NASB, 1977

The Olivet Discourse, also known as the Gospel Apocalypse, is the short version of the Apocalypse, i.e., the Book of Revelation. They tell the story of God’s judgment upon the nation of Israel for re

jecting their promised Messiah, having Him crucified, then persecuting His followers. Thus, the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and her Temple in AD 70 was the end of the age – the Old Covenant age.[1]

A careful study of Acts and the Epistles attests to the fact that all the things Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse would happen, did, in fact, happen – in that generation, that which Jesus twice emphatically stated.[2]  Thus, all those things were part of the great persecution that broke out shortly after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, with Stephen’s stoning.[3] Then, after enduring thirty years of Jewish persecution that was ever growing in intensity, it morphed into the Great Tribulation as Emperor Nero began an all-out assault against the Christians and Jews as he deflected onto them the blame that the Roman people put on him for the fires that burned a large part of Rome in July 64. Also, even as the Jews may have encouraged Roman antagonism toward Christians, the Romans themselves considered Christianity a heretical sect of Judaism.

The situation erupted like a volcano when the Jews revolted against Rome in AD 66 and Nero tasked his general, Vespasian to put down the rebellion (officially beginning the First Jewish War). So now there was an all-out war, with Romans killing Jews and Christians, and Jews killing Romans and Christians. Fanning the flames even more, if that were possible, was Nero’s suicide in June 68, sparking a civil war that led, in quick succession, to three more emperors, all of whom fell victim to murder or suicide. Finally, Vespasian succeeded them as Emperor in July 69, thus completing the notorious “Year of the Four Emperors” (from Nero’s suicide to Vespasian’s accession).

We must strongly stress that what took place during that period was the wholesale slaughter of God’s people, both Jews and Christians, only magnified by the Jews’ ongoing persecution against the Christians. It was God’s original chosen people trying to eliminate His newly chosen, that which Paul called, “the Israel of God,”[4] which consisted of both Jew and Gentile – in Christ. The culmination was the destruction of God’s Holy House, the Temple, the place where He chose to put His name,[5] and Jerusalem, God’s Holy City, the city He chose to put at the center of the nations.[6] That war and final cataclysm was the Great Tribulation of which Jesus spoke.[7] It is what Luke termed, “days of vengeance,”[8] with “great distress un the land” and “wrath to this people.”[9] It is also what Daniel called, “determined and made desolations,”[10] and, “a time of distress,” as he peered far into his future.[11]

 Of great importance is that in Jesus’ dialogue about what would happen within “that generation” He mentioned “the abomination of desolation, as spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place.”[12] Thus, we see that Jesus paired the abomination of desolation and the Great Tribulation, as well as Himself with Daniel, while personally linking the Olivet Discourse with Daniel’s seventieth week – and all in the context of the first century. Failure to make that connection leads to mistaken interpretations.

Thus, at this juncture we have Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy and Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, both determined as prophecies of God’s judgment on Israel for their rejection of Jesus as their promised Messiah – in the same context as Luke saying Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies, and that Jerusalem would fall by the edge of the sword, that it would be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled, calling those days, “days of vengeance.” The Temple and Jerusalem’s destruction ended all that God had instituted since He led them out from bondage in Egypt to Jerusalem. When one sees the Olivet Discourse and Daniel’s seventieth week in that light, they will also see the Apocalypse in that light, as it is the blow-by-blow of that event. It is also important to note that the people to whom this was written were living the reality, and history supports that conclusion.

In hindsight, looking back, now nearly two-thousand years from the third decade of the twenty-first century to the Ascension, we must keep in mind that the longest period between significant Biblical events was only the four-hundred-thirty-years when the Israelites were in Egypt, closely followed by the four-hundred-year silent period between Malachi and John the Baptist. Thus, when Jesus said, “All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth,” and then said, “Go therefore and make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end on the age” (Matt. 28:18-20), it is unrealistic to believe Jesus just left us hanging. He gave us our marching orders. We have no way of knowing for certain, but if we would have taken Jesus’ charge seriously, there is the real possibility the New Jerusalem John saw coming down out of heaven is what should already be – the pictorial of the new heavens and new earth – evangelized.

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[1] Matt. 24:3

[2] Matt. 23:36; 24:34

[3] Acts 8:1

[4] Gal. 6:16

[5] 2 Kin. 21:7

[6] Ezek. 5:5

[7] Matt. 24:21; Mark 13:19

[8] Luke 21:22

[9] Luke 21: 24

[10] Dan. 9:26-27

[11] Dan. 12:1

[12] Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14