Why Start Counting in 1948?
Q. Thanks again for the time you put into this ministry. I know it is a huge benefit to so many. My question is regarding the “last generation” mentioned in Matthew and Luke, at Olivet. You have said that 1948 and the re-birth of Israel ’start the clock’ – meaning the generation alive/being born during that time will be around to see the return of messiah.
After several readings of the Matthew and Luke Passages, It seems to me that the generation referred to is the generation that sees the beginning of the tribulation – THAT generation will live to see the return of messiah. Would you mind explaining why my reasoning might be incorrect?
A. The first specific sign Jesus gave in the Olivet discourse that will clearly indicate that the End of the Age has come is the Abomination of Desolation (Matt. 24:15-21). But that’s really a “non-sign” because in several other places the Bible says when that happens there’ll only be about 3 1/2 years left until the 2nd Coming. It wouldn’t make sense for the Lord to say that the generation being born at that time will live to see all the End Times signs fulfilled. They’ll still be toddlers when the Kingdom Age begins.
So we have to look behind His words. It takes a Temple for an Abomination, but according to Daniel 9:27 the Temple would only have to be 7 years old when the end comes, still too short a period of time. But for a Temple to exist, Israel has to exist. Without an actual State of Israel inhabiting the land that was promised to them, none of the other signs can happen. There couldn’t be a covenant people or a Temple or an Abomination of Desolation. In addition to Daniel’s prophecy of a temple, Isaiah, Amos, Ezekiel, Zechariah and others all prophesied a re-gathered State of Israel in the last days as well. The re-birth of Israel is the pre-emminent signal that the End of the Age has come.
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