The Olivet Discourse of John

[Taraxacum]

The Olivet Discourse of John

Introduction: Jesus’ famous discourse on the Mt. of Olives concerning the events of the “last days” is missing in John’s Gospel. Why? Some have concluded that John’s Apocalypse, aka Revelation, is his answer to that question. While not identical to the discourse recorded in the synoptic Gospels, there are some interesting parallels and, characteristically of what John does with his Gospel, expansions and added detail found nowhere else in the New Testament.

Revelation 1

1 2

O Thou with eyes alight and all aflame Whose hair shines bright, more brilliant than the sun Before Whom all fall dead, and in their shame Thou all in all and far more than the sum Of all the petty wondrous worlds You’ve made Stand You behind the backdrop of dread time Thou light before Whom now lives no black shade Before Whom none may restitute his crime Thou Everlasting, limitless of days Who in one day on earth did choose to die Now living evermore, receive all praise And hear our pleas and listen to our cries: Hold tight the keys to death and Hades hell Unlock for us Thy life, and all is well!

O Thou with eyes alight and all aflame Whose face shines bright, more brilliant than the sun Before Whom all fall dead, so in their shame Thou first and last and far more than the sum Of all the petty wondrous stars You’ve made You stand behind the lamp stands of dread time Thou Priest before Whom now rests no black shade Before Whom none may restitute his crime Thou Everlasting, limitless of days Who in one day on earth did choose to die Now living evermore, receive all praise And hear our pleas and listen to our cries: Hold tight the keys to death and Hades hell Unlock for us Thy life, and all is well!

Synoptics	Jesus’ Words	Historical Marker	John’s Vision	Revelation
Mt. 24	Mk. 13	Lk. 21:	Intro.: 1:1-11
1	1	5	Jesus and his men exiting the temple	War. 6:5:3	Vision of Jesus the High Priest in his Temple	1:12-18
2-3	2-4	6-7	Peter, James, John and Andrew ask: When and what sign?	Notice: “Now” and “Later” – Near Term: the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (70 AD); Remote Term: Final Coming of Christ	John told to write down: “what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.”	1:19-20
4-5	5-6	8	False teachers	Josephus, Antiq.20:8:6; Wars, 6:5:2	Warnings against false teachers	2-3
False claims of Messiah/I AM	Vision of God Almighty and the Lamb	4-5
6	7	9	Wars and rumors	Tacitus, The Histories, 1:5-7	Vision of the white horse of conquest	6:1-2 THE SEVEN SEALS S-1
7a	8a	10	Nation against nation	Tacitus, The Histories, 1:5-7	Vision of red horse of all out war	6:3-4 S-2
7b-8	8b	11	Famine, pestilence, natural disasters	Famine in the reign of Claudius (41-54 AD - Acts 11:27-28) Plagues in the reigns of Nero and Titus - Suetonius, Caesars,Nero, 39; Titus, 8 Earthquakes and eruption of Vesuvius, Titus, 8; Tacitus, Annals, 12:58, 14:27, 15:22; Seneca, Ep. 91, Josephus, War. 6:3:3, 6:9:3	Vision of the black horse of famine and the pale horse of plague	6:5-8 S-3&4
9-13, cf. 10:11-42	9-13	12-19	Persecution and martyrdom	Jewish persecution of Christians – Acts. Nero’s persecution - Tacitus, Annals15:44; Suetonius, Caesars, Nero, 16	Vision of the martyred saints waiting	6:9-11 S-5
14	9b-10	12b-13	Gospel to go into all civilization and have a trans-political, trans –ethnic impact	Col. 1:21-23	Vision of the trans-national impact of the Gospel	6:11& 7:9 S-5
15-28	14-23	20-24	Abomination of Desolation in Jerusalem	Josephus, Wars, 6:4:7 Cf. Antiquities,18:8:2	Vision of the Great Day of Wrath of God and the Lamb, including heavenly and earthly signs as men face God EARTHQUAKE	6:12-17 S-6
29	24-25	25-26	Signs in heaven and on earth	Josephus, Wars, 5:12:3, 6:5:3 (Also Tacitus, History,5:13; Suetonius) Cf. Wars, 5:6:3 variant mss reading
30-35	26-31	27-33	Coming of the Son of Man
36-51	32-37	34-36	Watch - stay alert! Be ready to stand before the Son of Man.	The Hebrew Church escapes. Eusebius,Ecclesiastical History, 3:5:3 Lk. 21:20-22	Vision of the Church (Jewish and Gentile) that survives the Great Tribulation.**	7:1-17 S-6
The Pregnant Pause	The pause in the war took place (Summer 69) as Vespasian prepared to take on Jerusalem but learned of Nero’s suicide. He and son Titus move to secure Rome.	Vision of a silent pause in heaven	8:1, cf. 7:3 S-7
20	18	36	Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on a Sabbath. Pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen.	Vision of the prayers/petitions of believers rising to God from the altar of incense (cf. 6:10-11).	8:2-5 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS

 

[7djengo7]

The Olivet Discourse of John

Introduction: Jesus’ famous discourse on the Mt. of Olives concerning the events of the “last days” is missing in John’s Gospel.

What do you mean by "missing"? Do you mean that, though it's not in John's Gospel, it should have been? Why should it have been? Why should John have written about, and/or recorded, Jesus' Olivet Discourse, in any book?

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Why? Some have concluded that John’s Apocalypse, aka Revelation, is his answer to that question.

Concluded? From what? Not, of course, from anything that is written in the Olivet Discourse passages, nor from anything that is written in Revelation.

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While not identical to the discourse recorded in the synoptic Gospels,

nor even remotely resembling, in form or contents, the Olivet Discourse.

​

there are some interesting parallels and, characteristically of what John does with his Gospel, expansions and added detail found nowhere else in the New Testament.

What does Jesus say to the angels of the seven churches in Asia in the Olivet Discourse passages of the NT?

If you're going to arbitrarily ask why John, in his Gospel, does not record anything about Jesus' Olivet Discourse, then why not, also, arbitrarily ask why Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in their Gospels, do not record anything about the seven churches in Asia, and Jesus' epistles to the angels of those churches? Why not also ask why neither Matthew, Mark, nor Luke, each wrote a book separate from their respective Gospels, devoted to all the same subject matter as John wrote about in his Gospel? Why is there no canonical Apocalypse of Matthew, nor canonical Apocalypse of Mark, nor Apocalypse of Luke?

Why would John, who was, if I'm not mistaken, present in the audience when Jesus delivered His Olivet Discourse, need to have years later been imprisoned hundreds of miles away from the Mount of Olives in Judaea, far away on the Isle of Patmos, to have Jesus reveal to him essentially what Jesus had supposedly already revealed to him--this time around just with some "expansions" and "added detail"?

Of course, the Olivet Discourse is Jesus' Olivet Discourse. It is not Matthew's Olivet Discourse, it is not Mark's Olivet Discourse, it is not Luke's Olivet Discourse, and, of course, it is not John's Olivet Discourse--it is not "The Olivet Discourse of John".