The "Abomination that Causes Desolation" Spoken of Through the Prophet Daniel - Part 1: Who is Daniel?

Photo I took of a model  of first-century Jerusalem
with the Temple at The Holy Land Experience
Orlando, Florida, USA

Let's look at the next section of Matthew 24:

So when you see standing in the holy place "the abomination that causes desolation," spoken of through the prophet Daniel -- let the reader understand -- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now -- and never to be equaled again. 

If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:15-22, NIV)

Remember that Jesus is speaking. He is responding to the question his disciples asked in Matthew 24:3:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

After Jesus lists the events we've been discussing since June 24 (The Prophecy Buff's Favorite Chapter: Matthew 24), he now begins to talk about " 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel." 

What is the "abomination that causes desolation?" There so much information there, let's take several posts to talk about it. (Tweet that!)

First, please notice that Jesus himself validates the prophecy of Daniel. (Tweet that!)

Who was Daniel? Daniel was a young man living in Jerusalem when the Babylonians, under King Nebuchadnezzar, invaded and took the people of Israel into exile in Babylonia (modern-day Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and parts of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, and Iran). 

There were actually three deportations of people from Israel to Babylonia: 

• Daniel was taken with the first group in 605 B.C. 
• The second deportation came eight years later in 597 B.C. The prophet Ezekiel was taken with this group. 
• The third and final deportation took place in 586 B.C., which is when the invading Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.

If, as a child back in Sunday school or somewhere along the way, you heard the story of "Daniel in the lion's den," that's not a fairy tale. That's a true story and this is the same Daniel.

From what I can gather, I think Daniel was probably a teenager when he was deported to Babylonia and I don't believe he ever saw the land of Israel again. But much later he did discover, according to the prophet Jeremiah, this exile in Babylonia was prophesied to last 70 years.

This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:10-11).

Because Jeremiah was writing from Jerusalem to those in exile in Babylonia, "bring you back to this place" refers to bringing the exiles back to Jerusalem. 

Many people are familiar with that beautiful promise of Jeremiah 29:11. But not many are aware of its context -- that it was written to the Israelites when they were in exile in Babylonia! I included verse 11 so you can see the context of that promise. (Tweet that!)

Even as a young man Daniel showed extraordinary bravery and leadership. You can read how his time in exile began here. (I'm not posting it all because of its length, although it will only take you a few minutes to read it):

Read Daniel 1:3-21 here.

That passages ends with a mention of the first year of King Cyrus, king of the Medes, which was 539 B.C. That means by this time Daniel had spent 66 years in Babylonia.

Note that in verse 17 we are told "Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds." Daniel not only interpreted dreams of Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 2), Daniel was given visions of the End Times by God. It was in these visions that he "saw" the "abomination that causes desolation." (Tweet that!)

We will look at the actual verses where Daniel told about this "abomination that causes desolation" in the next post.

What is Prophecy? - Two Definitions

Thanks Morguefile.com 

Since we are talking about prophecy on this blog, it's only fair to define what prophecy is.

There are at least two definitions of "prophecy" (Tweet that!):

• To predict the future 
• To speak forth God's Truth

When I first started studying this subject years ago, I thought prophecy meant foretelling the future, and it does. (Tweet that!) This is what God did through the prophets of old in the Old Testament, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, and Zechariah.

But I have since learned that prophecy also has another meaning, and that is speaking forth God's truth. Whenever a man or woman of God speaks forth the truth of God, this too is prophecy. Are you a prophet in this sense? (Tweet that!) 

In this blog my aim also two-fold:

My aim is to show you places in God's Word, which is the Bible (Old and New Testaments), where His prophets predicted future events. And then also show where those events were perfectly fulfilled, if they have been fulfilled in the past. (Tweet that!) 

Then secondly I want to show places in God's Word, the Bible, where His prophets predicted events that are future to us, prophecies that have not yet come to pass. (Tweet that!) With these we are looking at what is happening in the world today that could be a fulfillment of that prophecy or could be leading up to or setting things up for its fulfillment. (Tweet that!) 

Sometimes when we talk about prophecy on the internet or elsewhere, we can sound, ranting about things like "the mark of the beast" and other important topics. But what's neglected is what comes before that, questions like "what is the mark of the beast?" and "where do they get that?" I can almost hear many people asking where does come from? If it's in the Bible, where does it say that? And just what does the Bible say about that?

In this blog it's my aim to answer these questions as best as I can, especially "Where do they get that?" (Tweet that!)

Prophecies Fulfilled in the Life of Jesus
by Dianne E.  Butts

There can be other meanings of prophecy also, including the "prophetic pictures" God painted in the Bible of His kingdom or His Messiah, including the prophetic pictures painted in the Tabernacle/Temple and the seven Feasts of the LORD, which we will look at occasionally here, including next week. I discussed these very topics in my newest book, Prophecies Fulfilled in the Life of Jesus, so you if you'd like to learn more about these you may like to get that book. (Tweet that!)

Prophecy can also mean interpretation, such as when Daniel was called in to interpret the dreams of King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2) and interpret the handwriting on the wall for King Belshazzar (Daniel 5). When Daniel interpreted these signs from God, Daniel was also speaking prophecy or prophesying. 

Another vitally important issue is, how can we tell a true prophet from a false one? And how can we determine which prophecies are truly from God and which are not? In the next post we'll look at how to tell a true prophet and true prophecies from false ones.

Meanwhile, I hope you've found this discussion of "What is prophecy?" and these definitions helpful.

The Prophecy of the Potter’s Field

Thanks Morguefile.com 

Judas has betrayed Jesus.

The religious leaders of Israel offered Judas Iscariot thirty pieces of silver to betray the sinless son of God. Judas took the money and betrayed him.

This was prophesied in Zechariah 11:13:

"And the LORD said to me, 'Throw it to the potter'—the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter."

After Judas betrayed Jesus, he felt remorse, but Judas Iscariot did not repent—not in the way that is required by God to obtain forgiveness. (Tweet that!)

Remorse means he felt bad about it. Repent means to stop doing something that is wrong, admit that wrong, turn around, and go another direction. (Tweet that!)

Scripture tells us Judas repented, but he repented to the religious leaders…not to God. Matthew 27:3-10:

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." 

"What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility."

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."

Matthew attributes the prophecy to Jeremiah and apparently had in mind a similar passage written by Jeremiah. Jeremiah worked as a prophet from 626 B.C. to 585 B.C.

Zechariah was a contemporary of Jeremiah's and was among the exiles who returned to Israel from Babylon in 538 B.C. He wrote this prophecy sometime after 480 B.C. So this prophecy which Judas fulfilled in the betrayal to death of Jesus was written around 500 years before the events of Jesus' death. (Tweet that!)

This is another Bible prophecy that was fulfilled in amazing detail. (Tweet that!)

The Prophecy in Thirty Silver Coins

Thanks Morguefile.com!

Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus for thirty silver coins. This was not a random number or a coincidence. Thirty pieces of silver was significant. This is a fulfillment of prophecy. (Tweet that!)

"Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, 'What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?' So they counted out for him thirty silver coins," (Matthew 26:14-15).

Zechariah was among the exiles who returned to Israel from Babylon in 583 B.C. Zechariah wrote to the people of Israel that they were not following their shepherd, God, and this was the reason for their exile. He said, in effect, if you are not willing to follow "me," meaning God the good shepherd, then pay me my wages—thirty pieces of silver—and the relationship between shepherd and the sheep will be severed.

You can find Zechariah's words in Zechariah 11:12:

"I told them, 'If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.' So they paid me thirty pieces of silver."

Furthermore, in the next verse (v. 13), Zechariah said:

"And the LORD said to me, 'Throw it to the potter'—the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter."

Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus to the hands of the Romans and the leaders of Israel for thirty pieces of silver, paid by the Jewish leaders.

Afterwards, however, Judas felt remorse and wanted to the return the money. He took it back to the Jewish leaders but they would not take it back. This is what Matthew tells us happened next. Look for the prophetic parallels in these verses below to Zechariah 11:13 above:

"So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 

"The chief priests picked up the coins and said, 'It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.' So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah* the prophet was fulfilled: 'They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me,' " (Matthew 27:5-10).

*Jeremiah also gave a prophetic object lesson in Jeremiah 19:1-13 (see also 18:2-12 and 32:6-9) which is why Matthew points to Jeremiah, the more "major" prophet in his passage, instead of Zechariah.

When God knows such details such as the prophecy in the thirty pieces of silver hundreds of years in advance, and then is able to see to it that those details play out in perfection at the proper time, what does this tell you about God? (Tweet that!)

How does this prophecy given and fulfilled give you confidence in God today?