Read on in Matthew 24.
I used to interpret the Olivet prophecy that way, but Jesus continues:
31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
Jesus warned
this generation - the generation that rejected him - many times. He is in the prophecy as a whole speaking about the destruction that took place within 40 years; within the lifetime of
this generation. The actual destruction is not recorded in the inspired record. Hebrews reminds his readers that time is running out: Hebrews 3 & 4 & 10
Peter reminds his readers & warns about scoffers:
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Would those scoffers be proved right, & die believing their scoffing was vindicated, as Jesus had not come? Or would the survivors of
this generation see the events Jesus had prophesied in the last days before the destruction?
I think we need to seek to interpret the words of Jesus concerning his coming, which are echoed in Revelation 1:7 , to relate to the earth shattering events of AD 70 as a "coming" of Jesus veiled by clouds, but evident in the destruction.
I note you change
the Son of Man coming to "Jesus' return." Jesus quotes Daniel 7, here & at his trial:
13 “I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.
His
coming is his ascension & complete vindication. Note also the way he speaks of
coming in Revelation 2 & 3.
Jesus is with us, always but there are ways in which he comes. The dramatic language is similar to that used in the OT when God warns of coming judgment. See e.g. Isaiah 13, where God warns Babylon of its coming destruction at the hands of the Medes:
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
That destruction is recorded in Daniel 5.
Can false teachers & heretics preach Christ & the Gospel of salvation by repentance & faith? Teaching is often a matter of interpretation, where faithful preachers disagree - as on the interpretation of the Olivet prophecy, or infant baptism. Are you a false teacher, or am I?
Were the great preachers who preached Christ & saw revival, but who taught infant baptism, false teachers?
A heretic will deny the Gospel, as the Galatian Judaizers. Are those who see OT prophecy as yet to be fulfilled from a "Christian Zionist" position false teachers or even heretics? I think false teachers, & in some cases heretics, as Jesus & the NT writers teach the fulfilment of prophecy by the Lord Jesus Christ & his Gospel for all the world.
- look at my signature
