What is the Olivet Discourse?
After leaving the Jewish Temple, Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives. Earlier as they were leaving, Jesus prophesied that the Temple would be utterly destroyed. When the disciples finally get the nerve to ask when this will occur, Jesus goes on a lengthy explanation of what will happen. This is called the Olivet Discourse, and is recorded in Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21. The Discourse is particularly controversial because on one hand, it seems to describe what happened to the Temple in AD 70 (the Temple, as well as all of Jerusalem, was utterly destroyed), and Jesus says this generation (which he is speaking to) will not die off before it happens; but on the other hand it sounds like it is describing a tribulation that couldn’t have happened yet.
