The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church

GREAT TRIBULATION
115
woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the
treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. (Isa 24:14-16)
In the midst of the desolation that is taking place in the world Isaiah the
prophet is hearing people who lift up their voice and sing to the Lord.
Their voice is coming from across the sea (where the Church is in exile),
and he asks, why are you glorifying the Lord while you are in the midst
of the fire, (the tribulation) and why are you doing this in the isles (the
land across the sea)? Again he is puzzled by the fact that the songs of
glory to the righteous One (the Lord) are coming from the uttermost
parts of the earth. Then he laments the treacherous deal that has
overtaken the whole world (the deceit of Antichrist perpetrated against
most of the inhabitants of the earth.)
The imagery of the Church in the midst of the fire (the tribulation)
was not lost to the Fathers of the Church, who likened the Church
during the Great Tribulation to the three children in the fiery furnace
(Daniel 3):
For that image which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar had indeed a
height of sixty cubits, while the breadth was six cubits; on account of
which Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, when they did not worship it, were
cast into a furnace of fire, pointing out prophetically, by what happened
to them, the wrath against the righteous which shall arise towards the
[time of the] end. For that image, taken as a whole, was a prefiguring of
this man's coming, decreeing that he should undoubtedly himself alone
be worshipped by all men. 1
Like the three children, the Church will be in the midst of the fiery
furnace (the Great Tribulation) and yet Christ be in her midst, and, like
the three children, she shall come out of the fiery tribulation unscathed.
The scriptures give us repeated assurances that God will protect the
elect during the Great Tribulation. In Daniel 12:1, the angel Gabriel
tells Daniel, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince
which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time
of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same
time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall
1 Irenaeus: Against heresies, Book V