From Mark 13:14-23 / Abomination of Desolation / There are perhaps no more debated words from Jesus than these. Oceans of ink have been spilled in trying to define with absolute certainty just what the “abomination of desolation” is, and its importance. It certainly has reference to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, and perhaps also to a future event nearer Christ’s return. But in either case, the warning is powerful. When God sends judgment, it is devastating. And there is nothing in this world to be clung to in that hour. Nothing material, religious, seemingly supernatural, nothing. So He warns His hearers then, and us now, to flee the destruction to come; to flee to Him. Politics cannot save. Financial stores cannot save. Family cannot save. No society or culture can save. God is going to judge this world in righteousness, and there is deliverance only in the Son of God, who shed His blood so that all who believe in Him, might have forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to the Father, and eternal life. So we too must be on our guard. He has told us all of this beforehand. What a gracious Savior.