This Generation
In the "Introduction" to "Last Days Madness" Gary DeMar states that his first dissatisfaction with the futurist system came because of Matthew 24: 34:
"The first area of dissatisfaction came with how commentators handled Matthew 24: 34: 'Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.' At first reading one gets the distinct impression that Jesus is saying that the people with whom He was speaking would live to see and experience the events described in Matthew 24. This seemed impossible! And yet, there it was...If this is the correct interpretation, as I believe it is and hope to prove in the course of this book, then today’s speculative madness relating to repeated failed attempts at predicting the end must be attributed to a gross misunderstanding of Bible prophecy" [emphasis mine] (DeMar,"Last Days Madness", pp. 14-15).
Although the mistaken idea that the words "this generation" must refer to the generation living at the time the Lord Jesus walked the earth is but one link in a catena of errors promoted by the preterists, it is the first and most important. As already demonstrated, the generation living when the Lord spoke the words at Matthew 24: 34 never saw a world wide judgment:
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory…. 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 take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth" (Lk. 21: 25-27, 32-35).
Gary DeMar writes,"I believe the Bible. There is no way that it could err. This was my starting presupposition. Scripture had to be taken at face value" (Ibid., p. 14).
If Gary DeMar takes the Scriptures at face value then why does he continue to deny that the words penned by Luke in the twenty-first chapter of his gospel are speaking of a world wide judgment? Why does he continue to deny that the judgment at the "end of the age" is in regard to the whole earth?:
"The field is the world…the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this age. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity" (Mt. 13:38-41).
Meaning of "This Generation"
The words of the Lord Jesus do not apply to "the generation to whom" He was addressing since they never saw a world wide judgment. Therefore the words "this generation" must have another meaning than the one which Gary DeMar places on the words:
"So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Mt. 24: 33, 34).
In verse 33 we see that the Lord used the pronoun "ye" in regard to those who will see the signs that will precede His coming. And earlier the same day He used the same pronoun in regard to those who were not members of the then present generation but instead belonged to a previous generation:
"That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar" (Mt. 23: 35).
The blood of Zacharias was shed by a past generation of Jews, but despite this fact the Lord Jesus said, "whom ye slew between the temple and the altar". So when He used the pronoun "ye" we can see that He was not necessarily referring to those who were members of the generation of Jews then living. We can see the same principle just four verses later:
"For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Mt. 23: 39).
Earlier His disciples had indeed said,"Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Mt. 21: 9) so if we are to believe the words of the Lord Jesus then at some time in the future there will be some Jews belonging to a future generation who will say those words. And the Lord used the pronoun "ye" to refer to those who will belong to a future generation.
So the word "ye" in the following verse can refer to Jews belonging to a future generation:
"So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Mt. 24: 33, 34).
Even preterist Dr. Kenneth Gentry recognizes that the word "ye" in the same discourse can refer to a future generation. Let us examine his ideas in regard to the events that happen after Matthew 24: 35:
"The following events (Matt. 24: 36-51) relate to some other event that was not to occur in ‘this generation’… it is clear that His focus is on ‘that’ singular day, when Christ (‘the Lord’) comes to punctuate the end of history (vv. 36, 50) and to bring final judgment upon men (v. 51)" (Gentry, "The Transition Text of Matthew 14").
According to him the following verses did not happen to the generation then living but instead remain in the future:
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come…Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh…" (Mt. 24: 42, 44).
Here the Lord Jesus uses the word "ye" in regard to a future generation. And with that established we can understand that the following verses can also be in regard to a future generation:
"So likewise
When the Lord Jesus uses the word "ye" in verse 33 he is referring to the generation who will see the signs which He had described earlier. With that established we can now explain the meaning of the word "this" as used in verse 34.
The word "this" is translated from the Greek word "houtos", and one of the meanings of that word is: "It refers to a subject immediately preceding, the one just named" ("Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon").
The subject immediately preceding "this generation" is the people (ye) who will see the signs:
"So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Mt. 24: 33-34).
"The Same Generation"
We can see the same principle when the Lord Jesus spoke about Judas at the Last Supper:
"And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same (houtos) shall betray me" (Mt. 26: 23).
Here the translators used the words "the same" to translate the Greek word "houtos". The subject immediately preceding the word "houtos" is "he"--"he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish". Therefore Matthew 24: 33, 34 could be translated in the following way:
"So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, The same generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Mt. 24: 33, 34).
The same generation who sees the signs shall not pass until all the things are fulfilled.
This is the only possible meaning of Matthew 24: 34 because it is obvious that the generation then living did not see a world wide judgment.
Objections
Matthew 23: 35: "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar" (Mt. 23: 35).
The following is an example of the criticism of the idea that the word "ye" at Matthew 23: 35 refers to a past generation:
"In both cases, the two YOUs refer to them, not a past generation. It’s obvious by the choice of Jesus’ words that they killed someone named Zechariah, the son of Berechiah. This can’t be the Zechariah of Zechariah 1: 1 since nothing is said about his death. It can’t be the Zechariah 24: 20-21 since he is Zechariah son of Jehoiada."
In answer to this objection I will quote Louis A. Barbieri, Jr.: "Abel was the first righteous martyr mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures (Gen. 4: 8) and Zechariah was the last martyr (2 Chron. 24: 20-22), 2 Chronicles being the last in the Hebrew Bible. (In this statement Jesus attested the Old Testament canon.) In 2 Chronicles 24: 30, Zechariah is called the ‘son of Jehoiada,’ whereas in Matthew he is the son of Berakiah. 'Son of' can mean descendant; thus Jehoida, being a priest, could have been Zechariah’s grandfather" ("The Bible Knowledge Commentary").
Noted Christian author Alfred Edersheim writes: "And so they would become heirs of all the blood of the martyred saints, from that of him whom Scripture records as the first one murdered, down to the last martyr of Jewish unbelief of whom tradition spoke in such terms—Zechariah, stoned by the king’s command in the court of the Temple (2 Chron. xxiv. 20-22)…" (Edersheim,"The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah", Book 2, pp. 413-414).
If we are to believe the critics then we must believe that there were two men named Zechariah who were killed in the vicinity of the court of the Temple despite the fact that the Scriptures reveal that there was but one. The critics would have us believe that the generation to whom the Lord Jesus was addressing killed a man named Zechariah between the Temple and the altar despite the fact that the Scriptures are silent on such a slaying.
Matthew 23: 39: "For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Mt. 23: 39).
In answer to this verse Gary DeMar quotes R. T. France: "The words ‘until you say’ are expressed in Greek as an indefinte possibility rather than as a firm prediction; this is the condition on which they will see him again; but there is no promise that the condition will be fulfilled" (DeMar,"Last Days Madness", p. 61).
If R. T. France is correct then we can see that "seeing Him" was conditional for the generation then living. However, Gary DeMar says that by the time the Lord Jesus spoke those words the fate of that generation of Jews had already been determined: "Remember, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because He foresaw its destruction (Matt. 23: 37-39)" (Ibid., p147).
According to Gary DeMar the then present generation was going to "see Him" irregardless of whether or not they said, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord".
Therefore, the Lord’s words at Matthew 23: 39 cannot be in regard to the generation living at the time He spoke those words. They must refer to a "future" generation. So when He said "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" the word "ye" must refer to those living in a future generation.
One Further Note
"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him" (Rev. 1: 7).
In his book "Last Days Madness" Gary DeMar says that "Revelation 1: 7 must refer to a pre-A.D. 70 fulfillment" since "those who pierced Jesus lived in the first century…those who ‘see’ Him are ‘those who pierced Him’ " (Ibid., p. 168).
However, since he wrote those words Gary DeMar signed a document entitled "The Wittenberg Door: An Open Letter to Evangelicals and Other Interested Parties: The People of God, the Land of Israel, and the Impartiality of the Gospel" (http://www.knoxseminary.org/Prospective/Faculty/WittenbergDoor/#_ftn52).
That document states: "Instead, this present age will come to a climactic conclusion with the arrival of the final, eternal phase of the kingdom of the Messiah. At that time, all eyes, even of those who pierced him, will see the King in his glory."
A footnote indicates that these words are in regard to Revelation 1: 7: "Revelation 1: 7, 'Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him.' "
So Gary DeMar now says that Revelation 1: 7 refers to a future coming of Christ. Therefore the words "they also which pierced Him" cannot be in regard to the generation living when He was crucified but instead those words refer to the Jews who will be living in a future generation.