One such statement can be found at Matthew 16:28, in which he says "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." Another example is found at Luke 21:32, where he says "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." He makes similar statements in Luke 9:27 and Mark 9:1.
[/quote]
Thank you for your reply.
At Matthew 16:28 is the introduction to chapter 17 about the 'Vision' [17:9] of the Transfiguration.
This would be in connection to Matthew 25:31; 16:27 when Jesus would come in future glory. In other words, they 'saw in vision' the son of man [Jesus] as he would be in his future glory mentioned at verse 27.
Luke 9:27 is the parallel account of the Transfiguration -see verses 28-35. Mark 9:1-9 is Marks account of the Transfiguration.
Luke 21:32 is the parallel account of Matthew 24:34. Both give an account about the composite 'sign' or events with many features happening on earth wide at the same time. So the group of people living at the time that all those events would be occurring on a world-wide scale on earth would the the 'this' generation of chapters Luke 21 and Matt 24. [see also Mark 13]
It might help to note at Matt 24:21 that such a great tribulation has not occurred on earth yet. Revelation was written after Matthew, and at Rev 7:14 Jesus mentions that there would be those that come out of great tribulation into his thousand years of Peace on Earth.
Also, at Matt 24:30, as of yet, not all the tribes of the earth have mourned.
If the apostle's generation was to be the 'this' generation there would be no need for Jesus to add in verse 36 that no one knows the day or hour if the apostles generation was the one. Also, there would be no need for any additional Bible books to be penned after that.
Beside that, Matthew 25:14 Jesus explains by illustration to his followers that his coming into his kingdom, or royal government, would not happen for a long while. Back then it would have taken a person a very long time to travel to a far away country and return. So they could make the connection that Jesus was not going to set up his peaceful kingdom rule over earth at that time and it would take considerable time for that to become a reality.
Going back to Luke chapter 21 at verse 11 Jesus uses the adjective 'great' describing the type of earthquakes that would be occurring before he would take the action described by Isaiah [11:4] and Rev [19:11,14,15].
By putting together all of the features of Jesus composite sign shows that we are now living at the time frame of 'this' generation that will be part of the generation , or this generation, of Matthew 25:32. Those placed at Jesus right hand of favor, so to speak, will remain alive to be part of a great multitude of Rev 7:14 and live on or continue to keep on living right into the start of Jesus peaceful rule over earth.