We see it in several text...

Matthew 24:34
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Mark 13:30
Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.

Luke 21:32
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

What are everyones thoughts...

A popular theory amongst evangelical Christians is that the fig tree represents Israel.
The fig tree was "cut down" because it wasn't bearing fruit , (70AD) but it would be replanted, and when it is replanted (Israel once again declared a state 1946) that generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled




For an Adventist View you might try
Ministry Magazine September 1999
Here's a quote from that article

Others believe that once the very end of time occurs, that generation will witness all the signs and be living at the second coming of Christ.

Then there are others that say: ?Jesus wasn?t referring to His coming; Jesus was referring to the manifestation of His power and the coming of His kingdom in the transfiguration, (or the resurrection, or the day of Pentecost), because on Pentecost they saw the kingdom of God coming in power.?

The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol 4 has an essay "The Role of Israel in Old Testament Prophecy" This chapter gives a macro view, and we can apply the principles in a micro view to each section of the Bible. The theses is that God gives prophecies FIRST in a framework that can be fulfilled with in or not too much beyond the living generation where God could use them in setting up the promised kingdom. But then, if not fulfilled, the issues and principles would still cycle around (to help understand, try to get a copy of Henri Frankfort and others "Before Philosophy" 1946 University of Chicago Press. Sadly out of print, but copies are still floating around.)

The immediate setting is how Jesus could have set up the kingdom if he was accepted.

Since he was not, the issues and principles cycle around again, and gets a local application in a foretaste of what Jesus wanted to give us had he been accepted in the transfiguration.

The founders of Seventh-day Adventism believed Christ would come in their life time.
{See DA 632.2} Yet all in that generation have passed away. Even being resurrected to see Christ coming still means they "passed away" at one point.

Considering the context of this statement --
--I say to you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.--

In Matthew 24 Jesus and the disciples leave the temple and Jesus tells them not one stone will be left sitting on the other but be thrown down. The disciples ask the question: "When will this happen, what are the signs and the end of the world."

They lumped it all together. We are left to sort it out.
Some things pertain to both the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, others pertain to one or the other event.

So what will be fulfilled before "this" generation passes away?
" I say to you, this generation"
Who are the "you", could they be the same as the "this generation".

The temple was knocked down in 70 AD. If the disciples were in their 30's (some may have been younger) when the discourse was given, they would have been in their 70's when Jesus words of "not one stone be left on top of another" would have been fulfilled. Some hearers were still alive at that time.

In another account, Jesus told Peter about his future, Peter, seeing the disciple John, asks, "What about him?"
Jesus answers: "If I will that he lives till I come, what is that to you, you just follow Me. (John 21:22)

We know that some people living at that time, who were remembered these sayings, believing Jesus meant the second coming would happen before their generation then living passed away. ( surely Jesus would come before John died, they thought).

Paul's letter to the Thessalonians was written in part to erase their fears of dying before Jesus came. 2 Thessalonians 4, assures them that Jesus will not forget those who died, they will be raised to partake in that event!!!

So we can't really fix this statement on any generation. (At least not as it pertains to the second coming)

Personally I believe the final events will be rapid ones, once the sunday laws, the latter rain, and time of trouble are here -- there won't be "another" generation after that. They will be the last. But exactly when that generation starts is not revealed. So Christ's words to Peter are for us --
-- what is it to us which generation lives till Christ comes, our duty is just follow Him"