I believe one of the greatest signs that we are living in the last of the last days is seeing and experiencing the unveiling of God’s word. More than ever, it is time to reexamine how and what we were led to believe regarding prophecy and doctrines which could only be partly understood until now. “But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:9-10). Scripture can now be correctly interpreted and understood without the veil. As the Bible says, “there is nothing secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad” (Luke 8:17; Mark 4:22). And “knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4).
For many years I struggled to understand Matthew 24:15 and its companion passage in Mark (13:14). In Matthew, it reads:
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) (Matthew 24:15).
The part that had me most troubled was the parenthetical statement because I found it difficult to understand as I read the verse over and over. My question was: how would we know the abomination and when it would take place—or had it already taken place? I’ve read commentary after commentary, and none gave me satisfaction or a sense of relief. Most believe it refers to 70 AD, and confusion arises when they attempt to add Luke 21:20.
All the things I’ve found were complete misinterpretations and far from the true meaning. So, what secret has been unveiled to finally provide the truth about the abomination of desolation?
The Greatest Stumbling Block
First, I need to highlight the greatest stumbling block. What most have done is read Matthew 24:15, go to the Book of Daniel to find verses describing end-time events in chapters 9 through 12, and then arrive at all sorts of erroneous interpretations to explain the abomination of desolation. They completely overlook the words spoken by Daniel. This is key: while the prophecies were spoken by the messenger, Gabriel, only the prayer was spoken by Daniel (see Daniel 9:20-21). Again, Daniel’s words were spoken in prayer, and Gabriel’s words were spoken as prophecy.
Therefore, Jesus is not directing us to the prophecies from Gabriel, but only to the words of Daniel to know what the abomination of desolation is. According to Daniel’s prayer (his speaking), we see that he recognized the sins of Israel, their rebellion, and their departure from God’s laws and judgments, which was causing the abomination of desolation to stand in the Holy Place. It was Israel’s spiritual condition.
Historical Context
To put Daniel’s prayer in proper perspective, think about what period Daniel was living in. The 70-year prophecy of Jeremiah had already been fulfilled, and at least 17 years had already expired since the Israelites were allowed to return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile. This was around 538 BC during Persian rule. God had allowed the Israelites, following the 70 years of deportation, to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. At that juncture, the temple being rebuilt was over two-thirds completed, but the Israelites were still under the jurisdiction of a Gentile nation. Jews—all Jews—waited for God to restore the Kingdom to Israel.
Daniel was troubled.
God had given Daniel prophetic visions concerning Israel that he could not understand, yet feared. From Daniel’s point of view, Israel was in bad shape. To truly grasp the weight of Daniel’s distress, one must look beyond the surface-level return of the exiles to Jerusalem. While the decree of Cyrus in 538 BC theoretically ended the Babylonian captivity, the spiritual reality was far different. Nearly two decades after the first returnees arrived, the reconstruction of the Temple had stalled, and the people remained under the shadow of Gentile jurisdiction. Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 was not a lament for a building, but a recognition of a deep-seated spiritual desolation that persisted despite their physical presence in the land. This historical reality mirrors the rebuke found in Haggai 1:4, where the people’s focus on their own ‘paneled houses’ while the spiritual house lay in ruins revealed a heart in rebellion. The persistent state of transgression confirms that the abomination is not an external event, but a spiritual cancer within the nation that prevents its full restoration. Gabriel’s role was to console Daniel and assure him of what God intended to do concerning Israel.
The Holy Place
By now it should be understood that the “holy place” is not a reference to the actual temple. Jesus once again is using a metaphor. This metaphor is pointing to the spiritual house of Israel—the people themselves. Again, we can allow the Bible to define its own terms. A powerful clue to this mystery is found in the Book of Acts.
Just as there were false accusers who testified against Jesus when they claimed he said he would destroy the temple, there were also false accusers that came against Stephen, a man of God. They said:
“…This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us” (Acts 6:13-14).
Before Stephen was stoned to death, he reiterated the wickedness that existed among the nation of Israel and gave the history of Israel’s rebellious nature.
The Martyrdom of Stephen was a Pivotal Moment
Jesus told a parable about the vineyard. In the parable, Jesus describes how the husbandmen took the landowner’s servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. When other servants were sent, they did the same. Even after the landowner sent his son, they showed no reverence and sought to seize his inheritance, casting him out and finally slaying him. The chief priests and Pharisees knew the parables were about them. Addressing them, Jesus said, “Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” In other words, the time would come when God would remove his spirit from the House of Israel and turn to the Gentiles.
The house of Israel would become desolate and no longer identify as the true people of God, as the Kingdom of God would be taken away and given to the church made of believers from all nations.
Stephen’s death was symbolic and coincided with the time God brought final judgment upon the unsaved Jews of the Apostles’ generation. Jesus said of that generation, “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation” (Matthew 23:35-36).
It is noteworthy that as Stephen was being stoned to death, his clothes were laid at the feet of Saul (Acts 7:58). Before his conversion, Saul had been given permission to wreak havoc in the churches. However, being a young man at the time, Saul (later known as the Apostle Paul) represented the first generation of Jews that had not come under God’s wrath.
The revelation that the “Holy Place” refers to the corporate body of the people–rather than a physical structure–is a truth woven throughout the apostolic witness. While traditional commentaries are blinded by a focus on the 70 AD destruction, the New Testament explicitly shifts the focus to the spiritual sanctuary. Paul’s definitive declaration in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God,” shatters the veil of literalism. When the “abomination” stands in the “holy place,” it is a description of spiritual apostasy taking root. Consequently, the command to “flee from Judea was never about physical survival, but a spiritual exodus. This call to depart echoes the warning in Revelation 18:4 to “come out of her, my people,” signaling a necessary separation from a system that has become desolate.
Flee Judea
For those of Jewish descent, hearing they must “flee” Judea would be an alarming message considering they were waiting to become a sovereign nation again.
“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house. Neither let him, which is in the field, return back to take his clothes“ (Matthew 24:16-18).
In the above passage, Jesus was letting the disciples know that the abomination of desolation would lead to flight. However, they were yet to understand how Jesus was speaking in parabolic language. Jews would not “flee” Judea like in the past when God brought a heathen nation against them for punishment. This time, it would be God’s own hand of punishment—a spiritual destruction. As Jesus had warned, “there shall not be left one stone upon another than shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6).
Not to be overlooked, there is a deeper angle in Luke. Here we read: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:23-24). You have to wonder what level of shock these words must have had on the Apostles.
Forget about the inevitable attack of the Romans in 70 AD. Rather, in this description of battle, it’s easy to see how Jesus is drawing an analogy to the Diaspora in 586 BC. Therefore, in allegorical language, Jesus was using the analogy of the Jewish exile by the Babylonians to describe what would be the spiritual exile of the Jews from the spiritual Jerusalem.
As things stood then, the Gentiles occupied Jerusalem. So what Jesus was saying was that the time was coming when the Gentiles would also occupy the spiritual Jerusalem as well. In other words, Jesus was saying the Gospel will go to the Gentiles and Jerusalem (the spiritual city) will be occupied (trodden) by Gentiles; thus, spiritually speaking, the Jews will be exiled from the kingdom. Again, the message from the parable of the vineyard: “Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matthew 21:43).
Thus, fleeing Judea has everything to do with the elect of Israel escaping God’s wrath when God abandoned the nation of Israel as his “holy place.” Despite the disapproval of the Jewish leaders, the disciples had been preaching freely in the synagogues, sanctuary, and churches (Acts 5:42), but that all changed upon the death of Stephen (Acts 8:1).
I can imagine that in the beginning, the disciples likely had the false impression that the house of Israel would accept Jesus as their Messiah as they preached the gospel. Therefore, they had to “perceive” that the abomination of desolation was standing in the Holy Place before they would flee. Figuratively, the “mountains,” the “housetop,” and the “field” became fertile grounds for the gospel outside Judea, and the refuge from judgment upon the cursed generation.
As we go deeper into understanding the sorrows and the abomination of desolation, we can begin to see clearly how all these correlate with the Great Tribulation.
CONCLUSION:
In summary, the key to understanding the abomination of desolation lies in moving past physical interpretations and recognizing the spiritual transition described by Jesus. By focusing on Daniel’s prayer rather than Gabriel’s prophecy, we see that the “abomination” was Israel’s own rebellion and rejection of the Messiah. This spiritual condition led to the desolation of the “Holy Place”– the spiritual house of Israel–and the subsequent transfer of the Kingdom to a new nation of believers from all backgrounds. The “fleeing” from Judea was not a physical escape, but a necessary spiritual departure from a system that had become desolate. Ultimately, this unveiled truth confirms that God’s Word is being made manifest in these final days, calling us to see beyond the literal and grasp the profound spiritual reality of His judgment and grace.
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