Matthew 24:1
Matthew 24:11As Jesus left the temple and was walking away, His disciples came up to Him to point out its buildings.
JWs read as the opening of the Olivet Discourse, which they treat as a prophecy about the "last days" beginning in 1914. Jesus' departure from the temple and his remark that "not a stone will be left upon a stone" is acknowledged as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, but the Watchtower then redirects the rest of the discourse to an invisible parousia that allegedly began in 1914. The verse sets the stage for the "composite sign" doctrine — the idea that wars, famines, and earthquakes since 1914 confirm Christ's invisible presence. The "this generation" teaching (argument 041) also anchors here, since the discourse begins with Jesus speaking to his contemporaries about the temple they were physically looking at.
The Protestant reading recognises that anchors the entire Olivet Discourse in a specific historical context — Jesus and his disciples are leaving the literal, physical temple in Jerusalem. His prediction that "not a stone will be left" was fulfilled precisely in AD 70 when Rome destroyed the temple. This historical grounding is the exegetical key: the discourse answers the disciples' question about when "these things" (the temple's destruction) would happen. The three-category parousia framework (argument 008) distinguishes the AD 70 judgement, Christ's present reign, and his future bodily return — and belongs firmly to the first category. Every element Jesus warned about was fulfilled within that generation, as Josephus documents in detail. The "this generation" argument (041) reinforces this: "he genea haute" means the people standing in front of Jesus, not a generation 2,000 years later.