24:15

the disgusting thing that causes desolation: Daniel foretold that “disgusting thing(s)” would be associated with desolation. (Da 9:27; 11:31; 12:11) Jesus here indicates that “the disgusting thing that causes desolation” had not yet appeared; it was to come in the future. And 33 years after Jesus’ death, Christians witnessed the initial fulfillment of this prophecy when they did catch sight of a disgusting thing standing in a holy place. The parallel account at Lu 21:20 reads: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near.” In 66 C.E., pagan Roman armies surrounded “the holy city,” Jerusalem, a place that the Jews viewed as holy and that was the center of the Jewish revolt against Rome. (Mt 4:5; 27:53) Discerning Christians, who recognized that the Roman army with its idolatrous banners was “the disgusting thing,” took it as the final signal to “begin fleeing to the mountains.” (Mt 24:15, 16; Lu 19:43, 44; 21:20-22) After the Christians fled, the Romans desolated both the city and the nation. Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70 C.E., and the last Jewish stronghold, Masada, fell to the Romans in 73 C.E. (Compare Da 9:25-27.) The detailed initial fulfillment of this prophecy provides a solid basis for trusting that the greater fulfillment will also take place, culminating with Jesus’ “coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Mt 24:30) Many ignore Jesus’ statement that Daniel’s prophecy would be fulfilled after Jesus’ day, and they follow Jewish tradition in applying Daniel’s prophecy to an event in 168 B.C.E. when Syrian King Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) profaned Jehovah’s temple in Jerusalem. Antiochus attempted to stamp out the worship of Jehovah, even building an altar over the great altar of Jehovah and sacrificing pigs as an offering to the pagan god Zeus of Olympus. (See study note on Joh 10:22.) The apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees (1:54) uses an expression similar to the one found in the book of Daniel (associating disgusting things with desolation) and applies it to the event in 168 B.C.E. However, Jewish tradition and the account in 1 Maccabees are human interpretations, not inspired revelations. Certainly, Antiochus provoked feelings of disgust by desecrating the temple, but his attack did not result in the desolation of Jerusalem, the temple, or the Jewish nation.

holy place: Referring in the initial fulfillment of this prophecy to Jerusalem with its temple.​—See study note on Mt 4:5.

(let the reader use discernment): Readers should always use discernment when studying God’s Word, but there is apparently a special need to be alert to the application of this portion of Daniel’s prophecy. Jesus was cautioning his hearers that the fulfillment of this prophecy was not in the past but was yet future.​—See the study note on the disgusting thing that causes desolation in this verse.