What Generation Will See the Rapture?

When Chuck Smith wrote about the timing for the Rapture, he wrote:

What "Generation"?
Not the generation Christ was talking to, because they've passed - but the generation that saw the fig tree budding forth. The coming of Jesus Christ is "even at the doors." The rebirth of Israel should be a sign to every child of God! Jesus said throughout the rest of Matthew 24, "Watch... be ye also ready." That was the constant warning to the Church: watch and be ready. In Luke 21:28 when Jesus was speaking of these same things, using again the parable of the fig tree, He said, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."

Why not the generation that Jesus was speaking to?
Because it makes our own generation seem less important. If we aren't the "Rapture Generation" then what are we? What exactly did Jesus mean by "this generation"? After all, He should have said "that generation" if He pointing to some future generation thousands of years later.

Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mar 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.
Luk 11:30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
Luk 17:25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

Jesus wasn't speaking of some distant generation, but the generation that he was speaking to. Parallel passages make this very clear:

Mat 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Mar 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
Luk 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

What About the Fig Tree?
Smith takes the fig tree in a non-literal sense, as a figurative symbol, in this case for the national Israel. He sees the fig tree blossoming as a figure of Israel becomming a nation once again. There is nothing in this immediate text to support that premise. Jesus is using the example of the fig tree in an entirely different way than what Smith suggests. Jesus is using the fig tree as an example of something you can see with your own eyes as a sign of the seasons. The events Jesus described were the signs to watch for, not the fig tree itself. The fig tree stood for those events not some other event, such as Israel becoming a nation.

Suppose the Fig Tree is Israel!
But if the fig tree is Israel then what about this passage?

Mar 11:13-14 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

If the fig tree is Israel then Jesus has just cursed Israel forever to wither and die.