The Abomination of Desolation

And so, but we’re gonna try to push through and get to the end if we have the opportunity and have the time, okay? Matthew 24, verse 15, the Bible says this. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house.

Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation. Such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be.

And though, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets. And shall show great signs and wonders, in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Behold, I have told you before. Let’s pray tonight. Lord, as we study your word tonight, we ask your blessing upon the reading and study of your word. Lord, encourage us, increase our knowledge and wisdom, especially of these things and these truths of eschatology and end times. We pray that you would, Lord, stir us up. Help us to be mindful, Lord, that you are coming and that we are going to meet you and stand before you.

And Lord, you have great plans in store for us in the future. But Lord, woe unto this world that has rejected you. And Lord, we pray you would help us to be diligent now before your coming. Help us to serve you. Help us to be faithful. Help us to do all that we can to live for you and to glorify you by your grace in Jesus’ name, amen.

Now you’ll remember in verse number 15, I touched on it in previous, when we looked at a previous part of this chapter. Well, first of all, this chapter, remember, this chapter is future, right? This is the, there are different ways to look at this chapter and I am convinced the only proper way to look at this chapter is to look at it in the future, right? And we examined that already, so we’re not gonna rehash that.

We accept it. That’s gonna be a basis from which we move forward. And verse 15 is, although we’ve covered other general conditions that we’ve seen, verse eight, verse six, verse seven, beginning of sorrows, and we see kind of ambiguous conditions. They’re somewhat ambiguous in that they’re not matched to a specific moment or event. They’re just generalized conditions and many things would fulfill those. When we get down to verse number 15, that changes.

Because verse 15, notice it says, when you shall see the abomination of desolation, now in case there’s any doubt, he tells us exactly, the Lord tells us exactly what event is spoken of. It’s a specific one-time event in world history and it is an event that is not only spoken of here, but this is actually the second time it’s spoken of in scripture. It is an event that is spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

So that gives us an indication. It gives us kind of a starting point so that by going back and looking in Daniel, we can understand exactly what the Lord is talking about and what that event entails, and therefore, whether that event has happened. And for those saints in the future, that will be alive and present at this time, this will serve to them in the future as a marker.

How do I know that? Notice what it says, when ye therefore shall see. You know what that tells me? If you’re alive at that, for the saints that are alive at that time and they see this event happen, that is what we might call a temporal marker of events that are coming to pass imminently. So we’re not just making this up. We’re following the text closely. And notice what the Lord says in the end.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand, that’s key, stand in the holy place. So the abomination of desolation is an event, but it is also a person who stands in the holy place. Now the holy place is only one thing, one and only thing. You know what it is? It’s the temple. Okay, that tells us one thing. What does it tell us?

It tells us that although these events that we’re about to read have not happened yet, when they do happen, there will be a temple standing. Now, can I make sense of that compared to where we are now? Is there a temple in Jerusalem at this moment? No, at least not a temple of God anyway. But at this time, there will be a temple that’s standing because if someone stands in the holy place, that means there is a temple.

Okay, but notice what the Lord says at the end. Whoso readeth, let him understand. So you know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna readeth. All right, we’re gonna go back and we’re gonna read Daniel. All right, so let’s go to Daniel chapter eight. Daniel eight.

Daniel chapter eight. Look at, if you would, at verse number nine. Now, I’m gonna read rather quickly and I’m not gonna spend a lot of time on each part, but I just wanna point out a few things as we go. If I were you, here’s what I would do. If you’re really interested in this subject, you’re probably gonna have a hard time making notes and everything unless you have a transcribing app like they have these days.

But if you don’t, I would recommend you write down the references and then maybe later, you go back when you have some time and re-listen to the message and maybe take better notes and stop and start and stop and start. Up to you, but that’s my recommendation. Daniel eight, verse number nine. The Bible says this. And out of one of them came forth a little horn. Now, okay, let’s go back to verse three.

Okay, we gotta go back to verse three. Okay, because otherwise it’s not gonna make any sense at all. This is a vision that Daniel’s having. Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other and the other came up last. Now, if you’re curious about what this ram is, don’t worry about it because God’s about to tell you very clearly, okay?

So don’t get hung up too much. Verse four, I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward so that no beast might stand before him. Neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great. And as I was considering, behold, and he goat, that’s a boy goat, came from the west on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

And he came to the ram that had two horns which I had seen standing before the river and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram and he was moved with color against him and smote the ram and break his two horns and there was no power in the ram to stand before him. But he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

Okay, now you gotta just hold onto this because we’ve gotta get a little bit further to understand what we’ve read, but hang on, okay? Verse eight, therefore the he goat waxed very great and when he was strong, the great horn was broken for it came up and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land.

And it waxed great even to the host of heaven and it cast down some of the hosts and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them. That’s interesting. Yea, and he magnified himself, it tells you verse number 11, notice it says he, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host. Now note this, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away. All right, so there’s a, you know, every day, morning and evening, the Jews had a sacrifice in the temple, right?

Every day, every day. And the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression and it cast down the truth to the ground and it practiced and prospered. Then I heard, so what do you, all right, what is this ram and this ego and this horn and all this stuff, okay? They’re symbolic. Verse 13. Then I heard one saint speaking and another saint said unto the certain saint which spake, how long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation?

You see that? You might want to mark that. Transgression of desolation, you know what that is, right? That’s what Jesus is talking about. Transgression, abomination, note that it is connected with the ending of the daily sacrifice. You see that? That’s so important. You gotta make sure you got that. And the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot. And he said unto me, unto 2,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

And it came to pass, even I, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and sought for the meaning, then behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Uli which called and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was afraid and fell upon my face.

But he said unto me, understand, O son of man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision. What does that tell you? That tells you that the things we are reading have some reference to the end. Now we’ve looked at Matthew already and we’ve seen that word over and over, right? The end. Now we’re not in Matthew now, we’re in Daniel. But keep reading.

Verse 18, now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep upon my face toward the ground. But he touched me and set me upright. And he said, behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation. For at the time appointed, the end shall be. Three times you’ve seen this. You know what that does? That sets these events future even to us.

Does everybody get that? Future. All right, here we go. You remember the ram with the two horns, right? One horn bigger than the other. And the goat with a big horn in the middle.

The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. You know why there’s two? Because the Persian kingdom was greater than the Median kingdom. All right, everybody with me? You have Darius was part of the Median kingdom. Cyrus, the great, Iran, you know that’s in the news, right? The king Cyrus was greater than the Median king. That was all in the time of Daniel.

Remember, it was Cyrus that gave the command that the Jews leave captivity and go back to Jerusalem. Okay? So that goes way back. This is 500 years before Christ. And the rough goat is the king of Grisha. What does that look like, that word Grisha? Greece, exactly, it’s Greece. The rough goat is the king of Grisha and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

Do you know which Grecian king, we would call him an emperor, which Greek king defeated the Medians in the Persian kingdoms? Alexander the Great. And he was known as being very swift. In fact, in the analogy, in the dream, it says that this he goat with the horn, he came from the west. That’s where Greece is. And Iran, which is where Persia is, is over in the east.

So it says the he goat came from the west and he didn’t even touch the ground, he’s flying. And he completely takes that over all the way to India, in fact, we know from history.

And then he dies. Alexander the Great dies very young. Now this is historical fact, okay? Obviously this is fact too, but fact not found in the scripture directly. Verse 22, now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. Alexander the Great dies, and you know what happens? And this is historical again. Four of his generals, not his children, four of his generals take over and they rule various parts of his kingdom.

Those of you in the school scripture should be a little familiar with this Alucid kingdom and the Ptolemaic kingdom. These were generals, these were started out of the generals from Alexander the Great after he died. So what’s interesting is this was hundreds of years before Alexander the Great came, this prophecy. And it’s down to the T with names of nations and everything. Verse 23, and in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full.

So injecting that latter time statement kind of puts the whole story on fast forward a little bit because we know that Greece still exists. Now I can’t nail it down and say this is all the way to our time or not. I can’t say that for certain. But what I do know is this kingdom of Greece, not a kingdom now, but it still exists. The Greek people still is a nation.

When the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty but not by his own power. And he shall destroy wonderfully and shall prosper in practice and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also, he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand. And he shall magnify himself in his heart and by peace shall destroy many.

He shall also stand up against the prince of princes but he shall be broken without hand. So you have this mysterious figure that the time set is toward the end times. And so let’s go forward.

Okay, let’s go forward. But before we do that, when we started in verse number, say 17, 18, that’s when Gabriel is giving Daniel the interpretation and explaining the goat, the ram, all that stuff. But notice if you go back to verse number 11, this same figure that we read about at the end, it says out of this number, it says out of them came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great toward the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land, verse 13, or verse 10 rather.

And it waxed great even to the host of heaven. Okay, so you see this both in the original vision and the interpretation. So this little horn, this exceeding fierce king, fierce countenance, verse 23, is the one who is responsible for stopping the sacrifice, the daily sacrifice, and he’s also the one responsible for the abomination of desolation, which are the paired events. Okay, look at chapter number nine.

Chapter nine, chapter nine, verse 24. I won’t spend a lot of time going into the details of the 70 weeks. I just wanna get you to one place, okay? Chapter nine, verse 24. 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and the prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, who’s that? That’s Jesus, okay. We’re on the same page there, right? The command was given to restore Jerusalem by Cyrus.

Okay, so there’s a time given here. It says, shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks, the street shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off. So what’s gonna happen there? Jesus, he dies, right? Foretold by Daniel. But not for himself. Why is he cut off? For us, you got that right, all right.

And the people of the Prince that shall come, all right? That’s all we know. It’s just this Prince is pulled out of thin air. Notice though, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with the flood and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined. And he, this is that Prince, shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week, shall he cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.

And for the over spreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation. And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Okay, some people have tried to make this Prince who performs this abomination of desolation and stops the sacrifice to be the Greek ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes. Here’s the problem. Now I’m not gonna, again, I know you guys like, who in the world that, he was one in the line of those four generals that ruled after Alexander the Great.

The reason that doesn’t work is because this says this Prince that shall come is after Jesus and Antiochus Epiphanes was before Jesus. So it can’t be him, even though there’s similarity in parallel. Okay, now notice this Prince that shall come is the doer of the abomination of desolation in 27. And he is also the one that causes the sacrifice to cease. You see that? So we’re getting more information on this figure.

He was called a Prince of fierce countenance previously. He was called a little horn in Daniel chapter eight previously. Now, if you would go to chapter 11. Look if you would at verse 31.

Now, Daniel chapter 11 is deep, okay? We’re definitely not gonna read the whole chapter. We’re gonna start in 31 just for time sake. Verse 31 says this, And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice. All right, you’ve seen this is the third time in Daniel we’ve seen this. And they shall make the abomination, they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

See that? And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries, but the people that do know their God shall be strong and shall do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days. And when they shall fall, they shall be hoping with a little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.

And some of them of understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white, even to the time of the end. Do you see that? There it is again, because it is yet for a time appointed. We talked about it not last week, week before how that the persecution during this period of time of the tribulation is going to be intense. And the person doing the persecution is this mysterious antichrist figure who stops the daily sacrifice and sets up this abomination of desolation of which Jesus speaks.

Verse number 36. And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God. And he shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any God, for he shall magnify himself above all.

So who is his God? Himself, right? But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces and a God whom his fathers knew not, shall he honor with gold and silver and with precious stones and pleasant things. This shall he do in the most strongholds with a strange God, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain.

Now follow this closely now, verse 40. And at the time of the end, shall the king of the south push at him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with many ships. And he shall enter into the countries and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, that’s the land of Israel, and many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon.

He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape, but he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver and over all the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him. Therefore, he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly make away many.

And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. And he shall come to his end and none shall help him. Now again, this is this mysterious prince figure, this anti-Christ figure, verse number, chapter 12, verse one. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble.

Now you’ve got to get this, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Now, are you still in Matthew 24? Are you still in Matthew 24? Look back at Matthew 24, don’t lose Daniel 12. But look at Matthew 24, I want to point out one verse to you.

Look at Matthew 24, verse 21. Notice what it says. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. You know what that is? That’s the same as chapter 12, verse one, which says, there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.

This is one of the ways along with the abomination of desolation mentioned three or four times in Daniel, that we know we’re talking about the same thing. How do we know? It’s simple. When Jesus said that this will be a time of tribulation unique in world history, never previously has it been this bad in the past, in the present, or in the future. Now, just follow me.

If something never happened before in the past and never will happen again like it in the future, that means that this event is a single, exactly one event in world history. Is everybody with me?

It is the event of which the Lord speaks, which is the same event that Daniel is referring to, which is now marked by the abomination of desolation. Okay, now I hope we’re all on the same page. So this abomination of desolation, to kind of summarize what we’ve seen, here’s what happens. There is this figure. We don’t know a whole lot about him. We’ll learn a little bit more in a minute, but there’s this figure that goes into the temple then existent and proclaiming himself to be God, exalting himself as God, sets up, he stops the daily sacrifice that will then exist among the Jewish people, and he will set himself up as God to be worshiped.

This is the event of which Jesus speaks. Okay, everybody on the same page? This event did not happen with the Greeks, for that was before Jesus spoke and Jesus talks about something future. It never happened with the Romans. They entered into the temple and destroyed the temple, but there was nothing like we read here. And notice in Matthew 24, it says, verse 15, when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place.

So when this event happens in the future, it’s a marker. For those present, it’s a marker. It’s an undeniable clear sign. Now that hasn’t happened yet. Everybody with me? People look at these passages and they want to read them like we’ve studied before, they want to read them as history as if they’ve happened already. That’s called preterism, right? They try to interpret future things spoken of by Jesus as if they already have happened.

The problem is they haven’t, unless you spiritualize them anyway. But even to this day, these things that we read has not happened. Now, if you follow TV preachers or these prophecy types or whatever, they’re looking at every headline, right? They’re looking at Iran and of course Iran’s big, because it’s related in all of those countries, right? And they look at this thing and that thing. Or back in the days of the, in the 80s and the 70s, it was the USSR and it was Gog and Magog.

And it was, there was always a headline to say, this must be the Antichrist. Like I said the other week, every president, starting with Bill Clinton has been the Antichrist and it’s always gonna be that way.

But really all of that is irrelevant. Here’s what we do know. What we read in Matthew 24 has not happened yet. And for those present, when it does happen, the Lord tells them, watch out.

Notice what he says in verse 15, when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, verse 16, then let them, which be in Judea, flee into the mountains. Now I wanna point out one thing about this before we move on, verse 16.

So the trigger for those in Judea, which is in Israel, to flee to the mountains, how they know to leave and to run is because of this abomination of desolation. This figure who goes into the temple, stops the sacrifice and exalts himself as God. Now go back, if you would, if you’re still in Daniel chapter 12, I’m gonna read verse one one more time. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.

And at that time shall thy people, who’s thy people to Daniel? It’s the Jewish people. Shall thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. Now you notice, so all of these things related to this, the angel says at that time, Daniel, thy people, which means the Jewish people will last until that time. And they will be present in those events.

And then you go back to Matthew now, verse 16 says, and let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Isn’t that interesting? The mention of Judea. Now we’ll learn later maybe in Revelation that these events that are happening are worldwide. They’re cataclysmic, they’re cosmic. But yet the Lord points out Judea fleeing, fleeing. We’ll get to that in just a minute. Here’s what I want you to see.

This period of time deal, although not exclusively, it deals largely with the Jewish people, specifically with Jewish believers. Do you know the only people that are gonna run when they see these events happen are the people that believe Jesus, right? Cause he’s the one telling them, right? Okay, now let’s go to Revelation chapter 13. Revelation chapter 13.

Verse one. And while you’re at it, go ahead and get second Thessalonians chapter two, cause we’ll read that in just a minute too. All right, Revelation chapter 13. Revelation 13.

Now, chapter 13 is part of a vision that God gives to John. Just because you have figures and symbols doesn’t mean that these things aren’t real. It means that the figures represent something real, okay? The way people treat this is really unfair.

Just because something is symbolic doesn’t mean it’s somehow imaginary. A figure, just like for instance in Daniel, the ram and the he goat and the horns were figures. But they represented something real. How do we know that? Because Gabriel told Daniel, okay? It didn’t mean it was all just imaginary, okay? Same thing here. Chapter 13, verse one.

Who’s the dragon? It’s the devil, okay, that’s clear enough. And his seat and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death. And his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. That’s gotta be Trump, right? That’s when he got shot in Pennsylvania. Come on, come on. Anyway, that wasn’t a deadly wound either, but anyway. Verse four.

I’m just, I’m mocking here. I mean, I’m showing you how silly that is, okay? Verse four. How long is that? Three and a half years. Three and a half years. Now we could go into end of Daniel chapter 12, talks about counts of days before the end of this beast. And we didn’t read that, but there’s a lot of overlap here. And he opened his mouth, this is the beast, in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle.

Notice his tabernacle, see that? That’s the temple he’s in, right? And then that dwell therein. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. Remember what I told you last time? The severe persecution from the hand of this figure on the saints who believe in Christ. That’s part of where we get that.

All right, so you see this beast and all the great things and powerful words that he describes. There’s another beast mentioned here as well. Notice, look at verse number 11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth. And he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exercised all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth, and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wind was healed.

Now notice 13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast. Saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast, maybe this is that abomination, put in the temple perhaps, which had the wound by a sword and did live.

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all those small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. And that no man might by or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath the understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 600, three score and six. That’s the bilo bonus card.

Does anybody know what I’m talking about? The bilo bonus card. It doesn’t exist anymore. You guys remember the bilo bonus card, right? The, somebody found out that the little bar code somehow 666 or whatever, you know, and that was the mark of the beast. Please, so dumb. Okay, so you have two beasts. The first one is what we would call the antichrist. He is the one that’s thrashing the saints of God and persecuting them.

He is the one who demands worship, but there’s a second beast. We call him the false prophet. We’ll see that in a minute. And his job is to perform miracles to deceive the world, to worship the first beast, which is the antichrist. Everybody with me? Okay, now go to second Thessalonians. Now that beast that we just read about is mentioned a few other times in Revelation, most notably at the very end of the book when he’s cast into the lake of fire, both of them.

So they are actual real people. Second Thessalonians chapter number two. It’s talking about the day of Christ in verse one. Well, I’ll read verse one. “’Now we beseech you, brethren, “’by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, “’and by our gathering together unto Him, “’that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, “’neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter “’as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand.

“’Let no man deceive you by any means, “’for that day shall not come, “’except their coming of falling away first, “’and that man of sin be revealed.’” What’s interesting is the man of sin is also used to describe Judas Iscariot. That’s interesting because he’s also referred to as the devil, but anyway. The son of perdition. Now this man of sin, now again in verse three, Paul speaking here, he’s referring to a man of sin, son of perdition, who is yet to be revealed.

So this is future, okay? Notice this man of sin. And this man of sin will be revealed just prior to the day of Christ, which is the revelation of Jesus when He comes, Matthew 24.

Verse four, here is this man of sin. What does he do? “’Who opposeth and exalteth himself “’above all that is called God or that is worshiped, “’so that he as God sitteth,’ where? Where? “’In the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.’” That sounds familiar, does it not? That’s Daniel, that’s Revelation. A lot of overlap here. “’Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, “’I told you these things, and now ye know “’what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

“’For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, “’only he who now letteth will let,’ that is, hinder, “’until he be taken out of the way. “’And then shall that wicked,’ notice the capital W, “’be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume “’with the spirit of his mouth, “’and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.’” And that’s something that Daniel and Revelation both say, that this Antichrist figure will be destroyed at the coming of Christ, okay?

Now, verse number nine, “’Even him,’ same guy, “’whose coming is after the working of Satan, “’with all power and signs and lying wonders.’” We saw that, the dragon gave him his power, Revelation 13.

Now notice, signs and lying wonders. We saw that in Revelation two. We also saw that in Daniel, that miracles will be performed by this person with the intent to deceive those that dwell up in the earth to give him worship.

You know, it’s funny because in our time, everything’s so secular and scientific, is it not? I mean, we pride ourselves on our knowledge and all this stuff. When humanity starts to see people calling fire out of heaven and doing actual miracles, not like AI videos or stuff like that, but the real thing, they are going to en masse believe and follow this person.

Now, verse nine, verse 10, rather, “’And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness “’and them that perish, “’because they receive not the love of the truth “’that they might be saved, “’and for this cause, “’God shall send them strong delusion “’that they should believe a lie, “’that they all might be damned “’who believe not the truth “’but have pleasure in unrighteousness.’” All right, we’ve covered four passages. Now, to end, go back to Matthew 24.

We’re going to finish it up. Let’s go. We’re not going to be able to really get everywhere, but we’ll get somewhere. Matthew 24, we’ve read 15. So this abomination of desolation is the key, is the trigger. Verse 16, “’Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains, “’let him which is on the housetop not come down “’to take anything out of his house, “’neither let him which is in the field “’return back to take his clothes, “’and woe unto them that are with child, “’and to them that give suck in those days, “’but pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, “’neither on the Sabbath day.’” Notice the Sabbath, which is also Jewish.

So these events are part of a Jewish prophecy and deal with a Jewish people. It’s repeated. And they are designed to deliver believing Israel at that time, because God promised Daniel they would be delivered. Not Jewish people in general, Jewish believers, that’s the key, okay? Notice when they see this man in the temple, they’re to run, like run, take off. Don’t look back, don’t go back home, don’t get your stuff, leave.

Now I don’t have time to go into it, but if you follow the prophecies from, I think, Micah and a couple of the places, there’s a mention of the Jewish people being delivered from Basra. “’Who is he that cometh with dyed garments from Basra?’ Where’s Basra? Basra’s in Edom to the southeast of Jerusalem.

It’s the mountains, the mountains are higher there than Jerusalem. Now, so the Jewish believers at that time, that’s their trigger to flee. They run. And the Lord is going to protect them. I don’t have time, Revelation chapter 12, you can look at that if you want. The Lord’s gonna protect them there until he finally comes and delivers them. Now notice verse 21.

“’For then shall be great tribulation.’” Now pause a second. I know we like to use this great tribulation. People have gone into so much, so much, so many pains to try to divide everything up and label all the different periods and all of that. That’s fine and good, but this is just describing really bad trouble, okay? It’s not labeling it, it’s just saying really bad trouble. Verse 21.

“’Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not “’since the beginning of the world to this time “’no, nor ever shall be.’” So what time, it says, “’then shall be.’” When?

Once that abomination of desolation happens, the Jewish believers flee, right? Because they’re being hunted specifically. That’s one of the things the Antichrist does. They’re being hunted, so they flee. And you know what’s funny is Matthew is not the final word in all this. Do you know what this great tribulation in that one verse, verse 21 and two? That is all of those seals and trumpets and vials and all those terrible judgments that God is pouring out on the earth.

He said, I don’t really know if that, well, keep reading, verse 22. “’And except those days should be shortened, “’there should no flesh be saved.’” You know what that means? That means if God continued the judgments that he pours out that we read in Revelation, as terrible as they are, every human being would die. That’s pretty bad. You know the tsunami in 2004 was pretty bad. Hundreds of thousands of people died.

That is nothing. That is nothing compared to what the Lord has in store for this wicked world. “’But for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened.’” Verse 23. “’Then if any man say unto you, “’Lo, here is Christ or there,’ believe it not, “’because he is gonna say, I’m God, look at me, “’worship me or else I’m gonna kill you.

“’For there shall arise false Christs,’ notice this, “’and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders.’” That’s Daniel, that’s 2 Thessalonians, that’s Revelation 13. “’In so much that if it were possible, “’they shall deceive the very elect. “’Behold, I have told you before.’” I don’t know who was able to follow all that. I’m barely able to follow it.

But I wanted you to go through those, I wanted us to go through those four passages because all four of them are talking about the same events and the same figures about this just prior to coming of Christ. Now, here’s the thing.

These things haven’t happened yet, they’re on God’s calendar and they’re pretty clearly spelled out. But I’ll just say this to finish. What the Lord, the judgment that God has planned for this wicked world is dreadful, dreadful. And after all of that judgment, then they have to stand before him, before his great white throne and give an account. You know, the only thing you can say to something like that as you read these things is, you need to run to Jesus right now.

You need to get to Jesus now and you need to be saved and forgiven now. Let’s pray.