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Back in 1978, I was asked to teach a seminar on Daniel & Revelation. While doing so, the thought crossed my mind, “What if the 1290 and 1335 days of Daniel 12:11-12 are not the first or last half of the great tribulation, and what if Dan 9:27 isn’t about a seven-year tribulation.”
While in Bible college (class of ‘54), I’d studied all the usual explanations about the 69 weeks of Daniel 9:24-26 (from the decree of Artaxerxes I to the cross), but the way most theologians explained them, you had to fudge the numbers to make them fit recorded history. Then I remembered from the book of Jubilees found at Qumran, that for religious reasons, Old Testament Jews used a somewhat complicated 19 year calender, each year of which had only 360 days. Since Daniel was an Old Testament book, it occurred to me that the Lord may have used a calendar with which Daniel was familiar for the 69 weeks, a year of 360 days, so I tried it.
Bingo, it was exactly 483 Hebrew (476 solar) years from the decree of Artaxerxes 1 (444BC-445BC) to the cross! (32-34AD).
So we could now prove those 69 weeks were not weeks of days, but weeks of years. Then I remembered that the prophet Ezekiel (who lived at the same time as Daniel) had already written that prophetic days should be understood as years . . .
Ezekiel 4:5-6 “For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. “
Maybe prophetic days elsewhere in Scripture should also be understood as years. I then asked myself, “If the 69 weeks aren’t literal 24 hour days, maybe the 1290 and 1335 days of Dan 12:11-12 aren’t literal days either. We don’t have the authority to arbitrarily decide that days in Dan 12 are literal do we, particularly if they aren’t literal in Dan 9. Hadn’t God had just proven a day for a year in Dan 9:27? I looked at Dan 12:11 again with that idea in mind:
Daniel 12:11 "And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”
Years possibly, but to which abolition of temple sacrifices might God be referring? I just had to try for a fit.
Historically, sacrifices were abolished four times. Once before Daniel, once during Daniel’s lifetime, then in 168 B.C. by Antiochus epiphanies, and in 70 A.D. when Titus the Roman sacked Jerusalem. Since sacrifices were indeed abolished during Daniel’s time, wasn’t it reasonable to conclude that the Lord was telling Daniel about an abolition of sacrifices he knew all about, an event to which Daniel could relate?
The temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. + 1290 Hebrew (1271.5 solar) years = 685.5 A.D.. That’s when the Muslim Califah Abd el Malik Ibn Marwan started clearing the temple mount. But the construction of the Islamic Dome of the Rock didn’t begin for another three years, so I thought there ought to be a better fit.
I went back to Scripture. In Jeremiah 41:5 we find that temple sacrifices continued AFTER the temple was burned, so when were they abolished? In Jeremiah 52:30 we find that Nebuzaradan, Captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s guard, took the final captivity back to Babylon three years AFTER the temple was destroyed, in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, 583 B.C..
Bingo! 583 B.C. + 1290 Hebrew (1271.5 solar) years = 688.5 A.D., and that, my friends, is the exact year when the Muslims started to build a memorial to Muhammad, The Dome of the Rock, on the temple mount of God Most Holy.
And what did the Bible call it? “The Abomination that maketh desolate!”
While in Bible college (class of ‘54), I’d studied all the usual explanations about the 69 weeks of Daniel 9:24-26 (from the decree of Artaxerxes I to the cross), but the way most theologians explained them, you had to fudge the numbers to make them fit recorded history. Then I remembered from the book of Jubilees found at Qumran, that for religious reasons, Old Testament Jews used a somewhat complicated 19 year calender, each year of which had only 360 days. Since Daniel was an Old Testament book, it occurred to me that the Lord may have used a calendar with which Daniel was familiar for the 69 weeks, a year of 360 days, so I tried it.
Bingo, it was exactly 483 Hebrew (476 solar) years from the decree of Artaxerxes 1 (444BC-445BC) to the cross! (32-34AD).
So we could now prove those 69 weeks were not weeks of days, but weeks of years. Then I remembered that the prophet Ezekiel (who lived at the same time as Daniel) had already written that prophetic days should be understood as years . . .
Ezekiel 4:5-6 “For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. “
Maybe prophetic days elsewhere in Scripture should also be understood as years. I then asked myself, “If the 69 weeks aren’t literal 24 hour days, maybe the 1290 and 1335 days of Dan 12:11-12 aren’t literal days either. We don’t have the authority to arbitrarily decide that days in Dan 12 are literal do we, particularly if they aren’t literal in Dan 9. Hadn’t God had just proven a day for a year in Dan 9:27? I looked at Dan 12:11 again with that idea in mind:
Daniel 12:11 "And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”
Years possibly, but to which abolition of temple sacrifices might God be referring? I just had to try for a fit.
Historically, sacrifices were abolished four times. Once before Daniel, once during Daniel’s lifetime, then in 168 B.C. by Antiochus epiphanies, and in 70 A.D. when Titus the Roman sacked Jerusalem. Since sacrifices were indeed abolished during Daniel’s time, wasn’t it reasonable to conclude that the Lord was telling Daniel about an abolition of sacrifices he knew all about, an event to which Daniel could relate?
The temple was destroyed in 586 B.C. + 1290 Hebrew (1271.5 solar) years = 685.5 A.D.. That’s when the Muslim Califah Abd el Malik Ibn Marwan started clearing the temple mount. But the construction of the Islamic Dome of the Rock didn’t begin for another three years, so I thought there ought to be a better fit.
I went back to Scripture. In Jeremiah 41:5 we find that temple sacrifices continued AFTER the temple was burned, so when were they abolished? In Jeremiah 52:30 we find that Nebuzaradan, Captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s guard, took the final captivity back to Babylon three years AFTER the temple was destroyed, in the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, 583 B.C..
Bingo! 583 B.C. + 1290 Hebrew (1271.5 solar) years = 688.5 A.D., and that, my friends, is the exact year when the Muslims started to build a memorial to Muhammad, The Dome of the Rock, on the temple mount of God Most Holy.
And what did the Bible call it? “The Abomination that maketh desolate!”
First of all Daniel 9:27 talks about a 7 year peace agreement not a 7 year great tribulation.
9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
S he confirms a covenant or peace agreement or whatever you want to call it with many nations for a period of seven years. (1 week translated in this particular passage in the KJV meaning a period of 7 years, not seven days) Then what does it say? In the midst of the week, after 3.5 years, leaving 3.5 years to go he takes away the daily sacrifice, and religious worship and sets up the abomination of desolation which signals the start of the great tribulation. So the great tribulation is a period of 3 1/2 years, not 7 years.
I wanted to clarify that point first before getting into your main question, "What is the real abomination of desolation." And I can guarantee you it is not the Dome of the Rock.
24:15 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
24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
So here Jesus is saying in Mathew 24 that when we see the abomination of desolation standing In the temple in Jeruselem that this will signal the start of the great tribulation. unless you're saying that the 3 1/2 years of great tribulation happened right after the Muslim dome of the rock was built then the dome of the rock is obviously not the abomination that maketh desolate. The Jesus goes on to say.
24:29 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:
24:30 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.
24:31 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.
So here Jesus is saying that right after the great tribulation He is going to come back to resurrect and rapture all of His children from every corner of the earth. So unless you're trying to say that Jesus came back 3 1/2 years after the dome of the rock was built, then we know that it is definitely not the abomination of desolation. So, exactly what is the real abomination of desolation?
13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
This is actually the real abomination of desolation. when the antichrist (referred to in chapter 13 of revelations as the beast) first comes to power he brokers this 7 year covenant then after 3 1/2 years he breaks the covenant and sets himself up in the temple as God and says everybody has the worship him. The 2nd beast of Revelations 13 is his false prophet, who persuades the people to build an IMAGE OF THE BEAST (The abomination of desolation) and set it up in the temple and everybody in the world will have to fall down and worship the image of the beast or be killed. This is the time of great tribulation when all God's true children will have to flee into the wilderness in order to escape the antichrist's forces who will be out killing everybody who won't worship the beast, especially Christians. And, of course, after the time of great tribulation, Jesus will come back to rescue His children from the evil clutches of the antichrist. Since all of this hasn't happened yet we know that it is something that is going to happen in the near future not something that has already happened in the distant past. Certainly not in 588 A.D.