<p>23:36&nbsp;<em>Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation</em>- Even in this prediction of terrible judgment there is grace. Because the AD70 judgments didn&rsquo;t come until nearly 40 years afterwards. Male lifespans in first century Palestine were estimated at an average of 29 years by J.D. Crossan, basing his research on tomb inscriptions and analysis of bones from graves. So the actual &lsquo;elders&rsquo; who were responsible for the Lord&rsquo;s death likely died in their beds rather than in the Jewish-Roman war or the final holocaust in Jerusalem. I can only explain this on the basis of God&rsquo;s grace prolonging that final coming of judgment, in the earnest hope that Israel would yet repent. In the context of AD70, this would appear to be the teaching of 2 Peter 3. We would expect those men to have fairly soon received their judgment in this life. They will be judged- at the last day. But it would seem that God&rsquo;s desire to judge them was in tension with His desire to give Israel the maximum opportunity for repentance. We can only draw a sharp breath at God&rsquo;s grace. Another approach would be to understand that the threatened judgment upon that generation simply didn&rsquo;t happen- in their lifetimes. The entire Divine program was delayed until the last days, when that generation shall be resurrected and receive their judgment. The events of AD70 were simply a foretaste and prefigurement of the final judgment at the Lord&rsquo;s second coming.</p><p>&quot;This generation&quot; is a phrase often used by the Lord in Matthew concerning those who heard and dealt with Him. It is surely the same generation in view in 24:34: &ldquo;This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled&rdquo;.&nbsp;<em>This</em>&nbsp;generation is used elsewhere by the Lord concerning those right in front of Him. It is the same &ldquo;this generation&rdquo; in 23:36 as in 24:34. The Lord doesn&rsquo;t, therefore, mean &lsquo;The future generation which shall exist and see these things will not pass until all is fulfilled&rsquo;. He is saying that the generation,&nbsp;<em>this</em>&nbsp;generation, would not pass until all was fulfilled. The fact all wasn&rsquo;t fulfilled simply in that generation shows that there was a major delay or change in the Divine program. And the reason for the delay was not simply that Israel hadn&rsquo;t repented, but because God&rsquo;s loving patience was still awaiting their repentance- and He so wished them to repent.</p>