Matthew 24:15 What is the abomination of desolation?

[TonyChanYT]

Daniel 9:

27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

Jesus referred to the above passage in Matthew 24:

15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Benson Commentary:

By which term is intended the desolating Roman armies with their standards. To every legion was a golden eagle with expanded wings, grasping a thunderbolt. These eagles, with the standards of the cohorts, ten in each legion, were objects of worship among the Romans, and therefore were an abomination to the Jews. We learn from Josephus, that after the city was taken, the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and there sacrificed to them.

 

[quietthinker]

The 'thing' which makes desolate is misapprehending the character of God and substituting it with one of the imagination.

 

[ElieG12]

The parallel passage in Luke tells what was "the disgusting thing that causes desolation," which Daniel said would surround Jerusalem and the temple.

Luke 21:20 However, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near.

Matt. 24:15 Therefore, when you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken about by Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place (let the reader use discernment)

The detail of something disgusting surrounding to attack something supposedly "holy" is typical of the beginning of a tribulation.

Since there is still a "great tribulation" to come, that prophecy has ANOTHER fulfillment in the near future. Dan. 11:31-35 and Dan. 12:9,11 shows that a ‘disgusting thing causing desolation’ is connected with “the time of the end.”

Daniel 9:27 (...) “And on the wing of disgusting things there will be the one causing desolation; and until an extermination, what was decided on will be poured out also on the one lying desolate.”
... 11:31 And arms will stand up, proceeding from him; and they will profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and remove the constant feature. “And they will put in place the disgusting thing that causes desolation.
... 12:11 “And from the time that the constant feature has been removed and the disgusting thing that causes desolation has been put in place, there will be 1,290 days.

The Jews consider that this prophecy was fulfilled with the desecration of Jehovah's temple at Jerusalem in the year 168 B.C.E. by Syrian King Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), but this was only the Jewish interpretation of matters, not an inspired revelation.

Christ Jesus showed this view to be in error when he gave the warning to his disciples: “Therefore, when you catch sight of the displeasing thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains.” (Mt 24:15, 16) These words show that “the displeasing thing that causes desolation” was not then past but future. (Taken from Insight/Disgusting Thing)

To decipher the fulfillment of that prophecy with reference to the approaching great tribulation, we must identify what many religious people consider "holy" today, and what enemy of theirs, and how, is going to surround it until it is annihilated.

In the year 66 the Jews (not the Christians) considered the city of Jerusalem and the temple within it holy, and the enemy that surrounded and destroyed it was the Roman army; In the future, when the great tribulation is going to begin throughout the planet, who and what are those?

 

[Eternally Grateful]

An abomination is an idol or unclean thing

which makes desolate means that unclean thing has rendered something desolate or unclean

Jesus said it would be standing in the holy place. (this refers to the holy place in the temple)

hence an abomination which causes desolation standing in the holy place would be an Idol which is placed in the holy place. rendering it unclean and causing sacrifice and burnt offering to cease

 

[ElieG12]

An abomination is an idol or unclean thing

which makes desolate means that unclean thing has rendered something desolate or unclean

Jesus said it would be standing in the holy place. (this refers to the holy place in the temple)

hence an abomination which causes desolation standing in the holy place would be an Idol which is placed in the holy place. rendering it unclean and causing sacrifice and burnt offering to cease

That is your personal interpretation ... but it doesn't agree with Jesus' words here:

Luke 21:20 However, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near.

Actually, when Daniel wrote the prophecy in his book, the temple in Jerusalem had already been destroyed by the Babylonians, so the prophecy did not point to a desecration of the "Most Holy" of the temple.

By the middle of the first century the temple was no longer a holy place for Christians.