Other pages in this section:

• AD 70
• Dome of the Rock
• 360-day prophetic calendar
• Fulfillment of Daniel’s 70 weeks.

This is a vital topic for any Christian longing for the return of Christ. It is the very first sign Jesus gave of his return that his followers are to look for. All the preceding signs (excluding the destruction of the temple) were general signs, but here we have a very specific sign to look for, and what to do when we see this sign.

¹⁵ “So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains….²¹ For at that time there will be great distress, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again.

Matthew 24:15-21

According to Jesus, the Abomination causes the Desolation and comes before the Great Tribulation. This sounds like it is unmistakable. However, Daniel 12 says twice that the understanding of this tribulation and Abomination will be kept secret and sealed (Daniel 12:4 & 9) until the time of the end. In other words, the Abomination, desolation, and tribulation, may not be recognised at the time.

How does that square with Jesus saying it will be so bad, nothing before or after will be worse? Very simply, as bad as the persecution is, they did not recognise the Abomination of Desolation, and so they assume something worse will happen in the future. Christians and Jews have been persecuted terribly at many times in history, can we be certain that the Desolation and Tribulation are yet future?

So, as Jesus said, we must look and recognise the Abomination, we must recognise the desolation, and this will enable us to understand the Tribulation.

Let’s face it, Jesus has the ultimate authority on interpreting prophecy. Jesus instructed his disciples, when asking about the destruction of the temple, and the signs that precede his return, to identify the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. In other words, there may be multiple abominations, but only the one spoken of by Daniel is the key to understanding.

It must be a literal event. Why? because Jesus refers to the abomination being:

• in a specific place,
• a specific abomination, spoken of by Daniel,
• it can be seen, and
• you are to take physical action

Daniel’s prophecies are largely unique in Scripture; there are many references to time, something most other prophets do not include. In Daniel 9, Daniel notes that Jeremiah (chapters 25 & 29) included a 70-year limit on the exile of Judah, and began to fast and pray for the forgiveness of his people so that God would return them to the land. Time and sequence seem to be significant for Daniel, and play a central part in many of his prophecies.

Daniel connects that abomination to other specific events (Dan 9:27 and Daniel 12:10f) with a specific timeline (Daniel 12:10-11). In Jesus’ words, not just any Abomination of Desolation will do, it must be the one spoken of by Daniel. It cannot be before Jesus’ times, i.e., the abomination of Antiochus Epiphanes (215-164 BC), and Jesus’ words clearly show this abomination came after him.

Daniel’s description of the abomination of desolation follows immediately from the prophecy of the 70 “sevens”. I believe it is a separate overlapping timeline from the 70 weeks, for 3 reasons:

1. because it is sequentially after the 70th week, given that the Messiah was cut-off and ascended in the 70th week completing Daniel 9:24, this prophecy makes sense as being overlapping or connected, but separate.
2. After the Messiah has been killed, the people of the Prince (who is to come) will destroy the city and sanctuary. The city and sanctuary were destroyed in AD.70. In other words, the city and sanctuary are destroyed after the 70 weeks by the “people of the prince who is to come”, showing that the Abomination will be set up by the “Prince” sometime after that destruction (because it suggests that the “Prince” was not present at the destruction of the city and sanctuary, and
3. because of the separate time frame given in Daniel 12, of 1290 days.

Jesus did NOT say, that the city and sanctuary would be destroyed, and rebuilt and then the Abomination of Desolation would be set up. He said it would be destroyed and then afterwards, the Abomination set up. Daniel 9 says the same. This strongly suggests that the Abomination is not inside the temple itself, but rather on the Temple Mount. For example, Matthew 21:12 refers to Jesus going into the temple, but the context is clear that he wasn’t in the temple when he threw out the money changers and in verses 14 and 15, it was not in the temple proper that he healed the sick or that the children were shouting. See also Mark 11, 12, Luke 19, 20, John 2, 10, Acts 3. Or if it is in a temple, it is perhaps not a rebuilt Jewish temple, but rather a temple or shrine to another God (e.g., Acts 14:13; 19:27), perhaps the temple to Jupiter or the Dome of the Rock, or some future temple to a foreign god).

Some have speculated that the Abomination of Desolation is more figurative and refers to the heretical mass performed by the Roman Catholic Church. This cannot be, because the mass originally centred on the Vatican, and Christians were told to flee Jerusalem when they saw it. It also doesn’t fit the timeline given by Daniel.

Historically, there are only 2 serious contenders for the abomination that causes desolation in the holy place:

1. The slaughter of a pig in the temple gate by Titus in AD 70.
2. The Dome of the Rock/Al Aqsa Mosque in AD 692/705

Whichever it is, it must conform to the pattern spoken of by the prophet Daniel, so that we do not identify the incorrect event.  Looking at the events and time-frame given by Daniel 9:27 and Daniel 12:10-11.

• Firm covenant made (it may be a treaty, terms of surrender, pact, etc.)
• ~3-5 years (in the middle of the week)
• Stopping of sacrifices and prayers and oblations on the temple mount
• +1290 days (Daniel 12:10)
• Abomination of desolation (on the “wing” of the temple)
• Desolation remains until the consummation (Daniel 9:27).

As a side note here, assuming the days are literal days, this puts the Abomination of Desolation 7 years after the covenant is made, and is the beginning of Tribulation.

²⁷ And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Daniel 9

AD70 – Destruction of the temple

AD692 – Dome of the Rock/Al Aqsa mosque

Discussion of 360-year prophetic calendar

Why Daniel’s 70 weeks are fulfilled and why we know there is no future fulfilment