“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand).”(Matthew 24:15 ESV)
What did Jesus mean by the phrase abomination of desolation? Linguistically, abomination (βδέλυγμα; bdelygma) refers to what is detestable and abhorrent. It is a repugnant object or situation with no apparent redeemable value. Desolation (ἐρήμωσις; eremasis) is devastation and destruction.
Jesus taught this event and the disciples should have known about it. Daniel the prophet spoke of this detestable destruction during his ministry. The biblical texts to which Jesus referred to were Daniel 9:17, 9:27 and 11:31.
Daniel 9:17 (ESV) – “Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.”
Daniel 9:27 (ESV) – “And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
Daniel 11:31 (ESV) – “Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.”
While Jesus pointed to near future for His first century audience, He was also looking back to a historical event which was future for the prophet Daniel. What event in biblical and recorded history related to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 24:15?
In Daniel’s prophecies, the abomination of desolation referred to the desecration of the Jewish temple by the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes. In 168 B.C. Antiochus placed a pagan altar in the temple. He also sacrificed a swine or pig. This was foreshadowing of the temple’s desecration and destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Romans entered the temple with military standards, and other ceremonial insignias representing their pagan religion. The Romans removed the temple’s sacred vessels and then burned the temple to the ground.
“In accordance with that prophet’s prediction Antiochus Epiphanes (175–164 b.c.), unaware that he was indeed fulfilling prophecy, and being thoroughly responsible for his own wicked deed, erected a pagan altar over the altar of burnt-offering, thus polluting the house of God. This had happened long ago,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
“Nevertheless, Jesus says, “Now when you see ‘the desolating sacrilege,’ ” showing that he is telling the disciples that a divine oracle may apply to more than one historical situation: the sacrilege that results in the desolation of city and temple takes place more than once in history.”
“Let the man who reads Daniel’s prophecy understand this! Just as in the past the holy places of the Lord had been desecrated, so it will happen again. And it did indeed take place when the Roman armies, with the image of the emperor upon their standards, an image and an emperor worshipped by them laid siege to the city of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20). But just as the pagan altar and the swine offered upon it in the very temple of Jehovah in the second century b.c. pointed forward to the idolatrous legions of Rome, so these in turn foreshadowed the great and final violation by the antichrist of all that is sacred,” states Dr. Hendriksen.
The phrase, “let the reader understand,” is not necessarily just about Matthew’s Gospel, but rather Daniel’s prophecy. Antiochus’ behavior in the past prefigured the temple’s destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D. and the future abomination by the antichrist prior to Christ’s return.
Believes in Christ must always remember the past in order to live in the present and to prepare for the future. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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