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),
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.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]“Break up your fallow ground.” In this context, the Lord is referring to breaking up the ground overrun with weeds and thorns creating a hardness to produce righteous fruit.
This passage in Isaiah contains a poetic play on words which is lost to any reader but one who understands Hebrew. A word for word translation runs something like this: “If not you will believe (lo ta-aminoo), surely not you will be established (lo te-amenoo).” The three letter Hebrew root – “aleph”- “mem”- “nun”, is the same in both words, and the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah is clearly playing on this root to emphasize His point. The same root letters are also used in the spelling for the familiar word “Amen” which literally means “truthfully”.
Momentum is simply the force or speed of movement that carries an object to its final destination. If you want to break through, you need to have a certain amount of momentum. In order for a rocket to blast into space, it needs tremendous momentum to break the gravitational barrier – but with the enormous power of jet engines and rocket fuel the ship is propelled faster and faster till it breaks free of the earth’s gravitational pull.
As we press in closer to the Lord and His calling on our lives, the enemy becomes more and more fierce, throwing all kinds of darts of fear and doubt our way. But as beloved children of God, we can trust the Lord to defend us! God has an invisible army all around, ready to protect us in our times of need. When the battle intensifies, when the enemy seems to be attacking from every side, when it seems all too great for our eyes, know that the Lord has placed His protection all around you! We may not see it — but we must walk by faith!
When the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians, he was speaking to a church that was surrounded with sexual immorality. The city of Corinth was a haven of hedonism where many temples hosted hundreds of prostitutes which were visited by vast multitudes of foreigners. In the ancient world, the term “Corinthianize” indicated a life of sexual promiscuity.
You know how sometimes we get a phone call from someone who didn’t intend to dial us? And what do we usually say? Sorry, you have the wrong number.
This one of several theophanies found in the Old Testament of the “preincarnate” Yeshua (Jesus). In this story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These three men refused to bow and worship another God besides the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. While they knew that God was able to deliver them, they also knew that He might choose not to do so–and whether He delivered them or not had no influence on their loyalty to Him. These three faithful Hebrews were convinced that idolatry was a non-starter for them, no matter what! Their unquestionable loyalty brought wrath upon their heads. Nebuchadnezzar’s violent rage moved him to increase the furnace fires seven times!