Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinct first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Some of God's mysteries are meant to be understood and others are not. In this series of messages, our bible teacher, Pastor Al Runge, discusses "The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God."

I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. And now with today's message, here's Pastor Al Runge.

Al Runge: Thank you for tuning in. I am speaking on the mysteries of the kingdom of God. This is my sixth message on this series. In my last message, I spoke of the end of the age of the church that will end with the Rapture. Now we're going to get a glimpse into heaven and see some future events, so get your Bibles out, open them up to Revelation 4:1.

Listen, and after these things, that is the seven historical episodes of the church, John said, "I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me saying, 'Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.'" This is speaking after the events that will happen when the church is taken out of the world.

John saw God sitting on His throne highlighted by an emerald rainbow. Twenty-four glorified elders of the church were sitting before the throne, and there were also a multitude of angels. He overheard the songs of praise. Listen to one of them in Revelation 4:10: "The four and twenty elders fell down before Him that sat on the throne and worshipped Him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, 'Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.'"

Then John noticed a book in the hand of God in Revelation 5:1: "And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?'" And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it.

The seven-sealed scroll is the book of God's judgment, judgments that could not fall on sinful humanity unless one was found worthy enough to break the seals and open the book. No one on earth or in heaven was worthy enough to execute the justice of God except one person. Look with me at Revelation 5:4: "So I wept," John said, "because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it, but one of the elders said to me, 'Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.'"

Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, but He's also something else. Look with me at the next verse in verse six: "And I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, those angels, seraphim, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as though He had been slain from the foundations of the world."

Jesus is worthy to execute God's justice not only because of His moral perfection but also because He became the sacrificial Lamb of God who died to take away the sin of the world. John watches as the Lamb takes the scroll of the wrath of God and breaks the seals one by one, and out comes the judgments upon the earth which initiates the great tribulation predicted by Daniel, the Jewish prophet.

Look with me at Daniel 12:1: "And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time, and at that time, your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book." The only way of deliverance from the great tribulation is to have your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. After the Rapture, we see that the church is safe in heaven.

Then the Lamb of God opens up the first four seals and four spirit horsemen are released to come upon the earth. The white horseman, who I believe is the spirit of the Antichrist, comes to conquer the world through deceit. Then the red horseman comes with a great sword to take peace from the earth to bring war when the second seal is broken. And then there was the third horseman, the black horseman, which represents worldwide famine. And finally, the pale horseman comes representing death, and Hades follows the pale horseman and swallows up a fourth of mankind.

The Lamb then broke open three more seals which will send great sorrow upon the inhabitants of the earth. Out of the seventh seal, seven angels appear with seven trumpets of doom. Look with me at Revelation 8:6: "So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound." Each trumpet brought a natural disaster on the earth and a third of the earth's population dies. And an angel appears with the seven bowls of plagues that is poured upon the earth.

Look with me at Revelation 16:1: "And I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, 'Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.'" For seven years, one sorrow upon another sorrow is poured down upon mankind to try to wake them up and cause them to repent, but to no avail. The Bible reveals the hardness of the human heart. Look at Revelation 9:20: "But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which neither can see nor hear nor walk.

And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immoralities or their thefts." Sinners don't want to admit their sins or to give up their sins. In Thailand, there was a worldwide conference on how to combat AIDS that is killing millions of people around the world. The conference demands billions of more dollars to find a medical cure. President Bush of the United States suggested abstinence.

The conference condemned President Bush as inhumane. There was a day that virginity was greatly honored, but no longer. Let us face it, mankind does not want to repent and obey God's word. The Bible talks of both the goodness of God on those who believe Him and the severity of God on those who reject Him. God's wrath will be dreadful. Look with me at Revelation 6:15: "They hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand?'"

At the end of the great tribulation, all mankind will see the Lord coming to the earth to execute the wrath of God. They will seek to hide from Him, but there's no place to hide from God. Now for many, this is a new reality of the Lamb of God, the gentle Lamb of God who was sacrificed, for we now see Him expressing the wrath of God. And we are told of the wrath of the Lamb of God. In the tribulation, He will express Himself in wrath because the people not only rejected His love, but they also kept others from accepting His love.

Remember what Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day? Look at Luke 11:52: "Woe to you, religious leaders, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourself to the kingdom of God, and those who were entering in you hindered." Jesus is the key of knowledge and truth. Our Lord also spoke of the limited time of the great tribulation in Matthew 24:21: "For then there will be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be again.

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened." In other words, the disasters upon mankind will be so severe that no flesh could survive unless those days are shortened. All life would become extinct on this planet Earth. The Lord will not allow it to happen because He has a plan to fulfill. The Lord is going to return to establish a millennium of justice and peace in the world before the final end.

It is not popular to preach on the wrath of God. Someone said to me, "My God is a God of love and not a God of wrath." Yes, God truly is a God of love, for God is love. But listen to this, He's also the God of holiness and justice. He must punish sin, evil, deceit, oppression, and violence. Look with me at Romans 2:5: "But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."

Why is God so angry with mankind? I'll tell you why He's angry. He's angry because mankind has rejected the sacrifice of His Son and the offer of reconciliation. I want you to know that we who are members of the body of our Lord Jesus, we have a commission. In 2 Corinthians 5:20, we're told: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you in Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Think of all the sufferings that the Son of God endured to bring salvation to the world. There's no greater sin than to reject His love and salvation. Either you experience His goodness or His severity in eternity. It's up to you. I warn you in the name of Jesus, flee from the wrath of God that is coming to the earth, and the only safe refuge is Jesus.

In our next message, we're going to continue to talk about the great tribulation and the mystery of iniquity. I trust you will not miss it. Until then, may God richly bless you is my prayer for you in Jesus' name. Amen.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Pastor Runge. We've been listening to Pastor Al Runge teach on "The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God." If you would like to have your own copy of this series, or perhaps you'd like to share it with a friend, you'll be glad to know that it's available on convenient compact disc. Just ask for ART-24, "The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God."

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And as always, when you're in touch, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. This is Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Pastor Al Runge continues our series on "The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God" right here on Messianic Perspectives.