Stop 9. The Olivet Discourse

On the Mount of Olives the disciples ask, "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3). Jesus' answer turns on one sentence: "I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place" (Matthew 24:34).

The blue line (Dispensationalism) sends Matthew 24 to "still future". The words "this generation" mean the generation that sees the signs; Scofield read it as the Jewish people. But a second blue line runs from Luke 21:20–24 to AD 66–70. Thomas Ice reads that passage as the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem, a judgment on the Jewish people. So this view agrees that AD 70 was foretold. It disagrees that Matthew 24 is about it.

The purple line (Partial Preterism) sends Matthew 24:1–35 to AD 66–70. The words "this generation" mean the people Jesus was speaking to. The great tribulation is the Roman war, and the coming on the clouds is the language of judgment. Christ's bodily return is still future.

The double red line (Full Preterism) sends the whole discourse, Matthew 24 and 25, to AD 66–70, the coming and the gathering included. Nothing is left.

Record check (judgment). Some teachers in the Dispensational line have set dates from this chapter. Hal Lindsey's reading pointed to about 1988, and Edgar Whisenant named 1988. Neither happened. Scofield, Walvoord and Ice, as read for The Whole Story, set no dates. See The Whole Story, Stop 11.

Three Ways People Read the End of the Story lays all three side by side in "6.3 — Christ's Second Coming".

Picture: the arcs from Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Layers: all three end-times views.