04 August 2023
I've been asked to explain my take on the term "abomination of desolation".
The phrase first appears in Scripture with Daniel's prophecies in 9:27, 11:31 and 12:11. Later, Jesus refers to this in the Gospels, particularly as reported by Matthew in Jesus' long discussion sitting on the Mount of Olives, where they could all gaze down upon Herod's Temple (Matthew 24).
The phrase itself refers to some horrifying event so completely defiling that it renders the Temple utterly useless. The image is that Jehovah would be so offended He departs and doesn't return until something is done to make amends, to purify and restore sanity. It compares favorably to a very public gangbang of one's wife. It's not blaming her, but she has been defiled and there must be some cleansing; she must be healed.
Because of the long history of western Christians taking biblical symbols too literally, we have this big mess of mythology as to what Daniel and Christ were referring. The main thing you need to understand is that Daniel refers to a period of tribulation attached to a future event. The idea that Daniel's "weeks" refers to increments of seven years is fairly obvious. The reference to three-and-a-half of any time period always means tribulation, and it is virtually never literal. No matter how you slice it -- 3.5 years, 42 months, or 1277.5 days -- it's still the same symbolic reference to tribulation.
Thus, for Daniel to emphasize the "middle of the week" is just another way of saying two increments of tribulation on either side of the event. This is all you really have to take from that. It's a reference God Himself uses, so having that symbol in the mouth of His angel doesn't change the meaning.
In Hebrew history, the abomination of desolation happened twice. The first came when the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV offered a pig on the altar in the Second Temple, built by those who returned from Exile. This took place in 167 BC. It required three years of guerilla warfare for the Jews to regain control of the Temple and hold a cleansing ceremony. That ceremony became Hanukkah, or the Feast of Lights, AKA the Feast of Dedication. The event is not mentioned directly in the Bible, but the defilement of the Temple qualifies for the term "abomination of desolation".
The second time was when Roman soldiers destroyed and plundered Herod's Temple in 70 AD, the event Jesus specifically referred to in His prophetic warning in Matthew 24. The chaos and turmoil that followed was, according to Jesus, as bad as it would ever get for His followers (Matthew 24:21). Whatever is coming in the End Times will not be worse, but it could be about as bad. Jesus indicated it was a type of event that could repeat later.
One of the most common mistakes Christians make is to assume any mention of prophetic events can only refer to a single incident. Hebrew writing outside of Scripture refers to both of those historical events as an abomination of desolation. Thus, the reference becomes inherently symbolic. John's Revelation appears to describe yet another future event that will fit this image (Revelation 13:5-6). Given that the Book of Revelation is more about types instead of specific events, a book of how God does things in all times, it's foolish to imagine John describes a specific future event.
Today, we are witnessing a trend that qualifies as an abomination of desolation. The way churches have been so thoroughly compromised by the idolatries of the world, you could justifiably say this echoes the prophesies of Scripture. Christians -- the Temple of the Holy Spirit -- have been defiled by a false religion. It triggers the warning Jesus gave to His disciples that day on Mount of Olives: We should flee the situation to avoid the coming wrath of God.
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