LUKE 21:29–38
“I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened”
(Luke 21:32).
The interpretation of Luke 21:32 is hotly debated. Jesus said “this generation” would see all the things He had been talking about come to pass. Assuming that Jesus was speaking of His second coming, Albert Schweitzer, in his famous book The Quest for the Historical Jesus (1906), came to the conclusion that Jesus was wrong, since He did not return. While being a great humanitarian, Schweitzer led many astray theologically.
Among Christians, there are three major interpretations of this verse. One is that the word generation can refer to the entire “last days,” contemplating the church as a whole as one generation. Thus, the generation of the church will not pass away until Jesus returns. In other words, the church will never perish but will persevere to the end.
Another view is that “this generation” refers to the Jews and means that the Jewish race will not pass away before Jesus returns.
A third view is that all the things Jesus was talking about did indeed take place during the generation He was speaking to, because (it is argued) everything up to this point in His discourse is speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem and its aftermath. This view looks to the more extended passage in Matthew 24 and divides between the “these things” and the “that day,” the former referring to first-century events, and the latter to the end of the world (Matthew 24:3, 34–36).
There are worthy advocates of each of these views, and we cannot settle it in today’s lesson. What we can be sure of is this: Jesus says that heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away. We may not understand the particulars of these prophecies correctly, and we may not have arrived at the right timetable, but one thing is for sure: What Jesus said will happen.
CORAM DEO
Ezekiel 20–21
James 1
Do you find your heart weighed down with the anxieties of life? Jesus says that the answer to this condition is to watch and pray because the Lord is near. Notice how Paul makes the same point in Philippians 4:5–9. Look up this passage and make it your prayer today.
For further study: Isaiah 64:1–9; 1 Corinthians 2:6–10; tape #B57INT.88/89
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