<p>13:30 <i>Truly I say to you: This generation shall not pass away- </i>This is similar to the Lord&rsquo;s teaching that some of His generation would not die until they had seen the coming of the Kingdom (Mk. 9:1; Lk. 9:27). His saying may not be linked directly to the fig tree parable, as if to say &lsquo;The generation that sees the fig tree fruit will not pass away until&hellip;&rsquo;. Rather He may be concluding His message by again making clear that the entire prophecy was going to come true in that generation. Seeing that lifespans were not much over 40 years at that time, even AD70 would not have seen many of that generation alive. He says elsewhere that the actual people He was speaking with would see these things come true and see Him coming in glory. But this potential possibility was disallowed from happening in that generation by the refusal of Israel to repent and the weakness of spirituality and effort to spread the Gospel in those who did apparently believe into Christ. The transfiguration was hardly the main fulfilment of the Lord&rsquo;s words, even though the record of it directly follow the Lord&rsquo;s predictions. Like the events of AD70, it was at best a shadow fulfilment of the final coming of the Kingdom in visible power and glory. The use of &ldquo;<i>this</i>&nbsp;generation&rdquo; rather than &ldquo;<i>that</i>&nbsp;generation&rdquo; surely suggests the Lord hoped for and indeed intended a fulfilment of His words literally in that very generation. But that generation passed- because fruit on the fig tree was not found. Israel did not repent, and there was little spiritual fruit on those Jews who did accept Christ. All 38 NT occurrences of&nbsp;<i>genea</i>, &ldquo;generation&rdquo;, clearly refer to the contemporary generation or group of listeners. Any attempt to interpret&nbsp;<i>genea</i>&nbsp;as referring to the race or nation of Israel becomes impossible because the text would require that the race or nation of Israel pass away at the Lord&rsquo;s second coming, but Israel are clearly envisaged as existing as a separate entity in the Millennial Kingdom.</p><p><i>Until- </i>If the Lord had meant simply 'until' we would read simply&nbsp;<i>heos</i>. But here we have two Greek words-&nbsp;<i>heos an</i>, which together denote a sense of conditionality and uncertainty. This is understandable if we understand that the Lord is talking of how His coming&nbsp;<i>could be</i>&nbsp;in that generation- but that depended upon some conditions which were beyond Him to fulfil and which depended upon men.</p><p><i>All these things happen</i>- AV &quot;Be fulfilled&quot;. There is surely a word play between&nbsp;<i>ginomai</i>&nbsp;&quot;fulfilled&quot; and&nbsp;<i>genea</i>&nbsp;&quot;generation&quot;. That generation would not pass until all has 'become'. This is not the usual word used for the fulfilment of prophecies. When Matthew writes of the fulfilment of prophecies (and he does this often), the word&nbsp;<i>pleroo</i>&nbsp;is used. But here a much vaguer and more general word is used. Mark's record brings this out- the disciples ask when &quot;all these things&quot; would be &quot;fulfilled&quot; (<i>sunteleo</i>), and the Lord concludes the fig tree parable by saying &quot;all these things&quot; would be&nbsp;<i>ginomai</i>&nbsp;(Mk. 13:4,30). That would appear purposeful; the Lord held out the definite possibility for His return in the first century and the fulfilment of all things He had spoken of. But He was surely aware that this could be rescheduled, and so He used a word pregnant with the possibility that &quot;that generation&quot; would see the 'coming into being' of the scenario He was presenting. That generation <i>ginomai</i> could have been the fulfilment <i>genea</i> of all things, or they could have been at least the coming into being of that fulfilment; even if they failed to respond, they would not be without significance in bringing into being the ultimate fulfilment.</p>