The Abomination of Desolation - the Dome of the Rock

[MattHenry]

(link) Let's explore Daniel's 1290 "days" in prophecy, that he penned over 500 years before John authored the problems in Revelation:


5. (KJV) Daniel 12:11: And from the time [that] the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, [there shall be]a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
(Tanach) - Daniel 12:11 And from the time the daily sacrifice was removed and the silent abomination placed, is one thousand, two hundred, and ninety.


Sacrifices were suspended three times in the Old Testament: once before Daniel (Chronicles 28:24-25), once during the Babylonian captivity in 583 BC (Chronicles 36:19 and Ezra 3:6), and once, about four hundred years later, by the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanies. Let's try the 583 date considering that the angel Gabriel may have had Daniel write about the abolition of sacrifices with which he was directly familiar.


Old Testament - day = year "language" is suggested in Genesis' account of the flood as 30 day months pointing to a 360 day prophetic year, each year being equal to .9857 solar year (360/365.24) of or our modern historical record that the event dating comes from. 1290 x .9857 = 1271.5 solar years. Subtracting 583 we arrive again at 688.5 AD. The founding year of The Dome of the Rock - THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION.


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Daniel and John's prophecies were written over 500 years apart, yet the two books unite with mathematical precision - both pinning the year 688 AD - that was hundreds of years in John's future and over a thousand years in Daniel's future!


From TFP: "When Khalifah Omar entered Jerusalem in 639AD, he was met by Sophronius, Bishop of the Jerusalem Church, who showed him around the city. Seeing the temple mount (then in rubble), Omar declared that he was going to build a memorial to Muhammad on the original site of the temple of God. Sophronius exclaimed in horror, "Verily, this is the Abomination of Desolation as spoken of by Daniel the prophet", and it now stands in the holy place. Though Sophronius was a very old man of about 80, Khalifah Omar put him in prison and to forced labor, the severities of which killed him." - Jerry Landay - "The Dome of the Rock"


Is there an explanation as to why we couldn't see the perfect mathematical relationships between these two prophets before this "time"?


Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end.


Isaac Newton, Matthew Henry and many of those before us understood that the book of Daniel, and by extension Revelation, would not be fully understood until the "time of the end".


For my could-become brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, who are today in the grip of Islam, here is a Bible translated into Arabic, including an online Arabic audio New Testament.
On this link are videos of Muslims who have come to know the love of the one true God.
Here is the site for Muslims for Christ
Site for Gospel For Muslims
Here is a link to a good sound bible teacher, where you can go to church online, anytime you want, to get into the Word of God.
To my brothers and sisters in the Church, let's wake up and save these poor folks through the truth, and proof, of God's Holy Word.

(link) Let's try the very next verse after Daniel's 1290 days verse, and see if we can confirm the method we used, with Daniel's 1335 "days":


6.Daniel 12:12: Blessed [is] he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Tanach: Dan 12:12:. Fortunate is he who waits and reaches days of one thousand, three hundred, and thirty-five.
1335 x .9857(O.T. prophetic year "language" conversion) = 1315.9 - 583 BC = 732.9 AD.


A quick Yahoo search determines that 732 was the year of The Battle of Tours, France. This battle was fought exactly 100 years after Mohammed's death. The Battle of Tours is widely considered to be the most important battle of the entire Christian era. Charles "Martel" (the hammer), against astronomical odds, defeated the Islamic army, and the spread of Islam, in its near conquest of the whole known world, as it headed up through Europe during the Islamic First Jihad. Indeed blessed was he who patiently waited and made it through the First Jihad, without converting to Islam, or denying his Lord and Savior.


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[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Tours.html[/FONT]


This epic battle was the turning point marking the zenith of the Islamic onslaught delivering the mortal wound to the spearhead of the invading forces, and killing the literal head of the advancing armyEmir Abd er Rahman. "Without his leadership and guidance, the other commanders were unable to even agree on a commander to lead them back into battle the following morning. The effect of the death of Abdul Rahman on both Islamic and world history was profound." ".... according to one unidentified Arab, 'That army went through all places like a desolating storm.' sacking and capturing the city of Bordeaux, and then defeating the army of Duke Odo of Aquitaine at the Battle of the River Garonne — where the western chroniclers state, 'God alone knows the number of the slain'—[3] and Odo fled to Charles Martel, seeking help."


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Map source Wikipedia


Stunningly, the two math problems from Daniel launch from the shared beginning date of 583 BC and nail God's symbolic pin date for the Islamic Dome of the Rock - the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION - and then go on to pin the year of the zenith of, and death knell of, the Islamic First Jihad conquering of nearly the whole known world! At the same time the above problems unite the books of Revelation and Daniel with mathematical and textual precision.

There are over a dozen such problems explored in The False Prophet. If the above peaked your interest it would be best to start that book from the beginning.

 

[HisdaughterJen]

(link) Let's explore Daniel's 1290 "days" in prophecy, that he penned over 500 years before John authored the problems in Revelation:


5. (KJV) Daniel 12:11: And from the time [that] the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, [there shall be]a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
(Tanach) - Daniel 12:11 And from the time the daily sacrifice was removed and the silent abomination placed, is one thousand, two hundred, and ninety.


Sacrifices were suspended three times in the Old Testament: once before Daniel (Chronicles 28:24-25), once during the Babylonian captivity in 583 BC (Chronicles 36:19 and Ezra 3:6), and once, about four hundred years later, by the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanies. Let's try the 583 date considering that the angel Gabriel may have had Daniel write about the abolition of sacrifices with which he was directly familiar.


Old Testament - day = year "language" is suggested in Genesis' account of the flood as 30 day months pointing to a 360 day prophetic year, each year being equal to .9857 solar year (360/365.24) of or our modern historical record that the event dating comes from. 1290 x .9857 = 1271.5 solar years. Subtracting 583 we arrive again at 688.5 AD. The founding year of The Dome of the Rock - THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION.


[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]

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Daniel and John's prophecies were written over 500 years apart, yet the two books unite with mathematical precision - both pinning the year 688 AD - that was hundreds of years in John's future and over a thousand years in Daniel's future!


From TFP: "When Khalifah Omar entered Jerusalem in 639AD, he was met by Sophronius, Bishop of the Jerusalem Church, who showed him around the city. Seeing the temple mount (then in rubble), Omar declared that he was going to build a memorial to Muhammad on the original site of the temple of God. Sophronius exclaimed in horror, "Verily, this is the Abomination of Desolation as spoken of by Daniel the prophet", and it now stands in the holy place. Though Sophronius was a very old man of about 80, Khalifah Omar put him in prison and to forced labor, the severities of which killed him." - Jerry Landay - "The Dome of the Rock"


Is there an explanation as to why we couldn't see the perfect mathematical relationships between these two prophets before this "time"?


Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end.


Isaac Newton, Matthew Henry and many of those before us understood that the book of Daniel, and by extension Revelation, would not be fully understood until the "time of the end".


For my could-become brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, who are today in the grip of Islam, here is a Bible translated into Arabic, including an online Arabic audio New Testament.
On this link are videos of Muslims who have come to know the love of the one true God.
Here is the site for Muslims for Christ
Site for Gospel For Muslims
Here is a link to a good sound bible teacher, where you can go to church online, anytime you want, to get into the Word of God.
To my brothers and sisters in the Church, let's wake up and save these poor folks through the truth, and proof, of God's Holy Word.

(link) Let's try the very next verse after Daniel's 1290 days verse, and see if we can confirm the method we used, with Daniel's 1335 "days":


6.Daniel 12:12: Blessed [is] he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Tanach: Dan 12:12:. Fortunate is he who waits and reaches days of one thousand, three hundred, and thirty-five.
1335 x .9857(O.T. prophetic year "language" conversion) = 1315.9 - 583 BC = 732.9 AD.


A quick Yahoo search determines that 732 was the year of The Battle of Tours, France. This battle was fought exactly 100 years after Mohammed's death. The Battle of Tours is widely considered to be the most important battle of the entire Christian era. Charles "Martel" (the hammer), against astronomical odds, defeated the Islamic army, and the spread of Islam, in its near conquest of the whole known world, as it headed up through Europe during the Islamic First Jihad. Indeed blessed was he who patiently waited and made it through the First Jihad, without converting to Islam, or denying his Lord and Savior.


[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]

[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Tours.html[/FONT]


This epic battle was the turning point marking the zenith of the Islamic onslaught delivering the mortal wound to the spearhead of the invading forces, and killing the literal head of the advancing armyEmir Abd er Rahman. "Without his leadership and guidance, the other commanders were unable to even agree on a commander to lead them back into battle the following morning. The effect of the death of Abdul Rahman on both Islamic and world history was profound." ".... according to one unidentified Arab, 'That army went through all places like a desolating storm.' sacking and capturing the city of Bordeaux, and then defeating the army of Duke Odo of Aquitaine at the Battle of the River Garonne — where the western chroniclers state, 'God alone knows the number of the slain'—[3] and Odo fled to Charles Martel, seeking help."


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Map source Wikipedia


Stunningly, the two math problems from Daniel launch from the shared beginning date of 583 BC and nail God's symbolic pin date for the Islamic Dome of the Rock - the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION - and then go on to pin the year of the zenith of, and death knell of, the Islamic First Jihad conquering of nearly the whole known world! At the same time the above problems unite the books of Revelation and Daniel with mathematical and textual precision.

There are over a dozen such problems explored in The False Prophet. If the above peaked your interest it would be best to start that book from the beginning.

This is very fascinating.
It seems to me that someone wanted to make something fit and then searched history for an event that could fit the scenario in regards to the battle.

Any further evidence? Do you think that it could have further or renewed fulfillment in the final years?

 

[MattHenry]

This is very fascinating.
It seems to me that someone wanted to make something fit and then searched history for an event that could fit the scenario in regards to the battle.

Any further evidence? Do you think that it could have further or renewed fulfillment in the final years?

There is more evidence to confirm the method that was used above for calculating OT problems:


(link) This next problem uses prophetic "weeks" of days as years, and includes 3 consecutive events spanning 483 years in prophecy, that were all in Daniel's future- and came to pass just as he prophesied - proving that Jesus is the Messiah.


8.Daniel 9:24-26: Seventy weeksare 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 prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 Andafter threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people ofthe prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.


Quoting from "The False prophet": "Almost 100 years after Gabriel spoke to Daniel, a special decree was granted by Artaxerxes I to Nehemiah (444-445 BC). This is the ONLY decree recorded in the Bible that gave the Jews permission to 'restore Jerusalem and rebuild its walls'. The Messiah, Jesus, was "cut off" or crucified in 32 or 33AD."
Much of Christianity understands these 69 weeks to be 69 sevens of years. So we have 69 x 7 or 483prophetic 'years'." Again, uniformly using our multiplier of .9857 to reconcile this 360-day year "language" (per Genesis) with the solar year units of our modern historical record, yields: 483 x .9857 = 476 solar years. Artaxerxes' decree in 444 BC + 476 years = 32 AD, the cross right to the year! See illustration

More: http://www.beholdthebeast.com/mathematical_precision_of_prophecy.htm

 

[HisdaughterJen]

There is more evidence to confirm the method that was used above for calculating OT problems:


(link) This next problem uses prophetic "weeks" of days as years, and includes 3 consecutive events spanning 483 years in prophecy, that were all in Daniel's future- and came to pass just as he prophesied - proving that Jesus is the Messiah.


8.Daniel 9:24-26: Seventy weeksare 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 prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 Andafter threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people ofthe prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.


Quoting from "The False prophet": "Almost 100 years after Gabriel spoke to Daniel, a special decree was granted by Artaxerxes I to Nehemiah (444-445 BC). This is the ONLY decree recorded in the Bible that gave the Jews permission to 'restore Jerusalem and rebuild its walls'. The Messiah, Jesus, was "cut off" or crucified in 32 or 33AD."
Much of Christianity understands these 69 weeks to be 69 sevens of years. So we have 69 x 7 or 483prophetic 'years'." Again, uniformly using our multiplier of .9857 to reconcile this 360-day year "language" (per Genesis) with the solar year units of our modern historical record, yields: 483 x .9857 = 476 solar years. Artaxerxes' decree in 444 BC + 476 years = 32 AD, the cross right to the year! See illustration

More: http://www.beholdthebeast.com/mathematical_precision_of_prophecy.htm

Again, that is fascinating as well.

If Daniel is fulfilled, then what remains?

 

[MattHenry]

I moved this copy of a post here from the antichrist thread to this more related thread.

The abomination of the Desolator is just how Paul describes it - Satan sits in the Temple of God to be worshipped as God - the Temple of God is the Church. Christianity is deceived en masse as is the rest of the world by him: the False Christ/Prophet; the man of sin, the son of perdition. This cannot happen until he is cast out of heaven by Michael.

Then why would Matthew say that it stands?

Matthew 24:15 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 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains

stand - Check Strong's here

New Testament Greek Definition:
2476 histemi {his'-tay-mee}
a prolonged form of a primary stao {stah'-o} (of the same
meaning, and used for it in certain tenses); TDNT - 7:638,1082; v
AV - stand 116, set 11, establish 5, stand still 4, stand by 3,
misc 17, vr stand 2; 158
1) to cause or make to stand, to place, put, set
1a) to bid to stand by, [set up]
1a1) in the presence of others, in the midst, before judges,
before members of the Sanhedrin;
1a2) to place
1b) to make firm, fix establish
1b1) to cause a person or a thing to keep his or its place
1b2) to stand, be kept intact (of family, a kingdom), to escape
in safety
1b3) to establish a thing, cause it to stand
1b31) to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything
1c) to set or place in a balance
1c1) to weigh: money to one (because in very early times before
the introduction of coinage, the metals used to be weighed)
2) to stand
2a) to stand by or near
2a1) to stop, stand still, to stand immovable, stand firm
2a1a) of the foundation of a building
2b) to stand
2b1) continue safe and sound, stand unharmed, to stand ready or
prepared
2b2) to be of a steadfast mind
2b3) of quality, one who does not hesitate, does not waiver

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Originally Posted by Zadok7000

The abomination of the Desolator is just how Paul describes it - Satan sits in the Temple of God to be worshipped as God - the Temple of God is the Church. Christianity is deceived en masse as is the rest of the world by him: the False Christ/Prophet; the man of sin, the son of perdition. This cannot happen until he is cast out of heaven by Michael.

That has already happened.
If I die and go to heaven, does that mean I will run into "satan"?

 

[Renton405]

The first desolation sacriledge was when Antiochus Ephihanes defiled the temple when he erected an altar of Zeus and Sacrificed a pig..

1 Maccabees 1:54.
"Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt-offering."

The abomination of desolation Jesus talked about was the destruction of the Temple in AD70 by Titus. many Jews fleed to the mountains and not one stone was left standing. As Jesus predicted.

The 1 Maccabees usage of the term points to the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes in the mid-second century BC. Specifically, he set up an altar to Zeus in the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and sacrificed swine on it around the year 167 BC. Accordingly, most modern scholars believe that Daniel 11:31 and 12:11 are a direct prophecy (or vaticinium ex eventu) relating to Antiochus.

The interpretation of Daniel 9:27 is more controversial. Many modern scholars believe that it likewise refers to Antiochus Epiphanes; however, others consider in light of the gospel usage (see below) that it must have a future application.

Most Christian scholars and commentators agree that Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 are prophecies about the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Roman general Titus, and believe that Jesus has reapplied the familiar prophecy of Daniel to an event in his immediate future. A minority scholarly view relates the prophecy to the actions of Caligula around AD 40. Some other interpreters with a futurist perspective think that Jesus' prophecy deals with an end time literal Antichrist.

The rabbis as a whole consider that the expression refers to the desecration of the Temple by the erection of a Zeus statue in its sacred precincts by Antiochus Epiphanes. Some rabbis, however, see in it an allusion to Manasseh, who, as related in II Chron. xxxiii. 7, set up "a carved image ... in the house of God"[6]. The Haggadah narrates that two statues were erected, one of which fell over upon the other and broke off its hand. Upon the severed hand the following inscription was found engraved: "I sought to destroy God's house, but Thou didst lend Thy hand to its protection".


The hard thing in Daniel, is that the list of events shows that the Desolating sacrilege will happen before the messiah comes, so its something that happened before Christ came. Which only can point to Antiochus.

 

[MattHenry]

The abomination of desolation Jesus talked about was the destruction of the Temple in AD70 by Titus. many Jews fleed to the mountains and not one stone was left standing. As Jesus predicted.

He did predict the temple being torn down just as it happened - every stone (which was likely primarily instrumental causing the Muslims to build their abomination over the wrong rock), but when we read His rebuke to the Pharisees in chapter 23 He declares their their "house" desolate.

Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
I take this to mean those individuals, and everything about them including the temple, and particularly applicable to today's church how they let their tradition trump the truth of God's Holy Word. It would seem that at least most were simply going through the motions of ritual and had lost their heart for the Lord - lost their way. Their tasseled robes as an outward display of their respective levels of "holiness", ritual diswashing (like in some churches today), etc.

But even if by "whole house" Jesus had meant that everything was desolate except the temple, I believe you and I would agree that the temple became desolate when Jesus' shed His blood on the Cross. No more reason for animal sacrifice.

So how could a temple that was desolate almost 40 years before 70 AD, be desolated again?

The verse in Matthew says that it "stands" in the holy place. You suggested that the temple being torn down is the abomination of desolation. Wouldn't this be the opposite?

Read the verses in the OP again:
Daniel 12:11: And from the time [that] the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, [there shall be]a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
(Tanach) - Daniel 12:11 And from the time the daily sacrifice was removed and the silent abomination placed, is one thousand, two hundred, and ninety.

 

[Zadok7000]

Then why would Matthew say that it stands?

Matthew 24:15 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 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains

So? Satan will be in Jerusalem (Judea), the Temple has already been defined for us - it is the CHURCH. Not any temple made with hands. When the False Christ arrives, he DECEIVES.

 

[MattHenry]

So? Satan will be in Jerusalem (Judea), the Temple has already been defined for us - it is the CHURCH. Not any temple made with hands. When the False Christ arrives, he DECEIVES.

So what gets desolated?

[edit] Whoops I didn't notice your reply in the other thread that I brought over and pasted below:
http://www.christianforums.com/t5858310-antichrist.html&page=4

I did reply in the other thread specifically on the abomination angle, but the identity of the False Christ is integral to this whole question. No flesh man in history or in the future can be the son of perdition or commit the Abomination of the Desolator. The Temple/Sanctuary that is desacrated that Daniel, our Lord and Paul talk about is the Church. It can be nothing else.

You hold that the Church is desolated. What do you mean by Church?
[edit add for clarity] The whole body of Christ is desolated? Spiritually? We (they) all become apostate or something? Could you clarify please?

 

[Zadok7000]

You hold that the Church is desolated. What do you mean by Church?
[edit add for clarity] The whole body of Christ is desolated? Spiritually? We (they) all become apostate or something? Could you clarify please?

Church = the many membered body of Christ.
As Jesus said, only the Elect will not be deceived, and they are very few in number. And even THEY would be deceived if that time (Daniel's 70th Week) was not shortened. The "falling away" happens when the man of sin/son of perdition arrives claiming to be our Father. The Abomination is the ultimate Idolatry; worshiping the False One (Satan) as God. Our Lord warns us again and again and again not to be DECEIVED - nothing to do with physical temples, etc. Yet, the vast majority of the Church will fall.

 

[MattHenry]

Church = the many membered body of Christ.
As Jesus said, only the Elect will not be deceived, and they are very few in number. And even THEY would be deceived if that time (Daniel's 70th Week) was not shortened. The "falling away" happens when the man of sin/son of perdition arrives claiming to be our Father. The Abomination is the ultimate Idolatry; worshiping the False One (Satan) as God. Our Lord warns us again and again and again not to be DECEIVED - nothing to do with physical temples, etc. Yet, the vast majority of the Church will fall.

First, you claimed your presumed abomination sits in the temple of God, but as we saw Matthew says said we can expect it to "stand" in the "holy place".
Now you suggest that it is the church, or part of the church, or some such thing, that is desolated. What does Luke's account of this parallel section to Matthew's account say about Jesus' words?

Luke 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh

So here we learn that it is Jerusalem that is desolated.

Can you find the reason that you are compounding your error?

[edit add] Please don't get the impression that I believe myself to be error free. I wouldn't have suggested yours was if it could stand up to the scriptures that I quoted from the gospels, but unfortunately it had too much difficulty.

I'm confident that I have plenty of error, and there is a ton that I don't know. I participate in these forums to try this eschatology and receive criticism to correct it. I am sure there is plenty of error. I also come to see how others defend their own eschatologies in light of the Sword of the Spirit - God's Holy Word. It's a big win-win. I learn both ways.

 

[Carey]

I think by saying the Church is desolate means the Church is decieved?

 

[MattHenry]

I think by saying the Church is desolate means the Church is decieved?

Sometimes hard to understand terms from our 20th century Western English persepctive.
Strong's isn't the end-all, but let's see how they weigh in on it:

desolate - Check Strong's here
New Testament Greek Definition:
2048 eremos {er'-ay-mos}
of uncertain affinity; TDNT - 2:657,255; adjective
AV - wilderness 32, desert 13, desolate 4, solitary 1; 50
1) solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited
1a) used of places
1a1) a desert, wilderness
1a2) deserted places, lonely regions
1a3) an uncultivated region fit for pasturage
1b) used of persons
1b1) deserted by others
1b2) deprived of the aid and protection of others,
especially of friends, acquaintances, kindred
1b3) bereft
1b3a) of a flock deserted by the shepherd
1b3b) of a woman neglected by her husband,
from whom the husband withholds himself

I don't believe the Lord's interests lie as much in the physical destruction of men's buildings or geographical boundaries, as they do in the spiritual condition of mankind.

As we look at Jerusalem it is true that a million Jews were slaughtered in that insurrection that leveled the already long desolate temple in 70 AD. Interestingly the Christians all fled in advance of the Roman incursion which would seem to be the opposite of spiritual desolation since so many of the Jews were so apostate and the Christians were all saved.

Judeo-Christian worship in Jerusalem was restored after 70 AD to such an extent that by around 132 to such and extent, there were another 750,000 Jews slain in the Bar-Kokhba Revolt.

We know the church thrived and grew in spite of the Roman persecutions, or more likely because of them. Nothing like a little testing in the fire for God's folks to show their metal. Look at the church in the Sudan or China today, compared to the dead formalism of the western church (when it's not touchy-feely).
We also know that whent the Islamic conquerer Kaliph Omar arrived in Jerusalem he was greeted by Bishop Sophronius. The church was alive and well.

But under Islamic oppression, enslavement, jizya tax, the desolation of the area both physically and spiritually was accomplished. By the early 1800s (around 1827) there were only about 550 Jews living there.

1867 Mark Twain described it thus: “ ...[a] desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds-a silent mournful expanse....A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action....We never saw a human being on the whole route....There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

By the early 1800s Islam had rendered Jerusalem desolate in every sense of the term. Below is desolation in the Lord's eyes. Founding verses of the Dome of the Rock:

"O you People of the Book, overstep not bounds in your religion, and of God speak only the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and his Word which he conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from him. Believe therefore in God and his apostles, and say not Three. It will be better for you. God is only one God. Far be it from His transcendent majesty that he should have a son."

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[GratiaCorpusChristi]

Titus *cough* Siege of Jerusalem *cough* bowing to Eagle standards in the holy of holies *cough*

 

[Zadok7000]

First, you claimed your presumed abomination sits in the temple of God, but as we saw Matthew says said we can expect it to "stand" in the "holy place".
Now you suggest that it is the church, or part of the church, or some such thing, that is desolated. What does Luke's account of this parallel section to Matthew's account say about Jesus' words?

Luke 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh

So here we learn that it is Jerusalem that is desolated.

The Desolator brings deception, not physical destruction. See the Locust Army of Rev. 9. Satan and the fallen angels come to Jerusalem to rule the 7 headed beast. Babylon = "confusion".

What is "presumed" about the son of perdition sitting in the Temple of God? The Temple of God is the Church. I assume you are knowledgable enough about the Scriptures to know what verses I am referring to...

 

[Zadok7000]

Titus *cough* Siege of Jerusalem *cough* bowing to Eagle standards in the holy of holies *cough*

*cough* when did that happen again?
And *cough* did the greatest time of trouble in the history of the world follow?

 

[GratiaCorpusChristi]

*cough* when did that happen again?
And *cough* did the greatest time of trouble in the history of the world follow?

Within the generation of Christ. Exactly when it was supposed to happen.

 

[Zadok7000]

Within the generation of Christ. Exactly when it was supposed to happen.

year please, thanks

And did the greatest time of trouble in the history of the world follow?

 

[GratiaCorpusChristi]

year please, thanks

And did the greatest time of trouble in the history of the world follow?

A.D. 70.

And no, it didn't. But the disciples asked three different questions. The abomination [worshping the standards] which leads to desolation [destruction of the temple] needn't be connected to the further statements about the tribulation. He's answering seperate questions within one discourse.