Daniel 11:30-31

The second clear sign is found in Matthew 24:15, which is the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place. That is a reference to several places in Daniel, including the 70 Weeks Prophecy in Daniel 9:27, as well as Daniel 11:30-31 and Daniel 12:11. In Daniel 11, a king from the north of Judea will show favor to those who forsake the holy covenant, and he will defile the sanctuary fortress, take away the daily sacrifices, and replace them with the abomination of desolation, or the abomination that causes desolation, or it could be translated, “the appalling abomination.”

This had one fulfillment around 167 BC by Antiochus IV, nicknamed “Epiphanes.” He constructed an altar to Zeus within the Temple at Jerusalem, and then he sacrificed swine on that pagan altar. For those who feared God and who respected His word and the holiness of the system He had given them, that shocking abomination was horrifying.

There was a similar fulfillment in the first century. Josephus records that when the Roman army under Titus came to Jerusalem to put down a Jewish revolt, the Romans entered the Temple with their ensigns, or standards. Those standards included at least the Roman eagle and the image of the Emperor, which was worshipped, and possibly a bronze head of a dragon. Josephus says the Romans made sacrifices to these standards in the Temple, declaring Titus as imperator in the place dedicated to the worship of the true God.

While the previous fulfillments are clear, there are differing opinions on what a future fulfillment could entail. Some point to “the holy place” as referring to a rebuilt Temple, just like the previous fulfillments. Others point out that all of Jerusalem, or at least the Temple Mount, could be considered “the holy place,” and thus it could be more general, requiring only an altar and not a Temple. Luke’s account mentions armies surrounding Jerusalem, but there would have to be more to it for that to be an abomination. Whatever the case, the pattern is that it will be idolatrous, honoring a foreign god in the place dedicated to the true God.