Christ's teaching on the great tribulation has long intrigued and transfixed Christians. This is especially true in the modern evangelical church today. What Bible-believing Christian has not been alarmed by Christ's prophetic warning about a time in which men will experience "wars and rumors of wars" (Matt 24:6)? "Famines and earthquakes" (Matt 24:7)? "False prophets" who "will mislead many" (Matt 24:10)? These are fearsome images presented by our Lord to his people.

Unfortunately, most Christians leap into the Olivet Discourse with little understanding of how Matthew carefully sets it into the context of Jesus' whole ministry. As a result they wholly misconstrue its message. Since Jesus gave us this much prophetic material and at the very climax of his ministry, we need to understand it as he intended.

In this work, Dr. Gentry re-issues the call of the discourse itself: "let the reader understand" (Matt. 24:15b).