For our study this morning I want us to look at what Enoch has to say about the second coming. The subject of the last days and the Lord's return are being talked about a lot today because of all that is going on in our world. Most see us as living in the last days. One particular theory has been going around within churcheanity that the Covid-19 vaccine is the "mark of the beast"—a sign of the end times and a symbol of alignment with the Antichrist.
This idea that something going on in the culture is the mark of the beast is nothing new. In American history the idea that something was the mark of the beast can be traced at least back to the American Revolution. Puritans believed that the Stamp Act welcomed the mark of the beast, as the stamp was required on all legal documents and was an extension of the British Empire, which they believed to be "demonic," if not evil. Early Americans have also related the mark of the beast with the papacy, alcohol during the Temperance movement, Free Masonry, and various political endeavors.
At one time social security numbers and social security cards were looked upon with suspicion, because they were a mandatory numeric identification system. Additionally, some believed that social security would lead to reliance on a government, which would reduce rights over time, paving the way for the Antichrist. Some opposition to social security numbers on the basis that they are the mark of the beast continues to this day.
When bar codes and UPC scanners arrived on the scene, some Christians found this new technology to be worrisome because it seemed that people were unable to buy or sell without it. Many believed that the number of the beast, "666," was present on every barcode—a hypothesis that has been debunked.
After barcodes, computers began to look suspicious. Books such as, Computers and the Beast of Revelation (1986), Antichrist, Computers, and You!: High Technology and the Beast (1987), and Racing Toward the Mark of the Beast: Your Money, Computers, and the End of the World (1994) pointed toward computers as a critical technological innovation for the facilitation of a cashless society, a red flag of the mark of the beast. More recently, in 2014, televangelist Pat Robertson suggested that all electronic financial transactions—with a special emphasis on computers—were a sign of the coming of the mark of the beast. He had been saying the same of credit cards for years.
It is within this context that the fear around the Covid-19 vaccine being the mark of the beast emerged. The vaccine, some Christians have argued, would limit their ability to buy or sell because of requirements placed by businesses. This turned out to be true. Other Christians have become fearful that the vaccine would implant a microchip or a quantum dot tattoo without their knowledge, which would be the mark of the beast.
It could be tempting to ignore it all as fringe, but the data cautions otherwise. Currently among American Christians, the belief that we are in the end times is anything but fringe. A survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in March of 2021 asked religious and non-religious Americans to what extent they agreed with the following phrase: "The chaos in America today is evidence that we are living in what the Bible calls the 'end times.'" The results showed that 64 percent of Black Protestants, 61 percent of white evangelical Protestants, and 61 percent of Hispanic Protestants agreed with the statement.
All this nonsense could be avoided if people just understood the principles of hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the science of biblical interpretation. Any written document is subject to interpretation, and we must use rules when doing it.
Interpret this statement, It is my personal opinion that we are living in the last days. I'm serious, I really believe we are living in the last days. In order to understand what I'm talking about you can't assume you know what I mean, but you need to ask me some questions. What would you ask? The last days of what? I'm not talking about the Biblical last days which refer to the last days of the mosaic economy, the last days of national Israel, the last days of the Old Covenant. We have to learn to ask questions. Last days of what? Most see this in the Bible and think it refers to the last days of the earth. But it doesn't. So, what do you think I mean by last days? I think we are living in the last days of the Biden administration. The last days of something would have to be fewer than the total number of days that thing existed. Do you agree?
We looked last week at what Barnabas had to say about the second coming and we saw that he saw it as very near to his first century readers. Yeshua and all the biblical writers saw the second coming as something that was "soon" to them in the first century.
For our time this morning I want to look at what Enoch had to say about the second coming. The book of Enoch says this,
Enoch 1:9 And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgement upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
Now you may be thinking I don't know of a book in the Bible called Enoch. And you would be right but this verse from Enoch is quoted in our Bible. Anyone know where?
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 1:14-15 ESV
Here Jude quotes word for word from the book of Enoch. What is interesting here is that Jude's quotation from Enoch was the chief reason for the Book of Jude's rejection from the Canon of the Bible for a number of years. However, by the 4th century A.D., Jude's letter had been fully accepted by the entire church.
So, who is this Enoch that Jude quotes? The ancient patriarch Enoch is one of the most mysterious characters in all of Bible history. We read about him in:
Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Genesis 5:19 ESV
The Enoch that Jude quotes is the son of Jared, before the Flood, whose son was Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible:
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Genesis 5:21-23 ESV
Notice that verse 22 says, "Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah"—this turn in his life was a result of faith, and since faith always requires a word from God to rest upon, it confirms the idea that Enoch was given a revelation of a coming judgement, which changed his life.
Methuselah comes from muth, a root that means: "death", and from shalach, which means: "to bring, or to send forth". The name Methuselah means: "his death shall bring". Apparently, Enoch received the prophecy of the Great Flood and was told that as long as his son was alive, the judgment of the flood would be withheld. The year that Methuselah died, the flood came.
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:24 ESV
"Walked with God"—is a very significant phrase, it is also used of Noah in chapter 6. This phrase only occurs three times in the Tanakh and none in the New Testament. When God walks with men, it is a really rare thing. The first occasion of this was in Genesis 3, "LORD God walking in the garden." Adam was in that Garden, Adam walked with God in that Garden/Temple. Walking with God depicts a direct divine encounter, a direct divine relationship. Enoch had a holy intimacy with the Creator that separated him from the world around him.
Enoch was a contemporary of Adam for a little over 300 years. Can you imagine their conversations? Adam could have told Enoch about the Garden of Eden and his fellowship with Yahweh and the divine council and also about the consequences of his sin. They had 300 years to talk about spiritual things. Maybe Adam's stories of how he walked with God drove Enoch to know and walk with Him. Adam was dead and Enoch was gone before Noah, the only other man who is said to have walked with God was born.
"And he was not, for God took him"—to understand the significance of this you have to see that in chapter 5 from verse 1 down to verse 21—at least eight times you read these words: "and he died," "and he died," "and he died." But when you look at verse 24, it doesn't say that he died, it says "and he was not." So, it appears that Enoch didn't die, and the writer of Hebrews confirms this.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. Hebrews 11:5 ESV
So, Genesis and Hebrews both say that he didn't die but that "God had taken him."
"Taken up"—here is the word metatithemi, which literally means: "to put in another place." Here the passive sense means: "to be taken or transferred. In the figurative sense metatithemi means: "to effect a change in state or condition and so to alter something."
Why was he taken up? The writer of Hebrews says it was because he pleased God. Enoch, Noah and Yeshua are the only men who the Scriptures say pleased God. What was pleasing to God about Enoch? I think the next verse in Hebrews tells us:
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6 ESV
The word "please" here is the Greek word euaresteo, which means: "to gratify completely, to please." This word is only used three times in the New Testament, all here in Hebrews twice in chapter 11 and once in chapter 13. So, we are told Enoch pleased Yahweh, and faith pleases Yahweh, and then Barnabas adds:
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Hebrews 13:16 ESV
Think about this for a minute. Yahweh is pleased by our faith and by our doing good and sharing. When we minister to someone in need, we are as a priest offering up spiritual sacrifices to Yahweh.
So, I would say that Enoch was a man of faith who ministered to those in need and thus was pleasing to Yahweh. So, Enoch was a man of faith who walked with God and God took him.
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:24 ESV
Think about this; If you took someone from a different place, a different realm, because you had fellowship with them, and they were pleasing to you, where would you take them? Did Yahweh say to him, you are so pleasing to me that I'm going to send you to sheol? For this to happen Enoch would have to die. Where would you take them? You would take them to be with you! What else would you do with them? Why take them from their place/realm if not to be with you? Now most people would say that God could not have taken him to heaven. Really, why? Many would use as a proof text:
No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. John 3:13 ESV
So, if no one has ascended to heaven then Enoch could not have gone to heaven. Well, let me ask you this did Enoch die? No, the Scripture says that he didn't see death,
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. Hebrews 11:5 ESV
But, earlier in this book it says,
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, Hebrews 9:27 ESV
Is there a contradiction here? The writer of Hebrews says it is appointed for man to die but then in chapter 11 says that Enoch did not die. Enoch is an exception to the rule that all men die. God can and does make exceptions. Let's look at John 3,
No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. John 3:13 ESV
I don't think that Yeshua is saying here that "No one is in heaven." Let's look at this verse in context. What is happening in John 3? Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews is discussing with Yeshua how a man can be born again:
Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Yeshua answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. John 3:9-13 ESV
They're talking about the knowledge of God, and Yeshua is saying that it is not obtained by any man's going up from earth to heaven to receive it—"No one has ascended into heaven"—but He whose essential and eternal nature is heaven, has, by taking human flesh, descended as the Son of man to disclose the Father.
The implication is that no one has both ascended to heaven to receive divine revelation and descended to earth to give an account of that revelation in the same way that Yeshua has as the incarnate Word of God. The background of Yeshua's saying is found in:
"For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Deuteronomy 30:11-12 ESV
The context is talking about going up to heaven to receive divine knowledge and bringing it back down. No one needs to do this, Yahweh has revealed Himself through His prophets and through His Son.
He is saying, "No one has ascended into heaven and returned, so no one is qualified to speak of them but He who came down from heaven." This does not mean that no one had gone to heaven.
Now as a general rule believers didn't go to heaven until the resurrection in AD 70. Christ ties the "resurrection of the dead" in with the "age to come" (Luke 20:35). Eternal life was also a condition of the age to come. Both Mark and Luke record Christ's words, "in the age to come, eternal life," connecting eternal life in with the "age to come" (Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30). The "age to come" was consummated at the Parousia. So, full and complete redemption came only at the second coming.
Now someone may say, What about,
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8 ESV
Doesn't this mean that if Paul were to die, he would be with Christ? Maybe, but as we said until the second coming men didn't go into God's presence. What we see here may be a prolepsis. A prolepsis is the representation or assumption of a future act or development as if presently existing or accomplished. We see this in Yeshua words in,
There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him." Mark 7:15 ESV
Think about what Christ is saying and when he is saying it. This is radical! Yeshua seems to be setting aside the dietary laws. How do we reconcile this with what He said in:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Matthew 5:17-18 ESV
When Yeshua spoke these words in Mark 7, heaven and earth hadn't passed away. He hadn't even gone to the cross yet. This poses a dilemma. Some see Yeshua's statement in Mark 7 as a prolepsis. This makes sense. What Yeshua was teaching was that the law was beginning to fade away. The process had started and would culminate in the destruction of the temple.
Okay, so redemption, eternal life came at the Parousia. Prior to the Parousia men waited in Sheol for the resurrection. But, I believe in the case of Enoch Yahweh made an exception. He pleased Yahweh so much that He took from the earth to be with Him in the eternal realm. If you don't buy this, that's okay, because I'm not selling it, it just my opinion.
Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:24 ESV
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. Hebrews 11:5 ESV
The Septuagint of Genesis 5:24 uses the verb euaresteo and translates it "Enoch was well-pleasing to God." This is the same word the writer of Hebrews uses in 11:5 when he says that "Enoch…was pleasing to God." So, Enoch walked with God, he pleased God. Now think about this for a moment: Yeshua, sinless, spotless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and it was said of Him, and He said Himself:
And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." John 8:29 ESV
Yet the Holy Spirit of God could say of Enoch, "This man pleased Me." Enoch walked with God for three hundred years! So how about you? Are you walking with Yahweh? I'm not asking if you are saved, I'm asking if you are walking with Yahweh day after day? How do you know if you are walking with Him? Is there evidence of that? I think that there should be, let me suggest a few: gratitude, peace, contentment. I don't mean when things are going well, I mean in the face of your life falling apart there is peace in the storm. When you are walking with the sovereign God of the universe all is well no matter what is happening.
And let's keep in mind that Enoch walked with Yahweh in very dark times:
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5 ESV
Believers, we are all called to walk with God. Life is so much better when we walk through it with the God who created the universe and everything in it. When Christians walk in fellowship with Yahweh and begin to express their Christianity through their lifestyle, the world cannot help but take notice.
Back to our subject of Enoch on the Second Coming. Jude quotes Enoch in,
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 1:14-15 ESV
Jude says that Enoch "prophesied"—telling us that Enoch was a prophet of Yahweh. This prophecy of Enoch is the first prophecy recorded in Scripture given by a man, though it's not recorded until here, nearly at the end of the New Testament. There's a prophecy in Genesis chapter 3:15, that is called the protoevangelium (literally, "first gospel") because it is the Bible's first prediction of a Savior. That wasn't given by a man. Yahweh spoke that one. So, this is the first prophecy given through a man. And it concerns the Lord coming in judgment. It's a Second Coming prophecy. And it just so happens that the last prophecy recorded in Scripture given by John is:
He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Yeshua! Revelation 22:20 ESV
So, the first prophecy given by a man in the Bible is about the coming of Christ in judgment and the last prophecy given through a man is about Christ coming in judgment.
If Jude under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said that Enoch said that, then guess what? Enoch said that. Notice that Jude doesn't say, "The book of Enoch says" but "Enoch prophesied."
When we talk about the book of Enoch, we must understand that there are actually three "Books of Enoch." They are numbered, but also go by the names of the language they are written in. 1 Enoch is referred to as "Ethiopian Enoch," 2 Enoch is called "Slavonic Enoch," and 3 Enoch is called "Hebrew Enoch." They are all considered to be Pseudepigrapha. The Pseudepigrapha writings, are also called the "Intertestamental Literature," or "Second Temple Literature." They are the books written by Jews between Malachi and the time of Yeshua. The word "Pseudepigrapha" literally means: "falsely ascribed writings," and it refers to a work that falsely claims to be written by a specific author usually someone more ancient than the writing itself—when, in fact, it is authored by someone else entirely. So, the author is falsely named.
J.H. Charlesworth argues,
"Rather than being spurious, the documents considered as belonging to the Pseudepigrapha are works written in honor of, and inspired by, Old Testament heroes." (James Charlesworth, The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, With a Supplement (Septuagint and Cognate Studies Series, No. 7) (United Kingdom, Scholars Press, 1981), p 25.)
J.H.Charlesworth explains,
"The Pseudepigrapha includes a large body of manuscripts from various locations and authors that were composed around the period from 200 B.C. to about A.D. 200. They are either Jewish or Christian in origin, they are often attributed to ideal figures in Israel's past, and they usually claim to contain God's message, building upon ideas and narratives of the Old Testament." (J. H. Charlesworth, Introduction for the General Reader, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 1 (New York; London: Yale University Press, 1983), xxv.)
Nickelsburg writes,
"Though the canon of the Tanakh never included 1 Enoch, its Watchers/ giants storyline was quoted as spiritually authoritative in other significant 'Second Temple Jewish Literature' such as the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira, the Genesis Apocryphon, Wisdom of Solomon, Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, 2 and 3 Enoch, The Life of Adam and Eve, as well as some of the Targumim." [Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch: a Commentary, 71-82.]
The Book of Enoch provides a helpful look into Second Temple Judaism and the development of Intertestamental interpretations that have influenced the New Testament Doctrines So the better we understand the literature of the Second Temple period the better we will understand the thinking of the Jews of that day.
As I said earlier Jude doesn't say, "The book of Enoch says" but "Enoch prophesied." Often in Scripture the writers will say that a book says something, Moses quotes from the book of the Wars of Yahweh and Joshua quotes from the book of Jashar but Jude doesn't do that he says that "Enoch prophesied." So, some say that this means he is not quoting from the book of Enoch but from Enoch himself. How does Jude know about this prophecy? Did God tell him? Possibly, but I would tend to think that since much of Jude's material comes from the book of Enoch that Jude got this prophecy from the book of Enoch.
So, by saying, "Enoch prophesied" maybe Jude is saying Enoch was the author of the book of Enoch. I'm not saying that Enoch wrote it down but maybe others took the oral tradition of what Enoch said and wrote it down. Noah's family must have known this quote, because it survived the Flood. Some believe 1 Enoch contains the actual words of Enoch and that it was handed down through the ages. There is no real way to know for certain if that is so.
Many argue that just because Jude uses this quote from Enoch that doesn't mean that he is endorsing the whole book as truth. And there are cases where apostles quote a saying as a singular cultural reference without connection to the rest of the source. So, the authors of Scripture often quote others without endorsing all they said, but the difference here is that Jude does not merely quote a verse from the book of 1 Enoch. He also follows the content patterns of 1 Enoch along with allusions and echoes of its phrases and language throughout his epistle.
I think it is significant that Jude doesn't call Enoch Scripture, graphe, nor does he introduce the quote with, "It is written," which is a pretty typical way to introduce Scripture.
Jude just says, "Enoch Prophesied", he was a prophet, many of Yahweh's prophets wrote books or what they said is recorded in Scripture. Maybe, just maybe, Enoch's prophecy is written down and we find it in the book of 1 Enoch. We can argue whether we think 1 Enoch should be in the cannon and we will always disagree but one thing we should be able to agree on in the importance of the book of 1 Enoch in understanding the thinking of the Second Temple period.
1 Enoch says, "And behold! He cometh" but Jude says, "The Lord came"—this is aorist active indicative, not "will come" (future tense) but "came" (past tense). So, the verb "came" is aorist tense but in this context describes an event that is yet future. This event (Christ's coming in judgment in Jude 1:15) is so certain that Jude describes it as past tense. This use of the aorist tense is referred to as proleptic aorist. Daniel B Wallace says "The aorist indicative can be used to describe an event that is not yet past as though it were already completed. This usage is not at all common, though several exegetically significant texts involve possible proleptic aorists." [Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics]
The preposition "with or among", presents the coming Lord as surrounded by a vast concourse of court attendants. Who are these holy ones? The word in the Greek is hagios which refers to holy ones, and here is a reference to heavenly beings not believers. Christ second coming was accompanied by angels:
For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:27 ESV
Christ comes with His angels, that idea is repeated over and over in passages dealing with the second coming.
As I have said many times just about every reference in the New Testament to the Lord's coming has a time stamp on it. But there is no time indicator here in Jude unless we take his proleptic aorists as a sign it would be soon. When did Enoch think the Lord would return?
Enoch 1:1 The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be 2 living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. And he took up his parable and said —Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is 3 for to come. Concerning the elect I said, and took up my parable concerning them: The Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling, 4 And the eternal God will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai, [And appear from His camp] And appear in the strength of His might from the heaven of heavens. 5 And all shall be smitten with fear And the Watchers shall quake, And great fear and trembling shall seize them unto the ends of the earth. 6 And the high mountains shall be shaken, And the high hills shall be made low, And shall melt like wax before the flame 7 And the earth shall be wholly rent in sunder, And all that is upon the earth shall perish, And there shall be a judgement upon all (men). 8 But with the righteous He will make peace. And will protect the elect, And mercy shall be upon them. And they shall all belong to God, And they shall be prospered, And they shall all be blessed. And He will help them all, And light shall appear unto them, And He will make peace with them'. 9 And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
Doesn't this sound a lot like:
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31 ESV
When was this to happen? Yeshua tells us in:
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Matthew 24:34 ESV
This verse is devastating to a futuristic eschatology, so let's examine it carefully and make sure we understand exactly what Yeshua is saying. Let's start by examining the meaning of the word "generation". Generation, in our text, comes from the Greek word genea. In Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the NT, we can see that "genea" means: "The whole multitude of men living at the same time." William F. Arndt and Wilber Gingrich (A Greek-English Lexicon of the NT and Other Early Christian Literature) define "genea" as, "basically, the sum total of those born at the same time, expanded to include all those living at a given time. Contemporaries."
If you look at the way Yeshua used the word "generation," I think it will be abundantly clear that it always refers to His contemporaries, the Jewish people of His own period. In etymology and usage, "generation" means: "those born at the same time, contemporaries." In biblical thought, a generation is forty years.
So, Enoch taught the same thing about the second coming that Matthew taught, it happened in the first century. It was all to happen in that generation.
Heiser in his latest podcast commenting on Matthew 24:34 says, "There is more ambiguity in this passage than meets the eye." Ambiguity is: the quality of being open to more than one interpretation. So Heiser is saying that there are many possible interpretations of this verse.
He quotes from Craig L. Blomberg's commentary on Matthew saying, "Matthew 24:34 demonstrates that everything necessary for Christ's return was accomplished within the first generation of Christianity so that every subsequent generation has been able to believe that Jesus could come back in their time." Heiser adds, "We are still living in the end times." [Naked Bible 402: Revelation Q&A Part 3 22:00-35:00]
What Blomberg says here is utter nonsense! When Yeshua said "all these things" would occur before that generation was over, He was talking about everything that He had been discussing from verse 5 through verse 29. This included the Second Coming of the Lord Yeshua in power and glory to destroy Jerusalem.
What Yeshua meant by all those things happening in that generation, including the parousia of Christ, was that they would all happen while some of those folks to whom He preached were still alive, just as He said they would be. Christ lived in the last days and at his second coming the last days ended. It was the last days of the Old Covenant, and it ended in AD 70 with the destruction of the Jewish Temple.
People, If we understand this, we will understand that we are NOT living in the last days or end times. And if we understand this it could save us a bunch of anxiety as we listen to the constant drone of the prophecy preachers who continue to cry, "The end is near!" We don't need to look for or worry about the mark of the beast. The "last days" ended in AD 70. The things talked about in the book of Revelation all occurred in the first century. Stop worrying about the beast of his mark.