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The Scriptorium

Time of Desolation

God will end the desolation of His temple and the trampling of His people.

Daniel 8 (4)

Introduction
In 164 BC Judas Maccabee restored the temple, which had been desecrated by Antiochus six years earlier. Antiochus took the surname Epiphanes, which suggests “God manifest”, and undertook to eliminate the religion of the Jews, erecting a pagan statue in the temple, sacrificing a pig on the altar, destroying copies of Scripture, and sending many Jews into slavery. His actions provoked the Maccabean revolt, and “then the sanctuary was cleansed.”

Read Psalm 74.

Read Daniel 8.13, 14.

Think it through
1.  In his dream, Daniel heard two “holy ones” conversing about events which were yet to come (cf. Dan. 4.13). Apparently, at least some angels are privy to God’s eternal plan. Given what we’ve seen about angels, and their role in earthly affairs, why does this make sense? Meditate on Matthew 18.10, 11. How should we think about the role of angels in our walk with the Lord? Do you think we should give thanks for angels more than we do? Or call on the Lord for their assistance? Why or why not?

2.  The period of “two thousand three hundred days” roughly represents the time that the sanctuary of God lay desolate and the “host” of Israel was “trampled underfoot”. Why do you suppose God allowed this to happen? What was He saying to His people? Meditate on John 2.13-19. Do you think Jesus may have been recalling the work of the Maccabees in this action? If so, what message would He have been sending to His contemporaries? How does the restoring work of the Maccabees point forward to our Lord Jesus?

Meditate
“Clearly he is witnessing angels conversing and wanting to learn how long is the period of the offenses of impiety and lawlessness, the devastation of the temple, the illicit and loathsome sacrifice and the oppression of the people.” Theodoret of Cyr (393-466 AD)

When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” John 2.15, 16

Lord, You have made my body Your holy temple, that I may be holy as You are holy. Drive out of me today, Lord, the things that are loathsome to You, so that…

Pray Psalm 2.1-3
As you pray, listen for the Spirit to convict you, if in any way you have set aside God’s Law and are desecrating His temple, which temple you are. Keeping in mind Psalm 74, pray also that God would cleanse His churches of everything that is worldly, fleshly, and not according to His Word.

Psalm 2.1-3 (Agincourt: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!)
Why do the nations vainly rage,
Conspiring together from age to age?
Earth’s kings and all of their counselors stand
Against the Lord and His Right Hand:

“Now let us cast His yoke below,
His Kingdom authority overthrow!
Throw off His Law, reject His Word;
No more be governed by this Lord!”

T. M Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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