a generation – part three

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:34-35 KJV)

This may very well be the first time I had read and heard about something and grasped it enough to launch me into my love of timetables and the future.  Jesus is very specific – the generation that sees the budding of the fig tree will not pass from the earth without seeing all those things mentioned in the earlier verses come to be. So just how long is that? See – then we have a timetable. We can get a very clear idea of some of what our future holds. Yeah – OUR future.

A key to Bible understanding is to always let the Bible interpret itself. To the best of my knowledge (which obviously means the accumulated books of experts that I have) there are three different definitions for the word generation in the Bible.  Why different definitions – that can be a possible subject for a post in the future – it’s not important to the question now because we are aware of the fact we are looking at three possible scenarios.

One definition for generations is in Matthew 1:17 which work out to 42 years in a generation. That means Jesus would have come back in 1990 – obviously that did not happen.

Another definition for generation is in Psalm 90:10 which work out to be 70 years which puts the Second Advent at no later than 2018.

The third definition is given in Genesis 15:13 which puts it at 100 years and that would means the Second Advent would occur no later than 2048.

So timetable date for the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ on earth is no later than 2048; which also tells us that the latest date that the great tribulation will begin is 2041. And knowing that the abomination of desolation is smack in the middle of the great tribulation places it in the year (no later) than mid 2045.

We can also determine a way to quickly rule out 2018 if indeed it is the wrong definition of a generation. Assuming the Second Advent occurs in 2018 we know the great tribulation will begin in 2011 (yes, I know) which means anytime in the next 400 days a global event is going to occur in which millions of people will disappear. If you are here and witness the hysteria after such an event you can know quite a few things with absolute certainty about your life over the next handful of years (at the most) – the great tribulation is about to start and it begins with a peace treaty being signed that involves Israel. Life on earth is going to get rougher than you could have ever imagined.

Next post: what is the exact date?