THIS GENERATION by Wm. Penniman

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Feb 17, 1881

"THIS GENERATION."

By Wm. Penniman

BY WM. PENNIMAN.

"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Matt. 24 : 34.

WE have endeavored to show that the signs spoken of indicate the occurrence of certain events; now the question arises, When shall these things be? Emphasizing the word when, in the fifteenth verse, makes the matter plain: "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), then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." The disciples knew by this sign when to make their escape from the doomed city. This sign also taught them that the destruction of the city was near. (Its application to the present time, will be seen in the conclusion.) We learn from Luke 21 : 20, that the abomination of desolation was the Roman army. We have, therefore, come to the unmistakable answer to the first question, "When shall these things be?" Christ did not tell his disciples the year nor the day when the city would be destroyed, neither the day nor hour when he would come the second time, and when the end would come; but he told them plainly when they might know these events were near.

It is plain that the entire language between the 15th and 21st verses, have direct reference to the calamities following the fall of the city; but what follows from the 21st to the conclusion of the chapter, must be a continued history, from the beginning of the days of tribulation, down to the end. The language of the 21st verse naturally seems to imply (for then, etc.) that the tribulation commenced with the fall of the city, and the flight of the Christians. There are reasons which cause us to think that this is so; and as this verse has an important bearing on the subject, we shall try to show the claims of both sides. According to Campbell's translation, "Because there shall be, or afterwards there shall be." (See "Greenfield's New Testament Lexicon.") 1. It is evident that this prophecy was fulfilled in consecutive order, that is, the events connected with it. 2. That before this, the Jews could not be considered the true people of God, and therefore in no sense the elect. 3. It is plain that Christ addressed his disciples (as the context shows), using the pronouns ye and your. But, says the objector, does Luke speak of the troubles of the Jews? Certainly, for he says: "There shall be great distress upon the land, and wrath upon this people." He also says, "Because these be the days of vengeance, that all the things which are written may be fulfilled."

Again, the 24th verse of the 21st chapter: "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (See Dan. 9 : 26, 27; Deut. 28 : 53, 56, 57.) As Christ speaks of the same things foretold in Daniel, we think it unreasonable to suppose that he did not allude to the calamities of the Jews, for in the siege of Jerusalem it is estimated that 1,350,000 perished. It is often true that one of the evangelists omits certain points which another records, but from them all we get a full account, or all that is necessary; thus the gospels must harmonize. So it is in the case before us. They record different trains of events. But we cannot say that Christ did not allude to the calamities of the Jews in Matt. 24 : 21.

Bishop Newton, in his work on the prophecies, Dissertation 20, part 3, says: "After the revolt of the Jews, the city was again besieged by the Romans under Adrian, and entirely burnt and consumed. The Jews were subdued with most terrible slaughter; fifty of their strongest castles, and nine hundred and eighty-five of their best towns, were sacked or demolished; 580,000 men fell by the sword in battle, besides an infinite multitude who perished by famines, and sickness, and fire, so that Judea was almost all desolated. The Jewish writers themselves reckon that doubly more Jews were slain in this way, than came out of Egypt, and that their sufferings under Nebuchadnezzar and Titus, were not so great as what they endured under Adrian. Of the Jews who survived the second ruin of this nation, an incredible number of every age and sex, were sold like horses, and dispersed over the earth." At this time, the site of the temple was "ploughed as a field." These calamities did not occur until about one hundred years after Christ made the prediction; consequently, cannot refer to the calamities under Titus, unless generation means a hundred years; and Christ referred to the continued troubles of the Jews.

The word tribulation, from the Latin tribulo, to thresh, to beat, is defined by Webster, "severe affliction, distresses of life, vexations." In Scripture, it often denotes the troubles and distresses which proceed from persecutions. We read in Dan. 7 : 25, that the saints, times, and laws shall be given into his hand until a time, times, and dividing of time (or 1260 years). The first part of the verse says that he should "wear out the saints of the Most High." This whole text plainly predicts the papal persecutions, during which, from fifty to one hundred millions were slain. In these persecutions, Christians suffered in many ways, often terribly tortured, their persecutors not wishing to destroy them suddenly, as they would suffer so little. This accords with the prediction that they should "wear out the saints." Again, the Bible Union translation renders the word tribulation, affliction. It may therefore mean (such meaning "of that kind or of the like kind"), "then shall be great affliction of that kind that never was," etc. The 22d verse, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened," plainly denotes the tribulation that came upon the disciples, or followers of Christ. How could the elect be blessed by the shortening of the days, when they all escaped, three or four hundred, before the siege of the city begun?

It is evident that Luke speaks particularly of the troubles of the Jews; and it is also equally plain that Matthew and Mark speak of the great and long tribulation which came upon the church, for the prediction already alluded to in Daniel, that they should wear out the saints, signifies that this time of trouble would be long. The papacy was clothed with civil power to punish heretics during the long period of 1260 years, and had not this period been shortened, the martyrdom of the elect, or of the church, would have continued to 1798. Had these persecutions continued to that time, probably no flesh of the elect would have been saved. These terrible persecutions were restrained by Luther and his associates. There has not been a general persecution against the church since the year 1700; thus the prophecy was fulfilled, "they shall be holpen with a little help." Dan. 11 : 34. "The earth helped the woman." Rev. 12 : 16. We are therefore brought down in this prophetic discourse into the nineteenth century, even to the present time.

(To be Continued.)