A.    An angel told Daniel about a thirty-day period that would extend beyond the commonly understood 1,260 days (3½ years) in which most of God's end-time plan occurs (Dan. 12:11).
 
And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the Abomination of Desolation is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. (Dan. 12:11)
 
B.    It is surprising that God allows the Antichrist's worldwide worship system to continue to function in Jerusalem for 30 days after Jesus raptures the Church at the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15).The Antichrist's future worship system is referred to as the Abomination of Desolation because it is an abomination to God that results in the desolation of the nations by His Great Tribulation judgments.
 
C.    This concept may seem difficult to understand at first. However, it is simple and straightforward. I am sure that most of you will understand this vital truth of Daniel's thirty days after you get a little more familiar with it.
 
D.    Scripture makes it clear that during the well-known three-and-a-half-year period, that three significant end-time activities unfold pertaining to God's people. Note that this three-and-a-half-year period is also referred to as 42 months or 1,260 days in Scripture (it is 1,260 days according to the Hebrew calendar). This very important 1,260-day period begins on the day the Abomination of Desolation is set up. Each of these three primary activities will begin on the very day that the Abomination of Desolation starts and they will continue for 1,260 days. What are these three primary activities that continue for 1,260 days?

E.    These three activities will abruptly end on exactly the 1, 260th day after the Abomination of Desolation begins. This is also the very day that the rapture of the Church occurs at the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15). What is the Abomination of Desolation? It is the Antichrist's worldwide worship system that forces all the nations to worship him as God (2 Thes. 2:4; Rev. 13:13-18).
 
F.    The centerpiece of the Abomination of Desolation worship system is an image or statue of the Antichrist that will be seen standing in the holy place of the temple in Jerusalem. It will stand there for exactly 1,290 days. On the day this starts, we will know that the Great Tribulation has begun and the three primary activities listed above begin.
 
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. (Mt. 24:15-16)
 
G.    The setting up of the Antichrist's image in the Jerusalem Temple will be an abomination to God that will lead to the desolation of nations by the judgment of God. In setting this image up, the Antichrist will claim to be God and will demand that everyone on earth worship him as God.
 
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day (rapture/Second Coming) will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin (Antichrist) is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes... all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God... (2 Thes. 2:3-4)
 
H.    The image of the Antichrist that will stand in the Jerusalem Temple will be a demonically empowered statue that appears to breathe and speak (Rev. 13:14-15).
 
¹⁵ He was granted power to give breath to the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should speak and cause as many as would not worship the image...to be killed.. (Rev. 13:15)
 
I.    In the context of the activities associated with the Abomination of Desolation, the Antichrist will stop the daily sacrifices in the temple in Jerusalem (soon to be rebuilt). He will take away the daily sacrifices and put his image in their place and then demand that Israel worship him instead of worshipping the God of Israel. This will be the great abomination that results in desolation.
 
J.    One of the most surprising facts about Jesus' end-time plan is that Jesus will allow the Antichrist to continue to run his worldwide worship system for thirty days after the rapture of the Church. This is precisely the point the angel was making when he told Daniel that the Abomination of Desolation will continue for 1,290 days, that is, another thirty days after Jesus' return.
 
And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the Abomination of Desolation is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. (Dan. 12:11)
 
K.    The question is, "Where will Jesus and the saints be during these thirty days?" Remember that the rapture will occur at the seventh trumpet, exactly 1,260 days after the Abomination of Desolation is set up. This is the very day that the Antichrist's persecution of the saints stops (Rev. 13:5), when God's supernatural provision for Israel in the wilderness stops (Rev. 12:6, 14) and when the prophesying by the Two Witnesses stops (Rev. 11:3). They all end exactly on the 1,260th day because that is when the saints are raptured.
 
L.    At this time, several things will be happening with the saints, as seen in Mt. 24:31; 1 Thes. 4:17 and Rev. 11:15-18. They will be gathered together in the sky to receive their resurrected bodies, be evaluated and rewarded by Jesus and then organized and mobilized for the battle of Jerusalem which results in the hostile takeover of the governments of all the nations on earth. This is when Jesus marches up from Edom (Jordan; Isa. 63:1-6) to Israel, as the greater Moses, releasing the bowl judgments on the Antichrist as the end-time Pharaoh. He marches into Jerusalem to liberate Israel and kill the Antichrist and his armies, thus ending the Abomination of Desolation (Rev. 19:11-21). The saints will be involved in this. These dramatic events will take 30 days from the rapture of the Church to Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem to be received as King of kings.