Read Mark 13:14 –18. What clue does Jesus give in figuring out what the “abomination of desolation” refers to?

Jesus comes to the central point about the fall of Jerusalem in Mark 13:14 . He refers to “_the abomination of desolation._” The Lord says that the reader should understand. With these words, Jesus is pointing the disciples to the book of Daniel. This terminology appears in Daniel 9:27 , Daniel 11:31 , and Daniel 12:11 , with a parallel in Daniel 8:13 .

Read Daniel 9:26 , 27. Who is the “anointed One,” and who is “the prince who is to come” (ESV)?

The “anointed one” in Daniel 9:26 (ESV) is the Hebrew word māšiaḥ, in English, Messiah. In a careful study of Daniel 9:24 –27, it is clear that this anointed one refers to the coming of Jesus Christ.

But who is “the prince who is to come,” who brings the desolation of the city of Jerusalem? The city was destroyed by the Roman general Titus. Thus, it seems logical that he is “the prince who is to come” referred to in Daniel 9:26 , 27. The two individuals are linked because the way that the Messiah was treated spelled the doom of the city.

What, though, is this “abomination of desolation” that Jesus, referring to Daniel, talks about? Unfortunately, many scholars believe that this abomination refers to Antiochus Epiphanes’s desecration of the temple in the second century B.C. That doesn’t work though. Jesus describes the “abomination of desolation” as something that occurs after His own time here, so it hardly could refer to something that happened two centuries before Christ’s earthly ministry.

Instead, the abomination likely refers to the planting of the Roman pagan standards in Israel during the siege of Jerusalem in the late A.D. 60s. This was the sign for the Christians to flee, which they did.

Just as Jesus predicted, Jerusalem fell. How can we learn to trust Him and the Bible in all its predictions?