The Resurrection, the Abomination, and the Destroyer: What Scripture Reveals About the End

by Ron Ash August 31, 2026

From Daniel’s Abomination to Paul’s Man of Lawlessness to John’s Vision of the End — What the Church Teaches About the Final Things

Introduction

There are passages in Scripture that, read in isolation, can seem obscure, alarming, or disconnected from daily Christian life. But when read together — as the Catholic Church has always read them, within the full context of Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium — they form a coherent and ultimately hopeful picture of history’s final chapter.

The five passages at the heart of this reflection span the Old and New Testaments, the prophetic and the apostolic, the cosmic and the deeply personal. Together they address three of the most profound questions a Christian can ask: What happens when we die? What will the end of history look like? And who is ultimately in control?

The answers the Church gives are not sensationalist. They are grounded, sober, and — above all — anchored in the victory of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:12 — If Christ Is Risen, Everything Changes

“But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?”
— 1 Corinthians 15:12

St. Paul is writing to a community in Corinth where some members — influenced by Greek philosophical culture — were denying the resurrection of the dead. Paul’s response is one of the most logically forceful arguments in all of Scripture: if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ himself has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then faith is empty, preaching is in vain, and we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:14–17).

The resurrection of Christ is not a peripheral doctrine — it is the load-bearing wall of the entire Christian faith. Paul goes on to proclaim Christ as the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20) — meaning that Christ’s resurrection is the beginning of a harvest. His rising from the dead is the guarantee and the prototype of our own rising.

The Catholic Church teaches that the resurrection of the body is a defined dogma of the faith (CCC 988–1004). At the end of time, every human being who has ever lived will be raised bodily — the just to eternal life, the unjust to judgment. This is the literal, physical, bodily resurrection of the dead, modeled on and made possible by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 — The Dead in Christ Will Rise First

“For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
— 1 Thessalonians 4:16

Paul is writing to a community anxious about their loved ones who have died before Christ’s return. His answer is a resounding no — and more than that, it is a reversal of expectation: the dead in Christ will rise first. The imagery Paul uses is deliberately majestic and cosmic: a word of command, the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God. This is not a quiet, private event. The return of Christ will be unmistakable, universal, and glorious.

The Catholic Church teaches that this passage describes the Parousia — the Second Coming of Christ — at which the general resurrection of the dead will occur (CCC 1001). The souls of the just, already in the presence of God, will be reunited with their glorified bodies. This is the completion of salvation — not just the soul saved, but the whole person, body and soul, transformed and glorified.

Daniel 9:27 — The Abomination of Desolation

“For one week he shall make a firm covenant with the many; half of the week he shall abolish sacrifice and offering; in their place shall be the desolating abomination until the ruin that is decreed is poured out upon the desolator.”
— Daniel 9:27

Daniel 9 contains the famous “seventy weeks” prophecy — a vision of history’s unfolding given to the prophet Daniel during the Babylonian exile. Jesus himself references this passage in his eschatological discourse:

“When you see the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.”
— Matthew 24:15–16

The Catholic Church teaches that Daniel 9:27 has both a historical and an eschatological dimension. It was partially fulfilled in the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 BC. But Jesus’s reference to it in Matthew 24 points to a further, final fulfillment at the end of history. The “desolating abomination” is understood in Catholic tradition as a supreme act of sacrilege — the desecration of what is most holy, the replacement of true worship with a counterfeit, the enthronement of a lie in the place of truth. It is the signature act of the Antichrist.

2 Thessalonians 2:4 — The Man of Lawlessness Enthroned

“He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god and object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is a god.”
— 2 Thessalonians 2:4

This is Paul’s most explicit description of the figure Catholic tradition calls the Antichrist — the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3), whose coming precedes the Day of the Lord. The characteristics Paul identifies are precise:

He opposes every legitimate object of worship — actively hostile to God and all authentic worship.
He exalts himself above every god — his claim is not merely political but theological.
He seats himself in the temple of God — he occupies the sacred, claiming divine prerogatives for himself.
He claims to be a god — the ultimate blasphemy, the final inversion of the First Commandment.

Paul also tells us this figure is currently being restrained by a mysterious force — and that when this restraint is removed, the man of lawlessness will be revealed. He will come “by the activity of Satan” with “all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9) — but will be destroyed by Christ at his return, “by the breath of his mouth” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

The Catholic Church teaches that the Antichrist is a real, future figure who will appear before the Second Coming of Christ (CCC 675–677). The Catechism describes his coming as part of a “supreme religious deception” — a false messianism that offers humanity an apparent solution to its problems at the cost of apostasy from the truth.

Revelation 9:11 — Abaddon, the Angel of the Abyss

“They have as their king the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Apollyon.”
— Revelation 9:11

This verse comes from the vision of the fifth trumpet in Revelation 9. John sees a star fall from heaven, a key given to open the shaft of the abyss, and from the abyss rises a swarm of locust-like creatures with the power to torment. Their king is named: Abaddon (Hebrew) / Apollyon (Greek) — both meaning “Destroyer.”

This is not a human figure. This is a demonic power — a fallen angelic being of immense authority who rules over the forces of destruction unleashed from the abyss. The Catholic Church teaches that Revelation is a highly symbolic book that must be read within the full context of Scripture and Tradition — not as a newspaper of future events, but as a theological vision of the cosmic conflict between God and evil, and of God’s ultimate victory. The “angel of the abyss” represents the demonic power that stands behind human evil — the spiritual force that animates and empowers the Antichrist.

Who Is Pulling the Strings? Satan Behind the Antichrist

Paul tells us explicitly in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 that the coming of the man of lawlessness is “by the activity of Satan.” The Antichrist does not derive his power from himself. He is energized, directed, and empowered by Satan. Revelation 13:2 makes this even more explicit:

“The dragon gave it his own power and throne, along with great authority.”
— Revelation 13:2

The dragon — identified in Revelation 12:9 as “the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan” — is the ultimate source of the Antichrist’s power. Satan is the puppet master. The Antichrist is the puppet — a willing instrument, but an instrument nonetheless. And Revelation 9:11 names the demonic king of the abyss — Abaddon/Apollyon, the Destroyer — as the spiritual power unleashed in the final conflict.

The Antichrist’s purpose, according to Catholic teaching and these passages, is threefold:

To counterfeit Christ — to offer a false salvation, a false peace, a false messianism that draws humanity away from the true God (CCC 675). He performs signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9; Matthew 24:24) that mimic divine power.
To desecrate the sacred — to occupy the place of God, to abolish true worship, and to replace it with the worship of himself (Daniel 9:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). This is the abomination of desolation in its final form.
To destroy — his name, through Abaddon/Apollyon, is Destroyer. His ultimate goal, under Satan’s direction, is the destruction of souls — the permanent separation of humanity from God.

But the Catholic Church insists what must never be forgotten: the Antichrist loses.

“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and render powerless by the manifestation of his coming.”
— 2 Thessalonians 2:8

The Catholic Church’s Summary of This Unified Message

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraphs 675–677, provides the clearest magisterial summary of what these passages teach together:

“Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers… The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil.”
— CCC 677

The unified message of these five passages, as the Church reads them:

History is moving toward a resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). The dead in Christ are not lost — they are waiting for the trumpet.
Before that resurrection, a final trial will come (Daniel 9:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:4) — a supreme act of sacrilege and deception, embodied in the Antichrist, who will claim divine authority and demand worship.
Behind the Antichrist stands Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 13:2), and behind Satan’s forces stands the Destroyer (Revelation 9:11) — the full weight of demonic power unleashed for a final assault on the Church and on humanity.
But God’s victory is certain (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Christ returns. The Antichrist is destroyed. The dead rise. And God’s mercy achieves its final and eternal purpose.

Conclusion: The Trumpet Will Sound

St. Paul ends his great chapter on the resurrection with a cry of triumph that encompasses everything these passages together proclaim:

“Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
— 1 Corinthians 15:54–55

The Destroyer will be destroyed. The Abomination will be abolished. The Man of Lawlessness will be rendered powerless by the breath of the Lord’s mouth. The dead in Christ will rise. And the trumpet of God will sound over a creation finally, fully, and forever redeemed.

This is the message. This is the hope. This is what the Catholic Church has proclaimed from the beginning — and will proclaim until the end.

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20)