Matthew 24:34
“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”It will take at least to post to make explain how the scripture uses the phrase, "this generation", so bear with me. I think Jonathan Edwards gave the very best definition of the scriptural term of the word generation when teach on 1st Peter 2:9 concerning christians being a chosen generation. Highlighted areas are mine
"True Christians are a distinct race of men. They are of a peculiar descent or pedigree, different from the rest of the world. This is implied in their being called a generation. There are three significations of the word generation in the Scriptures.
Sometimes it means, as is its meaning in the common use, a class of persons among a people, or in the world, that are born together, or so nearly together, that the time of their being in the different stages of the age of man is the same. They shall be young persons, middle aged, and old together. Or they shall be together upon the stage of action. All that are together upon the face of the earth, or the stage of action, are very often accounted as one generation. Thus when God threatened that not one of the Israelites of that generation should see the good land, it is meant, all from twenty years old and upwards.
A second meaning is, those who are born of a common progenitor.
A third meaning of the word in Scripture, is, a certain race of mankind, whose generation and birth agree, not as to time, but as to descent and pedigree, or as to those persons from whom they originally proceeded. So it is to be understood, Mat. 1:1, “This is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham;” that is, this is the book that gives an account of his pedigree. And this meaning, viz. those who are of the same race and descent, must be given to the word in the text. The righteous are often spoken of in Scripture as being a distinct generation, Psa. 14:5, “There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.” Psa. 24:6, “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob.” Psa. 73:15, “If I say, I will speak thus: behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.”
That the godly are a distinct race appears evident, since they are descended from God. They are a heavenly race, and they are derived from above. The heathen were wont to feign that their heroes and great men were descended from the gods, but God’s people are descended from the true and living God, without any fiction, Psa. 22:30, “A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.” That is, a seed, a posterity, shall serve him, and it shall be accounted to the Lord for his posterity or offspring.
Now the people of God may be considered as descending from God, and as being his posterity, either remotely or immediately.
1. They are remotely descended from God. The church is a distinct race that originally came from God. Other men are of the earth, they are of earthly derivation, they are the posterity of men, but the church is the posterity of God. Thus it is said, Gen. 6:2, “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” The sons of God were the children of the church, of the posterity of Seth. The daughters of men were those that were born out of the church, and of the posterity of Cain, and those that adhered to him.
It was God that set up the church in the world, and those who were the first founders of the church were of God, and were called specially the sons of God. Seth was the seed that God appointed, Gen. 4:25, “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” Adam, in Luke’s genealogy of Christ (Luke 3:38, “Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God,”) is called the son of God, possibly, not only because he was immediately created by God, but also because he was from God, and was begotten by him. As he was a good man, and was the founder of the church of which Christ himself became a son. He was the first in line of the church, and as such he was from God. When the church was almost extinct God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, and afterwards out of Haran. Abraham was one immediately from God, and all God’s people in all succeeding ages are accounted as the children of Abraham. God promised Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand on the seashore, meaning primarily not his posterity according to the flesh. John the Baptist said, God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Those are the seed of Abraham, as we are taught in the New Testament, that are of the faith of Abraham. Christians, as well as Jews, are the seed of Abraham, Gal. 3:29, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” So the church is the seed of Jacob, who is called God’s son, Hos. 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” All God’s people are called Israel, not only his posterity according to the flesh, but proselytes of old, and Gentile Christians now under the gospel. The sincerely godly, and they only, are the true Israel.
So the people of God are descended from God the Father originally, as they are descended from Christ the Son of God. Christians are called the seed of Christ, Gal. 3:29, “And if ye be Christ’s,” etc. They are, as it were, his posterity. Christ calls them his children, Heb. 2:13, “Behold I and the children which thou hast given me.” So that if we trace the pedigree of God’s people up to their original, they will be found to be descended from God: they are of heaven, they are not of this world. Other men are of the earth, and are earthly, but these are heavenly, and are of heaven. The wicked are called the men of this world, Psa. 17:14, “From men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes."
The wicked are called THIS generation over and over again throughout the scriptures almos tevery time when the two words are together, without fail it has reference to the wicked most every time.
What generation of men is David speaking about? The generation of evil and wicked men that this world is increasing in at a rapid rate. David called them This generation, and so did Christ every time he used the word generation!
Jesus alwasy reference the wicked to a generation of vipers. Who killed the prophets Zechariah? The generation of evil and wicked men. The blood of all righteous men and women God will require at the hands of THIS generation. John the Baptist called the Pharisees a generation of vipers!
Matthew 3:7
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”Again Jesus said these words:
The only righteous way God could require the blood shed from Abel on ward is to require it at the hands on ONE particular generation of wicked men, who are of the wicked one the devil himself. THIS generation has reference to evil and wicked men, and that's the sense it is used in Mathew 24:36 since Jesus was dealing with the world being flooded with false prophets at the end of this world and our Lord was saying that these men would not pass until all be fulfilled, instead of passing, they actually increase greatly in numbers toward the end of this world.
The word generation in the scriptures for the most part has reference to a kind of person instead of time.
Later......
