Matthew 24:15–31

In the Old Testament God foretold an unparalleled time of trouble, characterized by birth pangs but followed by the return of scattered Jews to their homeland to serve the Lord and live in peace under a Davidic king (Jer. 30:4–10). God called this period “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (v. 7).

Centuries later Jesus described that identical time, also called the Great Tribulation, and told how it will begin and what will follow (Mt. 24:15–31).

Its Beginning (Mt. 24:15)
After Jesus described the Great Tribulation (the second half of a seven-year period called the Tribulation, vv. 9–14), He began the next sentence (v. 15) with “therefore.” Thus He indicated that the next section of His discourse was an inference drawn from the characteristics of that future period.

Speaking in advance to Jewish people who will live in Judea then, Jesus told them that, in light of the traumatic nature of the second half of the Tribulation, they should be alert to the event that will begin that second half: the setting up of the abomination in the holy place as foretold through Daniel the prophet (Dan. 9:27).

The word translated “abomination” means “detestable thing.” It refers to “anything that must not be brought before God because it arouses his wrath” and is used in the Bible “of everything connected with idolatry.”¹

The expression “the holy place” refers to the Temple. God commanded Israel to destroy all the idolatrous Canaanite worship places and to worship Him exclusively at “the place” where He would put His name and dwell (Dt. 12:1–6, 11). The Temple Solomon built in Jerusalem was that place (1 Ki. 8:28–30). First-century Jews called the Temple “this holy place” (Acts 6:13; 21:28), indicating it was “reserved for God and his service.”²