When did, or when will, the abomination of desolation take place?
- Was it in 167 B.C. by Antiochus IV Epiphanes?
- Or, was it 70 A.D. by the Romans?
- Or is it still to be fulfilled?
- Or, could it have been fulfilled in 167 B.C. and 70 A.D. and it will be fulfilled in the future?
How can we interpret prophecy correctly?
Table of Contents:
1. Interpreting prophecy from End of the World fiction books
I guess we all know the saying: ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’
It is so easy to get over curious when looking at the subject of the end of the world, but are we prepared for the real event?
(This article is based on Matthew 24:15-25 which is included near the foot of this page)
Some time ago I was teaching a teenage group on what the Bible said about the end of the world and one girl was in hyper mode and virtually unstoppable because she had read a Christian fiction book by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. 1
It was giving names and places, and other specific details on Bible prophecies.
It had so grabbed her imagination that she saw all these details as being fact, but it was just speculation.
I then had a hard time trying to persuade the group to stick to what the Bible told us and anything beyond that was merely speculation.
We have got to stick with what is written in the Bible because that is the Truth.
Some verses seem strange and bizarre, like:
So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation…”
Matthew 24:15 NIV
We may not understand it, but that doesn’t mean we have to twist circumstances to fit a certain set of verses.
We can’t tie up all the loose ends and think; ‘Done and dusted!’
Our minds often need to see things neatly packaged.
But God’s Word is not like that, there are some things in it that we won′t know the meaning of until we get to heaven.
Also, one portion in the Bible is not the complete picture of a subject.
The Bible is like the ocean. A novice swimmer can splash around on the shoreline.
A more experienced swimmer can go out further and a deep sea diver can explore its depths!
For all of them, there is still more to see.
And that is true for all Christians whether new or mature, at whatever stage we are at, we can feed from its richness, we can learn and grow.
But we all need to be humble.
Just because we know a verse or two on a particular subject does not mean we know the complete picture.
And I believe the Lord organised the Bible in such a way that it is the diligent and the humble who find the hidden treasures.
Remember why Jesus spoke in parables:
His disciples asked him what this parable meant.
Luke 8:9 NIV
He said, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
‘though seeing, they may NOT see;
though hearing, they may NOT understand.’ ”
There were two types of people who heard Jesus’ parables:
Some lazily took the stories at face value and did not seek to find out what they meant.
While others wondered why Jesus was telling that story and they wanted to discover its true meaning.
The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.“
Psalm 14:2 NIV
2. So what is the abomination that causes desolation?
When Jesus walked away from the temple for the last time he told his disciples that not one stone would be left on another and warned them to not be deceived (see article: Does God turn away from us?)
Then he warned them about persecution (see article: What happens in times of persecution).
He then said something about a future event that is difficult to understand:
So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
Matthew 24:15-16 NIV
This abomination standing in the holy place is the Roman army in 70 A.D. that had besieged Jerusalem.
This, Jesus says, is what was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, which we find in two chapters of his book:
In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering.
Daniel 9:27 NIV
And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
And again in chapter eleven:
His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice.
Daniel 11:31-32 NIV
Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.
With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.”
The abomination is described by Josephus – see below.
[Flavius Josephus, original name Joseph Ben Matthias, (born AD 37/38, Jerusalem—died AD 100, Rome), Jewish priest, scholar, and historian who wrote valuable works on the Jewish revolt of 66–70 and on earlier Jewish history. 2 ]
the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple, and set them over against its eastern gate;
‘The Wars of the Jews’ Chapter 6. The Works of Josephus 3
and there did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus imperator, with the greatest acclamations of joy.
This Desolation happened in 70 A.D.
When Jesus referred to the ‘the abomination that causes desolation’, he was revealing an event that was going to happen in Jerusalem in less than 40 years from then.
He probably was also talking about a similar event that would happen at the end of the world.
Jesus was quoting a prophecy that Daniel made regarding a different man who would ‘set up the abomination that causes desolation’ in the temple, which happened nearly 200 years earlier.
We will now look at Daniel’s prophecies and visions:
3. The prophet Daniel foretells kingdoms from King Nebuchadnezzar to the Seleucid kingdom
The biblical account of Daniel the prophet begins as he and other young men from Judah were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Daniel 1:1-4) in approximately 604 B.C.
‘Daniel the Prophet’ by Bill Swanson, Life, Hope and Truth 5
This captivity of citizens of Judah in Babylon lasted for 70 years, as God had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11).
During this time, Daniel served in prominent positions in the governments of several Babylonian and Medo-Persian rulers, including Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus.”
Because Daniel wrote about kingdoms that would arise in the future, many scholars refuse to believe that he was speaking prophetically, so they try to put him in the 2nd century BC.
Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams which involved a huge statue, but first, he explained its context, God “has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.” 6
The statue and further dreams showed various kingdoms through the next few hundred years:
- The head of gold represented King Nebuchadnezzar himself, king of the Babylonian Empire.
- The chest and arms of silver would be the Medo-Persian Empire (of Nehemiah’s day).
- The thighs of bronze would be the Grecian Empire.
- Its legs were of iron and its feet a mixture of iron and clay would be the Roman Empire.
- A rock was cut out, but not by human hands and struck its feet which was the coming of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
- Another vision in Daniel 8:4 involved a mighty ram with two horns (the Medo-Persian Empire)
- This empire was defeated by a goat, the Grecian Empire. This “goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground.” (Daniel 8:5) Alexander the Great (circa 336-323 B.C.)
- But this goat “at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up towards the four winds of heaven.” (Daniel 8:8).
Secular history indicates that the Grecian Empire was broken up into four primary regions — Greece, Thrace, Syria, and Egypt — governed by four rulers, Antipater Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolmey, respectively.”
‘A Brief Summary of the Years of Silence’ by Noble Harber Teaching Truth 7
4. The rise of Antiochus IV Epiphanes
The Seleucid Empire lasted from 312 to 63 B.C. and was formed by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great’s generals who claimed a large part of his empire after Alexander’s death in 323 B.C.
Because Alexander had left no successor to his kingdom, this resulted in the Wars of the Diadochi (“successors”) between Alexander’s generals. 8
Daniel’s visions also revealed the emergence of a little horn from the “four prominent horns”:
Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and towards the Beautiful Land.
Daniel 8:9-12 NIV
It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.
It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord;
it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down.
Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it.
It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.”
This prophecy about Antiochus IV Epiphanes also points towards the Romans, and to the end of the world.
The “horn, which started small but grew in power” was the Seleucid kingdom from which came Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Through trickery, he took the crown from his own family (Daniel 11:20-24)
and gave gifts to his followers in the kingdom of Syria, to gain their affections.
But once he got his foot into their strongholds, he ruled them with a rod of iron.
Antiochus Epiphanes then attacked Egypt and because he had bribed Egypt’s counsellors, he severely weakened their army and took many riches. This then resulted in a truce. (Daniel 11:25-27).
Two years later he attacked Egypt again in about 168 B.C., but the ships of Chittim, the navy of the Romans, intervened and Antiochus Epiphanes had to retreat in shame.
When he arrived at Jerusalem, he wreaked his revenge upon the Jews, who gave him no provocation but had greatly provoked God to permit him to do it, (Daniel 11:28-30).
5. Antiochus Epiphanes committed the first abomination of desolation
This desolation happened in 167 B.C.
Daniel was a prophet in the Bible who first foretells this event.
We are introduced to the little horn, a sworn enemy of the Jewish religion, in Daniel 8 and it must be Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
Then in Daniel chapter 11, we see a detailed prophecy of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.
The reigns of other heathen kings were not so particularly foretold because then they had living prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to encourage them as it was happening.
But the days of Antiochus Epiphanes were after Malachi, which was a period of 400 years when there was no prophecy until Jesus Christ came, so it was necessary to reveal what was going to happen and why through earlier prophetic visions and dreams.
Just as a point of interest, putting a date on Malachi is difficult but there are some clues as to its date:
Malachi delivered his messages after the temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C.
He used the Persian word for governor, indicating a time period between 538–333 BC when the Persian Empire ruled the Promised Land.
His problems are very similar to Nehemiah’s, suggesting that Malachi prophesied to the people while Nehemiah went back to Artaxerxes king of Babylon (Nehemiah 13:6) for several years, beginning in 432 B.C. 10
So after his failure in taking Egypt, on his way home, he attacked Jerusalem and desecrated the temple.
This was an abomination to the Israelites and it had been prophesied by Daniel hundreds of years before it happened:
His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice.
Daniel 11:31 NIV
Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.”
Antiochus Epiphanes, a type of antichrist, hated the Jewish religion and holy covenant.
He despised the law of Moses and the worship of the true God.
He was assisted by some deceitful, apostate Jews ‘He will return and show favour to those who forsake the holy covenant.’ (Daniel 11:30).
These were false to the Jewish religion and the one true God, and introduced the customs of the surrounding nations, with whom they made a covenant:
In those days went there out of Israel wicked men, who persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen that are round about us…”
1 Maccabees 1:11 The Apocrypha: King James Version (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995).
Antiochus Epiphanes profaned the temple with not only his own army but also the deserters from the Jewish religion and then made new laws:
they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities of Juda on every side…
1 Maccabees 1:54 & 21-25 & 41-43 & 45-50 The Apocrypha: King James Version (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995).
[He Antiochus Epiphanes] entered proudly into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof.
And the table of the shewbread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crown, and the golden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off.
He took also the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels: also he took the hidden treasures which he found.
And when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly.
Therefore there was a great mourning in Israel…
Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people.
And every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king.
Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sabbath…
And forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days:
And pollute the sanctuary and holy people:
Set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and unclean beasts:
That they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation:
To the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances.
And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die…”
The Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes IV ruled and suppressed the Israelites from 175-164 B.C.
His cruelty caused Israel to rebel against his rule.
Antiochus crushed the uprising, entered the temple, stopped the regular sacrifices and set up worship to Zeus.
Additionally, he had a statue of Zeus Olympius (an “abomination of desolation,” Daniel 11:31; cf. Matthew 24:15) erected in the Temple.
‘What the Bible says about Antiochus Epiphanes’ by John W. Ritenbaugh Bible Tools 11
Swine were sacrificed on God’s altar, and pagan rites, orgies, and festivals were performed in the Temple grounds.
In his pride (Daniel 8:11), he decreed that he should be worshipped as Zeus; his coins were struck with the inscription theos epiphanes (“God manifest”), a horrible counterfeit of the true “God with us.”
Other despicable deeds of Antiochus, like his wars against Egypt and the Maccabees, are prophesied in Daniel 11:21-35, where he is clearly depicted as a type of the end-time Beast.
His historical activities blend into the future rise and fall of the coming world dictator, who will also speak blasphemies and persecute God’s people (Revelation 13:5-7).”
Daniel wrote a lot of prophecies that are hard to understand, but the prophecy about the little horn easily speaks of Antiochus, which was before Jesus’ time.
So when Jesus referred to the Abomination he did not mean what Antiochus had done but another near future event. Jesus said:
So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
Matthew 24:15 NIV
Jesus was obviously referring to just under 40 years from the time he spoke, which was when the Romans desecrated the temple in 70 A.D.
6. The abomination of desolation in the Last Days
Some things in this prophecy concerning Antiochus and also the prophecy of the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. relate to the coming of the antichrist at the end of the world.
Antiochus Epiphanes and the Romans, and the Antichrist who is still to come, have a character that is vile and sordid.
But Antiochus calls himself ‘Epiphanes’, meaning ‘the illustrious’ because he is a deceiver and a liar.
The Antichrist is the ultimate deceiver, arrogant and a god hater.
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.
Revelation 13:5-10 NIV
It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling-place and those who live in heaven.
It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
Whoever has ears, let them hear.
‘If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.’
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.”
So the daily sacrifice and true worship at the temple were banned by Antiochus, and so it will be with Christian worship when the Antichrist comes because Satan persecutes any who try to retain their integrity and follow Jesus.
The apostle Paul warns Timothy about the end times:
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
1 Timothy 4:1-4 NIV
Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
If you want to delve deeper into Daniel’s prophecy see: What Is the ‘Abomination of Desolation’? by Dan Doriani 12
7. How do we view the Book of Revelation?
Many may forsake the covenant or not follow Jesus, but others bravely hold their ground and resist the temptation. Daniel spoke of these antichrists:
With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.
Daniel 11:32 NIV
Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered.
When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them.
Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.”
The King James Version puts it this way: “…the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.”
We are in a world where certain people try to deceive us and lead us away from God.
Troubles can overwhelm us and it feels like our life is falling apart.
We need to turn to God before his separating day comes.
I believe we run into problems with these prophetical types of verses when we remove them from having a practical application.
For example, the way a lot of Christians view Revelation is that it is talking about the future and so it becomes hypothetical.
But many Christians through history have received comfort from Revelation, by relating it to themselves in their afflictions and their sufferings.
In fact, the book of Revelation is not just a book of future events:
It is the revelation of Jesus Christ”
Revelation 1:1 NIV
The next few verses say:
Blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”
Revelation 1:3 NIV
They won′t be blessed if it is talking about events which are all in the future.
All Scripture is practical and relevant to our lives now and it is not to puff up our minds.
It is not to satisfy our curiosity.
When the disciples asked, “When will these things be?” Jesus gave them no answer because it is not for us to know.
When Jesus had risen from the dead and He appeared to them the disciples still asked the ‘when’ question.
Jesus answers them:
It is not for you to know the times, or dates the Father has set by His authority.”
Acts 1:7 NIV
Jesus makes an interesting point about prayer when he was talking about Daniel’s prophecy:
Pray that your flight will not take place in the winter… (etc)”
Matthew 24:20 NIV
It is not wrong for us to pray for ourselves and others, that the circumstances could be changed to something more favourable.
We are not to give the comfort of our bodies a high priority, but it can be duly considered.
Jesus says:
See I have told you ahead of time.”
Matthew 24:25 NIV
If we are diligent in reading His Word, we shall be more prepared for the things that come at us and we are more likely to give a good answer to those who ask us a question.
So, going back to Jesus’ teaching “So when you see standing in the holy place…” his words were very practical and of tremendous importance to the believers, because, sometime after Christ’s death and after all the Apostles had been martyred – except for John – Jerusalem was surrounded by Roman armies.
The words of Jesus suddenly became a real event before their very eyes.
Luke also records Jesus′ teaching on this:
When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that the desolation is near.
Luke 21:20 NIV
Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
The believers recognised the warnings, they had faith in them that they were trustworthy and so they fled to safety, as if they were leaving a sinking ship.
Proverbs tells us:
A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”
Proverbs 22:3 NIV
It was immensely practical for them at that time and the ones who obeyed were spared from that destruction.
The image shows the Temple being plundered and comes from a carving on the Titus Arch in Rome.
I guess this hasn’t satisfied your curiosity about when the end will be, but hopefully, it was food for thought.
Here are the Bible verses I started from:
So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Matthew 24:15-25 NIV
Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house.
Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.
How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equalled again.
If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
For false Christ′s and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible.
See, I have told you ahead of time.”
Prophecy often has degrees of fulfilment until the final time when all of the prophecy is accomplished.
I believe that complete fulfilment is still to come and when it starts to manifest itself we will understand more and know what to do.
More detailed articles
[1] Does God turn away from us?
[6] End of the World Biblical meaning
[7] The trumpet call of God
References and credits – open in new tabs:
Destruction of Jerusalem image: thanks to David Alexander, The Lion Handbook to the Bible.
Books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. ↩
‘Flavius Josephus’ Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Aug 22, 2023 ↩
‘The Wars of the Jews’ Chapter 6. The Works of Josephus Translated by William Whiston, A.M. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987). ↩
‘Daniel the Prophet’ by Bill Swanson, Life, Hope and Truth ↩
Daniel 2:28 NIV ↩
‘A Brief Summary of the Years of Silence’ by Noble Harber Teaching Truth ↩
‘Seleucid Empire’ by Joshua J. Markby 22 October 2019 World History Encyclopedia ↩
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. “Antiochus Epiphanes” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. ↩
‘Malachi’ by Charles R. Swindoll. Insight for Living Ministries ↩
‘What the Bible says about Antiochus Epiphanes’ by John W. Ritenbaugh Bible Tools ↩
What Is the ‘Abomination of Desolation’? by Dan Doriani. ↩