Abomination of Desolation
Read Matthew 24:15-28
This passage is referring to things that will happen just prior to the second coming of Christ. Jesus is
teaching His disciples some important things that He wants them to understand. The Abomination of
Desolation is the primary sign that the Great Tribulation (the final 3 ½ years of the 7 year tribulation
period) has begun. It is supposed to serve as one of our key reference points in the End Times.
Based on it we will be able to clearly discern the identity of the Antichrist, the Antichrist’s beast empire
and our position in the Tribulation time period. The Abomination of Desolation is the name given by
Scripture to a series of events in which the Antichrist commits some act of awful blasphemy against
God in the Jewish temple, sets up an idolatrous image of himself and demands that the world worship
him as God. The Abomination of Desolation is referred to six times in Scripture (4 times by Daniel, 2
times in the Gospels). It is also described without using its name 3 more times in Scripture (2 Thess.,
Rev.) Jesus says in today’s verses that the Abomination of Desolation will be a literal event that we
are able to see. It will be obvious and we need to be watching for it. This is a really key event in the
End Times. According to verse 22, the Great Tribulation will be so terrible that if it lasted longer than
3 ½ years, the human race would become extinct. This is an awful statement when you consider that
World War II and World War I were horrendous wars causing tens of millions of deaths, but neither
came close to extincting the entire human race. Verse 21 tells us that it will be the most horrible
time in human history. Jesus encourages us to pray about this event (verse 20). Though we can’t
make these events go away, through prayer and obedience we can alleviate some of the effects of
these events, making them more bearable and enabling more people to get to know Jesus. There
is no reason to become fatalistic when studying the End Times – we are told to pray! Once the
Abomination of Desolation is set up the terrible events of the Great Tribulation are going to happen
very quickly, they will come in a rush, so fast that Jesus warns people to flee immediately (without
returning home to pack).
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to show you some specific things that you can do to prepare yourself and your
family for the End Times.
2. Ask the Lord to grow your prayer life, to increase your desire to pray and your passion for prayer.
3. Thank the Lord for the Scriptures, that in His love He has warned us ahead of time of what is
to come. Thank Him that He is in control of these terrible events and that He will be with us,
guiding us and helping us.
