The Gospel is good news and the opening of the doors of heaven

The Gospel: Matt. 24: 13-15 & the Abomination of Desolation

The Gospel of the Kingdom is preached before the end comes.

The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ has provided salvation for humanity. Many people don’t care to take part in that salvation but that’s another issue. The Gospel was preached before and then during the ministry of Jesus and the preaching has continued for nearly two thousand years. So, essentially ‘the appointed end’ is waiting for something. What is still missing for that fulfillment to take place?

In this post, we will explore an important missing component that has prevented the end from happening up until now. Something is missing that prevents the puzzle from becoming complete. The Lord gave special attention to this missing component of fulfilled Bible prophecy. If you or I miss this part of the prophecies we miss one of the most important pieces to that puzzle.

It could rightly be called a key that unlocks prophetic understanding. The writer of the Lord’s discourse urges the reader to understand this. We will take a closer look at this prophetic key.

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What is the key that unlocks the understanding of the prophecies?

 

The Gospel of The Kingdom

The preaching of the Gospel started with angels and will end with angels. We remember the Christmas stories and their visits to Mary and the shepherds.

 

 

Luke 2:10

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Our Heavenly Father sent his Son Jesus to preach the message and he did preach it faithfully until they took his life. At that time the mission of preaching was passed on to the Church.

Luke 4:43

But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also because that is why I was sent.”

When the appointed end does finally arrive, an angel will take responsibility again and preach the Gospel to the whole world. Then the end shall come.

Revelation 14:6

“Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth – to every nation, tribe, language, and people.”

Let’s take a look at three verses in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse that reveal a key to understanding the timing of the end in God’s prophetic sequence.

Matthew 24: 13-14

“But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
The Lord gave the disciples a warning. Jesus ascended to heaven. He warned that before he returned to restore all things, his disciples should expect ongoing persecution. This has led many Christians to believe that the end was near, even though it wasn’t. Persecution is not a specific sign of His return. Christians have endured persecution, often times very intense, for the last nineteen hundred and eighty – plus years. Please note that it has not been 2,000 years. That’s an important thing to notice but I’ll leave that discussion for another time.

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached — then the end will come:

This verse has long been pointed toward as a key marker in the prophetic timeline. And rightly so. The ending of this verse is unmistakably clear. The end is a reference to the last days or the end of things as we know them. God will send his Son Jesus to restore all things, fixing the mess we have made of everything. As I noted above an angel will finish the work of preaching the Gospel. I’ve also highlighted it below. The angels started it and they will finish it.

 

When the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation he told us an angel will finish the presentation of the Gospel.

I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth – to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people – saying with a loud voice. “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come.” (Revelation 14:6-7)

 

Matthew 24:15 The misunderstood key to future prophecy

“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),”
The abomination of desolation points to the desecration of a Jewish temple. This prophecy will see fulfillment when something or someone is “standing in the holy place.”
When that happens God will begin to pour out his fierce wrath upon the desolator and those who are in league with him.
I’ll state the obvious — there is no holy place right now. That must happen in order to finish the prophetic sequence.
The Jewish believer understood the word abomination as something especially offensive such as idolatry.
When the Lord said “The Holy Place,” there was no doubt as to what he referred to. It was then and is still now a reference to the Holy of Holies. It was there that the ark of the covenant was kept. There the presence of God resided in the form of the Shekinah Glory.
The abomination of desolation will be an earth-shattering event. That’s not hyperbole, just a fact. We will know it when it happens. Erroneous prophecy positions such as preterism state that the abomination has happened already. The supporters of that faulty system suggest that it referred to the actions of the Roman army when they destroyed the temple.

The Words of Jesus and the prophets

But that doesn’t fit the words of Jesus.
Jesus referenced the prophet Daniel and said specifically “standing in the holy place.”
The Apostle Paul continued that thought by saying the following.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. 

These two verses are very instructive and helpful for our understanding of the event. Paul says “the man of Lawlessness” is to be revealed. he said that man is “doomed to destruction.” This man will “oppose and will exalt himself.” Paul said in the future a man will set “himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”

I find Paul’s statements very convincing. Based on Daniel’s, Paul’s, and the Lord’s words it seems abundantly clear we should expect a man to reveal himself as a false god. He will stand in the holy place and claim to be a god.

For this prophecy to be fulfilled we need the man and the Holy Place. We can’t have the Holy Place without the temple. We will not see that rebuilt temple until there is a strong revival among the Jewish believers. When they return to their Old Testament faith and begin to rebuild their temple then the path will clear for the final pieces of the puzzle to be set into place

 

More arguments against preterism

 

The preterist who teaches that the events of Matthew 24 were all or mostly fulfilled in A.D. 70 has a problem to address with this “Standing in the Holy Place” passage. Historians can’t point to any solid evidence of this event. Preterists teach that the abomination of desolation was the Roman armies and their victorious banners or their ensigns. That doesn’t remotely match Paul’s description of a man who stands in God’s temple.

Therefore, those who support this interpretation, preterism, often re-define what the holy place is. That is holy ground that should not be redefined. For eighteen hundred years that interpretation looked pretty good. Once Israel was restored as a nation, the focus was reset.

A temple is coming. A lawless man will follow. That man will defile the Holy Place. All hell will break loose after that. We’ll address the chaos of that in the next post in this series.

 

Read my commentary on what the early Church Fathers taught on this subject.

 

See here.

 

More on the subject of the Jewish Temple

The peace plan?

Israel and Saudi Arabia unite?

Are the Temple plans coming together?

 

The coming Antichrist

 

The Gospel is good news and the opening of the doors of heaven
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Comments

3 responses to “The Gospel: Matt. 24: 13-15 & the Abomination of Desolation”

  1. I think it’s important to note that in Daniel, God tells us that the antichrist will make a “covenant” with many. Not a peace plan. Could it involve peace? Maybe.

    But the word for covenant here is the same word used for God’s covenant.

    Satan wants to be like God.

    Jesus essentially made a marriage covenant with his people.

    So many are looking for a wordly type of peace plan but I’m not convinced by scripture that it will look like that. But I do think it’s possible that the enemy wants us to think it will be a peace plan, so perhaps when the real one comes along it will be that much more deceptive.

    1. It looks like we are in agreement on this.
      There has been a lot of “excitement” over the years about a peace plan, but the antichrist will confirm a covenant. It is broadly assumed that this agreement will be a peace plan that allows the Jewish people to build their temple and begin to sacrifice animals as their laws require.

      I don’t believe we can be dogmatic about that scenario. Paul does mention “peace and safety” just before the Day of the Lord. That will happen, and it could be related to Daniel’s confirmation of a covenant and also Ezekiel’s mention of Israel dwelling securely before the battle of Gog and Magog

Let me know what you think.

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