In addition to the nations, another group mentioned during the end times is Israel.
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!
This is an odd phrase at the end of v15 – “let the reader understand.” In the HCSB, that phrase is in parentheses as if the gospel writer Matthew wants us, the readers in the 21st century, to pay special attention to this next section. There is mention of a prophesy from Daniel 9. Please turn with me to Daniel 9:24. While praying, Daniel is visited by the angel Gabriel whom God sends to explain a vision that Daniel had received earlier.
Daniel 9
24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city—to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to wipe away iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. 25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times. 26 After those 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming prince will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. 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.
This section is known as the seventy weeks of years or the seventy sevens. This prophecy is hard to understand. Remember, what I am about to say is Tier 3 stuff so you can take it or leave it. Daniel was a prophet during the Babylonian captivity. This means, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed when Daniel was alive. So Daniel was obviously prophesying about a future event. It seems possible that Daniel’s prophesy is pointing to the book of Nehemiah when Nehemiah, as the cupbearer to the king of Persia, asks the king for permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild not just the temple, but the entire city.
The edict allowing Nehemiah to rebuild the city was given in 444 B.C. Jerusalem in 444 B.C. had still not been restored. It was just a territory, a communal campground of sorts. The Jewish people were a loosely gathered community of exiles. Having left the memories of their Babylonian captivity behind, they tried to pick up the shattered remains of their lives and start over in Jerusalem. But with the edict, the prophecy from Daniel 9 was beginning to take shape.
25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and 62 weeks.
Let me do some math. I know many Caltech students just woke up. From the issuing of the decree in 444 BC, seven weeks and 62 weeks, which is a fancy way of saying, 69 weeks. And if a week represents 7 years, then in lunar years, that’s 173,880 days. Then, we have to convert to solar years. Incidentally, why am I talking about the lunar calendar? It’s because prior to Pope Gregory in the 16th century, the world did not follow a solar calendar. We only had a lunar calendar. Unlike the solar year, there are only 360 days in a lunar year. That’s why we have to convert from lunar to solar.
173,880 days = roughly 476 years. You won’t believe this, but 444 BC + 476 years translates to AD 32. AD 32 is a significant date. It’s very close to the end of Jesus’ life. His first coming is clearly in view.
That leaves one final week left unaccounted for. From the time of Jesus, which ended with his death and resurrection, we have entered into the final week of human history. Some call it the age of the church. Unlike the first 69 weeks of years, this final week is not a literal 7 year period. Otherwise, the world would have ended long ago, right after the resurrection in the first century. We know that this final 7 year period cannot be a precise period because Jesus says, no one knows the day or hour of the end when Jesus will return. In fact, v36–
Matt 24
36 Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son—except the Father only.
Not even Jesus knows the day or the hour of his return. Only God the Father knows. Think about that. If not even Jesus knows the day and hour of his return, what do you think about prophets who try to ive an exact time and day for the end of the world. Be wary of prophets claiming to know when the world is going to end.
Back to Daniel 9, Daniel’s prophecy shifts gears in the latter half of v26.
Daniel 9
26 …The people of the coming prince will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. 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.
This prophecy has skipped from the first coming of Christ to the second coming. Just like in AD 70 when Rome desecrated and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, there is mention of another abomination of desolation brought about by a coming prince at the end of the world. v26 – This coming prince is the anti-christ. He is a deceiver. He brings peace at first. v27 – he will make a firm covenant. Things will improve for a time during the first half of the 7 years. Then, 3.5 years into this new covenant, things will suddenly turn for the worse and this coming prince will show his true intentions and put a stop to sacrifice and offering.
This anti-christ will make a covenant with many. Who are the “many”? It could be many nations. But in light of the context and the mention of an end to sacrifice and offering, I believe the “many” refers to Israel.
Getting back to our main text, Matt 24:15–
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!
If you connect Matt 24 with Daniel 9, two separate abominations of desolation seem to be in view. The first one, we’ve already covered, is probably the destruction of the temple in AD 70 at the hands of the Romans. If the AD 70 destruction is held to be the first abomination of desolation, then it makes sense that the Jews in Judea during the first century ought to flee. Because the Roman armies are marching toward them. However, Daniel’s prophecy mentions an abomination of desolation caused by the coming prince, the anti-Christ who appears during this last 70th week of 7 years at the end of the age. This one seems much larger in scale than the first in AD 70.
Jesus also speaks about a widespread destruction it in Matt 24:27–
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather.
The coming of the Son of Man is likened to a bolt of lightning so large that it comes from the east and yet its flash can be seen as far as the west. Meaning, everyone in the world will know that the Son of Man has returned. There are carcasses and vultures, which are a sign of death. Carnage will be everywhere. The Son of Man will return and there will be judgment. Jesus goes on to describe the tribulation of those days in v29–
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the celestial powers will be shaken. 30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
Although this section sounds like a general judgment against the entire world, I think God has something special up his sleeve for Israel. I believe God will not abandon his chosen people of Israel. As Gentiles, we might be persuaded to think, Israel rejected God. We, the church, are the new Israel. This is not a biblical understanding of salvation history. This goes against the God of the entire Bible. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He calls Jacob, my chosen ones throughout the Old Testament. Jesus himself came as a Jew for the lost sheep of Israel. Is God the kind of God who could turn his back on His chosen people forever? I don’t think so. We don’t serve a God like that.
Why do I think God has a special plan for Israel. v32–
32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near—at the door! 34 I assure you: This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place.
A fig tree is a symbol for the nation of Israel. Jeremiah, Joel, Hosea and others identify the fig tree as the nation Israel. In the last days, look at what happens? The fig tree that had appeared to be dead and hopeless suddenly sprang back to life and blossomed–just as Jesus prophesied. When the Jews were scattered in AD 70, something happened historically that has never happened previously in world history. Without a homeland, the Jewish people kept their identity, religion, and ethnicity intact. This is no small feat.
In fact, did you know that no other nation in the history of the world has ever done that? Every other nation that was conquered by another nation lost its cultural distinctiveness within two generations. I’m a second generation Korean American and I am not very fluent in Korean and my kids barely speak. Historically, it only takes two generations before the conquered nation was swallowed up and assimilated by the conquering nation. That is why you never hear of Babylonians today and why none of you have Assyrian neighbors. The Jews amazingly, dare I say, miraculously due to God’s divine help, kept their identity, not for two generations, but for 2000 years.
Consider the history of Israel and what their people went through during those 2,000 years. It’s unthinkable. Through wave after wave of persecution, prejudice and bigotry, Satan was relentless in his attempt to destroy Israel. But he failed. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, public sympathy around the world for the Jewish people poured forth.
And in May 14, 1948, something took place that has never happened in history–a nation was re-birthed. A nation that hadn’t existed for almost 2,000 years was suddenly re-established exactly as the OT prophesied when Jews from all over the world gathered in Israel once again. Jesus is setting the stage, I believe, to reclaim his people, Israel, when he returns.
Jesus said the current generation will not pass away until all these things take place. The ones who were alive in Jesus’ day were around to witness AD 70. Jerusalem’s fall happened within the lifetime of the generation who heard this sermon firsthand by Jesus. If that same principle applies, 1948 is not that long ago. Who is the generation who will witness all these things taking place? Possibly, we are. Our generation. We are in the 70th week, the final week of seven years.
Jesus speaks about the end times as they relate to 3 groups: the nations, Israel, and finally, the church. The nations reject God. Israel, it appears, will be miraculously saved by God. What about the church?
37 As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 38 For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. 39 They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. So this is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be: 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one left.
The word for “taken” in v40 and 41 is different from the word for “taken away” or “swept away” in v39. The word for “taken” in v40 and 41 is used only 3 other times in Scripture. In Matt 1, the angel tells Joseph not to be afraid to “take” Mary as his bride. In Matt 17, Jesus “took” Peter, James and John with him up the Mount of Transfiguration. Lastly, in John 14, Jesus says in my Father’s house are many rooms, I will come again and “take” you to be where I am. So this taking is not a taking unto judgment, or punishment. This is a taking so that you can be with the person whom you love. As in a bridegroom taking his bride.
In addition to this text, the idea of rapture primarily originates from 1 Thess 4 where it talks about the dead rising and those who are alive in Christ being caught up altogether and meeting the Lord in the air. There are basically two positions regarding the rapture of the church. The first position is the pre-tribulation rapture. This is the view that before Christ returns in glory, he will return quietly to take up or rapture the church and take us to heaven. This happens before the tribulation, and so the view is called the PRE-tribulation rapture. This implies that the Church will not be here during the tribulation.
The second position is the post-tribulation rapture. It’s the view that the rapture and the second coming are part of one simultaneous event. The saints, both dead and alive, rise to meet the Lord in the air and accompany him back to earth as He descends from heaven as our rightful king. This implies that the church will go through the tribulation on the earth.
The pre-tribulation rapture, being raptured prior to the tribulation, thereby avoiding the tribulation sounds great to me. And if this is how things go down, praise God because who wants to suffer unnecessarily? But I think there is more evidence to support the second position, the post-tribulation view, meaning, the church will be here during the 7 year tribulation.
There are many reasons why I think the post-tribulation view is favorable, but let me name just three. First, the word for “meeting” the Lord in the air in 1 Thessalonians 4 is used in two other places in the New Testament: Matthew 25 and Acts 28. In both places it refers to a meeting in which people go out to meet an important person that is on the way to visit them so that out of respect you can accompany the VIP to your door. So taking the same logic, the church, the dead will rise along with those who are still alive, and together we will meet the Son of Man in the air to welcome him to earth as king.
Second, when you read passages such as 2 Thess chapters 1 and 2, you don’t get an impression that the rapture and the second coming are two separate events. For example, if you read carefully, you get the sense that Paul expects to attain rest from suffering at the same time and in the same event that he expects the unbelievers to receive punishment. Vengeance on unbelievers and rest for the persecuted church come on the same day in the same event. Likewise, the assembling or gathering of those who will be raptured by God and “the day of the Lord” seem to be one event. If you believe that the day of the Lord means the second coming, then it makes sense that the rapture happens at the second coming. There is no need to see the gathering for rapture and the day of the Lord as separate events.
Third, the strongest pre-tribulation text, Rev. 3:10, where it says Christians will be kept from the hour of trial doesn’t necessarily mean that Christians will be taken out of the world during this hour, and thus spared the tribulation. Passages such as Paul’s prayer for the Galatian church in chapter 1 and Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John 17 mention a prayer to “keep from” and in neither case does it mean physical removal. Plus, how can the church be raptured in Rev 3 and then Rev 6 speaks about the inevitability of martyrdom? The promise is to that we who are in Christ will be guarded from the hour of our greatest trial in the sense of being guarded from despair during that hour. That we would stand firm and endure in spite of that hour of trial.