GENERATION, LAST

Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

—Matt. 24:34

1812 The X Generation

“Jesus said there would be a future generation with certain characteristics to indicate that the end is near. In other words, there is an “X generation” at some point in history where all the signs converge … Today it would seem that those signs are indeed converging for the first time since Christ ascended to heaven.”

—Billy Graham

1813 What Generation Did Christ Mean?

What generation? Obviously, in context, the generation that would see the signs: chief among them the rebirth of Israel. A generation in the Bible is something like forty years. If this is a correct deduction, then within forty years or so of 1948, all these could take place. Many scholars who have studied Bible prophecy all their lives believe this is so.

—Hal Lindsay in The Late Great Planet Earth

1814 Length Of A Generation

A generation is defined as a length of time it takes for a father to be succeeded by his child. It is popularly considered to be 33 years.

A Bible generation is sometimes regarded as 70 years (Ps. 90:10). Others believe it to be 40 years, saying that all the adults of the generation which left Egypt died during the 40-year wilderness wanderings.

Perhaps the strongest identification is found in Job 42:16 which says that “Job lived a hundred and forty years … even four generations.” Dividing 140 by 4, the result is 35. A Bible generation could very well be 35 years.

1815 A Comparison

Israel is at the stage where David was when he liberated Jerusalem. From that time until the construction of the temple of Solomon, only one generation passed.

—Selected

See also: Expectation, Spirit of ; Waiting .