“His
armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the
daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.” Daniel 11:31
"So
when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes
desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader
understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on
the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in
the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for
pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place
in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled
from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” Matthew
24:15-21
In Matthew 24, Jesus referenced
Daniel’s “abomination.” Daniel most
likely spoke of the desecration of the Temple by the construction of a Zeus
statue in its sacred precincts by Antiochus IV Epiphanes around 170 BC. It stopped sacrifices from happening. If that’s the case, then Jesus spoke of a future
abomination much like Daniel’s.
What will happen during this abomination? According to Jesus...
- People in Jerusalem will run for their lives. Quickly!
- Slow women will be in jeopardy. Get out!
- Great distress.
- False prophets will rise up. "Everything will be okay!"
- Great upheaval, as if the sun, moon and stars were turned upside down.
All of those things happened when the
temple was destroyed in 70 AD. The
destruction of Jerusalem turned the Jewish world upside down. The temple was desolated, overrun and defiled
by enemies.
Is it what Daniel was speaking
about? Could be. Daniel prophesied a near future event of
Antiochus, but he could have been predicting the future destruction of the
temple. Emperors Caligula and Hadrian
tried to erect statues there. Nero
persecuted Christians there. All of that
defiled the temple.
Jesus definitely used Daniel’s term to
point to another similar abomination that would desolate the temple. This event in 70 AD was so powerful, the
temple has still not been used for its original purposes of sacrifice to this
day.
And why would the temple need to
open? Jesus already died and performed
all the sacrifice that was needed for our sins.
The temple did its job of pointing to his sacrifice, now it never needs
to operate again.