The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church

THE SIGNS OF HIS COMING 1
The revelations given to Daniel the prophet in chapters 7 - 12, tell us a
great deal about the Abomination of Desolation, however, information
about the things that have to happen before his advent are very sketchy.
In chapter 7, Daniel saw a vision of “four great beasts, coming out
of the sea, diverse one from another.” He also saw ten horns on the
fourth beast, and “another little horn” that came among them. (Dan
7:3-8)
Daniel was troubled by what he saw, so he went and asked one of
the angels about the meaning of the vision. The angel interpreted the
vision in the following manner, “These great beasts, which are four, are
four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.” (Dan 7:17) Concerning
the ten horns coming out of the fourth beast (the fourth kingdom), and
the “little horn” that came among them, the angel said, “The ten horns
out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise; and another shall arise
after them; and shall be diverse from the first [kings].” (Dan 7:24)
If we read the rest of the Book of Daniel, and consult the Fathers
who wrote on the subject, we will learn the following.
Concerning the four kingdoms, all are agreed that these are the
Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek and the Roman Empires.
The ten horns represent ten kingdoms that will arise after the fall of the
Roman Empire, and after them will come the Abomination of
Desolation. One may be tempted to count the empires that came after
the fall of Rome like the Germanic, the Moslem, Mongolian, Ottoman,
the French, British . . . and the greatest kingdom of them all; the mighty
U.S.A.! And, perhaps convince oneself that the ten horns have already
come and that the little horn is around the corner! But, before we go
any further, let us have a word about the use of numbers in prophetic
and apocalyptic Scripture.
Numbers in these types of Scriptural passages are usually symbolic
and not literal, e.g., “The seven Spirits of God” (Rev 4:5), are not to be
interpreted literally, but could mean the “perfect” Spirit of God, since
the number seven symbolizes perfection. Similarly, the number three
and a half symbolizes imperfection, so, when we are told that the Great
1 Published: November, 1997