Mark 13:14-23 comments; false prophets shall rise

 

Mark 13:14 ¶  But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: 15  And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: 16  And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. 17  But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 18  And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. 19  For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20  And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. 21  And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: 22  For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. 23  But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

Read Matthew 24:15-25.  Here’s a very serious problem for the modernist who doesn’t believe in prophecy. Most of those kind of people see Daniel as being written about one of the Greek kings who ruled Palestine and prefer to date Daniel until that time or after so that they can eliminate its prophetic importance. But Jesus declares here that Daniel is written about a time much future to not only Daniel but Jesus.

 

Daniel 8:13  Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

 

Daniel 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

 

Daniel 11:31  And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

 

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.

 

So, rather than viewing Daniel in terms of events prior to Jesus’ time it’s important to see them as Jesus described, a prophecy of events future to the first century AD. But what is an abomination? And what is the abomination of desolation?

 

Deuteronomy 7:25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

 

In the context of naming something, a thing, to be presented in the temple, this would not refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD because the temple was destroyed. An abomination in this context would be an idol. To be desolate is to be empty, devoid of life or value. The gods of the pagan world were called vanities, shown that they were nothing, a vain thing. Clearly the abomination of desolation is a false god set up in the temple of God that is to be rebuilt at the end time, for it doesn’t exist today.

 

2Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

 

This is a reference to the Beast of Revelation, who is popularly called Anti-Christ.

 

Revelation 13:15 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.

 

The image of a pagan god-man, the Beast, the Anti-Christ, will be set up in a temple that has yet to be built. It is an image, a statue that speaks. Many Jews are waiting to rebuild the temple now.

 

www.templemountfaithful.org

 

From their website; “The goal of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement is the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in our lifetime in accordance with the Word of G-d and all the Hebrew prophets and the liberation of the Temple Mount from Arab (Islamic) occupation so that it may be consecrated to the Name of G-d.”

The future Roman emperor, Titus, in 70AD did not set himself up in Herod’s Temple to be worshipped. He destroyed the temple. This is a future prophecy about the end time. Jesus tells the Jews in the Tribulation as they read the King James Bible (let him that readeth understand) that when this happens run as fast as you can.

 

And there has been no time in history like the time that is coming in the Tribulation. There is nothing to compare it to. Not World War Two, not the Black Death of the 14^th century, not the Spanish Flu, nothing. And if that time wasn’t shortened no flesh would be left alive. Think of the time of the Great Flood.

 

Genesis 7:21 ¶  And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22  All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23  And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

 

But Jesus promises the time will be shortened. Notice that He also talks about the signs and wonders that the false Christs and false prophets will use to deceive, and even the very elect of God could be fooled.

 

Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

 

Revelation 13:11 ¶  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. 12  And he exerciseth 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 wound was healed. 13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the 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, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

The end of history will be a terrible and dreadful thing.