Just What Is the Abomination of Desolation?
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article by Gary Petty
In one of the Bible's best-known prophecies, Jesus Christ spoke of a coming "abomination of desolation." What did He mean? Has that prophecy come to pass?
From supermarket tabloids it is apparent people are fascinated with biblical prophecy. Someone's always coming up with a new interpretation of the beasts of the book of Daniel or of the mysterious cataclysms of Revelation.Apart from the hyperbole and hysteria, people do have practical concerns about the intriguing prophetic statements in the Bible. We live in turbulent times. People are concerned about the state of the world. Some, almost instinctively, turn to the Bible—particularly the prophetic passages—for solace and insight.
Jesus Christ's Olivet prophecy, recorded for us in Matthew 24, Mark 16 and Luke 21, is one of the Bible's most familiar prophecies. In it Jesus warns of a coming time of unprecedented trouble. He advises people in Judea to flee when they see the "abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet" (Matthew:24:15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)).
What is the abomination of desolation? Can the Bible tell us its meaning? Is this prophecy only for the people of Daniel's or Christ's day, or is it a warning for a time yet ahead of us?
The Abomination in the Book of Daniel
When Jesus spoke of the abomination of desolation, He was referring to Daniel:11:31And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. and 12:11. God revealed to Daniel that "there shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence" (Daniel:12:1And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book., New Revised Standard Version). Then, in verse 11, Daniel learns that the abomination involves the cessation of daily sacrifices.A key to understanding prophecy is the principle of duality —that some prophecies can have more than one fulfillment. This means a prophecy may be partially fulfilled but will not completely come to pass until a later time. To understand Christ's words we must look at three fulfillments—two historic and one future—of prophecies about the abomination of desolation.
When the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar invaded the kingdom of Judah in 606 B.C., he took many of the most intelligent of the Jewish youths to Babylon to serve in his court. Daniel, who wrote the book that bears his name around 535 B.C., was taken to Babylon with the first of the Jewish captives and trained to serve in Nebuchadnezzar's government.
Daniel tells us Nebuchadnezzar was troubled by a dream of an image, or statue, of a man. The image had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, stomach and thighs of bronze and lower legs and feet of iron and clay. Through Daniel God revealed to the king that Babylon was to be the first in a series of four great empires (Daniel 2). History shows these four kingdoms to be the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman empires. The head of gold represented Babylon, the chest and arms the Medo-Persia Empire, the stomach and thighs the Grecian and the lower legs and feet the Roman Empire.
With the knowledge of the four successive empires in mind, let's look at the prophecy in Daniel 8.
Daniel had a vision of a ram with power to stand against all other animals (verses 1-4). A goat with a "notable horn" would destroy the ram (verses 5-7). The goat's horn was to grow strong but would break off and be replaced by four horns (verse 8). Out of the four horns would come a small horn that would grow and invade the "Glorious Land," establishing the "transgression of desolation" (verses 9-14).
How can we understand Daniel's vision? Besides realizing that prophecies can have multiple fulfillments, we should realize that the Bible often interprets itself. We read a little farther in Daniel 8 that God sent the angel Gabriel to reveal to Daniel the meaning of this vision.
The Prophetic Dream Fulfilled
In Daniel 8 we learn that the ram represents the kingdom of Media and Persia and the goat the kingdom of Greece. The goat's large horn is the first Grecian king, who was to precede four more kings (verses 15-22). This is a remarkable prophecy of events many years after Daniel's death.The Greeks, united under Alexander the Great, overthrew the Persian Empire in 331 B.C. Alexander, after conquering much of the known world from the eastern Mediterranean to India, died in his early 30s in 323 B.C. The Greek empire was thrown into confusion and finally divided among four of Alexander's generals:
• Ptolemy, who ruled Egypt, part of Syria and Judea.
• Seleucus, who ruled the other part of Syria, Babylon and the territory east to India.
• Lysimachus, who ruled Asia Minor.
• Cassander (Antipater), who ruled Greece and Macedonia.
Historians record that the four kingdoms rising out of Alexander's empire eventually coalesced into a northern kingdom ruled by the Seleucids and a southern kingdom ruled by the Ptolemies.
According to Daniel's vision, these four kings were to be followed by a "small horn." This horn was to take away the daily sacrifices of the temple (verse 11). Of course, at the time of Daniel's prophecy no temple existed in Jerusalem and no sacrifices were being offered; the temple had been destroyed in the Babylonian invasions several decades before Daniel recorded this prophecy.
However, shortly after Daniel wrote his book his fellow refugees from Judah were allowed to return to their homeland. There they rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple and renewed the temple sacrifices.
Daniel's vision then sweeps across time some 31/2 centuries into the future, to 167 B.C. At that time one of the Seleucid rulers, Antiochus IV (Antiochus Epiphanes), invaded Judah (Daniel:8:23-27 [23] And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
[24] And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
[25] And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
[26] And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.
[27] And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.).
The First Partial Fulfillment
The noncanonical but historical book of 1 Maccabees describes the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes:"The king then issued a proclamation to his whole kingdom that all were to become a single people, each nation renouncing its particular customs. All the gentiles conformed to the king's decree, and many Israelites chose to accept his religion, sacrificing to idols and profaning the Sabbath.
"The king also sent edicts by messenger to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, directing them to adopt customs foreign to the country, banning burnt offerings, sacrifices and libations from the sanctuary, profaning Sabbaths and feasts, defiling the sanctuary and everything holy, building altars, shrines and temples for idols, ... so that they should forget the Law and revoke all observance of it. Anyone not obeying the king's command was to be put to death" (1 Maccabees:1:41, 44-50, New Jerusalem Bible).
Punishment was swift and brutal. Women who had had their sons circumcised were killed and their babies hung around their necks (verses 60-61). Anyone continuing in faithful obedience to God was executed (verses 62-64).
Not content merely to stop the sacrifices, Antiochus desecrated the temple. "... A bearded image of the pagan deity [Jupiter Olympus] ... [was] set up upon the Temple altar. The Jews popularly spoke of this as 'the abomination of desolation.' Greek soldiers and their paramours performed licentious heathen rites in the very Temple courts. Swine were sacrificed on the altar" (Charles Pfeiffer, Between the Testaments, 1974, p. 81).
Daniel (in Daniel:8:14And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.) hears that these desecrations will continue for "two thousand three hundred days" or 2,300 "evenings and mornings" (New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible and other translations). The temple service included a morning and evening sacrifice. Twenty-three hundred morning and evening sacrifices amounted to 1,150 days. Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple and halted sacrifices in 167 B.C. Judas Maccabeus resumed the sacrifices in 164 after cleansing and rededicating the temple. Many Jews commemorate these events with the Feast of Hanukkah.
Daniel 8 is a detailed prophecy of the first "abomination of desolation" affecting the temple sacrifices for 1,150 days. Antiochus's actions partially fulfilled this prophecy.
Notice, however, that Daniel's prophecy of the abomination of desolation also has a fulfillment at "the appointed time of the end" (verse 19, NRSV), "when transgressors have reached their fullness" and the king of the "abomination" rises against the "Prince of princes" (verses 23-26). This king is to fight against the Messiah, who comes to establish God's Kingdom on earth! According to Daniel:12:11And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days., this end time "abomination" is to last 1,290 days—not 1,150 days.
Second Partial Fulfillment
In A.D. 64 Jerusalem and Judea were again in an uproar. The Roman emperor Nero had begun slaughtering Christians in and around Rome. Rumors of war became reality in 66 when Roman soldiers killed thousands of people in Jerusalem. The Jews revolted. The legion sent to quell the rebellion was defeated.Then, in 67, Vespasian invaded Judea with a Roman army. The Romans finally captured and razed Jerusalem in 70, but the Jerusalem church survived by fleeing the city before its fall. How did these early Christians know to leave Jerusalem?
Jesus had warned the inhabitants of Jerusalem of a future siege and destruction: "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation" (Luke:19:43-44 [43] For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
[44] And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.).
Luke's version of the Olivet prophecy supplies another warning: "... When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near" (Luke:21:20And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.).
Parts of the Olivet prophecy were to have two fulfillments. The first occurred in the lifetime of many of Jesus' contemporaries who had rejected Him as Messiah. They lived to see some aspects of Christ's prophecy come to pass with the siege and fall of Jerusalem. Other parts of His prophecy, however, have yet to be fulfilled. (See "Has Jesus Christ's Olivet Prophecy Been Fulfilled? ,")
Just as the partial fulfillment of the abomination of desolation by Antiochus Epiphanes involved capturing Jerusalem and defiling the temple, so would the partial fulfillment of Christ's prophecy in the first century involve similar events.
The first-century Jewish historian Josephus describes the siege of Jerusalem as one of the most bloody in history. Famine and diseases wracked the weakened populace.
He also describes false prophets who, rather than commanding repentance, told the people God would deliver them. Josephus records strange events, including people seeing visions of soldiers and chariots in the clouds. On the Feast of Pentecost the temple shook and the priests "heard the sound as of a great multitude, saying, 'Let us remove hence' " ( Wars of the Jews, Book VI, Chapter V, Section 3).
In 70 Vespasian's supporters called him back to Rome to become emperor. Titus finished the final siege of Jerusalem, then erected an idol on the devastated temple altar. Josephus claims 1.1 million Jews were killed and 97,000 enslaved in the war and siege ( Wars, VI, ix, 3).
What of the followers of Jesus? Did they heed His warning to flee Jerusalem? Church historian Eusebius, writing in 324, records this bit of tradition: " . . . The members of the Jerusalem church, by means of an oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the City before the war began and settle in a town in Perea called Pella. To Pella those who believed in Christ migrated from Jerusalem . . ." ( The History of the Church, 1965, p. 111).
The second fulfillment of the abomination of desolation ended with the destruction of the temple at the hands of the Romans. The temple was destroyed and the priesthood and sacrifices abolished, ushering in a situation that continues to this day.
However, Christ's Olivet prophecy is primarily concerned with His second coming. After all, Jesus Christ gave this prophecy in response to the disciples' plea: "... What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew:24:3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?). This warning still sounds for those who wait for Christ's return!
The Future Abomination of Desolation
In Matthew:24:15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Jesus says the abomination of desolation will be "standing in the holy place."Paul tells us a major religious figure will arise at the time of the end.Notice 2 Thessalonians:2:1-4 [1] Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
[2] That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
[3] Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
[4] Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.:
"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [of Christ's return] will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
Christ will destroy this apostate leader at His second coming (verses 5-8), but not before he has deceived many with "power, signs, and lying wonders" (verses 9-12).
This description fits prophecies of the second beast in Revelation:13:11-14 [11] And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
[12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
[13] And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
[14] And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.. Echoing Paul's warning, Revelation warns that this leader will perform "great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven ... And he deceives those who dwell on the earth ..."
Since the first two fulfillments of the abomination of desolation involved the cessation of sacrifices, it appears that sacrifices will again be instituted before Christ's return. Daniel:12:9-13 [9] And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
[10] Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
[11] And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
[12] Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
[13] But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. describes the abomination of desolation as occurring at "the time of the end." Apparently once again sacrifices will be initiated at or near Jerusalem; armies again will surround Jerusalem, and the sacrifices will be cut off—this time for 1,290 days.
In the Footsteps of Antiochus
An influential and powerful leader will play a pivotal role in end-time events. In addition to performing great miracles, he "exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians:2:4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.). His deceptive powers will be so great that most people will believe he is God's direct representative if not a divine being himself.God, however, calls him "the lawless one" (verse 3, NRSV). He represents a system that opposes God's law. Antiochus Epiphanes, who engineered the original abomination of desolation, may well be the forerunner of this end-time "man of sin."
Antiochus Epiphanes tried to stamp out worship of God and ruthlessly persecuted all who remained obedient to Him. Many prophecies tell us history will repeat itself. Many of God's faithful followers will again be persecuted and murdered at the time of the end (John:15:18-20 [18] If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
[19] If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
[20] Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.; 16:2; Revelation:6:9-11 [9] And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
[10] And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
[11] And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.; 17:6; 20:4).
Revelation 13 describes an end-time religious leader who will "cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed" (verse 15). Government and religious powers will be brought to bear on those who see through this deception and are faithful to God. Christ's end-time warning to Christians—"they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake" (Matthew:24:8-9)—will be fulfilled.
A Warning for Today
Jesus encouraged His followers to "watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming" (Matthew:24:42). Understanding the first two fulfillments of the abomination of desolation, we can stay alert for coming prophesied events:• Moves to reintroduce daily sacrifices in Israel.
• The rise of the "man of lawlessness," a religious figure who claims to speak for God.
• Geopolitical events that will lead to armies amassing around Israel and Jerusalem.
God will send His Son to earth to save mankind from self-destruction. But before Christ's return the world will suffer a "great tribulation" like no other time in history. Christians, however, aren't left without information about end-time events. GN
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