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After pronouncing judgment on the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus answers three questions from his disciples on the Mount of Olives: "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Contemporary scholars have characterized Jesus' answers to these three questions in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew's Gospel as a mix between first-century fulfillment and future, "end-of-the-world" fulfillment.
In Reading Matthew, Trusting Jesus, Jonathan E. Sedlak provides a detailed survey of how influential figures across church
history-from the earliest patristic sources until now-have interpreted Matthew 24, discovering that many affirmed first-century fulfillment, and some ruled out any delay in fulfillment beyond the first century.
Sedlak's study of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew also examines the rhetorical unity of Jesus' answers, showing that the discourse's literary features also exclude any delay or transition between periods of fulfillment.
"Both liberal and conservative Christians have misread the Discourse as a prophecy of the end of all things. This is not a minor issue. If Jesus expected the end of the world, He was mistaken, and that mistake has significant implications for the reliability of Jesus and/or of the Gospels. . . . Jonathan Sedlak's study demonstrates in great detail that there has been a persistent preterist element in classic Christian eschatology"
Peter J. Leithart, President of Theopolis Institute, author of Creator (IVP), Revelation (T&T Clark)
