11 In the days of Jeremiah there were false prophets who tried to keep the people from doing what God’s prophet Jeremiah told them to do. These false prophets worked injury to the people and brought about the destruction of many. Through his prophet God warned the people against these lies, but yet most of the people chose to listen to the lies anyway. Liar prophets may prosper for a time, but they are doomed by Jehovah’s judgment. False witnesses cannot escape Jehovah’s just judgments at any time. That happened to false prophets in the days of Jeremiah.—Ps. 101:7, 8; Prov. 19:5, 9; Jer. 27:10, 14-16; 28:15; 29:31, 32; Hos. 4:1, 2.
12 Although false prophets and false witnesses must suffer punishment from Jehovah at Armageddon and will meet death,
Any attempted interpretation of prophecy, if it proved to be incorrect in the light of historic events and the clearer understanding of the Bible, was corrected, regardless of who had offered the interpretation. Loyalty to God and to his inspired Word was the issue here to be met. So, as an illustration of the loyalty required, even if a fleshly son should offer a wrong interpretation of divine prophecy and should persist in it, like a false prophet, then his own fleshly parents in their loyalty to God would have nothing further to do with him on a religious basis. Christian parents could not do as under the Mosaic Law covenant, namely, have him put to death; but they could pronounce him spiritually dead to themselves in spite of their parenthood of him physically. In this way, figuratively speaking, they “must pierce him through because of his prophesying.” (Zechariah 13:3; compare Deuteronomy 13:1-5.) With their full consent, such a false prophet would be expelled, disfellowshiped, from the Christian congregation. By such loyalty on the part of all members of the restored remnant, the “prophet” of falsehood would be made to pass out of their “land.”
If Jesus used “generation” in that sense and we apply it to 1914, then the babies of that generation are now 70 years old or older. And others alive in 1914 are in their 80’s or 90’s, a few even having reached a hundred. There are still many millions of that generation alive. Some of them “will by no means pass away until all things occur.”—Luke 21:32.
Since 1914 we have already lived through two world wars and many other major conflicts, along with famines, earthquakes, pestilences and the like. (Luke 21:10, 11) Yet Jesus said: “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.” (Matthew 24:34) Therefore, you might ask: What other major events remain to be seen by the generation of 1914? And can these actually take place in the time period that remains for that generation?
At that time of the start of Christ’s presence, or parousia, he was unseen by human eyes. But that generation of 1914 certainly did see what happened here on earth as a “sign” of his presence and as “a beginning of sorrows” for mankind! (Matthew 24:8, Authorized Version) And the remaining ones of that generation of 1914 are still talking about it. Some of them will be talking about it right down to the time when the “great tribulation” wipes Satan’s wicked system of things off the face of our globe. For Jesus Christ himself assures us: “Truly I say to you that this generation [the generation that saw the ‘beginning of pangs of distress’ in 1914] will by no means pass away [completely] until all these things occur. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.
Which generation is this? Why, the one that saw the beginning of fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy. That means people alive in the year 1914. How many remain? Based on the most recent statistics available, in 1980 only 259 million people 65 years or older were alive. Many of these have died since 1980. Those born around the historic year 1914 are now 70 years old, and others alive in 1914 are in their 80’s, 90’s and even a few in their 100’s. But their number is dwindling fast.
