THE RELEVANCE OF JERUSALEM

(part 2)

What Jesus was talking about when referring to Daniel 11, was foretelling what would occur in the powers that would strive for superiority and control of the Holy Land for time to come. For much of the prophecy these kingdoms were Syria to the north and Egypt to the south, both under Greek rulers following Alexander the Great.

Jews were massacred, goods were plundered from the temple and the temple defiled. Official pagan religion was instituted and adopted by many of the Israelites. They offered sacrifices to idols and stopped observing the Sabbath.

Then, it happen, On the fifteenth day of the month of Kislev in the year 167 B.C., "they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar". Pagan sacrifices were offered everywhere. Any books of the Law which were found were torn up and burned, and anyone who was caught up with a copy of the sacred books or who obeyed the Law was put to death by order of the king. Mothers who had allowed their babies to be circumcised were put to death in accordance with the king's decree. Their babies were hung around their necks, and their families and those who had circumcised them were put to death.

Yet, as horrible and atrocious this was, some still resisted. They stood firm, they chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant. Great wrath came upon Israel. Yet many in the resistance lived. The Hosmonean priestly family of Mattathias, including his son and successor Judas Maccabeus raised to the occasion and would not compromise with paganism. In the end, the efforts of these patriots and their followers had a massive responsibility for the eventual pushing out of the Syrians.

Now, with all of that as history, consider Jesus' warning about the abomination of desolation. When He gave it, this part of Daniel's prophecy had been fulfilled almost 200 years earlier. So Daniel's prophecy according to Jesus, must have a dual meaning or fulfilment.

In Mathew 24:21 Jesus revealed to us the time for this prophecy's ultimate fulfilment when He explained what would immediately follow it: " For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equalled again."

As the Old Testament prophets did, Jesus also talked about the end times, telescoped near and far future events. Many of these persecutions have already occurred and more are yet to come. We must never forget that God is in control. God will never leave or forget His people. This all we need to know about the future to motivate us to live rightly now.

But let's go back and learn a great deal about this end time prophecy from the original abomination of desolation Daniel foretold. The king Antiochus IV was a forerunner of the end time king of the North, the world dictator the book of Apocalypse refers to as the "beast". I have no doubt whatsoever that this ruler at the end of time will employ the same deceitful and underhanded methods that was characteristic of the reign of Antiochus.

Furthermore, it appears from what we have seen, as well as from other scriptural indications that the end time ruler will make false pretensions of peace to the Jews of the modern nation of Israel.

Part of the 'abomination of desolation' involved the cessation of the daily temple sacrifices. Daniel's prophecy referred by Jesus, makes it clear that sacrifices will again be ended in conjunction with the abomination of desolation to come. Sacrifices will again be instituted and an altar have to be rebuilt before the return of Jesus the Messiah. In another parallel with the defiling of the holy temple, the end time abomination may also involve an idolatrous image at the new temple.

In 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12, we are able to read and be certain that within the "temple of God" there will be an actual person who claims to be God in the flesh.

Christ will destroy this religious figure at His return, but not before many have been deceived with "power, signs and lying wonders".

Just as the original abomination of desolation marked the beginning of a period never seen and filled with horror and misery, so will the final will begin the time of the greatest hooror ever, the coming of the Great Tribulation.

In all of this, we still can be thankful that God promises to send His Son back to earth to save mankind from self-destruction in this end time coming full in a massive deceitful manner. It is a fact indeed that as the world events march ever closer to the fulfilment of these prophecies, that we must draw closer to God in faith, trusting Him to see us through the worst of times.