Let me try and tackle this last part first and for now. Have a stray cat that just got into the house. I need to deal with trying to get it out of here. It went into hiding somewhere.
He did answer that question, but not in Matthew 24, but in Luke 21.
Luke 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
In Matthew 24 and Mark 13 it says the following instead.
Matthew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )
Mark 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand, ) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
If these are referring to the same events, then what exactly was the AOD in 70 AD, that was standing in the holy place, standing where it ought not? To this day no one has ever given a satisfactory answer to that, IMO anyway. What does any of that have to do with what happened in 70 AD? Why was the city and temple destroyed to be begin with? Because of an abomination of desolation at the time? Is that why God desired these places destroyed? If yes, then we are back to what I initially asked, what exactly was the AOD in 70 AD, that was standing in the holy place, standing where it ought not?