Daniel 11:31 a. and armed forces from him they shall stand and they violate the sanctuary the stronghold and they take away the continual (tamid) and they give the abomination one making desolate.(Hebrew direct translation)
Daniel 11:31 b. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. (Hebrew/English translation)
The word armed forces in the Hebrew is “uzroim” and means the arm as a seat of strength. This is one instance where “z” in “uzroim” is masculine and means a political or military force as in Dan 11:31[1]. These armed forces come from the pronoun “him” which we have identified as the Little Horn power or the papacy.
They shall violate and pollute the sanctuary. Christ uses this text to give a double application. The first application applies to the sanctuary in the city of Jerusalem in the first century. Mat 24:15-18. Luk 21:20-21. However, in Dan 11: the sanctuary in Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70, by Titus a general in the Roman army, and the time setting for the little horn is during the Middle Ages.
Which sanctuary are we talking about?
Heb 8:1.2. Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man.
So the sanctuary we are referring to is the heavenly sanctuary and not any sanctuary on earth.
However, it would be impossible for any known power to cast the sanctuary from heaven down to the ground. So what is the text referring to?
Dan 8:11 He (the papacy) exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
Dan 8:12 Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices, and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.
So what was cast down to the ground from the above texts?
It was the truths and teachings about the heavenly sanctuary and Christ’s sacrifice which was cast down to the ground and became obsolete and of no effect.
They shall also take away the continual or daily.
“They” is referring to the plural of forces in helping the papacy. These are the Roman Catholic priests officiating in there diocese as representatives of the papacy.
Continual or daily is “tamid” in the Hebrew. So what does tamid mean?
“Tamid” is used in connection with the tabernacle and temple services about 50 times in the Old Testament: of the daily morning and evening burnt offering Ex 29:38.42, of the candlestick or lamp Ex 27:20, of the shewbread Ex 25:30, of the incense Ex 30:8, of the fire upon the altar Lev 6:13, of the fire and cloud that hovered over the sanctuary Num 9:16, of the musical service
1 Chron 16:6.37, etc. In all instances “tamid” denotes aspects of the tabernacle or temple service that were in operation “continually,” “regularly,” or “daily.” A lamb was offered every morning and every evening, and incense was burned upon the alter of incense simultaneously[2].
In Dan 8:11-14 the power symbolized by the little horn, desolates the sanctuary and halts its regular ritual services[3].
Dan 11:31 they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
“They” is a plural pronoun and they are the priests in the Roman Catholic Church representing the papacy.
What is the abomination that makes desolate?
In the Hebrew Abomination is “shiqutz” and means a detested thing, filth, unclean foods, idols, and idolatrous practices[4].
When doing a theological word study of the word abomination from the Old and New Testament, one finds out that the word is very much related to idolatrous worship opposing the worship of God who created the heavens and the earth.
A short word study of the word abomination
Mat 24:15.16. Therefore when you see “the abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Luk 21:20. 21. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, – – -.
Deut 29:17 you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them: wood and stone and silver and gold.
Lev 7:21 Moreover the person who touches any unclean thing, such as human uncleanness or unclean animal, or any abominable thing and who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offering that belongs to the Lord, that person shall be cut off from his people.
1 Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoroth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
1 Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.
(Chemosh was the chief god worshipped by the Moabites. He was the god of victory in warfare. Human sacrifices were offered to him 2 Kings 3:27. Molech was the name of the god to whom human sacrifices were offered. The Mosaic Law prohibited devoting ones children to Molech
2 Kings 23:10. King Ahaz and King Manassah burned their children at the high places of Topeth in the Valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem “ 2 Chron 28:1. 2 Chron 33:6.)
2 Chron 15:8 And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim – – -.
Es 66:3 He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man – He who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dogs neck – He who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood – He who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways and their soul delights in their abominations.
Jerm 4:1 If you will return O Israel, says the Lord, return to Me; and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight. (This is referring to adultery with idols Jerm 3:8, and harlotry and adultery with stones and trees Jerm 3:9.)
Jerm 7:30.31. For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name to pollute it. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
Jerm 13:27 I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighing, the lewdness of your harlotry, your abominations on the hills in the fields.
Jerm 32:34.35. But they set their abominations in the house (temple) which is called by my name, to defile it. And they have built the high places of Baal which are ion the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and daughters to pass through the fire to Moloch, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin.
Ezek 5:11 Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you.
Ezek 8:10 So I went in and saw and there were every sort of creeping thing abominable beasts and all idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around the walls (of the temple in Jerusalem, verse 6).
Ezek 20:7 Then I said to them, each one of you, throw away the abominations which are before your eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt, I am the Lord your God.
Ezek 20:30-32. Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations. For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.
Dan 9:27 But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering – And on the wings of abominations shall be one who makes desolate. (Refers to the sacrifice of Christ bringing an end to all sacrifices and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D.)
Dan 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken and the abomination of desolation (is set) there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. (1260 days is 1290 prophetic years from 508 to 1798 A.D. during the rule of the papacy in Middle Ages).
Hos 9:10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your father as the first fruits in the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor. They separated themselves to that shame. They became an abomination like the thing they loved.
Nahum 3:6 I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile and make you a spectacle. (This is a woe on Ninevah because of her sin).
Zech 9:7 I will take away the blood from his mouth and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Eekron like Jebusite.
Conclusion
In summary of the above texts the word abomination means idolatrous worship or any kind of worship that is opposite to worshipping God as outlined in the Bible. The abomination that makes desolate is the idolatrous worship which makes ones faith desolate and has no meaning in the eyes of God.
The abomination of desolation during the Middle ages can be seen as the union of church and state and what the church set out to accomplish through the power of the state. That is abominable worship using force to accomplish the churches means as in the dark Middle Ages.
So what is this abomination that takes the place of the sanctuary truth and cast it to the ground?
The following is a list of the Roman Catholic beliefs which are opposite to that of the sanctuary truths found in the Bible.
1. The infallibility of the pope. One who is incapable of erring and one who is unfailing.
(The pope is a human being. The Bible says in Rom 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In addition the book Catholic Power Vs. American Freedom states “the papal doctrine of infallibility was promulgated in 1870 by the first Vatican Council at the insistence of Pope Pius IX. However, it was not suddenly discovered, for, as Pius IX elaborated, it was a “tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith.” This of course is not true, for there is nothing in the New Testament or the early churches to support it)[5].”
2. Under the teachings of the apostolic succession, the pope has absolute authority and is the supreme ruler of the church.
(The apostolic succession cannot be proven. The papacy says they have a list of credentials handed down from the apostle Peter right down to the first pope, however these credentials are false. The supreme ruler of the church according to the Bible is Christ and Christ only. Ephes 5:23.24).
3. The Eucharist or communion is the time when the bread turns into the body of Christ and the wine turns into the literal blood of Christ by some miraculous event.
(This has never been proven. When Christ gave the ordinance of the Communion to his disciples in Math 26:26-28, he is referring to the bread and wine as symbols of his body and blood. When Jesus said “take eat this is my body,” the disciples did not literary eat his body, but they ate bread which was a symbol of his body).
4. The sale of indulgences[.6 Tim Dowley, Ed., A Lion Handbook: The History of Christianity (Herts: Lion Pub., 1977), 269] Indulgences guaranteed the crusader´s entry into heaven and reduced or abolished his time in purgatory[7. Tim Dowley, Ed., A Lion Handbook: The History of Christianity (Herts: Lion Pub., 1977), 333] Under Pope Sixtus there was a need for greater amounts of money in the form of gifts and this led to the peddling of indulgences.
(There is no text in the Bible referring to indulgences. It is a teaching thought up by the papacy to enlarge the coffers of the Church).
5. Purgatory is a place of spiritual purging of sins when one has died and on the road to heaven.
(There is no scriptural reference for this teaching).
6. Salvation by works and belief in Christ.
(One is only saved by faith in Jesus Christ and not by works. Ephes 2:8.9).
7. Forgiveness of sin can only be done by the pope, bishops and priests.
(This is not scriptural. Only God can forgive sins. Luk 5:21. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9).
8. The papacy has changed the 10 commandments of God in their own Bible compared to the original Hebrew.
They have ruled out the second commandment saying, “you shall not make for yourself a graven image – – – and you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”
They do not specify what the Lord´s day is, like the Sabbath which is the seventh day of the week.
They have divided the last commandment into two commandments which is, thou shalt not covet. To compare see Ex 20:2-17 and the Catechism of the Catholic Church at www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism
9. Veneration of the saints.
(The Bible says in the ten commandments Ex 20: 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them.” This includes the worshipping of saints and their images).
10. The immaculation of Mary the mother of Jesus Christ.
(Immaculation means that the virgin Mary was conceived free from the taint of original sin (in 1854 declared an article of faith of R.C. Church). The Bible says in Rom 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This includes the mother of Mary).
11. The papacy has changed the Sabbath day from Saturday the seventh day of the week to Sunday the first day of the week.
Peter Geiermann, The Convert´s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 1957, p.50. Copyright 1930 by B. Herder Book Co., St Louis. (Q=Question, A=Answer)[6]
- Which is the Sabbath day?
- Saturday is the Sabbath day.
- Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
- We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
(The correct Sabbath is the seventh day of the week on a Saturday installed by God at creation Gen 2:1-3).
The question is how do these false teachings take away the truths of the heavenly sanctuary?
First of all, the Roman Catholic Church system of priests forgiving their members of their sins in a booth, is a substitute of the forgiving of sins by our heavenly Father in the heavenly sanctuary through the Lamb of God.
Heb 8:1.2. “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, which is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man.”
John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
So the only priest we have to come to for the forgiveness of sins (1 John 1:9) is Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary and not any institution on earth. The pope is not the supreme authority and High priest over all the church and churches in Christendom. Christ is our only High Priest and has supreme authority in the heavenly sanctuary and over all men on earth. Heb 4:14 “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.” Heb 8:1.2. Heb 9:11. Ephes 5:23.24.
Furthermore, salvation in the heavenly sanctuary is not by works but by faith alone on the merits of Christ the Lamb of God and Christ as our High Priest. John 1:29. Ephes 2:8.
Christ as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary
In addition the Roman Catholic teaching of the Mass: where Christ is sacrificed each time one partakes of the mass and the bread turns into the actual body of Christ, and the wine changes into the actual blood of Christ; this is also a false teaching opposite to the sanctuary teaching in heaven. Heb 9:25 “not that He (Christ) should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another,” Heb 9:28 “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.”
As regarding the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath, these were written by Gods own finger on stone and placed in the ark in the Most Holy Place. Ex 31:18. Deut 10:1-5. There is no place in the Bible where it says that the Ten Commandments were done away with at the cross. They are still binding on all men and Christians because if they were done away with, all men would be allowed to steal, murder, and commit adultery etc. However, God does not allow this in his kingdom therefore the commandments are still binding in his heavenly sanctuary and are still binding on us today on earth. Rev 11:19. Rev 14:12. Rev 12:17
Dan 11:32a. and ones condemning of the covenant he shall pollute in slickness’s and people of ones knowing of Elohim of him they shall be steadfast/firm and they do.
Dan 11:32b. And 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).
The word condemning or wickedly in the Hebrew is “marshie” and means, be wicked, act wickedly, departing from God[7].
The word slickness and flatteries in the Hebrew is “bachalaqowt” and means smoothness, slippery, empty, make smooth, lie, forge, fabricate, false, divide the heart, deceptive, seductive speech[8].
We have three groups of people in this text: the papacy referred to as the pronoun “he,” another group who are against the covenant of God; these would be the traditional Roman Catholic members of the Church and civil authorities who have been convinced by the papacy that the Reformers are going against the church. Then we have a final group who know their God and they stand firm to their beliefs in the Bible: these are the reformers and their followers in the reformation. God in the Hebrew is Elohim and refers to the pluralistic God of creation, namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as in Gen 1:
[1] Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and C.A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980). 283. 284b.
[2] Siegfried H. Horn, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary, Vol. 8 (Washington D.C.: Review & Herald, 1979), 257.
[3] Ibid, 258.
[4] Brown, Driver and Briggs, 1055a.
[5] George La Piana and John Swomley, Catholic Power VS. American Freedom (New York: Prometheus Books, 2002, 211.
[6] Don F. Neufield and Julia Neuffer, Ed., Seventh-day Adventist Bible Students´Source Book, Vol. 9 (Washington D.C.: Review & Herald Pub., 1962), 886.
[7] Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and C.A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980), 957d.
[8] Ibid, 325c.