Whatever color (good,bad,jewish etc.) you put on the word, it is always bound by a human lifespan. The writers in this passage and others anticipated or promised the coming of Jesus and angels of judgment in the lifespan of the readers. It failed, and ever since readers have strained to make the sentence mean something other than the obvious.
This has not failed because of this:
Matthew 16: 28 Truly I say to YOU that there are some of those standing here that will not taste death at all until first they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”
You like direct statements don't you PP? Well the above is direct. Meaning? Meaning that some people from Jesus' generation are still alive today. Period. Among them John and Paul as the Bible indicates. This helps us understand these passages at the end of the Book of John:
John 21: 20 Upon turning about Peter saw the disciple whom Jesus used to love following, the one who at the evening meal had also leaned back upon his breast and said: “Lord, who is the one betraying you?” 21 Accordingly, when he caught sight of him, Peter said to Jesus: “Lord, what will this [man do]?” 22 Jesus said to him: “If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you? You continue following me.” 23 In consequence, this saying went out among the brothers, that that disciple would not die. However, Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but: “If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you?”
Does this make any sense? Of course it does if you realize that there were always two "classes" during Jesus' time. One group who would die out and then have to be resurrected and another group that would never die but live through the ages down to our day and thus who would still be alive at the time of Jesus' return, whether you date that in 1914 or not.
So in the above instance, apparently Jesus was telling the various disciples who was chosen to die and who was chosen to live. Jesus had just told Peter how he would die. Peter then asked about John. That is, whether he would die or live on. So Jesus was very direct in saying that if he wanted John to live that was his business. Jesus didn't tell Peter one way or the other. But since it was indefinite, others assumed John "would not die." Jesus said directly: “If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you?” Since we know Jesus was not scheduled to return until well into the future, 2520 years after the fall of Jerusalem, then that would mean that he was saying that John would live over 1900 years along with others.
But, since John and some others from "this generation" would still be alive when Christ returned, he could easily state in Matthew that "this generation" would not pass away until all these things occurred. By stating "this generation" he meant those of the current 1st Century generation. Not the entire generation, mind you, but certain select individuals from that generation. But that "generation" remains alive even if one person from that generation hasn't died yet, so....
I've personally seen Paul and John, who never died, so this statement is accurate. I realize you're out of the loop of these insider things so you have to stand on the outside and doubt. But the full understanding of the Bible was not meant for all, not even all of the elect. Recall Jesus words that he would not put "new wine into old wineskins." That means there would be two different understandings of what was happening among the elect. Some things, perhaps like believing John and Paul never died, would be too much for some of the "old wineskins" to accept, so Jesus doesn't bother really trying to get them on board with some of the newer, more complex things Jehovah is doing. So if the "new wine" is too powerful for even some of the elect, it certainly will not be believed by any outsiders. But the insiders don't only get to know some of these deeper things but get to meet some of these ancient people who are now alive, either because they never died or they have been resurrected.
But this underscores a critical irony. You can have two neighbors, one who doesn't believe in God because he has never seen or spoken with God, and the other who talks to God all the time. Well the neighbor who talks to God has no problem believing there's a god. But even if he told his neighbor, "Hey, God said "hi" to you!" his neighbor would not believe and consider him crazy! So even personal interaction with God remains a private and personal thing. Bottom line, it doesn't seem that God is all that concerned or interested in convincing some people that he exists early on before Armageddon. At Armageddon he will demonstrate his "angry god" realism for all to see.
In the meantime, those of us who are privileged to be part of ongoing processes that Jehovah is doing right now already have our confirmatoin that God is real and that the Bible is true. Of course, we also know John and Paul are still alive and never died and so have no problem with Jesus' statement about "this generation" not passing way referring to the generation he was addressing.
That's how that works. For the elect anyway.
So in actuality, PP, I agree with you. This does have to do with the life of a generation. In this case, obviously the life of some in that generation has been extended far past the norm. But that doesn't mean the prophecy hasn't come true. By the way, Christ does not appear until after the "great tribulation" (which was the HOLOCAUST) and after the State of Israel is set up. So John and Paul needed to be alive at least until 1948 for this prophecy to be fulfilled. Since they are still alive now... now problem.
LS
