Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 18:54 (Summer 2014)
Article: Hermeneutical Keys To The Olivet Discourse Part 3: Matthean Eschatology (Matt 24–25)
Author: Ray M. Wenger

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Hermeneutical Keys To The Olivet Discourse
Part 3: Matthean Eschatology (Matt 24–25)

Ray M. Wenger

* Ray M. Wenger, Th.M., itinerant Bible teacher, Pinnacle, North Carolina

As noted in the first two articles of this series,1 Luke provides hermeneutical keys for understanding the Olivet Discourse. To achieve their specific purposes, the synoptic authors selectively included portions of what Jesus said. The structures of Luke’s presentations isolate various components of Jesus’ eschatological teaching: tribulation events are isolated from the events surrounding AD 70; the much disputed “this generation” is specified within the tribulation context — not the generation of Jesus’ contemporaries and the AD 70 event; and, the “one taken, others left” pericope is taught in a context that does not discuss tribulation events, with an emphasis that no signs precede it. The isolation enables definitive understanding of the meaning of those components, and those conclusions form a basis for a lucid understanding of the longer version of the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 24–25.

Hermeneutical Keys From Luke

The Meaning Of “This Generation”

Luke’s material resolves the enduring debate regarding the meaning of “this generation.” The structure of Luke’s account (Luke 21), and the analogous situation of “this night” (Gk. wording in Luke 17:34) make it evident that “this generation,” which will not pass until all these things are fulfilled, is the generation which lives during the tribulation events of Daniel’s seventieth week prophecy (Matt 24:34). The rapid consummation corresponds to Luke’s specific admonition to tribulation saints: when all these things begin to occur, they should look upward because their redemption is drawing near — a command that would be meaningless if

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that redemption did not occur during that very generation (Luke 21:28). The purpose of Jesus’ illustration regarding the budding of the fig tree is not so that the beginning of “this generation” can be pinpointed to the reconstitution of Israel as a nation in 1948; neither should one speculate how long a generation will endure. The imagery is an ordinary botanical illustration to emphasize that the generation, which sees the specified global catastrophes, will also witness everything brought to a consummation. The saints of the tribulation period will not be gues...