What is the abomination of desolation?
The abomination of desolation is Daniel's phrase for a desecration that leaves the holy place desolate. Jesus took it up as the sign of Jerusalem's destruction and as a pattern for the last days. It calls us to watch, to flee when the sign appears, and to stand in faith, rather than to build confident timetables out of a phrase the Bible itself does not decode completely.
This question arose from studying What is the great tribulation?.
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What the Scripture says
Daniel's oracle is the source
Daniel first uses the phrase: the desolator makes a covenant, stops the sacrifice, and sets up the abomination that makes desolate; from the time it is set up, 1,290 days are decreed. History saw a first fulfillment when a Seleucid king desecrated the temple in the years before the Maccabees, and Jesus treats that history as a pattern still pointing forward. The phrase names a real sacrilege with a real aftermath: a holy place left empty of worship and filled with defiance.
He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolate.
Forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.
From the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred ninety days.
Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. The army was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through disobedience; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered. Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, How long shall be the vision about the continual burnt offering, and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot?
Jesus applies it to Jerusalem's fall
Standing in the temple courts, Jesus says when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, let those in Judea flee to the mountains. Luke's parallel makes the sign concrete: when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know her desolation is near. Within a generation the city and temple fell, and the church fled to the hills, exactly as Jesus had said. The phrase has a past tense it has already fulfilled; this gives us confidence that its future tense will be fulfilled too.
“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
But when you see the abomination of desolation,spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,
“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her depart. Let those who are in the country not enter therein.
They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
It also looks toward the last days
Paul warns that before the Lord's coming there will come a rebellion and the man of lawlessness, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god, taking his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. John's Revelation shows the same pattern: the beast and its image demanding worship, deceiving the earth with signs. The abomination is not only a past event; it is a pattern that ripens to its fullest at the end, when the world's last rebellion is embodied in one who claims the place of God.
Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived. It was given to him to give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as wouldn’t worship the image of the beast to be killed.
He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.
Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.
Its proper response is watchfulness and flight, not a calendar
Jesus does not give us a date; He gives us a posture: when you see it, flee without delay, and pray your flight is not on a Sabbath or in winter. The church's response to desolation is not to build timelines but to be ready to move, to pray, and to endure. Whatever the sign looks like in its final form, the command stands the same: do not go back for your cloak, do not linger, and hold fast to the word you have heard.
then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out things that are in his house. Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days! Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath,
and let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house. Let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak.
Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
The desolate place is not the last word
Daniel himself ends the vision with hope: at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone found written in the book, and the wise shall shine like the stars. Jesus says that for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short, and the one who endures to the end will be saved. The abomination makes a place desolate, but it cannot make God's people desolate: the sheep hear His voice, and no power of earth or hell can snatch them from His hand.
“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.
Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
Here is the patience of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
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Verses to meditate on
He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolate.
“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
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