Temple and "abomination of desolation"; a Third Temple
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27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
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24Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
31And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
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28Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.
29At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.
30For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
31And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
32And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
33And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
34Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
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12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
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1Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
Jesus warned his disciples: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)" (). Paul wrote of a coming figure who "as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (). Futurist interpreters take these words to require a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, and they watch the preparations under way: red heifers brought from Texas in 2022, a practice burning in July 2025, and Jewish prayer permitted on the Temple Mount under conditions in 2025-26. Other Christians read the warning as fulfilled in the Jewish War, and see Jesus' words about the Temple's fall fulfilled in 70 CE.
No Third Temple exists and no construction has begun. No date has been set for a red heifer ceremony; the widely expected Passover 2024 ceremony did not happen, a red calf born in 2026 was ruled unfit, and an attempted Passover sacrifice was stopped on 31 March 2026. A dated Temple watch follows these developments as they happen.
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Daniel's "abomination" was the altar the Seleucid king set up in the Temple in December 167 BCE (). The Gospels apply the phrase to the Jewish War, and Luke replaces it with "Jerusalem compassed with armies" (). Josephus records three candidates in that period: Caligula's order to set up his statue in the Temple (40 CE, never carried out), the Zealots' pollution of the sanctuary (68 CE), which Josephus himself says fulfilled "an ancient oracle", and Roman sacrifices to their standards at the Temple (August 70). Because Mark is usually dated about 70 and Luke later, that match cannot be shown to be a prediction. Paul's words (about 50 CE) may recall Caligula's attempt. And preparations made by people acting on the text would be engineered, not independent.