What in Daniel connects to Christ's imminent return?

[Samie]

I decided to start this new thread so as not to clutter hch's thread where I first posted the following:

 

But what in Daniel according to Christ Himself connects to the imminence of His 2nd Coming?

My answer: the abomination of desolation. See Matt 24:14-31.

 

After the gospel He wanted preached to the world had been preached, Christ told His disciples that the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel shall be set up. That setting up will trigger the start of the great tribulation = the time of trouble of Dan 12:1, 2. God will shorten the period of occurrence of the great tribulation or no flesh remains alive when He comes.

 

IMMEDIATELY AFTER the great tribulation, unusual celestial phenomena will occur (e.g., solar eclipse by day coupled with lunar eclipse by night, etc.), and then our long awaited Savior comes again. As per Daniel 12:1, 2, God’s people will be delivered, all whose names are found written in the book (of life?).

 

But what is the abomination of desolation? It is the image of the beast of Rev 13. How so?

 

In Daniel, the word “abomination” is from the Hebrew #Quvi “shiqquts” which elsewhere in the OT refers to graven images or idols which pagans worship as their deities. See 1 Kings 11:5, 7; 2 Kings 23:13. The abomination that Jesus spoke about is one that will cause the desolation of God’s people just before He comes again.

 

In Scriptures, there is only one image in the last days that will cause the desolation of God’s people: the image of the beast. See Rev 13:15.

 

It is the false prophet of the beast who will cause the setting up of the abomination of desolation. The false prophet and the beast will be together against Christ and His armies in the final battle, the battle of Armageddon.

[LifeHiscost]

15And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ...Revelation 13:15

While I spend much time in studying last day events, the more I learn the less I am convinced my knowledge of God's will is sufficient to give me peace except I lean upon this simple reality.

15And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ...Hebrews 12

God is Love!~Jesus saves! 

[JoeMo]

16 hours ago, Samie said:

After the gospel He wanted preached to the world had been preached, Christ told His disciples that the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel shall be set up. That setting up will trigger the start of the great tribulation = the time of trouble of Dan 12:1, 2. God will shorten the period of occurrence of the great tribulation or no flesh remains alive when He comes.

 

IMMEDIATELY AFTER the great tribulation, unusual celestial phenomena will occur (e.g., solar eclipse by day coupled with lunar eclipse by night, etc.), and then our long awaited Savior comes again. As per Daniel 12:1, 2, God’s people will be delivered, all whose names are found written in the book (of life?).

I basically agree with this; although I'm not going to comment much on this thread.  I've exhausted my comments on several other threads attempting to deal with this and related topics.  Many, MANY theologians have attempted to deal with the order of events (including rapture, timing of seals, trumpets, plagues, etc., 2nd coming, plagues, who is the beast, who is the antichrist, etc.)  It seems like no progress has been made except for the proponents of each "theory" trying to bolster their "pet" theories and denigrate those of others.  For example, I basically agree with Samie's thesis here; but I'm sure if we dug deeply enough we would find areas of disagreement.  It's the way we do things.

If I can, I'm going to participate in the "harmless banter" categories for a while and lay off of the heavy and contentious debates about 7 heads, who the beast is, Historicism vs. Preterism vs. Futurism, Islam vs. Papacy etc.  My brain hurts.  We'll see how long that lasts.

[Samie]

I think, since Jesus said that the setting up of the abomination of desolation triggers a rapid succession of events culminating at His 2nd Coming, all events in Daniel linked to the setting up of the abomination of desolation, will naturally find fulfillment shortly before the 2nd Coming.

One of the events in Daniel linked to the setting up of the abomination of desolation is the taking away of the daily. Daniel specifies that the taking away of the daily precedes the setting up of the abomination of desolation (Dan 11:31; 12:11). What strikes me astounded is the fact that the taking away of the daily is directly related with the 2300 day-prophecy!!! See Dan 8:11-14. Hence, it looks like the 2300 days will also find fulfillment shortly before the 2nd Coming. Was William Miller right that the terminus of the 2300 days is the 2nd Coming, only that he was wrong when the period started?

Another event that intertwines with the taking away of the daily is the 70-week prophecy. See Dan 9:27.  If so, then the 70 weeks of Dan 9 will also find fulfillment shortly before the 2nd Coming!!!

And for the 2300 days and the 70 weeks to find fulfillment shortly before the 2nd Coming, these two periods MUST necessarily be literal days.

[Samie]

^NIV Daniel 11:31 "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.

 ^NKJ Daniel 11:31 "And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.

 

The above verse seems to tell us that the person who is linked to the setting up of the abomination of desolation has an armed force, an army. And true enough, for he is a king, as explained in vv36, 37.

 

^NKJ Daniel 11:36-37   ³⁶ " Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done.  ³⁷ "He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.

 

What a striking similarity with the description of the man of sin:

 

^NKJ 2 Thes 2:1-4  Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,  ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.  ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,  ⁴who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

 

And in the above verses, Paul tells us the appearance of the man of sin has a direct bearing on the imminence of the coming of our Lord.

[Samie]

Back to what Jesus Himself told His disciples, when the abomination of desolation is set up, the great tribulation or time of trouble starts, shortened for the sake of the elect who shall remain alive until the 2^nd Coming. This gives us the idea that the occurrence of events surrounding the setting up of the abomination of desolation up till the 2^nd Coming MUST necessarily be within a human lifespan.

 

The setting up of the abomination of desolation is under the auspices of the king of Dan 11:36, 37 whose description fits like glove with Paul’s description of the man of sin. Hence, the king is the man of sin. Since the appearance of the man of sin has a direct bearing on the imminence of Christ’s return, the king of Dan 11:36 must reign in the period shortly before the second coming. And this seems to be the case, because the exploits of the king extends up to the time of trouble! See Dan 11:36-12:1.

 

And the time of trouble is when God’s people whose names are in the book of life will be delivered. We are told that during this period of deliverance, the resurrection of both the just and unjust will occur. Can this be other than the 2^nd Coming?

 

^NIV Daniel 12:1-2  1 "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people-- everyone whose name is found written in the book-- will be delivered.  ²Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

 

^NIV John 5:28-29   ²⁸ "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice  ²⁹ and come out-- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

[phkrause]

Here's my interpretation of AOD, but I'll let Pr Stephen Bohr present it! He does a much better job than I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgaCG90kOcU

[Gerr]

ESV | ‎Da 2:44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,  ‎45 just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.” 

[Samie]

When Jesus referred to the setting up of the AOD as being the triggering event for the time of trouble or the great tribulation, and knowing that the Bible tells us the time of trouble or great tribulation is one single event that will transpire just before He comes again, then I think there is only one inevitable conclusion: The setting up of the AOD will occur shortly before the 2nd Coming.

[hch]

As I read it:

Christ died in the midst of the 70th week in Daniel 9. That fulfilled the prophecy regarding the establishment of the AoD from the perspective of those living before Calvary.

In the endtime, GW as the Protestant Prince of the Covenant decreed national constitution week from Monday to Sunday Sept 2001 and set up the AoD on Thursday (in the midst of the week) when he addressed Congress and said that "Muslim beliefs are good." Muslims teach that salvation is possible without Jesus: thus GW took away the sacrifice (Jesus) and the oblation (necessity to have Jesus as our personal Savior).

And as I read Daniel, President Obama will set up the AoD when he presides over the establishment of the National Sunday Law. Those who follow manmade institutions while forsaking God inspired commandments are an abomination to God and they will be desolate (destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming and eternally destroyed in the lake of fire).

That's my current understanding.

[hch]

We've come full circle. As it was in the days of Noah very few believe that we have arrived at the time when we must get into the ark. The wait and see Laodicean attitude blinds folks to the necessity of setting aside superficial Bible study that is casting a shadow over eternal realities.

[Samie]

I don't think I am able to reconcile 2 different AoD's with the one and only AoD spoken of by Daniel to which Jesus referred to relative to His Second Coming. One AoD; one great tribulation.

If, as hch pointed out, there are 2 AoD's, then there must be 2 great tribulations. But as per the words of Jesus, there will only be ONE (1) great tribulation that will transpire very shortly before He comes again. That leads me to the inevitable conclusion that there is only one AoD which will be set up shortly before the 2nd coming.