(Matthew 24:15-17)
Jesus said, “When you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”1Mat 24:15-16
Here, Matthew adds the comment “Let the reader understand.”2Mat 24:15 In other words, we must understand this. Why?
It has everything to do with our salvation.
During the Reformation, the Protestants understood the meaning of the beast, the little horn that came up among the ten kings. They also understood the meaning of “a time, times, and half a time”: the 1,260 years when the saints were under the control of the bishop of Rome.
However, the Protestants did not understand the meaning of the abomination of desolation, the event that began the “time, times, and half a time,” for Daniel told us that the meaning of these words was sealed up until the end times.
Jesus said that when we see the abomination of desolation, “let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
Judea is the place of the saints; it represents the kingdom of heaven. The saints flew into the Judean wilderness for “a time, times, and half a time,” away from the presence of the serpent.
Today, Jesus is asking the saints to fly to the mountains. When we see the abomination of desolation, when we understand it, we must flee to the mountain of the Lord’s house described in Daniel 2 and Isaiah 2.
Jesus said, “Whoever is on the rooftop must not go down to get the things that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.”3Mat 24:18
There is nothing more important than our salvation. There is nothing in this world worth hanging onto. The mountain of the Lord’s house is the temple of God, the dwelling place of God in spirit, the end-time ark of salvation.
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