93 Lk3:4
94 Jn17:22-23
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Preaching on the Mount of Olives, Jesus as a Prophet in his own right drew upon the prophecies of Daniel regarding a sacral atrocity which God had revealed to Him would take place at some point before His return. This event is expressed in terms of the Temple, but in view of the restructured timeline to enable elect from every nation to be brought into the messianic fellowship, certain prophetic promises have been deferred, such as the removal of the wicked from the earth, global peace, security for the Holy Land and universal acknowledgement of Christ’s Kingship. These will instead be fulfilled after the Parousia.
What was thwarted or not completed at the first coming would be repeated at the second, such as reconciling certain “parents and children”95 in time for the Lord to come to realize His Kingdom “to order it and establish it with judgement and justice”96. That is what John the Baptist believed he was preparing for with respect to Israel. In His sermon Jesus had drawn His hearer’s attention to a prophecy in Daniel97 which foretold that a man and his supporters would come to “profane the sanctuary, abolish the perpetual sacrifice and appoint the appalling abomination”98. Ostensibly, this was alluding to Antiochus Epiphanes, outlined in more detail in 1Maccabees1. The deuterocanonical account, missing from Protestant Bibles, sets out how some renegade Jews collaborated with this evil prince, leading many others to abandon the Holy Covenant and live without the Law as Gentiles, effectively bringing about an apostasy. Antiochus and his men desecrated the Temple, removing the altar with its ornamental trimmings and libation vessels, and installed an idle (a statue of Zeus) in its place.
But Jesus clearly had something else in mind, for Antiochus’s activities were some two hundred years before Jesus’ re-iteration of the prophecy concerning the abomination (or idol) that He said would in the future cause desolation by being appointed a place that was not intended for it (let the reader understand)99 and would supplant the daily sacrifice100. Jesus implied it related to an occurrence preceding the destruction of the temple but in view of Paul’s new revelation, it would refer to an event in the Church, affirmed by the fact that it is contextually linked with the global distress (tribulations) and the second coming. In terms of the temple, Jesus’ prophecy came very close to being realized in the early 40’s when self-styled deity Emperor Caligula planned to place statues of himself in the sanctuary and dispatched an army under Governor Petronius to implement his plan, but the Jewish people managed to persuade the governor to countermand his Emperor who was assassinated shortly afterwards. However, Daniel’s depiction does not align with any sacral issues leading up to the Temple’s destruction in the 70AD siege of Jerusalem; apart from which, dreadful though the Jewish-Roman war was, it was eclipsed as recently as the last century by the Great War and Jewish Holocaust, and certainly did not threaten the continued existence of mankind101. So, most commentators recognize that the Daniel 12 prophecy was not fulfilled in AD70. It is said to be a sealed prophecy, the meaning 95 Mal4:5-6; Lk1:17
96 Is9:7
97 Mt24:15
98 Dan11:31
99 Mt24:15; Mk13:14: A unique asseveration; usually Jesus would say, “He who has ears let him hear”. The comment is unlikely to have been added by the synoptic gospel writers to draw attention to their own text which itself would be an unparalleled occurrence within a gospel narrative. It was therefore Jesus’ warning and He would appear to have had future readers of the Scriptures in mind.
100 Cf. Dan12:11
101 Cf. Dan12:1; Mt24:21-22
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of which would be hidden until the time of the end (v4). What we are also told in Daniel is this: “From the time of the turning aside of the perpetual sacrifice102 and appointing the desolating abomination”103 up to the time when the “fragmentation of the authority of the holy people is over”104 will be a period of 1290 days (3.5 years or “times”). Blessed will be those who persevere and attain a further 45 “days”105 up to the resurrection106. Let those with wisdom seek to interpret this in light of Church history, Paul’s teaching concerning the mystery of lawlessness107, the unveiling of the Lawless One108 and the popular defection109
from the Church that must have occurred before the Day of Christ arrives.
Jesus’ references in His Olivet sermon to God’s people being ensnared and deceived by false prophets, resulting in mutual betrayal and hatred110 also refers to a religious hiatus or apostasy as distinct from the earthquakes and famines that are immediately to proceed the Parousia. In terms of the timing of the latter, Jesus provided a general guideline in form of a parable:
“Take the fig tree as a parable: as soon as its twigs grow supple and its leaves come out you know that summer is near. So, with you when you see all these things, know that He is near right at the gates. In truth I tell you before this generation has passed away, all these things will have taken place”111.
By “these things”, Jesus is referring to the tribulation events He had outlined. By
“this generation” He can only be referring to the ones observing and experiencing these events, which He will at that point have understood112 to be the generation being addressed, particularly in view of His statement113 that some in the crowd would not taste death before they see the kingdom of God established. This is also indicated by His expectation that His followers in the last days “will be handed over to the synagogues”114
and that His own disciples “would not have finished going through the towns of Israel”
before the Son of Man returned in glory115; also that some of the people who will be rejected for Kingdom inheritance would be able to plead “but we ate and drank in your presence and You taught in our streets”116. Jesus also intended to despatch prophets and scribes to the synagogues117 before His return. He had earlier instructed His listeners to
“keep Torah”118 until heaven and earth disappear, and those who failed to teach it in full 102 Daniel’s “perpetual sacrifice” as understood to be referring to the Holy Eucharist affirmed in Hippolytus’ “Fragment from Commentaries” “On Daniel” 2nd fragment (para 22)
103 Dan12:11
104 Dan12:7 refer to Hebrew text
105 Dan12:12
106 Cf. Dan12:2
107 Greek: musterion anomias 2Thes2:7
108 Greek: apokaluphthesetai ho anomos 2Thes2:8
109 Greek: apostasia 2Thes2:3
110 Mt24:10-11
111 Mt24:32-34
112 Cf. Mk13:32 and Acts1:7
113 Lk9:27
114 Lk21:12
115 Mt10:23
116 Lk13:26
117 Mt23:34
118 Mt5:18
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would be least in the kingdom of the heavens. Likewise, He had instructed his followers to continue to obey the Scribes and Pharisees that taught the Torah because they “occupied the seat of Moses”119. Caveat: Jesus effectively confirmed the Scribes and Pharisees to be leaders within the true religion, but He was by no means enamoured with them or their institution; He would go on to replace it and them.
Jesus evidently did not regard Himself at this point as founding a new religion; rather He was encouraging a renewed and spiritual approach to being Jewish in preparation for the coming Kingdom. It should also be noted He was not saying the Jewish leaders were teaching a distorted works-orientated religion; for He said they were to be obeyed. His complaint against these leaders was their legalism regarding the externals of the Law, parts of which were mere human traditions whilst they neglected the heart of the Law which was devotion to God and love for neighbour120 leading to social justice and enlightenment for the Gentiles. Jesus also knew them to be hypocrites, hence: do what they say, not what they do121. Finally, He said that those in Judaea should be ready to flee to the mountains to be delivered from the indignation to come122. All this together with the various verdicts to be awarded to the cities that had not responded to His call to repentance123 must have been in the expectation of a reasonably imminent Judgement.
It did not pan out in that way or in that sequence for the reason provided most clearly in Romans11:11 concerning those from the Gentile nations being elected to the royal priesthood “to stir God’s chosen race to envy”, re-affirmed by the same apostle in the third chapter of Ephesians through the fellowship or administration pertaining to God’s secret plan hidden from the previous age. Preaching the gospel of the Kingdom to all nations as a witness to the coming Christ could have been undertaken within a generation; then the rest of the world would be sorted out (i.e., judged) at His coming in accordance with all Old Testament prophecy. The revised plan that had been hidden in the Father would take much longer, for now chosen members from every nation and each future generation would be drawn into God’s Household to be fitted for Kingdom service now and in the ages to come.
Of course, the current age does not exist merely to recruit Gentiles to the Kingdom, it has been the age of discovery for the whole human race, hence its longevity. It is the period when she would engage in the pursuit of knowledge, gain an understanding of science and the universe, discover new medicines and develop ever more sophisticated means of transport and communication; knowledge and innovation that has progressed exponentially in the last century. This has all been working towards an end, which is not to prepare for global annihilation and a spiritualized eternity but for renaissance and resurrection. In the meantime, the Initiator of that regeneration has become the “long expected Jesus”, currently located where He needs to be to make intercession at the right hand of God for a people who are not only located in the holy city but throughout the world; for -
119 Mt23:1-3
120 Mt7:12
121 Mt23:3
122 Mt24:16-19
123 Mt11:20-21
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“He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens”124
Just as a universal gospel mission was prophesied to prepare those outside the Holy Land who were living at the time of the expected Jewish Messianic Kingdom, so would a
unified witness be needed for the billions outside the Church in the generation that lives to experience Christ’s second coming; for which reason something radical must happen within Christendom, for a unified gospel message from the churches is currently impossible.