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(Beware of false teaching, even well-intended false teaching. Test EVERYTHING by scripture)
*I welcome a BIBLE-BASED rebuttal from anyone who reads this whole article of mine, (which is actually just Jesus’ words in scripture and my followup questions) …. and still thinks Jesus meant anything other than what He said.
Matt 11
16 “But to what shall I compare THIS GENERATION? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, 17 “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
WHAT GENERATION DID JOHN THE BAPTIST AND JESUS COME TO?
Matt 12
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with THIS GENERATION and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with THIS GENERATION and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
WHAT GENERATION SAW JESUS RISE FROM THE GRAVE?
Matt 23
34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town
(Matt 10:23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.)
35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon THIS GENERATION.
WHAT GENERATION HAD ZECHARIAH MURDERED and WHERE?
Matt 24:
32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, THIS GENERATION will not pass away until all these things take place.
HOW MANY OF THE THINGS WOULD TAKE PLACE in THAT GENERATION?
Mark 8:
11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does THIS GENERATION seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to THIS GENERATION.”13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
WHAT GENERATION ASKED FOR A SIGN?
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in THIS ADULTEROUS AND SINFUL GENERATION, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
WHAT GENERATION DID JESUS SAY THE JUDGMENT WOULD BE? … and WHAT GENERATION HAD A COVENANT MARRIAGE TO GOD AND COMMITTED SPIRITUAL ADULTERY?
Matt 16
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.25 For whoever would save his life[g] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
(in perfect harmony with Jude 1:14-15)
WHAT WAS JESUS’ OWN DEFINITION OF “THIS GENERATION?”
“Before some standing here taste death.”
(“Truly I say to you” [Amēn legō hymin] in the Bible always restates & affirms what has just been said. Rest assured, Matt. 16:27-28 is a problem for futurists, but for Jesus … it’s just more of what He’d been saying in the Bible ALWAYS confirmed what was just said, NEVER changed the subject)
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So what did Jesus “REALLY” mean by “this generation?”
He meant what He said !!!