abomination of desolation
Matthew 24:15
24:15 abomination of desolation. The “abomination of desolation” refers to the “image of the beast” (Revelation 13:14-15) which will be set up by the Antichrist and his “false prophet” as an object of enforced global worship, “so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (II Thessalonians 2:4). This will take place, according to Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:24-27), after the “prince that shall come” (that is, the Antichrist) has made a seven-year treaty with Israel to allow their ancient temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem and their worship rituals to be reestablished. He will break this covenant “in the midst of the week” (that is, after the first 3½ years of the treaty period), and erect his “overspreading of abominations”—his great idol image, with overstretching arms, mocking the cherubim in the original holy place—in God’s temple (Daniel 9:27; see also Daniel 11:31 and 12:11). This will signal the unleashing of his genocidal fury against Israel and all who refuse to worship him.