Smoodock's Blog

Jesus mentioned a struggle in our previous study (Matthew 11:11-15), and that struggle was one between two worldviews, or put another way, it was a struggle between those who proclaimed to be covenant keepers of the Law, and those who embraced the coming New Covenant of the Kingdom of Heaven. This was the time of the end (Daniel 8:17, 19; 12:4, 9) or the latter days spoken of by Moses (Deuteronomy 31:29), when the heart of Israel would be corrupt and they would be like Sodom and Gomorrah (Deuteronomy 32:28-29, 32-33), whom the Lord slew in his judgment (Genesis 19:24).

These days, the days of Jesus and those of John the Baptizer were the latter days, when the Old Covenant would be brought to a close (AD 70), and the breaking in of the New Covenant with Jesus’ Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. It was to this age, to this specific generation that Jesus came, and to whom John preached to prepare them for the coming of Jesus and the New Covenant. In fact, if God hadn’t sent John to this evil generation, Jesus would have been rejected in total, and the Lord would have been forced to curse them with a curse (Malachi 4:5-6), even though Jesus was sent to bless them with a blessing.

Therefore, Jesus asked the multitude a rhetorical question: “To what can I compare this generation?” Then, he answered his own question, saying that the people of that time, vis-à-vis the people of Jesus’ days, were like little children who played in the marketplaces saying to one another, “We played a song, but you didn’t dance. Then we chanted a woeful tune, but you refused to mourn!” In other words, the people of that generation were obstinate in their ways. They refused to listen or change. The Lord was bringing the Old Covenant to a close and introducing the New Covenant, but they simply refused to participate (Matthew 11:16-17).

What did Jesus mean? Well, he went on to explain that John the Baptizer came mourning and fasting, calling out to them to repent and change their behavior in order that they may receive their Messiah, but the people, especially the Jewish authorities said John had a demon (Matthew 11:18)! However, when Jesus came preaching the joy of the coming Kingdom of God, the same Jewish authorities claimed Jesus was a glutton and a drunk (cp. John 2:1-9), a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 11:19; cp. 9:10-11).

Later, Jesus told his disciples that he would be taken by this generation and crucified (Matthew 16:13, 21), but he would return before this same generation passed away, and he would judge them and reward his servants (Matthew 16:27-28). Then, later in his ministry, just prior to his being crucified, Jesus rebuked the Jewish authorities, calling them a “generation” of vipers (Matthew 23:13-33). Moreover, he promised them that he would send them wise men, prophets and scribes, some of whom they would persecute and slay and, thus, bring upon themselves judgment, penalizing them for all the righteous blood, which had been shed from Able to their time, vis-à-vis it would be a covenantal judgment, and it would fall upon that very generation (Matthew 23:334-36), the one that crucified the Lord. This judgment came upon the world, in AD 70, ending the Old Covenant and establishing the New Covenant in its place, and Jesus’ words here were paraphrased later during the Apostles ministry to preach Jesus’ Gospel to the world (Romans 16:20; James 5:9; 1Peter 1:7, 13; Revelation 1:1).