Num. 5-6
Once again, it strikes me how impossible it is for any of us to stay pure by our own power.
Mark 13:1-20
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Mark 13:13b). Help me remember that whenever times get tough!
Another thought…this “abomination of desolation” that leads to great tribulation – if this is speaking of “the great tribulation” that signals the end times, how can it be that we will be raptured out before it happens if Jesus said that God cuts the days short for the sake of the elect? Hmmm….
I did some quick looking into the “abomination of desolation” and found that this is a prophecy that Daniel made. It was noted how many times prophecy in the Bible has both a short-term and a long-term fulfillment. Such was the case with this one. There was a King, Antiochus Epiphanes, who defiled the Temple around 168/167 BC, which fulfilled the short-term prophecy. But Jesus mentioned this prophecy again in this passage, long after that had happened. The Roman armies then defiled the temple again, 40 years after Christ, in 70a.d.
Noted in one of the two articles I read, the discussion in this particular passage (also mentioned in Matthew) is about the end times, so how does that fit in? The suggestions was that there is yet another fulfillment of this same prophecy yet to happen in the future that will lead to the “Great Tribulation”, as we know it. I don’t have the answers as to whether or not Christians will suffer through the Tribulation, but I defer to my first thought here – “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” So never, ever give up on God!!