THE BOOK OF MATTHEW – Chapter 24, verses 15 – 28, Part 2

 

THE BOOK OF MATTHEW – Part 2

Chapter 24, verse 15-28

Perilous Times

Jesus, having just enumerated the signs of His coming and the events leading up to the end of the age, is now describing what comes after the tribulation of those days:

Matthew 24:15, Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, verse 16, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Verse 17. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house. Verse 18. And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. Verse 19. But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days! Verse 20. Moreover, pray that when you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. Verse 21. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.

(Commentary Break): An ‘abomination’ is “something that causes disgust or hatred”; and ‘desolation’ is “a state of complete emptiness or destruction.” Jesus warned that something (or someone) that people detested would stand in the temple someday. When that horror occurred, residents of Judea should seek cover without delay. The Amplified Bible adds the note that the abomination of desolation is “the appalling sacrilege that astonishes and makes desolate.”

Jesus referenced Daniel in His words in the Olivet Discourse. The prophet Daniel mentioned the abomination of desolation in three places:

“He will make a firm, (that is a binding and irrevocable) covenant with many for one week (which is seven years), but in the middle of the week, (that is, after three and one half years) he will put a stop to (the regular Jewish) sacrifice and (grain) offering. And the abomination, (that is, a disgusting thing or person, causing hatred and creating) desolation, (a state of complete emptiness complete and utter destruction), will be on a wing, (or on the pinnacle or the extremity) of the temple until the decreed destruction is (also) poured out on the desolator, (the one who causes these horrors).” (Daniel 9:27).

“Forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31, NKJV).

“From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days” (Daniel 12:11, NASB).

The wording in the above translations indicates that the abomination of desolation is an object; in some other translations, the abomination appears to be a person: “On the wing (or at the pinnacle or the height) of abominations shall come one who makes desolate” (Daniel 9:27, ESV).

Regardless of whether the abomination of desolation is a person or a thing, Daniel predicted the following:

 1.  A future ruler will make a treaty with the people of Israel, which should occur sometime before the breaking of the Sixth Tribulation Seal, (see Matthew 24:29-31 and Revelation 6:12-17), which could occur at any time prior to the Second Coming of Christ as written in Matthew 24:30, and the rapture, but only after the “Man of Lawlessness”, the antichrist, is revealed (see 2 Thessalonians 3:4.)

2.  The terms of this treaty will be for a “week”, is taken to be a period of seven years (which is beginning at the breaking of the Sixth Tribulation Seal).

3.  Midway through this time, the ruler will gather his troops and put an end to the sacrifices and offerings in the temple (which occurs at the blowing of the Sixth Tribulation Trumpet).

4.  At that time, the ruler will desecrate the temple, setting up some type of sacrilegious object.

5.  The desecration of the temple will continue until the judgment of God is finally meted out on the ruler and his followers, 1,290 days (3½ years and 1 month) later (at the end of the Seventh Tribulation Bowl).

Daniel’s prophecies about the abomination of desolation had a partial fulfillment in 167 B.C. which was a foreshadowing of what was to come, when a Greek ruler by the name of Antiochus IV desecrated the temple in Jerusalem. Antiochus called himself “Epiphanies” (“illustrious one” or “god manifest”). He set up an altar to Zeus over the altar of burnt offering, and he sacrificed a pig on the altar. Antiochus went even further in his atrocities, slaughtering a great number of the Jews and selling others into slavery. And he issued decrees forbidding circumcision and requiring Jews to sacrifice to pagan gods and eat pig meat.

What Antiochus did certainly qualified as an abomination, but it was not a complete fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. Antiochus Epiphanies did not enter a covenant with Israel for seven years, for example. And in Matthew 24 Jesus, speaking some 200 years after Antiochus’s evil actions, spoke of Daniel’s prophecy as having a still future fulfillment.

The abomination of desolation prophecy as still future. In our view, Jesus was referring to the Antichrist who, in the end times, will establish a covenant with Israel for seven years and then break it by doing something similar to what Antiochus Epiphanies did in the temple. The sacrilegious object Jesus called “the abomination of desolation” could be the “image of the beast” that the Antichrist’s right-hand man, the false prophet, will order to be set up and worshiped (Revelation 13:14). Of course, for Matthew 24:15 to be yet future, the temple in Jerusalem will have to be rebuilt before the tribulation begins.

Those who are alive during the tribulation should be watchful and recognize that the breaking of the covenant with Israel and the abomination of desolation will herald the beginning of the worst 3½ years in history (see Matthew 24:21). “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36). (Note: Much of the commentary in this one section, but not all, is derived from GotQuestions.Org). (End Commentary Break).

Verse 22. And if those days had not been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Verse 23. Then, if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him. Verse 24. For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Verse 25. Behold, I have told you in advance. Verse 26. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. Verse 27. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Verse 28. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

(Commentary Break): Verses 22 through 28 tell us of the deadly horrors, the stress and chaos of these days. People will grope for and grasp at any sign of hope of relief, and false christs and false prophets will offer false hope, and Jesus warns they will provide ‘great signs of wonders, so as to mislead’ you. Jesus says, “do not believe them’. Then, Jesus will appear suddenly, at an unexpected time, just like when lightning flashes across the skies, and then, at the sound of the angel’s trumpet, you will be rescued. Therein lies our hope and certainty.

Verse 28 is open to many interpretations, none of which are certain. But one idea that seems to fit nicely, can be found in Revelation 19:11-21, when Jesus appears in the heavens on a white horse, He judges and wages war and His eyes aflame with fire. An angel standing in the sun, cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, “Come, assemble for the great feast of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, and small and great. And those who bore the mark of the beast were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. (End Commentary Break).

Please click on the link below to proceed with Part 2, “Perilous Times”. We will discuss the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet. This will be the triggering event for the revealing of the antichrist, the rapture and the transition from the first five tribulation seals, also named the “Birth Pains” of the tribulation, (so named by Jesus), into the final seven years of the Great Tribulation, also known as the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord and The Wrath of The Lamb.

Please click on this link as we conclude Matthew chapter 24, with Part 3, “The Glorious Return, Parable of the Fig Tree, Be Ready for His Coming”. We will peer into the glorious second coming of Jesus, learn from the parable of the Fig Tree and the season of His return, and finally, what it means to get ready and to look at our responsibilities prior to His return.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

(Return to Matthew 24:1-14, The Signs of His Comine – Part 1)