Expositor's Bible Commentary 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)

“I tell you the truth” emphasizes the importance of what it introduces. “This generation” (GK 1155; 12:41–42; 23:36) can only with the greatest difficulty be made to mean anything other than the generation living when Jesus spoke. Yet it does not follow that Jesus mistakenly thought the Parousia would occur within his hearers’ lifetime. If our interpretation of this chapter is right, all that v.34 demands is that the distress of vv.4–28, including Jerusalem’s fall, happened within the lifetime of the generation then living. This does not mean that the distress must end within that time but only that “all these things” must happen within it.