It appears Jesus gives an end times description of both the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and a future destruction that has not happened yet.
Too many get caught up in the”Fig Tree as Israel” narrative and it’s founding in 1948, failing to see he is simply showing them how they look to the changing of the trees to see when the seasons change.
Then he tells the to look for those greater signs of the end times, and by the time you recognize them it will be too late. The fig tree has nothing to do with it as Israel has always been mentioned as “the vine” and not a fig tree. I’m sure if I am wrong then someone on FR will catch it.
No reason it can't be both. It wouldn't be the first time something in Scripture could be applied in more than one situation.
Dual Prophetic fulfillment seems to happen more often than not.
Good call!
Correct
Matthew 24:1 to 35 is clearly for the generation he is talking to (i.e. those living in 30 AD) and it was fulfilled within a generation i.e. within 40 years in 70 AD
Jesus uses the phrase this generation many times - it is used 20 times in the NT and without exception it ALWAYS refers to the people who were alive, listening to the speaker - in fact Jesus uses it in Matt 23:36
Jesus continually uses "this generation" and uses the "second person, you" in the Olivet discouse at Matt 24:9,15,20,25,32,33,35) meaning the generation of those listening to Him
34 [r]Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, 35 so that there may come upon you all the righteous blood shed upon earth, from the righteous blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Amen, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
NOTE especially Mark 13:9 -- "You (this generation) will be beaten in synagogues" - this is pretty definitely NOT talking about 21st century rabbinical Judaism's synagogues, not even the most ultra-Orthodox.
In Luke's version of the Olivet Discourse, specifically Luke 21:20-24, there are details that were entirely fulfilled in 70 AD
The correct way seems to be to understand the TWO questions asked by the disciples in Matthew 24:3 --> Luke places the two questions, with their two answers in entirely different chapters, while Matthew doesn't
.[f] 20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and let those in the countryside not enter the city, 22 for these days are the time of punishment when all the scriptures are fulfilled. 23 Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth and a wrathful judgment upon this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles[g] are fulfilled.