Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 24:34

"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished." — Matthew 24:34 (ASV)

This generation shall not pass... — The natural meaning of the words is, beyond question, that which takes “generation” in the ordinary sense (Acts 13:36; and elsewhere) for those who are living at any given period. So it was on “this generation” (Matthew 23:36) that the accumulated judgments were to fall. The desire to bring the words into more apparent harmony with history has led some interpreters to take “generation” in the sense of “race” or “people,” and so to see in the words a prophecy of the perpetual existence of the Jews as a distinct people until the end of the world. But for this meaning, there is not the shadow of authority, nor does it remove the difficulty it was invented to explain. The words of Matthew 16:28 state the same fact in language that does not admit of any such explanation.

Till all these things be fulfilled — Better, till all these things come to pass. The words do not necessarily imply more than the commencement of a process, the first unrolling of the scroll of the coming ages.