| For those of you who came today expecting to feel comfortable and unchallenged, I believe that the scripture readings may have already alerted you to the fact that being a follower of the Lord God does not guarantee a comfortable and unchallenging life. Beginning with the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, we were given a glimpse of the End Times. No matter how rosy one may want to paint it, the glimpse we are given is rather disturbing.
Daniel writes, “The Lord spoke to Daniel, saying, ‘At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence.’” In this reading we are told that the atrocities that are going to occur will be so horrible that no nation has ever suffered such horrors. Yet, even with this ominous prophesy, the Lord God offers hope for His people with these words, “But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.”
We also heard in Daniel about the End Times in which “Many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked shall continue to act wickedly.” Daniel also writes about the resurrection of the dead describing this prophetic event with these words, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
The Old Testament reading gives us several hints, but nothing on which to hang our hats. The epistle reading from Hebrews doesn’t offer us many more clues with this severe warning, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”. For those of us who like to think of God as loving and full of mercy, this does not do much to substantiate this image. We are also admonished to endure in doing the will of God so that we can keep the reward promised to us.
Notice we are not guaranteed a reward. Our reward is dependant upon our endurance to continue doing our Father God’s will no matter how difficult the circumstances may become. In fact, we are even warned that the Lord “takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.” In other words, God does not delight in quitters. Instead, the Lord rejoices in those who endure for Christ’s sake to the end.
Then we get to the gospel reading, hoping with all of our might that Jesus would give us some words of encouragement and He does - after prophetic words of warning. It is disputed among Biblical scholars as to exactly what event Jesus’ warning is about. Some believe that Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled by the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD by the Romans, which ended Temple worship to even today. Others believe that Jesus’ prophecy has yet to be fulfilled with future events in which they believe that the city of Jerusalem will be surrounded by the armies of the world and then destroyed.
This destruction will signal the end of the world. This belief is supported by Jesus’ description of what will happen. The gospel of Mark records Jesus as saying, “for in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, no, and never will be.” These words have a rather fatal twist to them. Not much hope there is given. As for Jesus’ words of encouragement, there are two of them, “Be alert.”
So there we have it. With such brevity of warning, it seems more like a road sign warning travelers of the impending cliff of doom awaiting them if they are not careful.
There is also a connection for Jesus’ listeners concerning the words “the desolating sacrilege” that today’s reader can easily miss. Jesus’ words are a reminder to His Jewish listeners of a horrible time in history when the Jews suffered great atrocities at the hands of a Syrian king. To find out about this story, we need to go to the first Book of Maccabees, which is found in the Apocrypha. It helps to know about this story in order to appreciate the imagery that Jesus is trying to help His listeners to comprehend about the horrors of this prophesy.
The story in Maccabees concerns the occupation of a Syrian king, Antiochus the IV, who raided the Temple in Jerusalem of its sacred vessels and took them to his home country. Then he returned to Jerusalem, only to destroy. It is written, “He plundered the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and its surrounding walls. They took captive the women, the children and the livestock. Then they fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel. They stationed there a sinful people, men who were renegades.”
After taking over the city of Jerusalem, the Syrian king issued a new edict, which stated, “that all should be one people, and that all should give up their particular customs.” Refusal to obey the king’s command meant death. Many obeyed the king’s orders, but some refused. These were killed – even mothers with their circumcised babies. It is written, “According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks.”
Now I know that this is horrible stuff to hear on a Sunday morning, but please bear with me. We are getting to the connection between Jesus’ prophetic words concerning “the desolating sacrilege” and this horrible historic time for the Jews as recorded in the first Book of Maccabees. In writing about the desecration of the Temple by the Syrians, we find these words, “Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offerings. According to historians, the desolating sacrilege was an altar to Zeus.
Did you hear that? A desolating sacrilege was erected on the holy altar of burnt offerings. When Jesus is warning His listeners of what is yet to come, they are reminded of this historic story in Maccabees. Now where else did we hear about the desolating sacrifice in today’s readings? Oh yes, it was in the reading from the Book of Daniel.
Daniel writes, “From the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that desolates is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred ninety days.” Some Biblical scholars believe that Daniel’s prophesy was fulfilled in the historic story recorded in Maccabees. While others believe that it has yet to be fulfilled, but those are mostly ones who do not accept the writings of the Apocrypha.
So we are left with questions this morning, which is not a bad thing. Sometimes it is good to ponder the scriptures and see how they might apply with our every day lives. Prophesies that may or may not be about our future can be good for scholarly debates, but how do all of these prophetic writings have anything to do with us?
What I believe is important for us to learn from these writings is to be alert as Jesus told us to be. This means that no matter what circumstances may befall us in our life time; we are always to be prepared to be witnesses for Christ. We are not to succumb to the evils of this world, though tempting they may be. We also must be willing to endure all things for Christ, even if it costs us our jobs, our friends or even our families. No matter what happens to us, we are to be ready at all times to meet our Lord and Savior. In this knowledge, we are to be both comforted and challenged.
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