question: what about matthew 24:15. how is this fulfilled in historicism.?
Just as a reminder; Historicists believe end-time prophecies are fulfilled progressively throughout human history, proving that God steers human events and that everything that has happened in the last ~2k years is laid out by God's end-time prophecies. So time is our context. Now, within any eschatological position, there are nuanced disagreements but overall this is how we treat prophecy.
Order of Events:
1) Matthew 24 begins just after Messiah gives a scathing rebuke to the Pharisees and His lament of His people rejecting Him. At the very end of chapter 23 He says, "BEHOLD, your house is left unto you desolate! For I say unto you, you shall not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!"
2) The Messiah (God in the flesh) was hurt by their rejection and passed judgment on the people. If the words of a true prophet always come true then what of the words of THEE Word of God? So however it happens, Messiah's words caused the desolation.
3) In Matthew 24, Messiah and His disciples are walking out of the temple as the disciples admire its structures, when Messiah says "You see all of this? Not one stone will be left standing". The disciples then asked him when it would happen and what will be the signs of His return and the end of the age.
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So the Messiah's Olivet Discourse describes (a) the destruction/desolation of that Temple, (b) the punishment of the Jews, and (c) a summary of events to follow until He returns.
- The temple was always known as "The House", whether "The House of the Lord", or "The [Jews'] House of Worship". Messiah was in the house rebuking the Pharisees and His people in Matthew 23.
- At the end of Matthew 23, Messiah tells them that THEIR HOUSE, that temple, will be made desolate for rejecting Him.
- Now, if we reference Daniel 9:26-27 [KJV] it says:
And after [62 weeks] shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
...and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
So Daniel 9:26-27 says:
- The Messiah will be cut off
- The city and Sanctuary (Temple) will be destroyed (by the people of the prince to come)
- He shall make it desolate (whoever "he" is)
And in Matthew 23:38-39 Messiah says:
- Your house (Temple) is now left desolate
....So, in hindsight from the Historicist POV, the Messiah is "He" who was prophesied to make The 2nd Temple desolate in Daniel 9:27 and history testifies to its desolation in 70 AD.
Desolation = Destruction. This is our context for Matthew 24:15.
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4) Messiah lists several events that would begin before the destruction of the temple: Deception (false prophets), Wars, Famines, Pestilences (disease/death), and signs like Earthquakes in random places. These would start. Mark 13:1,6-8, and Luke 21:5,8-11 are additional witnesses testifying to the same Olivet Discourse listing these same events that were to begin before the Temple's desolation.
So we can synchronize all three gospels and let each fill in the missing pieces.
5) Messiah then tells the disciples that they were going to suffer, be persecuted, and killed before the destruction of the temple, but that through them the gospel will be preached to all the nations.
The Book of Acts is an account of the disciples spreading the gospels to all the nations of the known world while being persecuted and killed fulfilling this prediction. History records the martyrdom of the apostles (except for John) in the 1st century AD before 70 AD destruction.
6) In Matthew 24:15, Messiah then says "When you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place - as spoken by Daniel - GET OUT!" Mark 13:14 records Messiah saying, "When you see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not - as spoken by Daniel - GET OUT!" But Luke 21:20 records Messiah saying, "When you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation is near. GET OUT!"
- Desolation = Destruction, which we know happened in 70 AD.
- The temple's destruction was to involve an army surrounding and besieging Jerusalem.
- Something abominable must have stood in the holy place, where it ought not to be before the destruction of the temple.
So in my view, the Messiah is referring to the Roman army as the "abomination of desolation". It is that army entering into the holy city and onto the temple mount that is the "abomination" that eventually desolates the temple. Messiah references Daniel because the passages prophesy all AODs that were meant to occur starting when the daily sacrifice was first ended by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 BC.
The priests were commanded to keep the fire of the altar continually burning and to offer a morning and evening lamb each day. This was not a sacrifice for sin, but an offering. But each time they were prevented from doing so it was considered "desolation".
Daniel 8:13
Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
So, the Roman army, ending the daily sacrifice for good by destroying the temple completely, is the AOD. Once they begin to enter into the city (Luke 21:20) the people in the know were to flee.
The Timeframe of tribulation for the Jews begins.
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