This article is from communication with a friend who wrote:

I’m very interested in your comments about Jesus’s Olivet prophecy saying it does not refer to our future but to AD70 when the Romans sacked Jerusalem. (I hope I’m not misrepresenting your position but please correct me if I am.) I know you’ve mentioned it before to me. Can you explain to me in layman’s terms, how we know this refers to AD70 and not to our current future? I believe it relates to the years in Daniel? Thanks, and sorry I’m very muddled on this.

My reply:

You are presenting my position correctly when you said I believe it was all fulfilled in 70 AD.

If we agree that Matthew 24 Mark 13 and Luke 21 are all talking about the same thing, meaning the Olivet Discourse, it behooves us to compare these passages with each other to see if the account of one Gospel writer may shed more light on the account of another Gospel writer. It seems to me most contemporary teachers of the Olivet discourse have not done that!! And this has resulted in two very serious misinterpretations. One of them has resulted from a mistranslation of Matthew 24:3. Let’s compare that verse with what Mark and Luke have to say.

Matthew 24:3 (KJV) And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Mark 13:4 (KJV) Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?

Luke 21:7 (KJV) And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?

Notice that Mark and Luke does not say “the end of the world.” A better translation would be, the end of the age, meaning the Jewish age.

Other translations confirm this:

https://biblehub.com/matthew/24-3.htm

I don’t recommend modern English translations but I think some of the translations are better than the KJV in some verses. Most King James only people would not want to accept that. But I do see some errors in the King James version. For example, In the book of Acts, it uses the word Easter but it should say Passover. The Passover is not determined by the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox as Easter is.

In 70 AD the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and all the records of Jewish lineage. And that means there is no person who claims to be Jewish today who can tell you what tribe of Israel he is from. Dr Chuck Baldwin does the most thorough job of any preacher I have ever heard in explaining the Olivet discourse and the meaning of it.

It’s long but worth reading if you can take the time. It answers very clearly the second serious major misinterpretation of the Olivet discourse: The meaning of the Abomination of Desolation.

I will sum it up for you as succinctly as I can.

Most evangelicals today believe the Abomination of Desolation is the End time Antichrist erecting an idol in a rebuilt Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. And this is connected to false doctrines of so-called Christian Zionism. This was a popular doctrine in the Scofield Reference Bible and has misled millions of English-speaking Christians. And again to find the truth all we have to do is compare what Matthew has to say with one other Gospel writer, Luke and what he has to say:

Matthew 24:15-16 (KJV)
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Luke 21:20-21 (KJV)
20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

Luke clearly identifies the Abomination of Desolation as Jerusalem compassed with armies – Roman armies. And both Matthew and Luke tell the followers of Jesus who witness that event what to do: Flee into the mountains. From where? From Judaea. Why? To avoid the slaughter of the Jews by the Romans. To me, that’s as clear as crystal. The followers of Jesus who believed in the prophecy left Jerusalem and Judea and survived the Roman attack. The unbelieving Jews who remained were killed.

In this prophecy, Jesus was referring to the final words of Daniel 9:27.

Daniel 9:27 (KJV) And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

The “overspreading of abominations” is talking about the attacking armies of Rome, and “make it desolate” is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The problem evangelicals make is that they also include the prophecies of Daniel 11, and they are completely different prophecies and were already fulfilled before Jesus was born on Earth. I also talk about this on my website but I don’t want to give you too much to read right now.

Another point: Matthew refers to it as great tribulation, but Luke refers to it as days of vengeance.

Luke 21:22 (KJV) For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

Days of vengeance on whom? On the Jesus of Nazareth rejecting Jews who crucified their Christ, their Messiah. This is brought out very clearly in Dr. Baldwin’s talk and it makes a whole lot of sense to me.

Evangelicals today are always talking about a future coming great tribulation of people. Some say this includes believers as well if you believe in a post-tribulation rapture. I cannot see how you can come up with this doctrine when you read Luke chapter 21, because it’s clearly referring to God’s judgment on the unbelieving Christ-rejecting Jews!

Anyway, there’s a lot more to talk about on this subject, and you’re only going to learn it if you take the time to read what Pastor Chuck Baldwin has to say and or read other articles about it on my website. I have written extensively about it:

https://www.jamesjpn.net/?s=Matthew+24

And of course, you can say all of the above are also really interpretations but please know that this was the standard Protestant interpretation up to the end of the 18th century. Bible commentators up to that time have all said Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are fulfilled prophecies. This is not the same thing as Preterism! The preterists say that ALL of the Bible prophecies have been fulfilled, including all of the Book of Revelation, and I certainly don’t believe that.

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