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.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Our life, the life of faith, is pervaded by paradox. Life faces us with apparently irreconcilable conditions and realities that we struggle to understand and integrate, sometimes throughout an entire lifetime. The Lord himself exemplifies this reality in his dual identity as the expressed image of God and a fully human male who suffered the worst consequences of sin...without deserving them. We live daily within the paradox of God's perfect holiness and our fundamental human imperfection, constantly needing to accept His grace as we strive toward His perfection.
Throughout the history of the modern state of Israel, there have been accounts of angelic interventions protecting Israeli soldiers in the midst of intense warfare. One instance recounted by an Israeli military historian after the 1973 Yom Kippur war, describes an Israeli soldier in the Sinai taking captive an entire Egyptian column and leading them to where the Israeli troops were. The Egyptian commander was asked why he and his men gave themselves up to the lone Israeli soldier. He responded with surprise, ”One soldier? There were thousands of them.”
During 1941 the United States and Japan were in negotiations to resolve their difference as the rest of the world was at war. The special delegation of Japanese ambassadors, ostensibly sent on this “peace” mission, arrived shortly before the massive surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in which 2,403 Americans were killed, 1143 were wounded, eighteen ships were sunk or grounded, and 300 planes destroyed or damaged. President Franklin Roosevelt called it a “date which will live in infamy.”
The world these days is full of bad news, with tensions growing in the Middle East, economies on the brink of collapse, and nature constantly adding to the chaos with one disaster after another. It's a time of trouble all right, and for us believers it may sometimes be hard to believe – but it never is as bad as it seems. Let me illustrate with a joke I like to share with my messages.
When I’m dealing with what is beyond a normal, average trial, I need to muster a more militant attitude, and I remind myself of this promise; the Lord has given me authority to TREAD upon the enemy … to walk in His victory over every trial and tribulation that life brings.
An artist went searching the streets of New York City for a model to pose for a portrait he wanted to call -- 'The Prodigal'. One day was passing Central Park and saw an impoverished beggar lying on a bench and thought: 'He's perfect! That man would represent the prodigal son beautifully in my painting.' He asked the beggar if he would be willing to sit for his painting and he would gladly pay him for his time. Naturally, the beggar agreed.
Moses was used mightily by the Lord, yet we all know he had his inadequacies and limitations too. Still he was the vessel through which God chose to work through as He carried out the plagues over Egypt, divided the Red Sea and miraculously led and fed the children of Israel for forty years. That's pretty big stuff. Can you imagine having to be Moses' successor after all that? That's exactly what Joshua had to do. I can't even begin to imagine what Joshua was thinking at the time -- How can I possibly live up to Moses? But the Lord comforts and reassures Joshua and says, "as I was with Moses, so I will be with you!"