Dear
Reader,
From a
reading of the following historical account, the meaning of the Abomination of
Desolation and the “daily” of Daniel 8, 11 and 12 should be obvious. The
following history recounts historical data from the Apocrypha. Could this be
the reason why Ellen White made the following statement concerning the
Apocrypha?:
The Apocrypha
In a
document titled "A copy of E. G. White's vision which she had at Oswego,
New York," January 11, 1850, an unusual statement appears concerning the
Apocrypha, also known as "the hidden book":
"I
then saw the Word of God, pure and unadulterated, and that we must answer for
the way we received the truth proclaimed from that Word. I saw that it had been
a hammer to break the flinty heart in pieces, and a fire to consume the dross and
tin, that the heart might be pure and holy. I saw that the Apocrypha was the
hidden book, and that the wise of these last days should understand it. I saw
that the Bible was the standard Book, that will judge us at the last day. I saw
that heaven would be cheap enough, and that nothing was too dear to sacrifice
for Jesus, and that we must give all to enter the kingdom" (Manuscript
Releases, vol. 16, p. 34).
Ellen
White SAW that the wise of these last days SHOULD understand the Apocrypha.
Why? Because of the following historical record of the Apocrypha that clearly
explains by way of an ancient fulfillment the meaning of the Daily and the
Abomination of Desolation in an end-time application. This does no despite to
the historic application by Ellen White and pioneer Adventists. It is just
another application of Bible prophecy of which there are often more than one,
with all bearing on truth.
Whether
one agrees with all of Robinson’s theology or not, the following article gives
much insight into the Daily and the Abomination of Desolation and how both will
be manifest at the end-time. Is this one of the lessons Ellen White SAW the
wise will glean from the Apocrypha? Adventists have a history of adopting
myopic interpretations of Bible prophesies, when fact is, there are deeper
meanings (plural) and more than one application to many of the teachings of
Scripture.
Just What Is the Abomination of Desolation?
In
Jesus Christ's best-known prophecy, He spoke of a coming "abomination of
desolation" in Jerusalem. What does this mean? In this prophecy, the past
helps us understand the future. by Tom Robinson
In His most detailed prophecy of
the end time, Jesus said, "... When you see the 'abomination of
desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place ...,
then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (Matthew 24:15-16).
What was He talking about?
The longest and most precise
prophecy of the Bible, Daniel 11, recorded in advance what would occur in the
empires and nations that would vie for control of the Holy Land for centuries
to come. It describes, in astounding detail, rulers and other people who lived
long after Daniel's prophecy and several centuries before Christ.
For much of the prophecy these
kingdoms were Syria to the north, ruled by descendants of Seleucus, one of the
generals of Alexander the Great, and Egypt, ruled by descendants of another of
Alexander's generals, Ptolemy. (See "The North-South Struggle for the
Middle East," page 7. You can learn more details in a good Bible
commentary or from our free booklet Is the Bible True?)
An evil ruler arises
Eventually the prophecy describes
a Seleucid ruler named Antiochus IV, also known as Antiochus Epiphanes. Daniel
11:21 states, "And in his [Seleucus IV's] place shall arise a vile person,
to whom they will not give the honor of royalty." Most Syrian officials,
tired of the excesses of the Seleucid rulers, backed the usurper Heliodorus,
who had poisoned the previous king.
"But," the prophecy
explains of Antiochus, "he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom
by intrigue" (verse 21). By a show of what some historians have called
"Roman manners" and a great deal of flattery, he enlisted the aid of
neighboring King Eumenes II of Pergamum and officials at home in forcing out
Heliodorus and obtaining the throne in 175 B.C. The next verse explains that
all those who opposed Antiochus would be swept away and broken-and they were.
At this time Syria ruled over the
Holy Land. Included in those "swept away" is one referred to as
"the prince of the covenant" (verse 22). This is apparently a
reference to a Hellenistic Jew who changed his name to the Greek form Jason,
appointed by Antiochus as replacement high priest over the Jewish worship
system. He was dropped from that position by Antiochus only three years later
in favor of another Hellenizing (that is, Greek-culture-promoting) apostate
named Menelaus.
As verses 23-24 show, elements of
the Jewish leadership made a "league," a treaty or similar agreement,
with Antiochus, and at first he entered "peaceably" into the Holy
Land with only a small force.
What did this league, or covenant,
entail? The apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees, although not Scripture, provides us
with history of the period. "In those days went there out of Israel wicked
men, who persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen
that are round about us ..." (1 Maccabees 1:11, KJV).
Continuing in a paraphrased
version of the account: "'... For our refusal to associate with them has
brought us nothing but trouble.' This proposal appealed to many people, and
some of them became so enthusiastic about it that they went to the king and
received from him permission to follow Gentile customs. They built in Jerusalem
a stadium like those in the Greek cities. They had surgery performed to hide
their circumcision, abandoned the holy covenant, started associating with
Gentiles, [Ecumenism] and did all sorts of other evil things" (verses
11-15, Today's English Version).
Still, even the apostatizing
factions did not wholly abandon the Jewish worship system-at least not yet.
In any event, Antiochus soon
betrayed the Jewish leaders by taking from the rich and giving to the poor, yet
only as a temporary ploy to gain support among the Jewish masses (Daniel
11:24).
Note by Ron (Barack Obama’s
clearly stated plan is to take from the rich and give to the poor. This ruse to
obtain political power was employed by Marx and Lenin as well).
Antiochus vents his fury
Then notice what was to happen in
168 B.C. after the king defeated Egypt: "While returning to his land with
great riches, his heart shall be moved against the holy covenant; so he shall
do damage and return to his own land" (verse 28).
Note by Ron: The daily refers to
the continual—the holy covenant, the law of God and the Daily Sanctuary Service
as a remedy for breaches in His law. In principal, when one law is broken or
removed, all is removed and/or broken. The taking away of the Daily in the
various chapters of Daniel refers to fury against God’s law and those who
believe in keeping it. The placing of the Abomination of Desolation is the
ascendance to power of any person or power who hates God’s law and removes one
jot or tittle of it. In an end-time application there are two powers that
interfere with God’s law—the antichrist, and the host of God’s people, the
professing New Movement Seventh-day Adventist church. The antichrist will place
and finally enforce the Sunday Law. The SDA church, the host of God’s people,
will instruct them to keep Sunday sacred. This is the transgression of
desolation which transpires for 2300 literal days as opposed to the Abomination
of Desolation which is seated 1290 days after the Daily (God’s continual law)
is taken away, and remains in power for 42 months or 3 ½ years AFTER the
healing of the wound, Revelation 13:1-5 and on. End note.
As 1 Maccabees records, he set
himself against the Jews, massacred many of them and plundered the temple at
Jerusalem before returning to Syria (1 Maccabees 1:20-28).
Antiochus then embarked on a
second venture into Egypt, unsuccessful this time because a Roman fleet forced
him to give up his fight and return the island of Cyprus to Egypt (Daniel
11:30). "... Therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the
holy covenant, and do damage. So he shall return and show regard for those who
forsake the holy covenant" (verse 30). Antiochus vented his fury on the
Jews, yet he accorded special favor to those among them who rejected their
religion.
As 1 Maccabees explains:
"When the soldiers entered Jerusalem, their commander spoke to the people,
offering them terms of peace and completely deceiving them. Then he suddenly
launched a fierce attack on the city, dealing it a major blow and killing many
of the people. He plundered the city, set it on fire, and tore down its
buildings and walls. He and his army took the women and children as prisoners
and seized the cattle. Then Antiochus and
his forces built high walls and strong towers in the area north of the Temple,
turning it into a fort ..." (1:29-33, TEV).
Antiochus rejects God's laws
Then came the worst. Daniel's
prophecy warned of Antiochus: "And forces shall be mustered by him, and
they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily
sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation" (Daniel 11:31).
The book of 1 Maccabees gives us
details: "Antiochus now issued a decree that all nations in his empire
should abandon their own customs and become one people. [Sounds like the
current intention of the New World Order!] All the Gentiles and even many of
the Israelites submitted to this decree. They adopted the official pagan
religion, offered sacrifices to idols, and no longer observed the Sabbath.
[Sounds like the agenda of the beast power at the end-time which is right upon
us. What is new under the sun?]
"The king also sent
messengers with a decree to Jerusalem and all the towns of Judea, ordering the
people to follow customs that were foreign to the country. He ordered them not
to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or wine offerings in the Temple, and
commanded them to treat Sabbaths and festivals as ordinary work days.
"They were even ordered to
defile the Temple and the holy things in it. They were commanded to build pagan
altars, temples, and shrines, and to sacrifice pigs and other unclean animals
there. They were forbidden to circumcise their sons and were required to make
themselves ... unclean in every way they could, so that they would forget the
Law which the Lord had given through Moses and would disobey all its commands.
The penalty for disobeying the king's decree was death.
Note by Ron: Sound familiar?! The
above certainly describes Abominations of Desolation! End note.
"The king not only issued the
same decree throughout his whole empire, but he also appointed officials to
supervise the people and commanded each town in Judea to offer pagan
sacrifices. Many of the Jews were ready to forsake the Law and to obey these
officials. They defiled the land with their evil, and their conduct forced all
true Israelites to hide wherever they could" (1:41-53, TEV).
The temple defiled
Then it happened: "On the
fifteenth day of the month Kislev in the year 145" (verse 54, TEV), which
corresponds to 167 B.C., "they set up the abomination of desolation upon
the altar" of the temple (verse 54, KJV). This was apparently a pagan
altar with an image of the Greek chief god Zeus set up atop the temple altar.
After all, to the Greek mind the God of the Hebrews simply equated to the chief
god in the Greeks' pantheon.
We are further told: "Pagan
sacrifices were offered in front of houses and in the streets. Any books of the
Law which were found were torn up and burned, and anyone who was caught with a
copy of the sacred books or who obeyed the Law was put to death by order of the
king. Month after month these wicked people used their power against the
Israelites caught in the towns. On the twenty-fifth of the month, these same
evil people offered sacrifices on the pagan altar erected on top of the altar
in the Temple" (verses 55-59, TEV). Indeed, pigs, declared unclean in
God's law (Deuteronomy 14:8), were offered over His own altar.
The account in 1 Maccabees
continues: "Mothers who had allowed their babies to be circumcised were
put to death in accordance with the king's decree. Their babies were hung
around their necks, and their families and those who had circumcised them were
put to death" (1:60, TEV).
Yet, as horrible as this was, some
still resisted. In fact, 1 Maccabees reports: "But many in Israel stood
firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to
die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they
did die. Very great wrath came upon Israel" (1 Maccabees 1:62-63, New
Revised Standard Version).
Yet many in the resistance lived.
The account continues with the rise of the Hasmonean priestly family of Mattathias,
including his son and successor Judas Maccabeus, who would not compromise with
paganism. In the end, the efforts of these patriots and their followers were in
large measure responsible for eventually pushing the Syrians out.
Later prophetic fulfillment
Now, with all of that as history,
consider Christ's warning about the abomination of desolation. When He gave it,
hadn't this part of Daniel's prophecy been fulfilled almost 200 years earlier,
as we've seen? Certainly. So Daniel's prophecy, according to Jesus, must have a
dual fulfillment.
Jesus revealed to us the time for
this prophecy's ultimate fulfillment in Matthew 24 when He explained what would
immediately follow it: "For then there will be great tribulation, such as
has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever
shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved
[alive]; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened" (verses
21-22, emphasis added throughout).
This recalls another part of
Daniel's prophecy, which says that in the end time "there shall be a time
of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And
at that time your people shall be delivered . . . And many of those who sleep
in the dust of the earth shall awake . . ." (Daniel 12:1-2).
So this awful period of
tribulation occurs at the end of this present age, just before Christ's return
when He will resurrect His faithful followers (1 Thessalonians 4:15-16).
Indeed, Daniel was told that "from the time that the daily sacrifice is
taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up," 1,290 days—a
little more than 3 1/2 years.
Lessons from the first fulfillment
We can learn a great deal about
this end-time prophecy from the original abomination of desolation Daniel
predicted. Antiochus Epiphanes was a forerunner of the end-time king of the
North (see "The North-South Struggle for the Middle East," page 7),
the world dictator the book of Revelation refers to as the "beast."
No doubt this end-time ruler will employ the same deceit and underhanded
methods that marked the reign of Antiochus and many of his successors, such as
Hitler.
Note by Ron: Those who are
familiar with the machinations of the New World Order, know that it is after
the same visions that Hitler had for the world. We as SDA’s know that the beast
power is the Pope. End note.
Furthermore, it appears from what
we've seen and other scriptural indications that the end-time ruler, to
accomplish his ends, will feign overtures of peace to the Jews of the modern
nation of Israel. This might help explain why the end-time "king of the
South," evidently an Islamic Arab power, will act against the final beast
power (Daniel 11:40).
What other parallels do we see?
Part of the "abomination" of Antiochus involved the cessation of the
daily temple sacrifices (verse 31). Yet Daniel's prophecy makes it clear that
sacrifices will again be ended in conjunction with the abomination of
desolation to come (Daniel 12:9-13). For this prophecy to be fulfilled, it
appears that sacrifices will again be instituted and an altar rebuilt before
the return of Jesus the Messiah.
Note by Ron: Jews in Israel have
all the rudiments in place for rebuilding the Temple and offering sacrifice
again. All they need is control over the Temple Mount. See these links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEgbMKu4z-w
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44672
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/42938
End note.
In another parallel, Antiochus
defiled the ancient holy temple when he erected an idol of the pagan god Zeus
and sacrificed swine there. The end-time abomination may also involve an
idolatrous image at a new temple. What we know for certain is that within the
"temple of God" there will be an actual person who claims to be God
in the flesh.
Note: Some are aware of
aspirations of the Pope and Satan to rule from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
End note.
The apostle Paul, in 2
Thessalonians 2:1-12, foretold this "son of perdition." Notice verses
3-4: "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [of Christ's
return] will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin
is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all
that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God" (emphasis added).
Christ will destroy this religious
leader at His second coming (verses 5-8), but not before he has deceived many
with "power, signs, and lying wonders" (verses 9-12). Also, just as
the original abomination of desolation marked the beginning of a period of
unparalleled horror and misery, so will the final one begin the time of the
greatest horror ever, the coming Great Tribulation.
We can be thankful that God promises
to send His Son back to earth to save mankind from self-annihilation in this
coming horrible time of mass deceit and destruction. We can also thank God for
the wonderful example of those who stood fast—who would not compromise with
God's way—and the awesome hope of the return of Christ, of resurrection to
eternal life and of the establishment of His glorious Kingdom on earth.
Note by Ron: We know that reign of
Christ on earth will not be until after the millennium. End note.
Indeed, as world events march ever
closer to the fulfillment of these prophecies, let us draw closer to God in
faith, trusting Him to see us through even the worst of times, knowing that we
aren't left without foreknowledge to help us better understand end-time events.
The End