interest to their eschatology, whenever Jesus pointed to it. Lately, I have been considering what some call the Parable of the Final Judgment (Matthew 25:31 and following). The context begins with the ‘Son of Man’ coming in his glory, together with all the angels, at which time he will sit on the throne of his glory. All nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them as a shepherd would his sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-32).

 

Gathering in the Valley of Decision

from Google Images

For awhile, now, I’ve been studying the parables within the Olivet Discourse with a view toward their basis in eschatology. Lately, I’ve been developing that theme in Matthew 25 (also part of the Olivet Discourse, according to Matthew), specifically Matthew 25:31 and following. Here, Jesus spoke of his coming in glory, with his holy angels, in order to sit on the throne of his glory (Matthew 25:31). At that time all nations would be gathered before him, and they would be separated as a shepherd would divide the sheep from the goats (verse-32).

 

Judgment of the Nations

Not long ago I had believed Matthew 25:31-46 depicted a time when Jesus would judge the whole world, i.e. every man and woman who ever lived. The problem with this understanding is, it removes it from the context of the rest of the Olivet Discourse. The Olivet Discourse concerns events that would transpire in the Apostles’ expected lifetimes. Remember, the Apostles were troubled over Jesus’ prediction that the Temple would be destroyed (Matthew 23:37-39; 24:1-2). Therefore, later, four of them approached Jesus privately and asked: when these things would take place, and what would be the sign of his coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3). For Jesus at this point to then speak of universal judgment, i.e. every man and woman who ever lived, snatches this parable out of the context of the first century AD.

 

He Shall Sit on the Throne!

Jesus tells us in the Olivet Discourse that when he returns he will sit on the throne of his glory (Matthew 25:31). However, Paul also claims that, when Christ comes (1Corinthians 15:23), “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power” (1Corinthians 15:24). How does Jesus sit upon the throne of his glory at his coming (Matthew 25:31), when he, at the same time, delivers the Kingdom to God, his Father (1Corinthians 15:24)?