D.A. Carson

Home>D.A. Carson

D.A. Carson Study Archive

‘This generation’ can only with the greatest difficulty be made to mean anything other than the generation living when Jesus spoke.”

 

D.A. Carson

In this context, therefore, this poetic language appropriately refers to the great changes which were about to take place in the world, when Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed. It speaks of the Son of Man entering into his kingship, and his angels gathering in his new people from all the earth. The fall of the temple is thus presented, in highly allusive language, as the end of the old order, to be replaced by the new régime of Jesus, the Son of Man, and the international growth of his church, the new people of God.

HOSTED PDF WORKS

RELEVANT WORKS

 

(On the Dating of Matthew)
“While surprisingly little in the Gospel conclusively points to a firm date, perhaps the sixties are the most likely decade for its composition.” (“Matthew,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 21.)

(On Matthew 24:30a)
“The event will prompt “all the nations of the earth” to mourn, an allusion to Zechariah 12:10-14..  In Zechariah the reference is to the tribes of Israel in the land, and the mourning is that of repentance.  Those who follow Kik and France want to keep the first link with the OT (the tribes of Israel) but not the second (the mourning; see on Matthew 24:1-3).  Most scholars see the mourning (v.30) as that of despair, not repentance (Rev. 1:7; 6:15-17).” (“Matthew”, in the Expositors Bible Commentary, MI: Zondervan, 1984, 8:505).

(On Matthew 24-25)
“the discourse itself is undoubtedly a source for the Thessalonian Epistles (cf. G. Henry Waterman, “The Sources of Paul’s Teaching on the 2nd Coming of Christ in 1 and 2 Thessalonians,” JETS 18 [1975]: 105–13; David Wenham, “Paul and the Synoptic Apocalypse,” France and Wenham, 2:345–75) and Revelation (cf. Gregory Kimball Beale, “The Use of Daniel in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature and in the Revelation of St. John”, pp. 260–64, and the literature cited there). If so, then we may say that Jesus himself sets the pattern for the church’s eschatology.” (Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8, p. 489)

(On  Matthew 24-25)
The sound of a loud trumpet (cf. Isa 27:13; 1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thess 4:16) is an eschatological figure (see on 24:30). Only with considerable difficulty can v. 31 be interpreted as referring to Christian missions: its natural linguistic relations are in 13:41. For comments on “his elect,” see on 22:14; 24:22. The “four winds” represent the four points of the compass (Ezek 37:9; Dan 8:8; 11:4): the elect are gathered from all over (cf. Mt 8:11), “from one end of the heavens to the other” (from every place under the sky), since that is how far the gospel of the kingdom will have been preached (24:14).” (Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke, p. 506).

(On Mark 13 and Luke 21)
“These verses are often understood as referring to the parousia, and thus as moving to the second part of the disciples’ question. But immediately after does not leave room for a long delay, nor does the explicit time-scale given in v 34. The word parousia does not occur in this section but is prominently reintroduced in the new paragraph which begins at v 36, where its unknown time is contrasted with the clear statement that the events of this paragraph will take place within this generation. This section is therefore in direct continuity with what has gone before, the account of the siege of Jerusalem. Here we reach its climax.

The words of vs 29–31 are almost entirely woven together from OT prophetic texts. V 29 is drawn from Is. 13:10 and 34:4, where the language of cosmic upheaval symbolized the political fall of pagan nations. The language about the Son of Man coming on the clouds is drawn from Dn. 7:13–14, which, as we have already seen (on 10:23; 16:28; 19:28) points to the vindication and enthronement of Jesus (rather than to his parousia). V 31 is based on passages which refer to the promised return of Israelites from exile.

In this context, therefore, this poetic language appropriately refers to the great changes which were about to take place in the world, when Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed. It speaks of the Son of Man entering into his kingship, and his angels gathering in his new people from all the earth. The fall of the temple is thus presented, in highly allusive language, as the end of the old order, to be replaced by the new régime of Jesus, the Son of Man, and the international growth of his church, the new people of God.

All this would happen very soon, once the preliminary signs of vs 15–21 have occurred, just as summer inevitably follows quickly once the leaves appear on the fig-tree. Within this generation it would all be over; we have Jesus’ word for it! (New Bible commentary: 21st century edition. 1994 (D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer & G. J. Wenham, Ed.) (4th ed.) (Mt 24:29–35).)