SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/24/2023 8:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus
PT-6 “The Abomination of Desolation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 24:15
Message of
the verse: “15 “Therefore when
you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the
prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),”
I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary
on this verse from Matthew.
“Halfway through the final week of years,
at the end of the first three and a half years, the deceptive leader of the
western confederacy (Antichrist) will violently turn against Israel, set
himself up as God, and commit the abomination of desolation that activates the
Great Tribulation, which brings about intense persecution of Jews.
“Interpreters have proposed numerous
identities for the holy place, some suggesting it is the city of Jerusalem and
others that it is the holy of holies, the inner sanctum of the Temple. In the only other passage where the phrase is
used in the New Testament, it plainly refers to the ‘Temple itself (Acts 21:28), and that seems to be the only
reasonable meaning to take for it in Matthew 24:15. David also referred to the Temple as the Lord’s
holy place (see Ps. 24:3).
“And from the time that the regular
sacrifices is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there
will be 1290 days’ (Dan. 12:11). The
desecration of the Temple will not be momentary but continuous, described by
Jesus as standing in the holy place.
From the time the daily sacrifices is canceled and the abomination of
desolation beings, 1290 days will pass until the end, 30 more days than three
and one half years. Yet according to
Revelation 12:6, the Great Tribulation will last 1260 days. It seems that the best explanation for those
additional days is that they will cover the time when the Messiah descends on
the Mount of Olives, creates the great valley in which the nations of the world
will be judged, and executives that judgment (see Zech. 14:4-5; Matt.
25:31-46).
“Daniel continues by saying ‘How
blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days!’ (Dan. 12:12), which adds an additional 45 days. That additional time would seem to be a
transition period during which the Lord establishes His throne in Jerusalem and
sets up places of leadership throughout the earth that will be governed in His
behalf by His appointed representatives.
So there are the 1260 days of trouble, followed by 30 days to break down
man’s kingdom and 45 days to set up the Lord’s.”
“Further details of the abomination of desolation are
given in the book of Revelation.
Pictured as the beast coming up out of the sea, the Antichrist will be
given ‘a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act
for forty-two months was given to him’ (Rev. 13:1, 5). Forty-two months translates into three and a
half years, or 1260 days, which will be the Great Tribulation, the second half
of the 1260 days, which will be the last week of years. As the Antichrist continues his blasphemies against
God’s name, tabernacle, and heavenly citizens, ‘it was given to him to make war
with the saints and to overcome them; and authority over every tribe and people
and tongue and nation was given to him.
And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has
not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the
Lamb who has been slain’ (vv. 7-8). His cohort,
the false prophet, will then join him and perform great signs and wonders in order
to promote the worship of the Antichrist and will even enable an image of the
beast to talk and cause the deaths of those who refuse to worship (vv. 11-15).
Antiochus Epiphanes set up an idol in the Temple to be
worshiped by the Jews, but the Antichrist will set himself up as God and demand
worship from all mankind. He will end
all sacrifice in the Temple and commit the abomination that makes the holy
place desecrated and desolate, a place utterly detestable to Jews.
“Then the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, ‘the son of
destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object
of worship,…takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being
God’ (2 Thess. 2:3-4). He is ‘the one
whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs
and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who
perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved’
(vv. 9-10). That is the abomination of
desolation.
“The exhortation let the reader understand reinforces the
fact that Jesus was not giving the warnings in the Olivet discourse to the
disciples themselves or to their generation but to believers in the end time,
who will read those truths in Scripture and thereby be enabled to understand
the trials they are enduring.”
With that I am finished quoting for MacArthur’s
commentary on Matthew 24:15. Tomorrow I
want to put on my blogs something about Christmas. With that have a merry Christmas.
12/24/2023 8:44 AM
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