Supplemental: "This Generation" Not Limited to First Century CE
The following is supplemental information for the post "What 'This Generation' is Not".
Why do we believe that “this generation” does not mean the generation of his disciples leading to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army? Actually, he did, as shown by Luke 21:20-24, but as we will see, that fulfillment was just a demonstration of what was to come while also judging the nation of the Jews.
How do we know that? Jesus’ prophecy related points that were not fulfilled in those days, and almost 30 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Revelation to John repeated many elements of Jesus’ prophecy and spoke of a future “great tribulation”. (Compare Matthew 24:21 to Revelation 7:14) Thus, like the destruction of Babylon, it has a greater fulfillment in our modern day. (Revelation 14:8) The signs of the last days that went unfulfilled in the first century are as follows:
Neither the book of Acts, nor the epistles, nor any historian of the day reported anyone claiming to be the second coming of Jesus Christ after his ascension in the first century.
However, Jesus said "many will come" claiming to be Jesus himself, or whom others claim ones to be him. Over the centuries, many Jews have attempted to claim to be the Jewish Messiah, but none of them claimed to be the second coming of Christ.
However, starting in the late 1700's, a steady overlapping stream of both Christian and Muslim claimants to being the second coming of Christ began to appear, but none of which acquired a great following. But in 1914, that steady stream turned into a torrent. Since 1914, there have been some 20 claimants to the title, many of which still have churches surviving to this day, such as the Ba'hai Faith, Rastafari, Assembly of God, and the Unification Church.
While there have been conflicts within the territories of nations in almost every year in history, putting down rebellions, wars between nations have been relatively rare.
They say that the 7 years war between British-German and French-Spanish-Russian alliances beginning in 1756 was "World War Zero". Though it stretched 5 continents, including the Americas, the death toll did not exceed 1 million. Wars have been recorded in history that took more lives than that. Given the short period and its not settting off technological advancements and a steady stream of conflicts, disease or famine, it seems pretty clear that it did not mark the beginning of the last days.
In 1914, however, began World War I, which marked the beginning of unprecedented suffering in the world and claimed 40 million lives. Besides it, other conflicts not related to it also raged simultaneously. Then there are the famines and diseases that took place at the same time.
Since World War I there have been wars between nations in every year since, not simply putting down rebellions, though those still occur, but because of broken agreements, controlling resources and starving populaces.
World War II, the deadliest war in history, claiming 70-85 million lives, began because Germany was suffering famine and sought to acquire the resources and wealth of other nations. During that war, nations traded sides because of broken agreements.
From 1945 to 1989 there were over 20 major international conflicts, some lasting decades. This does not include the hundreds of local civil and border conflicts of individual nations, Communist insurgencies and wars for independence that have also mushroomed since World War II. Since 1990, wars have increased so much that a single decade outnumbers the number of wars in any century in recorded history before the 20th century.
When we analyze the cause of the increase of wars, we can see that they are largely due, not to religion, as some seem to think, but to the rise of the aggressive expansion of two political ideals: democracy vs. communism, capitalism vs. socialism.
Famines occur on a fairly regular basis throughout history, generaly being about 1 or 2 each century, usually lasting about a year. Starting in the 13th century, the number of famines in the world increased to between 3 to 7. Then in the 17th century, the number of famines jumped to 17, in the 18th century to 22, and in the 19th century to 33. But in the 20th century, when there is more abundance than had ever existed, famines have reached epic perportions at 57, 12 of those in the 1914 to 1928 period alone. A large number of these famines in the last century are due to political unrest.
Revelation 6:5, 6 foretells our modern period of famines and has been fulfilled many times on massive scales in the last century, and could truly be described as being "in one place after another."
This is often caused by political struggles, droughts, corrupt dictators and financial collapse.
In ancient times, major earthquakes were so rare that myths were formed around them. Here, we will only discuss those that killed tens of thousands of people. The recorded history of earthquakes appears to be most accurate from around the 11th century, likely due to population growth, so let's begin there.
In the 11th century, there were 3 major earthquakes recorded to have killed tens of thousands of people, 4 in the 12th century, 5 in the 13th century, (The first that century having apparently killed hundreds of thousands.) 4 in the 14th century, 2 in the 15th century, 6 in the 16th century (including the largest in recorded history), maybe 3 in the 17th century, (One killing 30% of the Napalese population.) 7 in the 18th century and 5 in the 19th century.
In the 1901 to 1910 period there were 3 such earthquakes. However, in the 1911 to 1920 period, there were only two, but one of them killed over 200,000 people. There were 2 in the 3rd decade, 4 in the 4th decade, 1 in the 5th, 1 in the 6th, 3 in the 7th, 4 in the 8th, (One having caused over 200,000 deaths.) 2 in the 9th and 1 in the final decade of the 20th century for a grand total of 21 in spite of earthquake-proofed structures. In all, millions of people died by earthquakes in the 20th century. This increase is likely due to deep oil drilling depleting the stability of underground oil pockets.
Now what about the 21st century? There were 4 major quakes within the first 5 years of this century. (One of which killed over 200,000 people.) However, since then, there have only been 2 in the last 13-14 years. What happened?
Jesus' prophecy was not that deadly earthquakes would occur in one place after another, but only that earthquakes in general would. Has there been an increase? Indeed there has. Oil fracking the world over has produced a dramatic increase in earthquakes in many countries, even in places that have traditionally been largely free of earthquakes. But this has likely produced a relieving effect on earthquake faults, making the natural earthquakes less deadly for now. But there is no denying that earthquakes now occur in one place after another as a result of oil drilling and fracking.
Today, most earthquakes can be traced to human financially-driven endeavors destablizing the earth's crust. The increase in casualties is also due to the earth's human population blooming out of control.
In a little over a century we have reached every land that took the Catholic church, the Baptists and the Protestant movement two millenniums to reach and have expanded even further into places they have never been. We are in more lands than any other Christian organization and have preached in every land that all other nominal Christian sects have. Why? Because we are preaching "this good news of the kingdom ... in all the inhabited earth" in exactly the way Christ instructed us to do according to Luke chapters 9 and 10. A work which no one else is committed to. (Especially not our apostates.)
Additionally, the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 CE was hardly more extensive than the one in 607 BCE. Both were of similar impact. But what Jesus was prophesying here was that "all flesh" would be affected, not just the Jews. So Jesus' words would require a much greater fulfillment.
We are awaiting that fulfillment and all signs are pointing towards its fast approach as this world deteriorates politically, financially and socially.
It did not occur with World War I because World War II was greater. It did not occur with World War II because while many died, it did not result in the events described in the prophecy. Yes, the Warsaw Jewish ghetto was walled up, but Jerusalem was not. Yes, many Jews and anointed Christians were affected, but they were not in Jerusalem. No great Exodus of nominal Christians occurred anywhere at that time. So the tribulation as described by Jesus is still yet future.
How do we observe his presence and why can we observe it, but they could not observe it in the last days of the Jewish system?
The question that Jesus' disciples asked him was, "When will these things be and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?" Since they did not see many "wars and reports of wars," or "food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another", it is clear why even in 66 CE, the disciples were still in expectation of his presence.
When General Cestius Gallus undermined Jerusalem's wall, the only thing that pulled him away was a single uprising in a single district of the empire, not a large conflict, no famine that threatened the land, and no earthquakes signaling a great portent. But Christians viewed this as the fulfillment of Jesus words, "Therefore, when you catch sight of the disguting thing that causes desolation, as spoken about by Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, ... then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains."—Matthew 24:15, 16
This they did when they saw the gentile army undermining the temple wall. But that was the only sign they had to go by. The other signs remained largely unfulfilled. Even after that sign, they were still awaiting "the sign of the son of man" after Jerusalem's tribulation. But if the great tribulation has not yet occurred, why should we believe this sign is already past?
The prophecy is anachronistic. Notice that after speaking of "the sign of the Son of man", he says, "When you see all these things, know that he is near at the doors." So this whole chapter is the sign of his presence. The "wars and reports of wars" are a sign of his presence. The "food shortages ... in one place after another" are a sign of his presence. "Earthquakes in one place after another" are a sign of his presence. The "great tribulation" is a sign of his presence. The "false Christs" are a sign of his presence. All these things are a sign of his presence. But even then, he is only "near at the doors". So the fact that all the signs except the great tribulation have occurred mean Christ's presence is a reality. It is with eyes of faith that we see his presence. But it is only after the great tribulation that the whole world will see and understand Christ's presence when "the sign" will be observable to them, not Christ himself.
So as you can see, we have ample reason to believe that Jesus’ prophecy at Matthew 24 was not completely fulfilled in the first century and is undergoing fulfillment even now.
Why do we believe that “this generation” does not mean the generation of his disciples leading to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army? Actually, he did, as shown by Luke 21:20-24, but as we will see, that fulfillment was just a demonstration of what was to come while also judging the nation of the Jews.
How do we know that? Jesus’ prophecy related points that were not fulfilled in those days, and almost 30 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Revelation to John repeated many elements of Jesus’ prophecy and spoke of a future “great tribulation”. (Compare Matthew 24:21 to Revelation 7:14) Thus, like the destruction of Babylon, it has a greater fulfillment in our modern day. (Revelation 14:8) The signs of the last days that went unfulfilled in the first century are as follows:
False Christs
“Many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. … Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will perform great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones. Look! I have forewarned you. Therefore, if people say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.” —Matthew 24:5, 23-26; Mark 13:6, 21; Luke 21:8.There was one person, Menahem, who died shortly before the siege of Masada, who tried to put on the air of the Jewish Messiah, but did not claim to be Jesus. Another, Dositheos, tried fooling the Samaritans into believing that he was the Jewish Messiah, but not Jesus. Some claim that Simon Magus was attempting to claim to be the Messiah, but not Jesus, but the Bible text seems to suggest otherwise by the way it depicts him simply as a showman. (Acts 8:9-24)
Neither the book of Acts, nor the epistles, nor any historian of the day reported anyone claiming to be the second coming of Jesus Christ after his ascension in the first century.
However, Jesus said "many will come" claiming to be Jesus himself, or whom others claim ones to be him. Over the centuries, many Jews have attempted to claim to be the Jewish Messiah, but none of them claimed to be the second coming of Christ.
However, starting in the late 1700's, a steady overlapping stream of both Christian and Muslim claimants to being the second coming of Christ began to appear, but none of which acquired a great following. But in 1914, that steady stream turned into a torrent. Since 1914, there have been some 20 claimants to the title, many of which still have churches surviving to this day, such as the Ba'hai Faith, Rastafari, Assembly of God, and the Unification Church.
Many Wars
“You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars ... For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.” —Matthew 24:6a, 7a; Mark 13:7, 8a; Luke 21:9, 10.While there were a few conflicts in their day, mostly to do with the Jews themselves, and most after the destruction of Jerusalem, this was not fulfilled on a worldwide scale until our day. The Revelation, written 29 years after the destruction of Jerusalem, indicates this time period as being yet future at Revelation 6:4.
While there have been conflicts within the territories of nations in almost every year in history, putting down rebellions, wars between nations have been relatively rare.
They say that the 7 years war between British-German and French-Spanish-Russian alliances beginning in 1756 was "World War Zero". Though it stretched 5 continents, including the Americas, the death toll did not exceed 1 million. Wars have been recorded in history that took more lives than that. Given the short period and its not settting off technological advancements and a steady stream of conflicts, disease or famine, it seems pretty clear that it did not mark the beginning of the last days.
In 1914, however, began World War I, which marked the beginning of unprecedented suffering in the world and claimed 40 million lives. Besides it, other conflicts not related to it also raged simultaneously. Then there are the famines and diseases that took place at the same time.
Since World War I there have been wars between nations in every year since, not simply putting down rebellions, though those still occur, but because of broken agreements, controlling resources and starving populaces.
World War II, the deadliest war in history, claiming 70-85 million lives, began because Germany was suffering famine and sought to acquire the resources and wealth of other nations. During that war, nations traded sides because of broken agreements.
From 1945 to 1989 there were over 20 major international conflicts, some lasting decades. This does not include the hundreds of local civil and border conflicts of individual nations, Communist insurgencies and wars for independence that have also mushroomed since World War II. Since 1990, wars have increased so much that a single decade outnumbers the number of wars in any century in recorded history before the 20th century.
When we analyze the cause of the increase of wars, we can see that they are largely due, not to religion, as some seem to think, but to the rise of the aggressive expansion of two political ideals: democracy vs. communism, capitalism vs. socialism.
Many Famines
“There will be food shortages … in one place after another.” —Matthew 24:7b; Mark 13:8c; Luke 21:11b.Only one famine is recorded in the Scriptures after Jesus’ ascension at Acts 11:28, but no other famine occurred in the world at that time other than that which occurred within Jerusalem's walls prior to its destruction.
Famines occur on a fairly regular basis throughout history, generaly being about 1 or 2 each century, usually lasting about a year. Starting in the 13th century, the number of famines in the world increased to between 3 to 7. Then in the 17th century, the number of famines jumped to 17, in the 18th century to 22, and in the 19th century to 33. But in the 20th century, when there is more abundance than had ever existed, famines have reached epic perportions at 57, 12 of those in the 1914 to 1928 period alone. A large number of these famines in the last century are due to political unrest.
Revelation 6:5, 6 foretells our modern period of famines and has been fulfilled many times on massive scales in the last century, and could truly be described as being "in one place after another."
This is often caused by political struggles, droughts, corrupt dictators and financial collapse.
Many Earthquakes
“There will be … earthquakes in one place after another.” —Matthew 24:7b; Mark 13:8c; Luke 21:11b.It is said that there was only one major earthquake that occurred in the time leading up to Jerusalem's destruction. It was in the Bay of Naples, affecting Pompeii. It is thought to have been associated with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius 14 years later, that destroyed Pompeii. It was not highly destructive. Though certainly there were other small earthquakes at that time.
In ancient times, major earthquakes were so rare that myths were formed around them. Here, we will only discuss those that killed tens of thousands of people. The recorded history of earthquakes appears to be most accurate from around the 11th century, likely due to population growth, so let's begin there.
In the 11th century, there were 3 major earthquakes recorded to have killed tens of thousands of people, 4 in the 12th century, 5 in the 13th century, (The first that century having apparently killed hundreds of thousands.) 4 in the 14th century, 2 in the 15th century, 6 in the 16th century (including the largest in recorded history), maybe 3 in the 17th century, (One killing 30% of the Napalese population.) 7 in the 18th century and 5 in the 19th century.
In the 1901 to 1910 period there were 3 such earthquakes. However, in the 1911 to 1920 period, there were only two, but one of them killed over 200,000 people. There were 2 in the 3rd decade, 4 in the 4th decade, 1 in the 5th, 1 in the 6th, 3 in the 7th, 4 in the 8th, (One having caused over 200,000 deaths.) 2 in the 9th and 1 in the final decade of the 20th century for a grand total of 21 in spite of earthquake-proofed structures. In all, millions of people died by earthquakes in the 20th century. This increase is likely due to deep oil drilling depleting the stability of underground oil pockets.
Now what about the 21st century? There were 4 major quakes within the first 5 years of this century. (One of which killed over 200,000 people.) However, since then, there have only been 2 in the last 13-14 years. What happened?
Jesus' prophecy was not that deadly earthquakes would occur in one place after another, but only that earthquakes in general would. Has there been an increase? Indeed there has. Oil fracking the world over has produced a dramatic increase in earthquakes in many countries, even in places that have traditionally been largely free of earthquakes. But this has likely produced a relieving effect on earthquake faults, making the natural earthquakes less deadly for now. But there is no denying that earthquakes now occur in one place after another as a result of oil drilling and fracking.
Today, most earthquakes can be traced to human financially-driven endeavors destablizing the earth's crust. The increase in casualties is also due to the earth's human population blooming out of control.
Earthwide Preaching Campaign
“This good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” —Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10.While the good news did reach all the way to China and all the way to Britainia and the Netherlands in the first century, it is only today that it can be said that the good news has been preached in all the inhabited earth solely because of the preaching work of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Though Pentecostals have made a good effort, it does not match ours by any stretch.)
In a little over a century we have reached every land that took the Catholic church, the Baptists and the Protestant movement two millenniums to reach and have expanded even further into places they have never been. We are in more lands than any other Christian organization and have preached in every land that all other nominal Christian sects have. Why? Because we are preaching "this good news of the kingdom ... in all the inhabited earth" in exactly the way Christ instructed us to do according to Luke chapters 9 and 10. A work which no one else is committed to. (Especially not our apostates.)
Great Tribulation
“There will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” —Matthew 24:21, 22; Mark 13:19, 20; Luke 21:23a.Of course, a great tribulation of sorts did occur to Jerusalem in 68-70 CE, as explained by Luke 21:23b, 24 and by Josephus, but Revelation 7:14 specifically refers to this great tribulation as still yet future, followed by Jesus’ 1,000 year reign. Therefore it cannot be restricted to the tribulation on Jerusalem.
Additionally, the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 CE was hardly more extensive than the one in 607 BCE. Both were of similar impact. But what Jesus was prophesying here was that "all flesh" would be affected, not just the Jews. So Jesus' words would require a much greater fulfillment.
We are awaiting that fulfillment and all signs are pointing towards its fast approach as this world deteriorates politically, financially and socially.
It did not occur with World War I because World War II was greater. It did not occur with World War II because while many died, it did not result in the events described in the prophecy. Yes, the Warsaw Jewish ghetto was walled up, but Jerusalem was not. Yes, many Jews and anointed Christians were affected, but they were not in Jerusalem. No great Exodus of nominal Christians occurred anywhere at that time. So the tribulation as described by Jesus is still yet future.
Christ’s Invisible Presence
“For just as the lightning comes out of the east and shines over to the west, so the presence of the Son of man will be. Wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. … the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven. … Now learn this illustration from the fig tree: Just as soon as its young branch grows tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near. Likewise also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near at the doors. … For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” —Matthew 24:27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 37-39; Mark 13:26, 28, 29.Even at 1 John 2:28, in 99 CE, 29 years after Jerusalem’s destruction, they were still awaiting Christ’s presence. Today, we are the only ones preaching Christ’s invisible presence because we observe it with eyes of faith, as if seeing the effects of lightning flashes shine over to the opposite end of the sky. We are also the only ones faithfully observing the memorial of his death as prescribed in the Scriptures, so that it could be said that the eagles are gatheted about the carcass.
How do we observe his presence and why can we observe it, but they could not observe it in the last days of the Jewish system?
The question that Jesus' disciples asked him was, "When will these things be and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?" Since they did not see many "wars and reports of wars," or "food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another", it is clear why even in 66 CE, the disciples were still in expectation of his presence.
When General Cestius Gallus undermined Jerusalem's wall, the only thing that pulled him away was a single uprising in a single district of the empire, not a large conflict, no famine that threatened the land, and no earthquakes signaling a great portent. But Christians viewed this as the fulfillment of Jesus words, "Therefore, when you catch sight of the disguting thing that causes desolation, as spoken about by Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, ... then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains."—Matthew 24:15, 16
This they did when they saw the gentile army undermining the temple wall. But that was the only sign they had to go by. The other signs remained largely unfulfilled. Even after that sign, they were still awaiting "the sign of the son of man" after Jerusalem's tribulation. But if the great tribulation has not yet occurred, why should we believe this sign is already past?
The prophecy is anachronistic. Notice that after speaking of "the sign of the Son of man", he says, "When you see all these things, know that he is near at the doors." So this whole chapter is the sign of his presence. The "wars and reports of wars" are a sign of his presence. The "food shortages ... in one place after another" are a sign of his presence. "Earthquakes in one place after another" are a sign of his presence. The "great tribulation" is a sign of his presence. The "false Christs" are a sign of his presence. All these things are a sign of his presence. But even then, he is only "near at the doors". So the fact that all the signs except the great tribulation have occurred mean Christ's presence is a reality. It is with eyes of faith that we see his presence. But it is only after the great tribulation that the whole world will see and understand Christ's presence when "the sign" will be observable to them, not Christ himself.
Deaths of the Remnant
“They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.” —Matthew 24:30, 31; Mark 13:27; Luke 21:27. (Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:16)Christ’s “coming” or “manifestation”, in which he would gather his chosen ones from the extremities of the earth did not occur in the first century, but Revelation 16:15 and 22:20 refer to his coming as still yet future. We await that time at the end of the Great Tribulation, just before Armageddon.
So as you can see, we have ample reason to believe that Jesus’ prophecy at Matthew 24 was not completely fulfilled in the first century and is undergoing fulfillment even now.
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