24:13
We do then get some better news! “Whoever stands firm to the end will be saved”. What are we to do in such times? We are to stick to Christ and the gospel. There will be many forces seeking to make us abandon the faith, or at least to compromise it. We must not do so, for if we do we will be lost. Instead we must stand firm. Note that the lesson is not “pray that these things don’t happen”, instead it is stand firm in the midst of such circumstances.
24:14
And then we are told that the gospel will be preached to the whole world as a testimony to the whole world. “Then the end will come”. The Bible teaching on the end times is not given to tickle our ears, or to induce idle speculation. Rather, it is given to instruct and strengthen us, and the two key lessons so far are about standing firm and continuing to proclaim the gospel. The enemy will try to stop this happening, but will not succeed. The lessons of Matthew 24 and Revelation are for the church in all ages.
24:15,16
“The abomination that causes desolation” comes from Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11. The first “fulfilment “ of this was when Antiochus of Epiphanes put up an altar to Zeus in the temple. The Romans desecrated the temple in AD 70. Jesus is alluding to this latter incident and follows it with a very practical instruction, “run for the hills!”. There was a cultural instinct to believe that Jerusalem was the safest place they could be, that God would defend the temple. This had proved to be misplaced in the time of the Babylonian conquest, and would prove equally misplaced in AD 66-70.
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