Matthew 24:32-35: At the Gates

“Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away,” Jesus in Matthew 24:35.

“When I stand on the platform and say, ‘God says,’ or ‘The Bible says,’ the Holy Spirit uses me... Wiser men than you or I have been arguing questions like this for centuries. I don’t have the time or the intellect to examine all sides of the theological dispute, so I’ve decided once for all to stop questioning and accept the Bible as God’s word.”  (Billy Graham as quoted in Charles Templeton’s Farewell to God)

“It’s [meaning is] not entirely clear.”  (Craig Blomberg on these verses, from class lecture, January 2012.)

As I type this winter has its grip on us here in Budapest.  The wind howls, the temperatures are below freezing and a layer of snow is on the ground.   But in about six weeks, the days will get longer.   And at the local baseball diamond here in our Hungarian village, you can hear the crack of a bat, the pop of a glove and the chatter of players.   These are signs that spring is coming; then summer will be near. 

Different cultures and climates note summers arrival in different ways.  In Jesus’ day, they looked to the fig tree to see if summer is near.    The branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves (v. 32). 

Jesus, the Master Teacher, used what was familiar to make a point to His disciples about His return.  Just as there are signs of summer’s arrival, one should note the signs that reveal the Lord’s arrival.  Jesus said, “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,” (v.34-35). 

These verses are not without controversy.  In fact, they may be the most debated Bible verses.  Note that the generation to whom Jesus spoke died off and He never returned.    Uncovering the deep message of these verses has produced many different ideas from many different scholars.

Some say, as expressed in the Moody Bible Commentary, “Once the unveiling of this ‘great tribulation’ begins (v. 21), that generation will not pass away until everything is brought to completion.”  Others, like D.A. Carson and Craig Blomberg, say these things (v. 34) refer not to Christ’s coming per se, but to the signs of His coming.   These signs will begin within that current generation.    But Christ’s actual coming is still unpredictable, as the parables of chapters 24 and 25 teach.   (See also 2 Peter 3:8.)

Others, such as Gleason Archer, believe generation (v. 34) refers to the Jewish race.  “The Jewish race, however persecuted and driven from one country to another, would survive until our Lord’s return.  No other nation has ever managed to live through all the dispersions and persecutions and uprooted conditions to which the Jews have been subjected.” (Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, p. 339)

It is confusing to know with certainty what Jesus meant.   But there is divine brilliance in the vagueness.   For if we knew when He returns, then the human animal would eat, drink and be merry and then, whether genuine or pretend, repent on the eve of His arrival.  However, the signs and the promises, void of chronological specifics, keep us watching and laboring.   May we be found working when He returns.