“‘This Generation’ is Spiritual”

By John Young

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” ~ Matthew 24:34

Many end times theologies use “this generation” in Matthew 24:34 as a physical generation because it works better that way with their end times theology. They present it as either the physical generation alive when Jesus preached these words or as a future physical generation that will live when the events would start to occur some time in the unknown future. Those who say the events were on those of the past are called Preterist (who believe the events partially or fully finished around 70 A.D.). Those who say some or all have not occurred are called futurist and are looking for the events to start in order to identify which “this generation” it will be. These two positions are generally read into the text from already formed viewpoints rather than the context itself.

Yet, contextually Matthew 24:34 is clearly connected to chapter 23 which states, in verse 33 “ Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” and verse 36, “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” When we study Chapter 23 we see “this generation” is referring to the spiritual generation who’s father is the devil (John 8:44) but they physically lived among and appeared outwardly as Israelites who claimed to follow God. The passage goes on to state in verse 35 that this generation was present to persecute the righteous generation from Able to Zacharias (about 4,000 years) and would continue to be present until the events of Matthew 24-25 comes to pass to rid them out of the land of Israel.

Contextually this means that both spiritual generations have been on earth from the time of Cain and Able (1 John 3:12) and will be in Israel, and in the world, until the end when Christ our deliverer returns to the land to purge out “this generation” of vipers and save us. In Matthew 13:30 He states of these spiritual generations, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Paul the Apostle also states of this time that God is waiting for the gentiles to fully enter in before this purging will take place. Romans 11:25-27 says “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” Matthew 23:38-39, in connection to Paul’s Passage in Romans 11, goes on to state that God is waiting for the Israel to repent of this generation and say “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” before He will fully complete the promise of deliverance form their evil generation. Christ says, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

In regard to end times, knowing “this generation” is the “Generation of vipers” of chapter 23 means the evil people will persecute righteous people “till all these things be fulfilled”. Seeing “this generation” is still with us means we are still waiting for the final Olevet fulfillment. This final fulfillment is waiting on several things to come to pass first as noted, 1. For the gentiles to fully come in (Romans 11:25), 2. For Israel the nation to repent and turn to Christ (Matthew 23:39), and 3. For their house (the temple in Jerusalem) to not be desolate (Matthew 23:38). Until then “this generation” will remain among us. As stated in Matthew 25:46 the final fulfillment will happen with their departure. “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” 

 Rapture Timing – Simplified.

By Brother John Young 2-16-2024

While there are many nuanced and complicated terminologies and reasonings for when the rapture will occur, most all consistent positions are divided into two types before (pre) or after (post) the tribulation (or no rapture at all) as described in the Book of Revelation. The primary factor that determines which position one takes is determined by what is believed about Israel and the Church. If they believe Israel and the Church are based on separate covenants then when they read the Revelation they must put the rapture BEFORE the tribulation. If they believe the Church takes over, or is part of, Israel’s covenant then they must place the rapture AFTER the tribulation or to reject the consept of rapture altogether and simply maintain a resurrection at the end of the tribulation or millennium. Saints (believers) appear throughout the Book of Revelation and are only saved from tribulation at the return of Christ at the end of the book so many do accept this as a reason to reject a rapture and simply opt for the resurrection.

In the Book of Revelation, churches by name are dealt with at the beginning of the book and Israel by name near the middle to end of the book, yet saints and sinners in general throughout. Those who maintain a separation of covenants (Pre-tribulationist) will simply keep each group separate and see the rapture occurring in the chapters dealing with the churches (chapters 1-5) and will take the book progressively in order. Yet those who do not (post-tribulationist) must make references to Israel’s or saint’s gathering apply also to the church as well (chapters 14 and 20-22). If this separation of covenants is not maintained then the progressive chronology of the Book of revelation itself also cannot be maintained and must be split and overlaid in order to make proper sense (some less constant and unconstrained pre and post adherents will split and overlay the book up to four times to make their given theology work! We will not deal with those here.).

As an example of a truly consistent pre-tribulationist, Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe Arizona teaches a Post-trib pre-wrath theology were chapters 1-11 of Revelation are chronological then starting at 12-16 is read as taking place with 1-11, before continuing again to 17-22.

(www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/chronology_of_revelation_chart.jpg)

This has the simplifying effect of ensuring Churches, Israel, and Saints, and their terminology, line up with a single rapture and return event, after the tribulation. If it is not done it results in either a pre-tribulation rapture or multi-rapture event depending on the person’s misunderstanding of Church and Israeli covenants. While simplifying and compelling, this popular position, as do most Post-tribulation (and many pre-tribulation) rapture theologies, falls prey to several issues.

1. It must split and break up the chapter order of Revelation in order to work.

2. It must conflate terms (ie. insist, without proving, that one term also means the other).

3. It must overlay the seals, trumpet judgments, and vial judgments.

If one removes these three common abuses of the Book of Revelation, the books own progressive structure takes shape into four distinct stages of events witch tend to also support a pre-tribulation rapture for church body while keeping the church and Israeli covenants intact and consistent with the overall context of scripture in both Old and New testaments. These divisions can be summed up as:

     wwwfacebook.com/BaptistChristians/photos/pb.100064810983595.-2207520000/3464239283588565/?type=3

In summery:

1. Pre-Tribulationist must keep terminology, and the covenants of Church and Israel SEPARATE, and must keep the book of Revelation in progressive order to be consistent with a true pe-rapture theology.

2. Post-Tribulationist must CONFLATE terms and covenants, split up the book order, and overlay the Judgments to remain consistent with a Post-Rapture theology.

3. Many are unable to do either so end up with a hybrid of theologies gleaned from those who have gone before them. Many are also so confused by the rapture concept that they simply allegorize much of Revelation to come up with their position on the rapture or in order to do away with it altogether.

4. The two examples above will most likely be the simplest examples of Pre and Post tribulation raptures that are most consistent with the Book of Revelation. Feel free to examine both to determine which is most consistent with the scriptures in order to come to their theological conclusion.

References: Brother Anderson does a good job in presenting his position and is well worth examination His material can be found here: https://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/page9.html

My work on this topic is ongoing. What I have can be found here: https://johnyoungblogs.blogspot.com or here: https://www.facebook.com/BaptistChristians or here: www.youtube.com/@BaptistChristians

Revelation: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPBnTVkjTpCJl70DpxmR1R5OXjRQbTe4j