Question:  Hello Greg,

            I enjoy reading your answers to questions and I thank you for that.  I have two questions:

1.      In Matthew 24:34—“I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

I think Jesus was talking about signs of the Second Coming.  I do not understand what Jesus meant when he said “this generation” and “all these things”.  Was Jesus talking about a future generation or something else?

2.      What does it mean for Jesus to sit at the right hand of the Father?  Would it make a difference if Jesus sat at the left hand?  This indicates rank and confuses me because I thought the Son and the Father were equal.

            Thank you in advance for your answers.

            Sincerely,

            Harry

Answer:  Dear Harry,

            I believe Jesus was saying what the context, at face value, appears to say.  This generation is that generation Jesus was talking to.  The vast majority of specific prophesies given in Matthew 24 were fulfilled in AD 69-70 when the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem, about 40 years after Jesus spoke these words.

            The right hand of the Father is an example of an idiom that makes sense to human beings and is used to express an intimate relationship.  We might say someone is the apple of his or her parent’s eye, and while there is literal meaning, there is no reason to try to literally interpret a child as an apple.  There is an “order” or “procession” of God—primary biblical proof is the fact that God is spoken of as Father, Son and Holy Spirit—not in any other order.  Does this mean that there is some kind of “rank” within the Godhead?  No, not as we understand “rank”.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht