Matthew 24:15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
As we conclude the celebration of Chanukah tonight, I want to highlight the prophetic significance of this feast. Yeshua (Jesus) gave a remarkable parenthetic instruction in the middle of His Olivet discourse on the time of His coming and the end of the age. While it is unlikely that He himself said this, He certainly inspired Matthew to insert, “..let the reader understand”, concerning this critical event prophesied by Daniel, the Abomination of Desolation. His exhortation intended us (the readers of Matthew’s gospel) to learn what this means.
Many people have approached me over the years and asked, why do you believe we are in the last days? My response is to point to Yeshua’s words, “When you see ALL of these things” … [Matthew 24:33] Many of the signs He pointed to are nearly everyday occurrences in our world, yet this Abomination of Desolation is unquestionably a critical crossroad in human history, as indicated by this unique parenthetic exhortation. What exactly are we intended to understand?
The Feast of Chanukah is instructive about it. A Greek monarch named Antiochus Epiphanes “sacrificed a great swine at the image of Moses, and at the altar of God that stood in the outward court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice. He commanded likewise that the books, by which they were taught to hate all other nations, should be sprinkled with the broth made of the swine’s flesh. And he put out the lamp (called by them immortal) which burns continually in the temple. Lastly he forced the high priest and the other Jews to eat swine’s flesh,” according to the ancient Greek historian Diodorus of Silicy.
His intention was to eliminate the worship of YHVH, the Jewish Sabbath, and Biblical worship, by desecrating the altar and destroying the Torah scrolls in the temple, so as to erect an altar to Zeus, the king of the Greek pantheon. This act of desecration has been historically referenced as an “abomination of desolation”, thus becoming a type of the future event prophesied by Yeshua in Matthew 24.
The Maccabean revolt recounts the virtually miraculous victory over Antiochus by a small but relentless army of zealous Jews. Many are familiar with this narrative, yet there are events that took place during Chanukah that aren’t widely spoken of. A recently published book written by a reader of Worthy News, “The Last Days Pride Parade” [The Last Days Pride Parade|eBook] details some of the strange cultural shifts taking place today which reflect the times of the Maccabean revolt. There are elements and seasons in history which seem to repeat. We should take note of this…
May we suggest that “let the reader understand” points to this prophetic/historical parallel between Antiochus and the coming Man of Sin who will perform the final Abomination of Desolation? The signs of this eventuality are growing by the day. Yeshua wants us to learn what this means, to grow in the exciting realization that we’re living in the last paragraph of this age and that the Lord’s return is at the very door. This understanding shouldn’t paralyze us with fear, or cause us to hide away, but rather to ‘light a fire’ (pun intended since its’ the festival of lighting candles) with a sense of divine urgency about the hour in which we are living! Daniel said, “And the wise among the people shall make many understand”. Prophetic parallels provide an excellent opportunity to do just that.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]These verses are far more than ancient lyrics — they are a spiritual invitation. The psalmist doesn’t just admire the gate — he pleads for it to open. “Open to me the gates of righteousness…” This is the cry of a heart that longs for access to God, not by merit, but by mercy. In Hebrew thought, gates represent transition points — thresholds between the common and the holy, the outside and the inner court, the temporal and the eternal. These are not man-made doors — they are divine entrances into the presence and promises of the LORD.
As we continue our study in Psalm 118, I want to take a deep dive into verses 17-18, where the psalmist makes one of the boldest declarations in all of Scripture: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.” This isn’t the voice of someone untouched by pain — it’s the cry of someone who has been through the fire and come out declaring God’s faithfulness. This statement is not a denial of suffering; it’s a defiance of death. It’s the resolve of a heart that’s been chastened, refined, and pressed, yet remains confident in the God who preserves life — not just for survival, but for purpose.
Over the past two devotionals, we heard the song of the redeemed and stood at the wells of salvation. We saw how strength, song, and salvation flow from Yeshua Himself — how the joy of drawing from His presence is not just a poetic promise but a lifeline for our day. Yet today, we stand at a prophetic threshold. Something has shifted. Something has broken open. We are not only being refreshed — we are being awakened and called.
Yesterday, we heard the anthem of the redeemed rise like a trumpet blast: “The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.” We explored how this was more than personal — it was prophetic, Messianic, and generational. We saw Yeshua not only as our Deliverer but as the very embodiment of God’s strength, the melody of our praise, and the fulfillment of every promise. We stood in awe as tents of rejoicing rose in the midst of warfare, and households became sanctuaries of celebration. But today, we go deeper — we step to the well.
There’s a reason this verse resounds like a national anthem of the redeemed. It’s not just a personal declaration—it’s a generational cry that echoes back to Moses at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:2) and forward to the final deliverance of Israel. The Hebrew word for salvation—Yeshua—makes this verse unmistakably Messianic. It isn’t a vague deliverance. It is the revelation of Yeshua (Jesus), the Deliverer, who embodies strength, becomes our song, and stands as the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan.
The cry that shattered the stillness of Golgotha—“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46)—was not a random cry of despair, but the deliberate voice of Yeshua pointing to Scripture. As He hung on the tree, bearing the sin of the world, He invoked the ancient words of David—not only identifying Himself as the righteous sufferer, but signaling that Psalm 22 was unfolding before their very eyes. In that moment, heaven and earth bore witness to a divine mystery: the Holy One, seemingly abandoned, was fulfilling a prophecy written a millennium earlier. Yeshua did not merely suffer—He fulfilled every word, every shadow, every stroke of divine prophecy.
King David wrote these words generations before the empty tomb shook the foundations of death. At first glance, Psalm 16 reads like a personal prayer of trust — a yearning for security and closeness with God. But beneath the surface, the Spirit was revealing something deeper, something eternal: a promise not just for David, but for all of us.