Abomination of Desolation

Jesus predicted several signs before His coming at the end of the age. The Abomination of desolation spoken is a sign of the last days and would precede the coming of Christ.

Jesus speaking of the end time, said, Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place' (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not to back to get his clothes. "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath, For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no nor ever shall be. Matthew 24:15-21

According to Strong's Concordance, abomination is from bdelugma (#946) and means a detestable thing, as in idolatry. Thayer conquers saying it is used of idols and things pertaining to idolatry.

This sign helps us to further clarify the last days events and the time of the Parousia of Christ. More than a few clues are afforded the reader in the text

First, Jesus gives a significant clue by pointing the reader to the prophecy of Daniel.

Daniel's Prophecy of the Abomination of Desolation

Daniel prophesied that Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression..." The holy people refers to Judah who had been in captivity for seventy years. The holy city is Jerusalem.

To finish the transgression in biblical terms meant to fill up the cup of sin."

Jesus alluding to this very text in the close of his ministry while speaking to the Pharisees of Judea said, Fill up, then, the measure of your father's guilt."(Matthew 23:32)

He would send prophets, wise men and scribes urging Judah's repentance, but they would reject and kill them. As their fathers did so would they. See verse 34.

For this Christ promised, Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Matthew 23:34-35.

That Daniels' seventy weeks would be fulfilled in the lifetime of the Judeans living in the time of Christ is confirmed by the next statement uttered by Christ. "Assuredly, I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation." Keep in mind that Daniel writes during the Judean captivity in Babylon. Reduced to an syllogistic argument, the point is as follows:

Daniel prophesied Judah would finish the transgression, i.e. fill up the cup of sin/iniquity within the prophetic 70 weeks.

Those who filled the cup of sin in murdering the prophets would be punished in the in "this generation" meaning the first century generation.

Therefore, the seventy weeks of Daniel prophesied for the finishing of the transgression would take place within the first century generation.

The Abomination of Desolation and 1st Century Jews

He would send prophets, wise men and scribes urging Judah's repentance, but they would reject and kill them. As their fathers did so would they. See verse 34.

For this Christ promised, Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Matthew 23:34-35.

That Daniels' seventy weeks would be fulfilled in the lifetime of the Judeans living in the time of Christ is confirmed by the next statement uttered by Christ. "Assuredly, I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation." Keep in mind that Daniel writes during the Judean captivity in Babylon. Reduced to an syllogistic argument, the point is as follows:

Daniel prophesied Judah would finish the transgression, i.e. fill up the cup of sin/iniquity within the prophetic 70 weeks.

Those who filled the cup of sin in murdering the prophets would be punished in the in "this generation" meaning the first century generation.

Therefore, the seventy weeks of Daniel prophesied for the finishing of the transgression would take place within the first century generation.

Woes Upon Jerusalem

The term "desolate" is an interesting word. It alludes to the covenant relationship God had with his people Judah. He is the husband, they are the wife. In the word desolate, he is predicting a time when she will be lonely, forsaken and barren resulting from a husband who withholds marriage privileges from a wife with whom he is displeased wife.

Paul echoes the wrath to come upon Judah.

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.1 Thessalonians 2:4-16

Summary of the Seventy Weeks

We are not attempting to set a chronological time table other than the guidelines given in scripture.

We have noted that the events would occur within the first century generation. Daniel adds that the abomination of desolation is determined till the end of the war which destroys the holy city, i.e. Jerusalem. "Even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate. (Daniel 9:26, 27)

The word "determined" simply means that a very definite and precise time for the destruction of the city has been determined.

What Specifically Is the Abomination of Desolation?

In each of the texts before us, first century Jerusalem has been named or alluded to. The abomination of desolation is said to "stand in the "holy place," (Matthew 24:15). This is a direct allusion to the temple. It forms another clue to the meaning of this abomination.

Some expositors and commentators identify the Roman ensigns brought into the temple by the Roman soldiers who invaded the temple as the abomination of desolation.

F.F. Bruce, offers the following on the abomination of desolation:

This has sometimes been thought to point to the Roman legionaries setting up their standards in the temple court while the sanctuary was going up in flames at the end of August, A.D. 70, and offering sacrifice to them opposite the east gate (Josephus, Bell. 6.316). While Josephus may have seen a fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy in this event (cf. Bruce, "Josephus and Daniel"), the Evangelists probably did not; the temple court was not "the holy place," and there was no demand that the Jews should join in the worship of the Roman standards. Besides, by the time that this act of sacrilege took place, it was too late for those in Judea to "flee to the mountains." (F.F. Bruce, "Excursion on the Antichrist, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 45., p. 181.)

Exekiel Chapter 8 and the Abomimation of Desolation

Ezekiel speaking of a soon to come judgment upon ancient Jerusalem says that the time was near for God to repay them for all their abominations, (6:11, 7:3-4, 8-9).

In chapter eight, the prophet spells out precisely what those abominations were. They were set up in the temple. In the holy place was an image of jealousy, --an idol which provoked God to jealousy, (8:3)

God called this an abomination which Israel had set up. He then showed Ezekiel even greater abominations in the temple. See verses 6-17.

These abominations in the temple were set up by God's own people Israel. For this he would bring an end upon the nation.If this is a clue of what is meant by an abomination of desolation, it seems that the Jews were responsible for polluting their own temple in some manner which resulted in the destruction of the temple and holy city by the Romans. As in the above case, it certainly would fit the chronology and allusions from history.

Other Clues of the Abomination of Desolation

They were to pray that their flight was neither in the winter when the harsh weather would impede a hasty flight, nor on the Sabbath when the gates of the temple would be locked shut.

When the Romans invaded Judea, they locked the gates in vain hopes of protection from the Romans. It became their undoing as pestilence and famine ravaged its inhabitants doing far more damage than the Roman invaders. Daniel and Christ spoke of the time of great tribulation upon the nation without parallel in since they were a nation.

All these things were predicted for the first century generation, (Matthew 24:34)

Therefore, the abomination of desolation was an event which occurred in the first century in connection with the fall of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. Jesus' words were minutely fulfilled. This sign belongs to past history and should not and cannot scripturally be used as a precursor of an alleged endtime in our future.