ProlepsisOpen in the graph →

Prophecy

“This generation will not pass away” (Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32)

Jesus and his disciples facing Jerusalem and the Temple from the Mount of Olives (Luke 19:41): artist’s impression by Enrique Simonet, “Flevit super illam” (1892, Prado).
Artist’s impression Jesus and his disciples facing Jerusalem and the Temple from the Mount of Olives (Luke 19:41): artist’s impression by Enrique Simonet, “Flevit super illam” (1892, Prado). — Enrique Simonet, Wikimedia Commons · Domaine public

⊘ Not fulfilled as written

Written c. 30–62 AD according to tradition; c. 64–90 AD according to historians. Event: c. 70–100 AD.

See the full entry: sources, objections, answers

In short

The announcement. Jesus, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (words spoken around 30, books written before or shortly after 70), announces the ruin of the Temple, signs in the sky and his coming “on the clouds”. Then he says: “this generation will not pass away until all these things are accomplished”.

What happened. In 70, the Roman army burns the Temple in Jerusalem, some forty years after the saying. On the other hand, no source reports a coming of Jesus on the clouds at that time. By the end of the 1st century, those who had heard him were dead.

What is still debated. for historians such as Schweitzer or Ehrman, Jesus expected the end of the world within his lifetime and was mistaken, while believers read “all these things” as the ruin of 70 alone, “generation” as “people”, or as the generation that will see the signs at the end of time.

What is surprising

The Bible itself preserves the deadline and the gap, without erasing them. The believer C. S. Lewis called it in 1960 “certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible”, and every reading that tries to explain it comes at a cost.

Main objection (in French for now)

Lecture apocalyptique (Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, 1906 ; Ehrman, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium, 1999) : Jésus était un prophète apocalyptique convaincu que le monde finirait du vivant de ses apôtres. Mt 24:34 le dit en clair, et la venue annoncée n’a pas eu lieu.

The text (World English Bible)

Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things are accomplished.

Matt 24:34

Sources