"Now when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem." (Luke 9:51).
The passages in Luke quoted below are talking about the end of the Age and the return of Christ. So is the parallel passage in Matthew 24:15-31:
THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM
AND THE OLIVET DISCOURSE
None of the authors of the gospels or of the epistles knew when the temple would be destroyed - it was still standing at the time of their writing (which was decades after the question had been asked).
RECORDED BY:
So in all three of the synoptic gospels we find that after He sat down on the Mount of Olives, the very first thing Jesus began to speak and warn about in response to the disciples' questions, was:-
(i) Birth-pain signs of the end of the Age; and
(ii) The tribulation and persecution that the living stones of the New Testament Temple would experience; and
(iii) The end of the Age.
(iv) Signs in the heavens at the time of His return and the end of the age.
- Luke also records that Jesus also spoke about great distress that the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem would experience in the day that armies had gathered against Jerusalem and the wrath of God would begin to come upon the city (Luke 21:20-24),
None of the gospel authors knew when the temple would be destroyed - it was still standing at the time of their writing (which was decades after the question had been asked).
Matthew records that (after introducing birth-pain signs of His coming and of the end of the age), Jesus said:
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then (Greek toteh: at that time) the end shall come." (Matthew 24:14).
Compare the above with:
"Then (Greek toteh: at that time) they will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you. And you will be hated of all nations for My name's sake." (Matthew 24:9).
-- The disciples could not be hated of all nations until the gospel had been proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations --
"And then (Greek toteh: at that time) many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. And many false prophets will rise and deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold. But he who endures to the end, the same shall be kept safe." (Matthew 24:10-13).
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then (Greek toteh: at that time) the end shall come." (Matthew 24:14).
In this context, Jesus continues,
Matthew 24:15-22
"Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand). Then let those in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; nor let him in the field turn back to take his clothes. And woe to those who are with child, and to those who give suck in those days! But pray that your flight is not in the winter, nor on the sabbath day;
for then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be.
And unless those days should be shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened."
This is what the following Wikipedia article has to say about "The abomination of desolation":
THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION
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"'Abomination of Desolation' is a phrase from the Book of Daniel describing the pagan sacrifices with which the 2nd century BC Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes replaced the twice-daily offering in the Jewish temple, or alternatively the altar on which such offerings were made."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abomination_of_desolation)
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History: The book of Maccabees in the Apocrypha, and the 1st century Jewish historian Josephus both link Daniel 8:11 and Daniel 11:31 to Antiochus IV, "Epiphanes" and to the second century, BC. The Jews' festival of Hanukkah is based on this history.
Not destroyed: The abomination of desolation set up by Antiochus IV, "Epiphanes" in 167 BC in the holy place of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem, is not associated with the destruction of either the city of Jerusalem, or of the temple in it: After he was ousted by the Maccabees, the temple was cleansed, and reconsecrated to God.
This took place around 236 years before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem temple in 70 A.D.
The text of Daniel 8:11 and Daniel 11:31 links both verses to:-
(a) daily sacrifices for sin being removed (which is what occurred in the 2nd temple in the days of Antiochus IV); and
(b) an abomination of desolation being placed in the holy place (which is what occurred in the 2nd temple in the days of Antiochus IV); and
The text of Daniel 12:11-12 also links the 1,290 days and 1,335 days that the verses are talking about, to both daily sacrifices for sin being removed in the temple of God; and an abomination of desolation being placed in the holy place in the temple.
Destroyed: The text of Daniel 9:26-27 associates the destruction of the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the temple) with abominations,
Not destroyed: but the abomination of desolation set up by Antiochus IV, "Epiphanes" in 167 BC in the holy place of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem, is not associated with the destruction of either the city of Jerusalem, or of the temple in it.
WHAT FOLLOWS IS POSSIBLE BUT NOT NECESSARILY FACTUAL
It's possible and plausible that the abomination of desolation in the holy place that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24:15 had nothing to do with the Jerusalem temple and its coming destruction (which was no longer considered the holy place when it was destroyed in 70 A.D):
It's both possible and plausible that Jesus was mentioning the following TYPES of the end of the Age and the time of His return in glory in the Olivet Discourse:-
"As in the days of Noah" and "As in the days of Lot" (Luke 17:26-32 & Matthew 24:37-39) are obviously not the days of Noah or of Lot, but the comparison Jesus made pertains to the suddenness of the calamities coming upon unbelievers.
"Let him on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; nor let him in the field turn back to take his clothes." and "Remember Lot's wife" pertains to the disciples of Jesus not looking back or longing for what has been left behind, and to the urgent necessity of fleeing.
"Woe to those who are with child, and to those who give suck in those days! But pray that YOUR flight is not in the winter, nor on the sabbath day." pertains to the intensity of the tribulation as it would be experienced by the disciples (since Jesus was speaking to His disciples).
In the context of what Jesus was saying about the persecution and tribulation of the living stones of the New Testament tabernacle of God, the abomination of desolation that was set up in the holy place of the 2nd temple by Antiochus IV in 167 B.C could quite possibly and plausibly itself be another reference to a TYPE of what is to come at the end of the age, because biblical scripture is saturated with types and anti-types. There are many examples. Below are a few:
* Joseph being betrayed by his brothers for 20 pieces of silver (Genesis 37:28). Jesus was sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15).
* Joseph was delivered from the dungeon by Pharaoh and given rule over all Egypt, Pharaoh's own throne excluded. The Egyptians all had to bow the knee to Joseph (Genesis 41:39-44). Jesus was resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven and all authority placed in His hands, the Father's own authority excluded, and before Him "every knee shall bow" (Philippians 2:9-11).
* Hosea 11:1 talking about the Israelites having being called out of Egypt, and the same statement being used about Jesus by Matthew in Matthew 2:15.
* A young maiden being with child, and the child being called Immanuel, given by God as a sign to king Ahaz of Judah that the Northern kingdom was going to be destroyed and forsaken by God (before its plans against the Southern kingdom succeeded), and the same prophecy (Isaiah 7:1-16) being used by Matthew about Jesus, in Matthew 1:23.
* The King of Babylon's image that all people, nations, tribes and tongues had to bow down and worship or be thrown into a burning, fiery furnace (Daniel Chapter 3), and the image of the beast of Revelation (Revelation Chapter 13).
* The faithful remnant refusing to worship the image, and Nebuchadnezzar ordering the heat of the furnace to be increased seven-fold, which represents completion - to its full extent (Daniel Chapter 3), and Jesus telling His disciples about a great tribulation will be greater than anything that came before it (Matthew 24:9, 21-22 & 31-33).
* The king of Babylon telling the faithful remnant to "come forth, and come hither", and them coming out from the midst of the fire (Daniel Chapter 3), and the two witnesses after having been killed by the beast having "heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither" (Revelation 11:12), as well as the multitudes of all nations, tribes and tongues being seen in heaven, having come out from the great tribulation (Revelation 7:9-17).
* Jerusalem being trodden underfoot by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the 2nd century B.C, and what Revelation 11:2 tells us about the holy city being trodden underfoot by the Gentiles.
* Lawlessness and apostasy on the part of the Jews sacrificing to idols and following the religion of the Greeks in the days of Antiochus IV, and the end of the age lawlessness mentioned both by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew Chapter 24), and by Paul in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2.
* An abomination of desolation being placed by Antiochus IV in the holy place of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem, and the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2:4, as well as Jesus telling His disciples to flee Judea when they see the abomination of desolation in the holy place, which was spoken of by Daniel.
* Jesus giving the Olivet Discourse on the Mount of Olives, ascending into heaven from the Mount of Olives, and Zechariah 14 talking about God setting His feet on the Mount of Olives in the day He comes to destroy the nations whose armies had gathered against Jerusalem (which has never happened), and the disciples being told to flee when they see Jerusalem surrounded by armies.
What is possibly an important fact with regard to a correct interpretation of Matthew 24:15 is the fact that:
* The abominations spoken of in Daniel 9:27 are associated with the destruction of both the temple and the city mentioned in the previous verse
- but the abomination of desolation that was placed in the holy place of the 2nd temple by Antiochus IV resulted in the destruction of neither. The temple had been defiled, but afterwards it was cleansed and reconsecrated to God.
The N.T temple cannot be destroyed, but it can be defiled:
1 Corinthians 3:17
"If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
"And then shall that lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming" (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
(What is possible and plausible is never necessarily what is actual and factual, so the reader of this page decides whether or not the noteworthy similarities between the following passages are "coincidental"):
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