In our previous study, four of the disciples (Peter, James, John, and Andrew) had taken Jesus aside on the Mount of Olives. Perhaps inspired by the view of the Temple, they were interested in knowing “when” the Temple would be destroyed. It was this question that Jesus was answering. Yet many of us modern Christians have examined this answer by Jesus, and applied it to our days as well. We have extrapolated the answers of Christ into our own day, and applied them to signs of His second coming as well. And while there may be parallels between the warnings and admonitions of Christ in His day and our own, it is important to remember, the words of Jesus must FIRST apply to the question He was asked, NOT to the one we apply His answers to. Similarities may exist, but the context and timing of His answers should be examined in light of the generation of those disciples as a first priority. For it is not fair to expect a word for word, deed for deed, exact replication to signs in our days for the event we wait for now. The parallels we should study, and the reasons behind them will perhaps warrant a second look.
Jesus had completed the first part of his answer to the disciples. He was now to continue with His answer, an answer that still echoes to our day. Peter giving account to John Mark in his gospel in chapter thirteen, he picks up in verse 14 saying … “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:” To begin, lets us examine this answer, for what it could not be. Many Hollywood movies would have us believe that Romans desecrating the Temple with idols, and images of the Emperor would constitute the abomination of desolation. There are at least two problems with this idea: 1.) Jesus had already been crucified, arisen, and ascended. Therefore the true Temple was no longer in a building located in Jerusalem, He had gone home to be at the right hand of His Father. It would be hard to desecrate a building that had been nullified in the real worship of God. The Temple at Jerusalem was no longer sacred, blessed by God, or attended by God. It was merely just another building, its best feature having historical relevance, but nothing truly spiritual. Putting idols in or on it, would be of no more import than doing so at any other place of public gathering.
2.) The history of events bears examination. In 64 AD, Zealots in Israel begin a full-fledged revolt against the Roman empire. The Zealots succeed at driving out local Roman garrisons from Jerusalem, Masada, and other surrounding regions. This would mean that no Roman authority would have been left in Jerusalem to place idols or images in the Temple, to create the perception of an abomination of desolation in the first place. However, in 66 AD, Linus would be elected the First Bishop (or pope) of Rome. In 68 AD the Romans would destroy the Essene monastery at the Dead Sea on their way back to Jerusalem. And then in 70 AD the Romans would retake Jerusalem completely destroying the Temple. Finally, in 74 AD the remaining Zealots would commit mass suicide at Masada, ending the rebellion, ending the uprising, and causing all the Jews to be removed from Palestine as their official home until after WW2. In ten years everything would change for the Jewish people.
But it was then the Jews, who had full control over the Temple in the years that preceded its destruction. No Roman, or outside entity, could have placed something within it to cause this abomination to exist. Now adding that news itself did not travel by CNN in these days, it took much longer with horses, sea faring ships, and then word of mouth – any significant action might not have reached the ears of its audience for quite a while. What did take place however preceding the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, was the less publicized event of Linus being elected as the “First Bishop of Rome”. Here Peter, who has never referred to himself as any kind of Bishop, makes reference to a little known event. Why? What difference could that have made?
To answer we must first examine what kind of “abomination” could ever lead to “desolation” in the first place. One might argue it was the killing of Christ, but that event was already near, during the conversation with Jesus at the time, and He did not make reference to it. Christ must die in fact, in order that our salvation be offered, and our punishment be taken on by Him in our place. So the killing of Jesus was not actually an abomination but instead part of the plan of our salvation. What then? Jesus had already alluded to it earlier when He first said, “be not deceived”. He would state it again soon in the coming texts. Any sort of replacement for the true Jesus, any sort of diversion of our focus away from Jesus for our salvation, would become the abomination of desolation, for our transformation is impossible without Jesus Christ.
The election of Linus was dangerous because the people of this day, were already looking to the Bishop of Rome to handle spiritual matters for them, instead of looking directly to Jesus Christ themselves. The people had already turned away from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and were looking at their Bishop as being the authority to seek out on matters of salvation. What is worse, the leadership of the Christian faith, had assumed rights, authority, and control over the believers; instead of being in service to the people. The Bishops had advertised as having authority even over Jesus Christ, and as being the source the people should feel comfortable coming to, instead of directly to Christ. This intercessory role was never intended for humans to offer to other humans. It was intended only for Jesus to offer to us. Any reliance on anyone other than Jesus creates an abomination resulting in the desolation of our souls, of our actions, of our hearts. For one human cannot transform the mind and heart of another. Only Jesus can truly do this. Only Jesus can truly save us from us.
And before we get too sanctimonious in looking down on the simpletons of our history. We should examine our lives today. While we may not rely upon a human pope to offer us salvation. We have replaced the pope of history, with the papal power in our mirrors. We do not look at a Catholic pope to save and transform us, but instead we still hold on to “self” to do the same thing. We believe “we” are in control over our sins. We simply need to choose to stop sinning and we will stop sinning. But while we control our actions, our hearts are still steeped in the love of sin. Our motives have not changed, even though our strong will is able to keep us from defying the letter of the law. We too have engaged in the abomination of desolation, because we too, have allowed Jesus to take a back seat role in our salvation, in our perfection processes. But it has ever been the same. Only Jesus can save us from ourselves. No other human can do it, not pope, and not self. The danger is the same, even if separated by 2,000 years of history.
Then Jesus transitions from the Jews and Christians who were to flea into the mountains when they heard the news of these events. He would now focus on those who still remained closer to Jerusalem as the Romans were invading. The dangers for them would be more immediate. Jesus continues in verse 15 saying … “ And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: [verse 16] And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.” When the Roman scouts are seen on the horizon, when Roman banners are close enough to dot the horizon, there is no time to pack. There is no time to return for clothing or precious belongings. If life is to be preserved, one must flea immediately.
In our day, when we discover our self-reliance, there is no time to delay. We cannot flirt with the idea of self-salvation, or our lives will not be spared. The dangers of self are immediate and bring a level of desolation we cannot imagine. If we are to be spared, we must flee self, and self-reliance, and run as fast as we can to Jesus. We cannot depend on our salvation being established by other humans. Our parents cannot save us. Our pastors and popes cannot save us. The history of our church forefathers, and bloodlines we descend from cannot save us. Only Jesus can save us, and only as we look to Him, and submit to Him to do it. Any diversion away from Jesus Christ, any reliance on anything other than Him, takes us right back to the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not, between us and our true Messiah.
Jesus continues in verse 17 saying … “But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! [verse 18] And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.” Pregnant mothers, and those with nursing children will have it particularly hard fleeing. It is because those infants who depend upon them will still have needs even while they flee. A flight in winter will be hard as food is more scarce, and conditions much harsher. You can survive heat in the outdoors, much easier than you can survive cold. Heat brings more life with it. Cold tends to make life hide and be reclusive. Mothers are the backbone of any society, in any age. In our day, those who raise children, have an even more intense need to find Jesus, particularly when conditions are well suited around them. When strong support systems are in place, mothers should use them, to find Jesus for themselves. For a mother to find Jesus, when conditions are harsh, will have repercussions for their young. And all of us are directly influenced by what our mothers believe, whether we like it or not.
Jesus continues in verse 19 saying … “For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. [verse 20] And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.” These two verses seem equally valid for the time of the destruction of the Temple, and for those we live in. In the days of Jerusalem, strange signs began to appear in the skies over the city. Chariots of fire in the clouds both in day and night began to appear. The Christians saw these signs for what they were and fled the city. Not a single Christian was lost in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem as a result. But for those who remained, parents came to the point of eating their own children to survive the siege. There is no horror greater than to be reduced to cannibalism in order to remain alive. It wars against the body and soul. It scars us in ways that will never quite heal.
In our day we have witnessed atrocities on a grander scale. We see attempts at genocide from WW2 to the far east. What one person is capable of inflicting upon another seems to have no limits in our day. And we wonder if the world has ever been this bad. It has. It has been so since Satan gained control over the populous. It is only Jesus that can free us from being either victim or perpetrator, and break the cycle once and for all. And so the Father God, must shorten the days He is willing to tolerate evil, in an attempt to save all who might be saved. He is forced to shorten His preferred date, because if He does not, we would take actions that would end ALL life in our world, and leave no one left alive. But make no mistake, this is not what He preferred, but what our embrace of evil demands. How few will see it coming. How few will choose the life He would offer as its alternative, the freedom from pain He longs to provide us.
Jesus continues in verse 21 saying … “And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: [verse 22] For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. [verse 23] But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.” Here again, Jesus returns to what weighs heavily upon His mind, the distractions and deceptions of following humans instead of following Himself. Jesus repeats His warning again, stating that no matter how long it takes, there is always someone standing in the place of our savior, purporting to be the next Messiah. These false Christs will also have the backing of Satan, showing signs and wonders, so many they might deceive even the very elect. These words and this warning is terrifying.
We in our age, who know so little of the Holy Spirit on a personal basis. We have no baseline to determine if the supernatural we witness is of the Holy Spirit, or of the competitor of our God. We attempt to use the scriptures, or our interpretations of them to discern the difference. But in all our studies, and all our doctrines, we have been left void of the supernatural in our own lives. We walk in the desert, neither performing miracles, nor believing we could ever perform them. And so the dry, are expected to judge whether the living have life blood from Jesus (who our own lives reflect so little of), or of Satan (who would love to deceive us with his power, encouraging us to use it on ourselves, and on our glory). The elect should have experienced transformation. But perhaps this is the biggest deception, that the dry, think themselves as the elect, having been deceived that doctrine is more important than love. Then assuming that doctrine can discern, what only love could have.
But there was more to be said by Jesus, more prophecy designed to change the outcome of our own lives, given to us not just to witness, but to participate within …
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