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Text: Matthew 24:34 (NA27):
Transliteration (Accordance):
Translation (ESV):
Grammatical Analysis (Zerwick/BDAG, meanings in this context):
From The Gospel of Matthew (NCNT: Eerdmans, 2007), by R. T. France:
Among the "contrived" interpretations of Matthew 24:34 down through the ages is that of Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth in 1970; from Wikipedia (color emphasis added):
The reason why Hal Lindsey and his ilk turn out to be mistaken in their predictions with regard to time is that they misinterpret what the Scriptures actually say and mean with regard to time.
Text: Matthew 24:34 (NA27):
ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη ἕως ἂν πάντα ταῦτα γένηται.
Transliteration (Accordance):
amēn legō hymin hoti ou mē parelthȩ̄ hē genea hautē heōs an panta tauta genētai.
Translation (ESV):
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
Grammatical Analysis (Zerwick/BDAG, meanings in this context):
οὐ μή : with subjunctive strong negative: will not.
παρέλθῃ : aorist subjunctive of παρέρχομαι pass by, pass away, disappear.
γενεά : generation.
ἕως ἂν πάντα ταῦτα γένηται : until all these these things will have taken place.
παρέλθῃ : aorist subjunctive of παρέρχομαι pass by, pass away, disappear.
γενεά : generation.
ἕως ἂν πάντα ταῦτα γένηται : until all these these things will have taken place.
From The Gospel of Matthew (NCNT: Eerdmans, 2007), by R. T. France:
34*1:1711:16; 12:39, , 45; 16:4; 17:17 and especially 23:3623:3816:28 (which was also concerned with the fulfillment of 10:23**
Among the "contrived" interpretations of Matthew 24:34 down through the ages is that of Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth in 1970; from Wikipedia (color emphasis added):
Premise and plot
The Late Great Planet Earth is a treatment of literalist, premillennial, dispensational eschatology. As such, it compared end-time prophecies in the Bible with then-current events in an attempt to broadly predict future scenarios leading to the rapture of believers before the tribulation and Second Coming of Christ to establish his thousand-year (i.e. millennial) Kingdom on Earth. Focusing on key passages in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation, Lindsey originally suggested the possibility that these climactic events might play out in the 1980s, which he interpreted as one generation from the foundation of modern Israel in 1948, a pivotal event in some conservative evangelical schools of eschatological thought. Cover art on the Bantam edition boldly suggested that the 1970s were the "era of the Antichrist as foretold by Moses and Jesus," and called the book "a penetrating look at incredible ancient prophecies involving this generation." Descriptions of alleged "fulfilled" prophecy were offered as proof of the infallibility of God's Word, and evidence that "unfulfilled" prophecies would soon find their denouement in God's plan for the planet.
He cited an increase in the frequency of famines, wars and earthquakes, as key events leading up to the end of the world. He also foretold a Soviet invasion of Israel (War of Gog and Magog). Lindsey also predicted that the European Economic Community, which preceded the European Union, was destined (according to Biblical prophecy) to become a "United States of Europe", which in turn he says is destined to become a "Revived Roman Empire" ruled by the Antichrist. Lindsey wrote that he had concluded, since there was no apparent mention of America in the books of Daniel or Revelation, that America would not be a major player on the geopolitical stage by the time the tribulations of the end times arrived. He found little in the Bible that could represent America, but he suggested that Ezekiel 38:13 could be speaking of America in part.
Although Lindsey did not claim to know the dates of future events with any certainty, he suggested that Matthew 24:32-34 indicated that Jesus' return might be within "one generation" of the rebirth of the state of Israel, and the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, and Lindsey asserted that "in the Bible" one generation is forty years. Some readers took this as an indication that the Tribulation or the Rapture would occur no later than 1988. In his 1980 work The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon, Lindsey predicted that "the decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it"
The Late Great Planet Earth is a treatment of literalist, premillennial, dispensational eschatology. As such, it compared end-time prophecies in the Bible with then-current events in an attempt to broadly predict future scenarios leading to the rapture of believers before the tribulation and Second Coming of Christ to establish his thousand-year (i.e. millennial) Kingdom on Earth. Focusing on key passages in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation, Lindsey originally suggested the possibility that these climactic events might play out in the 1980s, which he interpreted as one generation from the foundation of modern Israel in 1948, a pivotal event in some conservative evangelical schools of eschatological thought. Cover art on the Bantam edition boldly suggested that the 1970s were the "era of the Antichrist as foretold by Moses and Jesus," and called the book "a penetrating look at incredible ancient prophecies involving this generation." Descriptions of alleged "fulfilled" prophecy were offered as proof of the infallibility of God's Word, and evidence that "unfulfilled" prophecies would soon find their denouement in God's plan for the planet.
He cited an increase in the frequency of famines, wars and earthquakes, as key events leading up to the end of the world. He also foretold a Soviet invasion of Israel (War of Gog and Magog). Lindsey also predicted that the European Economic Community, which preceded the European Union, was destined (according to Biblical prophecy) to become a "United States of Europe", which in turn he says is destined to become a "Revived Roman Empire" ruled by the Antichrist. Lindsey wrote that he had concluded, since there was no apparent mention of America in the books of Daniel or Revelation, that America would not be a major player on the geopolitical stage by the time the tribulations of the end times arrived. He found little in the Bible that could represent America, but he suggested that Ezekiel 38:13 could be speaking of America in part.
Although Lindsey did not claim to know the dates of future events with any certainty, he suggested that Matthew 24:32-34 indicated that Jesus' return might be within "one generation" of the rebirth of the state of Israel, and the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, and Lindsey asserted that "in the Bible" one generation is forty years. Some readers took this as an indication that the Tribulation or the Rapture would occur no later than 1988. In his 1980 work The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon, Lindsey predicted that "the decade of the 1980s could very well be the last decade of history as we know it"
The reason why Hal Lindsey and his ilk turn out to be mistaken in their predictions with regard to time is that they misinterpret what the Scriptures actually say and mean with regard to time.
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