Messianic Perspectives

Guest (Female): God is not going to allow evil to corrupt His creation forever. What is God's final solution to evil?

Liz Aiello: We'll find out today, right here on Messianic Perspectives. 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 Runge 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 Runge.

Al Runge: Thank you for letting me come back into your home and to share with you the wonderful message of our Lord Jesus Christ. I've been speaking on God's final solution to evil, and I've been going over this prophetic scripture each time I've spoken on it. It's found in Daniel 9:24-27. Let me repeat it.

Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up 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 sixty-two weeks.

The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two 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; 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, 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, and is poured out on the desolate.

In Daniel 9:24-27, we have told you on several occasions there are five periods of time recorded here. The prophet Daniel begins with the end of the seventy weeks, in which God ends the transgressions, praise God, and brings in everlasting righteousness. The second period of time which he speaks about is the seven weeks of 49 years in which the city was rebuilt, even in troublesome times under Nehemiah.

The third period was 62 weeks later, of 434 years, which with the seven weeks of years totaled to 483 when the Messiah came and was killed, was cut off, but not for Himself. The fourth period of time was that after the death of the Messiah and the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the second temple by Titus the Roman prince, the prophetic clock is stopped for an unknown time, that is unknown to us. There is a determined amount of years of desolation for the nation of Israel.

In our last message, we dealt with the desolations of Israel when God set Israel aside to begin a new work of grace in the calling together of believing Jews and Gentiles into His church. I want to talk about the fifth period of time after the church is raptured from this earth and the prophetic clock begins ticking again for Israel.

The seven last years before the second coming of the Lord to the earth is called the Great Tribulation. Jesus predicted it in Matthew 24:21 and 22. Listen: For then shall be a great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.

It is at the beginning of the seven years of the Tribulation that the Antichrist makes his appearance on the world scene. In the beginning, he makes a covenant with Israel, allowing them to rebuild their temple and start the animal sacrifices again. Three and a half years later, he breaks his covenant with Israel. He sits in the temple demanding the worship of all the people of the world to be worshipped as God.

Something of a major catastrophe will take place that upsets the international balance of power, allowing the Antichrist to rise and gain power, which will begin the Great Tribulation. Revelation 8:7 tells us, I believe, what will happen that starts off the Great Tribulation. Listen: The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

So that a third of the earth will be burned up, most likely it will be the result of a nuclear war. What third of the earth will be burned up, we do not know, except that it will not be Israel or Europe, because those countries remain the focal point of prophecy during the Tribulation. Will it be Asia or North America? I have no way of knowing because the Bible doesn't say. My guess is that the destruction will be spread over various parts of the earth.

It is interesting that this destruction will occur only after certain Israelites come to faith in Jesus. Revelation 7:3-4 says that a great angel declares, "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." Then I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. They will be the evangelists during the Great Tribulation after the church is raptured into the heaven because God will never be without a witness.

And they will lead a multitude of Gentiles that no one could number into the kingdom of God. The world will be so devastated by the destruction of war, famine, and disease that the survivors of the world will demand a one-world government for the continued existence of humanity. Some major powers will be broken by that war, which will then leave the ten nations of the European Union intact and a superpower who will come into power.

They will elevate one man to total authority. The Bible calls that man the Beast. The Apostle Paul wrote about the power behind that world leader in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. Listen to what God says: The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.

And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, and that they may all be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The reason that God sends a strong delusion on the inhabitants of the earth to believe the lie of the Antichrist is because they have refused to receive the love of the truth. God offers not only truth but the love of truth to those who are willing.

There have always been foolish speculations as to the identity of the Antichrist, who is also called the lawless one or the Beast. The early Christians thought that it was the cruel Emperor Nero. In the early 1940s, some prophetic teachers were sure it was Mussolini, the late dictator of Italy, who sought to revive the glories of ancient Rome. Others thought it was Hitler or Stalin. They were all little antichrists, but they were not the real one.

1 John 2:18-19 tells us, "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour." The Antichrist will have total political power over the world, and that is why he'll be able to affirm the Levitical covenant by allowing Israel to rebuild the temple. And the reason he wants the temple rebuilt is he wants to sit in the temple of God and demand worship.

After he decides to be worshipped, he goes against Israel and he decides to destroy them. Why does Satan hate the Jew and seek to destroy them? Satan hates the Jew because Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, and He will defeat Satan and end his evil rule over the earth forever. During the Tribulation, the Antichrist will try to destroy Israel completely with Satan's total power behind him.

In the past, Satan tried to use Sanballat and Tobiah to stop Nehemiah from building the walls of Jerusalem. He used the Romans, the Crusades, the Holocaust under Hitler, and now he is using the Palestinian issue that will try again but will fail. And he'll try with the Antichrist and fail. God's invisible angelic armies are ready to protect Israel's survival during the Great Tribulation, so in times of Israel's troubles, heaven's armies are there behind the scenes.

Daniel was told in Daniel 12:1, at that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that time. God assigns Michael, a mighty warrior angel, and his legions to look after the children of Israel during the Great Tribulation.

Revelation 12:7-9 tells us, "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." There is no other way to explain how Israel has survived during the time of desolation.

Think of how Israel, with no organized army, defeated seven Arabic armies and became a nation in 1948. Every time the Arabs attacked, Israel defeated them. Even unbelieving Jews recognize their survival is a miracle from God. As long as we are talking about the protection of angels, let me share a verse that's for every believer in Psalm 34:7: The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them.

I want to invite you to come on the winning side. I want to invite you to become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ because He loves you and He cares about you. It's because of our unwillingness to come that we are lost. Come to Jesus now. And I say this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Pastor Runge. 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 Runge 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.

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I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Pastor Al Runge continues our series of studies on God's Final Solution to Evil, right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the freewill contributions of our listeners in this area.