This is a section of my Matthew chapter 24 study
Mt 24:15-16
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
When you (This generation) see the abomination that causes desolation. Spoken of through the prophet Daniel.(let the reader understand) then let those in Judea flee to the mountains. (The next verse from Luke ties into this verse.)
Luke 21:20
20When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies you know its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains let those in the city get out and let those in the country not enter the city.
(This shows that these verses are the same moments in 70 AD not in our future)
Josephus in his account of the fall of Jerusalem wrote, "The city and the temple were filled with the dead bodies (from the civil war happening inside the city). Into the sacred untrodden precincts they poured armed to the teeth with their hand dripping with blood of there fellow countrymen." They suspended the daily sacrifices because of the fighting and the Romans were disgusted by how the Jews profaned their holy ground. Titus said to them," you disgusting people why are you trampling dead bodies in your Temple. I do not believe there is a God watching over you now I compel you not to desecrate your Temple." If you change your battle ground no Roman will go near it or insult it".
The Jews desecrated their own Temple but not by pigs blood as Daniel was prophesied about Antiochus IV Epiphanies in 167BC but this time it was the corpses of Pharisees.
The Roman armies and what was happening in the temple were the abomination which caused desolation. When the Roman armies first surrounded Jerusalem and withdrew the Christians fled the area not one Christian was killed in the siege. When Jesus died the temple veil was torn into two from the top to the bottom. God tore the veil into two. The Jews rejected and killed there Messiah and they didn't recognize who Jesus was because he wasn't who they thought the Messiah would be they thought the Messiah would kick out the Romans. This then set up the abomination that caused desolation. Isaiah 66 states that God saw the Jews sacrifices as an abomination. Only the rejection of Jesus' death can cause it to happen as that was the final sacrifice that was needed to take place to pay for our sins.
Mt 24:17-18
17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.
Do not hesitate leave at once.
Mt 24:19
19How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
Josephus wrote in his account that Mary daughter of Eleazar became so hungry and filled with fury at the looters she took her baby boy and said, "poor little mite why should I save you for slavery if we live come be my food" and she cooked and ate half of her baby to spite the looters. It was the only time the looters and partisans shrunk away quivering from anything. News got out to Titus and he was so disgusted by this abomination and how they desecrated their own Temple that he said he would not let a city that did these things to remain on the earth for the sun to look upon.
Mt 24: 20
20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
When Jesus mentioned the Sabbath he was speaking to the generation who were still under the Sabbath law. The Sabbath wouldn't mater to gentiles in the distant future. Back in the first century the gates of Jerusalem were closed on the Sabbath. Jesus was saying that if this happened on the sabbath the saints wouldn't of been able to leave the city before it was too late.
Mt 24:21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
This was the worse time in Jewish history, God abandoned them and their city was destroyed and about eleven out of twelve people were killed.
Mt 24: 22
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
The 97000 prisoners could be some of the elect. They may have realized that Jesus was the Christ, as his prediction would prove his divinity and many of them were taken to other nations and may have spread the gospel. (this next verse from Luke also ties into this verse)
Luke Ch 21:24
24They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
This is the same section or time line in Mt Ch 24
Telling us Jesus is still talking about the siege of Jerusalem.
Mt 24:23-26
23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
Josephus wrote that during the siege false prophets were told by the party chiefs to deceive the people to reduce the number of deserters. They told the people that God had promised them deliverance and that God commanded them to go up to the temple area to receive the sign of their deliverance in the last surviving colonnade. When the Romans in their fury found them they set ablaze to the colonnade and not one out of the 6000 people (mostly women and children) survived.
Mt 24:27
27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Jesus coming will be like lightning in the sky it will be sudden. When the Romans broke into the temple in their fury they didn’t stop, not even Titus could stop them they just kept killing and destroying everyone and everything in their path.
Mt 24:28
28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
There were dead bodies every where.