The Wayside Pulpit No.74
The Last Generation
The workings of the human
mind are strange and wonderful. But it is a good thing to be aware of just how
it works. For example, take the adverts which blast out of the TV screen
every quarter of an hour. You imagine that you're above that sort of thing, and
will make up your own mind about which brand, which product, you will purchase.
But wait until you see a shelf full of different brands of the same product,
and wonder which to choose. A familiar name seems 'safer', 'more reliable',
simply because you've seen it on TV so often. Without realising it, you have
fallen for the manufacturer's advertising. If the trick didn't work,
advertisers would try some other method. But it does work, and their
shareholders know it!
Now apply the same logic to
the Bible. Christians read the Bible frequently, and certain phraseology
becomes familiar. Then someone comes along and says, "But in this verse
the original language says something different." Mentally you withdraw.
It's not 'safe'. It's not 'familiar'. The brain is always looking for the
well-beaten track. Let's have a look at just one example to exemplify what I've
just said.
Psalm 102:16-20 "When
the Lord shall build up
I am particularly
interested in the words underlined. If the Hebrew is correctly translated, it
should read "for the last generation." There can be no
doubt about this reading, because the Hebrew word AHARON is consistently used
with this connotation throughout the O.T. For example, in Isaiah we read
about the Lord being "the first and the last." There cannot be
any doubt about the meaning of the word in that context.
So where are we in
understanding? What is the last generation? What could it
possibly mean? Are we to understand that at a certain point in history, a
terminal point arrives, beyond which there is no further human generation? That
is a strange concept. You see what I mean about 'well-beaten tracks'? Here we
have something unusual, even bizarre, and we tend to shrink from it, preferring
the AV. But it won't do. The truth won't go away by turning our backs on it. We
must face up to these things, pray about them, and ask for the illumination of
the Holy Spirit if we are to make progress in understanding.
In my searching, I have
only come across one reference in all ancient literature that might reflect on
this strange phrase, 'the last generation.' It is found in the apocryphal
writings of Baruch. It is in 2 Baruch 22:4-6, and reads as follows, the Lord
speaking to Baruch, "When Adam sinned and death was decreed against those
who should be born, then the multitude of those who should be born was
numbered, and for that number a place was prepared were the living might dwell
and the dead might be guarded. Before therefore the number aforesaid is
fulfilled, the creature will not live again, (for my Spirit is the Creator of
Life,) and Sheol [the grave] will receive the dead."
"It would seem
therefore that the resurrection cannot come until mankind's secret number is
fulfilled," says Rev. R.H.Charles, commenting on this statement. The
passage in Psalm 102 now takes on a fullness of meaning which had been clouded
by inaccurate translation. From it we learn that the earth's prisoners (in
other words, all of us in this valley of the shadow of death) who groan and
travail in pain (according to Romans 8) receive the promise of God that He hears
every such groan, is aware of every pain, every suffering, and as soon as the
'last generation' is reached, He will begin the process of creation, i.e.,
re-creation and resurrection, mentioned in verse 19. It will be to set free all
those who are called 'sons of death'. Jesus said that all those who are in the
graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and will come forth. Herein
lies much food for thought, and I leave it with you to ponder.