The Abomination of Desolation
Mark 13.14-23
Introduction
May 21, 2011. A radio preacher named Harold Camping predicted that the rapture was going to happen on that day. Now I’m not a Dispensationalist, some of you might be, and that’s ok. I’m an amillennialist and I think you’re wrong but it’s a third tier issue, which means we can disagree and still be faithful Christians. Anyway, like I said I’m not a Dispensationalist, but this seemed like an occasion to have some fun. So Bethany and I had some friends over and we watched the Left Behind movie.
We were living in Fordsville, KY at the time in a parsonage owned by the church I pastored. The parsonage was at the top of a little hill. At the bottom of the hill was the church parking lot. The church was maybe 50 feet from the bottom of our driveway. So like I said, we’re there with some friends watching Left Behind in honor of the end of the world. As we’re watching the movie we hear this really loud noise outside. I’ll say it for a third time, I’m not a Dispensationalist, but for a split second I thought, “this is actually happening. The crazy radio preacher was right.”
Mark 13 is probably the most difficult chapter in the Gospel of Mark. There has been and continues to be much debate and disagreement over this passage. As eschatological dispute rages on the most important thing to remember before we dig into the details is that this pericope, like all of Mark, is about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is about the king who is going to the cross. We must not lose the forest for the trees. We cannot let the details of the text detract us from the overall point. Any exposition of this text, and any other text for that matter, that is not rooted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ misses the mark of the intention of the Holy Spirit.
The End of the Temple
We must also remember that Mark chapter 13 is about the destruction of the temple. In verses 1-2 Jesus tells his disciples that the temple will be destroyed. Then in verse 4 some of the disciples ask him privately what will be the signs that the temple will be destroyed. Jesus then begins teaching about the destruction of the temple. The scene doesn’t shift until chapter 14.1. That means everything in chapter 13 is about the destruction of the temple in AD 70. The entire pericope is governed by Jesus’ declaration of the destruction of the temple.
In verse 14 Jesus says they will know the temple is being destroyed when they see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not be. This is not a future event. It has nothing to do with Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, or Nicolae Carpathia. All of chapter 13 is about the destruction of the 2nd Temple in AD 70. In AD 67-68 there was a Jewish rebellion against Rome over taxes. Fighting spilled into the temple. Jews were killing other Jews and people were even being murdered in the holy of holies.
In the winter of AD 67-68 Phannias ben Samuel was named High Priest. He was not from the line of Aaron. Instead the zealots cast lots and chose Phannias. Listen to what Ananus, retired High Priest said of Phannias, “It would’ve been far better for me to have died before I had seen the house of God laden with such abominations and its unapproachable and hallowed places crowded with the feet of murderers.” This is what leads to the destruction of the temple in AD 70 when Titus breaches the walls of Jerusalem in July of 70 and burns the temple to the ground.
Jesus is telling them that these events are the fulfillment of what the Prophet Daniel wrote. Josephus, a non Christian Jewish historian, Eusebias, a Christian historian, and Tacitus, a Roman historian all chronicle how devastating this time was. They speak of the tribulation as almost supernatural: an unqualified, murdering High Priest standing in the holy of holies. Over 500 people were being crucified daily, over one million people killed – this was the abomination of desolation. Think for a moment how radical this was. In the Old Testament the High Priest would go into the holy of holies with a rope around his foot in case he did the wrong thing because YHWH would strike him dead and they would have to drag him out. And now a zealot High Priest is allowing warfare and murder in the holy of holies. Why did God allow this? Because he himself was judging the temple.
I love how Mark adds the parenthetical, let the reader understand. This is further proof that the abomination of desolation has nothing to do with the European Union or Left Behind. Mark is assuming that his first century readers will understand what Jesus is talking about. This is not a secret code they’ll crack for an event 2,000 years in the future. They will see it and they will understand.
Jesus tells his church, when you see this happening, run. If you’re in Judea, flee to the mountains. This was counterintuitive. Normally when an enemy was attacking they would flee to the city. When Titus attacked many Jews did flee to the city and they were slaughtered. Titus murdered 1.1 million Jews when he ransacked Jerusalem. If they were on the roof they shouldn’t go back in the house. If they were in the field they shouldn’t turn back.
Notice also the heart of Christ in his next warning. He commands them to pray for pregnant and nursing mothers when this happens. Jesus is warning about one of the deadliest wars in the history of the world and he makes it a point to tell them to pray for pregnant and nursing mothers. Jesus cares for women and children. He tells them to pray specifically that it does not happen in winter because that will be even more difficult for pregnant and nursing mothers. God in his sovereignty knew exactly when this was going to happen and he still commands his people to pray about the specifics. He wants these rugged disciples to care for the least of these. It doesn’t get much more vulnerable than a pregnant or nursing woman and her child. Jesus cares for them and so must we.
Jesus says that AD 70 is the greatest tribulation in world history. This is more proof that Jesus is not speaking of an event at the end of time. He says
For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved.
It’s a tribulation as has not been and never will be. That means there wasn’t such tribulation before it or after it. If this were a seven-year period at the end of time, there would be nothing after it. But Jesus says there is nothing so bad before or after it. But for the sake of the church, his elect, God cut the days short.
There were many false prophets and false Christs in the days surrounding the destruction of the temple. Jesus warned them not to believe these hucksters. Jesus tells them to be on guard because he warned them of these things. And you know what, they were. When the Christians saw these events unfolding they fled the city while Jews were pouring into the city. There is almost no historical record of Christians being killed during this three-year war. Many of the elect were saved from death because they listened to the warning of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus verbally warned them and the Holy Spirit inspired Mark to write it down, an untold number of Christians were spared.
This must’ve felt like the end of the world to the Jewish people. The temple was where God dwelt and now there was no temple. No sacrifices, no priesthood, no Sanhedrin. There has not been a temple in Jerusalem since this time and there never will be. There have not been prophet, priests, or kings in Jerusalem since this time and there never will be. God judged the temple because it was a signpost that had been fulfilled. The true temple has arrived.
The True Temple
Jesus Christ is the true and final temple of God. He is the place where God and man dwell together. He is the final sacrifice. He is the eternal prophet, priest, and king. When Jesus cleansed the temple he said:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken (John 2.19-22).
There is no need for another temple because Jesus Christ built the final temple on the third day. Jesus lived without sin, offering an unblemished sacrifice to God for our sin. He died on Good Friday fulfilling all of the sacrifices of Israel. When Jesus rose from the dead he erected the true and final temple of God. To build another temple would be sacrilegious. To offer sacrifices ever again would be sacrilegious. What we must do now is repent and believe. Trust in the sacrifice of Jesus alone and God will forgive our sins.
A New Temple
When we trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Father gives us the Holy Spirit. We are in Christ. He is the true temple and through him the Spirit is building a new temple – the church. In 1st Corinthians 6.19 Paul says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12.1 calls us to be a living sacrifice. We become a living sacrifice when we crucify ourselves through repentance and faith and we are spiritually resurrected while we await our physical resurrection.
Jesus left us the sacraments to remind us of our self-crucifixion and resurrection. Baptism reminds us that we have died with Christ and have resurrected with Christ. The Eucharist reminds us of Jesus’ body broken for us and his blood shed for us. As we consume Christ every week we are functioning as God’s new temple.
This reality only exists in the local church. We are not the temple of the Spirit in an individualistic way. We are not the temple when two or three random Christians are gathered. It is when the Spirit-filled people of God are covenanted around the Word and sacraments that we are obedient to the Lord Jesus. And so we are confronted again with the question of are we a faithful temple? God judged the 2nd temple and even though he will never destroy his church, the church universal, he will extinguish unfaithful local churches.
We must always pray that Christ Community Church remains faithful to the gospel of Jesus. This cannot happen on autopilot. We must catechize our children in the Christian faith. We must evangelize those who do not know Christ. We must give of our time, treasures, and talents for the building up of the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
So we’re in Fordsville watching Left Behind on May 21, 2011. And this loud noise begins to descend upon us. We looked out the window to make sure that we weren't getting left behind, and it turns out the loud noise was a helicopter. A helicopter was landing in the church parking lot. Two men emerged, so naturally I went out to find out what in the name of Kirk Cameron was going on. The guys said that they wanted to eat at the Fordsville diner and asked if they could park their chopper there. Believe it or not, we didn’t get raptured that day.
God has judged Judaism and he’s never going back. Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament covenants and systems. They were merely shadows pointing to the Son. Jesus is the true and final temple of God. And church, we are his new temple, the temple of the Holy Spirit.