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1969 – The Generation That Will Not Pass Away
As recorded at Luke 21:24, Jesus said: “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.” Jerusalem had been the seat of rulership of the line of kings from the house of King David, who sat on “Jehovah’s throne” as representatives of God himself. (1 Chronicles 29:23) Jerusalem was thus a symbol of Jehovah’s rulership.
How and when, though, did God’s rulership begin to be “trampled on by the nations”? This happened in 587 B.C.E. when Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians. “Jehovah’s throne” became vacant. The ‘trampling’ would end when Jesus became King. When would that grand event occur?
In a prophetic dream, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon saw an immense tree that was chopped down. Its stump could not grow because it was banded with iron and copper. An angel declared: “Let seven times pass over it.” (Daniel 4:10-16) The chopping down of the symbolic tree represents how God’s rulership, as expressed through the kings at Jerusalem, would be interrupted – for a period of “seven times.” How long a period is that?
The Aramaic word rendered “times” is ʽid·da·nin′ and can also be translated “years”; the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary explains regarding this verse: “times – that is, ‘years.’” (Daniel 4:15, Footnote) There are “365 days in a year” – “seven times” would therefore last 2,555 days. (“All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial”, page 281) On the basis of Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6, which speak of “a day for a year,” the “seven times” would cover 2,555 years.
The 2,555 years began in October 587 B.C.E., when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians and the Davidic king was taken off his throne. The period ended in October 1969. At that time, “the appointed times of the nations” ended, and Jesus Christ was installed as God’s heavenly King.—Psalm 2:1-6; Daniel 7:13, 14.
Just as Jesus predicted, his “presence” as heavenly King has been marked by dramatic world developments – the first landing of man on the moon, the legalization of homosexuality in Germany, the first electronic mail. Such developments bear powerful testimony to the fact that 1969 indeed marked the birth of God’s heavenly Kingdom and the beginning of “the last days” of this present wicked system of things. (2 Timothy 3:1-5) “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur,” said Jesus. (Matthew 24:34) But what is meant by the word “generation”?
In the movie The Generation of 1969, student Scott mentions “naked people giving us free food.” But “a historical generation is not defined by its chronological limits or its borders … What is essential to the formation of a generational consciousness is some common frame of reference that provides a sense of rupture with the past … This frame of reference is always derived from great historical events.” (Robert Wohl) From that point of view, the moon landing in 1969 and the sexual revolution starting in 1968 certainly formed a “frame of reference” to mark a generation.
What did Jesus mean when he spoke of a ‘generation that would not pass away’? The Greek word rendered “generation” in the Bible has been defined as, “Those born at the same time.” This definition embraces both those born around the time of a historic event and all those alive at that time.
If Jesus used “generation” in that sense and we apply it to 1969, then the babies of that generation are now 45 years old or older. And others alive in 1969 are in their 50’s or 60’s. There are still many millions of that generation alive. Some of them “will by no means pass away until all things occur.” – Luke 21:32.
Compare: What Does the Bible Really Teach?, page 215; The Watchtower, May 15, 1984, page 4