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Jul 26, 201810 min read

“This Generation Shall Not Pass Away” ~A Study of Matthew 24~

Updated: Nov 29, 2022


Whenever we read about end times prophecy in the Bible, most of us have a tendency to put those things in the distant future. We tell ourselves, “Yes, that will happen eventually, but not for a while. Definitely not in my lifetime.” Yet, for many of us, that statement is just untrue. In fact, Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 24 that there is a generation of people who will definitely live to see His second coming to the earth - a generation which is alive today.

Now, generation (as in Matthew 24:34) comes from the Greek word genea, which refers to a whole multitude of people living at the same time. This definition assumes that their lives are not shortened by disease, injury, natural disasters, etc. Jesus is telling us that if the people belonging to this “Revelation Generation” live out their natural lives, they will live to see the Lord come!

This study is written so that you can follow along in your own Bible. Unless otherwise noted, I will be using the English Standard Version (ESV). Let's start by looking at Jesus' amazing declaration:


“Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” ~Matthew 24:34

What did Jesus mean when He said, “All these things?”

Jesus is addressing signs of the end of the age, and His second coming. In verses 5 – 8, He notes the following signs that precede the tribulation:


  • False Christs

  • Wars and rumors (threats) of wars

  • Nations (nationalities/people groups) rising against nations

  • Kingdoms (countries) against kingdoms

  • Famines and earthquakes in various places

We know that these are pre-tribulation signs because of how Jesus describes these signs in verse 8: “All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” Prophetically, birth pains are always tied to the tribulation period. Then, in verses 9-28, He begins to describe what things will happen during the tribulation from the perspective of Israel. As Jesus said: “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.” The use of the conjunction word “then” signifies that the following things happen after the beginning of the birth pains. In other words, these things are no longer the beginning, but the actual labor. Another reason we can be sure of this is that Jesus references a prophecy given in Daniel 9:27 – the abomination of desolation (an idol made in the image of the Antichrist that will be set up in the future 3rd Jewish temple). This prophecy will happen in the middle of the seven year tribulation period.

Next, He talks about His second coming, the very last event before the start of the millennial reign of Christ!


“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” ~Matthew 24:29-30

This is the point I'm making: the generation that Jesus is talking about in verse 34 will see the pre-tribulation signs, the actual tribulation period, and His second coming to the earth. But there's more... What Jesus says next is incredible - don't miss this! He's gives us a HUGE, even central, end times clue: the starting point of this end times generation, which will see all these things happen.


“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. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” ~Matthew 24:32-34

Now, we can understand Jesus as simply using an illustration to make his point. That's how many translations lean: "fig trees put out leaves around summertime and in the same way Jesus is coming when all these signs (leaves) are present." Simple. From everything we've seen so far, this seems to follow naturally from the passage. But there are a few reasons why I disagree with that understanding.


First, Jesus is answering two specific questions his disciples just asked him in verse 3:


“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign

of your coming and of the end of the age?”


They're asking about the timing of the destruction of the Jewish temple, which would happen in 70 AD, but Jesus doesn't answer that question (at least in the way they expected). Instead he answers their second question first and spends a lot of time describing, not one, but many signs which will precede the tribulation hundreds of years later. He remains on that subject up until the fig tree's lesson.


In other words, Jesus detailed the signs of his coming and answered the disciples' second question. That's inescapable. But what's less apparent is that Jesus, in introducing the fig tree, also answered the disciples' first question - the question of timing.


Here's how I get there. "From the fig tree learn its lesson..." The word for lesson here is the same word that is translated as parable in other biblical texts. This is important, because parables aren't designed to be taken at face value, but are always symbolic of a deeper (often spiritual) meaning. The one thing that just doesn't jive with a literal reading of Jesus' words is how oddly specific he is: "From the fig tree learn its lesson." Why the fig tree? Doesn't every tree's wood become tender and put out its leaves before summertime? Why didn't Jesus say "from the trees learn their lesson?"


The reason is likely because the fig tree is to be understood in symbolic terms, because fig trees carry symbolic weight in the Bible. The nation of Israel has been compared to fruit trees, especially fig trees, in several places in scripture (see Hosea 9:10, Isaiah 27:6, and Jeremiah 24:3-10). That the fig tree (i.e. Israel) growing up and maturing serves as an indicator of the end times makes sense, because in Matthew 24:1-2 Jesus predicted the total destruction of the 2nd Jewish temple. Not only that, but He also predicted that Jerusalem as a whole would be destroyed as well:


And when [Jesus] drew near and saw the city (Jerusalem), he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” ~Luke 19:41-44

When the nation of Israel is destroyed, we can't say that the fig tree is flourishing or maturing. Therefore, it has to come back and be restored. Not only did that happen on May 14th, 1948, but it's also the only nation to have its previously held land, people, language, and traditions totally restored in human history!

We must understand that Israel, along with Jerusalem, was prophesied several times in the Bible to be rebuilt and restored to the Jewish people (Isaiah 11:11-12, Jeremiah 23:3-8, Ezekiel 37:21-25, Isaiah 60:18-21, Jeremiah 24:5-6, Jeremiah 30:18, Jeremiah 32:37-40, Jeremiah 33:6-9, Ezekiel 28:25-26, Ezekiel 34:11-12, Joel 2:18-29, Amos 9:14-15, Micah 2:12, Micah 4:6-7, and Zephaniah 3:19-20). These prophecies of future restoration came hundreds of years before Israel as a nation was destroyed and scattered in 70 AD. Given how many times this event is mentioned, we can safely say that Israel's restoration is very important to God and constitutes a major sign of the end of the age.

This idea is found in places beyond the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. The Lord returning at the time when Israel is restored as a nation is supported in Acts and Psalms. In Acts chapter 3, Peter has just received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and is traveling with John. They end up meeting a disabled man in front of the temple, whom they heal with the power of God. All of the people, amazed at the miracle that just happened, gather around Peter and John. Then Peter, by the power of the Holy Spirit, begins preaching the gospel of Jesus. As he nears the end of his sermon, amazingly, he mentions when Jesus would return to the earth:


“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” ~Acts 3:19-21

Jesus will come at the time of the restoring of all the things the prophets talked about! What are those things exactly? The word “restoring” here is important. It comes from Strong's G605 – apokatastasis, which denotes returning property to the rightful owners and, generally, taking something broken or dead and making it like new again; returning to a former state. Certainly this is referring to the big picture statements made by the prophets (the kingdom of God on the earth, an end to sin, etc.), but the restoration of Israel is definitely included in those restorations. In fact, none of those big picture things can happen prophetically without a restored Israel in the first place!

The “time of the restoring,” then, shouldn't be taken to mean a traditional measure of time, like a year or a day. The unit of time Jesus used to encapsulate this restoration was a single generation; the generation that was born when Israel came back on the world stage. King David wrote about this generation in Psalms:


When the LORD shall build up Zion (Jerusalem), he shall appear in his glory...This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. ~Psalm 102:16,18 KJV

What is the generation to come to which David addressed this psalm? “To come” is translated from a Hebraic word, Strong's H314 – 'acharown, which means the terminal, the ending, or the last one. The Bible literally says that the last generation is defined as the generation that sees Jerusalem being built up again! Notice what the verse doesn't say: it doesn't say that when Jerusalem is completely built up that the Lord will return, it says that when God is in the process of building up Jerusalem – that’s the time!

It's our time. We ARE the last generation.

Naturally, we're presented with a very common and often debated question regarding these scriptures: exactly how long is a generation? The average lifespan of the world has fluctuated dramatically throughout history. It's generally agreed, for example, that most people living in the Middle Ages (476 AD – 1492 AD) only lived to the age of thirty. This was partly due to conquests and diseases that plagued the era. Today, life expectancy worldwide is on the rise.

This part gets a bit technical, so please bear with me. It's important to know that life expectancy is not the same as a lifespan or a generation; it's an approximation of the average span of a generation. Life expectancy is defined as “the age to which you can expect to live, based on the average life span of the population. This is based on the age at which exactly 50% of the population of that specific age will have died.” You may think that we need to take the life expectancy of someone living in 1948 to find the length of the last generation, but that's a mistake. You actually need to know the present worldwide life expectancy to approximate an answer, as it's applied to everyone, no matter what year they were born. Presently, the average age of death worldwide (based on 50% of the population dying at this age) is 70 – 80 years. Isn't it interesting that for as much as life expectancy has changed over the ages, we're living during a time where the following passage is perfectly aligned with what we see in the world?


“The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” ~Psalm 90:10

I recommend reading all of Psalm 90. It's a bit alarming when you realize that Moses (the author of this particular psalm) takes this specific lifespan of 70 – 80 years and puts it in the context of God's judgement. Another indicator of the time of Christ's appearing? Very possibly.

To bring this all home, we need to understand where we are on God's timeline. Scripture bears witness to the time of Jesus' return being at the time when Israel is being built up and restored. How long has it been since 1948, the year when Israel was officially recognized by the world as an independent nation? 70 years. We're already in the window for the end of the last generation! But there's more...

It's been 70 years since Israel was restored, but remember what Jesus said:


“Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” ~Matthew 24:34

What were those things again? The restoration of Israel, the seven year long Tribulation period, and the second coming of Jesus. That means that if the Tribulation were to begin this year, the total age of the last generation would be 77 years old! As it stands now, we're pushing the boundaries of the lifespan of that generation. Again, notice what the text doesn't say: it doesn't say that the last generation will be ended when He comes, it says that it will still be alive.

Matthew 24 contains one of the most important, if not central, signs of the times in which we live. As we've just seen, the generation which Jesus referred to is now drawing to a close. I can't pretend to be able to tell you the year when Jesus will come back to save His own and to judge the world, but I can tell you that, biblically, we don't have much time. I was born many years after 1948, and don't believe that I'll live on earth until I'm old; the Bible tells me I won't! For me, that's a message bursting with hope! If it means living in God's presence enjoying a life full of wonder and adventure in a world set right, then I'm happy with that and truly looking forward to it. 😊 But there's the other side of things: my friends and family who have made their home in this world and aren't ready for it to pass away. My heart aches for them to see that now is the time to get our lives in order and to trust Christ. What comes as good news to one group is a stern warning for the other.

I say all of this because I love you...we truly are going to see Jesus soon.


...You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ~Romans 13:11


Maranatha! -Daniel Escobedo

Suggested Reading

Fulfilled Prophecy about Israel's Reformation


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