DAY 69
CHALLENGE
“Jesus said of the end of the world, ‘This generation will not pass away before all these things take place” (Mark 13:30; cf. Matt. 24:34, Luke 21:32). But Jesus’ generation died, and the end of the world has not happened. Therefore, Jesus prophesied falsely, and so can’t be God.
DEFENSE
“These things” does not refer to the end of the world.
Jesus gives a number of warnings concerning events that the disciples will face before the fulfillment of his words. This statement occurs after Jesus made a prediction about the temple: “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down” (Mark 13:2).
Afterward, “as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign when these things are all to be accomplished?’” (Mark 13:3–4).
The disciples did not ask about the end of the world, but the destruction of the temple. Jesus answered that his generation would not pass away before the temple was destroyed, and he was correct. The Gospels record the speech occurring just before the Crucifixion, which most likely took place in A.D. 33. The temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 by forces under the command of the Roman general Titus. There would have been many people of Jesus’ generation who were still alive when the temple was destroyed.
TIP
Luke introduces Jesus’ speech on the Mount of Olives the same way, with the disciples asking when his prediction about the temple would be fulfilled (Luke 21:7–9). In Matthew, they ask about the temple, but they also ask, “and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). These added questions may refer to the end of the world. However, Matthew also has a great deal of material at the end of his account that is not in Mark or Luke and that seems to deal with the end of the world (Matt. 25:1–46). This suggests the additional material deals with the additional questions, and the statement about “this generation” still refers to the destruction of the temple.