I don’t know what you are talking about. Jesus said that cataclysm would come upon national Israel within one generation of the prophecy. Thats precisely what happened. It’s not speculation, it’s history.
These are the passages where Jesus refers to “this generation” concerning prophecy of the end times.
Matt. 24:13-14, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
Mat 24:15, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”
Mat 24:16-21, “Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Mat 24:22, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
Mat 24:27, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
Mat 24:29-31, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Mat 24:34-35, “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
Jesus says that “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Did “this generation” experience the fulfillment of the prophecy in vs. 27 and 29-31?
Mar 13:7-8, “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for [such things] must needs be; but the end [shall] not [be] yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these [are] the beginnings of sorrows.”
Mar 13:12-13, “Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against [their] parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
Mar 13:14, “But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:”
Mar 13:19-20, “For [in] those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.”
Mar 13:24, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.”
Mar 13:26-27, “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.”
Mar 13:30-31, “Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
Jesus says that “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.” Did “this generation” experience the fulfillment of the prophecy in vs. 24 and 26-27?
Luk 21:20, “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
Luk 21:22, “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.”
Luk 21:24, “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
Luk 21:25-26, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
Luk 21:27-28, 31, “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh....So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.”
Luk 21:32, “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
Jesus says that “This generation shall not pass, till all be fulfilled.” Did “this generation” experience the fulfillment of the prophecy in vs. 24 and 25-26, 27-28, 31?
These are the passages you cite for your 70 A.D. dating. You say, “Thats precisely what happened. It’s not speculation, it’s history”. Well, were all of the prophecies in the passages fulfilled “in this generation”? If they weren’t then “this generation” must mean more than those living in Jerusalem at the time and your dating is just as speculative and escapist as all the pre tribs who have set dates.
Indeed.
But I’ve come to the conclusion that not everyone on the other side is interested in the Biblical truth OR the historical truth. They are only interested in folks agreeing with their construction on “reality” and don’t wish to be confused with the facts.
Thereforew, when Scriptural evidence is offered proving their construction on reality absolutely wrong, they ignore it and don’t reply. Cute, that.
I believe all the prophecies up to Matt 24:34 were fulfilled with that generation.
The fact is that Jesus was using highly symbolic language similar to what we find scattered throughout the OT prophets to make it clear to His hearers that He was speaking of a temporal judgment against national Israel that would come upon "this generation".
Two thousand years later we have folks who claim to believe in a grammatical-historical interpretation of Scripture absolutely, totally ignoring the grammatical-historical context of the prophecies.
E.g., I have yet to find a dispensationalist commentator make reference to Isaiah 13:9,10 in the context of Matthew 24:29. The language is identical. The context of Isaiah is clear, temporal judgment upon ancient Babylon. The implication for Matthew 24 unmistakable, esp. within the setting of the rest of the chapter, and esp. in light of the parallel in Luke 21 which is even more clear to gentile readers than Matthew.
I've also posted a number of times over the years on the subject of the symbolic phrase "coming in/with clouds" and how that does not require a second coming fulfillment.
Then there is the not so insignificant fact that dispensationalists require God to delay His worst judgment against national Israel for at least 2000 years. In spite of the fact the God says He does not punish the children of the disobedient beyond the third or fourth generation (Num. 14:18). They ignore the self-malediction pronounced by the people in Matt. 27:25 and they also make God out to be a liar. They make God out to be an evil, offended father who waits, and waits, and waits to punish a disobedient child until he is caught off guard then then … Wham … a smack out of the blue, and the child does not even remember the offense.
This is not a trivial error on the part of the dispensationalist. The implications to the nature and character of God are horrifying.
The fact is that those of us who are non-futurists wrt the Olivet Discourse have done a very good job of connecting the prophetic dots in the Bible and have come to a very reasonable conclusion on the interpretation of Jesus’ words to His disciples, and the implications for that national of Israel. And it also does honor to God and His character.