The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church

DAY OF THE LORD 153
Revelation 20:9-10 tells us how God will defend his elect against this
final assault of Satan, and his armies of Gog, Magog and their allies:
and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And
the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be
tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The destruction of the armies gathered by Satan will herald the
destruction of the world, since immediately after that verse we are told
that the great day of Judgment will come about:
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book
of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the books, according to their works. (Rev 20: 11-12)
Now we have to pause a little, for before the destruction of the world
will come about some very important events that are narrated for us in
various parts of the scripture, which we will summarize here.
THE SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matt 24:30)
Here is what St.Cyril tells us about the sign of the Son of Man:
But what is the sign of His coming? lest a hostile power dare to
counterfeit it. And then shall appear, He says, the sign of the Son of
Man in heaven. Now Christ's own true sign is the Cross; a sign of a
luminous Cross shall go before the King, plainly declaring Him who was
formerly crucified. 1
1
St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical lectures, lecture XV