3530 — This Generation
By Uriah Smith; M. L. H.
Does the term "this generation" in Matt. 24:34 refer to the generation to which Christ was speaking, or to some other? The term "this" would seem to make it apply to His own day. Let us take into consideration these particulars: First, that which Jesus gave was a prophecy of His coming and of the signs of His coming. He was answering the question that was asked by the disciples, "When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Consequently, He was not speaking for that generation alone, but for all other generations down to the time of His second coming. Second, inasmuch as it was the Spirit of Christ that inspired all the prophets, the Master must have taken into consideration all the various prophecies that pointed forward to His second coming. The book is one book, the prophecies all have the one object: the second coming of Christ and the fulfilment of God's promises in Him. Therefore, in this great literal prophecy that is recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, our Lord not only gave various literal signs of His coming, but also presupposed more or less knowledge, on the part of those who would live just before His coming, of other great events pointing to the same climax. Third, Jesus knew, because His Spirit inspired the prophets, that all the prophecies given by Daniel, to be given later through John, and Paul, and others, would be preached prior to His second coming; that the message of Joel would go forth, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain;" that the 2,300 days of Dan. 8:14 would reach their fulfilment in 1844; that the days foretold by the prophets, as expressed in Rev. 10:7, would be fulfilled — in fact, that all the various lines of prophecy would culminate right down in these last days in which we are now living. He knew that these things would be proclaimed in obedience to His command by His faithful servants, so that all the world would hear the message of His coming; and these signs, therefore, that He gave, would simply be corroboration of all the other prophecies given in His Word. So that "this generation" would apply not to the generation who listened to His words, but the generation in which these prophecies culminated. The term "this" does not necessarily apply to the thing then present. The present tense and the things expressing present time are often used for the future. Take, for instance, in Ex. 12: 2, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months." That, of course, was at the very beginning of that first month, Abib. Instruction is then given regarding the Passover. Then note the twelfth verse, which applies to fourteen days later: "For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born." The "this night" does not refer to the particular time at which the Lord talked with Moses, but to fourteen nights from that time. We have another expression found in Ps. 2:7: "Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee." "This day" does not refer to 1,000 years before Christ, but to the time when the Lord was raised from the dead and took His official position at the right hand of the Father. These instances, and others that might be given, show conclusively that the term "this" is used in referring to the future, as well as to the present. Our Lord carried His disciples down through a variety of signs, some of which would not at all indicate that His coming was near, some of which would increase in intensity as that day approached, and three of which would precede His coming — the darkening of the sun and of the moon, and the falling of the stars. But the darkening of the sun and of the moon, and the falling of the stars, were to be seen, not with the physical eye, but in the light of the prophecy. There have been many darkenings of the sun and of the moon; there have been various star showers. But that to which the Master referred was to come at a particular time — "in those days, after that tribulation" — that is, after the long tribulation caused by the persecution of the Dark Ages. Just prior to the time in which the days of that persecution — the 1,260 years of Dan. 7:25 and Revelation 12 and 13 — should end, came the darkening of the sun and of the moon; and a few years later came the falling of the stars. Now these signs must be seen in the light of our Lord's prophecy, in order to be signs of the end, and they could not be seen until after the falling of the stars had taken place, Nov. 13, 1833, the most remarkable "star shower" that has ever been seen within the records of astronomical phenomena. But the message which should bear to the world the tidings of the second coming of Christ, which should prepare the world for that coming, could not be said to go forth until it went forth in its fulness, at the end of the 2,300 days beginning with 1844. That is the beginning of the time of the last great threefold message as recorded in Rev. 14: 6-14, the positive feature of which is in the everlasting Gospel proclaiming, "The hour of His judgment is come." Therefore, this generation to which our Lord referred was the generation which should bear to the world the last message of mercy, and proclaim the Lord's coming with all the accompanying signs, given not simply in Matthew 24, Mark 13, or Luke 21, but in all the various prophecies of His Word. Now, just as the generation to which Noah bore witness of the coming Deluge did not pass until the event foretold occurred, just as the generation to which our Lord first came heard the message of His coming, just as truly will the last generation to which is borne the message of His coming witness that coming. He delays it long in order to give the world opportunity to repent. The vision seems to tarry; but it is God's long-suffering, in pity for men who have not repented.