The desolation prophecies

In the table below, various prophecies about desolation are listed. Among the things that are described as becoming desolate in prophecy are the city of Jerusalem, the temple, mount Zion, other mountains of Israel, the land of Israel, and the church. Even heaven is listed in the table below. It is made desolate because of “spiritual wickedness in high places” [Ephesians 6:12] and because of the war in heaven involving the angels of Michael and of Satan described in Revelation 12. Jerusalem and mount Zion are identified with the church in Hebrews 12:22, and so the prophecies imply it is the church which has been made desolate. The other things that become desolate, the land, the mountains of Israel, and heaven, represent the spiritual inheritance of the saints, revelations of God, covenants, and promises. Mountains and hills were employed as symbols of God’s promises by Jacob when he blessed his son Joseph. [Genesis 49:26]

Reference	What is made desolate	Nature of the desolation
Psalm 74:3	the sanctuary	perpetual desolations; “all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.”
Isaiah 6:12	the promised land	the land is desolate, and there is a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
Isaiah 59:19	Zion	an enemy comes in like a flood
Jeremiah 12:10-11	God’s vineyard	it is destroyed and made desolate by many pastors
Lamentations 5:18	the mountain of Zion	God has utterly rejected his people
Ezekiel 35:12	the mountains of Israel	To mount Seir: “And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.”
Ezekiel 35:15	the inheritance of the house of Israel	when it was made desolate, Edom rejoiced
Ezekiel 36:3-4	the mountains of Israel	the mountains are “taken up in the lips of talkers;” they are an “infamy of the people:” they became “a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;” they have “borne the shame of the heathen”
Ezekiel 36:5	the holy land	the heathen have “appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.”
Ezekiel 38:8, 12	the mountains of Israel; and desolate places that are now inhabited	invaders want to take a spoil
Ezekiel 38:8	the land of unwalled villages, which has been brought back from the sword	the hordes of Gog and Magog cover the land like a cloud
Ezekiel 38:17	the prophets of Israel	invaders assault the prophets of Israel
Daniel 7:8-21	the saints	the little horn of the fourth beast, which has eyes like the eyes of a man, makes war with the saints and overcomes them
Daniel 8:12-13	heaven	the truth was cast to the ground; the cosmology of the Bible was adapted to the geocentric views of the Greeks; earth’s rocky crust (raqia) was identified with the rigid heaven
Daniel 9:26-27	Jerusalem	city and sanctuary are made desolate by “overspreading of abominations”
Daniel 11:45	the glorious holy mountain	the holy place becomes the dwelling of antichrist
Daniel 12:7	the saints	the power of the holy people is scattered
Joel 1:11	the harvest	the harvest is perished
Joel 1:12	God’s vine	the vine is dried up
Joel 1:12	fruit trees	trees are withered, burned up
Joel 1:16	the house of God	joy and gladness cease
Joel 2:3	the land	the land is turned to a desolate wilderness
Zechariah 12:3	Jerusalem	all the people of the earth gather against Jerusalem
Zechariah 14:1-3	Jerusalem	all nations gather against Jerusalem to battle, and they divide the spoil in the midst of the city.
Matthew 24:15	the holy place	the abomination mentioned by Daniel
Luke 21:24	Jerusalem	Gentiles trample Jerusalem until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Ephesians 6:12	high places, heaven	the saints wrestle against powers, principalities, and spiritual wickedness
2 Thessalonians 2:7-12	the temple of God	a falling away, due to the antichrist spirit, Satan
2 Peter 2:3	the church	false teachers make merchandise of the saints
Revelation 11:7-9	two witnesses	they are overcome and killed by the beast from the bottomless pit, and their corpses are exposed in the street of the city for three days and a half
Revelation 12:3-4	heaven	Satan and his angels occupy heaven
Revelation 12:15	the woman’s place in the wilderness	the serpent casts out a flood of water after the woman to carry her away in the flood
Revelation 20:8-9	the camp of the saints, and the beloved city	people of all parts of the earth, deceived by Satan, come against the saints

In various symbolic ways, the church, and the promises to the church, represented by mountains, are described as desolate; one of the reasons for this is because the church does not benefit from the spiritual blessings and promises that the mountains represent. The mountains of prophecy have been misinterpreted. Recognizing the abomination of desolation that Jesus referred to would be a remedy for this. Jesus said, when that time comes, “flee to the mountains,” meaning the saints should then possess the promises and blessings that the mountains of Israel represent.