What does “abomination of desolation” mean?
The prophet Daniel’s original prophecy has more than one fulfillment. “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.” (Daniel 12:11).
The first fulfillment took place in 167 B.C. On the twenty-fifth day of Kislev (corresponding to November/December on the Roman calendar) the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes, and his army, erected an altar to the Greek god Zeus on the temple mount in Jerusalem and offered swine upon it. The abomination of desolation Jesus Christ mentioned was the desecration of the temple and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies in A.D. 70.
However, there is yet to be a final fulfillment. Shortly before Jesus Christ returns to this earth, armies will once again surround Jerusalem and an abomination will be set up in the city. When this occurs, those in Jerusalem are told to flee to the mountains. “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:16-17; see also Luke 21:20-21).
