Information Related to "Just What Is the Abomination of Desolation"
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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
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.
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