This Generation

MATTHEW 11:16-20

The Lord said, “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ‘We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her children.” Then he began to upbraid the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

The Misconception

There’s a common belief that Jesus only condemned the religious leaders in Israel in His day. But if you look carefully at the New Testament, you can see that the condemnation was against the whole generation that heard Him speak. The obvious exceptions are those who believed in Him.

Other Texts

Matthew 12:41
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Matthew 12:42
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Mark 8:12
And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.

Luke 7:31
And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?

Luke 11:30
For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

Luke 17:25
But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

Judgment in 70 AD

Judgment came on that generation in 70 AD.

Matthew 23:36
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Matthew 24:34
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Mark 13:30
Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.

Luke 11:31
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Luke 11:32
The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Luke 11:50
That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

Luke 11:51
From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.