“This generation” in Matthew 24 makes it clear that the signs were not about the end of the world.\u00a0But the phrase “all tribes on the earth shall mourn” is hard to understand.\u00a0The phrase was used in Revelation 1:7 and Matthew 24:30. If it meant the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew, then it must also mean the destruction of Jerusalem in Revelation.<\/p>\n
But because of phrases like “all eyes shall see him” and the context from Revelation 1:5-7, it cannot mean the destruction of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
How do we explain them without contradiction?<\/p>\n\t
A phrase can have meaning without referring to a single event. When a nation falls, it brings fear and mourning because if one nation falls, others may fall as well.<\/p>\n
Discussing the fall of Judah:<\/p>\n
“Then I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; And I will bring sackcloth on everyone’s loins and baldness on every head. And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and the end of it will be like a bitter day<\/em>” (Amos 8:10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Discussing the fall of Egypt:<\/p>\n
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth<\/em>” (Ezekiel 31:15-16).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Discussing the fall of Tyre:<\/p>\n
“And they will make their voice heard over you, and will cry bitterly. They will cast dust on their heads, they will wallow in ashes. Also they will make themselves bald for you, and gird themselves with sackcloth; And they will weep for you in bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning. Moreover, in their wailing they will take up a lamentation for you, and lament over you: ‘Who is like Tire, like her who is silent in the midst of the sea? When your wares went out from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; With the abundance of your wealth and your merchandise you enriched the kings of earth. Now that you are broken by the seas, in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company have fallen in the midst of you. All the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled at you, and their kings are horribly afraid; They are troubled in countenance. The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have become terrified, and you will cease to be forever’<\/em>” (Ezekiel 27:30-36).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Matthew 24:30 talks about how the world’s nations reacted to news of the destruction of Israel. Revelation 1:7 talks about the reaction of the world’s nations to the fall of Rome. Both events punish the nations that were involved in the killing of God’s son.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: “This generation” in Matthew 24 makes it clear that the signs were not about the end of the world.\u00a0But the phrase “all tribes on the earth shall mourn” is hard to understand.\u00a0The phrase was used in Revelation 1:7 and Matthew 24:30. If it meant the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew, then it must also…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[839,708,102,1932,76],"class_list":["post-97788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-destruction-of-jerusalem","tag-matthew","tag-revelation","tag-rome","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15176,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-imagery-in-revelation-do-you-find-does-not-fit-the-destruction-of-jerusalem\/","url_meta":{"origin":97788,"position":0},"title":"What imagery in Revelation do you find does not fit the destruction of Jerusalem?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You\u00a0wrote: \"As I studied the book, I found that the imagery does not fit well with the destruction of Jerusalem, so I lean toward the later date.\" Which imagery, in particular, do you find not fitting with the destruction of Jerusalem? Answer: This is not an attempt at a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6997,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-matthew-2430\/","url_meta":{"origin":97788,"position":1},"title":"Could you explain Matthew 24:30?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about Matthew 24:30. (I believe it is about the second coming of Christ.) I have been doing some personal study and discussed it with a fellow brother. Basically, it refers to symbolic events similar to instances of God's judgment on mankind or nations. Would like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6999,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/understanding-matthew-24\/","url_meta":{"origin":97788,"position":2},"title":"Understanding Matthew 24","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton The teachings of Jesus recorded in Matthew 24 are commonly misapplied by people in the denominational world. People want to know what will happen in the future. They don't enjoy having secrets kept from them. This is true whether we are talking about our jobs lasting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51883,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/coming-with-the-clouds\/","url_meta":{"origin":97788,"position":3},"title":"Coming with the Clouds","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Revelation 1:4-7 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is easy to make mistakes by assuming that a phrase always applies to the same event \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Revelation 1:7 - What is meant by \u201ccoming with clouds\u201d or \u201ccoming with the clouds\u201d? II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Clouds \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God rides clouds - Psalms 68:4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Psalms 104:3 -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13462,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/judgment-understanding-luke-1720-37\/","url_meta":{"origin":97788,"position":4},"title":"Judgment: Understanding Luke 17:20-37","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Teachers in various denominations connect many strange ideas with the second coming of Christ. Often these ideas are the result of applying verses to topics the original author never had in mind. Luke 17 deals with a coming judgment, but to understand what Jesus is saying,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19097,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-luke-2116-and-luke-2118-harmonize\/","url_meta":{"origin":97788,"position":5},"title":"How do Luke 21:16 and Luke 21:18 harmonize?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the context of Luke 21:5-19, how would you harmonize 16 and 18? If you take the figurative approach to 18, what do the hair and head represent? Literal? I look forward to your thoughts. Answer: Luke 21 is a parallel account to Matthew 24 and Mark 13, discussing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97788"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97796,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97788\/revisions\/97796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}