Sign question

I’m attempting to show how a simple model of biblical prophecy arises out of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. So far, I’ve taken the following steps: (1) Showed how our understanding of prophecy affects how we understand the Lord’s Great Commission and His Model Prayer; (2) explained why we should begin discovering…

Two patterns emerge in Jesus’s list of signs related to the Temple’s fall: they became more intense and more figurative (Mark 13:5–27). Regarding intensity, he began with signs that were not immediate precursors of that event. These would give way to signs that would affect the apostles directly. These would…

In Mark’s version of the Olivet Discourse (Mark 13:1–37), Jesus told his disciples about the Temple’s destruction (Mark 13:1–2). They asked two questions about “these things”: when would they happen and what would be their sign (Mark 13:3–4)? Jesus answers the questions in reverse order. He gives the sign in Mark 13:5–27…

John the Baptist was a metaphorical civil engineer. Isaiah had predicted his construction of a divinely ordained highway. He would cry out “in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isa. 40:3; Matt. 3:3). The Baptist prepared the…

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…

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” — Stephen Covey In our last post, we identified the Olivet Discourse as the starting point for constructing our prophetic model. Matthew 24–25; Mark 13; and Luke 21:5–35 record this exchange between Jesus and his disciples. We will…