How the Judgment on Christ’s “Generation” Contradicts Old Testament Prophecies of the Final Judgment

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For most Pretersists (Full and Partial alike), the question concerning to whom in Matthew 23-24 Jesus was referring with the phrase “this generation” is a done deal. He meant His contemporaries and only them. Period. Slam dunk. Nothing to debate here. This is Preterism 101. As a Partial Preterist myself, I was once very confident of this fact too. But, I can honestly say I don’t believe this anymore. There are many reasons for this but one big tip off comes from comparing the words of Jesus to those of Jeremiah 31.

In Matthew 23:35, when speaking harshly to the Pharisees regarding their hypocrisy and wickedness in murdering God’s prophets, Jesus says,

“And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.“

Matthew 23:35 NIV

Take note of what Jesus depicts here. He describes “this generation” being held accountable for the blood of people that they had never even met, let alone actually murdered. Jesus was saying “this generation” would suffer for the sin of many, many people who had existed long before them, all the way back to the dawn of mankind. This would even include the murder of Abel by Cain.

Now compare this to Jeremiah:

In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.

Jeremiah 31:29-30 NIV

Jeremiah describes a time when people would die for their own sin, not the sins of their fathers. When would this happen? We find the answer in the very next verse. Jeremiah 31:31-34 tells us:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV

Matthew 23 and Jeremiah 31 are describing the same time period. Both Jesus and Jeremiah are describing the state of affairs that would characterize the New Covenant in the early days when it was established. So, why would Jesus characterize the conditions surrounding “this generation” and the very fulfillment of Jeremiah 31 using language that described a situation that was the complete opposite of that which Jeremiah describes? Was Jesus not aware of these passages in Jeremiah? Did He not think it helpful or necessary to use language that was at least consistent with a major prophecy He was about to fulfill?

Jeremiah 31:38-40 goes on to describe the same events as Zechariah 14:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.“

Jeremiah 31:38-40 NIV

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name. The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses, and will remain in its place. It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

Zechariah 14:9-11 NIV

Any preterist who has done their research will tell you that Zechariah 14 was fulfilled in 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple by the Romans (though they will likely be unable to explain how all this symbolic language was historically fulfilled at that time).

So, we have yet another clear confirmation that Jeremiah 31 and Zechariah 14 are describing the exact same events. Jeremiah 31 is not just about the New Covenant age in general. It’s describing the focal point of preterist eschatology – the 70 A.D. fall of Jerusalem. This is the exact same subject Jesus was describing in Matthew 23-24. This makes Jesus’s words in Matthew 23 even more suspicious concerning their stark contrast with Jeremiah 31.

Jeremiah’s description is also consistent with other Old Testament laws concerning God’s justice in capital punishment.

But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

Exodus 21:24 NIV

Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.

Leviticus 24:19-20 NIV

Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Deuteronomy 19:21 NIV

Elsewhere, Jesus goes so far as to correct the common abuse of these directives, encouraging people to be forgiving and repay evil with kindness.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 5:38-42 NIV

In other words, the punishment should perfectly fit the crime in order to align with God’s perfect justice. Yet, in Matthew 23, Jesus describes a judgment from God that violates all of these scriptural precedents that explain God’s standards of justice and the nature of the New Covenant era. Rather than judging His generation in a manner completely consistent with the sins of each individual, He makes them pay for the sin of every person that shared their murderous bent since mankind was placed on the earth.

How then can we harmonize Jesus’ words in Matthew 23 with those in Jeremiah 31 and all these other passages? The only way to make logical sense of these passages is if Jesus used the phrase “this generation” in a sense that somehow included all the guilty parties themselves. “This generation” would then have to include Cain and every other person guilty of murdering a prophet up to and including those alive at the time of Christ.

Christ could logically and consistently address this group of people while referring to them through His contemporaries via the pronoun “you” and demonstrative determiner “this” if they were to be seen as the current representatives of this long line of murderers. This is “corporate accountability”. Just as we are all as guilty as Adam and have ratified the decision of he and Eve to rebel, “this generation” could make logical sense as a reference to the collective group of all murderers of God’s prophets, regardless of the time period from which they belonged. They could all be part of “this generation” of whom the Pharisees were the current representatives/manifestations. Indeed, to completely square Matthew 23 with Jeremiah 31, there is no other option. “this generation” must include all of these people.

But if this is truly what Jesus meant here, it raises another burning question. Why would Jesus choose to use the seemingly scope-limiting and time-binding phrase “this generation” to refer to this broad group of people? This is highly unusual. One would hope there would be an exceedingly good reason for this. Preferably, that reason could be demonstrated from Scripture.

In my article “The Dual-Nature of Christ’s Generation“, we explore the answer to this question with some astounding scriptural discoveries.