The Abomination Of Desolation Deception

This end times deception study will focus on the ‘Abomination of Desolation‘ that so many teachers incorrectly attribute to an end-time Antichrist desecrating a Jewish temple.

When people don’t understand how a prophecy has been fulfilled, they speculate that it must occur in the future.

The 70 Weeks Of Daniel Deception study disproved the concept of the 7-year tribulation, the 7-year peace agreement with Israel, and the need for a rebuilt temple where the Antichrist would supposedly commits the Abomination of Desolation.

Let’s look at scripture to see how the prophecy of the ‘Abomination of Desolation‘ has already been fulfilled.

The context of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse was about the pending desolation of Jerusalem and the Jews, NOT about the end times.

In Luke 19:41-44, Jesus and His disciples approached Jerusalem and He told them that the Jews enemies would surround them, and level them and the temple.

“Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

The 70 Weeks of Daniel prophecy told the Jews the exact year that their Messiah would come.

But because they didn’t understand the prophecy, they rejected Jesus, so He told them that their enemy (the Romans) would surrounded them and level them.

In Matthew 23, Jesus condemned the Scribes and Pharisees and told them that all of the righteous blood that they had shed would come on them.

“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ “

Jesus was leaving the temple for the last time, and He called it “your house“. It was once the Lord’s temple, God’s Own house; but now He says, Your temple or house – to intimate that God had abandoned it.

Because the Jews killed the prophets, Jesus the Messiah and His disciples; they were forsaken, and sentenced to utter destruction.

In Luke 21:6, Jesus was leaving Jerusalem and as He looked back upon the temple, He said “These things which you see–the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.”

They went to the Mount of Olives and the disciples asked Him when that would happen. Their questions were recorded in three of the Gospels.

Matthew 24:3 – “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Mark 13:2 – “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?”

Luke 21:7 – “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?”

They were asking Jesus when the coming destruction of the temple would take place, and what sign should they look for, before the desolation of Jerusalem and the Jews.

The Lord’s purpose in this discourse was not to give His people signs of His second coming, but to warn that generation of believers of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and to give to them a sure sign, so that they could secure their safety by fleeing the land and city.

Matthew 24:15-16 – “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ ; spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”

Mark 13:14 – “So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ ; spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”

Luke 21:20-21 – “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.”

Matthew and Mark recorded similar words, but Luke gave us more details, which define what is the sign of the ‘Abomination of Desolation‘.

The word rendered “abomination” means, according to the Hebrew and Greek lexicons, anything that is peculiarly loathsome or detestable.

The abomination was the detestable enemies of the Jews, the Romans; who would surround Jerusalem, and stand in the holy land to make the place a ‘desolation‘.

Luke 21:24 confirms that this section of Jesus Olivet Discourse would be fulfilled in 70 A.D., not in the end times.

“And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

These verses can’t be applied to an end times Antichrist desecrating a rebuild Jewish temple, as they refer to the Gentiles trampling Jerusalem, which has occurred since Jerusalem was desolated by the Roman armies in 70 A.D.

Jesus was referring to the ‘70 Weeks of Daniel‘ prophecy, which foretold the destruction of Jerusalem by the ‘people of the prince‘.

When the Jews were about to be released from their captivity in Babylon, God gave them 70 prophetic weeks (490 years) to repent, to reconcile with Him, to rebuild the temple and city, and to accept their coming Messiah.

It told the Jews that their Messiah would come during the 70th week of Daniel, which started in 27 A.D., the very year when Jesus was baptized and anointed.

Jesus preached the Gospel to the house of Israel for 3 1/2 years, offering them a new covenant.

Those that accepted the Messiah and His new Covenant were saved.

Those that rejected the Messiah were desolated.

The ‘people of the prince‘ in Daniel 9:26 was the Roman army that Jesus sent, who poured into the city as a flood in 70 A.D.

“..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.”

So the ‘prince‘ in the 70th week of Daniel is NOT an end-times Antichrist. It was Jesus, the prince who was mentioned in the previous verse of Daniel 9:25.

And since it does not apply to an end-time Antichrist, the foundation for the 7-year tribulation is invalid. You can read more about this by clicking on 70 Weeks Of Daniel study.

Because of the Jews abominations against God, He made them desolate.

Because of all of the Jews abominations, including delivering Jesus up to be killed, and then killing His disciples, Jesus poured out His wrath on the Jews, through the Roman army.

The Roman army desolated the people and the city.

Historians record that none of the wicked Jews (who rejected Jesus and who slew the messengers He sent to them) understood what was coming.

Up to the very day of the capture of the temple by the Romans in 70 A.D., they were deceived by false prophets, and were fatuously looking for a miraculous intervention on their behalf.

But abundant documentation reveals that before the destruction of Jerusalem, all the Christians inside the city were able to flee to the mountains and found refuge. Not one Christian perished in the siege, because they saw the sign that Jesus revealed to them.

The Roman army surrounded the city causing death by famine and disease.

The Jews granaries and storehouses of food were destroyed, and supply lines into the city were cut off.

Under pressure of the famine many Jews went out at night into the valleys in search of food. Hundred of Jews were caught every day, tortured and crucified in sight of those on the walls of the city.

The number became so great that there was not enough crosses for the victims, so several were often nailed to one cross.

Jewish infighting led to 100’s of thousands of deaths.

Murders by the Zealots and Idumeans led to 100’s of thousands of deaths, and all of that occurred before the Roman army entered the city.

Josephus relates the case of one prominent man who, because of the ‘great tribulation‘ happening all around, and in order to save his family from a worse fate, killed first his father and mother with the sword–they willingly submitting–and afterwards his wife and children, finally taking his own life.

The Roman army killed 100’s of thousands of Jews by the sword.

Before the Roman army invaded Jerusalem, Titus sent Josephus to speak to the Jews, offering them clemency, and exhorting them to yield.

Josephus made a most earnest plea to them not to resist the might of Rome, pointing out that God was no longer with them.

But it was to no purpose. The Jews detested the Romans.  And they believed that they would be saved.

Titus sought to preserve the beautiful temple, but the Romans soldiers were so enraged at the Jews, that they pushed all of the stones of the temple down, fulfilling Jesus words.

According to Josephus the city was so upheaved and dug up that it was difficult to believe it had ever been inhabited.

A total of 1.1 million Jews died, and 97,000 Jews were taken captive and sold as slaves. 

Some were put into bonds and sold to slavery in the Egyptian mines, thus fulfilling several prophecies that they should be sold into Egypt again, from which God had delivered them.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast foretold that Jesus would send an army to destroy the Jews and Jerusalem.

Matthew 22:1-7 says, “And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ‘ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”

Jesus New Covenant was offered to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, as promised in Jeremiah 31:31, but they rejected Jesus and had Him crucified.

Then they killed His disciples, as Jesus had foretold.

God’s vengeance for all of the righteous blood came upon this generation, and Jesus had the Roman army destroy them and burn up Jerusalem.

The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is a complete fulfillment of the prophecy.

These passages clearly reveal that “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,” refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, by the armies of Prince Titus.

Why then should we ignore an obvious historical fulfillment and expect a fulfillment in the future, for which there is no proof?

So now every time you hear someone teach that the ‘Abomination of Desolation‘ is by an end times Antichrist, you know that they’re teaching a wrong interpretation of prophecy.

To learn why the concept of the 7-year tribulation, the need for a rebuilt Jewish temple, an Antichrist who desecrates the temple, etc. are invalid, click on 70 Weeks Of Daniel