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2 Timothy 3:16 |
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All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; |
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Appendix
One
What Happen In AD 70 — by
Edward E. Stevens
5th edition © 1997
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The Olivet Discourse Cannot Be
Divided |
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SECTION A
(events associated with AD 70)? |
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ALL ONE SECTION
(one time period) AD 70? |
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Matthew 24:1-34
1.
vss. 17.18 – “let him who is on the
housetop not go down…”
2.
vss. 26,27 – “For just as the
lighting comes from the east…”
3.
vs. 28 – “Wherever the corpse is,
there the vultures will gather.” |
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2.
vss. 23,24 – “For just as the lighting, when it flashes…”
4.
vss. 26,27 – “And just as it
happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of
the Son of Man”
1.
vs. 31 – “On that day, let not the
one who is on the housetop…”
5.
vss. 35,36 – “There will be two women grinding at the same
place; onw will be taken, and the other will be left.”
3.
vs. 37 – “…Where the body is, there also will the
vultures be gathered.”
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SECTION B
(events still future to us)? |
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Matthew 24:35ff
4.
vss. 37-39 – “For the coming of the
Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.”
5.
vss. 40,41 – “Then there shall two
men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left.” |
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EXPLANATION — Some hold the idea
shown on the left above. They think Matthew 24 speaks of two different
time periods: (SECTION A) Events Associated With AD 70, and
(SECTION B) Events Still Future To Us. They apply the events mentioned
in verses 1-34 (SECTION A) to the first time period (AD 70), and
the events in verses 35ff (SECTION B) to our future. Luke’s
statements in chapter 17 (on the right above) show that this idea cannot
be correct. Luke 17 discusses the same events as Matthew 24, however there
is not a hint that two different time periods are under consideration.
Luke clearly deals with events that would happen in the same time period
(“the day that the Son of Man is revealed,” vs. 30). Luke’s account cannot
be divided into the same two groups of events. Notice on the chart
above how Luke records the same events as Matthew, but in a different
order. Matthew’s order is 1-2-3-4-5, but Luke’s order is scrambled
2-4-1-5-3! Luke has an event from SECTION A followed by
one from SECTION B, then another from SECTION A followed by
SECTION B, and finally one from SECTION A. This presents a
problem: If Matthew 24 really has two sections (or two different time
periods) under consideration, then Luke’s account is incorrect, because he
mixes the five events up as if they are all to happen in one time period.
Either Luke is Mistaken (and therefore uninspired), or it is wrong to
divide Matthew 24 into two sections. Of course, the solution to this is
that both Matthew and Luke speak of the same events which would all happen
in the same time period. And Matthew 24:34 tells us when that time period
was to occur: the “generation” alive when He spoke those words (the
generation from AD 70)!
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