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Luke 21:29–32
“Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place” (v. 32).
The Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus, our Lord explains in Matthew 16:1–4, rejected Him because they could not recognize the signs of the times. In other words, they were unable to discern that the teaching and miracles of Jesus revealed that He is the Messiah. Lest Christ’s own disciples miss the meaning of some important signs of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, Jesus made sure in His conclusion to the Olivet Discourse to unfold the ultimate significance of the signs related to the city’s destruction.
Jesus explained the meaning of the various events He described in Luke 21:5–28 by first drawing an analogy with the fig tree. Fig trees in the ancient Near East lost all their leaves during the winter months and were completely bare. The regrowth of these leaves meant that summer was at hand, and the shift from bare branches to lush foliage was so dramatic that everyone knew that the change in seasons had arrived. In a similar way, signs such as Jerusalem’s being surrounded by the Roman armies would mean that something of great significance was about to happen (vv. 29–31).
What did the signs mentioned in the Olivet Discourse declare when they occurred? That the kingdom of God was near (v. 31). The kingdom of God, of course, came in and through the work of Jesus Christ and was active before Jerusalem’s fall in AD 70 (e.g., see Luke 11:20). Yet Jerusalem’s destruction also signified the coming of the kingdom, since we have seen that the Romans’ ruin of the city represented Christ’s judgment on the city for rejecting Him. That event was as much the work of Jesus as any of His miracles during His earthly ministry.
Luke 21:32 records Jesus’ statement that “this generation” would not pass away until the events in the Olivet Discourse came to pass. Some commentators have interpreted “this generation” as referring to the generation alive at Christ’s final return. Others have said that it signifies the Jewish people, meaning that the Jews would not pass away entirely before Jesus comes back to judge the living and the dead. Other interpretations have been proposed, most of them sharing with the views above the assumption that at least part of the Olivet Discourse predicts Jesus’ coming at the end of history. There are good reasons to reject that assumption and to believe that “this generation” means the people who were alive in the first century to first hear Jesus’ words.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
John Calvin comments on today’s passage, “While our Lord heaps upon a single generation every kind of calamities, he does not by any means exempt future ages from the same kind of sufferings, but only enjoins the disciples to be prepared for enduring them all with firmness.” Although we do not live at the time of Jerusalem’s fall, God’s people will face persecution until the end of history, and we must be prepared for it.
For further study
- 1 Chronicles 12:32
- Daniel 4:1–3
- Matthew 24:32–34
- Luke 11:29–32
The bible in a year
- Jeremiah 17–19
- 1 Timothy 6:2b–21