Olivet Discourse

Looking at street signs in the rearview mirrors of our cars does not help us get to our destination in most cases. Nevertheless, we can benefit by looking back at the signs of which we have been writing. In our last post, we completed our examination of the individual signs…

Jesus and his disciples visited the buildings of the Temple on Tuesday of Passion Week. The disciples expressed great admiration for their beauty, but Jesus was unimpressed. He knew the objects of their admiration were short-lived; they would soon become rubble. When he informed the disciples of this, they asked…

Our effort to develop a biblical prophetic model has reached a critical juncture. We will use the imagery of Hebrews 3:1–6 to show the central idea of this post. In that passage, Moses’ house signifies his management of the Old Covenant. The writer of Hebrews said Christ’s house—his administration of…

How could we have missed an event as phenomenal as the end of the world? Reading Jesus’ final group of signs for the destruction of the Temple can lead us to the conclusion we did just that. Jesus said: For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth…

For our new readers, a brief review may be in order. We are building a model to help us better understand biblical prophecy. We began in the Olivet discourse for reasons listed here. Jesus foretold the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, prompting his disciples to ask for a sign…

On Tuesday of his final week on earth, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. He told his disciples about the Temple’s destruction. They asked for a sign pointing to that age-changing event (Matthew 24:1–3). Jesus answered their request with a straightforward list of signs.  We categorized these signs into…

This post examines one of the most interesting signs Jesus gave for the destruction of the Temple—”the abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15). If you have not read our previous posts, we recommend you begin with our “Start Reading Here” page. We are developing an improved (we trust) model for interpreting biblical…

Turmoil often accompanies the inauguration of a new government. Even stable nations sometimes experience disruptions to the social, economic, and political order during transitions of power. As contrasts between the new and the old become starker, the protests against the change become more severe. Jesus’ disciples understood how the inauguration…

We have started construction of our prophetic model in the Scripture passage known as Jesus’s Olivet Discourse. This discourse is a dialog between the Lord and his disciples. It occurred (probably) on Tuesday of the week of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus began this exchange with a prophecy regarding the Temple’s destruction.…

Our previous post asserted the Olivet Discourse has a single topic—Jesus’ prophecy of the Temple’s destruction. We showed how the disciples correctly associated that event with the end of the Mosaic age. Here we wish to show how the other part of the disciples’ sign question—“what shall be the sign of…