“Why Is The Olivet Discourse So Confusing?”

Fighting for Real Estate: Part #12

By Richard Allen – December 16, 2024

In my previous blog on December 9, I asked if our Lord Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 – was foretelling “The Day of the Lord?”  The simple answer is, “Yes,” but Jesus was also making a contrast between a localized “Day of the Lord” to judge “unbelieving Israel” in 70 AD,  and a world-wide “Day of the Lord” Final Judgment. Then Jesus will come with a “cry of command and the Trumpet of God to receive His own, and bring sudden destruction on all mankind” (I Thessalonians 4:16 – 5:2).  Like Jesus, Peter would later describe this universal judgment, saying that both heaven and earth would be burned up with a fervent heat. So, Jesus had to clarify the difference between these two judgments, precisely because His Apostles had assumed they were “one and the same.” The Apostles’ questions to Jesus after he had told them: “Not one stone will be left upon another that will not be cast down” (Matthew 24:2), clearly show they had connected the Destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem with the Final Judgment of God on the Last Day. We now know with 100% certainty that they were mistaken, as both Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed almost 2,000 years ago, yet Jesus’ Final Coming at the End of the World hasn’t happened! The Apostles, alarmed by what Jesus prophesied regarding the Temple’s demise, came to Jesus to ask Him privately:

“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3b).

To Jesus’ Jewish Apostles, the Destruction of the Temple was synonymous with the “end of all things.” How could the Jewish people worship God without a Temple? Where would sacrifices be made? Remember, this was at a point before Calvary or Pentecost, so the Twelve had no concept of a Resurrected Christ “building His Church one living stone upon another, a dwelling place for God by the Spirit!” (Ephesians 2:21-22). Now, here we are some 2,000 years after Jesus’ prediction, and in fact the Temple was destroyed, the Jewish people scattered, and God is still worshiped by millions of people – world over – “in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4:24). So, Jesus had to differentiate between the “yet to come Final Universal Day of the Lord” – and the “localized Day of the Lord” as Malachi had prophesied:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet (John the Baptist) before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 4:5).

Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse doesn’t just explain the signs leading up to the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, He  goes on to describe world-wide events that will affect all mankind.  Here’s how 2 Peter explains a world-wide “Day of the Lord” which will bring all mankind into judgment – and burn up both heaven and earth:

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11-12).

Jesus knew that the events leading up to Jerusalem’s Destruction in 70 AD would create angst for the Twelve – specifically because they were Jews with strong feelings for their own people.  We as Gentiles in the Church are tempted to want to explain to Peter and the rest:

“Don’t worry, Jesus will die an atoning death, and he’ll rise again on the third day. Then after showing himself alive to His Disciples – He’ll return to Heaven, taking His seat at the “right hand of the Father, all authority in Heaven and Earth being given to Him.” So don’t worry, everything will be OK – and the Kingdom of God will not only survive, but it will prosper!  No longer limited to one people in the Middle-East, Jesus will “build His Church” from “every nation, kindred and tongue!”  Just rehearsing this explanation makes me chuckle.  Peter and the other Apostles would come to these very truths over the next decades of the Church. And by 70 AD most of the Apostles would be physically dead and present with the Lord when Jerusalem fell!  But at the time of the Olivet Discourse – not only did they not know these things, they couldn’t even have imagined them!

It's understanding the difference between these two events that will unlock the obvious contrasts contained within the Olivet Discourse. Without seeing that Jesus is talking about two specific events, it’s impossible to get your head around our Lord’s prophetic teaching. While Jesus’ prophetic teaching is by no a means simple doctrine, He clearly gives us some guidelines to which we should pay attention right from the start.  First, He warns the Twelve:

“See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!' and, 'The!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’  Do not go after them.  And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once” (Luke 21:8-9).

Jesus’ guidelines should be clear from the above words I’ve underlined. He starts by saying that “many will come in my name.”  So, Jesus warns them: “Do not go after them!”  Later in Matthew Chapter 24:26-27, Jesus tells them: “So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.  For, as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”  In these few verses, Jesus warns both his Apostles and all of us as well: “Be prepared to encounter ‘False Christs’ or ‘False Preachers’ who claim to come in my name!”  “Don’t fall for their deception!” Even if they lead a whole group of settlers to Utah, or Guyana to form a Commune in the Jungle – Be discerning and recognize them by their fruits.  But Jesus also warns us Not To Listen to the False Preachers who tell us: “Behold, Jesus will come ‘Privately’ in some ‘secret Rapture, or hidden in a secret room.’ ”  As Jesus explains, His coming will be universally seen and not hidden:  “As Lightning lights up the sky, east to west!”

We’ll have more to say about this universal appearance. Jesus uses the example of “Lightning illuminating the whole sky” making it clear that: “All nations on earth will weep when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). As bad as the “siege and destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple were,” neither was observed – except by those who were physically in the land of Palestine during that time in the first century.  There is a lot to learn from these few verses: 1.) Jesus is coming, so the Apostles’ question regarding His coming in Matthew 24:3 is both accurate and perceptive.  2.) Many others would come claiming to be Christ or claiming to “come in Christ’s name” – deceiving those who followed them. 3.) When Jesus returns it will not be in secret, Not even a Secret Rapture!  Speaking of this falsehood, the Church never believed in “two second comings” until unstable and untaught men and women began to teach these ideas in the early 1800’s. There will not be two Second Comings of Christ, or even a “Second Coming Part 1” and a “Second Coming Part 2.”  Jesus comes again once, not to deal with sin (again) but to save those “who eagerly await His appearing” (Hebrews 9:28).

As a young Christian in the 1970’s, I remember going to a local church to watch a movie: “Like A Thief In The Night.”  This movie had gained quite a bit of buzz from local Christians, many believing both the hype and the false doctrine.  The real problem with the movie is, they apparently never looked at how the phrase “Like A Thief In The Night” was used in Scripture.

It's ironic that the phrase is used only a few times in the New Testament. But the concept that Jesus will come again like a thief is used in at least a dozen verses.  Here are the two verses which use this phrase:

• 1 Thessalonians 5:2 – “For yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.  While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

• 2 Peter 3:10 – “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned.”

  
  

What is amazing about the phrase “Thief in the Night,” or “I will come like a Thief” is that the phrase obviously means “Jesus will come Unexpectedly,” Not “Secretly!”  Notice the context of both passages above.  In 1 Thessalonians, Paul the Apostle goes on to say that destruction will come upon them like labor pains. That doesn’t sound secret at all!  And the verses immediately before, where the so-called secret Rapture is described, is neither secret nor quiet:

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The Lord’s cry of command – with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God doesn’t sound secret at all. Call it Sudden, Unexpected or a Complete Surprise and the phrase makes total sense. This is what “coming like a Thief in the Night” means – not the secret removal of millions of Believers, causing unmanned Planes, Trains and Automobiles to crash! But the second passage in 2 Peter 3:10 is even more pointed: Peter tells us that the “Day of the Lord will come unexpectedly as a thief in the night – in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.”  I think it goes without saying, when you burn up Heaven and Earth it will be hard to keep it a secret from anyone!  More to come in my next Blog!

Soli Deo Gloria!