Open up your Bibles.
There have been some interpreters of Matthew 24 that have wrongly viewed the martyrdom contained in verse nine as disconnected from the martyrdom of the great tribulation in verses 15-22. The grammar and context militates against such an interpretation.
In Matthew 24:5-14, Jesus describes mostly general events that will happen up to the end of the age. Then in verses 15-22, Jesus unpacks the martyrdom that he mentioned in verse nine.
Here are the reasons we know that starting in verse fifteen Jesus provides a parenthetical account of the martyrdom.
1) Jesus begins verse fifteen with “Therefore” (οὖν). This is a common discourse indicator, which in this case is giving an inference of what came before verse fifteen. In addition, the very use of “therefore” demonstrates that the audience before verse fifteen is the same audience after verse fifteen.
2) In verses 5-14 there is a general or “shotgun” description of events that will precede the end of the age. But in verses 15-22, Jesus focuses in on the monumental event that will be the cause of death for Christians: the “abomination of desolation” followed by the consequent persecution terror of the great tribulation.
3) Finally, this point is often missed, but the same Christian audience in verses 5-14, who will experience those events, is the same audience in verses 15-22 because Jesus uses the second person plural, “you” in both sections without any hint that he has two completely different groups of believers in mind.