Part I: Prelude to the Discourse

Olivet Discourse and eschatology

he Olivet discourse is often associated today with eschatology (doctrine of last things). This has not always been the case. If one examines the context of the Olivet discourse, a whole array of other questions arise. The opening verses in Matthew 24 have oft been attributed to refer to a Temple far in the future. But a comparison of these verses with the parallel verses shows that such an interpretation will not hold. Christ was referring to the Temple that stood before His disciples, right there and then.

Matthew 24:1-2

1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

Mark 13:1-2

1 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" 2 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

Luke 21:5-7

5 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, 6 "These things which you see -- the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down." 7 So they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?"

These verses set before us the very subject that Christ is about to discuss in the following verses. This is also reinforced by what is discussed in the previous chapters: that is, the Jewish religious community's rejection of Christ as King. Judgment was to come. But we suspend this frame of thought for a moment to discuss eschatology.

There are three main schools of eschatological teaching. They are defined in terms as to the proper understanding of the millennium in Revelation 20. It's hard to determine just when this debate began, but it really was not considered important until the outbreak of the chiliasts (literally meaning 1000) of the Middle Ages. These were a sect of revolutionaries with grandeur ideas about Bible prophecy and Christ's second coming. They believed that the 1000 year period mentioned in Revelation 20 (the millennium) was a future event in which Christ would physically return to the earth to reign. This stems from the late Judaic beliefs about their coming messiah. The chiliasts, like the Jewish zealots, were to overthrow the standing order physically to make way for the coming king. These ideas and the Scholastic tradition's response to these heresies is what culminated in the development of three schools of eschatological thinking. These three schools of thinking are even named in reference to the millennium.

The Premillennial:

Literally means "before millennium". These people believe that Christ's return will occur before the millennium. They are closer to the chiliasts in that they believe that Revelation 20 refers to a literal 1000 years, but they are not the violent revolutionaries as the ones before. This school is further divided into the classical and the dispensational premillennialist. The former is hardly found today, while the latter has been the common belief of the Christian church for the past 100 years. Its influence today is very broad.

The Amillennial:

Literally means "no millennium". This school of thought was the orthodox response to millenarianism or chiliasts (i.e. those who believe in a literal 1000 years). These believed that Christ began His reign on the earth through His ascension to the throne of God. Many of these today have been deeply influenced by the dispensational premillennialist school, and thus, although they deny the literal 1000 year period, they believe that great tribulations as spoken of in Revelations is yet to come toward the end.

The Postmillennial:

Literally means "after millennium" This school of thought originated from a sect of chiliasts who insisted that Christ's return would not come till after a literal 1000 year period. This school has changed over the years and a host of Amillennialists have changed to this title to distinguish themselves from those Amillennialists who have widely, today, taken up dispensational premillennialist doom and gloom sentimentalities. Thus the Postmillennialist, like the Amillennialist, affirms that Christ currently reigns.

One can see that there are various schools of thought on end-time doctrine. We need to carefully investigate what the Scriptures says before adopting one. The people holding these views interpret the book of Revelation in three ways:

The Futurist:

The Futurist interpretation of Revelation believes that the whole book speaks of future events.

The Historicist:

This interpretation might have had its biggest development out of St. Augustine. The historicist believes that Revelations is not about a cataclysmic event but rather a symbolic representation of all history as it unfolds. The Reformation's development added a belief that the pope was the antichrist spoken of in the New Testament.

The Preterist:

The Preterist interprets Revelation 1-19 as past events, as the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

This is where eschatology gets really complicated. You see, because the dispensational premillennialist holds the futurist view, while the classical premillennialist holds the historical view . . . well, actually there were some who held the futurist view as well. The Postmillennialist holds the historicist view, while some hold the Preterist view, but I have met a few that held the futurist view, after all to be Postmillennial, all you have to believe is that Christ comes after the millennium. The Amillennialist holds the historicist view, while many today hold the futurist view, and some are even Preterists.

Suddenly, the eschatological hodge-podge really doesn't help us understand anything except one thing -- if you are going to be a millenarian (or amillenarian) you are going to tell us little about what you believe the Bible says.

What is really more helpful is if we take up an interpretive method for Scripture. Our Futurist, Historicist, and Preterist models are a good start, but very unpopular for discussion today. Such a discussion would be helpful in an exposition of the book of Revelation, but because of the opening verses in Matthew 24, not in the Olivet discourse. So, I am hence forth dumping eschatological talk except for where there may be some confusion regarding our exposition with the United Nations, nuclear war, or the pope as the beast.

So, where do we start with the Olivet Discourse? In spite of the different developments of interpreting Revelation and the millenarian schools of thought, they all seem to have been in general agreement as to the proper interpretation of Matthew 24 [that is, all except the dispensational premillennialist], that is a preterist interpretation. The opening verses given above for the Olivet discourse illustrate to us the clarity of Scripture in these matters where there is little room for dispute or confusion. Classical Premillennialists such as Bishop Thomas Newton, Amillennialists such as Hendrikus Berkhof, and Postmillennialists such as Matthew Henry have interpreted these verses to refer to the fall of Jerusalem. They interpret the Olivet discourse with the preterist method, but none of these men are preterists (Newton was futurist, Berkhof & Henry were historicists).

Where does it begin?

For us to better understand Matthew 24, we need to look at it in context of where it is placed. It is part of a whole story that begins in chapter 21. If we look at this story from a covenantal vantage point, we see the imagery of the Old Testament come alive.

God has always given His covenant from a mountain. God places Adam in a garden on a mountain (or high ground, as we find that four rivers flowed downward from this place), and gives man His covenant. The Noahic covenant is given from Mt. Ararat, the final resting place of the ark. God gives his covenant to Israel from Mt. Sinai. The Temple of God was built on Mt. Moriah, and we find reference to God's covenantal people as a city set upon a hill (Mt. 5:14). With each new covenant, God gives His grace , law, and judgments from a new mountain. With this in mind, we begin to see the significance of Matthew 21-25. Christ is to issue His new covenant from the Mount of Olives.

Christ's Triumphant Entry & The Mount of Olives

Matthew 21 begins with Christ's triumphal entry to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives to purge Zion of her iniquity. He begins in the Temple, and drives out the moneychangers. After this triumphant entry, Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives in a town called Bethany. The next day, He returns from the Mount of Olives to the Temple. Upon arrival, His authority is questioned by the chief priests and elders. Both priests and civil magistrates are involved with this inquiry.

Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers Matthew 21:33-45

Matthew 21:33-45

33 "Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 "Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 "And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 "Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 "Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' 38 "But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' 39 "So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?" 41 They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons." 42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." 45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.

This was a prophecy, not only of Christ's death, but also of the rejection of Israel as God's covenant people. It is also important to see that the this parable did speak of the Pharisees of that day, and Christ has associated the guilt of the death of the Old Testament prophets with these Pharisees, and further that the Pharisees discerned that Christ was speaking of them. Christ's earlier remarks anticipated this:

Matthew 8:11-12

11 "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 "But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

And this was prophesied by Moses, even earlier.

Deuteronomy 32:21

21 They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.

Impending Judgment

Christ was to die, and rise again. Few people have difficulty with relating this phenomenon with the Jewish Passover, in which Israel was delivered from Egypt. But the parallels with Exodus do not stop there. After Christ's death, approximately in 30 AD, there was a forty year period in which the church had its birth. The early church struggled with sin and rebellion as the nation of Israel had in her forty year wandering in the wilderness. After the forty years were up, that generation had perished, and the new Israel entered the promised land. This parallels closely with the early church's forty year period in which it suffers persecution from the old Israel, till judgment comes upon Israel in the destruction of Jerusalem. The old generation perishes and then the church enters the promised land after her most zealous enemy, the old Jewish order, is destroyed at the end of forty years. This destruction being portrayed as Christ's return in judgment, and the birth of the new kingdom of priests is anticipated in Matthew 16:28:

Matthew 16:28

28 "Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Parable of the Wedding Feast Matthew 22:1-14

The message in this parable is that of the last. Those whom the king had expected would come to the wedding feast refused. Some made light of it, others treated them spitefully, and then killed his messengers. The king's response:

Matthew 22:7

7 "But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Then the king sends out messengers throughout the land to gather the outcasts to bring as wedding guests, but only those whom the king gives a wedding garment is allowed to enter. As for the rest:

Matthew 22:13-14

13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."

The priests and elders then test Christ on taxes, the resurrection, and the greatest commandment. Christ then leaves them speechless when he asks how David could call his own descendent LORD in Psalm 110. This concludes Matthew 22, but not the episode as a whole.

Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees Matthew 23

The first twelve verses of Matthew 23 are directed more to Christ's disciples. This part is omitted in the other gospels, probably because of the author's concern for his own people in writing the book of Matthew (written to the Jews). These verses define how the Jewish converts to Christ are to relate to the old Jewish order till its destruction.

Beginning in verse 13, Christ begins His discourse against the Pharisees. He has nothing nice to say. In this discourse, Christ calls the Pharisees hypocrites seven times; fools, twice; blind, four times. This should give the reader some indication that Christ was a bit upset.

The beginning in verse 29, we see that Christ states that the guilt of all those who had killed the prophets of God to Israel in the past rests on the Pharisees heads.

Matthew 23:29-31

29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' 31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Christ then prophesies of the prophets and apostles to come that will testify to the Pharisees and that the Pharisees will not only reject them, but put them to death, thus filling up the iniquity of the old Jewish order.

Matthew 23:32-34

32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.

Thus upon the heads the whole Jewish order rests the blood of the every righteous man that was killed from creation up till the destruction of Jerusalem. The penalty was to rest on the Pharisees who stood before Jesus at this time.

Matthew 23:35-36

35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upo n this generation.

Not only was the old Jewish order to be destroyed, but even the whole created order from Genesis 1:1 through the time of the early church was to be destroyed and replaced with a new creation. With this in mind, we can begin to understand the apparently wo rldwide cataclysmic language of Matthew 24. Matthew is not the first book to use such language for local destruction, we find it throughout the prophets (we will look at those when we cover Matthew 24). What Jesus was saying was not just radical to His listeners, it must have seemed insane.

Matthew 23:37-39

37 " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' "

Jesus' lament over Jerusalem concludes His discourse within the Temple. He departs, having declared Jerusalem anathema, and returns to the new Mt. Zion, from which He will commission His new kingdom, the Mount of Olives. This brings us to Matthew 24, the beginning of Christ's Olivet Discourse.