Question: How long is a generation?

*Our Q&A section is primarily pulled from the Dave Hunt archives. Although some references may be dated, we believe there is timeless value within the messages.

Question: Jesus said, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Mat:24:34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
See All...). How long is a generation? Was that the “generation” that saw Israel restored to her land in 1948? If so, how much more time do we have before the fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy? Aren’t we running out of time?

Response: God told Abraham that his descendants would be slaves for “four hundred years” and would enter Canaan “in the fourth generation” (Gen:15:13-16 [13] And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; [14] And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. [15] And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. [16] But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
See All...). Was a “generation” 100 years, and thus we have until 2048? Moses said, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten” (Ps:90:10The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
See All...), so had a generation gotten shorter, and we only have to wait until 2018?

There is no basis for thinking that Christ meant the “generation” which would see Israel restored to her land. Furthermore, Israel hasn’t been fully restored yet. We know He didn’t mean the generation then alive, for that would have been a false prophecy. Preterists say Nero was the Antichrist, and that “all these things” prophesied by Christ in Matthew:24:1-33 [1] And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. [2] And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. [3] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? [4] And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. [5] For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. [6] And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. [8] All these are the beginning of sorrows. [9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. [10] And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. [11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. [12] And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. [13] But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. [14] And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. [15] When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) [16] Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: [17] Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: [18] Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. [19] And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! [20] But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: [21] For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. [23] Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. [24] For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. [25] Behold, I have told you before. [26] Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. [27] For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [28] For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. [29] Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. [31] And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. [32] Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: [33] So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
See All... came to pass in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem, and that Israel no longer has any place in the prophetic scheme. Preterism is easily disproved.

Christ said a tribulation was coming that would be worse than anything before or after (Mat:24:21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
See All...). The tribulation of AD 67-70 was nothing compared to Hitler’s slaughter of 6 million Jews. Verse 22 says, “except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved….” Surely there was no danger that the weapons available in AD 70 might wipe out all flesh, nor was the tribulation cut short on that account. Verses 29-31 mention signs in the heavens, including everyone visibly seeing “the Son of man coming...with power and great glory” and the angels “with a great sound of a trumpet...gather[ing] together his elect...from one end of heaven to the other”—none of which occurred in AD 70. The “generation” alive in Christ’s time did not see the fulfillment.

Both John the Baptist and Christ referred to Israel in a special way as a “generation”: “generation of vipers” (Mat:3:7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
See All...; 23:33); “an evil and adulterous generation” (Mat:12:39But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
See All...); “this wicked generation” (Mat:12:45Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
See All...); “wicked and adulterous generation” (Mat:16:4A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
See All...); “faithless and perverse generation” (Mat:17:17Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
See All...); “evil generation” (Lk 11:29), etc. That generation—Israel as a whole in unbelief and rebellion against God and His Word—will continue until all is fulfilled. That will be when “...they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him...” (Zec:12:10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
See All...).

Surely this is the Second Coming with Christ visibly returning to earth in power and great glory at the end of the greatest tribulation the world will have ever seen, at a time when atomic and other modern weapons could wipe out all flesh. He intervenes to rescue Israel and to stop the carnage, and “a fountain [is] opened to the house of David...for sin and for uncleanness” (Zec:13:1In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
See All...). God says, “So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more.... So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.... Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel...” (Ezk 39:7, 22, 29). “So all Israel shall be saved…” (Rom:11:26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
See All...) and that “generation” of unbelief and rebellion will have passed away with the fulfillment of the Matthew 24 prophecies.