The Coming Abomination
Matthew 24:15-28
November 11, 2012
As you know we are in the middle of “The Olivet Discourse”.
It is Jesus’ teaching on the end times.
The disciples have come to Him while He is seated on the Mount of Olives
And wanted to know two basic things.
When will the kingdom come,
What will the circumstances surrounding it be?
Matthew 24:3 “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
It encompasses everything we want to know as well.
When will it happen?
What will happen when it comes?
And to that question Jesus gave His longest and most thorough answer
That He ever gave to any question.
Now thus far we have seen His first two points.
A COMING DEVASTATION and A COMING TRIBULATION.
The Devastation
Will entail WARS and rumors of wars and FAMINES and EARTHQUAKES.
Matthew 24:8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”
The Tribulation
Will be a tremendous time of DEFECTION and DECEPTION as followers of Jesus Christ are called upon to swear allegiance to the anti-christ or be KILLED.
Many will fall away.
Most people’s love will grow cold.
And really the only reason that believers will be forced to endure it
Is because they will have a job to do.
Matthew 24:14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
They are there as light in the midst of darkness
Seeking to save those who are lost.
But those are the two events that Jesus has informed us of.
The Coming Devastation
The Coming Tribulation
THIS MORNING WE ACTUALLY GO BACKWARD.
Routinely when a society goes through a period of difficulty,
They will go searching for answers to see what the cause was.
The 30’s marked for America a time known as “The Great Depression”
• People trace that back to October 29, 1929 which was the crash of the stock market.
The 40’s marked a period of world war for America.
• People trace that back to December 7, 1941 which was Pearl Harbor
The new millennium has marked the war on terror and annoying airline security.
• People trace that back to September 11, 2001 which was the twin tower attack
And we could go on and on.
My point is that periods of hardship and difficulty often have a catalyst.
If we see here that devastation is the beginning of the birth pangs,
Then we want to go backward and find what was the conception?
What started all this?
And that answer is clearly given to us.
But before I show the event from an earthly perspective,
I first want to show you the event from heaven’s perspective.
TURN TO: REVELATION 12:7-17
If we were to cover all of Revelation 12 you would see the story
Begin way back in the Old Testament with a woman. (Not Mary – Israel)
• And she is about to give birth (The Messiah)
• And verses 3&4 show us a dragon seeking to kill the Christ child.
• Verse 5 is the shortest gospel in Scripture (birth to ascension)
• Verse 6 skips the time of the Gentiles and pictures the first 3 ½ years of the tribulation. (the false peace)
Verse 7 starts all the problem.
VERSES 7-9
Satan picked a fight and was permanently removed from the heavens.
No more access to God at all.
Now that is a good thing
VERSES 10-12a
He is thrown down and the heavens rejoice.
However, the end of verse 12 warns us of his response.
“Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”
And there you have it.
There is the catalyst.
There is the reason for the intensified anger.
Satan’s doom is set and he is angry!
The remainder of the chapter speaks of the devastation and tribulation occurring that Jesus has already told us about.
VERSES 13-17
So you see what we are dealing with.
All of this devastation and tribulation was not just coincidence.
There was a definite event that started it all.
And that is the event we learn of this morning.
I just showed it to you from heaven’s perspective,
This morning we this event from the earth’s perspective.
There are three things in our text I want you to see.
#1 THE CATALYTIC EVENT
Matthew 24:15-16
Jesus has just outlined quite thoroughly
The Coming Devastation and Coming Tribulation.
Knowing that His disciples would want to know
What causes all of this, Jesus then says:
“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.”
In other words, Jesus is telling us what will cause all of this to begin.
And very simply it is an event that Daniel first told us about called
“THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION”
Now it is only fitting that we go and familiarize ourselves
With exactly what Daniel said about it.
Daniel actually references it in several places.
TURN TO: DANIEL 8
In Daniel 8, Daniel is given a vision of the coming world kingdoms.
Babylon was currently the ruler, but Daniel sees who is coming next.
• Verses 3-4 picture a ram with two horns which represented the Medes and the Persians.
• Verses 5-8 pictured a goat moving very fast who crushed the ram. We also see the arrogance of this goat to magnify himself, but be broken at the peak of his power. This was Greece and Alexander the Great
(Alexander had no heir and so his kingdom would be split four ways.)
• Verses 9-14 picture one of those rulers, a man named Antiochus Epiphenes.
READ 9-14
And there you see all that he did.
Notice especially verse 11, when Antiochus Epiphenes
Sacrificed a pig on the altar and forced the priests to eat the meat.
Now all of this happened historically, but this event was also
A foreshadow of what was one day coming.
TURN TO: DANIEL 9:24-27
Here Daniel is given an answer to his prayer
Regarding the length of Israel’s suffering and bondage.
And we find really one of the most amazing prophecies ever delivered.
Daniel is told that the plan of God for Israel will take 70 – 7’s (490 years)
READ VS. 24
Then Daniel is told the specific order of things.
READ VS. 25
This is in reference to a decree given
By King Artaxerxes of Medo Persia to rebuild Jerusalem.
Daniel is told that 7 – 7’s & 62 – 7’s (483 years) from that time,
That the Messiah will be cut off.
READ VS. 26
Would it shock you to know that Daniel predicted this to the day?
Beyond that Daniel said that the rejection of the Messiah
Would bring about war and desolations.
All we are left with is one 7 (7 years)
READ VS. 27
And there you have the event of Anti-Christ.
This is that event, which Jesus is referencing.
TURN TO: DANIEL 11:29-39
Here Daniel is again giving a picture of the near future,
And for those of you with on Wednesday night the accuracy of this prophecy is so astounding that most doubters hold that this chapter must have been written later.
Now verses 29-35 again speak of those events surrounding Antiochus Epiphenes, which are a foreshadow of the coming tribulation.
READ 29-35
But starting in verse 36 we move beyond history.
Daniel prophesied this, but it hasn’t yet happened historically,
This is the anti-christ.
READ 36-39
And you see that the coming abomination
Is more than just the sacrifice of a pig on the altar,
This man’s abomination is the exaltation of himself above God.
So this event is starting to take shape for us now.
This abomination of desolation will be an event foreshadowed by Antiochus Epiphenes but will be much greater.
A time when the anti-christ will enter the temple
And declare himself to be God.
TURN TO: 2 THESSALONIANS 2:3-4
And with that we are pretty clear as to the event.
Now friends this is important, because this event is the catalyst.
This is the event that starts it all.
Satan is removed from heaven and his wrath is so great
That he uses his puppet known as anti-christ to unleash hell on earth.
This event is also the chief indicator.
As I told you last week, conspiracy theorists throughout history have tried to identify the anti-christ time and time again through various means.
• I told you how some assigned numeric value to 666 and made Nero the anti-Christ.
• Some did the same and made Hitler the anti-christ
• Some did the same and made Kennedy the anti-christ
• I saw an email video a few years ago that used the Hebrew translation of Luke 10:18, to where Jesus would say, “I saw Satan as Barak U Bamah” (barak = lightning; bamah = heaven / high place)”
Now listen, no one is denying that those men may be anti-christ.
Jesus said:
Luke 11:23 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”
John taught us:
1 John 2:18-22 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”
And so anyone who does not faithfully follow Christ is in fact anti-christ.
But when it comes down to identifying the actually “Anti-Christ”,
It will not be done through transliteration,
Nor will it be done through assigning numeric value to the alphabet.
You will know the anti-christ when he steps into the temple
And declares himself to be God.
And when that happens, as Jesus says in verse 16, “then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.”
When that happens; RUN!
This abomination of desolation is the catalytic event.
• This is the tell-all.
• This is the conception.
• When this abomination occurs, desolation will follow it.
And this event is clearly seen in the book of the Revelation.
Revelation 13:1-5 “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.”
That is the event you had better watch out for.
First – The Catalytic Event
#2 THE CONSEQUENTIAL TRIBULATION
Matthew 24:17-22
Now we already talked about the devastation and tribulation
That will occur after this event in the previous weeks.
This is where we will get the wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and famines and believers being betrayed and killed.
All of that occurs after this Abomination of Desolation.
What Jesus does here is tell His followers how to respond to it.
Verse 16 said to run, look at what He says here.
(17-18) “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.”
The idea there is don’t let love of the world
Or the things of this world cause you to delay.
Let me show you what Luke’s gospel says:
Luke 17:26-33 “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. “On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. “Remember Lot’s wife. “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”
There is a pretty pointed warning.
“Remember Lot’s wife”
WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?
Genesis 19:23-26 “The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
Lot’s wife missed the things of the world.
She loved the sin of Sodom and she was destroyed.
That is the same warning here.
In that day, you had better flee, if you stop to gather your belongings,
You won’t escape.
It’s kind of like a monkey trap.
(trap a monkey by getting him to stick his arm through a hole to grasp a prize, he can’t pull his arm out with a balled up fist, and thus remains trapped)
Don’t let your possessions destroy your life.
And to further emphasize how difficult it will be to escape:
(19-20) “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.”
This further emphasizes the necessity of fleeing fast
And not stopping to gather your stuff.
In those days there will be some who will try to immediately escape
And won’t make it simply because they are pregnant or nursing babies,
And those who flee in winter will have a tough time too.
The idea here is you don’t have time to waste, Satan’s wrath is real, Satan’s anti-christ is delusional, he will kill you.
You must run.
(21) “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.”
You have to run because in those days is coming a tribulation
Like the world has never seen before.
On Wednesday nights we recently finished the book of Joel.
Joel and his people had just endured the worst locust invasion
Anyone had ever heard of.
Joel 1:4 “What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.”
But Joel revealed that the locust invasion
Was only a foreshadow of the coming day of the Lord,
And in reality the locusts are nothing compared to that day.
Joel 2:1-2 “Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.”
• Take the locust invasions…
• Take the holocost…
• Take Katrina or Sandy or the Tsunami
None of those things can hold a candle to what is coming from this guy,
You had better run.
And to further emphasize HOW HARD it will be, notice verse 22.
(22) “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”
Let me tell you why this is so astounding.
Many times we think of believers as those who just endure
Because they are so strong.
That is not true.
True believers endure because the faith that God has given them
Is not of themselves. It is a gift from Him, and it is supernatural.
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”
Their faith is a gift from God.
1 Peter 1:5 “[We] are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Jude 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,”
The faith of the elect is a supernatural faith given to them by God.
It is stronger than the circumstantial faith of humanity.
But notice what Jesus said.
This day will be so hard, that if it was not cut short,
Not even their faith would survive.
That tells you how hard this day will be.
When Jesus calls it “Great Tribulation” He means it.
And we already saw why at the beginning of the message.
Revelation 12:12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”
Satan is angry and he is out to destroy Israel
And all who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
• He has always been a deceiver…
• He has always been a murderer…
But on this day he is angry.
Jesus says don’t mess around by hanging out in Jerusalem.
The Catalytic Event The Consequential Tribulation
#3 THE CORRESPONDING DECEPTION
Matthew 24:23-28
There again, as Jesus has already mentioned twice,
The deceivers will come out.
The implication here is that these are people who fled with you.
They are sort of like Satan’s spies
Meant to lead you back to him by giving you false information.
And their false information is that Jesus has returned!
And so Jesus tells us very specifically.
(23-24) “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘ There He is,’ do not believe him. “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”
These people will try to lead you astray.
They will try to get you caught.
Did Jesus not tell us earlier that people would betray one another?
This is part of that.
It is what we call a trap.
The false prophets say, “Jesus is here! I saw Him, He is waiting for us in Lubbock at the football stadium, people are coming from all around to join His army!”
And people want to believe it so they go.
They find an army alright, but it isn’t Jesus’ army, it was a trap.
And that is why Jesus says:
(25-26) “Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.”
Jesus is real clear, don’t listen to them.
And then comes some tremendous information.
(27-28) “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
In short, when I return, you won’t have to be told.
You will know it.
Revelation 1:7 “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”
You will know it is Me, when I return.
Don’t fall for the traps of the enemy to seek to destroy you.
And Jesus closes with a proverb.
“Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
WHAT?
If you go out to count your cows and you are one short, and as you walk through the pasture you see buzzards circling, where are you going to look?
Jesus point is the same.
• It won’t be hard to spot Me.
• It won’t be rocket science to figure out I am here.
But don’t go believing some false prophet
Just because you want him to be right so badly.
This deception will only be there to aid Satan in destroying you,
And it all starts with the abomination of desolation.
And again the warning of Jesus is too clear to miss.
BE PREPARED
Be prepared by knowing it yourself,
Be prepared by teaching it to others.
It is literally blessing to us that Jesus would tell us these things.
In fact:
Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
That is a blessing I certainly want.
To hear what Jesus has to say about the end, and to heed what He says.
We want to be prepared,
And we want to tell this message to others
So they will be prepared as well.
