The Abomination of Desolation Standing in the Holy Place

and

The King of the North

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April 3, 2006

 

Dear Reader,

It behoves us to learn the options concerning the prophecies.  Ellen White said that we should learn the options concerning what the Bible says about the prophesies.  Then, when they come true we will recognize which version is correct.

In reading the different optional views, it seems that each is viable, but it is not wise to be dogmatic on such issues.  Ellen White did not try to say who the King of the North will be.  Where the Holy Spirit has not spoken it is wise to keep an open mind.  But the Lord has given me some enlightenment on the issue which I will relay to you in this document.

This having been said, I would remind you that the Bible says that the abomination of desolation will stand in the Holy Place.  Ellen White says that the Roman legions on Jewish soil in A.D. 66, 3 ˝ years before Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, was considered the Abomination of Desolation by the Jews and that was their sign to heed Matthew 24:15

 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 Mar 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

What is the Abomination of Desolation?

The Abomination of Desolation is Rome standing on Holy Ground, in the Holy Place, Jerusalem.  In A.D. 70, the abomination of desolation was Rome within so man furlongs from the city of Jerusalem.

“The future was mercifully veiled from the disciples. Had they at that time fully comprehend the two awful facts-- the Redeemer's sufferings and death, and the destruction of their city and temple--they would have been overwhelmed with horror. Christ presented before them an outline of the prominent events to take place before the close of time. His words were not then fully understood; but their meaning was to be unfolded as His people should need the instruction therein given. The prophecy which He uttered was twofold in its meaning; while foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem, it prefigured also the terrors of the last great day.

Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that were to fall upon apostate Israel, and especially the retributive vengeance that would come upon them for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Unmistakable signs would precede the awful climax. The dreaded hour would come suddenly and swiftly. And the Saviour warned His followers: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." Matthew 24:15, 16; Luke 21:20, 21. When the idolatrous standards of the Romans should be set up in the holy ground, which extended some furlongs outside the city walls, then the followers of Christ were to find safety in flight. When the warning sign should be seen, those who would escape must make no delay. Throughout the land of Judea, as well as in Jerusalem itself, the signal for flight must be immediately obeyed. He who chanced to be upon the housetop must not go down into his house, even to save his most valued treasures. Those who were working in the fields or vineyards must not take time to return for the outer garment laid aside while they should be toiling in the heat of the day. They must not hesitate a moment, lest they be involved in the general destruction.

To follow the parallel of the prefigure, the antitypical fulfillment of the Abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy Place will be the National Sunday Law.  But will it also include the Pope setting up his See in Israel, at the Dome of the Rock, the one Holy and sacred spot on earth.  The Jews were told that no sacrifice would be acceptable on any other location.  That is why the Jews would like to get that site back from the Arabs so they could sacrifice again.

The Pope and Satan know that spot is sacred, and they aspire to standing on that Holy Ground. 

"When He referred to the destruction of Jerusalem, His prophetic words reached beyond that even to the final conflagration in that day when the Lord shall rise out of His place to punish the world for their iniquity, when the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.  This entire discourse was given, not for the disciples only, but for those who should live in the last scenes of this earth's history."  E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 628.

Now it just so happens that Ellen White called the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, a PREFIGURE, The Great Controversy, p. 25.  That gives tremendous insight into exactly who the King of the North is.  The Romans attacked Israel from the north.  Those who are opposed to Rome being the King of the North say that Rome is not directly north of Israel. Rome is north of Israel in a line drawn east to west.

Back to the PREFIGURE aspect.  A prefigure is a type, demanding a similar antitypical fulfillment. 

“In the autumn of A.D. 66, Cestius next concentrated his entire force upon Jerusalem.  He arrived during the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, and although it was Sabbath, the Jews abandoned their religious rites and rushed out to attack Cestius’ troops.  To the amazement of both Romans and Jews, they broke the Roman ranks.  Indeed, Josephus declares that only a flank attack by a force of footmen and cavalry saved Cestius’ forces.  More than 500 Roman soldiers were killed whereas the Jews lost only 22 men (War ii. 198, 2 [519]).  At this point Agrippa sent an embassy to the Jews; their reaction was to attack his representatives, killing one and wounding the other.  Encouraged by a promise of the royalist party in Jerusalem to open the gates for him, Cestius then gathered his troops to a fresh assault, and penetrated as far as the north wall of the Temple.  Then an astounding thing happened: Cestius withdrew his troops, and placed himself strategically in such a poor position among the Judean hills that the Jews were able to attack him and kill more than 5,000 infantry and nearly 500 cavalry, including many officers, as well as to capture much materiel. 

A Lull in the Storm.—The defeat and withdrawal of Cestius gave many of the conservative Jews a chance to flee from Jerusalem.  Some of them joined Agrippa, others sought quiet in country places, and still others left the country entirely.  It was at this time that the Christians in Jerusalem fled in accordance with the warning of Jesus recorded in Matt. 24:15-19.  According to Eusebius, the 4th-century historian, the Christians in Jerusalem had been warned by prophets before the war began that they should leave the doomed city and find refuge at Pella in Peraea.  They now took this opportunity to make good their escape (Ecclesiastical History iii. 5, 3).” SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, 74, 75.

Ellen White Parallels the Approach of the Roman Armies to the National Sunday Law

     By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1}

     As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God's forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation's iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return. The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as the time of Jacob's trouble. The cries of the faithful, persecuted ones ascend to heaven. And as the blood of Abel cried from the ground, there are voices also crying to God from martyrs' graves, from the sepulchers of the sea, from mountain caverns, from convent vaults: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" {5T 451.2}

It is no time now for God's people to be fixing their affections or laying up their treasure in the world. The time is not far distant, when, like the early disciples, we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation in the decree enforcing the papal sabbath will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains. And now, instead of seeking expensive dwellings here, we should be preparing to move to a better country, even a heavenly. Instead of spending our means in self-gratification, we should be studying to economize. Every talent lent of God should be used to His glory in giving the warning to the world. God has a work for His colaborers to do in the cities. E.G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 464-5.

Conclusions:

·       The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was a PREFIGURE TYPE.

·       In that prefigure, Rome was the Abomination of Desolation.

·       Will Rome be the Abomination in the antitypical fulfillment?  If A.D. 70 was a type, the answer seems obvious!  Did Ellen White thus give us the identity of the King of the North in a cryptic way?

·       We are to flee to the mountains and desolate places when the abomination of desolation stands in THE HOLY PLACE.  The Dome of the Rock, where upon sits an Islamic mosque presently, is the Holy Place where Solomon’s Temple once stood and where it is reputed that Abraham offered up Isaac.

·       Were Turkey the King of the North, as Neil Livingston believes, how would we know when to flee as the Arabs of Turkey have occupied that Holy Site for 1300 years?  Of course, we would have the Sunday Law, but will the Pope proclaim the death decree connected with violation of that law from the Holy Mount in Jerusalem, the site of the Dome of the Rock presently?

·       Pope John Paul II, was making a pact with the Palestinians.  Pope Benedict the XVI, has been invited to meet with the President of Turkey in November of 2006.  This points to collusion between the Arabs and Rome.  See the following links:

http://www.teachinghearts.org/dre07lawsnotes.html#popearab

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=128&id=2561

·       We need to know the options and then we will know for sure which is the correct one when prophecy is fulfilled.  The we will be confirmed that God is in control and fulfilling prophecy will be of great encouragement during the greatest time of trouble the earth has ever seen, Matt. 24:21.

·       There is no doubt that Turkey and the Arab world will be involved, because they sit on the ONE Holy and Sacred site in Jerusalem right now.  But the question is:  Will the Arab’s make a peace pact with Rome?  Remember, the whole world wanders after the beast!

·       Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 

·       The end time conflagration involves two kings, King Jesus, and Satan and his entourage.  Will the Pope be the King of the North?  Is he more of a player at the end-time since ALL THE WORLD wonders after him?

·       Would the Pope have to build his palace and Tabernacle on the Temple site?  No.  He could merely inhabit the one that is already there!

·       The Arabs could make a peace treaty with the Pope.  That would be when they cry peace, peace, and then sudden destruction comes.

·       If Rome was involved as the Abomination of Desolation in the PREFIGURE TYPE of A.D. 66-70, will she be involved in the antitypical Abomination of Desolation?

·       It is not wise to be bigoted concerning unfulfilled prophecies.  Know the options.  That is the only wise course.

God bless all,

Ron Beaulieu