Messianic Perspectives

Host (Female): God is not going to allow evil to corrupt His creation forever. What is God's final solution to evil? We'll find out today, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Host (Female): Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first-century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Aiello.

Today, Pastor Al Ranji answers the question, what is God's final solution to evil? With a study from Daniel 9. I'll be back at the close of the program to tell you about our special offer. And now, with today's installment, here is Al Ranji.

Guest (Male): Thank you for letting me come back into your homes and to share with you the wonderful message of our Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, as we know him. And also, I want to bring to you a message that has been exciting for me. It is about God's final solution to evil.

I've been reading to you at each of these messages from Daniel 9:24 and 27, and I want to do this again, in order that it might seep down deep into your understanding. Seventy weeks are determined for your people, that is Daniel, your Jewish people, and for your holy city, Jerusalem, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring an everlasting righteousness of seal of vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and 62 weeks, weeks of years. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the 62 weeks, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with an invasion or a flood, and until the end of the war, desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week.

But in the middle of the week, three and a half years later, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.

So, in Daniel 9:24-27, we've told you there were five periods of time recorded here. The prophet Daniel starts at the end, after 70 weeks, 70 weeks of years, God shall end the transgression and bring an everlasting righteousness. Hallelujah.

The second period of time is the beginning when the edict was given, that is, to rebuild the second sanctuary and Jerusalem in troublesome times under Nehemiah. The third period of time says that 62 weeks later, after the seven weeks of years, which total is 483 years, the Messiah will come and he will be killed, but not for himself. That's an important phrase.

The fourth period of time is after the death of the Messiah and the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the second temple by Titus the Roman Prince, there will be a determined time of desolations, which has lasted for over 1900 years, desolation of the land of Israel. Fifth, the prophetic clock starts ticking again for Israel, for seven years, when the Antichrist shall make his appearance on the world scene. He'll make a covenant with Israel, allowing them to rebuild their temple and start sacrifices again.

But in the middle of the week or three and a half years later, he breaks his covenant with Israel, sits in the temple demanding worship. Now, the first-century Christians expected the coming of the Messiah because of the prophecy of Daniel. We pointed out the purpose of the Messiah's death was not for himself, but for us.

Isaiah, the Jewish prophet, wrote in Isaiah 53:8, "For he was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgressions of my people, he was stricken." Daniel also predicted that after the Messiah would be killed, a Prince of the people would come and destroy the second sanctuary and the temple. Titus was that Prince who later became the Emperor of Rome.

The ancient Roman historian, Dio Cassius, reported what happened. Finally, four months after the Romans had begun this attack, he wrote, "Titus ordered the second temple razed to the ground." The day is the ninth of Av, the same day on which the first temple was destroyed. But at the time, it was a horrible disaster. Hundreds of thousands of people died, many more were enslaved. There were so many Jewish slaves flooding the market after the great revolt, that you could buy a Jewish slave for less than the price of a horse. Israel was in despair.

So that this was a terrible time for Israel. Now, here's something I cut from a rabbinic website. Why do they think that the second temple was destroyed? Well, the Talmud mentions this, that it was destroyed because of the senseless hatred of one Jew for another.

What is the antidote to this problem, which is so rampant in the Jewish world today, the Rabbi wrote? The answer is that Jews have to come to love their fellow Jews. There is no hope for the Jewish people until all learn how to communicate with each other and respect each other, regardless of differences.

Now, to be consistent, Judaism, which recognizes differences among Jewish people, they should recognize the right of a Jew to believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, without them insisting that he give up his birthright as a Jew. If the coming of the Messiah depends on all the Jews coming to love one another, I want to say this, in all respect, he will never come.

If it depends on our good behavior for the Messiah to come, he'll never come. But he will come back the second time on God's timetable. In fact, Jesus said in such an hour as you think not, the son of man comes. We want to focus on the statement of Daniel 9:26. "Until the end of the war, desolations are determined." This is a period that the prophetic clock of Israel stopped. It's during the time of the desolations of the land. So there was a break.

Now Jesus gave the answer to why the desolations were allowed to come to the land in Matthew 23:37-39. You know, he loved the Jewish people. He told the woman of Samaria, "Salvation is of the Jews." He was never ever ashamed to be a Jew, nor did he ever deny it. He was the Messiah of Israel. He cried, he wept. He said, "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."

That's the reason. They were not willing. They they were prejudiced against him. And then Jesus said, "See, your house is left to you desolate. For I say to you, you shall not see me anymore until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Now, I don't believe that the reason Israel has gone through so much trouble by their enemies was because of what their ancestors had done. But you know, without our King, without our Messiah, to lead us and protect us, we're open to the enemies of Israel.

The rejection of the Messiah was by a few leaders of Israel. And this was predicted because God knew their unwilling heart. Listen to Isaiah 49:7. "Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their holy one, to him whom men despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to the servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel." See, this is a prediction, that this Messiah would bring salvation to the Gentiles. And he certainly has done that.

Now, God has already determined the duration of the desolations of the land, but that time is not mentioned or revealed to us. In Acts 1:6-8, "Therefore, when the Jewish disciples had come together with the resurrected Jesus, they asked him, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' And he said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father hath put in His own authority.'"

Jesus did not deny that Israel would one day be restored to God's kingdom, but the timetable was not given to his disciples. Rather, we were told to be witnesses of Jesus throughout the world. At that time, the disciples did not understand the Messianic ministry to Gentiles, although it was predicted in Isaiah 49:6. God said, "I will give you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth."

At first, the Jewish disciples were only able to see Israel as God's people. They felt at the time that Gentiles could not enter into the blessings or promises of God unless they became Jews. It took a while for them to see that salvation is to the ends of the earth. And in fact, Paul spoke of the fact that God opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles. Praise be His holy name.

Well, I do not know whether I'm speaking to a Jew or to a Gentile, to a believer or an unbeliever, but I trust you'll take time to think all these things through, and hopefully, through the work of God's Holy Spirit and the reading of God's word, you'll come to see how important it is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because he is the only way into the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. This is what our Jewish Bible taught. This is what Jesus did for us. What a shame to neglect this wonderful salvation because of some prejudice. I trust you will yield to Jesus and you will honor and worship him because he's God's eternal son. God bless you in Jesus name. Amen.

Host (Female): Thank you, Pastor Ranji. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. It's always good to have you with us as we look into God's word together. We've been listening to Pastor Al Ranji teach on God's final solution to evil. If you would like to have your own copy of this series, or perhaps you'd like to share it with a friend, you will be glad to know that it's available on two convenient compact discs. Just ask for ART8, God's final solution to evil. It's available for a contribution of just $12.

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Host (Female): Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the free will contributions of our listeners in this area.