Was the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem the tribulation? (Answering preterism)
No. Luke 21:20-24 describes AD 70, and Josephus records it fulfilled in detail, but the tribulation and the coming in glory (Matt 24:29-31) were not fulfilled then. The Olivet Discourse has a near horizon and a far one.
What the text states
Jesus described the AD 70 siege plainly, "when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies" (Luke 21:20), and it came to pass; Josephus, an eyewitness in the Roman camp, records the wall, the famine, and the temple burned. But the same discourse also describes what did not happen in AD 70: the sun darkened, the Son of man coming in clouds "with power and great glory," every eye seeing Him, the elect gathered (Matt 24:29-31). And Matt 24:21 says that tribulation would be unequalled "no, nor ever shall be," which the twentieth century's greater slaughters disprove if AD 70 was meant. Luke keeps the horizons apart: "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (21:24) is a gap before the final signs.
Preterism reads the whole discourse (and much of Revelation) as fulfilled in AD 70, resting on "this generation shall not pass" (Matt 24:34). We answer that "this generation" is satisfied by the generation that saw the temple fall (the near horizon), while the coming in glory is tied to a different marker, "of that day and hour knoweth no man" (24:36), and remains future.
Go deeper
Checked 2026-09-29 by Darren. 63 Scripture citations verified against the KJV rows. 63 quoted fragments table-passed against the verses table. One correction: who-is-the-antichrist read “the man of sin”; KJV 2 Thess 2:3 reads “that man of sin”. 13 exhibit links checked, all resolve; the brief's the-grammar-of-romans corrected to grammar-of-romans.