The Olivet Discourse is meant to be understood as a multiple Prophecy. Jesus predicted that the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem would happen within the disciples generation and it did.
I agree
He also predicted his second coming.
Paul says that Jesus came multiple times after His resurrection 1 Cor 15:3-8. But they were not resurrection comings. His coming described in the Matt 24, etc., passages is a coming, but not a resurrection coming.
The coming of salvation Heb 9:28, the time when we shall see Him and be like Him 1 Jn 3:2, has yet to come.
We are told how we can tell if a person is a true prophet and that is by seeing the things they predict coming true. Jesus and the OT Prophets used this method of predicting something to happen within the hearers lifetime as proof that all their predictions would occur as they said .Otherwise how would anyone know if they were true of false if they only had
some distant Prophecy to rely on.
some distant Prophecy to rely on.
We still look for the fulfillment of the resurrection made by the prophets and apostles 1000's of years ago.
The apostles knew that Jerusalem would be destroyed and that there would be a time after that, but they didn't know the length of the time periods in the years of men.
Always remember that the statue of Dan. 2 timeline must be in agreement with all other timelines considered.
The Book of Revelation is no different. It has a multiple application. The plagues caused by the four Horsemen follow
the same pattern as that of Jesus in Matthew and Luke.
the same pattern as that of Jesus in Matthew and Luke.
The 1-4 seals parallel the Matt 24, etc., passages, showing the same time period.
The 7 seals are not predictions at the time of the writing of the Revelation, but are confirmation of the prophecies by Jesus already fulfilled by the 70 ad destruction.
They are also the same plagues Moses warned Israel about if they disobeyed Gods Law.
The book was addressed to first century churches. If it was only relevant to the last generation before the end why would they bother to read any of it.
They knew that Jerusalem would fall and the people would be scattered, for a time, but no details about what would come after that. The Revelation tells that story with the trumpets, the 2W's, and the woman of Rev 12, as well as other places in the book.
Also within the book there are warnings that the time for events to happen are short. No amount of time bending and scripture twisting can avoid these plain warnings read by first century Christians who had the same sense of time passing as we do.
How long the time periods were in the years of men, nobody would know until Jerusalem was restored, ending the times of the gentiles, 1967.
The Bible and Revelation in particular uses symbols to represent events and concepts God wants to convey.
Ignoring this ends up with a reader in a hopeless muddle. One of the methods is the use of hyperbole to emphasis the severity of Gods Judgement. Jesus uses this when he talks of future tribulation. Here are some other examples:
The Fall Of Edom
All the host of heaven shall rot away and the skies roll up like a scroll
All the host shall fall as leaves fall from a vine, like leaves falling from a fig tree
For my sword
has drunk its fill in the heavens behold it descends for judgement upon Edom
upon the people i have devoted for destruction
Isaiah 34:4-5
To Egypt
Son of man raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him
When I blot you out I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark
I will cover the Sun with a cloud and the Moon shall not give its light
All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over you and put
darkness on your land declares the Lord
Ezekiel 32:2,7-8
The fall of Babylon by the Medes
For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give
their light the Sun will be dark at its rising and the Moon will
not shed its light Therefore I will make the Heavens tremble
and the earth will be shaken out of its place at the wrath of the lord
of hosts in the day of his fierce anger
Isaiah 13:10,13
This is how the Prophets described judgement on various nations. The Universe didnt literally come
apart it just felt like it to those the judgement was aimed at. We use expressions in a similar way.
If someone says they had a broken heart would a surgeon find their Heart in bits if they were opened up?
The Fall Of Edom
All the host of heaven shall rot away and the skies roll up like a scroll
All the host shall fall as leaves fall from a vine, like leaves falling from a fig tree
For my sword
has drunk its fill in the heavens behold it descends for judgement upon Edom
upon the people i have devoted for destruction
Isaiah 34:4-5
To Egypt
Son of man raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him
When I blot you out I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark
I will cover the Sun with a cloud and the Moon shall not give its light
All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over you and put
darkness on your land declares the Lord
Ezekiel 32:2,7-8
The fall of Babylon by the Medes
For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give
their light the Sun will be dark at its rising and the Moon will
not shed its light Therefore I will make the Heavens tremble
and the earth will be shaken out of its place at the wrath of the lord
of hosts in the day of his fierce anger
Isaiah 13:10,13
This is how the Prophets described judgement on various nations. The Universe didnt literally come
apart it just felt like it to those the judgement was aimed at. We use expressions in a similar way.
If someone says they had a broken heart would a surgeon find their Heart in bits if they were opened up?
Jesus said there would be Tribulation never seen before or will be again. Had he forgotten the Flood?
of course not. He was using the same mode of expression that the Prophets used. The whole point of all
this is to show how literalism distorts the true meaning of the text we read and the way we understand it.
of course not. He was using the same mode of expression that the Prophets used. The whole point of all
this is to show how literalism distorts the true meaning of the text we read and the way we understand it.