Last night (a well known TV Bible teacher) revealed on his show what he believes is the span of years described as a Biblical generation. He quoted Mathew 1:17 where Mathew said there were “fourteen generations between Abraham and David, fourteen generations between David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen generations between the exile and Jesus.” He took the number of years between each of those milestones and divided each by fourteen. The answer in each case was 52 years. He then said if that number is added to 1948, Jesus should have returned in 2000. Therefore, he places the beginning of the count at 1967 when Israel regained control over Jerusalem. This would make 2019 the year of the Lord’s return and the Rapture occurrence in 2012.
Although I think his conclusion is reasonable as to general timing, his methodology is flawed because Jesus wasn’t speaking of the length of a generation in Matt. 24:34 but the length of a human life. He said, “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things happen.” In other words, some of the people being born when the first signs appear will still be alive to see the 2nd Coming.
If we agree that the re-birth of Israel in 1948 was the first major sign of the End times, and an average Biblical lifespan is 70 years as Psalm 90:10 and Isaiah 23:15 assert, then the 2nd Coming will likely happen in 2018, very close to this teacher’s conclusion.