Defining the Abomination of Desolation From Scripture

The phrase “abomination of desolation” emerges from the prophetic writings of Daniel and finds direct reference in the teachings of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. In Daniel 9:27, the prophet states, “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.” Similarly, Daniel 11:31 declares, “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation.” And in Daniel 12:11, “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.” These passages employ the Hebrew term shiqquts, which conveys something profoundly disgusting or loathsome, particularly in the context of violating God’s holiness.

Jesus Himself invokes this imagery in Matthew 24:15-16, where He warns, “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.” Mark 13:14 parallels this, “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.” Here, the Greek term bdelugma translates the Hebrew concept, emphasizing that which causes revulsion and disgust, leading to desolation. This term implies an act or object that profanes what is sacred, inciting God’s judgment and resulting in utter ruin. The abomination is not merely offensive but actively defiles the worship of God, setting the stage for divine retribution.

From a conservative evangelical standpoint, grounded in the inerrancy of Scripture, this phrase describes a sacrilegious intrusion into the sphere of true worship, whether literal or symbolic, that provokes God’s wrath. The Hebrew roots shaqats and shiqquts denote loathing, as seen in Leviticus 11:11 regarding unclean creatures, “They shall be detestable to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest.” Yet, when applied prophetically, it transcends dietary laws to encompass idolatrous practices that corrupt the covenant relationship with God. The abomination of desolation, therefore, represents a pinnacle of rebellion against divine order, where false worship supplants the true, leading to inevitable destruction.

Historical Context and Initial Fulfillments in Daniel’s Prophecy

Daniel’s prophecies, delivered during the Babylonian exile around the sixth century B.C.E., foresee events that would unfold in the intertestamental period and beyond. Conservative scholarship holds that the immediate historical referent for the abomination of desolation in Daniel points to the actions of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid ruler who reigned from 175 to 164 B.C.E. Antiochus, in his campaign to Hellenize Judea, desecrated the Jerusalem temple by erecting an altar to Zeus Olympios and sacrificing a pig upon it, an act that directly profaned the holy place. This event, documented in extrabiblical sources like 1 Maccabees 1:54, aligns with Daniel’s description of forces arising to “desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31).

This desecration halted the daily sacrifices and introduced pagan rituals, fulfilling the prophetic warning of a loathsome thing standing in the holy place. The response from faithful Jews, led by the Maccabees, resulted in the rededication of the temple in 164 B.C.E., commemorated in the festival of Hanukkah. However, Scripture’s inerrant nature requires viewing this as a partial fulfillment, a foreshadowing of greater events, given Jesus’ application of the prophecy to His own era and beyond. The precision of Daniel’s timeline—such as the 1,290 days in Daniel 12:11—corresponds to the period from the desecration to the temple’s cleansing, demonstrating the reliability of biblical prophecy.

In examining this, the historical-grammatical method reveals that Daniel’s visions, including the seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24-27, outline a sequence culminating in the Messiah’s arrival and subsequent desolations. The “one who makes desolate” in Daniel 9:27 interrupts the sacrificial system midway through a covenant period, leading to complete destruction. This pattern of abomination leading to desolation underscores God’s intolerance for idolatry, as expressed throughout the Old Testament, where similar terms describe practices that provoke divine jealousy.

Jesus’ Application to the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives, as detailed in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, explicitly reapplies Daniel’s prophecy to events in the first century C.E. When He states, “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)” (Matthew 24:15), He signals a fulfillment yet future from His perspective, post-dating Antiochus by nearly two centuries. This indicates that the abomination of desolation possesses a dual or progressive fulfillment, consistent with prophetic patterns in Scripture where near events prefigure ultimate realities.

In 66 C.E., during the Jewish revolt against Rome, the Roman armies under Cestius Gallus surrounded Jerusalem, an act that Luke 21:20 describes as “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.” This encirclement placed pagan standards—emblems of imperial worship—near the holy city, constituting a disgusting thing in the holy place. Discerning Christians, heeding Jesus’ warning to “flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:16), escaped to Pella before the final siege. The subsequent desolation came in 70 C.E. when Titus’ forces breached the city, destroyed the temple, and slaughtered or enslaved its inhabitants, fulfilling Jesus’ lament in Luke 19:43-44: “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

This event mirrors the desolation foretold in Daniel, where the abomination triggers utter ruin. The Roman eagles, symbols of Jupiter, stood as idolatrous intrusions, profaning the sanctity of God’s house. Conservative exegesis affirms this as a literal fulfillment, validating the predictive accuracy of both Daniel and Jesus. The destruction ended the temple sacrificial system, pointing forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, as Hebrews 9:26 explains, “Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

The Eschatological Dimension in the Time of the End

Scripture’s premillennial framework extends the abomination of desolation to an ultimate fulfillment during the end times, prior to Christ’s literal return and thousand-year reign. Daniel 11:31-35 links the abomination to “the time of the end,” stating, “Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time.” This passage, alongside Daniel 12:9-11, indicates events in the final period leading to the resurrection and judgment.

In Revelation 13, the beast from the sea receives authority to blaspheme God and wage war against the holy ones for forty-two months, a period echoing Daniel’s timelines. The abomination here involves a figure who exalts himself above God, demanding worship, as 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 describes the man of lawlessness: “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” This self-deification in the temple constitutes the ultimate disgusting thing, leading to the great tribulation and desolation.

Premillennial interpretation posits a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem during the tribulation, where this antichrist figure commits the abomination, halting sacrifices and proclaiming divinity. This act precipitates the final judgments, culminating in Christ’s return to defeat the beast and establish His kingdom, as Revelation 19:20 states, “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.” The pattern of historical fulfillments in Antiochus and Rome thus foreshadows this eschatological climax, affirming Scripture’s unified prophetic narrative.

Broader Biblical Usage of Abomination and Detestable Things

The concept of abomination extends beyond the desolation prophecy to encompass various practices repugnant to God’s holiness. The Hebrew toh’ebah, translated as “abomination” or “detestable thing,” appears over 140 times in the Old Testament, denoting actions that violate divine standards. In Leviticus 18:22-30, God condemns Canaanite practices: “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion. Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled); so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am Jehovah your God.”

Idolatry stands foremost among these, as Deuteronomy 7:25-26 commands, “The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to Jehovah your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.” Such practices infected Israel, leading to judgments, as Ezekiel 16:2 details, “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.”

Proverbs enumerates personal sins as abominations: “There are six things which Jehovah hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16-19). These underscore that abominations encompass ethical violations, rendering worship unacceptable, as Proverbs 15:8 notes, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.”

Theological Implications for True Worship and Judgment

The abomination motif reveals God’s unchanging holiness, demanding exclusive devotion. In the New Testament, Jesus condemns hypocritical practices as abominable, labeling the Pharisees’ traditions as defiling, in Matthew 15:7-9: “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'” This internal corruption parallels the external desecrations in prophecy, showing that abomination begins in the heart.

Revelation applies the term to Babylon the Great, the symbolic harlot: “And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the holy ones, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. And the angel said to me, ‘Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns'” (Revelation 17:6-7). Her cup is “full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality” (Revelation 17:4), leading to her desolation by the beast’s horns. This judgment excludes abominable practices from the New Jerusalem, as Revelation 21:27 affirms, “And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

The path of salvation, a journey of obedience, rejects such abominations through faith in Christ’s atoning work. As premillennial hope anticipates, the final abomination will herald Christ’s return, ushering the righteous into eternal life on the renewed earth, while the wicked face destruction.

You May Also Enjoy

Does the Bible Teach a Flat Earth? Examining Scriptural Claims and Evidences

About the Author

CLICK LINKED IMAGE TO VISIT ONLINE STORE

CLICK TO SCROLL THROUGH OUR BOOKS