From: Ben Crick (ben.crick@argonet.co.uk)
Date: Sat Oct 18 1997 - 21:56:45 EDT
On Sat 18 Oct 97 (09:18:47), a0003192@mail.airmail.net wrote:
> Actually, in Mk 13:30 AMHN LEGW hUMIN hOTI MH PARELQHi hH GENEA hAUTH
> MECRIS hOU TAUTA PANTA GENHTAI, I believe that hH GENEA hAUTH can only
> refer to the generation in which Jesus lived.
>
> As I see it, this was a prophecy which did not come to pass, but I see
> no other way to interpret this phrase in Greek.
Your answer, Harry, is in the context. Jesus was speaking here of the
forthcoming Jewish War so graphically described in lurid detail in Flavius
Josephus' book of that title. Jesus warned Chorazin and Bethsaida of the
disaster to come. The War of the Jews began in Galilee in 66 AD and ended
in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
The Roman General Cestius surrounded Jerusalem in 66 AD and then withdrew.
This was the start of the 3&1/2 years of the Ward of the Jews which devastated
the country from north to south. That's why Jesus said "Don't return to
Jerusalem" (Luke 21:20-21). Luke gives adverbs of time in ch 21 vv 12, 24,
28, 31: /PRO DE TOUTWN PNTWN..... ACRI hOU PLHRWQHSIN KAIROI EQNOWN....
ARCOMENWN DE TOUTWN.... hOTAN IDHTE TAUTA GINOMENA.../.
It is a help to get out your Synopsis and have the Gospels in parallel
columns for ease of reference.
Mark 13:14-18 refers to the historical fall of Jerusalem. Jesus foretold
this before it happened. No wonder he wept over Jerusalem! I don't believe
the Redaction Critical view that this is a /vaticinium post eventum/ by some
anonymous redactor in the early 2nd century. I believe Papias "made no
mistake" in describing Mark's activities as the amanuensis of the AGRAMMATOS
Peter (Acts 4:13).
Mark 13:19-31 refers to the Church Age from 70 AD to present day. So
therefore, hH GENEA hAUTH refers to the Church, to the body of Christian
believers, the new-born members incorporate of the Body of Christ. This
body of believers will not die out, until the Return of the Lord Jesus to
raise the faithful dead and change the faithful living to meet Him in the
air (1 Thessalonians 4:16ff).
-- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF <ben.crick@argonet.co.uk> 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
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