Verse 36
With a strong assertion of certainty Jesus predicted that God’s judgment would fall on the generation of Jews that rejected Him. This is Jesus’ formal, culminating rejection of Israel for rejecting Him as her Messiah. "These things" refer to the outpouring of God’s wrath just revealed (Matthew 23:33; Matthew 23:35). That generation would lose the privilege of witnessing Messiah’s establishment of the kingdom and the privilege of being the first to enter it by faith in Jesus. Instead they would suffer the destruction of their capital city and the scattering of their population from the Promised Land (in A.D. 70). The whole generation would suffer because the leaders acted for the people, and the people did not abandon their leaders to embrace Jesus as their Messiah (cf. Numbers 13-14).
"The perversity of the religious leaders of Israel does not excuse the people of Israel. They were guilty of willfully following blind guides." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 263.]
However notice that it is only that generation that Jesus so cursed. It was not the entire Jewish race. [Note: For defense of the view that "this generation" refers to wicked people of all time, see Susan M. Rieske, "What Is the Meaning of ’This Generation’ in Matthew 23:36?" Bibliotheca Sacra 165:658 (April-June 2008):209-26.] God is not finished with Israel (Romans 11:1). He postponed the kingdom. He did not cancel it.
Jesus’ mention of the suffering of the present generation led Him to lament the coming condition of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-39).
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