I was listening to a Bible reading plan on the YouVersion app when I heard Deuteronomy 7:9 in the Good News Translation. “Remember that the Lord your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands,”
I thought to myself, is it possible that Jesus would wait for a thousand generations to come back? How many generations have passed since Adam and Eve were created from the dust of this earth?
So, I did a little research.
Adam to Noah was 10 generations. You can look that up in the Bible’s early genealogy.
But because of their long lifespans, we cannot use them as an average generation over a set period of time. If we add them to the total, it brings the overall average up to 67 years per generation.
So, for now, let’s leave them out.
Next is Noah to Abraham, also 10 generations. The lifespans are still a little long, with the average age down from the 900’s to around 300. From Peleg to Abraham, they hovered around 200 years old. From Abraham onwards, no one went over 200 ever again. Let’s not use them either.
From Abraham to Jesus, according to Matthew 1:17, were 42 generations.
That’s a good measure, as the lifespans were more “normal” than the previous generations, and we know that Abraham was “called” by God exactly 2,000 years before the crucifixion. On the same day. So, 42 generations in 2,000 years gives us an average age of 47 years per generation. That is a good measure to use.
We can count all the total generations up to Jesus, but then use the average age of each generation taken only from Abraham to Jesus to calculate.
If we take the 20 generations from Adam to Abraham, and the 42 generations over 2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus, and use that same average of 42 generations in 2,000 years from Jesus until today, then we get about 104 generations from Adam to today, all things being equal.
Brett Quinton Bowden, thanks for your help on that.
Wow, that was a lot. The question still remains. Will Jesus wait for a thousand generations to come back? I sure hope not.
The Bible tells us that no one knows the time or the season of His return. But I do know this; I wanna be about His business, not mine. I wanna live out the rest of my dwindling years in the middle of His will for my life and those around me.
How about you?
And that’s the Memo. Steve
