The Holy Temple (Beit Hamikdash)
was a large structure that was the nucleus of Judaism, its most sacred site. It stood atop Jerusalem’sMount Moriah. Our people would stream there three times a year to bring sacrifices and interface with the Divine.
The first Beit Hamikdash
was built by King Solomon in the year 833 BCE, and
destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 423 BCE.
The second Beit Hamikdash
was completed in the year 349 BCE by Jewish returnees from the Persian exile, renovated by King Herod in 19 BCE, but ultimately
destroyed by the Romans in 69 CE, when the current galut(exile) began.
For nearly 2,000 years, there has been no Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
Yet, it is an axiom of Jewish belief that
the Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem.
Known as the
Third Temple, it will be built
according to
the prophecies of Ezekiel.
Jesus
warned His disciples
of an
“abomination of desolation”
who would
defile the temple
and turns to the context of
Christ’s warning to give clarity
to this figure’s identity.
The term “abomination” appears more than 100 times in the Old Testament, and only a few times in the New Testament. And most commonly, the word refers to significant violations of the covenant, especially idolatry.
You see it in Matthew chapter 24 verse 15, and Mark chapter 13 verse 14, where Jesus refers to “the Abomination of Desolation”, meaning an abomination that causes desolation or destruction.
He says this to his disciples:
...when you see the abomination of desolation
spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
standing in the holy place...
then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
There’s been some speculation about who or what
this
“abomination of desolation” is, but things are made
clearer by Jesus
when he says that the
prophet Daniel had already
spoken about it.
Sure enough, there are three places where the prophet Daniel speaks about it.
In Daniel chapter 9,
he says “on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate”. Daniel chapter 11 says, “they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.”
And in chapter 12, Daniel again talks about
“the abomination that makes desolate”.
Daniel speaks of a
prince
who will destroy Jerusalem, together
with its temple and its sacrifices.
He says that
“forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress,
and shall take away the regular burnt offering.
And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate”.
Who is the
“him”
in that sentence, this person
who will profane
the
temple and the fortress?
shaphak:
to pour out, pour
Original Word: שָׁפַךְ
As is often the case with Old Testament prophecy,
there is a long-term fulfillment of the prophecy,
and a short-term one.
In the short-term, Daniel’s prophecy was fulfilled by a king called
Antiochus Epiphanes IV, who ruled Palestine from 175-164 B.C.
He treated Israel so terribly that Israel rebelled against him, and when he arrived to suppress the rebellion, his forces went into the temple in Jerusalem, set up an altar for Zeus, and offered pigs as a sacrifice.
Not only was this idolatry, of course,
but it defiled the Holy of Holies,
the most sacred inner part of the Temple,
where God was said to dwell.
Hence the abomination that causes desolation -
desolation for the people of Israel.
But when Jesus talks to his disciples about the abomination of desolation, he speaks of it as a future event. He says,
“Truly, I say to you, this generation will
not pass away
until all these things take place.”
And typically in Scripture, a “generation” is
40 years.
So if Antiochus Epiphanes was the short-term fulfilment
of Daniel’s prophecy,
who was the longer-term fulfilment, the one
Jesus spoke of two hundred years later?
Well, sure enough,
within 40 years of Jesus’ words,
the temple in Jerusalem
was again desecrated.
It happened in 70AD,
and this time, it came from the Romans, led by their commander Titus.
His armies were an abomination because they carried with them idolatrous images of their Emperor.
And they brought desolation because they
destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and
its Temple.
And once again,
the Holy of Holies was defiled.
The Jewish historian Josephus claimed that 1.1 million people, most of them Jewish, were killed during the siege, so that bodies were literally piled up around the altar. The usual population of Jerusalem was likely enlarged given that many had come to the city to celebrate the Passover, which was to occur right as the siege was being launched. Prior to the siege, the Romans had allowed Jewish worshippers to enter the city for the feast, but they did not allow them to leave.
In love, then, Jesus spoke to his disciples about this horrendous event in advance to prepare them for what was coming, to warn them ahead of time so that they could flee the city.
Jesus’ loving warning here is still relevant to us.
It reminds us that although He spoke, again and again,
of things yet to come, his warnings - again and again
- have proved to be trustworthy.
You can, quite literally, stake your life on them.
Just a few verses later in Matthew’s Gospel,
Jesus presents us with another loving warning. He speaks of his own second coming, as judge of the whole earth. He forewarns his disciples to make sure that they are living in obedience to him when he comes -
which will be at a time they don’t expect.
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