[Note: This sermon expounds Matthew 24:15–24, focusing on the abomination of desolation. Delivered 12 July 1981, Montreal.]
Last Sunday we studied the first part of Matthew 24 and the seven general signs of the Lord's coming. Today we come to verses 15 to 24 and the specific signs, which relate to the final seven years before his coming. The general signs continue throughout this period and in some ways intensify as we approach the end: apostasy grows from a general characteristic of the age into a specific massive falling-away (as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, that day will not come unless the great rebellion comes first); the gospel-preaching likewise reaches its climax as a faithful minority carries it with astonishing power to every nation; and the fig tree of Israel has already begun to blossom. Now we turn to the specific signs of verses 15 and following.
The Lord Jesus says in verse 15: "When you see the desolating sacrilege — the abomination of desolation — spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)." This term is not coined by the Lord Jesus; it is taken from Daniel, where it appears three times (Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). It also appears in 1 Maccabees 1:54, a historical book covering the period between the Old Testament and New Testament. In 167 BC, the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes — whose name means "God manifest," since he claimed deity — attacked Jerusalem, entered the holy place of the temple (which was forbidden to him), set up a statue of Zeus upon the altar, and offered swine's flesh there to deliberately humiliate the Jews. That act of deliberate desecration was called the abomination of desolation. The word "abomination" means something nauseating, sickening, revolting — the kind of thing that makes you want to throw up. And desolation means ruin and destruction. So the abomination of desolation is that disgusting object whose purpose is your destruction.
Who or what is the abomination of desolation? The grammar is instructive. In Matthew the word "standing" (verse 15) is a neuter participle, which could refer to a thing. But in the parallel passage in Mark 13:14 the same participle is masculine — a masculine participle associated with a neuter noun, which is very unusual and clearly deliberate. A masculine participle indicates a person. Mark is telling us that the abomination of desolation is primarily a person. And Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 identifies who that person is: "that day will not come unless the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God and object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God." This is the man of sin, the man of lawlessness — what modern Christians often call the Antichrist, though that is not strictly the Lord's own term. He sets himself up in the holy place of the temple and demands worship as God. But the neuter participle in Matthew is not wrong either, because in Revelation 13, the beast also sets up an image of himself in the temple — making the image appear to speak through demonic power. So the abomination of desolation refers to both the man of sin and the image he erects: to worship the image is to worship the man of sin.
When does this occur? It does not refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Three reasons show this clearly. First, in AD 70 no abomination of desolation was ever set up in Jerusalem — nothing of the kind happened then. Second, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, though terrible, cannot be called unprecedented — many cities had been similarly destroyed after siege throughout history, with mothers eating their children in starvation. But the Lord says in verse 21 that this tribulation will be "such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be" — it will never happen again. Third, there is not one word in this passage about the destruction of Jerusalem itself, which is remarkable. The passage that does refer to AD 70 is Luke 21:20–24: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near." That parallel passage deliberately omits the words "never happened before, nor will happen again" because it does refer to a historical event. Matthew 24:15 refers to a future event; Luke 21:20 refers to AD 70. Both happened as prophesied.
Where will the abomination of desolation be set up? Verse 15 says "in the holy place." Hebrews 9:2–3 tells us the holy place was the outer sanctuary of the temple, entered only by priests, with the holy of holies behind it, entered only once a year by the high priest on the Day of Atonement. Right into that most sacred space, the man of sin will place himself. This means there must be a temple in Jerusalem for this to happen. Since the temple does not currently exist, many expect the Jews to rebuild it. When we read this passage alongside Revelation 13 and 2 Thessalonians 2, it becomes clear that the literal holy place of a literal temple is what is meant. Attempts to spiritualize "the holy place" as the church or some other symbolic sense become forced and unconvincing, and the geographical details of the passage make no sense in any other reading.
What are Christians to do when these things happen? The Lord's answer is: flee. It is a basic scriptural principle — where there is evil, put as much distance between yourself and it as possible. Paul tells Timothy to flee youthful lusts. Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife: he did not say "I am strong enough to resist." He grabbed his coat and ran — and when he couldn't grab his coat, he left it behind and ran anyway. Nobody is strong enough to stand when they deliberately put themselves in a position of temptation. The principle in scripture is: don't walk into temptation, and if you are already there, run from it. The same applies to persecution. We are not afraid to die, but we must not invite trouble. When persecution comes, flee to the next city and keep preaching. The principle is: don't be foolish, and don't be a martyr before your task is done.
[Continues in Part B]
# The Abomination of Desolation — Matthew 24:15–24 (Part B) — Geographic Evidence; Urgency of Flight; The Elect in the Tribulation
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Matthew 24:15–24, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 12 July 1981, Montreal.]
Three pieces of geographic evidence confirm that this passage refers literally to the temple in Jerusalem, not to some spiritualized holy place. First, verse 16 says "let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" — a statement that would be meaningless if the passage were not about literal geography. Second, the reference to fleeing to the mountains is perfectly specific to Judea, where Jerusalem is surrounded by hills; for someone in Winnipeg the instruction would be absurd since everything is flat for a great distance. Third, verse 20 says "pray that your flight may not be in winter, or on a Sabbath." The Sabbath would only create a crisis for someone in Israel, where on that day all shops are closed, transportation stops, and you cannot buy food or fuel. These geographical details — Judea, mountains, the Sabbath's effect on daily life — point unmistakably to a literal setting in the land of Israel.
The Lord then gives us a picture of the extreme urgency that will characterize flight in those days. Verse 17: "Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house." In Jewish houses of that time, the stairs were on the outside — you came down from the rooftop without passing through the house. The Lord says: when you get down those outside stairs, do not step inside, because if you go in you may never come out. By the time you emerge, the agents of the man of sin will already be at your door. Verse 18: "Let him who is in the field not turn back to get his mantle." The outer garment was the most important item of clothing in the ancient world — your blanket at night, your protection by day. Forget it. Just run. The events of the end-time will move with snowballing acceleration, like an avalanche that starts slowly and then gathers impossible speed. In five minutes you could seal your own destruction. Verse 19 adds a compassionate note: "Alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days" — a pregnant woman cannot move fast, and the whole family will not desert her. Verse 20: pray that your flight is not in the Palestinian winter, which is the rainy season, with constant heavy downpours between November and January.
What will those days be like? Verse 21: "There will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be." The mind boggles. We have seen gas chambers, atomic bombs, terrible things. Those who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki, burned from head to foot, afflicted with leukemia for the rest of their short lives — worse than that? And yet the Lord says you have not seen nothing yet. Such will be the horror of those days that if they were not shortened, no human being would be saved alive. But for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
This brings us to a doctrine that is very common in the Western and Chinese churches, which I must address plainly: the teaching that the church will be raptured before the tribulation. That is sheer nonsense, and one could not have read the scriptures to say it. The tribulation will be shortened for the sake of the elect — which means the elect will be in the tribulation. And who are the elect? In the New Testament the word elect consistently refers to the church. Romans 8:33, Romans 16:13, Colossians 3:12, 1 Peter 1:2, 2:9 — everywhere the elect are Christians, not a hypothetical generation of unbelieving Jews. The Antichrist is specifically trying to deceive the elect in verse 24. If the church were already safely raptured away, why warn the elect? Why shorten the days for their sake? The whole logic of the passage falls apart on this theory. The entire address of Matthew 24 is directed to the disciples and through them to the church. Pre-tribulationism tells us more about the desire of present-day Christians to avoid suffering than it does about the Word of God.
The satanic goal of all this is stated plainly in verse 24: "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." The Antichrist's one purpose is to make us apostatize, to draw us away from God. And he will not work alone — his false prophets, his allies, will do the same. As the tribulation intensifies, the church will be crying out "Lord, come!" and that is precisely when the impostors will appear to fill the longing. I recently read a book written by a former staff member of Oral Roberts' organization, who worked there for three and a half years and published detailed revelations about it — a one million dollar house in California, a quarter million dollar house in Tulsa, twenty-five thousand dollar cars changed every six months, a two million dollar private jet always at his disposal. If what this man says is true, and since Oral Roberts has never launched a libel suit against the book, it would appear that it is, then we can see how already in our time false teachers are exploiting the spiritual hunger of the people. In those last days the deception will be far more powerful and dangerous than anything we have yet seen. May God help us to endure to the end. Let us be quiet in prayer.