The Two Signs Before the Second Coming

2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Introduction

Christian media has been set ablaze with speculations recently as to whether we are living in the last of the last days before the return of Christ.

With the recent Presidential election and 2 year pandemic and now the war in Ukraine and add to this the constant threat of new missiles from North Korea and the cracking down on churches in Canada and the rise of persecution of Christians through the world many seem to believe this is it.

According to one article written this past week, The war in Ukraine has reignited beliefs among some conservative evangelicals that Russia could help fulfill biblical prophecies about the end of the world.

These evangelicals, particularly charismatic Christians who focus on end-times theories, have long believed that Russia has a special role to play in the end times and are sharing new theories about why the invasion of Ukraine might be part of God’s plan.

Earlier this month, California megachurch pastor Greg Laurie, who was part of President Donald Trump’s inner circle of pastor-advisors, told his followers he saw a “prophetic significance” to what is happening in Ukraine. And Christian Broadcasting Network founder Pat Robertson suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin was “compelled by God” to attack Ukraine. Since then, people who engage in prophecy have been giving their own biblical interpretations of global events, particularly around Russia’s role in triggering the end of the world.

A Rapture Index that tracks what it sees as end-times activity recently increased its index to 187 out of 200. The index hit 182 after Sept. 11, 2001. In its most recent update, it notes climate change, the coronavirus and the rise of oil prices as factors for recent changes.

Conservative Christians have long looked at world events and pointed to biblical references as signs that what is happening in the world could fulfill biblical prophecy, and this time is no different, said Michael Brown, host of the Charlotte-based Christian radio show “The Line of Fire.”

“When you have Christians who already think about how we’re living in the last days and they see the continual moral decline of America, they see the church being marginalized, it doesn’t take much to tip the scales,” he said. “Whenever Russia gets involved, it’s like, ‘Ah here it is, it’s the final conflict.’”

Some evangelicals once believed that Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, was the Antichrist, in part because he had a birthmark on his forehead that conjured up concerns that it could be “the mark of the beast,” a biblical sign for Satan in the end times.

Perhaps Putin is “an Antichrist of our current time,” said Jeff Kinley, who writes on biblical prophecy and lives in Harrison, Ark., in a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network

Russia’s war on Ukraine has some Christians wondering: Is this the end of the world?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/03/10/russia-putin-end-of-the-world/

To be clear, I do not endorse any of these as sound biblical exegetes or scholarship on the topic of eschatology.

Frankly, these kind of events are very hard to see clearly that we are at the time of the Return of Christ.

There have always been wars, and tyrants and dictators. There have been diseases and pandemics in the past even worse than what we have experienced. We have seen waves of horrific persecution of the church in the past.

So when we see wars, and rumors of wars and pestilence and disease and believers being led away and persecuted, it’s hard to know if you're close.

But, Paul and Jesus give us some specific signs. Some non negotiable, non debatable, clear, obvious universal signs that are absolute and that tell you that you are in the season of His Return.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 (NKJV)

2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ……. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Lesson

I. His Description

II. His Desecration

III. His Deception

I. His Description

2 Thessalonians 2:3 (NKJV)

3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

II. His Desecration

3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

He’s Adversarial

He’s Egotistical

He’s Universal

He’s Counterfactual

He’s Adversarial

2 Thessalonians 2:4 (NKJV)

4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped,

ὁ ἀντικείμενος ….ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενον θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα,

He’s Adversarial

He’s Egotistical

2 Thessalonians 2:4 (NKJV)

4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped,

4 ὁ ἀντικείμενος καὶ ὑπεραιρόμενος ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενον θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ⸆ καθίσαι ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἐστὶν θεός.*

4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

2 Thessalonians 2:4 (NASB95)

4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

sebasma: an object of worship

Original Word: σέβασμα, ατος, τό

Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter

Transliteration: sebasma

Phonetic Spelling: (seb'-as-mah)

Definition: an object of worship

Usage: an object of worship or veneration.

Cognate: 4574 sébasma – devotion shown to a deity, especially in relation to religious objects of worship. See 4576 (sebomai).

Notice the verse again….

4. HE…. who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship,

He’s Adversarial

He’s Egotistical

He’s Universal

Revelation 13:7 (NKJV)

7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Revelation 13:8 (NKJV)

8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Revelation 13:12 (NKJV)

12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

Revelation 14:6 (NKJV)

6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—

He’s Adversarial

He’s Egotistical

He’s Universal

He’s Counterfactual

4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καθίσαι ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἐστὶν θεός.

1. The Historical

2. The Metaphorical

3. The Ecclesiastical

4. The Geographical

First let me begin by just removing a couple of them that I believe just can’t fit the text.

1. The Historical

1. The Temple refers to the Herodian Temple of Jesus and Paul, the one that would be destroyed in 70AD.

2. The Metaphorical

Paul is indicating that there are 2 signs, notable, seeable, significant enough to let you know that you are at the time of the Return of Christ, The Parousia and the gathering together of the saints.

3. The Ecclesiastical

The 3rd view is that the Temple represents the Body of Christ, the Church.

It is argued that Paul never uses the term “Temple of God” in his letters to refer to the “literal Temple in Jerusalem” but always to the Church.

This is a strong point of this position.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NASB95)

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 (NKJV)

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Also to add to this, the Greek word that Paul uses is

νᾱός. not ἱερόν,

1. ἱερόν, a place consecrated or sacred as given or devoted to God, a place that subserves a sacred purpose, as the Temple, and as the sacred things themselves; (e.g. τά ἱερά are the sacrifices; ἱερεύς is the person who offiers them; τὸ ἱερὸν is the place where they are offered), ἱερὸν is used of the whole compass of the sacred enclosure, including the outer courts, porches, and all the other subordinate buildings appertaining to the Temple. (This word must be carefully distinguished in every passage from No. 2.) (non occ.)

2. ναός, dwelling, habitation (of God); the interior and most sacred part of No. 1, where the presence of God was manifested; the Holy place, or the Holy of Holies.

Bullinger, E. W. (1908). In A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (Fifth Edition, Revised, p. 764). Longmans, Green, & Co.

But this is impossible for the Antichrist to take a seat in the true Church. The Temple of God in this idea is the body of Christ and there is no way in except salvation. It is is not a physical building to enter and the Antichrist cannot take a seat of authority in it. Plus, as I showed you last week, The true believers who make up the the Temple of God will not and cannot be deceived.

So that leaves only one option. This is a physical temple in a geographical location, that the Antichrist will physically enter and desecrate.

4. The Geographical

Remember the point of the passage in 2 Thess. There will be 2 signs before the Day of the Lord.

These will be visible, notable, and clearly discernible by the church to know that the Day of the Lord is near.

1. The Apostasy

2. The Man of Lawlessness is revealed.

The Apostasy is a large enough departure unlike the apostasy of individuals throughout church history, to get our attention.

The Revelation of the Antichrist is a notable, universally visible event to get the attention of the whole church also.

What is that event?

2 Thessalonians 2:4 (NKJV)

4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or object that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

This leads us to the only other option

It’s Geographical

This view states that it is a real physical Temple in a geographical location where the Antichrist will set himself up as a god or as one to be worshiped

It would not just be any temple, like Nero or Caligula would have used. Not just any religious edifice will do.

To find out what this is and where this is, we will have to go to the words of Jesus and the words of Daniel the prophet.

Matthew 24:15 (NKJV)

15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

Mark 13:14 adds, 14 standing where it ought not”

Matthew 24:21 (NKJV)

21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Mark 13:19 adds

19 such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.

Matthew 24:29–31 (NKJV)

29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

This Abomination of desolation is directly tied to the Great Tribulation, that immediately precedes the Coming of the Lord in the Clouds to gather his people.

So this is a future event. Yet to come.

But what exactly is it?

What is “the abomination of desolation”?

βδέλυγμα, that causes revulsion or extreme disgust, a ‘loathsome, detestable thing’, in our lit. in ref. to what is detested by God.

① someth. disgusting that arouses wrath, loathsome thing detestable in the sight of God practice someth. foul or false 21:27 (cp. REB).

② someth. that is totally defiling, abomination, pollutant

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). In A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 172). University of Chicago Press.

53.38 τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως: (a fixed phrase derived from Hebrew, literally ‘the detestable thing of desolation’) an abomination (either an object or an event) which defiles a holy place and thus causes it to be abandoned and left desolate—‘an abomination which desolates, a horrible thing which defiles.’‘that which God detests’ or ‘that which God hates’ or even ‘that which causes God’s anger.’ The term ἐρημώσεως may then be translated as ‘that which causes people to abandon’ or ‘that which causes something to be deserted.’ The entire phrase may then be translated in some languages as ‘that which God detests and which causes something to be abandoned’ or ‘… left desolate.’

Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 536). United Bible Societies.

Whatever this is, it is set up in the Holy Place Matthew 24:15 (NKJV)

15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

Mark 13:14 adds, 14 standing where it ought not”

So it is something that God hates that is a disgusting thing in his sight that He loathes.

It is in the Holy Place i.e. The Temple in Jerusalem

and….

It is something that the Prophet Daniel specifically talked about.

Some see this as a historic event that was already fulfilled in the events leading up to and occurring in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple

Some of the immediate textual reasons why it's believe this is a local event in Jerusalem confined to a historical time in the past are.

1. The use of the the pronoun “You”

Matthew 24:15 (NKJV)

15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

This can be easily understood as a representative you.

Not only them but all of the “you’s” after them.

Matthew 24:9 (NKJV)

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

Matthew 23:38–39 (NKJV)

38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

Matthew 23:34–35 (NKJV)

34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

2. The use of the local customs. flat top roofs, sabbath

Matthew 24:17–20 (NKJV)

17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.!

20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

It is argued that this was particular to that culture then but not now.

That is verifiably not true. They still have homes with flat roofs and the Sabbath is still observed by orthodox Jews.

3. The phrase “this Generation.

Matthew 24:34 (NKJV)

34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

Some say that this is an absolute that all these things that he has talked about.

persecution,

Abomination of Desolation

Great Tribulation

Even the Coming of Christ in the Clouds, with the angels gathering His elect

ALL took place within the confines of a generation he was talking too

The assumption is that the word generation can only mean a reference to a time span of a group of people living at a certain time. And nothing else. But that is hardly the case.

According to the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis

In the majority of the NT occurrences, however, γενεά refers to people who are linked not only temporally but also qualitatively; they are indeed contemporaries, but more significantly they are viewed as sharing certain traits—and these traits are uniformly negative in character.

Thus, according to this view, the Lord affirms that “people such as this,

Jesus describes the γενεὰ made up of his hearers as ἄπιστος καὶ διεστραμμένη, “faithless [or unbelieving] and perverse generation” (Matt 17:17 = Luke 9:41; the par. Mark 9:19 does not include the second adj.), also as “evil and adulterous” (Matt 12:39; the par. in Luke 11:29 incl. only “evil”); and Paul, in a loose quotation of Deut 32:5 (cf. also 32:20), tells the Philippians that they lived in the midst of γενεᾶς σκολιᾶς καὶ διεστραμμένης, “a warped and crooked generation” (Phil 2:15). Most of these negative uses are found with the construction ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη, “this generation” (e.g., Matt 11:16; 12:41–42; 23:36; Luke 11:50–51; 17:25; Acts 2:40). The expression has its roots in the OT: it is used with an indirectly negative nuance in Gen 7:1, where God says to Noah, “I have found you righteous in this generation” (LXX, ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ; Heb., בַּדּוֹר הַזֶּה); and in Ps 12:7 (11:8) the sense is more obviously unfavorable, “You, Lord, will keep us and preserve us from this generation” (ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης; Heb., מִן־הַדּוֹר זוּ; in Deut 1:35, the MT has הַדּוֹר הָרָע הַזֶּה, “this evil generation,” but the LXX omits the clause; in Ps 95:10 [94:10] the MT has דּוֹר alone and the LXX renders τῇ γενεᾷ ἐκείνῃ). In all these passages the temporal “genealogical” element becomes unimportant: the emphasis lies entirely on the sinfulness of a group, i.e., “this type of people.”

Silva, M., ed. (2014). In New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (Second Edition, Vol. 1, p. 557). Zondervan.

Acts 2:40 (NKJV)

40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”

Psalm 12:7 (NKJV)

7 You shall keep them, O Lord,

You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

Deuteronomy 32:5 (NKJV)

5 “They have corrupted themselves;

They are not His children,

Because of their blemish:

A perverse and crooked generation.

Matthew 23:30–36 (NKJV)

30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Some have chosen to make this the hub on which all the other interpretation of the text is determined. In other words, because they want to take the word generation in it strictest sense to mean only a certain amount of time of a certain people. Then all those events had to happen within that framework of 40 years or so. By doing this we are forced to interpret the coming of Christ in this context as a spiritual coming. And the plain meaning of the text is obscured.

However I believe it would be more important to take the obvious and repeated event of the return of Christ in this text as a literal physical event and then let that be the hub upon which all the other events and words are interpreted.

It should also be noted that there is difficulty and a great lack of agreement among those who believe the abomination of desolation was a historical event as to what this specifically referred to.

“The inability of preterists to definitively identify this abomination of desolation in history is an oft-observed weakness of the entire system. DeMar admits that the preterist community lacks consensus about this identification. Gentry concedes that some verses of the Olivet Discourse, beginning with the abomination in Matthew 24:15, “appear more difficult to assimilate into the preterist approach.”

This weakness is especially troubling for the preterist system because the Lord taught that the abomination will be the climactic event that signifies the arrival of the unprecedented tribulation and the end of the age.

Hollett, Brock David ; Hollett, Brock. Debunking Preterism: How Over-Realized Eschatology Misses the "Not Yet" of Bible Prophecy . Brock D Hollett. Kindle Edition.

A number of opinions exist as to the identity of the Abomination of Desolation.

Some attach the label to the revolutionary actions of the Jewish Zealots against the Romans.

Some have suggested that the abomination “seems to be the occasion when the Edomites (Idumeans), the agelong enemies of Israel, attacked Jerusalem. . . . One evening in A.D. 68 the Edomites surrounded the holy city with 20,000 soldiers.”

Others see the abomination as referring to the actions of Vespasian and Titus and their Roman legions.

This view suggests that the graven and molten images of Caesar and the legionary eagles atop the Roman standards constituted a desecration of Jerusalem’s holiness.

N. T. Wright discusses several other pitfalls with this preterist interpretation of the abomination as described by Jesus: This is scarcely to be taken as a reference, after the event, to the actual happenings of AD 66-70. For a start, Titus and his legions were occupying the Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus, the two highest hills overlooking Jerusalem; fleeing to the hills would mean surrender and/or death. For another thing, by the time the Romans took the sanctuary itself it was too late to do anything about running away. Thirdly, the tradition of the Christians getting out of Jerusalem and going to Pella hardly counts as fleeing ‘to the hills’; to get to Pella they would have had

to descend 3,000 feet to the Jordan valley and then travel north for about thirty miles (Pella itself is about three miles east of the Jordan, and twenty miles south of the sea of Galilee). No one in their right mind would describe a flight to Pella as ‘to the hills’.97

Hollett, Brock David ; Hollett, Brock. Debunking Preterism: How Over-Realized Eschatology Misses the "Not Yet" of Bible Prophecy . Brock D Hollett. Kindle Edition.

DeMar is aware of the difficulties with these preterist interpretations of the abomination of desolation. He points out that Luke’s parallel account shows that Jerusalem would be “surrounded by armies” (Luke 21:20-21), which he believes is a reference to the saints fleeing the city after the invasion and subsequent withdrawal of the armies of Cestius Gallus. He explains that “escape was made possible because Cestius and his armies suddenly and without warning withdrew from the temple area.”98 However, this position forces the preterist interpreter to locate the abomination at this particular time, specifically, in November AD 66. These events occurred far too early to fit the biblical chronology, as this would place the abomination almost a full four years before the destruction of Jerusalem.

Hollett, Brock David ; Hollett, Brock. Debunking Preterism: How Over-Realized Eschatology Misses the "Not Yet" of Bible Prophecy . Brock D Hollett. Kindle Edition.

All of these views have problems with either occurring to early to allow for the 1260 day 3 1/2 years of Great Tribulation

Or there is not something set up in the Temple

Or there is not the removal of the Sacrifices till way to late.

But if we are to know what this is we will have to go to Daniel.

There are 4 places in Daniel where the abomination of Desolation is mentioned or referenced

Daniel 8

Daniel 9

Daniel 11

Daniel 12

Daniel 8:9–12 (NKJV)

9 And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. 12 Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.

Daniel 9:24–27 (NKJV)

24 “Seventy weeks are determined

For your people and for your holy city,

To finish the transgression,

To make an end of sins,

To make reconciliation for iniquity,

To bring in everlasting righteousness,

To seal up vision and prophecy,

And to anoint the Most Holy.

25 “Know therefore and understand,

That from the going forth of the command

To restore and build Jerusalem

Until Messiah the Prince,

There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;

The street shall be built again, and the wall,

Even in troublesome times.

26 “And after the sixty-two weeks

Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;

And the people of the prince who is to come

Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The end of it shall be with a flood,

And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;

But in the middle of the week

He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,

Even until the consummation, which is determined,

Is poured out on the desolate.”

Daniel 11:31–37 (NKJV)

31 And 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.

36 “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. 37 He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.

Daniel 12:1–2 (NKJV)

12 “At that time Michael shall stand up,

The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;

And there shall be a time of trouble,

Such as never was since there was a nation,

Even to that time.

And at that time your people shall be delivered,

Every one who is found written in the book.

2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel 12:4–12 (NKJV)

4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

5 Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. 6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?”

7 Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.

8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”

9 And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. 11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

We can eliminate Daniel 8 and 11 because we know that these where historical events fulfilled in the career of Antiochus Epiphanies IV.

Although, has I have already pointed out, many scholars and commentators believe that he was a foreshadow or a type of the Antichrist to come.

Antiochus took out his frustration on the Jews, the city of Jerusalem, and their temple. He vented his fury against the holy covenant, the entire Mosaic system (cf. v. 28), favoring any renegade Jews who turned to help him (cf. v. 32). He desecrated the temple and abolished the daily sacrifice. Antiochus sent his general Apollonius with 22,000 soldiers into Jerusalem on what was purported to be a peace mission. But they attacked Jerusalem on the Sabbath, killed many people, took many women and children as slaves, and plundered and burned the city.

Pentecost, J. D. (1985). Daniel. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1370). Victor Books.

In seeking to exterminate Judaism and to Hellenize the Jews, he forbade the Jews to follow their religious practices (including their festivals and circumcision), and commanded that copies of the Law be burned. Then he set up the abomination that causes desolation. In this culminating act he erected on December 16, 167 b.c. an altar to Zeus on the altar of burnt offering outside the temple, and had a pig offered on the altar. The Jews were compelled to offer a pig on the 25th of each month to celebrate Antiochus Epiphanes’ birthday. Antiochus promised apostate Jews (those who … violated the covenant; cf. v. 30) great reward if they would set aside the God of Israel and worship Zeus, the god of Greece. Many in Israel were persuaded by his promises (flattery) and worshiped the false god. However, a small remnant remained faithful to God, refusing to engage in those abominable practices. Antiochus IV died insane in Persia in 163 b.c.

Pentecost, J. D. (1985). Daniel. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1370). Victor Books.

All the events described thus far in chapter 11 are past. The intricate details of the conflicts between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies were fulfilled literally, exactly as Daniel had predicted. So detailed are the facts that skeptics have denied that the book was written by Daniel in the sixth century b.c. They conclude that the book must have been written during the time of the Maccabees (168–134 b.c.) after the events took place. However, the God who knows the end from the beginning, was able to reveal details of forthcoming history to Daniel

Pentecost, J. D. (1985). Daniel. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1370). Victor Books.

The last 2 references we have are

Daniel 9 and Daniel 12

Daniel 9:24–27 (NKJV)

24 “Seventy weeks are determined

For your people and for your holy city,

This is a very specific prophecy regarding Daniel’s people, the Jews or Israel, and the holy city, Jerusalem.

v. 24 To finish the transgression,

To make an end of sins,

To make reconciliation for iniquity,

To bring in everlasting righteousness,

To seal up vision and prophecy,

And to anoint the Most Holy.

All of this will be accomplished in the

Seventy Sevens or 490 years

25 “Know therefore and understand,

That from the going forth of the command

To restore and build Jerusalem

Until Messiah the Prince,

There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;

The street shall be built again, and the wall,

Even in troublesome times.

26 “And after the sixty-two weeks

Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;

It is universally accepted that this is a reference to the crucifixion of Jesus.

not for himself= substitution

will have nothing, or no one = rejection by Israel

John 1. He came unto his own and his own did not receive him.

26 And the people of the prince who is to come

Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

The end of it shall be with a flood,

And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

NASB. even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;

But in the middle of the week

He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,

Even until the consummation, which is determined,

Is poured out on the desolate.”

In chapter 8, 11 and 12, they all refer to the sacrifices as the Tamid offerings . These where the daily morning and evening sacrifices.

Daniel 12:1–2 (NKJV)

12 “At that time

What time???

11:36

12 “At that time Michael shall stand up,

The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;

And there shall be a time of trouble,

Such as never was since there was a nation,

Even to that time.

And at that time your people shall be delivered,

Every one who is found written in the book.

2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel 12:4–12 (NKJV)

4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

8 Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?”

What do we learn from these passages regarding the abomination of desolation that Jesus refereed too.

1. It is not a historical event. He is not talking about Antiochus Epiphanies IV.

Jesus said in Matt 24:15

“When you see the abomination of desolation set up.” So it is not a reference to Daniel 8 or 11

2. It is in the Temple and involves the removal or stopping of the daily sacrifices.

3.In all 4 occasions chapter 8, 9, 11, and 12, it involves an evil ruler who does it.

Chapter 8 and 11 it is the little horn, the blasphemous fierce king

Chapter 9 it is the prince of the people who destroy the temple who violates the covenant in the middle of the seven years

Chapter 12, it is the king who does according to his own will and exalts himself above all gods

4. There shall be 3 1/2 years of Trouble, great tribulation, persecution of the Jews and the saints of God

Daniel 12 specifically states this.

Daniel 12:6,

.6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?”

What wonders??

Daniel 11:36

36 “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, … 37 He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.

12 “At that time Michael shall stand up,

The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;

And there shall be a time of trouble,

Such as never was since there was a nation,

Even to that time.

And at that time your people shall be delivered,

Every one who is found written in the book.

2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

The answer comes in

Daniel 12:7

7 ….., that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time;

Daniel 12:11 (NKJV)

11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.

Daniel 7:25 (NKJV)

25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,

Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,

And shall intend to change times and law.

Then the saints shall be given into his hand

For a time and times and half a time.

Revelation 13:5–7 (NKJV)

5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Revelation 11:1–3 (NKJV)

11 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Revelation 12:1–6 (NKJV)

12 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Revelation 12:13–14 (NKJV)

13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

If you think that this interpretation of these passages is a relatively new thing, that is hardly the case. Some believe and teach that this view is a rather recent 19th century view of Dispensationalism. But……

“The historic church has always held a firm conviction about the future revelation of a personal Antichrist. In addition, the early church fathers equated the Beast, the Man of Lawlessness, and the Antichrist, teaching that he will be destroyed at the return of Jesus Christ. For example,

Justin Martyr (circa AD 160) mentioned that Jesus will return from heaven when this “man of apostasy” speaks words “against the Most High” and persecutes the saints.

Irenaeus (circa AD 180) believed that the Antichrist is the “lawless one” and “the son of perdition” who will seek to be “worshipped as God.” According to Irenaeus, this wicked man will be “endowed with all of the power of the devil” and will arise from a ten-nation confederacy to “reign over the earth for three years and six months” and to “sit in the temple at Jerusalem” until the Lord returns in heavenly clouds.

Hippolytus (circa AD 200) understood the Beast as the future Antichrist who will gather the Jews of the Diaspora so that “he may be worshipped by them as God.”

He also taught that the Antichrist will set up the abomination of desolation and remove “sacrifice and oblation” in the middle of the seventieth week of Daniel 9.

Hippolytus believed that the Antichrist will reign for “a time, times, and a half,” which he says means “three and a half years,” to rebuild Jerusalem and to “restore the sanctuary” while “exalting himself above all kings and above every god.”

Tertullian (circa AD 210) taught that the resurrection will occur immediately after “the destruction of the Antichrist.”

Origen (circa AD 248) referenced Daniel 11:31 to teach that the Antichrist will establish the abomination of desolation “on the temple” so that he “‘sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.’”

Cyprian, Victorinus, and Lactantius each wrote around AD 250-280 and described a future Antichrist who will persecute the saints of God

Victorinus (circa AD 280) believed that the number 666 referred to the name of the Antichrist.

Lactantius (circa AD 304-313) taught that Jesus will return to destroy the Antichrist, who will have required worship of himself, called himself God, performed signs and wonders, and “attempt[ed] to destroy the temple of God and persecute the righteous people” during the “forty-two months” of “distress and tribulation, such as there never has been from the beginning of the world.”

Hollett, Brock David ; Hollett, Brock. Debunking Preterism: How Over-Realized Eschatology Misses the "Not Yet" of Bible Prophecy . Brock D Hollett. Kindle Edition.

These seventy “weeks” are almost universally understood to mean seventy groupings of seven years (70 x 7 years = 490 years; cf. Gen. 29:27-28). Second, the prophecy pertains to the prophet’s people, the Jews, and the Holy City, Jerusalem (Dan. 9:24). Third, the 490-year period consummates the following divine purposes: “to finishthe transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place” (Dan. 9:24). Fourth, most Christian interpreters understand “an anointed one” who would be “cut off” and “have nothing” after the first sixty-nine weeks (483 years) to refer to Christ and his death on the cross (Dan. 9:26; cf. Isa. 53:8).

However, scholars vehemently disagree regarding the timing and events of the seventieth week (the final seven years) of the prophecy. Preterists usually view “the prince who is to come” (Dan. 9:26) as Emperor Vespasian or General Titus,310 whereas many futurists see this figure to be the future Antichrist. Most interpreters see the destruction of the city (Dan. 9:26) as a reference to the Roman invasion of Jerusalem in AD 70,

Many preterists see the one who will “make the strong covenant [alternatively ‘strengthen the covenant’] with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering” (Dan. 9:27) as a reference to the ministry and death of Christ (cf. Matt.

However, in every reference to the abomination of desolation in the book of Daniel, it is a self-exalting, evil ruler who removes the daily sacrifice from the sanctuary:

Hollett, Brock David ; Hollett, Brock. Debunking Preterism: How Over-Realized Eschatology Misses the "Not Yet" of Bible Prophecy . Brock D Hollett. Kindle Edition.

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