I came across Daniel 12, which talks about the end times… (apparently)
and there’s a verse:
“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
This is one possible explanation.
You can see the 1290 days 3 1/2 year scenario throughout the apocalyptic literature. First keep in mind this may be a future prophesy for Daniel, but a past event for us today.
1290 days equals 3 1/2 years. That also can be found in history.
The Jewish rebellion against Rome began in 66 AD and in February of 67 Nero formally commissioned Vespasian to put down the revolt. It ended in August-September of 70 AD with
the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem so** the actual war covers a period of time of basically 42 months or 3.5 years which equals 1290 days on the Jewish calendar.** If you add 45 days to the 1290 you come to
day 1335 which is the first day after the Feast of Tabernacles. The feast of Tabernacles or booth called the
Sukkot, was a harvest gathering of grain (bread) and wine, where the Jews would set up tabernacles (tents) to make God’s protection of Israel wandering in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt a present reality. A type of Gathering, where people got together for thanksgiving in which the past event was made a present reality. Much like our Eucharist.
Why is one Blessed by waiting for and reaching the end of the 1,335 days? It is a completion of Gathering of God’s people. They were to see the temple falling as a judgment for rejecting the Messiah and see that Christ is the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles I suppose. A gathering of God’s people in the Parousia .
Now the Abomination of desolation could very well have been the Roman Idols brought into the Jewish Temple, by the conquering Roman Army, but their are other views on this event as well For instance Josephus Jewish Historian writes
Jews pillaged the oil and wine from the temple. He writes that
John of Gischala, the leader of one of the factions,
confiscated the sacred vessels of the temple: “Accordingly, **drawing the sacred wine and oil, which the priests kept for pouring on the burnt offerings, and which was deposited in the inner temple, [John] distributed them among his adherents, who consumed without horror more than a hin in anointing themselves and drinking **(Wars, 5:13:6).Josephus
My question is: what is meant by “daily sacrifice”? Some have said in the past that before the end, priests will no longer be able to celebrate Mass (at least in public). Could this mean the Mass? then what is the “abomination that causes desolation”? any thoughts?
Also when Christ talks about the end times in Matthew 24 (I think), he mentions the “abomination that causes desolation” being set up in the “holy place”
“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
Take a look at Revelation 6 as well
Revelation 6:15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man** hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”**
Josephus writes ** So now the last hope which supported the tyrants and that crew of robbers who were with them, was in the caves and caverns underground; whither, if they could once fly, they did not expect to be searched for; but endeavored, that after the whole city should be destroyed, and the Romans gone away, they might come out again, and escape from them**.
Historical data On July 31, 70 AD, after a five month siege, the Romans succeeded in penetrating the final wall around Jerusalem and burned the temple to the ground. Tens of thousands of Jews were killed, but
the surviving Jews retreated to the Upper City of Jerusalem, where many continued to plunder, ambush, and assault their fellow Jews. The victims were too weakened by famine to resist, and quite a few were killed senselessly. Josephus tried to persuade them to surrender to the Romans and spare what was left of the city, but he was only laughed at. Josephus records that some put on happy faces “in expectation, as they said, of death to end their miseries.”
Many Jews sought refuge in the caves and underground caverns, hoping to remain hidden once the Romans would reach the Upper City, as Josephus records
More historical data
The Romans not only ravaged and leveled Jerusalem, but during the next three years** they rooted out the Jews who had fled Jerusalem and attempted to hide **out in various pockets of resistance in the Dead Sea areas. **The famous hill fortress of Masada **was the last to be taken by the Romans in April 73 AD, where 960 Jews committed mass suicide.
