This Generation
What Did Jesus Mean when He said This Generation during his Preaching Matt23-34
γενεά
genea
ghen-eh-ah'
a generation; by implication an age (the period or the persons): - age, generation, nation, time.
Mat 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?
Mat 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mat 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
Mat 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.
Who was this generation of vipers?
Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides,
Mat 23:17 Ye fools and blind:
Mat 23:19 Ye fools and blind:
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! .
Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides,
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, .
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! .
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mat 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! .
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
The Generation of Vipers were according to the Word of God is the Generation of Scribes and Pharisees contemporaneous to Jesus and His ministry.
Mat 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:
Mat 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
What generation saw this sign of Jonas? Again the contemporaneous generation of Jesus Christ.
Mat 12:41 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.
Mat 12:42 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.
Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 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.
Jesus Spent his ministry casting out devils and binding the strongman of Jerusalem which was Satan himself, and then warned them that the time would come when those spirits would come back with 7 times the strength and set upon them.
History shows that in the final years of Jerusalem natural Israel became full of demonic people committing atrocities.
So What am I pointing out?
Mat 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mat 23:35 That upon you [/B][the generation of that time] may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Jesus was very clear to the house of Israel they would not escape judgment and in fact the very generation that heard his voice would have all these things come upon them.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Peter himself warned Jerusalem of the coming judgment.
Act 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Again I say the Generation in question is that of the contemporaries of Jesus.
Upon understanding the timing of the Generation to receive the judgment pronounced by Jesus was indeed the very Generation He was speaking to, we can further understand his prophecy of the great tribulation.
Jesus began to warn who, the first century disciples of trials to soon come upon them?
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
The end of the age!
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Col 1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
Col 1:6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
Rom 10:18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
Paul was very clear that the Gospel had been preached in the entire World at the time of his writing both Colossians and Romans.
According to Jesus words the End should come after that…!!
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand
According to the Word when would the abomination of desolation take place?
Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Messiah would be cut off, (crucified) then an Army would come that would destroy both City and Sanctuary…
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Jesus said that City would be Jerusalem!
So within the Generation of Jesus Preaching, within 40 years… Armies would surround Jerusalem and Destroy both City and Sanctuary…
This happened in history.. 66 AD Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem and for 3 ½ years they trod down that City killing 1.1 million Jews and Destroying the Temple.
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
This Has taken Place Just as Jesus Said, Just as his audience understood and Just as his Disciples preached!
There will be no future “Great Tribulation” no Future “Rapture” these are all false doctrines that entered into the church from demonic lies.
