Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 24:15 - 24:18

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 24:15 - 24:18


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

The abomination of desolation:

v. 15. When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand in the Holy Place,

(whoso readeth, let him understand,)

v. 16. then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains;

v. 17. let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house;

v. 18. neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

This is true above all of the time of Jerusalem's fall. The disciples are to bear everything in mind that the Lord said, remember what promises He made them, what hopes He held out before them. Then they shall be able to maintain that poise which is so necessary in these latter days, in the troublous times that are then to come. Luther and others have thought the abomination of desolation referred to here was a statue of the Emperor Caius Caligula, which the governor caused to be placed in the Temple for adoration. That indeed was an abomination, a defiling of the Temple consecrated to the true God. But it is used here in even a wider sense, Luk_21:20-24. The abomination of desolation, the blaspheming horde that carried death and destruction with it, that carried out the terrible, but just sentence of God upon the Jewish people, was the army of Rome, with its military ensigns, its eagles and idols. This, as Daniel describes it, chapter 11:25-27; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11, would indicate that the Holy Place had fallen into the hands of the heathen, and that sacrifices to the living God would cease. Such a condition of affairs would be so terrible, so far exceeding all imagination, that they must force their mind to understand what that really means. This sign, the abomination of desolation, indicates the final period beyond which they should not delay; the Christians should not attempt to stay in the city any longer. The most abrupt flight is advised. Those that are still in Judea should flee into the mountain fastnesses, an advice followed literally by the Christian congregation of Jerusalem in fleeing to Pella. Any one that happens to be on the flat housetop when the news comes should not even endeavor to make his way out through the house, but should use the stairway leading down into the street immediately, in order to lose no time. In the same way he that happens to be engaged in the field should make no attempt to get his good clothes. Precipitate flight is the one way to be saved.