Were Jesus’ Disciples Confused in the Olivet Discourse?
Some commentators try to get around Jesus’s timing indicator in the Olivet Discourse—in which Jesus said he would come on clouds of glory within a generation—by claiming that his disciples were confused.
The Olivet Discourse begins with Jesus’s disciples commenting on the beautiful temple (Matt. 24:1), to which Jesus responds: “Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (v. 2).
The disciples then ask: “Tell us, when will these things be? And what would be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (v. 3).
Jesus responds by describing the various precursors that would happen, such as false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, famine, earthquakes, the abomination of desolation, and great tribulation (vv. 4–29).
Then Jesus says: “Immediately after the tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then…they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (vv. 29–30).
Finally, Jesus answers the disciples’ original timing question by saying: “Assuredly, I [Jesus] say to you [disciples], this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matt. 24:34). Note: A generation equates to approximately forty years (see Heb. 3:8–10, Num. 14:30–34, and Neh. 9:21).
Let’s be honest. If the second coming was not involved, Christians would have no problem understanding the meaning of this passage. However, because of all the deep-seated traditions about the second coming—which say it is a yet-future event—many Christians try to get around this passage using highly problematic and dubious interpretations, which lead to widespread disagreements. One way they do this is by claiming that the disciples were confused. Futurist[1] Kenneth Gentry writes:
“I and many scholars believe they [the disciples] were in fact confused when they asked [Jesus]: ‘Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ [Matt. 24:3]. We believe that in this question they erroneously associate the destruction of the temple historically with both the second coming and the ‘end of the age’ (i.e., the second coming which brings about the end of history).”[2]
The reason why Gentry is trying to prove “disciple confusion” is that he knows full well that if the disciples’ questions were in fact lucid, then that would mean the second coming and end of the age had to have happened when the temple fell in AD 70. End of discussion. Game over. Futurism[3] collapses.
So were the disciples confused, as Gentry claims…or is it Gentry who is confused?
First, as shown above,the Olivet Discourse begins with Jesus’s disciples, in approximately the year AD 30, commenting on the beauty of the temple (Matt. 24:1), to which Jesus responds: “Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (v. 2). Then the disciples ask: “Tell us, when will these things be? And what would be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (v. 3).
The reason why the disciples automatically thought “coming of the Lord” after Jesus had mentioned the destruction of the temple is that to a biblically literate Jew in that day, such a judgment/destruction equated to a coming of the Lord. The Old Testament is filled with such comings of the Lord, and they equated to judgment and destruction (see Isa. 13:9–11, 19:1; Mic. 1:3–4). So when Jesus mentioned the destruction of the temple, the disciples automatically thought “coming of the Lord”…and they wanted to know when it would happen.
The disciples also automatically thought “end of the age” after Jesus had mentioned the destruction of the temple (Matt. 24:3). Why? Because that temple symbolized the old covenant age (see Heb. 9:8-9), and its destruction would mean the end of the old covenant age. Without a temple, a vast majority of the Old Covenant requirements could not be kept. In fact, without a temple, only 77 positive and 126 negative commandments can be observed—out of 613.[4]
So when Jesus mentioned the destruction of the temple, the disciples automatically thought “end of the age” and “coming of the Lord”…and they wanted to know when it would happen: “Tell us, when shall these things be,” they asked (Matt. 24:3).
Jesus then listed the various precursors and then said it would all happen within a generation (v. 34).
The disciples’ questions and Jesus’s answer fit together perfectly. Moreover, this event happened exactly when Jesus said it would, within a generation or forty years! By AD 70, the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. According to the first-century historian Josephus, 1.1 million Jews were killed and another 97,000 were taken into slavery. Jesus came on clouds of judgment, just like he promised. The 1500-year Old Covenant age had ended.
Second, there is not one word said about “disciple confusion” anywhere in the context of the Olivet Discourse. Gentry attempts to prove confusion by citing previous unrelated examples of disciple confusion. For example, Gentry cites Matthew 16:21–23, where Jesus had on a previous occasion corrected Peter for suggesting that Jesus would not have to suffer and die. However, none of Gentry’s examples have anything to do with the disciples’ state of mind in the Olivet Discourse. They are totally unrelated![5]
Furthermore, the reason we know the disciples were confused in those other instances is that the New Testament writers told us. Yet there is not one word said about confusion in the Olivet Discourse. Jesus simply answers the disciples’ questions, without any correction, as if their questions were perfectly lucid.
Had the disciples been confused, Jesus surely would have called them out on it, just like he had done on previous occasions. For example, in the above example regarding Peter, after Peter had suggested that Jesus would not have to suffer and die, Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan” (Matt. 16:21–23).
But nothing like this happened in the Olivet Discourse because the disciples’ questions made perfect sense.
In citing those unrelated examples of disciple confusion, Gentry is purposely trying to muddy the eschatological waters in order to create doubt about the straightforward statements in the Olivet Discourse; however, he is doing that at the expense of the apostles’ credibility. Gentry’s hermeneutic casts a dark cloud of uncertainty upon everything the apostles said, not just their statements in the Olivet Discourse. Maybe the disciples were just as confused about seeing Jesus after his resurrection? Who knows? using Gentry’s cloudy hermeneutic. Skeptics of Christianity would no doubt love Gentry’s method of biblical interpretation!
To me, it makes much more sense to give the apostles the benefit of the doubt, unless we are specifically told otherwise (as in those other instances Gentry cites).
As further “evidence” of disciple confusion, Gentry mentions the various warnings Jesus gives his disciples in the Olivet Discourse. For example, Jesus says, “See that you are not misled” (Matt. 24:4) and “Watch out for the false messiahs” (v. 5).[6] Gentry claims that the reason Jesus gave these warnings is that the disciples were so confused about everything.
However, that’s an unwarranted leap. Jesus was trying to keep the disciples from getting confused. Jesus knew he would not come right away (for forty years), and he didn’t want the disciples getting misled during that time period. So he gave the disciples a specific list of precursors to watch for…precisely so that they would not get confused.
Third, we can be confident that the disciples were not confused in the Olivet Discourse because their questions about the destruction of the temple and the end of the age (Matt. 24:3) match perfectly with what the Old Testament prophets had said would one day happen. For example, Daniel had prophesied that the temple would one day be destroyed (9:26) and that the Old Covenant age would end (12:4, 8). Isn’t this exactly what Jesus’s disciples asked about in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24:3)?
Not only do the disciples’ questions match perfectly with Daniel’s prophecy, but Jesus also answers the disciples’ questions by specifically saying he is citing Daniel’s prophecy (Matt. 24:15). Nobody was confused about anything!
Fourth, in the parable of the wheat and tares, which Jesus had given prior to the Olivet Discourse, Jesus told his disciples about “the harvest (judgment) at the end of the age” (Matt. 13:36–43). This is the same judgment at the end of the age that the disciples asked about in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24:3). They simply wanted to know when it would happen. (Jesus had not discussed the timing in the parable of the wheat and tares.)
Notice, also, that after Jesus had finished giving the parable of the wheat and tares, he asked the disciples: “Do you understand these things?” To which they answered, “Yes, Lord” (Matt. 13:51). This shows that the disciples were not confused about this issue. So they weren’t in the Olivet Discourse either. They simply wanted to know the timing: “Tell us, when shall these things be?” (Matt. 24:3). And Jesus told them it would happen within a generation (v. 34).[7]
Conclusion: The disciples were not confused in the Olivet Discourse. It is Gentry who is confused—either that, or he is desperately trying to hold on to his futurism using any means possible, even at the expense of the apostles’ credibility.
For more about this subject, get my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled.
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 1/21/25
[1] Futurists believe there are Bible prophecies that still need to be fulfilled. Preterists, on the other hand, believe the Bible’s prophecies have been fulfilled.
[2] Kenneth Gentry, “Another Confused Disciple (Matt 24:3),” Postmillennial Worldview, Nov. 17, 2020, https://postmillennialworldview.com/2020/11/17/confusionconfirmed/
comment-page-1/?unapproved=22257&moderation-hash=5442c89aba3dc46
e1929fbcb8c8eed57#comment-22257.
[3] Futurism = the second coming is a future event
[4] This number is based on a third-century sermon by Rabbi Simlai that is recorded in Talmud Makkot 23b.
[5] Don Preston, Watching for the Parousia: Were Jesus’ Apostles Confused, (Ardmore, OK: JaDon Management, 2020).
[6] Kenneth Gentry, “The Disciples’ Confusion at Olivet,” Jan. 11, 2019,
Postmillennial Worldview, viewed Oct. 1, 2023, https://postmillennialworldview.
com/2019/01/11/the-disciples-confusion-at-olivet-3-2/.
[7] Preston, Watching for the Parousia, 48.
