Humbling thoughts

"So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not," (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."   
                                                                                        Mark 13:14   NKJV

Here, Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 but was also predicting the Great Tribulation that is still to come. The abomination of desolation has it's meaning in Daniel 11:31 & 12:11. In Hebrew it means, profanation that appals. This gives us a fuller interpretation. It is the height of profanity.

The origin was in connection with Antiochus, who tried to stamp out the Jewish religion and introduce Greek thought and Greek ways. He desecrated the Temple by offering pig's flesh on the great altar and set up public brothels in the sacred courts. He also set up a great statue of Olympian Zeus and ordered the Jews to worship it.

Jesus predicted what the end times would be like - man separating man from God and in return, exalting themselves above all - a figure to be worshipped. There was a similar occurrence recorded in Daniel 3, where Nebuchadnezzar also set up a gold image, some 90 foot tall and 9 foot wide and demanded that people worship and bow down to it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego refused and were cast into a red hot oven.

All over history dictators have put themselves into the position of God and have demanded that they be worshipped and adored. Probably one of the most well known of dictators was Hitler, who during his atrocities, attempted to stamp out the Jewish nation as well. But even though it was totally awful, God was greater and He had the victory!

Brother Andrew of Open Doors, has been smuggling bibles into such countries where Christianity is forbidden. He has been doing this for many years. North Korea is such a country as this. People there are forbidden to even have a bible or to meet in Christian groups. To do so, would result in years of horrific imprisonment in awful labour camps or even death.
Their leader there Kim Jong-Un, has set up a statue of himself, which is possibly the same size as the one that Nebuchadnezzar had built. All the inhabitants of North Korea have to bow down and worship it. To the North Korean's, he must be known as God. They have no choice. He controls everything - TV, the media and news, in fact, their whole lives. To these people, it has been indoctrinated into them that we, in the west, are the evil ones. 

And yet, God is there. He cannot be stamped out and the North Korean believers, who have nothing of any value, are the most dedicated of worshippers. God will give them the victory. He will be victorious over North Korea and of all the other dictatorship-ruled countries. He will avenge.

What these people go through and how they still manage to praise and worship God with so much vigour, is really humbling. It makes one realise that, in comparison, we live the lives of millionaires. 

Probably we need to remember this when we next get into a critical or grumbly moment over something that really is trivial. We have all we need and yet their devotion to Jesus can leave us standing at times.

Copyright 2020 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@hotmail.com

dailylifewithjesusbygrahamehoward.blogspot.com

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