Why did Jesus say "this generation will not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."?

Question

Referring to the following predictions:
The sun and moon will darken, the stars will fall from the sky, the powers of the heavens will be shaken, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, the tribes of the earth will mourn, they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, and he will send his angels to gather his elect from the four winds.

Why did he say, referring to the above predictions, "this generation will not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."? (See Matthew 24:29-34, also Mark 9:1 and Matthew 23:36)

Hundreds of generations have come and gone; the predictions remain unfulfilled.

He said "There will be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Answer 1

It simply means the prediction was wrong. The apologists will spin it to make it look like it doesn't mean what it says but the real truth is that the prediction was wrong.

Answer 2

Jesus was under the impression that the 2nd coming would take place in no more than 100 years after his death. there is NO reason to believe that generation did not mean just that, a single generation. why in the name of all that's holy would jesus make a point to say that "this generation (all of humanity forever) will not pass, till all these things be fulfilled...?" that isn't saying anything! also, read what else he thought on the subject.

Matthew 4:17
From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near."

Luke 4:43
But he said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that was WHY* I was sent."

Mark 9:1 (Matthew 16:28; Luke 9:27) And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God come to power."

________

now in the above passage jesus says "some of you," which shows us that it could NOT be the transfiguration. otherwise we have to ask, "exactly how many people did jesus think would die in 6 (or 8, depending on which version you like best) days?" no, this fits in line with the "generation" meaning a literal "generation" idea.

now, most good christians know what you are to think of a man who's prophecy doesn't come to pass as he says it. they are supposed to be stoned to death! obviously we cannot do that to jesus. but we shouldn't praise him so much either!

*emphasis mine.



EDIT:
also, if you christians get into "mistranslation of the greek" and wordsmithing defenses of this then you are basically admitting that the words of the bible lack trustworthiness and the entire thing should be tossed out. if "generation" does not "necessarily!" mean generation as we understand it, how do YOU know that "saved" and "god" do? for all you know (because no one here was there to hear the original points made) jesus could have been saying that you will "have a great day," when he said "saved." no, the bible is either all true, or all questionable. not half and half. another example: if i lied a lot but not 100% of the time, would you trust me every time i cried wolf?

EDIT 2:
you people! nowhere in the bible does jesus specify israel of the 1940's!!!! you are making it up, no differently than when Nostradamus predicts something. terms are vague enough that it eventually HAS to fit something!!!! Now then, when israel became a nation at what point did the sun and moon darken? the stars, they're still up in the sky. what was the sign of the son of man and what did it look like?

Answer 3

The whole 24Th chapter He is talking to His followers explaining the events that are to come and is referring to what theologians believe is the rapture,which means to be caught up. The generation of which He speaks about is the generation that sees the fig tree which is the symbolic for the land of Israel coming back into a nation ( which happened in the 40's) when it was declared a nation once again. This is the first time that has happened sines Jesus's time, so that's why Christians believe that this generation is the one that will be raptured and that all these prophesies will be fulfilled. A lot of them have been fulfilled since the 1940's, but still others are yet to come. The signs are here. The rapture and the Second Coming are two different events and are both talked about by the Lord.

Answer 4

The word generation is a translation from the Greek. Don't listen to these other Yahoo's. Jesus is referring to the first coming. When he returns it will be as he described. If you read the entire chapter Matthew 24, you will see he is decribing what is happening now and what is going to happen. We are in the midst of His prophecy.

Check out verses Matthew 24:9-10. This explains why many of these people do not believe. They are week and refuse to follow.

In James 4: 4 is says: You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

This is because the world is against God. Jesus was a barbarian that spoke for the Father and will always be hated by a selfish people.

So, just follow Jesus' way and you will be fine.

Answer 5

The term generation can refer to different things. Often not to a specific lineage cycle but to a change cycle. i.e. Many virus' are generational. A new viral generation is defined by a mutation that affects the virus' effectivness or the effectivness of drugs on the virus. many lineal generation can occur in a defined viral generation. i.e. one cell producing multiple cells, they producing yet more and so on until a significant and detectable change occurs.

This being said, a broader view of the biblical text would define all generations of human kind in this fashion: Edenic (pre-fall, less than one human life time) Pre-Abrahamic(this could be broken into Pre-flood and Noahtic/Post-Flood) Abrahamic (this is usually broken down to Pre-Mosaic, Mosaic. The broader Abrahamic generation continues to this day since the majority of Jewish people can trace their heritage back to Abraham. The Abrahamic race still exists. Based on the definition of a generation end/beginning being due to a significant and detectable change, Moses and the Exodus is a defining line or generational marker. There are some Jewish sects that are still in the Mossaic generation. For most Jewish people the Mosaic generation ended at the destruction of the Temple. "The Scattering" would be an appropiate name for the generation following the temple's destruction which is the current Jewish generation. Tthe future generations would be Templeric [post rebuilding of the Temple] and Messianic, which will occur after Elijah's return and God/Messiah/Emmanuel is seated as ruller if Israel/the world. For Christians, the Mosaic Generation ended at the Birth of Christ. Some would argue that it actually ended later either ath the beginning of Jesus' ministry or at hte time Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of the Law. Now then it could be argued that the Mosaic generation did not officially end until the Resurection of Christ. If you take that view The prophesy has been fulfilled. There was an eclipsic occurance at His death with quakes that dammaged the Temple. Jesus did appear in ghostly (cloud form) and sent the Holy Spirit to gather the people to God. Most people believe that the above prophesy is still a future event. In that case starting with Jesus' resurection, the current Generation is the Christian generation and will be followed by the Post Apocolyptic aka New Jerusalemic/Second Comming)

Answer 6

This generation refers to the generation when Israel is once again a nation in the Middle East. I quote: Matt 24: 32-34

"32 "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."

This is the context of the verse. The fig tree refers to Israel. This refers to the re-establishment of Israel as a nation once again. When this thing happens, that generation of people living will see Jesus' return. A generation can be 40 years or 70 years in the bible. Remember Moses & the generation of Israelites wandering in the wilderness for 40 yrs? David lived for 70 years & in Psalm 90, a generation refers to 70-80 yrs.

Answer 7

I recommend looking up the original text and interpreting the word 'generation' for yourself. You probably will find (as I have in other areas of the Bible) that the accepted translation isn't necessarily precise. I feel some misinterpretation in this passage so it is worth looking into.

From my own studies, most learned people of the time were very knowledgeable about the skies and stars, it doesn't make sense for Jesus to mistake generation from 'age' and He as a very educated man, would certainly know of the astrological 'ages.'

There are many Prophets about a Messiah. Even the eastern religions have Kali. I am also looking into all the correlations to find what was or wasn't said. I wish you well on your quest.

Answer 8

As I understand it, even Jesus, though the Messiah, was expecting the turnover of mankind towards God. Of course, none of it came true. I place the blame squarely on the chopped off head of John the Baptist, who should have proclaimed Jesus the Messiah. He had the influence and family background to have done so; thus bringing mankind into a new age. As it was, Jesus had to die to give mankind spiritual salvation. Again, my opinion which I cannot prove.

And there's more to it then just my opinion. Once back in college, I asked this same question. I don't remember the answer but it disturbed a lot of born-agains because they couldn't come up with a suitable answer.

Answer 9

God said Jerusalem would be ruled by the Gentile Nations,
When it was once again ruled by Jews.1967 The generation that saw this would not pass away,For 2500 years Gentile powers ruled it,Jesus was refering to a Specfic Generation, in Matt 24
I believe this Generation 40 years,For 60 years we have had man"s Best effort to arrive at a peace plan,This 3 rd peace plan,
will bring all kinds of judgement on Man.(Jerusalem ) That is the "Apple of God"s Eye) not New York, Not Salt Lake,Medina,Mecca or Rome .The Jew is the Canary in the Coal Mine.All Eyes on Jerusalem

Answer 10

It means they will keep repeating the same mistake onto each generation until the Revelation of the Apocalypse is known. Then the curse of circumcision will be uncovered and people will begin to understand why things are going wrong and change to the cleansing ritual of the prepuce called baptism instead. Then they will go to war against themselves as Armageddon, followed by peace.

Answer 11

"Generation" doesnt always mean 40 yr generation, it often means "race" or "people" God also reffered to Isreal as "an adulterous generation" which wasnt just a 40 yr thing, it was the race of people. And even though people have attempted to wipe out the Jews many times, they have not passed away.