The "Abomination that Causes Desolation" Spoken of Through the Prophet Daniel - Part 2: Antiochus Epiphanes

Another photo I took of a model at of first century
Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple at
The Holy Land Experience, Orlando, Florida, USA

We could spend a lot of time working through the End Times prophecies and vision given to Daniel, but since we're currently working our way through Matthew 24, let's try to keep our look at Daniel's vision of the "abomination that causes desolation" simple. Maybe we can revisit Daniel's End Times prophecies another time.

In the previous post we looked at Daniel and his story and history.

In Daniel's vision of the End Times, he refers three times to "the 'abomination which causes desolation.' " This is what Jesus mentions in Matthew 24:15. Here are the three times where Daniel mentions this event: 

• Daniel 9:27:  He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

• Daniel 11:31-32:  His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

• Daniel 12:11-12:  From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.

(For more on these numbers you might be interested in reading "How the Jewish Calendar Works.") (Tweet that!)

What is the "abomination that causes desolation"?  (Tweet that!)

Some people point to when Antiochus Epiphanes set up an altar within the Jewish holy Temple to the pagan god Zeus and sacrificed a pig on it, and unclean animal to the Jews, with the very purpose of desecrating the Temple. This occurred in 168 B.C.

But that was (approx.) 168 years before Jesus was born. Jesus talks about this "abomination" occurring in the future from when he spoke these words, and he was speaking approximately 200 years after Antiochus Epiphanes' desecration of the Temple, in about 30 A.D. So there must be another, a different, or a more complete fulfillment to come. (Tweet that!)

This is Daniel 11:35:

Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

This verse mentions "the time of the end" (which hasn't come yet because, well, we're still here). It is clear Daniel is writing about a more distant future time from the then-future time (now past) of Antiochus Epiphanes. From Daniel 11:35 on, Daniel is writing about a time that has not yet come, a time still future to us. (Tweet that!)

We'll talk more about it in the next post.