Matthew Sermon 86 – Mat 24.15-20 – The Abomination of Desolation

Jesus gives the first century disciples a specific sign to watch for that will signal when the believers in Judea must drop everything and run for their lives.  That sign is the “‘abomination of desolation’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet” (Mat 24.15). When you see it “standing in the holy place,” those in Judea,“flee to the mountains” (Mat 24.16). There was a rock fortress called Pella, hidden in the hill country about 60 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Many Christians fled there for refuge. What was the “abomination of desolation”? What was the abomination that caused God to desolate, that is to abandon and destroy, his temple and city? The most popular theory is that it was the Roman soldiers placing their Roman standards in the temple and sacrificing to them, which was their custom to do upon a successful conquest. But there are a couple of significant problems with that theory. First, by the time the Romans were sacrificing to their standards in the temple, it is was too late to flee. It was all over but the crying at that point. Second, in the Old Testament, pagans taking the city and the temple (such as occurred with the Babylonians) was never the cause of God desolating his temple, but the result of God desolating his temple. The cause of God desolating his house was never what the pagans did, but what God’s own people did. So, if the abomination of desolation was not the Romans sacrificing to their standards in the temple, what was it? There are two other theories that make a lot more sense. To learn more, inquire within.

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