Seminary Viewpoints

Overlooked, Under-Preached Eschatology: Six Points for Pastors “Unpacking” the Olivet Discourse

This Viewpoint blog post is a companion to the June 2 and June 9 (hyperlink) episodes of the Theologically Speaking podcast featuring recent Seminary DMin graduate Tim Davis and hosted by professor Billy Gotcher.

In preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, many pastors have discovered the abundance of resources to assist in exegeting and explaining, for example, the Sermon on the Mount. But a theological desert appears relating to Matthew 24’s “Olivet Discourse.” One reason is its eschatology is an area of “third-tier triage” that is systematically overlooked and under-preached even in fundamental churches.

Because we’re afraid to be too “wacky dispensationalist” or to buck the latest popular trend (post-trib, post-mill, etc.), we keep it generic—Jesus is coming back. This reticence undercuts the clarity of the Scriptures and prophetic texts, dismisses eschatology’s importance in helping us live in light of Christ’s future return, and in the end weakens the church.

This is why we want to offer six points as a resource to pastors seeking to “unpack” this truly foundational Scripture for their congregations:

1. Jesus’s own words are the foundation and fountainhead for the teaching of the Rapture and future events it sets in motion.
   • Many think of Paul’s (especially I and II Thessalonians), Peter’s, and John’s epistles and Revelation as go-to sources on last things. But the Lord’s teaching on the Rapture in the Olivet Discourse draws and builds on Old Testament prophesies, connects directly with both Mark and Luke, and provides the basis for the epistle treatments (see more in point 6).
   • Specifically, while the Old Testament prophetic works (Tim is currently preaching through Ezekiel, for example) can be hard for us as church saints, it’s important to understand them not just as literal promises for a future Israel but also as connected to our—and Israel’s—Messiah and how we live now.
2. Context is key.
   • As important as the Discourse is as an eschatology resource, no one preaches through Matthew to focus on that subject, but rather to incorporate it in the flow of the Gospel’s overall themes and argument.
   • For instance, signs are a phenomenon we tend to consider positively, yet Matthew presents them in a more negative sense (as do Mark, Luke, John, and later, Paul in Corinthians). For example, Jesus repeatedly uses “this generation” to refer to the nation of Israel in her unbelief from the Exodus onward, displayed in her continual search for signs.
   • The more proximate context for the Discourse is Christ’s pronouncement of judgment on unbelieving Jerusalem. He declares in Matthew 23:39 that from then on, the city and the nation will not see Him until they say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
   • The disciples, as they exit the Temple together, proceed to ask, depending on your perspective, two or three questions which Christ answers in reverse order: When will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and (potentially as a third question) of the end of the age?
3. Jesus, like Jonah, is the Sign.
   • One debate arising from the Discourse relates to verse 30 and “the sign of the Son of Man.” What is that sign?
   • Again, Jesus has repeatedly rejected the Jews’ calls for signs as expressions of unbelief. When the Pharisees and scribes demanded a further sign after Jesus had cast out a demon (Matthew 16), He responds with an Old Testament reference: the only sign they’d get was that of Jonah. That prophet, and God’s response to his doubting, was the sign to Israel in the face of their faithlessness.
   • In similar Old Testament allusions to prophets in “the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 7) and the darkening of the sun (Joel 2), The Lord is reiterating that the Jews don’t need a sign in heaven: God has told them the future. He also gives them a faith-based response to the Tribulation: understanding that God will cut the days short. The continual focus is on trusting not in signs but in His promises.
   • It’s clear that the verse 30 sign is the Son of Man: Jesus’ appearance as the fulfillment of all God has promised. Jesus, like Jonah, is the sign God is giving about his pledged return, and Christians (and Jews) should trust Him.
4. Jesus promises a future remnant of Israel.
   • Jesus’ mini parable of the fig tree (v. 32) and statement that “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (v. 34) refer to Israel. As reiterated by Paul in Romans 11, a remnant will believe all the way through God’s ultimate fulfillment of that nation’s promised restoration. Those who refuse to repent will be judged along the way, but God will bring Israel into His coming kingdom.
5. Inconsistent descriptions don’t point to a post-tribulation rapture.
   • In verse 36 Jesus answers the disciples’ second question: “when will these things be?” His surprise response: even Christ, in his earthly state, doesn’t know, nor do the angels—only the Father. But He does relate that it will be “like the days of Noah,” when everybody carried on day-to-day life. Yet that everyday life depiction is inconsistent with His opening section description of the tribulation period, with its “birth pangs,” wars, famines and the like.
   • This inconsistency and especially His illustrations in verses 40 and 41 of two men in the field and two women grinding at the mill—in each instance, “one will be taken, one will be left”—have led some to conclude that Christ describes a post-tribulation rapture. In fact, Jesus has transitioned from His coming at the end of the tribulation period to His coming that starts it. The following parables, of the thief and of the faithful and wicked servants, both focus on the point: “when is the master coming back?
6. Christ’s Olivet teachings are paralleled in other Gospels and further developed through the epistles.
   • After His death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit helped Christ’s apostles make connections from the imagery in the Olivet Discourse. Jesus offers more reassuring words on the Rapture in Chapter 14. His discussion of the thief in the night is paralleled in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 4; 2 Peter 3:10 and Revelation 16:15. Paul and Peter pick up on Christ’s discussion of the “days of Noah” in their epistles. Both John in Revelation 3 and James describe Christ as “at the door.” 

The healthy message for the church in these discussions: living life in the urgency of the imminence of His return—which also should be the driving compassion to take the Gospel to the nations—and in the hope of their grand reminder that we have a far better future home coming.