The Abomination of Desolation, Part 1 (Matthew Sermon 122)

Introduction

Well, I mentioned a few weeks ago, this would be a most unusual Sunday, and so it is. I’m preaching this morning on a sentence fragment. We don’t even get the full thought today, we just get dot, dot, dot at the end of the verse. And it occurred to me that next week’s sermon, which is the completion of the thought, the sermon’s entitled “Run For Your Lives” will be our Mother’s Day sermon here at First Baptist Church. That just occurred to me, only here at this church would that happen. Mothers, can I say a word in advance? It wasn’t personal, it’s just the next passage. We will seek to honor you and we love you, we will pray for you and bless you in many ways. But I thought about that this morning and I just had to laugh and said, “Well, I’m gonna stay the course, and we’re gonna keep learning from the Word of God.” But this morning, we’re gonna focus on verse 15.

Every single day, Jews from around the world gather at a place called The Wailing Wall, and they stand there and pray and weep concerning the destruction of the temple that happened almost two millennia ago. They weep over the fact that the temple is destroyed, that they are because of that, unable to fulfill the laws of Moses, they’re unable to render animal sacrifice. They don’t believe that Jesus finished the animal sacrificial system, they don’t believe that at all, and they yearn for the temple to be rebuilt so that they can continue their religious lives in accordance with the law that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gave them.

And so they stand there and pray, and many of them pray the words of Psalm 79:1, “O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.” They pray that lament Psalm. “The Gentiles have come and done this.”

And many of them I’m sure, I don’t know their minds and hearts, but pray that that temple will someday be rebuilt. They pray this way, despite the fact that one of Islam’s holiest shrines, the Dome of the Rock, is built supposedly right where the Holy of Holies was for Solomon’s temple, and that the Muslims are not going to give that holy site up easily. But still, the Jews continue to pray that the temple would be rebuilt.

Now, our passage today looks back to the prediction that Jesus made during his lifetime, about 40 years before the destruction of the temple, that the temple would be destroyed. It looks back to that prediction that was fulfilled in AD 70, when the Romans destroyed the temple. It looks back, but I believe it also looks ahead to a stunning climax to human history, the rebuilding of a temple of desolation, the re-establishment of animal sacrifice, in defiance to the completed work of Christ on the cross, defiance of the stipulations of the new covenant, the ending of the animal sacrifices by antichrist and the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I believe this passage looks ahead to all of that.

I’ve been praying this morning, according to Colossians 4:4, that I would be clear, this is a difficult passage to preach on. It’s not controversial or disagreements, but it’s not one of those ones that people feel, well most people, feel emotional about and get all upset or heated about. It’s just hard to understand. And I’m going to be taking you through the Book of Daniel, through some of the visions in Daniel, I’m gonna try to fulfill what Jesus said, what he exhorted, I think, at this phase in redemptive history, “Let the reader understand.” It’s my desire to be an instrument in God’s hands toward that end, that you would understand the book of Daniel and understand what this abomination of desolation is.

I. Key Principle: “As it was… so it will be”

The Days of Noah Repeated

I think there are actually two key principles that I have in my mind, there’s just one in your outline. But there are two in my mind from Matthew 24 and one of them is in verse 37, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Stripped down, the concept is this: As it was, so it will be. History repeats itself. We’ve seen some things before in redemptive history, we’re gonna see it one more time.

Getting Ready for the End of the World

That’s a key principle for me. A second key principle is in verse 25, “Behold, or see, I have told you ahead of time.” There’s something here in these two sermons, this week and next week, that the Lord wants us to know ahead of time before it comes and that your right understanding of these things will help you survive those trials. Now, I don’t know if we’re the final generation. I believe from Scripture, we are to live as though we were. And to prepare our hearts as though these things were going to be fulfilled in our lifetime; we need to get ready for the coming of the antichrist. I believe that. But if we’re not the final generation, maybe our children will be the final generation. We need to get them ready. So we have to attend to these things carefully, we have to take this seriously.

I do not believe that these things are the most important issues of theology. If you wanna know what the most important issues of theology are, you can just read 1 Corinthians 15:3, “For I passed on to you as of first importance: That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures.” Well, there’s the center of it all. That’s the most important thing, “I passed that on as of first importance.” But it is a fallacy to say that we should only teach those things that are of first importance from the pulpit. That’s what expositional preaching does, it brings you through things that are of lesser importance, but they’re still important. And so this is important and we need to learn it. So I’m praying for God’s grace, I’m praying for the Holy Spirit to just be moving through this sanctuary, and that you’ll just say in effect, “Aha, there’s something I hadn’t seen before,” that insight will come to you and that it’ll get you ready for the end of the world. That’s my desire.

History Repeats Itself… Again and Again

So as we look at this, “As it was, so it will be,” this is the principle that’s governing me today. History repeats itself; redemptive history repeats itself. God in his sovereignty has orchestrated history to be a teaching tool, to teach us important things that we need to know. Past is prologue in redemptive history, definitely, that God has stuck some certain things in history and then recorded them in the Bible that help us get ready for the future.

That definitely was the case concerning the salvation that we have in Christ. Every animal sacrifice ever offered was a picture of the final sacrifice of Christ. Those things are called types, things acted out in history that then instruct us concerning future events. The near sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah, was such a type. As God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loved and offer him up as a sacrifice, it was a clear picture of what God the Father would do in sending his own son, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus and pouring him out to death for our sins.

It was acted out in history again and again. The Passover lamb, a clear picture of Christ. And I preached that on Maundy Thursday, how the blood was painted on the doorposts, and all that and there was a picture of the death of Christ for us. So also the Exodus itself, all of the Jews, this mighty nation coming out of bondage, out of slavery, and coming into the Promised Land. Definitely a picture of our personal salvation. So history repeats itself, “As it was, so it will be.”

Similarity Concerning the Temple and its Desolation

Now, what I believe is happening here is Jesus is predicting the destruction of the temple, its desolation, he’s talking about the destruction of what we would call Herod’s Temple. Alright? I believe it was a continuation of Haggai’s Temple, but it was just enlarged and beautified by lots of money that King Herod poured in around the time of Jesus ‘s birth. And so it’s generally called Herod’s Temple. He’s talking about the destruction of Herod’s Temple. And he’s saying, in effect, I believe, what Daniel foretold and has already been acted out will be again, will be again. Verse 15, “So when you see standing in the holy place, ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand.” Jesus is saying, “As it was, so it will be.”

Daniel’s prophecy was in part fulfilled in the second century BC. But it’s not done being fulfilled yet, there’s more yet to come from Daniel. And I’m saying today, there’s more still yet to come from Daniel even now, even now that the temple has been destroyed back in that first century AD. There’s still more coming from the Book of Daniel, that’s what I’m saying. As it was, so it will be.

And in verse 25, Jesus says, “I have told you ahead of time. I’m telling you this ahead of time because you’ll need to know this,” and every generation has needed to know this to prepare themselves to get ready. It affects the way you live, it affects your outlook on life, it affects your godliness in this present age.

II. What is “The Abomination of Desolation”?

Alright, well let’s zero in on this phrase: Abomination of desolation. What is this phrase? Friends, there’s nobody on earth that’s born into the world knowing what abomination of desolation means. Everybody’s gotta sit at Jesus ‘ feet and learn this. And I praise God to be in this church, people that are eager for the meat of the Word of God and not just sipping at the milk. This isn’t milk. We all have to learn. What does this mean? I don’t know what that means. I don’t use the word abomination very often in everyday life, and I – Other than these kinds of things – I would never put it together with desolation. Abomination of desolation? I don’t know what it means. Teach me what it means. We’re all on the boat, same boat of learners. What does it mean?

Christ’s Use of the Phrase Here

Well, let’s begin with the concept of desolation. Let’s keep close to Matthew and then I’ll branch out. We’ve already seen the desolation haven’t we? Go back to the end of Matthew 23. At the end of Matthew 23, Jesus is there having argued and disputed with the scribes and Pharisees, you have the seven-fold woe on the scribes and Pharisees. “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” Seven times, he speaks this, and then he just weeps. In Luke, he literally weeps over the city. But here, you just hear the weeping and the words, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling. Behold, your house is left to you desolate.” There’s that interesting word, desolation. And then as I highlighted when I preached on that passage, “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” The desolation is the absence of Jesus. When Jesus walks away, Israel’s house is left desolate.

Now, what does the word desolate mean? Empty like a desert, nothing there. It’s a howling wasteland spiritually because Jesus has left, he’s walking away. The word “for” shows the nature of the desolation, this is the desolation. Because they rejected Christ, because they did not recognize the time of him coming, because they did not love him, Jesus is going away. Israel has forsaken her God, and now God will forsake Israel. That’s the nature of the desolation, a desolate relationship.

And so as he’s walking out, you remember, he’s walking right on out of the temple, and you just continue right on into Matthew 24 from 23. As he’s walking out, the disciples come up and they call attention to the vast stones of the temple complex, and “Master, what magnificent stones? What incredible buildings?” “Do you see all these things?” Jesus said. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down.”

Jesus, as a prophet, predicting a future event, the total destruction of Jerusalem and specifically of the temple. Shocking to the disciples, they come to him privately, they don’t know what to make of Jesus ‘ statements. And so they asked him privately, “‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen? And what would be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’”

All conservative commentators believe that Matthew 24:15 and following is at least this, the answer to their first question: “When will this happen?” “When will what happen?” “The destruction of the temple. When will the temple be destroyed?” And Jesus here is at least answering that question. So conservative commentators who believe in inerrancy, who believe in the Word of God, they say at least this: Jesus in Matthew 24:15 is predicting the circumstances concerning the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, which was fulfilled in the year AD 70. At least that, I think more than that, but at least that is true. He’s in part answering their first question, “What will it be like When Jerusalem is destroyed?”

Luke 21:20-24 gives us a parallel account that helps give us more information. “When you see,” Jesus said there, “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, let those in the country not enter the city for this is the time of punishment and fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people, they will fall by the sword and they will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled.”

So Jesus, there, you put the two passages together, Jesus is talking about the circumstances of the besieging and then the destroying of Jerusalem. He calls it interestingly, the times of the Gentiles. Very interesting phrase that we don’t have time to get into, but we’re in it now. These are the times of the Gentiles in which the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has turned his attention to the nations, as we saw in 24:14, and is bringing them into Christ. They’re bringing people in from Asia and Africa and Latin America, bringing them in through faith in Christ into the household of God, drawing them in. This is the times of the Gentiles. And also the time when the Gentiles, at least in part, have some control over Jerusalem, some authority over Jerusalem, and able to dominate there. It comes as a result of military conquest.

So this is how I understand the desolation, the spiritual desolation comes first. Then comes military conquest producing a physical desolation; lots of dead people, nobody living there. That’s how it works. And so there’s the spiritual desolation first resulting physical desolation, and it comes as a result of military conquest.

“Let the reader understand”: The Phrase in Daniel

Now, Jesus in the middle of this teaching, just pauses as I’ve already noted and says, “Let the reader understand.” I believe these were Jesus ‘ original words to his disciples as they were sitting there at his feet, learning about the end of the world. I think he interrupted himself and said, “Let the reader understand.” The other alternative is that it’s Matthew interrupting his writing of the gospel, and just inserts that. Either way is a reputable interpretation. But I really think it was Jesus, it doesn’t make a difference who because Jesus would be speaking through Matthew by the spirit anyway. But in the middle of this, after he says, “So when you see ‘the abomination of desolation,’ standing in the holy place, spoken of by the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand.”

Well, that is your springboard from Matthew into Daniel. Basically, Jesus is saying, “We need to study Daniel better and understand it better. It’s a difficult book, and so we’re going to go over to Daniel and try to understand it.” He’s basically saying to his disciples, “You need to read Daniel more carefully, Daniel is complex.” Daniel, himself, the prophet, didn’t fully understand what was told him. Five different times in the book of Daniel, he stops an angel and says, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand what you’re telling me.”

The book of Daniel has 12 chapters. The first six chapters talk about Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, their court life in the lives of Gentile courts, the king of Babylon and the king of the Medo-Persian Empire. So it has to do with the circumstances of those Jewish people in a Gentile court, kingly court, 1 through 6.

Daniel 7-12 is a bunch of visions that God gave to Daniel concerning the future. And so those visions are the source of information about the future and the source of complexity. And Daniel himself would stop when an angel would come and give him a vision in the night, and he’d say, “I don’t understand.” And generally, four of those five times, the angel would stop and give more plain explanation.

The last time, he didn’t, interestingly. Daniel was told the last time, “But as for you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.” In effect, it was told, and what 1 Peter says, it was revealed to him that it wasn’t for him to know. He didn’t need to know his own vision. “Just write it down, seal it up and send it on to the future. You don’t need to know.”

But there is a clear implication in Daniel 12, that some people will need to know. Some people will need to understand these complex visions, their very lives will depend on it, and so understanding is actually pretty important. I believe that every generation of Christian is challenged by Jesus’s words, “Let the reader understand,” to study Daniel more carefully. I think the final generation of Christians will need to do it so that they may survive what’s going on at the time, just a higher level, so we need to hold the torch of learning and understanding, and if we’re not the final generation, pass it on to those who may be the final generation, get them ready.

And so, Daniel repeatedly makes statements about the desolation of Israel. For example, if you wanna turn there, it probably would help you. If not, you can just listen. But in Daniel chapter 8, Daniel is shown the vision of the first king of Greece, who comes from the west across into the east and destroys the King of Persia, just destroys him, and conquers his empire completely, the king of Greece does. And then at the height of his power, he dies. And his kingdom is divided up into quadrants, into four, four of his generals get it.

There is no doubt. Nobody even wonders who this is, even liberals who read this, who don’t believe in the inspiration and authority of the Bible, know that this is talking about Alexander the Great. What they say is, it was written afterwards, prophecy after the fact. “I predict that World War II will strike in 1939,” that’s not a prophetic statement. But they said “It comes after, it was just too specific. It was too specific.”

Alexander the Great, height of his power, cut off, kingdom divided into four. And in one of those quadrants, this little horn comes along and creates some problems, and that’s an interesting feature, but in the middle of it, Daniel doesn’t understand. He is told that one of Alexander’s successors will viciously persecute the Jewish nation, becoming extremely arrogant, making claims that reach even up to the heavens as though he could bring the stars down from the heavens, an arrogant boaster. Daniel’s told that a huge number of his own people will be given over to this man because of their transgressions. And at one point the angel speaks up, saying in verse 13, Daniel 8:13, “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate and the giving over the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot?”

So here you have the first time that the word “desolation” or “desolate” is mentioned in Daniel, and the word desolation has to do with powerful Gentile rulers or a ruler with their armies trampling the sanctuary of the Jews, trampling it. In Daniel 9, in the next chapter, the phrase is mentioned many times again.

Daniel there at that point is praying to God, concerning the desolation, the present desolation of Israel, in his own day. What do we mean by that? Well, Israel had been destroyed by the Babylonians already, that’s why Daniel was in Babylon. He learned from the prophet Jeremiah that the desolation would last 70 years. So look at Daniel chapter 9:2, “I, Daniel perceived in the books the number of the years that according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, 70 years.

So the desolation has to do with Jerusalem being a pile of rubble, the temple a pile of rubble, and nobody’s living there really. And it’s been going on now for 70 years. And he gets down on his knees three times a day, and prays that Jerusalem will be rebuilt. And that’s what Daniel 9, the first part is all about, the rebuilding of the temple and the rebuilding of Jerusalem to the glory of God, because God had said it would last only 70 years.

And so in Daniel 9:17-18, it says, “Now therefore, O our God… “ this is Daniel praying, “listen to the prayer of your servant, and listen to his pleas for mercy and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.” A desolated sanctuary. “Oh my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that is called by your name.” Jerusalem is desolate. It’s empty. The temple is desolate. It’s destroyed. Oh, Lord, please. For Your name’s sake, rebuild it, that’s what he’s saying.

Well, then the Lord dispatches another angel to come and tell Daniel some stuff. I bet you don’t have quiet times like this, I know I don’t. But wouldn’t it be exciting? You’re having a prayer time, and suddenly the angel comes with some insights about the future. And so the Lord dispatches this angel to tell him with amazing clarity about a timetable concerning, I believe, both the first and the second comings of the Messiah.

And it’s a fascinating passage that I already preached on once, so I won’t do it again. But at any rate, the 70 weeks of Daniel, we get seven weeks, 62 weeks, and one week adds up to 70, seven plus 62 is 69 weeks. And at the end of that period, after 69 weeks, seven plus 62, in Daniel 9:26, look what it says there, “an anointed one,” or the Anointed One, the word for anointed one is Messiah or Christ, but there are other anointed ones. But, “An anointed one shall be cut off and have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” So after the death of the Messiah, the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed. “It’s end shall come with a flood and there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.” It’s the same thing, only this time it’s in the future.

Alright, stop, what’s going on? Daniel is praying, “Oh God, please give us strength to rebuild the city.” And you know what the angel comes and says, “Daniel, the city will be rebuilt, and guess what? It’s gonna be destroyed again.” That’s what’s happening here, he’s saying, “Just so you know, it will be rebuilt and then it’s going to be destroyed again.” For the same reason actually, sins of the people. But at any rate, it’s going to happen.

Then in Daniel 9:27, it speaks of the famous final week, what many interpreters believe depicts the final seven years of human history, what some people call the great tribulation, the last stretch of seven years that many commentators believe refers to the final seven years of human history. Again, you see the concept of desolation. Look at verse 27, Daniel 9:27, “And he,” the prince who is to come, “He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week.” Some people say seven years, “and for half of the week,” after three and a half years, “he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.” If you think it’s hard to read that in English, it’s even harder in the original language. There are like 17 different translations of that one verse.

But basically what’s going on is you’ve got these seven years, I think, and in the middle of it, this leader is going to stop sacrifice, put an end to it, and then set up an abomination of desolation. He’s going to set up or build something, or establish something that will be the abomination of desolation. So the concept is a powerful and evil ruler will make a seven-year covenant concerning the sacrifices of the temple, and that in the middle of that period of seven years he’ll put an end to sacrifice and offering. Note this is after the events of verse 26, in which the city is destroyed. And he shall in some striking way abominate the temple, but the end decreed by God shall be poured out on this evil person, God’s in control of all of this.

Now, Daniel 11, one of the most extraordinary chapters in the Bible. I think 106 times the English word “will” appears in this one chapter. “Will” is our future word, this will happen, that will happen, the other will happen. It’s a future chapter. I believe it’s God, the sovereign God, showing off. Showing what he can do, he says, “You wanna know how detailed I can get with prophecy, read Daniel 11.” There’s so many details here that it’s really tough to preach, I’ve already tried to do it once, I am not doing it again.

Because the details all have to do with these Greek kings who fight each other, they hate each other all the time. Alexander the great unified a fractured Greek-speaking nation. Once he was gone, they just fell apart again and they’re fighting each other all the time, Daniel 11 is all about that. And in the middle of all that, this one Greek king pops up, second century BC, a man named Antiochus, he was the fourth of that name Antiochus IV, he takes on himself a special name Epiphanes, it means in Greek, “the manifest one,” “the revealed one.” He thinks he’s a god incarnate. So did Alexander, for that matter, Alexander thought he was Zeus incarnate. I think it ran in the family of these Greek leaders, they had delusions of grandeur. They thought high, lofty thoughts of themselves.

So this Antiochus comes along and he’s particularly wicked and he’s going to do special desecrations of the temple. Again, the language of “abomination of desolation.” Look at Daniel 11:31, “his armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortresses and will abolish the daily sacrifice, then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.” So there’s that phrase again, “the abomination of desolation.”

Finally, in Daniel 12, the concept is mentioned again. This time it seems to be in connection with the end of the world and the eternal state of glory that the saints will enjoy. This is what makes it so amazing. The beginning of chapter 12 mentions a great tribulation greater than any that Israel had ever endured up to that time, I believe Jesus was pretty much paraphrasing that in Matthew 24. It also predicts a rising up of Michael, the great prince angel who protects Israel.

The chapter then goes on to unfold the deliverance of Israel miraculously, the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked, some to everlasting glory, and others to everlasting shame and contempt. Jesus covered this in John chapter 5, that’s the end of the world friends, that’s the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked to their final places of heaven and hell. And at the end of that chapter, the angel says this – Look at verse 8-12, by the way, verse 8, Daniel says, “I heard but I did not understand.” I have no idea what you’re telling me. “Then I said, ‘Oh, my Lord, what shall be the outcome of all these things?’” I don’t get it. Please explain it to me. “He said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.’” That is unbelievably significant. Basically what it is is no one’s really gonna get it until the time of the end. Now, Matthew 24-15 says you need to try, you need to chew on it, you need to meditate on it, you need to think about it, but you’re not gonna really get it until you need to.

Okay, the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Verse 10, “Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined but the wicked shall act wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand” – here’s this word understanding again – “but those who are wise shall understand.” There’s the word understand again. Understanding seems to be huge here, the Wise need to understand. We’ll get to that next week. Why? But they need to understand. “And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate” – there’s the phrase again – “is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits for and arrives at the 1,335 days.” I have no idea.

All I think is what’s happening is there’s gonna be some generation of people that will know exactly what those words are about. And they’ll be sitting there counting down the days in some cave somewhere, waiting until those shortened days finally come to an end and Jesus returns.

So what is the abomination of desolation? The word abomination refers to some kind of idolatry, some offense to the Almighty God, generally some idolatrous worship focused thing. What is the desolation? It is the spiritual emptiness of the people that are doing it, and the physical emptiness of the city after it is destroyed, that’s what the abomination of desolation is.

Summary: What is the “Abomination”?

Alright, summing it all up, because of their sins, God abandons his people to the power of marauding Gentile armies, resulting in a shocking trampling of his holy place. He does this to show that he is holy, that he dwells in a high and holy place, and not in any man made shrine. God just continually tramples his own shrine to show that what he really wants is to dwell in the midst of a holy people, and until they’re really holy, you cannot live with them. And so he goes away and then they come in and trample the place. Because of the desolation, demonic forces flood in in the form of Gentile armies and create a horror show of pagan worship and destruction. Alright, now, I believe that the bible has shown that this has happened again and again.

I don’t know what to do. It’s 12:10. Hang on, dear friends, I don’t wanna hurry through this… Okay, I’m not going to. We’re gonna resume this next week, thank God, we’re not doing that on Mother’s Day, we’re not saying “Run for your Lives” on Mother’s Day. The Lord is so good. We’ll do that the week after Mother’s Day.

I wanna go through the dress rehearsals for this, there have been four of them already. One, two, three, four. I wanna talk about each one of them, and I want to talk about why the temple would be rebuilt. We haven’t even gotten there yet. There’s no way I can finish this sermon today. So we’ll talk about why I think the temple would be rebuilt and what’s gonna happen at the end of the world, we’ll do that next week.

III. Application

Let me just pause, if I might, and just take a moment to apply this. You may say to yourself, “What in the world does this have to do with my life?” I thought about that for a full week. I did nothing but think about applications on abomination of desolation for one full week, I have nine of them… There are probably more than that. And I’ll give them more to you next week.

But let me just tell you one thing, clearly God wants you to know this. Clearly he wants you to know this. You know why? Because in II Thessalonians 2, one of the clearest teachings on the antichrist in the Bible, Paul says, having given them some instruction about the antichrist he says, “Don’t you remember that when I was with you, I kept telling you about this?” They lived in the first century AD. Paul thought it was incredibly important that those Thessalonians know about the antichrist. We’re far closer to the end of the world than he.

As a good pastor, I have to teach you about the antichrist. You may say, “What does this have to do with me? I’m unemployed and my marriage is struggling, my loved one is sick, etcetera.” Look, all of those things are important, God cares about them, but he clearly cares about this too, this isn’t just some made up fable, these are deep, rich things that the Lord has gotten across to us in the Word of God. We need to give attention to it. So let me give you some of the applications that I’ve already thought of.

Abomination of Desolation

First of all, consider the phrase abomination of desolation. The abomination is idolatry. Are there any idols in your life? The desolation is a sense of emptiness with God, of his remoteness from you. What about you? Are you close to Jesus right now? Or is there a miniature abomination of desolation set up in your heart? You know what causes God to flee from you? Idolatry. You know what, when you do idols, it’s when you’re not satisfied with God anymore. You’re not satisfied with him, and so you run after some material thing to fill the emptiness of your heart, and you set up within your own heart some form of an abomination of desolation. The beauty is that God will not allow that to happen to his children. He’s going to come with a whip, Jesus says and clean your temple. He invites you to clean it first, tear down your idols, get rid of them.

The central idol of our lives is ourselves. Don’t worship yourself, don’t feed yourself, don’t live for yourself. The Bible says we should no longer live for ourselves but for God, and for Christ who died for us and was raised again. Live for him, don’t leave an abomination of desolation in your own heart, draw close to Jesus, get close to him in your prayer closet. Say, “Lord, I’ve been distant from you, I don’t feel your presence in my life, I don’t feel close to you… Yes, I’m unemployed, but that’s not the issue. The issue is, I’m distant from you in my unemployment. Yes, I’m struggling with my teens or I’m struggling with my marriage. That’s not the issue, the issue is, I’m not close to you through that, I wanna get close to you, Lord.” Draw near to God and he’s gonna draw near to you, don’t be desolate or empty in your relationship with Christ.

Repent and Believe

And finally just let me say, if there’s any that are here that have never trusted in Christ, the time is now for you to repent and believe the gospel. Jesus shed his blood, ending forever the animal sacrificial system, we’ll talk about that next week, but he shed his blood, ending it forever. You don’t need the blood of bulls and goats, it won’t help you anyway, the blood sufficient for your forgiveness has already been poured forth. All you need to do is believe in him, trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins. Repent, give up your idolatry, give up all of the things you’ve been living for and come to Jesus and allow him to take his place on the throne of your life.

The antichrist sets himself up as God and says, worship me. Jesus is worthy of your worship, allow him to set up his throne in the center of your life, fall down and worship him, and then get up and serve him with every breath you have more next week. Let’s close in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Wailing Wall:  Every single day, Jews from around the world assemble in Jerusalem to stand in front of the Wailing Wall and weep and pray because of the destruction of the Temple and the fact that Gentile military power prevents them from having autonomy in their own land and in the city of Jerusalem

Many of them pray the words of Psalm 79:1

Psalm 79:1  O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

Many of them also pray for the day the Temple will be rebuilt

They pray this way despite the fact that one of Islam’s holiest sites, the Dome of the Rock, stands supposedly exactly where the Holy of Holies was in the Temple

Our passage today looks back to the prediction of Christ concerning the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, and it also looks ahead to a stunning future event as well—the rebuilding of a temple of desolation and the desecration of that temple by the Antichrist

I. Key Principle:  “As it was… so it will be”

A. The Days of Noah Repeated

Matthew 24:37  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Stripped down… the concept is this:

AS IT WAS, SO IT WILL BE

B. History Repeats Itself… Again and Again

1. Events that have occurred in the past will be somewhat reenacted in the future

2. Elements of past history hold the key to the future

3. Already seen this in the first coming of Christ

a. Old Testament prophecy has “types”

b. Types are things acted out in ancient history that showed elements of Christ’s first coming

c. The near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham foretells certain aspects of the final sacrifice of Christ

Genesis 22:2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

d. The rescue of Israel out of bondage from Egypt is a picture of our deliverance from slavery to sin

e. The Passover lamb is a picture of the sacrifice of Christ

4. So… history repeats itself when it comes to the Redemptive Plan of God

C. Similarity Concerning the Temple and its Desolation

1. Christ’s statement was about the destruction of Herod’s temple

2. Implication:  what Daniel foretold, fulfilled in the past (at Christ’s time) holds the key to some future fulfillment

Matthew 24:15  “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel– let the reader understand–

3. Jesus is saying “As it was, so it will be…”  Daniel’s prophecy still had some more fulfillment in the first century A.D., though it had already been fulfilled in the 3^rd century BC

4. I’m saying that the statement still has some yet future fulfillment!!!

II. What is “The Abomination of Desolation”?

A. Christ’s Use of the Phrase Here

1. The declaration of DESOLATION

Matthew 23:37-39  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.  ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate.  ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

The desolation of Israel’s HOUSE is directly connected with their rejection of Christ, and His sad rejection of them

Their house was left to them DESOLATE specifically because they would not see HIM again

2. Jesus’ shocking statement about Herod’s temple

Matthew 24:1-2  Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.  ² “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3. The disciples’ question on the Mount of Olives

Matthew 24:3  As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4. Here he (in part) answers the first question

“When will THIS happen” = “When will the stones of the temple be thrown down so that not one of them is left on another…”

a. Parallel in Luke helps us understand

Luke 21:20-24  “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.  ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.  ²² For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.  ²³ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people.  ²⁴ They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

b. So Jesus is talking about the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70

c. He calls it the “times of the Gentiles”

d. The physical “desolation” of Jerusalem comes after Christ has left it spiritually desolate

e. It will come as a result of MILITARY CONQUEST by Gentiles… specifically by the Roman legions, the most powerful military nation in history

5. So… Matthew 24:15 is AT LEAST about the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70

6. BUT I also believe that it will be an issue right before His coming and the end of the world as well!!

B. “Let the reader understand”:  The Phrase in Daniel

1. Jesus points his disciples (and us) to read Daniel carefully

a. “Let the reader understand” = let the reader of DANIEL’S complex and intricate prophecy understand its details

b. Daniel himself was often bewildered by the prophecies the angels had come to give him

c. He would ask for insight, and sometimes it would be given him;  but other times Daniel was told to seal up the vision for a future generation

Daniel 12:4  But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.

d. The implication is that there are portions of Daniel’s prophecy that will only be fully intelligible to the generation that actually has to go through it

2. Daniel’s repeated statements about the desolation of Israel

a. Daniel was a prophet who lived in exile in Babylon after the Babylonians had conquered the Jews and destroyed Solomon’s magnificent temple

b. In Daniel 8, Daniel is shown the vision of Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire, including the Promised Land;  one of Alexander’s successors will viciously persecute the Jewish nation, becoming extremely arrogant, making claims that reach even to heaven;  Daniel was told that a huge number of his own people would be given over to this man because of their transgressions… at one point an angel speaks up saying

Daniel 8:13  “For how long is the vision concerning the regular burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot?”

So the first time “desolation” is mentioned in Daniel, it has to do with a powerful Gentile ruler who dominates the sanctuary, ends sacrifice, and makes the nation desolate because of their transgressions

c. In Daniel 9, the phrase is mentioned many times

i) Daniel is praying to God about the desolation of the temple because the Babylonians

Daniel 9:2  I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

Daniel 9:17-18  Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.  ¹⁸ O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name.

ii) The Lord dispatches another angel to tell Daniel with amazing clarity about 70 “weeks”… a timetable about the coming of the Messiah, His death, and the desolations that would follow;  he says that after the 69^th week

Daniel 9:26  an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

iii) This is a clear prediction of the destruction of “the city” (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the temple)… and the desolations that would follow that

iv) Daniel 9:27 speaks of the famous final “week”… the last stretch of seven years that many commentators believe refers to the final seven years of human history… again the concept of “desolation” figures prominently

Daniel 9:27  And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

v) The concept is that a powerful and evil ruler will make a seven-year covenant concerning the sacrifices of the temple… and that in the middle of that period of seven years, he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering in the temple… and he shall in some striking way abominate the temple… but the end decreed by God shall by poured out on this evil person

vi) In Daniel 11, the Lord reveals to Daniel the specific history of Israel under the dominion of the Greek rulers that would follow Alexander the Great;  one of them, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, would be a particularly wicked ruler who would do special desecrations on the temple… again the language of “abomination of desolation” is used

Daniel 11:31  “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.

vii) Finally, in Daniel 12, the concept is mentioned again;  but this time, it seems to be in connection with the end of the world and the eternal state of glory the saints will enjoy;  Daniel 12:1 mentions a great tribulation greater than any Israel had ever endured;  it also predicts the rising up of Michael, the great prince (angel) who protects Israel;  the chapter goes on to unfold the deliverance of Israel, the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked—some to everlasting glory, others to everlasting shame; at the end of the chapter, the angel counts days for Daniel

Daniel 12:8-12  I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?”  ⁹ He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.  ¹⁰ Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.  ¹¹ And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.  ¹² Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days.

Notice:  Daniel 12:11 speaks of an abomination that makes desolate being SET UP… this isn’t merely the destruction of the temple, but it is the establishment of some specific abomination in the temple… something being set up or erected

3. Summary:  What is the “Abomination”?

a. It is some kind of idolatrous desecration of the temple by Gentile forces

b. The Hebrew word implies some kind of detestable idol

4. What is the “Desolation”?

a. It is the spiritual emptiness of Israel… the fact that God has abandoned the nation of Israel

b. It results in the physical desolation of Israel

C. Basic Concept

Because of their sins, God abandons His people to the power of marauding Gentile armies, resulting in a shocking trampling of His holy place.  He does this to show that He is holy, that He dwells in a high and holy place, and not in any man-made shrine, and that what God really wants is to dwell in the midst of a holy people.  So, God abandons His people, resulting in their desolation.  Because of the desolation, the demonic forces flood in, in the form of Gentile armies, and create a horror show of pagan worship and destruction.

D. God Foretold What He Would Do

1. Song of Moses:  Deuteronomy 32

a. Moses told Israel its future before any of it came to pass

b. God told Israel that they would rebel against him and make him jealous by following Gentile nations in their worship of false gods

c. SO God as a just punishment said He would make Israel jealous by giving them over to Gentile nations militarily

Deuteronomy 32:21  They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.

III. Dress Rehearsals for the Final Act: The “Abomination of Desolation” Across History

Again and again in their history, God allowed His holy place to be trampled and desecrated by Gentiles as a punishment for Israel’s sins

A. Phase I:  The Philistines at Shiloh in the Days of Eli (1 Samuel 2)

1. The days of the Judges, Eli the Judge… his sons wicked, the nation unbelieving

2. God brought the Philistines to fight against Israel

3. Israel brought forward the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh as a good luck talisman;  they thought God would never let the Ark be defeated, and that as long as they had the Ark, they would win every battle

1 Samuel 4:3  Let us bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”

4. God allowed the Philistines to defeat sinful Israel and capture the Ark of the Covenant

5. Psalm 78 describes this tragedy… it was not accident

Psalm 78:58-61  They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols.  ⁵⁹ When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely.  ⁶⁰ He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men.  ⁶¹ He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy.

B. Phase II:  The Babylonians at Jerusalem in the Days of Jeremiah

1. Later, in the days of Jeremiah, when the people of Israel were trusting in the beautiful temple of Solomon as a good luck talisman, Jeremiah referred back to the events of Shiloh and said He was going to do it again

Jeremiah 7:1-4  This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:  ² “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message: “‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.  ³ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.  ⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”

Jeremiah 7:8-12   But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.  ⁹ “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known,  ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”– safe to do all these detestable things?  ¹¹ Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.  ¹² “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.

2. Jeremiah warned them very plainly not to trust in simply having the temple… it was not enough to have the temple

3. BUT they didn’t listen!!!  In that same chapter, Jeremiah 7, the prophet revealed that the people were stubborn in refusing to listen to the prophets… the end result would be the desolation of the land

Jeremiah 7:34  I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate. 

4. This desolation was the focus of the sad book of Lamentations

Lamentations 1:1 How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!

C. Phase III:  The Greeks at Jerusalem in the Days of the Maccabees

1. This is the very thing Daniel 8 predicted… and also Daniel 11

2. A Greek king would come named Antiochus IV—ruling from 175-164 BC… he called himself Epiphanes:  “The Manifest One”… he believed he was the incarnation of a god

3. The prediction of the Abomination of Desolation was made in Daniel as we’ve seen

Daniel 11:31  “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.

4. The book of 1 Maccabbees tells us that he desecrated the temple in Jerusalem by building an altar to Zeus and offering pigs and other unclean animals on the altar

5. He did it specifically to enrage the Jews and to taunt the God of the Jews

6. This is the spirit of antichrist… embodied in this ruler two centuries before Christ

7. Christ was saying “As it was in the days of Antiochus, so it will be again…”

D. Phase IV:  The Romans at Jerusalem in the Days of Titus

1. The historian Josephus tells us the clearest accounts of the story of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans

2. A.D. 70:  the Jewish Zealots and revolutionaries had pushed the Roman occupiers much too far

3. The Emperor Titus had had enough… he dispatched the Legions and they destroyed the city of Jerusalem

4. The temple in particular, covered as it was with gold and precious materials, was a special focus of the marauding Romans

5. They established the standards of Caesar—whom they worshiped as a god—in the holy of holies… the Abomination of Desolation

a. The sanctuary trampled by Gentiles

b. The establishment of a horrible abominable idol in the sanctuary

c. The slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Jews

6. This is what Jesus is speaking of concerning the destruction of the Temple

IV. Key Question:  Will the Temple Be Rebuilt?

A. Jesus’ Phrase:  The “Holy Place”

Matthew 24:15  “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’

The most common understanding of this phrase is the Temple

B. The Temple Sacrifices Fulfilled

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

John 19:30 Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Matthew 27:51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

C. The Temple Sacrifices Obsolete… Forever

·      All the animal sacrifices done in the temple were merely PICTURES of the final sacrifice of Christ

·      They had no efficacy to remove our sins

Hebrews 10:4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

·      When Jesus died, the time for animal sacrifice ended forever

·      According to Hebrews, this meant that the Old Covenant sacrificial system was obsolete and would soon disappear

Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

·      That disappearance occurred when the Romans destroyed the Temple in A.D. 70… they have never been done since that day

D. The Jewish Desolation:  Clinging to the Old Covenant

1. When the curtain was torn in two, God SPOKE… “The way into the Holy of Holies…into my very presence is now OPEN!  My Son has died!  Sinners can be counted righteous!  The Old Covenant is OVER!  Animal sacrifice is FINISHED!  Come near to me, my people, and I will welcome you!”

2. That’s what God was saying by tearing the curtain in two

3. BUT standing there watching that miracle were some unbelieving Jewish priests… they undoubtedly ran and told the High Priest, Caiaphas… the great unbeliever who had murdered Jesus

4. That wicked priest, together with other wicked priests, undoubtedly SEWED THAT CURTAIN BACK TOGETHER… blocking the way to God

Matthew 23:13  “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

5. That signaled the unbelief of the Jewish nation that Jesus’ death ENDED the Old Covenant and its animals sacrifices forever; it also signaled their commitment to continuing the animal sacrifices

6. When the Romans destroyed the Temple in A.D. 70, God spoke more forcefully:  “The Old Covenant is FINISHED!”

7. But the same spirit of unbelief that drove them to sew up the curtain drives them today to stand at the wailing wall and pray for the Temple to be rebuilt

8. That spirit of unbelief, plus their zeal for the Law will continue to drive them to get the Temple rebuilt

For the longest time as a Christian I heard that the temple was going to be rebuilt someday… once I read the strong message of Hebrews that animal sacrifice that was pleasing to God ENDED FOREVER when Christ died, I felt that the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem was an affront to God

Therefore, I concluded, the Temple would NEVER be rebuilt

It never occurred to me until recently that a temple COULD BE REBUILT that was DISPLEASING TO GOD, and that God Himself would predict that act of rebellion by the Jews

E. A Key Verse:  2 Thessalonians 2:4

1. Paul is talking about the Second Coming of Christ;  some false teachers in Thessalonika were teaching that the Second Coming had already passed and that they had missed it

2. Paul says, No… the Second Coming cannot occur until the “man of lawlessness” appears… the Beast of Revelation 13, the “Antichrist” of 1 John 2

3. Listen to how Paul describes him

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4  Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.  ⁴ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

V. Final Phase:  The Abomination of Desolation in the Days of the Antichrist

This almost exactly parallels the description of the evil ruler of Daniel 11:

Daniel 11:36  “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.

This is the very one mentioned just a few verses before:

Daniel 11:31  “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.

In other words, Paul is saying that Daniel 11 will be fulfilled RIGHT BEFORE THE SECOND COMING OF Christ

Notice also that this evil figure of 2 Thessalonians

1)      Opposes every god or everything called God

2)     He exalts himself over every god and over the true God

3)     He sets himself up in GOD’S TEMPLE

4)     He proclaims himself to be God

Notice that he is in “God’s Temple”

This phrase bothered me… and I know there are many interpretations for it

But here’s mine:  He will permit the Jews to rebuild the temple and resume animal sacrifices at long last

These sacrifices will be consistent with their trust in the Law of Moses, but their rejection of the finished work of Christ

Therefore the Temple itself will be an abomination of desolation… and so will their sacrifices… but they will happen

They will call it “God’s Temple”… and the Antichrist will accept that title… until he takes over the place, stops animal sacrifice and desecrates the temple by worshiping himself

A. Let the Reader Understand

1. The prophecies of Daniel are very hard to understand fully

2. Daniel himself didn’t understand them!

3. He asked for insight… Daniel was told

4. Jesus is here urging us to a more careful study of Daniel

5. BUT at the end of the world, Jesus will simply GIVE the understanding to the final generation who will live through it

Genesis 1:3  And God said “Let there be light” and there was light

Matthew 24:15  Jesus said “Let the reader of Daniel understand” and they understood!

B. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!  Next Week!!

Notice that I only gave you one verse today, and it’s not even a full thought or a full sentence:

Matthew 24:15  “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel– let the reader understand—

The rest of the sentence is simple:  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

VI. Application

A. Come to Christ NOW While There is Time

1. The animal sacrifices were to point to Christ’s substitution on the cross for us

2. Christ is the true sacrifice of God, once for all time, to bring sinners to God

3. We are all hopeless apart from Christ… lost… unrighteous

4. God made Christ who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God

B. No Permanent Dwelling Place on Earth

1. Christ had no home on earth while He ministered

2. The Tabernacle, that God commanded Moses to make, was a moveable tent… it moved from place to place

3. The Temple was supposedly a permanent structure… David wanted to build it for God

4. God wants us to know that He does not TRULY DWELL in any place made by men

5. Christ had no permanent tomb, but was buried in a borrowed cave

6. The true dwelling place of God and man will be in heaven

7. While we are on earth, and sin still dominates this world, God repeatedly allowed His symbolic dwelling place to be desecrated to teach us this

Isaiah 57:15  this is what the high and lofty One says– he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit

8. In this world God alone is our dwelling place… Christ is the place where we meet God

C. Desolation

1. The word refers to emptiness… being desolate of God

2. God desires to FILL you, to fill your heart with His presence, to FILL your mind with Christ… to FILL your life with Christ… to cause you to overflow like a fountain… to live a rich, full, abundant, spiritually luxurious life filled with fruit

3. Desolation is being empty of God… isolated from Him… far from Him

4. DON’T BE DESOLATE… come close to Christ

D. Abomination:

1. The word refers to the horrors of idolatry

2. It was because of idolatry that God judged His people

3. Either we will be FILLED with Christ or we will fill ourselves with idols

4. In your heart there can be abominations of desolation:  living for and loving created things more than the creator

a. Money… possessions… houses… vacations… hobbies… DVDs… Blackberrys… retirement accounts… Lake Houses…. Boats…. Pleasures… careers…. Children… spouses… sightseeing

b. Any of these things can be idols

c. The greatest idol is simply SELF… selfishness… fattening yourselves for the day of slaughter by living self-indulgent lives

5. Ask Christ to cleanse the temple of your hearts… to get the whip and take down the abomination of desolation

E. Marvel and What God will Do to Have a Pure People

1. He will allow Gentiles to trample His sanctuary again and again to teach them this lesson

2. He wants purity and holiness more than sacrifices and religion

3. So He brought the Philistines to the Ark in Shiloh… the Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans to the Temple in Jerusalem

4. In the end, He will allow the Jews to rebuild their sinful temple and to allow the Antichrist to set himself up as God in that temple

5. All of that to teach us that God wants us FREE FROM IDOLS… loving and serving Him… turning away from self-worship

6. If that is so, fear His discipline… when you start to venture into idolatry, God will take the whip to your lives and cleanse you because He loves you

F. Marvel at the Intricacies of Redemptive History

1. This was not an easy story to tell today… the five examples of the trampling of the sanctuary is COMPLEX

2. Be amazed at the complexity and symbolism and depth of the work of God in history

3. Fall down in wonder

G. Don’t Trust in any Man-Made Sanctuary

1. FBC can be made physically beautiful and still be spiritually desolate

H. Watch Out for Pride

1. The antichrist set up himself as an idol to be worshiped

2. Humble yourself… deny yourself