I am not the most encouraging of people, I know.  I have an almost absurd positivity in sharing the Worst Case Scenario with people.  How bad can it get? Hey, I can tell you how bad.  Through research and anecdotal experience-mongering, personal moments, and sheer logical imagination (not a contradiction, I assure you), I can see through to the worst of things.   Why am I like this? I don’t know.  I said here before, that I am not an optimist.  It remains true.

Today, the world is filled with optimists, though. Folks who believe that if they believe hard enough, pray hard enough, do enough, ARE enough, that the Lord God Almighty will make everything all better. That wherever we are, it will improve. That “things” will get better.  That there is a chance, still, for Peace on Earth before the End of the Age and Jesus’ holy reign.

Now. It is right to pray.  Jesus, of course, prayed for the people of Jerusalem and he prayed for each of us who would come to follow him.  Prayer is communication with the Lord. It is RIGHT for us to seek His will and seek His path and seek His face. It is RIGHT that we should do so.  Righteousness is His alone.  ALONE.  We are so small.  So unworthy.

But so very loved.

Jesus quoted, as I wrote last time, the prophet Daniel.  He knew that all the Jewish men that were numbered among his disciples, his friends, would know of what he was speaking.  The verses he quoted spoke of the End of the Age, as that was what his friends had asked him about, on the Mount of Olives, just outside of Jerusalem.  But before the verse quoted, there was a lot more that Daniel referenced, and I wanted to share some of it, here.

Daniel 9:18 Listen, my God, and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city called by Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You based on our righteous acts, but based on Your abundant compassion. 19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for Your own sake, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

Often, I hear today that people think if they just pray harder, God will make it all go away. But that is not his way.  Daniel knew this.  He prayed and prayed and made himself sick, even, in grief about the visions and judgments he knew would be coming to his people. He confessed, on behalf of all his people, their sins and shortcomings. He begged the Lord Almighty for compassion.  But not because he or anyone deserved it. Not because they had done anything extraordinary (save being extraordinarily disobedient).  But sheerly based upon the Lord’s “abundant compassion.”

God answered.  Immediately.  Imagine the goosebumps on Daniel’s skin when it happened. But the answer was not, perhaps, what was expected.

Instead, the Lord told his treasured prophet (v.23) very clearly about the end of the world.  The abomination of desolation.  It was not a random word picture that the Lord told Daniel about, here.  It was a very real person.

Hundreds of years later, Jesus reminded his people about this person.  He is real. And he is alive today. And he is making preparation, as I type.

But someone will be coming ahead of him.

Daniel 11:20 ”In his place one will arise who will send out a tax collector for the glory of the kingdom; but within a few days he will be shattered, though not in anger or in battle.

I read this yesterday and whereas I cannot see who this is — for I am not a prophet! — I can see how this could indeed occur in the very near future.  Somewhere in the world.

But he is not the Abomination that Jesus refers to, either.

So yes, my brothers and sisters, pray.  Pray for the strength of God’s people. Pray for the peace of Christ to be made known to all.  Pray.  Work.  But remember, what has been decreed by God will be accomplished (v. 30).

And indeed, it has already been set in motion.

Tags: Abomination of Desolation, Daniel, Jesus, optimism, pessimism, taxes

Jesus, of course, did not go around bandying the term “Antichrist.”  When the apostle John used it, years after Christ’s death and resurrection, it was never intended to be a term associated with the End of the Age as he (John) and his friends had asked the Lord concerning, “back in the day.”

Why not?

Because, Jesus had already told them whom to look for, and it wasn’t an antichrist.  It was someone else. The Abomination that Causes Desolation, as spoken of by the prophet Daniel.

Matthew 24:15 “So when you see the abomination that causes desolation , spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand), 16 “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains! 17 A man on the housetop must not come down to get things out of his house. 18 And a man in the field must not go back to get his clothes. 19 Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days! 20 Pray that your escape may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For at that time there will be great tribulation, the kind that hasn’t taken place since the beginning of the world until now, and never will again! 22 Unless those days were cut short, no one would survive. But because of the elect those days will be cut short.

Jesus’ friends asked what they should look for, at the End of the Age.  He says “when you see the Abomination that Causes Desolation….”  So, Jesus says there will be one person in particular to look for.  And when that man is seen standing in the holy place, everyone needs to clear out of civilization, really.  There is going to be a great tribulation, the Lord says.  And his people — the elect! — will have to live through it.  God will be merciful and cut the days shorter than they might otherwise be, but even the people of God will have to meet this tribulation.

What did Daniel say, anyway?

Daniel 9:27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”

Daniel 11:31 His forces will rise up and desecrate the temple fortress. They will abolish the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation. 32 With flattery he will corrupt those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action. 33 Those who are wise among the people will give understanding to many, yet they will die by sword and flame, and be captured and plundered for a time.

Next time…  We’ll take a look at that.  Jesus referred to it, so it HAS to be good!

Tags: abomination, Daniel, desolation, End of the Age, Jesus, prophecy, tribulation