THE CERTAIN COMING
(C ometimes certain Biblical phrases ^ universally puzzle commentators. Such is the case with Matthew 24:34 where our Lord declares, “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be ful filled.” The problem is in the inter pretation of “this generation.” What did the Saviour mean by it? When we read the word “this” we must think of it not from a point of view of the Olivet Discourse but rather keeping in mind all those who shall be living at the time of the events which our Lord is describing to His disciples. The phrase does not apply to the disciples nor to their contemporaries, but rather to people who go through the Tribulation period. Perhaps the events Christ has de scribed will not occur for a thousand years, but when they do begin, they will follow in tremendously rapid order. The people living in the day of God’s judgment upon the earth will witness all of the happenings. The events will occur one right after the other, as seen by verses 16, 21 and 23. In fact several of the things will occur simultaneously. It would be ab solutely impossible for our Lord to have meant the generation of His dis ciples since all of these events cer tainly did not take place in their day. In the following verse, Christ as serts, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” In that day, even as in ours, there were many who did not believe in prophetic truth. Everything seemed so impossible to them. How could a “martyr,” who seemingly was about to die for a lost cause, become the King of kings and Lord of lords? There may have been skepticism on the faces of the disciples, too. If this were true of His own, what can we say of people generally ? In the beginning of His ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus Christ makes the same similar 9
statement. He said that not one jot or tittle should pass from the law until it was all fulfilled. (Jo t and tittle in the Hebrew characters are equiva lent to our dotting of an “i” or cross ing the “t” ). Here we have a tre mendous confirmation of the written Word concerning the certainty of our coming Lord. The return of Christ will be rec- A MOTHER'S PRAYER I do not ask riches for my children, Nor even recognition for their skill; I only ask that Thou wilt give them A heart completely yielded to Thy will. I do not ask for wisdom for my chil dren Beyond discernment of Thy grace; I only ask that Thou wilt use them In Thine own appointed place. I do not ask for favor for my children To seat them on Thy left hand or Thy right; But may they join the throng in heaven That sing before Thy throne so bright. I do not seek perfection in my chil dren, For then my own faults I would hide," I only ask that we might walk to gether And serve our Saviour side by side. — Phyllis Didriksen ognized universally. Verse 30 of the chapter, as well as Revelation 1:7, establishes this fact. We are told that He will come with clouds. This will remind the Jewish people of the sheki- nah glory which was given in the wil derness when God’s presence was over the tabernacle. This is truly Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of Man!
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