<p>24:15&nbsp;<i>Therefore, when you see</i>- Luke adds &ldquo;Jerusalem compassed by armies&rdquo;. Jerusalem was truly &ldquo;compassed with armies&rdquo; in Hezekiah&rsquo;s time, and perhaps the Lord has this in mind when He predicted that Jerusalem would again be like this in the last days. His subsequent warning to those in the country areas not running into Jerusalem for refuge is also an allusion to the situation in Hezekiah&rsquo;s time- for this was exactly what happened then (Lk. 21:20,21 RV). The &ldquo;therefore&rdquo;,&nbsp;<i>oun</i>, need not necessarily reference the previous clause. It may be setting up a condition upon which something must be done- in this case, fleeing (:16).</p><p><i>The abomination</i>- The word is mainly used elsewhere about the abominations of the Babylon system (Rev. 17:4,5). I would suggest that once the rescheduling of Christ's return was decided by God, the Gospel of John was issued, with its more spiritual interpretation of the Olivet prophecy in terms of the Comforter, and the teaching that the principles of the tribulation are to be lived out throughout the lives of believers. And John was likewise inspired with the prophecy of Revelation, which is clearly based upon the Olivet prophecy and provides further details as to how the prophecy is to be fulfilled in the last days, with the events of AD70 being a partial fulfilment in order to give the prophecy credibility with the generation that first received it. This would be according to the Mosaic principle that a prophet could be judged as true if his words came true- requiring a primary fulfilment of all long term prophecies.</p><p><i>Of desolation-&nbsp;</i>Luke records the Lord as saying that&nbsp;<i>when</i>&nbsp;Jerusalem was surrounded by armies,&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;His people should know that the &quot;desolation&quot; of it was near. The desolation is therefore of Jerusalem rather than specifically the temple (Lk. 21:20). The abominating desolation could therefore refer to the invading armies. Seeing&nbsp;<i>them&nbsp;</i>was the signal to flee. &quot;Abomination&quot; in the Old Testament typically refers to idolatry or paganism. One interpretation is that the desolator would place some pagan religious symbol in the temple. But this is the sign to flee, and this was only done by the Romans after the city had fallen. That, therefore, doesn&rsquo;t really fit the requirements of the prophecy. The AD70 interpretation notes the pagan standards of the Roman legions, but even they were not placed in the temple. This was defended until the end, until the Romans forced entry, pulled it down and burnt it. As with many details of this prophecy, a future fulfilment is required. And yet we need to note that such desolation was only a visual reflection of the abomination the Jews had committed in the temple: &quot;Because of the evil of your doings, and because of the&nbsp;<i>abominations&nbsp;</i>which ye have committed; therefore is your land a&nbsp;<i>desolation&nbsp;</i>and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day&quot; (Jer. 44:22). The abomination which caused desolation may not simply refer to some pagan symbols in the temple area. Josephus records that the Jewish zealots came into the Most Holy place, &quot;placed an imposter in office as high priest, and ordained unqualified misfits to the priesthood&quot; (<i>The Jewish Wars</i>&nbsp;4.3.6&ndash;9; 4.5.4). The pagan Idumeans were invited into the Most Holy by the zealots in order to murder the chief priest Annas.</p><p>The word &quot;desolation&quot; is used again about the desolation of the Babylon system (Rev. 17:16; 18:17,19). Yet Babylon will be judged according to what it did to God's people- the judgment for 'desolating' will be 'desolation'. Yet the Olivet prophecy clearly intended the Roman armies to be the means of the desolation, but I suggest that Revelation extends the prophecy by giving more detail, and describing the system of desolation as 'Babylon'. And that system clearly has similarities with Rome- it could have been fulfilled in Rome, but because the fulfilment of the prophecy was rescheduled, we can look for another equivalent of the enigmatic 'Babylon' of the last days. The &quot;desolation&quot; referred to is clearly to be understood as the fulfilment of Dan. 9:26,27 LXX, which says that the abomination that desolates will come &quot;after the cutting off of Messiah the Prince&quot;. Whilst how long &quot;after&quot; is not defined, we are surely intended to understand that the desolating abomination comes soon after the death of Messiah:&nbsp; &quot;The people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and&nbsp;<i>the end&nbsp;</i>thereof (&quot;then shall&nbsp;<i>the end</i>&nbsp;come&quot;, Mt. 24:14) shall be with a flood, (&quot;as the days of Noah...&quot;), and unto&nbsp;<i>the end&nbsp;</i>shall be war;&nbsp;<i>desolations&nbsp;</i>are determined . . . and upon the temple of&nbsp;<i>abominations&nbsp;</i>shall come one that makes&nbsp;<i>desolate&nbsp;</i>(cp. &quot;your house is left unto you desolate&quot;, Mt.23:38),&nbsp; even unto the consummation, and that determined shall be poured out upon the desolated&quot; (LXX). And yet note that that prophecy itself had had various potential fulfilments which didn&rsquo;t come true. So it is fair to think that it could have had a fulfilment in AD70, but this was again deferred- for the same reason as ever, Israel&rsquo;s lack of repentance (see the Digression &lsquo;Conditional Prophecy in Daniel&rsquo;).</p><p><i>Which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place-</i>&nbsp;Mk. &quot;where it ought not&quot;. &quot;Holy place&quot; is without the article, and could refer to any holy place. The contrast is with the Lamb who will descend to the temple mount and &quot;stand&quot; there s.w. Rev. 14:1. This will be the final showdown between the real Christ and the fake one, as likewise foreseen in the prophecy of the man of sin in 2 Thess. 2, where again the place of showdown is the temple. For this to be a sign to the believers to flee to the mountains, any application to the triumphant Roman legions placing their standards in the temple at the&nbsp;<i>end</i>&nbsp;of the Jewish war is precluded. And historically, it is doubtful whether that happened, as the temple was burnt with fire and the legions were told&nbsp;<i>not</i>&nbsp;to do this.</p><p><i>Let him that reads understand</i>- The vast majority of first century believers were likely illiterate. So this may be an appeal to teachers to correctly understand and teach. The Lord speaks in a latter day context about &ldquo;let him that readeth understand&rdquo; Daniel&rsquo;s prophecies (Mk. 13:14)- referring to the special gift of understanding them which Daniel himself was told would come in the very end time. But note the parallels in the Lord&rsquo;s teaching here: &ldquo;Let him&hellip; understand&hellip; let him&hellip; not go down&hellip; let him&hellip; not return&hellip; let them&hellip; flee&rdquo;. The understanding He refers to is not merely academic. It is the understanding that will lead to concrete action.</p><p>The Lord's Olivet prophecy as recorded by Mark has so many allusions to the Maccabean revolt under Mattathias (&quot;the abomination&quot;, flight to the hills, &quot;let the reader understand&quot; and many other phrases are all quotations from 1 Macc. 1-3). But in this context the Lord warns of false Messiahs- as if He considered the Maccabean heroes to be just that. And interestingly it is Mark more than any other Gospel writer who stresses the Messiahship of Jesus throughout the crucifixion record. A crucified Messiah was to the Jews a contradiction in terms. The idea of Jewish revolutionaries marching triumphantly to Jerusalem to liberate it was common in Jewish thought at the time- but Luke emphasizes that Christ's last journey to Jerusalem and triumphant entry to it was in fact in order to die the death of the cross there. The battle had been redefined by the Lord Jesus- not against Rome, but against internal sin and Jewish religious hypocrisy. Victory was by self-crucifixion, not military might. This was just too much for Jewish nationalism, just as legalists today end up baying for the blood of those who preach grace and not works.&nbsp;</p><p>There are a number of hints that there will be a progressive growth in Biblical understanding amongst the latter day faithful. In the spirit of Daniel 12:4, Habakkuk was told that the full understanding of his vision concerning the latter day judgment of Babylon was &quot; yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie&quot;, and&nbsp;<i>at that time</i>&nbsp;the one who reads and understands it will &quot;run&quot; - using the same idiom as in Dan. 12:4 concerning the latter day believers 'running' in response to their understanding of God's word (Hab. 2:2,3). The Olivet prophecy repeatedly talks about 'seeing' or (Gk.) understanding things and then acting upon this knowledge. The English translation somewhat masks this. Thus Mt. 24:15 &quot;Whoso&nbsp;<i>readeth</i>&quot; uses a Greek word which really means to recognize, distinguish- and he who recognizes, understands, let him &quot; understand&quot; or, better,&nbsp;<i>meditate</i>. Or again, &quot;When ye shall see (Greek, to know, perceive) the abomination that maketh desolate...&quot; (Mt. 24:15). This might suggest that the &quot;abomination&quot; isn't necessarily something physical. The idea seems to be 'When you understand that the abomination that makes desolate is in place, then...', rather than 'When you see (physically) on the telly or in the newspaper an abomination in Jerusalem, then... do something about it'.&nbsp; &quot;When ye shall see (Gk. perceive, understand) all these things, (then you will) know that it is near&quot; (Mt. 24:33). &quot;Behold (same Greek: perceive, comprehend) the fig tree...&quot; (Lk. 21:29). The emphasis is undoubtedly on the need for understanding of the signs, not just observing them.</p><p>&ldquo;Let him that reads understand&rdquo; is inviting us to be like Daniel in Dan. 9:22-25, who also wanted to understand the meaning of the &ldquo;abomination&rdquo; prophecy. But he was told that the meaning of that vision about the abomination that desolates would only be revealed in the very last days, i.e. at the time of its fulfilment (Dan. 8:17,26; 12:9). The implication of all this is that there will be believing Jews living in the Jerusalem area at the time of the setting up of the abomination; and they will have special understanding of this prophecy which will lead them to flee. The importance of this for our present study is that this indicates that there will be believers in Israel just before the Lord returns. They will have &ldquo;understanding&rdquo; and will be motivated by this to respond. &ldquo;<i>Let him</i>&hellip; understand&rdquo; is paralleled with &ldquo;<i>let him</i>&nbsp;that is on the housetop flee immediately&hellip;&nbsp;<i>let him&nbsp;</i>that is in the field not return&rdquo;. Understanding leads to action- both then and now.</p><p>In the spirit of Daniel, Habakkuk was told that the full understanding of his vision concerning the latter day judgment of Babylon was &quot;yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie&quot;, and&nbsp;<i>at that time</i>&nbsp;the one who reads and understands it will &quot;run&quot;- using the same idiom as in Dan. 12:4 concerning the latter day believers 'running' in response to their understanding of God's word (Hab. 2:2,3). The Olivet prophecy repeatedly talks about 'seeing' or (Gk.) understanding things and then acting upon this knowledge. The English translation somewhat masks this. Thus Mt. 24:15 &quot;Whoso&nbsp;<i>readeth</i>&quot; uses a Greek word which really means to recognize, distinguish- and he who recognizes, understands, let him &quot;understand&quot; or, better,&nbsp;<i>meditate</i>. Or again, &quot;When ye shall see (Greek, to know, perceive) the abomination that maketh desolate...&quot; (Mt. 24:15). This might suggest that the &quot;abomination&quot; isn't necessarily something physical. The idea seems to be 'When you understand that the abomination that makes desolate is in place, then...', rather than 'When you see (physically) on the telly or in the newspaper an abomination in Jerusalem, then...do something about it'. &quot;Let him that readeth understand&quot; is yet another Olivet allusion back to Daniel (12:10); yet generations of believers have read those very words and&nbsp;<i>not</i>&nbsp;understood. Presumably the latter day remnant&nbsp;<i>will</i>&nbsp;clearly understand Daniel's enigmatic words about the abomination. Whilst we should live<i>&nbsp;as if</i>&nbsp;we expect the Lord's imminent return, it has to be said that we don't seem to have yet reached this level of understanding. &quot;When ye shall see (Gk. perceive, understand) all these things, (then you will) know that it is near&quot; (Mt. 24:33). &quot;Behold (same Greek: perceive, comprehend) the fig tree...&quot; (Lk. 21:29). The emphasis is undoubtedly on the need for understanding of the signs, not just observing them. The expansion of understanding may be not only of prophecies like Habakkuk, Daniel and Revelation. Because Revelation especially is so full of reference to other passages throughout the Scriptures, our comprehension of the whole Bible will go into another paradigm. It may be that in the last days,&nbsp;<i>all</i>&nbsp;the words of God will in some sense be fulfilled (Rev. 17:17)- we will realize that the whole Bible is especially speaking to us, the last generation. Many of the parables are specifically aimed at the last generation of believers- they have a very secondary application to believers of other ages. They are specifically about the attitudes of those who will be alive when the Lord comes in glory; e.g. the wise and foolish virgins, or the men given talents, or the servants left watching the household etc. The Lord's letters in Revelation speak of him being about to come, as do many other NT passages. They were written specifically for the last generation of believers Their full meaning and relevance will therefore only be perceived by that generation. Take Rev. 3:20 as an example: &quot;I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me&quot;. Whatever else this may be taken to mean, according to its connections with other passages, this is clearly relevant to the Lord's second coming; the believer who responds to the Lord's voice in the last days will be rewarded with the Lord's coming. Verses like this and the parables mentioned above are pre-eminently relevant to the last generation. No wonder there will be a growth in understanding in the last days</p>