A reader named Steve asks a question about my interpretation of Daniel 9:27.

It appears that you take a preterist view of Daniel 9:27.

That brings me to a couple of questions that I need answered.

Question #1. If Jesus, in Matthew 24, is speaking to his disciples about “the end of the world” (verse 3), then, if the “abomination of desolation” that Jesus says Daniel the prophet spoke about is referring to an event that took place back in 70 AD. my first question is “Is Jesus speaking about an end time that is almost 2,000 years long?” The reason I’m asking is because we know that Matthew 24:30 is in the future, and therefore if Matt 24:15 took place back around 70 AD, then Jesus is speaking in direct response to the disciples’ inquiries about a period from about 70 AD to His second coming. (Matthew 24:15-30).

I have an article that fully describes my view on Matthew 24 and 25.

“When will these things be?” – A brief commentary on Matthew 24, 25

The following passage in bold is an except from that article:

*“The sign of His coming”

In verses 30 and 31, Jesus refers to the “sign of His coming” which I interpret as the gathering of the elect from the nations after the time of the destruction of the Temple.

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Mat. 24:30,31).

He says in vv. 29-31 that immediately after the tribulation of those days, the powers of heaven will be shaken, the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and there will be a time when the Gospel will go out to all nations (as it has been doing for 2000 years). Compare this with Matthew 28:18-20 and the other “Great Commission” passages. There is a great similarity of language.

Futurists believe that verses 30 and 31 refer specifically to the Second Coming. But what is being explained is “the sign of His coming.” Compare the language here with Acts 2:16-21. Peter says, “this is that which is spoken of by the prophet Joel.” Peter uses language very similar to Jesus in Matthew 28:29-31. The highly figurative language used here denotes Christ’s rule from heaven over the nations.

Thus the “sign of His coming” is the Church enlarged by Gentile believers and used of God to disciple the nations.*

Some preterists hold that the sign of His coming is Jesus coming in judgment when the Roman armies would destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD. That is only part of what is meant here.

Dr. Kenneth Gentry has an article here:

On the “transitional verses” in Matthew 24

He explains that Christ’s attention turns from A.D. 70 to the future Second Advent in the two transition verses, Matthew 24:34-36. I was very pleased when I read this article because it matches my view of Matthew 24.

Question #2. As far as I know, neither Titus nor Nero ever set foot in the second temple. So, my question is “Who was ‘standing in the temple’ as the ‘abomination of desolation’ “ that Jesus is referring to (the one spoken of by the prophet Daniel)?”

Essentially it is Titus and/or his legions. However, the Jews themselves profaned the temple by rejecting the Messiah. This was just the final consummation of what took place 40 years earlier when the unbelieving Jews sought to murder their the Lord.

I also wrote a commentary on Daniel:

“In the Days of These Kings …” The Book of Daniel in Preterist Perspective

The following paragraph in bold is an except from the article on Daniel 9:

“The overspreading of abominations”

This refers to the “abomination of desolation” the bringing of ensigns and standards of the pagan Romans in to the Temple. Antiochus Epiphanes of the Assyrians profaned the Temple restored in the time of Ezra. Titus, Roman destructor of Herod’s Temple, profaned the Temple in AD 70. This was the direct cause of the profanation of the Temple by Jews who rejected the Messiah.

For evidence that the Roman legions entered the Temple and profaned the holy place, see the representations of the Jewish vessels as they still stand on Titus’s triumphal arch at Rome.

Hopefully, you can see this in the image here:

Jesus’ disciples also must have thought of the previous desecration of the Temple spoken of in Daniel 8:23-25 and Daniel 11:31:

“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.”

According to 1 Maccabees 4:52:

“Now on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month (which is called Chislev), in the hundred and forty-eighth year they rose up betimes in the morning. And offered a sacrifice according to law upon the new altar of burnt offerings which they had made.”

Josephus writes that the Temple was desecrated for three years. He testifies that this was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel:

“Indeed it so came to pass that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel’s vision and what he wrote years before they came to pass.”

However, Jesus uses specific language in the Mount Olivet Discourse that refers to Daniel 9, which is a subsequent profanation to the one spoken of in Daniel 8 and 11. Nevertheless, Jesus compares the two. Antiochus profaned the Temple by actually slaughtering a pig on the altar. There is no record that the Romans did this, but they did enter the Temple and carry off the furniture, candlesticks, etc., before the Temple was razed to the ground. The mere presence of the Romans within the Holy Place was an abomination.

We also can’t separate this desecration from the overall context of the prophecy that is framed by Matthew 24:1,2.

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

Jesus prophesied there should not be left one stone upon another. The prediction was fulfilled to the letter in the destruction of the temple by the Romans under Titus in 70 AD.