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Weimar University

Abomination of Desolation

Don Mackintosh

Abomination of Desolation in Daniel’s Day, Part 1

Father in heaven, this song speaks about your coming.

And for the godless, your coming will come as an overwhelming surprise.

We don't want to live our lives on time excitement, but we do want to be living our lives with Jesus excitement, having you in our lives, changing our lives, and that others could see Jesus in us.

So bless us to that end and bless this message, group of messages in Christ's name, Amen.

Each week over the past few months we've been increasingly reminded of the last day events predicted in the Gospels, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, and then also the books of Daniel and Revelation, at least I have.

As I've been watching the various events, I've been impressed more and more that the time of the end is not near, it is here.

And so I've had a growing conviction, especially as I've seen week after week kind of markers that point to things that we see in scripture.

So, you know, look in your Bibles at Matthew 24, in verse 7.

Well, first of all, first of all, our series is on what's called the abomination of desolation.

We get that phrase really from verse 37 and 38 and then verse 15, 37 and 38 of Matthew 23.

Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the 1 who kills the prophets, stones those who are sent to her.

Often I wanted to gather you with children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not, you were not willing.

See, your house is left unto you desolate.

For I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And we're told that he actually said this with weeping.

He was so moved as he looked from the Mount of Olives over at the temple, where later Titus would come and would be looking as the temple was destroyed.

So that's where we get that phrase, your house is left to you desolate.

And of course the disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple in verse 2 of 24.

Assuredly I say to you now 1 stone shall be left here on another that shall not be thrown down.

Now if you want to read a great account of what the temple looked like, read the first chapter in the book Great Controversy.

There's a book by an author named Ellen White.

And in the first chapter, Great Controversy.

If you're watching online and you don't have that book, you can look it up online and look up The Great Controversy by Ellen White, and you'll be able to see, you'll be able to download it, You'll find it somewhere.

And the first chapter is called the Destruction of Jerusalem.

And basically that's the desolation of Jerusalem.

So then in verse 15, therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads let him understand.

So this is where we get the sermon series title.

We're gonna look 3 times here at this theme of the abomination of desolation.

But by way of review, let's look there back in chapter 24, verse 7.

Nation will rise against nation, so there'll be ethnic tension, a time of racial unrest before Jesus comes.

This has been seen throughout history, but once again, it will be a flashpoint at the end of time.

There'll be a special stirring of ethnic tension.

Do we think we've seen some of that recently?

Secondly, verse 27 as well, nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom and there'll be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places.

You may have heard of them throughout time and history.

There were pestilence just before Rome came to destroy Israel.

But this pandemic we're living in now is really kind of unprecedented.

Around the world, every nation have computer programs and tracking things.

I think it's also a pandemic not just a disease as much as fear and uncertainty.

If people fighting over masks, whether to wear a mask or not, or medication.

People say, no, that guy doesn't know what he's talking about with that medication.

And then science studies come up, and science studies come up, and they seem to be somewhat less objective than we would like.

And Jesus says the way to deal with this stress and anxiety is read Daniel the prophet and understand the abomination of desolation.

Kind of an interesting prescription we're going to study about.

And his attitude, you know, is 1 that we need to look at.

Next verse 9, They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and be hated by all nations for namesake.

And many will be offended and will betray 1 another and hate 1 another.

Do we live in a time when people are easily offended?

Offended about things that you talk about in the past.

Offended about the things you're going to say about what you're going to do in the future.

And of course Jesus, you know, he had that spirit of, Father forgive them, they don't know what's going on, they don't know what they're doing.

And then of course that time of betrayal, children turning against parents, parents against children, politicians against 1 another, politicians against appointees that they may have put on the Supreme Court.

They didn't do what I thought they would do.

He had a communion service, and he did things that totally shocked people.

In a time of betrayal, he did something that only a servant would do that loved them deeply.

And then a time of false prophets and also false dreams.

Someone sent me, about 10 people sent me the same dream this week.

And I listened to it, and I said, it's a false dream.

And we're told by the pen of inspiration at the end of time, there'll be multiplied dreams that are coming.

And you'll know whether or not to listen to them by understanding the truth.

And if they just have a little bit of error, you don't listen to them.

Jesus dealt with these kind of things by saying, how readest thou?

And this is what we need to be doing as well, reading and understanding what Christ has written, and that's why we're studying this series.

Then it says next, verse 12, because of lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

And we noticed in our last couple messages that America, the high court, is increasingly making rules that are against God's law.

We're going to talk more about that tomorrow.

Some people believe that The 10 Commandments should be used to rule the nation.

I don't think you could use the 10 Commandments to rule the nation in America, because America would not be free if you did that.

Abomination of Desolation in Christ’s Day, Part 2

And last night we, in our first, in this little series on the abomination of desolation, we recognized that Daniel himself was in captivity because of the abominations that had been done and been entered into by the children of Israel.

We looked at those abominations and we studied them in the book of Kings, in the book of Chronicles, and we found that the crowning abomination that brought the desolation was actually Sabbath desecration.

And it was a result of that, that they had to go into captivity for 70 years.

Well, let's just ask the Lord to bless us here before we look further now in our second segment.

Father in heaven, Lord, thank you this morning that we can come and we can worship you on this Sabbath day.

And whether we're here on location or joining online, we ask that your spirit would be with us, that we could understand more about this important phrase, we come in Christ's name, amen.

So why are we talking about the abomination of desolation?

As we've been looking at what's happening in the world around us, it's almost as if the events that are talked about in Matthew chapter 24 are all coming to remembrance.

You know, we have racial unrest, and like Matthew 24 says, nation will rise against nation.

And Of course, that word is ethnos, ethnic group, rising against ethnic group, and we see that happening.

And we talked about that in several messages, Samaritan Lives Matter, looking how Jesus dealt with racial tension and how important it was.

Then we have a time of pestilence, Matthew 24, 7 again.

And of course, pestilences have been seen throughout history, but perhaps nothing in terms of knowledge at the same time, like COVID-19.

And not only is there a pandemic of COVID-19, there's a pandemic of fear, misunderstanding, and politicization of COVID-19.

We have studies that come out that say, this medication is wrong, and this person that's talking about it is wrong.

And then studies come out and say, wait a minute, this medication is right, not because that person talked about it, but because now we have a scientific study, people are getting confused, and so there's a pandemic also of uncertainty and confusion.

It says in Matthew 24, 9, there'd be a time of when people would be offended.

People would be offended about if you talked to them about their past.

They'd be offended about the present or about the future.

Children turning against parents and parents against children and backed by the government sometimes to do that.

Politicians and the appointees that they put on the Supreme Court not doing what they think they should do.

And so we have a time of betrayal, depending on who you're talking to, a time of false dreams and false prophets.

I received emails from a number of people giving, showing me a dream.

And then false prophets, people saying that that judgments will come on certain cities at a specific time in July based on prophetic scenarios, taking out large newspaper ads.

And so false prophets, why do I say false prophets?

This individual has done this like 3 or 4 times before and now is doing it again and we had a whole message on that, time no more, how to relate to the time prophecies last week.

So look up that if you'd like more on that.

And then a time of abounding lawlessness where the high court of this land is passing laws or interpretations of laws that go against more and more of the 10 Commandments.

Now, this is a country that actually is supposed to be pluralistic.

And so people are okay to have any belief they'd like or no belief, freedom for religion or for no religion.

And yet, when the high court is passing those laws, it will make it potentially harder for those who want to live by God's law to do so.

And then last night we looked at that next phrase in Matthew 24, after all the next phrase and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all the world as a witness and then the end will come and the verse before that, he endures to the end, shall be saved.

So after all these signs, there's also concurrently a sign at the end is the gospel being not only preached, but lived, preached as a witness.

So preaching is a little bit different than witnessing.

And a witness is someone who's actually transformed by the gospel.

And I believe there's must be many people that are in that category or they're going to come to be seen as this sign is also mentioned in Matthew 24.

So then we looked at the abomination of desolation in Daniel's time, why was it he was taken captive, and now we wanna continue to the second installment of the abomination of desolation.

So once again, look with me in Matthew chapter 24, just to orient ourselves.

And in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus talking to the scribes and Pharisees, or about them, said in chapter 23 verse 1, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do.

But do not do according to their works, for they say and they do not do.

So that the exact opposite of people who are only transformed by the gospel right?

This gospel of the King must be preached as a witness.

They say yeah they're preaching but they're not living up to it and these are the scribes and the Pharisees and we're going to see later it's the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Herodians who all get together against Jesus and they actually will look at that more fully.

It's part of the abomination of desolation.

So after he goes through talking about all the things that they should be not doing, the abominations in chapter 23, he announces the fact, verse 38, that your house is left unto you desolate.

Verse 2 of chapter 24, I say to you, not 1 stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.

Well it tells us in verse 15, therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand.

Daniel chapter 9 and we'll look there in verse 24.

Remember they had been in captivity for 70 years.

Because they had been, because of the abominations and they were, their city was desolated and they were taken to Babylon.

Now, fast forward 483 years and they're back now in their temple.

And it's not the same as Solomon's temple.

They never could match that architecturally, but this would be a more glorious temple because Haggai chapter 2 says the desire of Nations would come into it the desire of all the ages would come into this temple and He's coming into this temple And this is described in this prophecy in Daniel chapter 9.

And you can see it right there in verse 24.

70 weeks are shittak, or cut off, from your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make a reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Now who alone could finish transgression, make an end of sins, bring reconciliation for iniquity, bring an everlasting righteousness.

To seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

So what he's saying is after the 70 weeks or after this 490 years, I will come at that last week of the prophecy, I will enter into the temple, I'll be baptized, I'll actually go into the temple, and that's the picture that's given.

Now God's prophecies and promises are alike conditional we're told, right?

We're told by the pen of inspiration that had they accepted Jesus, Jerusalem would have never been destroyed.

And yet the prophecy indicates that when Jesus came There was a problem, look with me just for a moment, in Luke chapter 19.

Now when he drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes for days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you surround you and close you in on every side and level you and your children within you to the ground and they will not leave in you 1 stone upon another and then these telling words because what because you did not know the time of your visitation now how could they have known the time of the visitation?

But they were not paying attention to the prophecy, and they had different ideas about who the Messiah would be, someone who would agree with their abominations and their idea about nations.

And so let's go back to the prophecy and see what it said.

After the 70 weeks are determined, or in other words, after the 490 years come to an end, they are to finish their transgressions and all these things.

Verse 25, know therefore and understand from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, so be 7 weeks and 62 weeks, in other words, a total of 69 weeks, and the street will be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.

So in other words, their temple, which had been desolated and now they were coming out of it, he was saying it's gonna be rebuilt, it'll be in troublesome times, it took about 49 years, and the street was rebuilt and the wall in troublesome times it was rebuilt and Messiah the Prince would come Messiah the Prince the anointed 1 the Naguib the Mashiach Naguib the anointed 1 would come after 69 weeks.

So fast forward from the beginning of the prophecy, know therefore and understand from the going forth of the command was in 457.

Go from 457, 483 years later is 69 weeks.

7 times 7 is 49, but we're not quite to that 490 we're 483 and what happened in 27 AD Jesus comes and he is anointed in 27 AD.

People were baptized every day in that time.

Every time you went to the temple you were baptized, every single time.

You went down into a pool, you came out of a pool.

In fact, at your own house you had what was called a mikvah bath.

Abomination of Desolation in Antichrist’s Day, Part 3

It's good to see each of you here, and I'm thankful that we have the opportunity to worship together today.

I didn't know with all the backtracking of various things if there would be a decree from the governor to shut down or scale back meetings at houses of worship.

The closest it came was to not be singing.

We have a nice place we can meet in the woods with open air, so we're ready just in case.

How many of you like to have church outside?

And someone's working with me getting a parachute so we can cover up the area so the sun does not shine down and we could have some more logistics there.

If you're interested in helping me with the logistics on that, just let me know, but I think it'll be great to try that out.

And you could even leave your cell phones at home.

So your cell phone could be sheltering at home while you're sheltering in God's word.

We might need to think about those things at some point.

Okay, well let's just, let's just, I'm gonna make a remark.

I think that we actually should be calling our services protests because then we can actually maybe get more accomplished.

Now, our protest may be a little different than the protest that you see on television or read about or hear about because our church is part of what's called the Protestant Reformation, but it's actually the radical Protestant Reformation.

And those reformers that I have pictured up here, you know, especially Luther, which was 1 of the seminal reformers, the word Protestant actually comes from 1529, a council that met in a German city of spires enacted a decree that would restrict the preaching of the gospel to the areas that already adopted Reformation teaching and required that no new reforms be adopted.

The church demanded that the German princes who supported the Reformation accept the decree.

Those princes did not go out necessarily and physically picket.

In fact, these princes never even met the elector of Saxony, never met Luther, he never met him.

But he wrote a letter, German princes rejected the decree and issued a document.

We protest by these presence before God, our only creator, preserver, redeemer, and savior, and who will 1 day be our judge as well as before all men and creatures that we, for us and our people neither consent nor adhere to any manner, in any manner whatsoever, the proposed decree in anything that is contrary to God, to his holy word, to our right conscience, and to the salvation of our souls.

So they sent a letter, and I might suggest that writing something out, and even today, and flooding the mailboxes of those that you want to get your message out might be more effective than actually even marching downtown.

They'll be able to read it later and they can then ponder it.

And so Luther then said, unless I'm convinced by scripture or clear reason, for I do not trust either the Pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves.

I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the word of God.

I cannot and will not recant anything since it's neither safe nor right to go against conscience.

So this drumbeat of the Reformation was freedom of conscience in areas of worship.

All right, that's not part of my sermon, but I just wanted to say that.

So let's just pray and then we'll begin the message today.

Father in heaven, we're so grateful we can study your word.

Lord, I'm not able to cover this message effectively except with your help, and we're not able to hear it without your help, so we ask you to be here through the agency of your spirit and that you would speak to us and translate the message to each of us individually, including myself, and give us additional insights that we may need in our own specific situations.

We've been studying the abomination of desolation, a little phrase in Matthew chapter 24.

So I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 24 and we'll look there.

Now, in our first message on the abomination of desolation last night, we saw how the abominations in Israel led to the desolation that came upon them by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians and how they were taken captive and their sanctuary was actually desolate, left desolate, and they were taken into captivity for 70 years.

Then this morning, we studied how The temple had been rebuilt by the decree and the prophecy in Daniel chapter 9.

And they've been able to come back to the land of Israel, they've been able to come back to Jerusalem, they've been able to rebuild their house.

And in fact, even though it didn't look like Solomon's, the desire of the nations would come into it says Haggai chapter 2 verse 8 and the desire of the nations is also the desire of ages.

We have a book that many of us are aware of called the Desire of Ages.

And he actually came into the temple that was built to point towards him, but sadly, as prophesied by Micah in chapter 3, they, he came to his own, and his own received him not.

And not only did they not receive him, they actually turned against him.

And the key element that led to their desolation of their sanctuary which was ultimately torn down by Titus in 8070, was that they had a blending of church and state against Jesus.

And the church and state came together, the Sadducees who were, you might say, the liberals of the day, they were mostly interested in money, outward things.

They didn't believe that there was a resurrection, this was all you got.

And so when they went to church, they were working to network to make sure that they could make more money.

They were very interested in those kind of things.

And then you had the Pharisees that were kind of the arch-conservatives of the day.

They prided themselves in the fact that they could quote the law, and not only the law, additional laws.

So when Daniel and his folks were taken captive.

And they had all kinds of problems going on, which we covered as we looked at 2 Kings chapter 22 and 23.

They had ordained people that were leading in false worship they had Idols and they had Sun worship and they had moon worship.

In fact Sunday had become a big day for them and they also had homosexuality inside the temple.

So in that text that we read right here in Daniel chapter 24 it says, therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place.

Whoever reads let him understand part of that abomination was homosexuality and sex issues, worshipping of Baal, immorality, and it actually was inside the temple.

But also the thing that really took Daniel or that time period into captivity was their rejection of the Sabbath.

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Series

Abomination of Desolation

Abomination of Desolation in Our Day, Part 4

Transcript

Parent Series

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Recorded

Parts

Abomination of Desolation in Daniel’s Day, Part 1

54m

Abomination of Desolation in Christ’s Day, Part 2

1h

Abomination of Desolation in Antichrist’s Day, Part 3

1h 13m

Abomination of Desolation in Our Day, Part 4

1h 2m

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