(Isaiah 2:2; Daniel 2:31-35)
The abomination of desolation is the central message of the Book of Daniel. It begins in the second chapter.
King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of an image of gold, silver, bronze, and iron that was struck on its ten toes, which were partly iron and partly clay. This stone “became a great mountain that filled the whole Earth.”1Dan 2:35
The Protestant Reformers understood that King Nebuchadnezzar represented the beast and that the ten toes were the states of Europe held together by the “beast.” They also knew that the stone that struck the image was Christ, and that the great mountain was the mountain of the Lord’s house described by Isaiah.
It seems, however, that they did not try to answer this question: If the stone that broke the image became the mountain of the Lord’s house, then where was the mountain of the Lord’s house before?
Of course, we now know that the Lord’s house was desolated by the Antichrist. In 193, the bishop of Rome exalted himself as high as Christ, and the place of His sanctuary was cast to the ground.2Dan 8:11
Even though the temple of God was desolated by the Antichrist, the Kingdom of God continued in the wilderness. Daniel said that His kingdom will never be destroyed and that it “shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these (other) kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”3Dan 2:44
The Kingdom of God continued “in the wilderness.” The Woman, the bride of Christ “flew into the wilderness … away from the presence of the serpent.”4Rev 12:14
This is a very significant truth; it tells us that the Kingdom of God carried on invisibly. The salvation plan of God continued. The apostle John told us that the saints “overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.”5Rev 12:11 From here, and the Epistles of Paul, came Martin Luther’s belief in salvation by faith that overcame the power of the Antichrist.
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