Olivet Discourse

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The Olivet Discourse or Olivet prophecy is a biblical passage found in the Synoptic Gospels in Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13, and Luke 21. It is also known as the Little Apocalypse because it includes the use of apocalyptic language, and it includes Jesus's warning to his followers that they will suffer tribulation and persecution before the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God. [1] The Olivet discourse is the last of the Five Discourses of Matthew and occurs just before the narrative of Jesus's passion beginning with the anointing of Jesus.

Contents

In all three synoptic Gospels this episode includes the Parable of the Budding Fig Tree. [2]

It is unclear whether the tribulation Jesus describes is a now past, present, or future event. [3] : p.5  Some believe the passage largely refers to events surrounding the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem [4] and as such is used to date the Gospel of Mark around the year 70. [4] [5]

Setting

The discourse is widely believed by scholars to contain material delivered on a variety of occasions. [4]

In the Gospel of Matthew [6] and the Gospel of Mark, [7] Jesus spoke this discourse to his disciples privately on the Mount of Olives, opposite Herod's Temple. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus taught over a period of time in the Temple and stayed at night on the Mount of Olives. [8]

Biblical narrative

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850) David Roberts - The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70.jpg
The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850)

According to the narrative of the synoptic Gospels, an anonymous disciple remarks on the greatness of Herod's Temple. [9] Jesus responds that not one of those stones would remain intact in the building, and the whole thing would be reduced to rubble. [10]

The disciples asked Jesus, "When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus first warns them about things that would happen: [10]

Then Jesus identifies "the beginnings of birth pains": [10]

Next he described more birth pains which would lead to the coming Kingdom: [10]

Jesus then warned the disciples about the abomination of desolation "standing where it does not belong".

After Jesus described the "abomination that causes desolation", he warns that the people of Judea should flee to the mountains as a matter of such urgency that they shouldn't even return to get things from their homes. Jesus also warned that if it happened in winter or on the Sabbath fleeing would be even more difficult. Jesus described this as a time of "Great Tribulation" worse than anything that had gone before.

Jesus then states that immediately after the time of tribulation people would see a sign, "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken". [14]

The statements about the Sun and Moon turning dark sound quite apocalyptic, as it appears to be a quote from the Book of Isaiah. [15] The description of the Sun, Moon and stars going dark is also used elsewhere in the Old Testament. Joel wrote that this would be a sign before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord. [16] The Book of Revelation also mentions the Sun and Moon turning dark during the sixth seal of the seven seals, but the passage adds more detail than the previous verses mentioned. [17]

Jesus states that after the time of tribulation and the sign of the Sun, Moon, and stars going dark the Son of Man would be seen arriving in the clouds with power and great glory. The Son of Man would be accompanied by the angels and at the trumpet call the angels would "gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other".(Matthew 24:31)

Those who subscribe to the doctrine of the "rapture" (a view popular in American Evangelicalism) find support in this verse, reading this as meaning that people would be gathered from Earth and taken to heaven. This directly relates to a quotation from the Book of Zechariah in which God (and the contents of heaven in general) will come to Earth and live among the elect, who by necessity are gathered together for this purpose. [18]

Imminence

In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus was reported to have told his disciples,

"Truly I tell you, this generation [greek: genea] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

—  Matt. 24:34-35; Mark 13:30-31; Luke 21:32-33

There is considerable debate about the correct translation of the word genea. The most common English translation is currently "generation", [19] which seem to suggest that the author of the olivet discourse expected Jesus' second coming to be witnessed by Jesus' contemporaries. In most German Bibles however, genea is instead translated as "family/lineage" (geschlecht). [20] Likewise for Danish, Swedish and Norwegian (slægt, släkte and slekt, respectively). [21] [22] [23] The Danish linguist Iver Larsen argues that the word "generation" as it was used in the English King James Version of the Bible (1611) had a much wider meaning than it has today, and that the correct current translation of genea (in the specific context of the second coming story) should be "kind of people." (specifically the "good" kind of people; the disciple's kind of people, who, like the words of Jesus, will endure through all the tribulations). In Psalm 14, the King James version clearly uses "generation" in this now outdated sense, when it declares that "God is in the generation of the righteous." [24] According to Larsen, the Oxford Universal Dictionary states that the latest attested use of genea in the sense of "class, kind or set of persons" took place in 1727. Larsen concludes that the meaning of "generation" in the English language has narrowed considerably since then. [25]

Bible scholar Philip La Grange du Toit argues that genea is mostly used to describe a timeless and spiritual family/lineage of good or bad people in The New Testament, and that this is the case also for the second coming discourse in Matthew 24. In contrast to Larsen however, he argues that the word genea here denotes the "bad" kind of people," because Jesus had used the word in that pejorative sense in the preceding context (chapter 23.) He also lists the main competing translation alternatives, and some of the scholars that support the different views:

In the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul seems to envisage that he and the Christians to whom he was writing would see the resurrection of the dead within their own lifetimes: "For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (ESV)" [27] The Gospel of John however seems to downplay a rumor that one disciple (John) would live to see the second coming:

"So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, 'If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?'"

—  John 21:23

Christian eschatology

There are four quite different Christian eschatological views. Preterism is the belief that all of these predictions were fulfilled by the time Jerusalem fell in 70 CE. [28] Preterism [3] considers that most, if not all, prophecy has been fulfilled already, usually in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE.

Historicism considers that most prophecy has been or will be fulfilled during the present church age. It was the chief view of Protestants from the Reformation until the mid-19th century. Only among Seventh-day Adventists is historicism applied to current conservative Christian interpretation of Tribulation understanding. [3]

Futurism is the belief that the future Jesus predicted is the unfolding of events from trends that are already at work in contemporary human society. [30]

Futurism typically holds that all major unfulfilled prophecies will be fulfilled during a global time of catastrophe and war known as the Great Tribulation, in which many other prophecies will be fulfilled during or after the Millennium Reign of Jesus Christ. According to many futurists, many predictions are currently being fulfilled during the Church Age, in which lawlessness and apostasy are currently plaguing secular society. This is seen as a major sign of the approaching fulfillment of all other prophecies during the Tribulation. Within evangelical Christianity over the past 150 years, futurism has come to be the dominant view of prophecy. However, around the 1970s evangelical preterism—the polar opposite of futurism—was seen as a new challenge to the dominance of futurism, particularly within the Reformed tradition. Yet, futurism continues as the prevalent view for the time being. [3] : p.7 

Futurists anticipate many coming events that will fulfill all eschatological prophecy: the seven-year period of tribulation, the Antichrist's global government [31] the Battle of Armageddon, the Second Coming of Jesus, the millennial reign of Christ, the eternal state, and the two resurrections.

In his popular book, The Late Great Planet Earth, first published in 1970, evangelical Christian author Hal Lindsey argued that prophetical information in Matthew 24 indicates that the "generation" witnessing the "rebirth of Israel" is the same generation that will observe the fulfillment of the "signs" referred to in Matthew 24:1–33—and that would be consummated by the second coming of Christ in approximately 1988. He dated it from the "rebirth of Israel" in 1948, and took a generation to be "something like forty years." [32] Lindsey later stretched his forty-year timetable to as long as one hundred years, writing that he was no longer certain that the terminal "generation" commenced with the rebirth of Israel. [33]

Another detailed analysis, one written by evangelical pastor Ray Stedman, calls it the "Olivet Prophecy: The most detailed prediction in the Bible". According to Stedman: "There are many predictive passages in both the Old and New Testaments, but none is clearer or more detailed than the message Jesus delivered from the Mount of Olives. This message was given during the turbulent events of the Lord's last week before the cross". [30]

The Idealist sees no evidence of timing of prophetic events in the Bible. Thus they conclude that their timing cannot be determined in advance. Idealists see prophetic passages as being of great value in teaching truths about God to be applied to present life. Idealism is primarily associated with liberal scholarship, and is not a major factor in current evangelical Christian deliberation over when prophecy will be fulfilled. [3]

Within conservative, evangelical Christian thought, two opposite viewpoints of the Great Tribulation have been expressed in a debate between theologians Kenneth L. Gentry and Thomas Ice. [3] : 197–99 

Tribulation as a past event (Dr. Gentry)
Tribulation as a future event (Dr. Ice)

See also

Related Research Articles

Christian eschatology is a minor branch of study within Christian theology which deals with the doctrine of the "last things", especially the Second Coming of Christ, or Parousia. The word eschatology derives from two Greek roots meaning "last" (ἔσχατος) and "study" (-λογία) – involves the study of "end things", whether of the end of an individual life, of the end of the age, of the end of the world, or of the nature of the Kingdom of God. Broadly speaking, Christian eschatology focuses on the ultimate destiny of individual souls and of the entire created order, based primarily upon biblical texts within the Old and New Testaments. Christian eschatology looks to study and discuss matters such as death and the afterlife, Heaven and Hell, the Second Coming of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the rapture, the tribulation, millennialism, the end of the world, the Last Judgment, and the New Heaven and New Earth in the world to come.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eschatology</span> Part of theology

Eschatology concerns expectations of the end of present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions, which teach that negative world events will reach a climax. Belief that the end of the world is imminent is known as apocalypticism, and over time has been held both by members of mainstream religions and by doomsday cults. In the context of mysticism, the term refers metaphorically to the end of ordinary reality and to reunion with the divine. Religions treat eschatology as a future event prophesied in sacred texts or in folklore. While other religions may have concepts of renewal or transformation after significant events, the explicit description of a new earth is primarily found in Christian teachings within the context of eschatology, this description can be found in Chapter 21 of the Book of Revelation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gospel of Matthew</span> Book of the New Testament

The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people but is rejected by them and how, after his resurrection, he sends the disciples to the gentiles instead. Matthew wishes to emphasize that the Jewish tradition should not be lost in a church that was increasingly becoming gentile. The gospel reflects the struggles and conflicts between the evangelist's community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees with the position that through their rejection of Christ, the Kingdom of God has been taken away from them and given instead to the church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Preterism</span> Christian eschatological view

Preterism is a Christian eschatological view or belief that interprets some or all prophecies of the Bible as events which have already been fulfilled in history. This school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events that happened from the seventh century BC until the first century AD, while seeing the prophecies of the Book of Revelation, as well as Christ's predictions within the Olivet Discourse, as events that happened in the first century AD. Preterism holds that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian church at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Coming</span> Christian belief that Jesus will return to Earth

The Second Coming is the Christian belief that Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his ascension to Heaven. The idea is based on messianic prophecies and is part of most Christian eschatologies. Other faiths have various interpretations of it.

In Christian eschatology, the Great Tribulation is a period mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse as a sign that would occur in the time of the end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapture</span> Eschatological concept of certain Christians

The Rapture is an eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Christians who are still alive, together will rise "in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air."

Dispensationalism is a theological framework for interpreting the Bible which maintains that history is divided into multiple ages called "dispensations" in which God interacts with his chosen people in different ways. It is often distinguished from covenant theology. These are two competing frameworks of Biblical theology that attempt to explain overall continuity in the Bible. Coining of the term "dispensationalism" has been attributed to Philip Mauro, a critic of the system's teachings, in his 1928 book The Gospel of the Kingdom.

In Christian eschatology, postmillennialism, or postmillenarianism, is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring after the "Millennium", a messianic age in which Christian ethics prosper. The term subsumes several similar views of the end times, and it stands in contrast to premillennialism and, to a lesser extent, amillennialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Commission</span> Instruction of Jesus to his disciples to spread the gospel

In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission is outlined in Matthew 28:16–20, where on a mountain in Galilee Jesus calls on his followers to make disciples of and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post-tribulation rapture</span> Doctrine in Christian theology

The post-tribulation rapture doctrine is the belief in a combined resurrection and rapture, or gathering of the saints, after the Great Tribulation.

Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy comprises the passages of the Bible that are claimed to reflect communications from God to humans through prophets. Christians usually consider the biblical prophets to have received revelations from God.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Futurism (Christianity)</span> Christian eschatological view

Futurism is a Christian eschatological view that interprets portions of the Book of Revelation, the Book of Ezekiel, and the Book of Daniel as future events in a literal, physical, apocalyptic, and global context.

In Christian eschatology, historicism is a method of interpretation of biblical prophecies which associates symbols with historical persons, nations or events. The main primary texts of interest to Christian historicists include apocalyptic literature, such as the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. It sees the prophecies of Daniel as being fulfilled throughout history, extending from the past through the present to the future. It is sometimes called the continuous historical view. Commentators have also applied historicist methods to ancient Jewish history, to the Roman Empire, to Islam, to the Papacy, to the Modern era, and to the end time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew 24</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Matthew 24 is the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It commences the Olivet Discourse or "Little Apocalypse" spoken by Jesus Christ, also described as the Eschatological Discourse, which continues into chapter 25. It contains Jesus' prediction of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Mark 13 and Luke 21 also cover the same material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark 13</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Mark 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It contains Jesus' predictions of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and disaster for Judea, as well as Mark's version of Jesus' eschatological discourse. Theologian William Barclay described this chapter as "one of the most Jewish chapters in the Bible" and "one of the most difficult chapters in the New Testament for a modern reader to understand".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke 21</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Luke 21 is the twenty-first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the observations and predictions of Jesus Christ delivered in the temple in Jerusalem, and his exhortation "to be watchful". The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke the Evangelist composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles.

The books of the New Testament frequently cite Jewish scripture to support the claim of the Early Christians that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah. Scholars have observed that few of these citations are actual predictions in context; the majority of these quotations and references are taken from the prophetic Book of Isaiah, but they range over the entire corpus of Jewish writings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two witnesses</span> Two prophets mentioned in the Book of Revelation

The two witnesses are two literary figures who are mentioned in Revelation 11:1-14. Some Christians interpret this as two people, two groups of people, or two concepts. Some believe they are Enoch and Elijah, as in the Gospel of Nicodemus, since they are the only two that did not see death as required by the Scriptures, while others believe them to be Moses and Elijah because they appeared during the transfiguration of Jesus, or because Enoch was not Abraham's descendant. They have the power to shut the heavens (Elijah) and turn water into blood (Moses).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Five Discourses of Matthew</span> Five specific speeches of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew

In Christianity, the term Five Discourses of Matthew refers to five specific discourses by Jesus within the Gospel of Matthew.

References

  1. ↑ "Frontline" TV series. PBS. Accessed: 14 May 2018.
  2. ↑ Mary Ann Getty-Sullivan (2007). Parables of the Kingdom: Jesus and the Use of Parables in the Synoptic Tradition. Liturgical Press. p. 46. ISBN   978-0-8146-2993-2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gentry, Kenneth L.; Thomas Ice. The Great Tribulation—Past Or Future?: Two Evangelicals Debate the Question. Kregel Academic & Professional, 1999. ISBN   978-0-8254-2901-9
  4. 1 2 3 Ben Witherington The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-rhetorical Commentary page 340.
  5. ↑ Morna Hooker, The Gospel According to St. Mark (Continuum, 1991) page 8.
  6. ↑ Matthew 24:3
  7. ↑ Mark 13:3
  8. ↑ Luke 21:37
  9. ↑ Kilgallen, John J. A Brief Commentary on the Gospel of Mark Paulist Press, 1989. ISBN   0-8091-3059-9.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Mark 13". Oremus.
  11. ↑ Aune, David E. (1983). "The Prophecies of Jesus: Unmasking False Prophets". Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans. pp. 222–229. ISBN   978-0-8028-0635-2. OCLC   9555379.
  12. ↑ Chae, Young S. (2006). "Matthew 7:15: False Prophets in Sheep's Clothing". Jesus as the Eschatological Davidic Shepherd: Studies in the Old Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and in the Gospel of Matthew. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe. Vol. 216. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 234–236. ISBN   978-3-16-148876-4. ISSN   0340-9570.
  13. ↑ France, Richard T. (2007). "Scene 2: False Prophets". The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans. pp. 289–291. ISBN   978-0-8028-2501-8. LCCN   2007013488.
  14. ↑ Matt. 24:29–30, Joel. 3:15
  15. ↑ Isa. 13:10
  16. ↑ Joel 2:30–31
  17. ↑ Rev. 6:12–17
  18. ↑ Zech. 2:10
  19. ↑ "International Standard Version". Bible Gateway (English).
  20. ↑ "Schlachter 2000". Bible Gateway (German).
  21. ↑ "Dette er Biblen på dansk". Bible Gateway (Danish).
  22. ↑ "Svenska 1917". Bible Gateway (Swedish).
  23. ↑ "Det Norsk Bibelselskap 1930". Bible Gateway (Norwegian).
  24. ↑ "King James Version". Bible Gateway.
  25. ↑ Larsen, Iver (2010-01-28). "Generation is a wrong translation choice for Greek genea". Academia.edu.
  26. ↑ Du Toit, Philip La Grange (2018-08-15). "'This generation' in Matthew 24:34 as a timeless, spiritual generation akin to Genesis 3:15". Verbum et Ecclesia. 39 (1). AOSIS. doi: 10.4102/ve.v39i1.1850 . ISSN   2074-7705.
  27. ↑ 4:15–17
  28. ↑ Jackson, Wayne. "A Study of Matthew Twenty-four" November 23, 1998. Christian Courier. Contains in-depth discussion of the significant of the chapter and the signs that have come to fruition.
  29. ↑ Gentry, Kenneth L. Jr. (November 1998). "Falsely Declaring 'The Time': The Great Tribulation in Progressive Dispensationalism (Part 5)". Dispensationalism in Transition: Challenging Traditional Dispensationalism's 'Code of Silence'. Archived from the original on 26 July 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  30. 1 2 Stedman, Ray C. What on Earth Is Happening? What Jesus Said About the End of the Age. Discovery House Publishers, 2003. ISBN   1-57293-092-6
  31. ↑ "The Rise and Reign of the Antichrist part 1". Archived from the original on 2011-10-10. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  32. ↑ Lindsey, Hal. The Late Great Planet Earth. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan, 1970.
  33. ↑ Lindsey, Hal. 1977. Eternity, January 1977
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