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In the Olivet Discourse Jesus was not speaking of any other generation than the generation that would be alive at the end of the Age before his return, because this is the other thing His disciples asked Him about when He said Jerusalem was going to be destroyed.If He intended it to be later, this is how He would have had to say it.
And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. They will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that they are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. “Then they will deliver them to tribulation, and will kill them, and they will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. “Therefore when they see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to them, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ they should not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told them in advance. So if they say to them, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ they should not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ they should not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, they know that summer is near; so, them too, when they see all these things, they shouod recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to them, that generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
The only thing Jesus said about Jerusalem and its temple was that armies would surround Jerusalem and there would be wrath upon its people, but He said nothing more about what would become that generation (Luke 21:20-24).
From verse 4 to verse 31 of Matthew 24, Jesus is speaking of the generation of Christians that would face the great tribulation of Christians, and their redemption when Christ returns. The same goes for Mark 6:6-27 and Luke 21:8-19 and Luke 21:25-28.
There is nothing about the temple in Jerusalem or about the city of Jerusalem in any of those verses (Matthew 24:4-31; Mark 13:6-27 and Luke 21:8-19 & 25-28).
Those who in their imagination ADD the physical city of Jerusalem and its temple to the above verses therefore also quite naturally falsely assume that the word "generation" in Matthew 24:34 refers to the generation that was alive in 70 A.D.
The truth though, is that it's referring to the generation that will be alive when the son of perdition seats himself up in the New Testament Temple immediately before Christ returns and consumes the man of sin by the breath of His mouth and the brightness of His coming.
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