Over the past two millennia that comprise the generation of Jesus Christ, both legalism and licentiousness have eroded away at the people of God, such that the good news of the gospel has lost much of the savor it once had when it turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Today, entrenched legalism continues to promote a gospel too narrow for a gnat, while extensive licentiousness promotes a gospel wide enough for a pair of camels. Neither of these methods can produce the clean hands and pure heart that proceed from the plan that God established and spoke through King David.
The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in the place of his holiness? He that has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken my name in vain, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his saving health. This is the generation of those that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. (Psalm 24:1-6)
In his most recent book, The Generation of Christ, Russell Stendal takes the reader through a complete study of the gospel of Matthew, examining the importance and prophetic significance of the generation of Christ in this last hour we live in, as we enter into the Day of the Lord.