Luke 21:20 says “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
The abomination would be the culmination of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. To understand what this abomination was, we must go back to its historical fulfilment. The abomination of desolation that Daniel prophesied about came to pass in the days of the Maccabees, for Antiochus IV, was the Old Testament fulfillment of that. Daniel 11:31 says “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.”
Luke had perfect knowledge of the events of the time: Luke 1:3-4 says “It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”
Also Acts 1:1-2 says “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:”
Jerusalem continued to sacrifice for a generation before the destruction of the temple: Amos foretells of this desolation in chapter 5:21-25 which says: “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?”
Christ sent the Roman armies to judge Jerusalem. Revelation 18:4-5 says “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”
Jerusalem’s sacrifices were a stench in the nostrils of God. It was time for her desolation and judgment to begin. Jeremiah 9:11,13-15 says “And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without man…And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them the water of gall to drink.” Revelation 18 reminds us that Jerusalem became a place of dragons, or devils in verse 2: “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
The destruction of the temple and first century Jerusalem would be the fulfilment of the judgment of the great whore found in Revelation 17 and 18. Revelation 18:24,19:2 says “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth…For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” Matthew 23:34-36 says “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”
Revelation 18:23 says “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” Jeremiah 7 lets us know who this is: Jeremiah 7:34 says “Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.” Revelation 17 like Jeremiah says that the woman sits on many waters (17:1). Revelation 17:15-16 says “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”
-Anthony Booker
The GATHERING Place 