For a PDF tract
please click herehttp://www.beholdthebeast.com/abomination_of_desolation.htmMatthew 24:15
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountainsIt would be difficult for a Christian to deny that the blasphemous Islamic Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, is AN
abomination with it's declaration that "far be it from Allah's transcendent majesty that he should have a son" written in mosaic all around the eves and the inside of the building. Indeed they are the founding words.
This is the most important element in Islam known as "
shirk" - which is that spirit of
antichrist. Nor would there be any shortage of Jews in Israel that consider it to be THE abomination of desolation, as any worship on the temple mount is precluded by this Islamic abomination. Islamic Hadith: "Jews will hide behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!" But could this be THE abomination of desolation "spoken of by Daniel the prophet" that was "
set up" (or "placed") to "
stand" in the holy place?
Daniel 12:11
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. (Tanach) - Daniel 12:11
And from the time the daily sacrifice was removed and the silent abomination placed, is one thousand, two hundred, and ninety.Mark confirms that it stands and tells us that it is an "it":
Mark 13:14
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:Whereas the 2Thess "man of sin" "sitteth".
Luke tells us that it is Jerusalem that is desolated, in his parallel verse:
Luke 21:20
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh 21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains...All three apostles also confirm something about the timing, because we find it is written about a future event as in "...
ye shall see...", so we can conclude that it was to be an abomination associated with the desolation of Jerusalem, in the future to the time at which Jesus delivered this discourse, even though it was spoken of by Daniel the prophet over 500 years prior to the Discourse.
Jerusalem was compassed with armies on many occasions after the discourse was delivered including 70 AD, 132, 639, 1099, 1187, 1948, 1967 and indeed even as of this writing. In 70 AD, a million Jews were killed, and an apparently already desolate temple was torn down. Jesus had declared almost 40 years earlier: Mat 23:33
[Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Matt 23:38
"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.", because the Pharisees had made "...
the word of God of none effect through your tradition..." (Mark 7:13), a condition in which we seem to find
today's church. If the temple had not already been rendered desolate as Jesus' declaration above would seem to suggest, then it was desolated through the completed work of Jesus' shed blood on the Cross, almost 40 years before the temple was torn down in 70 AD. That is likely why "...the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom..." after Jesus had "...
yielded up the ghost..." on the Cross (Matt 27:50-51). In 70 AD all of the Christians escaped and were saved out of the slaughter, seemingly not desolating the Christian community.
Though a significant and horrific event in 70 AD, the Romans Gentiles none-the-less came back to slaughter another 600,000-750,000 Jews less than 65 years later, in the Bar Kocha revolt of 132-135 AD.
Later in the Olivet Discourse we find:
Luke 21:24
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.So Luke gives us another time pin. It would seem problematic indeed to suggest that the "times of the Gentiles" were fulfilled in 70 AD since the Roman Gentiles came back for a double dip of Jewish slaughter less than 65 years later. But blessedly, as
Daniel's "times" seem to demonstrate - both mathematically and textually - the "times of the Gentiles" were fulfilled in 1967, when the Jews were restored to power and control of Jerusalem for the first time in over 2500 years. We read "...
when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people..." - the end of the scattering of the power of the Jews (the only "holy people" of Daniel's day).
Jerusalem was temporarily desolated in 70 AD, again in 132 AD, and conquered again in 639 AD when Khalifah Omar marched into town during the Islamic First Jihad. The Coptic church was alive and well since Bishop Sophronius was compelled to show Khalifah Omar around town. However history has shown that nothing was more desolating to Jerusalem than 1100 years of Islamization and accompanying exile of Christians and Jews. By the early 1800's there were just 550 residents. As a result even the historical record of Jerusalem in first quarter of the 19th century is sketchy and anecdotal at best.
In "A History of the Jews" Paul Johnson writes on page 321: "Between 1827 and 1839, largely through British efforts, the population of Jerusalem rose from 550 to 5,500 and in all Palestine it topped 10,000 - the real beginning of the Jewish return to the Promised Land. In 1838 Palmerston appointed the first western vice-consul in Jerusalem, W.T. Young, and told him 'to afford protection to the Jews generally'."
Even as late as 1867
Mark Twain described it thus: " ...[a] desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds-a silent mournful expanse....A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action....We never saw a human being on the whole route....There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country."
No surprise then when we find the founding verses on the Islamic abomination the Dome of the Rock read: "O you People of the Book, overstep not bounds in your religion, and of God speak only the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and his Word which he conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from him. Believe therefore in God and his apostles, and say not Three. It will be better for you. God is only one God. Far be it from His transcendent majesty that he should have a son."
When we read: Matt 24:16
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains...it becomes pretty clear that this would apply to all of the compassings of Jerusalem, but the desolation symbolized by the Dome of the Rock would seem confirmed when we consider the text and math of this verse: Revelation 12:6 (KJV):
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days.It was
1260 "days" (as years) of Jewish and Christian exile from the founding of the Dome of the Rock in 688 until the declaration of an independent Israel in 1948. It was
42 prophetic "months" from 688 to 1967 as
the beast continued. The date of 688 is also confirmed mathematically and textually by
Daniel's 1290, and the 1290 is confirmed by
his 1335.
Within the traditional
continuous-historic context of prophecy it is then easy to understand that the Islamic Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, is THE abomination of desolation that was "
set up" and is "
standing where it ought not" on the temple mount. Indeed desolation of the mount is the order of the day through Islamic
prohibition of prayer, and the bringing of "Holy objects" like bibles, onto the mount. Not a very good fit with 2 Thess "
man of sin", as
Darby contended, since he sitteth or is seated, and is not an "it". Nor would it seem a very apt description of a
conflagration of 70 AD, particularly since that was not desolating in regard to the Christian community. The Dome of the Rock would, however, seem a very apt symbol for Islam as
the subject of the end - the
final kingdom that oppresses God's people - just as we see it stand in the holy place we can also see Islamic desolation of
55 countries today. Two million slain in
the Sudan alone.
Our Lord and Savior's return may truly be at hand when we consider: Matthew 24:32-34 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
The times of the Gentiles is one of the last of the "things" on the list to be fulfilled.
The same generation that sees all "these things" in this passage fulfilled will not pass before Jesus' return. Whether a biblical or literal or metaphorical
generation is meant is uncertain. But if the shortest possible time span is considered, enough bible prophecy has been fulfilled for Jesus to return .... TODAY!
Strong's definitions:
the abomination
New Testament Greek Definition:
946 bdelugma {bdel'-oog-mah}
from 948; TDNT - 1:598,103; n n
AV - abomination 6; 6
1) a foul thing, a detestable thing
1a) of idols and things pertaining to idolatry
of desolation
New Testament Greek Definition:
2050 eremosis {er-ay'-mo-sis}
from 2049; TDNT - 2:660,255; n f
AV - desolation 3; 3
1) a making desolate, desolation
desolate
New Testament Greek Definition:
2048 eremos {er'-ay-mos}
of uncertain affinity; TDNT - 2:657,255; adjective
AV - wilderness 32, desert 13, desolate 4, solitary 1; 50
1) solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited
1a) used of places
1a1) a desert, wilderness
1a2) deserted places, lonely regions
1a3) an uncultivated region fit for pasturage
1b) used of persons
1b1) deserted by others
1b2) deprived of the aid and protection of others,
especially of friends, acquaintances, kindred
1b3) bereft
1b3a) of a flock deserted by the shepherd
1b3b) of a woman neglected by her husband,
from whom the husband withholds himself
stand
New Testament Greek Definition:
2476 histemi {his'-tay-mee}
a prolonged form of a primary stao {stah'-o} (of the same
meaning, and used for it in certain tenses); TDNT - 7:638,1082; v
AV - stand 116, set 11, establish 5, stand still 4, stand by 3,
misc 17, vr stand 2; 158
1) to cause or make to stand, to place, put, set
1a) to bid to stand by, [set up]
1a1) in the presence of others, in the midst, before judges,
before members of the Sanhedrin;
1a2) to place
1b) to make firm, fix establish
1b1) to cause a person or a thing to keep his or its place
1b2) to stand, be kept intact (of family, a kingdom), to escape
in safety
1b3) to establish a thing, cause it to stand
1b31) to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything
1c) to set or place in a balance
1c1) to weigh: money to one (because in very early times before
the introduction of coinage, the metals used to be weighed)
2) to stand
2a) to stand by or near
2a1) to stop, stand still, to stand immovable, stand firm
2a1a) of the foundation of a building
2b) to stand
2b1) continue safe and sound, stand unharmed, to stand ready or
prepared
2b2) to be of a steadfast mind
2b3) of quality, one who does not hesitate, does not waiver
in
New Testament Greek Definition:
1722 en {en}
a primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time
or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or
constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between
1519 and 1537); TDNT - 2:537,233; prep
AV - in 1874, by 141, with 134, among 117, at 112, on 46,
through 37, misc 321; 2782
1) in, by, with etc.
Wigram's frequency count is 2799 not 2782.
set up
Old Testament Hebrew Definition:
05414 nathan {naw-than'}
a primitive root; TWOT - 1443; v
AV - give 1078, put 191, deliver 174, made 107, set 99, up 26, lay 22,
grant 21, suffer 18, yield 15, bring 15, cause 13, utter 12,
laid 11, send 11, recompense 11, appoint 10, shew 7, misc 167; 2008
1) to give, put, set
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to give, bestow, grant, permit, ascribe, employ, devote,
consecrate, dedicate, pay wages, sell, exchange, lend,
commit, entrust, give over, deliver up, yield produce,
occasion, produce, requite to, report, mention, utter,
stretch out, extend
1a2) to put, set, put on, put upon, set, appoint, assign,
designate
1a3) to make, constitute
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to be given, be bestowed, be provided, be entrusted to, be
granted to, be permitted, be issued, be published, be
uttered, be assigned
1b2) to be set, be put, be made, be inflicted
1c) (Hophal)
1c1) to be given, be bestowed, be given up, be delivered up
1c2) to be put upon
