The Abomination of Desolation
Mark 13:14: "But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains."
Daniel 9:26-27: "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
Daniel 11:31-33: "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days."
Daniel 12:10-13: "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days."
THE PROPHECY OF SEVENTY WEEKS (Daniel 9:24-27):
In Daniel 9:24-27 we are given one of the most amazing prophecy in the Word of God, the prophecy of 70 weeks. It gives the precise timing of the first coming of Christ over 500 years in advance.
The Lord’s first coming, unlike His second coming, was to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The next time He will come in judgment of the world (Acts 17:31; Isa 11:4; Rev 19:16).
The prophecy of 70 weeks tells us that from "the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince" (Dan 9:25), which was given in 445 BC by King Artaxerxes of Persia (Neh 2:1-8), would be 69 weeks of years or 483 years (69 x 7 = 483) which brought us precisely to the days of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus came exactly as prophesied in these verses 24 to 26 and was "cut off, but not for Himself" (Dan 9:26), "for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken" (Isa 53:8).
With this cutting off of Christ also came the stopping of the time clock of the prophecy of 70 weeks with 7 years, the final week, yet unfulfilled. Israel should have known the time of the first coming of the Messiah, but we can not know the time of His second coming, because the Lord Jesus Himself said, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:32).
We also learn from verse 26 that "the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." From this statement we understand that "the prince that shall come" will be a Roman, because it was the Romans that "destroy[ed] the city and the sanctuary" in 70 AD. "Messiah the Prince" (Dan 9:25) and "the prince that shall come" are two different princes. We all know who the Messiah is, but "the prince that shall come" is the Antichrist Beast of Revelation 13.
The last verse of Daniel 9 says that this Beast "shall confirm the covenant with many for one week" or 7 years. This covenant will set God’s time clock of the 70 weeks back in motion, and the final 7 years of the Old Testament Dispensation will be played out. Biblical years had 360 days to the year, so the Tribulation will be a total of 2520 days (360 x 7 = 2520). Daniel and Revelation breaks this time period in half seven times, sometimes calling it 1260 days (Rev 11:3, 12:6), sometimes 42 months (Rev 11:2, 13:5), and sometimes "a time, and times, and half a time" (Rev 12:14; Dan 7:25, 12:7). The first half of the Tribulation will be 1260 days or 42 months long, and the last half will be of equal duration (1260 x 2 = 2520 days) (42 x 2 = 84 months). Christ will return to the earth 2,520 days or 84 months later.
Sometime shortly after the Rapture the Beast will confirm the prophesied 7 year covenant with many peoples (especially between Israel and the Islamic nations) which will allow the reinstitution of Temple sacrifices on Mount Moriah. However, "in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." The Antichrist will break the covenant 3 1/2 years into the Tribulation. Then he will cause "the overspreading of abominations" and because of this "he shall make it desolate." By the end of the Tribulation the Temple, Jerusalem, Israel and the whole world will be desolate (Zech 12:2-6, 14:1-4; Isa 24:1-6) People receiving "the mark of the beast" (Rev 16:2) will cause their own desolation and perdition:
Revelation 16:9-11: "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."
It is interesting to note that the words "perdition" and "desolation" are practically synonymous. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines them thusly: PERDITION: Entire loss or ruin; utter destruction. ... future misery or eternal death. DESOLATION: The act of desolating destruction or expulsion of inhabitants; destruction; ruin; waste. "Perdition" is generally used in an eternal and spiritual sense whereas "desolation" is used in a physical sense. So the one who’s name is "the son of perdition" (2 Thess 2:4) and who will "go into perdition" (Rev 17:8) will cause the "desolation" of the earth and they that dwell therein (Isa 24:3-6; Rev 3:10, 6:10, 8:13, 11:10, 12:12, 13:8, 12, 14, 17:2, 8).
2 Peter 3:7: "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."
When Antiochus Epiphanes (215-164 BC) set up the image of Zeus in the Temple at Jerusalem it was only the forerunner and a picture of the future fulfillment of the prophecy of "the abomination of desolation." It appears that ultimate fulfillment of "the abomination of desolation" is a combination of "the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thess 2:3-4), and also the "image to the Beast" being set up (Rev 13:14-15). The Antichrist proclaiming himself to be God and demanding worship with great authority through the "image to the Beast" will definitely be an abomination of unsurpassed proportions. It is clear that this "Image to the Beast" will use advanced technology, probably consisting of computer, satellite, bio-chip, and Internet technologies. This will be the method he will use for "the overspreading of abominations" to the ends of the earth, and because of "the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate." This"abomination of desolation" could not occur without the technologies for "the overspreading of abominations." Daniel himself said
The Abomination will be "set up" (Dan 12:11) or "placed" (Dan 11:31) and thus will strand (Matt 24:15) just as was the case with Nebuchadnezzar’s image (Dan 3:1-3).
Let me add that this "abomination" is also spoken of in Daniel 9:27 where it says: "And he [the Beast] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [7 years]: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
A 7 year "covenant" reinstituting Temple worship will be "confirm[ed] with many" [Jews, Islamic nations, and perhaps others]. This will mark the beginning of the 7 year [2520 day] Tribulation. These 2520 days are broken down into two 3 1/2 periods in Revelation. The two periods are called 1260 day (Rev 11:3, 12:6), 42 months (Rev 11:2 13:5), and "a time, and times, and half a time" (Rev 12:14; cf Dan 7:25, 12:7). It should be noted that these time periods are based on the Biblical lunar 30 months.
"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
Then Daniel 12:11-12 says this: "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days."
By taking Daniel 8:14, 9:27 and 12:11 together, this seems like the probable interpretation: After "the covenant with many" is "confirmed" it will take 7 months and 10 days (220 days) to build the Temple on Mount Moriah again and to begin the "daily sacrifice" (2300 + 220 = 2520 days). During these 220 days of preparing the Temple and for 1040 days following it’s completion God’s "two witnesses ... shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days" (Rev 11:3) (220 + 1040 = 1260 days). Then "from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days." That is, there will be 1260 days to the return of Christ plus another 30 days, and then an additional another 45 days (1260 + 30 =1290 + 45 = 1335 days) for the raising of the Old Testament and Tribulation saints, the gathering of God’s "elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt 24:31), the gathering of the nations and the separating of the sheep from the goats (Matt 25:31-46), the cleansing the Temple (Ezek 45), and the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:7-9).