SRR 119 The Danielic Imperative (23) The Sign of Matthew 24, Mark 13 & Luke 21 to leave Judæa

In this episode, we discuss the sign Jesus said would indicate that it was time to depart from Judæa—the abomination of desolation, according to Matthew and Mark, and the surrounding of Jerusalem, according to Luke. Under a Danielic construct, the abomination of desolation can be shown to have been erected in a holy place where it ought not be in 41 AD, when the Statue of Jupiter was placed in the synagogue of Doris. But the commentaries largely agree that Jerusalem was surrounded with armies in 70 AD. How could the gospels give two different signs 29 years apart, both being the indication that it was time to leave Judæa? The problem is that historically, eschatologists of every stripe have largely ignored what the Scriptures indicate about the identification of the abomination, and instead assumed that Luke was referring to the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and used that assumption to determine the identity of the abomination of desolation. Based on Luke’s account, the abomination described in Matthew and Mark is taken to refer to something that occurred during or shortly after the Roman siege of Jerusalem in September of 70 AD. We propose, instead, that we should take our understanding of the abomination of desolation from the scriptural accounts of it, and then use the accounts of Matthew and Mark to understand what Jesus meant in Luke 21.

Show Notes:

Wesley’s Commentary on Matthew 24

What is the Abomination of Desolation?, by Daniel Doriani, September 4, 2014 (The Gospel Coalition)

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews

Josephus, Wars of the Jews

Tacitus, Histories

Luke 21, Young’s Literal Translation

Jeremiah 31, Young’s Literal Translation