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THIS GENERATION, AGAINST PRETERISM

by Clive Campbell
02/07/20
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As a follow-up to my last article posted on this site, ANOTHER CRYPTIC PASSAGE, I want to challenge R. C. Sproul (though he was very godly and right in almost all of his Reformed theology) and other Preterists (Google that for its meaning), who believe that most of the prophecies in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 were fulfilled by 70 AD. One of the chief reasons why Sproul and the Preterists believe this is because of the second set of 3 verses that I listed in my last article, where Jesus said that "this generation will not pass away until all these things take place." On the surface, that is a very good argument. Non-Preterists (e.g., Hal Lindsey) have argued that "this generation" refers to the generation alive after the time of Israel's rebirth in 1948, which he correctly, I believe, associates with the "fig tree" in Matthew 24 (and Mark 13):

 

 32 “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; 33 so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. 

 

Also, as one reviews all the prophecies and signs listed in the 3 chapters, it is hard to believe that they all occurred by 70 AD. If I have time, I will discuss that below.

 

So, how do we reconcile these 2 opposing views? Well, if you go to BibleGateway.com and click on Bible and then do a Keyword Search for "this generation" (without the quotation marks) in the Gospels in the New American Standard Bible (NASB), you will get 19 results. As you review those, you will see that clearly Jesus was referring to His generation when He used those 2 words. However, was He referring to anyone else? Well, the most telling reference is Matthew 23:36 in the 8 Woes section, paralleled in Luke 11. Here is the last Woe:

 


29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?


34 “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.


Note how in verse 35, Jesus says to the "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," that "you" murdered Zechariah, though it was their "fathers" that did, and then He says that "all these things [the Woes] will come upon this generation." Clearly, Jesus was visiting the sins of the fathers on their seed (the seed of Satan) in later generations who had just the same unregenerate, evil spirits as their fathers and did just the same evil deeds. And the seed of Satan continues right up to today. So, Jesus is speaking of "this generation" in a broader way than just His generation. He is speaking of a "kind" of generation, the seed of Satan, that has existed since the Fall. Therefore, when He said that "this generation will not pass away until all these things take place," He simply meant that the same kind of evil generation, the seed of Satan, will not pass away until the end, the Second Coming and Judgment, takes place.

 

I should add the definition of the Greek word for "generation":

 


γενεά (genea)


Strong: G1074

GK: G1155

pr. birth; hence, progeny; a generation of mankind, Mt. 11:16; 23:36, et al.; a generation, a step in a genealogy, Mt. 1:17; a generation, an interval of time, an age; in NT course of life, in respect of its events, interests, or character, Lk. 16:8; Acts 13:36


 

I'll save my other arguments against Preterism for another article.

 

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