The Abomination of Desolation
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Matthew 24:15
In Matthew 24, the disciples had asked Jesus to give them some signs as to His return and the coming of the end of the world. He gave them an extraordinary number of things to look for before His return. Among these clues were false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, diseases, those who stand for Christ enduring persecution and death, betrayal, hate, and the gospel reaching all nations. Considering these events and looking at our world today, many believe that we are in this day of which Jesus spoke. It definitely seems logical to anyone who is paying attention, but no one knows for sure.
After Jesus listed all of these signs, He told of one more, a prophecy made by Daniel over 600 years prior to Jesus’ time on earth and around 2,600 years from our current day. Some Bible commentators look at this prophecy as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans. From Biblical and historical accounts, we know that Israel was ruled by the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus’ birth, and about 40 years after His death, Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Jesus had prophesied this destruction to the religious leaders of His day who didn’t believe Him, but those still alive in 70 A.D. witnessed this prophecy come to pass (Matthew 23:34-36).
However, other Bible scholars look to the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples concerning Daniel’s prophecy as a future event, and while I am not a Biblical scholar, I tend to agree with them because Jesus was answering a question concerning the end times, and although Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., the world did not end at that time. We are still here, right? While it wasn’t the end of the world, it was the temporary end of Israel’s reign as the people of God’s kingdom. Jesus had foretold the loss of the kingdom of God in speaking to the chief priests and elders in Matthew 21:43 because of their rejection of Him, and that it would be given over to those who would “bring forth the fruits thereof”, being the Gentiles.
Jesus spoke of the abomination of desolation which Daniel spoke about in Daniel 9:27; 11:31; and 12:11. An image of the antichrist will be set up in the temple, and those alive at this time will be commanded to worship the image or be killed (Revelation 13:14-15). This will be during the seven-year period of tribulation after all those belonging to Christ, the church, will be raptured, that is, called up either out of the graves or off the earth, if they are still living, to meet the Lord in the air (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). There are different ideas about the rapture that I have discussed in a previous blog, but from this verse in Matthew, it would appear that the rapture will either be before the seven years or midway through them because true Christians would not worship the image of the antichrist and thus would be killed. I would like to think that Jesus, in His mercy, would gather all those from this earth who had repented and believed in Him prior to the time of the antichrist. Jesus did tell the church in Philadelphia (Asia Minor) that because of their faithfulness, He would keep them from the hour of temptation that would come upon all the world (Revelation 3:10).
When the antichrist comes on the scene, he will make a covenant with Israel for peace and will allow them to once again sacrifice and worship in the temple which will have been rebuilt. However, after three- and one-half years, he will break his covenant, stop the sacrifices, and demand worldwide worship, setting up his own image in the temple, the “abomination of desolation”. The remaining three-and-on-half years, called “a time, times, and half” (Daniel 12:25), will be complete desolation and misery for those alive at that time, and will usher in the second coming of Christ. Jews, who will be living at that time and who have studied the book of Daniel, will understand what is transpiring. They have been looking for their Messiah to come, but the Jews had rejected Christ the first time that He came to earth. This time they will acknowledge Jesus as God’s Son, the Savior of the world, and will be saved just like we are today, by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
There is a tremendous number of things that we don’t know concerning the end times, the rapture, the tribulation, and the second coming of Christ. What we do know, what has been revealed to us, is given unto us to help us live under grace and to prepare for eternity. We need not worry if we have repented of our sin, believed on Christ as Lord and Savior, and are living for Him. God has the end of the world as we know it all planned out to the smallest detail, just like He created the world and everything in it specifically and purposefully, and He will take care of His own. For that, I am confident.