AN ASSESSMENT OF THE INTERPRETATIONS OF MATTHEW 24.18 IN THE LIGHT OF THE APOCALYPTIC RUPTURE AND SURVIVALIST PRAYERCULTURE IN NIGERIAN ECCLESIOLOGY

Abstract

This paper examined the interpretive trajectory of the apocalyptic phrase "the abomination that causes desolation" with a specific hermeneutical focus on Matthew 24.18 ("Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes"). Rooted in the Intertestamental crises of the Book of Daniel and the Maccabean Revolt, Jesus uses this symbol in the Olivet Discourse to emphasize extreme tactical and spiritual urgency. Employing historical and analytical frameworks as well as reader-response hermeneutical approaches, this paper examined how the mandate for immediate, cloakless flight has been adapted across three distinct historical contexts: the literal-historical reading of the Patristic era, the systematized preterist and futurist debates of Eurocentric biblical scholarship, and the dual socio-political and spiritual contextualization within contemporary Nigerian ecclesiology. By evaluating mainline denominations, classical Pentecostalism, and the digital prophetic paradigm of Pastor Jerry Eze (NSPPD), this paper demonstrated how an ancient warning of physical flight is operationalized today into an immediate, real-time demand for moral reform, spiritual deliverance, and prophetic breakthrough. While commending these hermeneutical innovations, this paper called for caution in over-stretching the meaning of biblical texts by invoking divine mandate to legitimise subjective reflections on biblical texts.