You are partly correct but not describing the whole picture as taught in Matthew 24.
Christ's disciples responded to His prediction that the temple would be destroyed (Matthew 24:1–2) by asking a two-part question. First, they asked when that would happen. Second, they asked what signs they should expect to see before His return (Matthew 24:3). In the prior passage to verse 15, Jesus addressed the second question, explaining the state of the world during the end times (Matthew 24:4–14).
Here in verse 15, Jesus continues to speak on that subject. He points to a moment that will mark the onset of the worst possible calamities. This instance is the same one referred to by the prophet Daniel as the "abomination of desolation." Daniel speaks of this several times (Daniel 8:13; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). Interestingly, Matthew adds a footnote here directly encouraging "the reader" to understand that reference. Mark, also includes the same advice when describing Jesus' words (Mark 13:14).
That prophecy had already been fulfilled in 167 BC but like so many other prophecies they can have more than one meaning. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the king of Seleucid, constructed an altar to the Greek god Zeus in the temple and ordered that unclean animals, such as pigs, be sacrificed there. This was a catastrophic, intense violation of the Jewish people. Jesus speaks as though Daniel's prophecy had been fulfilled in part.
The events of AD 66—70 partially fulfilled Jesus' prophecy here. The temple was "desecrated" by an act of sacrilege in AD 66 when Jewish Zealots killed priests and spilled their blood in the temple. "Desolation" followed in AD 70 when Rome burned the temple and tore it down. They set up their own standards of the Roman emperor Caesar, whom they worshipped as a god, defiling the temple yet again.
The rebuilt temple, if it's ever done, or some other facility in Jerusalem will become the new "holy place" and will be violated by the figure known as the antichrist (Revelation 13:1–4). This will occur during the "great tribulation" (Matthew 24:21). This also fits with the context of Jesus' remarks, which also focus on the very end of history (Matthew 24:14). It also makes more sense of the idea that this abomination triggers an era so ferociously dangerous that it would destroy the entire world if not cut short (Matthew 24:22). That of course is where the world today is close to being - total destruction by a nuclear war if things are not halted by Jesus when He returns. It would start first with the final "abomination of desolation" of the "holy place" that's yet to occur.
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