When Do The Birth Pains Begin?

Q. I was wondering when do the birth pains begin?  Is it when the tribulation starts or before?  I heard (a well known teacher) say it’s when the tribulation starts and that confused me.  I always thought it was when Israel became a nation but now I am hearing that a lot of pastors do not teach this theory.

I’m trying to understand “this generation” in Matthew 24.  I understand that this generation is the generation that begins to see these things (end time signs) begin.  I’m just assuming Jesus meant the birth pains.

A. In effect, Jesus said that the things He called birth pangs would be characteristic of the entire Church age, not just one generation (Matt. 24:6-8).  In other words, they’d be present throughout, but as the end gets closer they would become more frequent and more intense, like the labor pains of a pregnant woman.  He said the only clear sign that people on Earth would get about the Great Tribulation is the Abomination of Desolation. (Matt. 24:15-21)

As for the phrase “this generation”, the Lord’s description of the End Times, with a Temple (Matt. 24:15) and people in Judea following the Mosaic Law (Matt. 24:16-20), requires that Israel would be a nation then.  Therefore most scholars believe that Israel’s re-birth was the first major end times sign.  If so, people being born then (1948) will still be alive when He comes back Matt. 24:34.