Part of the message of the Two Witnesses and the 144,000 will be against idolatry in general, and the Abomination of Desolation in particular. They will be using Isa 40.18 which says, “To whom will you liken God?” to Isa 45.6-7 “To whom will you liken me?” In Dan 9.27 we have an allusion to the Abomination of Desolation where it says, “on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate.” Dan 11.31 clearly says they will “set up the Abomination and Desolation.” The question is, when will the Abomination of Desolation be set up?
We have the answer in Dan 12.11 where it says, “And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1290 days.” So, let’s look at this. The Day of the Lord will begin on Rosh Ha Shannah, year 6001. The USA is attacked and destroyed around Tishri 8. Two days later it is Tishri 10, a Yom Kippur, and the signing of a military treaty between the false messiah out of Europe and Israel (Dan 9.27). The countdown of the Birth-pains has begun. Going ahead 1260 days we come to the exact half-way point of the Birth-pains, Nisan 10. Going back 30 days from Nisan 10 we come to Adar 10, around Purim, and that is when the Abomination of Desolation will be set up. The 1290 days includes the days from Adar 10 to Nisan 10 is 30 days, then from Nisan 10 to Tishri 10 (Yom Kippur), at the end of the Birth-pains is 1260 days. 1260 days plus 30 days equals 1290 days.
We know that the Abomination of Desolation will be set up in the Heichal (“holy place”) of the Temple (Matt 24.15), but Ezek 8.3 may be alluding to another place it may be placed. Ezek 8.3 says, “And he stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by the lock (Hebrew “tzitzit”) of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy which provokes to jealousy was.” We see there was an “idol of jealousy” at the north gate of the inner court. This gate is called the “Shaar Korban” or Sacrifice Gate. We know the Abomination of Desolation will be standing in the Heichal of the Temple, and this is an idol. Ezekiel may be referring to another place this idol may be placed. If the Abomination of Desolation is a crucifix, and the sacrifices (korbanot) that have been brought through the Sacrifice Gate in the north of the inner court have been abolished (Dan 12.11), what better place to also put the Abomination of Desolation/crucifix than the Sacrifice Gate of the Temple? This would be to show that the false messiah (who will say he is “Jesus” of Replacement Theology Christianity) has finally “done away with” the Torah, the Temple and all the sacrifices. The crucifix is the symbol of all that, placed at the Sacrifice Gate to remind everyone that “Jesus”/false messiah has done away with all that.
The false messiah will need to meet certain criteria in order to present himself. He needs to be Jewish, or of Jewish descent. He needs to come out of “Rome” which is Europe (Dan 9.26). He is referred to in Jewish liturgy by several name. One name is Armilus which is the Hebraic way of saying “Romulus” who was the founder of Rome. His kingdom will be metaphorically “Edom” which means red. This was the reference to Rome, and later Christianity, in Jewish writings. He will stop the sacrifices mid-week (Dan 9.27) of the Birth-pains (three and a half years into it) and we have already mentioned that there is an allusion to the Abomination and this event in Dan 9.27. The Hebrew term “Shikutz Somem” means “Abomination of Desolation” and it refers to an idol, not just some action. The reason is because some Christian teachers say that the act of going to the Temple is the Abomination of Desolation because they believe God has done away with the sacrifices. But that is exactly the theology of the false messiah, which is being taught in Christianity (Greek “anomos”=”lawlessness”= “no torah”). Antiochus Epiphanes slaughtered a pig on the altar, which was bad, but it is not an idol. The Abomination of Desolation is not an act, it is an idol, image or icon. That is why these passages in Isa 40.18 to 46.7 are important. This is what “the voice” of Isa 40.3 will be proclaiming.
Let’s take a look at Dan 12.12 which says, “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days!” We know that the mid-point of the Birth-pains will be Nisan 10. If you count ahead 1260 days you come to Tishri 10 and Yom Kippur, and the return of Yeshua to Jerusalem. Counting 75 days from there you come to 1335 days and the beginning of Chanukah, when Yeshua will dedicate (Chanukah means “dedication”) Ezekiel’s Temple. How blessed you really are if you see that because that means you are a believer and you are living in the Atid Lavo and the Day of the Lord. Yeshua “anoints the Most Holy” (Dan 9.24 with Dan 12.12) on Chanukah because the previous Temple has been desecrated during the Birth-pains, if not destroyed. Yeshua will be following the “tavnit” (pattern, blueprint, shadow) of Chanukah in 165 B.C.
We do not believe that the images people say are “Jesus” are the images of Yeshua. These are false images and forbidden by God in Deut 4.15-18, so therefore they are of the false messiah. But, literally, they are patterned after an image we believe is a picture of the false messiah. What is described in Isaiah chapters 40 through 46 is a crucifix (the cross with a man hanging on it as seen in Catholic images). The image you have on the Shroud of Turin is the same image you have on a crucifix, and the Shroud of Turin is a deception. It is a deception in order to give people an image they can worship, rather than the Messiah (Rev 13.11-15). We have what Yeshua said in Matt 24.15, where he said that the Abomination of Desolation will stand in the “holy place” (Heichal) of the Temple. Antiochus placed an image of Zeus Kyrios on the Altar with his face on the statue. A statue of Zeus from 30 A.D. (the year Yeshua died) was analyzed and it had the same face as the Shroud of Turin. The Sacrifice Gate (Shaar Korban) will likely be another place where this crucifix will be placed.
The first Abomination of Desolation was not by Antiochus, however. It was by Manasseh, who actually set up two images (“Legends of the Jews:From Moses to Esther: Notes for Volumes 3 and 4”, by Louis Ginzberg, Henrietta Szold, Paul Radin, page 372) . One of the images was an Asherim (male imagery) and the crucifix would be an Asherim. He also set up and Asherah (female imagery). Our opinion would be that there will be several images in several locations. Inside the Holy Place there will be two images, one a crucifix (Asherim) and the other a “Madonna” (Asherah). The Catholic Church has said that where a crucifix is displayed, a statue of Mary should be near by, and you will often see them together in Catholic ceremonies. The crucifix is so accepted that you could set it anywhere and very few would even notice or care. That is another reason why we believe it is the Abomination of Desolation. You could set that up tomorrow and people wouldn’t bat an eye.
The Messiah will be presented primarily as the “Redeemer” or “Goel” in Isa 41.4, 43.14, 44.6, 44.24, 47.4, 48.17, 49.7, 49.26, 54.5,8 and 59.20. Goel means a “kinsman (Yeshua was a man) redeemer or avenger” (Num 35.12). The Book of Ruth teaches this concept.
Isaiah chapters 46, 47 and 48 talk about the destruction of Babylon by Assyria in the Peshat level (literal). In the Sowd level (hidden, deeper) “Babylon” is a picture of the USA being destroyed by Russia (Assyria). Isa 48.22 is the last phrase that deals with Babylon and it says that “There is no peace for the wicked” because the Lord has turned his salvation away from the wicked (rashim). To develop the concept of Babylon and the USA takes many hours to develop, but it is there. If you want a deeper look into this subject, go to our teaching “Is America Babylon” at “All Teachings” on this site. The purpose right now is to give the overall “feel” and message of “The Voice” and the main things he will mention.
In Part 23, we will pick up with Chapter 49, which is a servant chapter, and the servant is the Messiah and the heart of this concept to Isa 53. This chapter is important in understanding the physical manifestation of the Messiah. We want to keep in mind that all of the things we are going through is in relation to the Two Redemptions, contrasting the Egyptian Redemption with the coming Messianic Redemption.
Leave a Reply