The statement in 24:2 is the whole REASON for the Olivet Discourse, that the statement was made BEFORE Jesus was actually on the Mount of Olives is irrelevant. There would have been no such 'discourse' had not Jesus said what He did about the Temple being torn down.
The question was asked by the Disciples when Jesus sat down on the mount of Olives.
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying,
“Tell us, when will these things be?
And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
Where in verse 1 or 2, which take place in the Temple area, is the sign of His coming and the end of the age mentioned?
The Olivet Discourse is describing the coming of the Lord, which is the Day of the Lord, and the specific time markers that are described come from Zechariah.
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.
5 Then you shall flee
through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee
As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the Lord my God will come,
And all the saints with You.
6 It shall come to pass in that day
That there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
7 It shall be one day
Which is known to the Lord—
Neither day nor night.
But at evening time it shall happen
That it will be light.
Zechariah 14:1-7
Can you point out the events of 70 AD in Zechariah 14?
- Zechariah 14 describes the Day of the Lord.
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. Zechariah 14:1
- Zechariah 14 describes all the nations surrounding Jerusalem. Not just Rome.
For
I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Zechariah 14:2
- Zechariah 14 refers to when the Lord Himself will fight against the surrounding armies.
Then the Lord will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
Zechariah 14:3
Did the Lord fight against the Roman army, and defeat them in 70 AD, or did the commander Titus of the Roman army return to Rome as a conquering hero in which he eventually became Emperor?
Preterism is built upon a gross misunderstanding of scripture. Jesus was referring to Zechariah and the army that will be surrounding Jerusalem at the time when the Lord returns with His saints from heaven, and the resurrection/rapture, and not the events of 70 AD.
JLB