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Topic: A Scripture That Always Confuses Me (Read 241 times) |
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Dewayne
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A Scripture That Always Confuses Me
« Thread started on: Sep 15th, 2006, 06:23am » |
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Luke 21:29-32
29 And he spake unto them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all trees;
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand,
31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
The part that confuses me is verse 32. The rest is put in there so you'll know what Jesus is talking about (the context). This seems like He is saying that the generation of his day would not die before He returned. This always confuses me, so maybe you guys could help me out.
I suppose He could actually have been talking about the prophecies of His death being fulfilled, but it seems that in the verses before it He is talking about the end times.
If you guys can figure out anything on this, please tell me. Pray before you read up on this, though, and again before you tell me what you've found. Ask God to guide your study and explanation.
I would appreciate if you guys didn't use the NIV or anything like that on this matter. I won't go into detail, because this is not a discussion about modern Bible versions, but please honor my request. Crosswalk.com is a good place to find the KJV translations of scriptures.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 15th, 2006, 06:24am by Dewayne » |
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Sarah
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'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life...'
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Re: A Scripture That Always Confuses Me
« Reply #1 on: Sep 20th, 2006, 07:45am » |
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Ok, well I'm not really very familiar with this passage, but I did some research and here's what I found:
This phrase has been used as a basis for skeptics to question the credibility of Christ. For hasn't that generation already "passed away" and these things have not been all fulfilled? But then again, has that generation really passed away? Consider the whole phrase:
"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away."
And notice also the promise previous to this:
"For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." Luke 21:15
What Jesus meant was that the words that He would speak through that generation of believers would not fade away, or be phased out until he returned. Indeed, the words, the spirit and the influence of that generation have never been forgotten by the Christian community and have even played a major role in the development of Western civilization.
Today we use "pass away" to mean "die", but that's not the way it was generally used in the New Testament. Metaphorically it meant either to perish or to pass over, neglect or omit. A person has not metaphorically "passed away" if memories of them continue. But Jesus says "certainly not", indicate they won't even come close to passing away. And that indeed is the case. For the words and lives of that generation of Christians continues to remain dominant in the Christian community.
Another possibility is that he is referring just to that final generation of Christians - that they would not perish before the Rapture, being interpreted as an exhoratation to endure through the great tribulation. Or more generally that mankind of that generation would not perish until all was fulfilled.
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