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Matthew 24 part 10 – The Abomination Resulting in Desolation

So which abominations were Daniel or Jesus speaking about regarding the end of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.? I don’t know of any specific raising of a false idol in the actual holy place of the temple by the Romans. There is an assertion that the Romans set up one of their banners with the Roman eagle, but I don’t know where or when. If it was in the temple area, that would have to have taken place after the Romans entered and took over the temple area. That would have been too late to act as a warning.

Some abominable things did occur in the area of the temple, but more often they were committed by the Jews themselves, for they held the temple mount like a last-stand fortress. Specifically, based on Josephus’ Histories, the Zealots who seemed to desire death more than anything at this point in Israel’s history, held the City after taking it from those who had been in charge before the final end of the City. They were not just fighting the Romans; they were killing mercilessly their own people. Why? They weren’t zealous enough. Everything was needed for “the cause.”

Was the abomination causing desolation the murder of their fellow Israelites? Was it their shedding of blood in the temple? Or was it the greatest sin of history? The unjust execution of the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel? Matthew 23:34-5.

In His scourging rebuke of the Pharisees and scribes just before giving the prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus’ focus was upon Himself.

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Matthew 23:27-39.

That seems unfair – to punish them for the sins of others who killed prophets before these scribes and Pharisees even existed. It only makes sense in a covenantal way – they’re the heirs of those killers – and if Christ sums up all those prophets from the past, they’re even guiltier than their forefathers. Notice the emphasis – Christ and their rejection of Him is the key to their receipt of the greatest judgment of history. And their reception of Him would be their blessing. The rejection of Christ was the greatest sin of history; therefore, they deserved the greatest judgment of history – “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Matthew 24:21.

It’s only fair if Jesus Christ sums up all that has come before – all the prophets, all the law, all the grace and promises, all the revelation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If He does sum up it all and even surpasses them all, then to reject Him is to reject all of God’s word; it’s to reject all His goodness and truth. It is to commit the greatest sin in history.

By Jesus’ time, the entire city of Jerusalem was considered the “holy city,” and the temple itself was not the only “holy place.” During the siege by the Romans, there were abominations occurring in the City of Jerusalem without a doubt. And, of course, the kangaroo trial of Jesus Christ and His crucifixion were abominations.

Luke’s recitation of the message is a little different.

“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21:20-24.

So instead of looking for an abomination in the holy place, they were to look for armies surrounding Jerusalem. This was fulfilled when the Edomite army surrounded Jerusalem. They worked their deprivations, perhaps committing abominations in the “holy city,” then they left. And there occurred a gap of time before the Roman army appeared. It was a window of opportunity to leave the City of Jerusalem.

The idea of a gentile army surrounding the holy city might fit both the Matthew version and the Luke version when the marauding Edomites entered “the holy city.”