Messianic Perspectives

Liz Ayelo: Shalom, and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctively first-century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Ayelo. 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 homes and to share with you the wonderful message of our Lord Jesus Christ. I've been speaking on God's final solution to evil. Our prophetic scripture is found in Daniel 9:24-27. I want to read it again, so it'll get into your mind and you'll understand this wonderful prophecy.

"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 the 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."

"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 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 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."

In our beginning of our messages, we dealt with the end of the 70 weeks, the 490 years, after which God ends the transgression finally and establishes everlasting righteousness. Now we're dealing with the first seven weeks of the prophetic clock, which is 49 years in which the city was rebuilt. The second temple and the walls of Jerusalem were restored in troublesome times.

I mentioned the other day that God always selects the right people to carry out His prophetic plan. It was Nehemiah, a man of God. We're told that he was in the right place; he was the cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah had no strategy; he didn't know how to approach the king. It was an awesome thing to approach a king for a personal problem. The king had life and death power over his subjects. But God knew how to do it, and He had it all worked out. Nehemiah was helpless to stop Him.

In Nehemiah 2:1 and 6, he wrote, "I, Nehemiah, took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I was never sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, 'Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.'" God gave the king insight into Nehemiah's condition, and He gave him compassion for him. Nehemiah could have been executed for that.

So Nehemiah said, "I became dreadfully afraid, and I said to the king, 'May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?'" Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. He didn't have much time to think it through, but he prayed a silent prayer, and God heard that prayer and gave him the wisdom for the moment.

And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it." Then the king said to me, with the queen also sitting beside him, "How long will your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time.

Now the king not only gave him permission to go and rebuild the city, he gave him the authority to do it and the resources to do it. I would think that such imperial authority behind Nehemiah would make it easy for him to get the job done, but not so because the prophecy says that the temple and the city would be rebuilt in troublesome times. Satan will always raise up enemies to oppose God's servants doing God's will.

In Nehemiah 2:10, we are told that when Sanballat and Tobiah, officials of the king in Judea, heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel. They were the original anti-Semites. In Nehemiah 4:1-3, we're told that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews.

He spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?" Now, Tobiah joined in; he was an Amorite. He said, "Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down the stone wall." They all laughed and had a big time.

But they saw the walls were going up. They then planned to ambush and kill Nehemiah, and they asked him to come for a conference, but he did not fall into their trap. When that did not work, the enemies of Israel wrote a letter to the king of Persia, falsely accusing the Jews of rebuilding their city and temple in order to rebel against Persia and not to pay tribute to the king's treasury. The emperor unfortunately listened and ordered the work to cease.

However, later, his son allowed the city walls to be completely built. Nehemiah did not quit when things went against him; he persevered. Every Christian that wishes to do the will of God and every godly pastor will have to deal with their personal Sanballats and Tobiahs. Unfortunately, they often get on the church board.

I know of good pastors who went through college and seminary to serve the kingdom of God. When they took their first church, some members of the board chewed them up. Some dissidents of the congregation mistreated them and did not appreciate what they did, so they quit the ministry. They walked away from their calling. Doing the will of God is never going to be easy.

Whenever God leads a person to do a work for Him, there will be obstacles and opponents. But if God's servant perseveres and if he'll not quit before the job is done, God will see that the work gets accomplished. As a new pastor 50 years ago, I had an unrealistic idea of the church. I thought that it was all unity and peace. So I took my first pastorate.

At a board meeting one day, the leading elder had recommended that we take the money that was raised for a new parsonage and pay off a loan that they had for some time. His intention was to save some interest—not a whole lot of interest, but to save some interest. But I was concerned that the congregation might think that we had misappropriated the money. So I said that.

Unfortunately, this man took offense at it. He lost his motion, but I thought things were all right. After the parsonage was completed, at the dedication, he asked me to come aside. He said, "I'm going to destroy you." There was such emotion, intensity in his voice that it scared me. I apologized. I said, "Please don't take any offense. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything wrong." I thought everything was quiet.

Then it was the night before the congregational meeting. A man came to see me. He said, "Pastor, you should know this, but that this particular elder asked him if he would vote against me, he would be an elder." He said, "I'm not worthy of being an elder, Pastor. You know my life is not right." But I had to know. I thought, "Well, the congregation isn't going to know." And they had plotted to gather all their opponents and even have people come that were not at church for a long time, told them stories about me that weren't true, and they were going to vote me out.

I got on my knees and I said, "Lord, You know Thy word says, 'Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.'" I said, "Lord, I've only been here for a few months. If I fail, how will I ever know that You called me to the ministry?" I went to sleep that night, and I didn't sleep very well. But the next day, a freak blizzard had hit South Jersey, and nothing could move.

Well, after a few days, this fellow's colleagues came over to me and said, "We're afraid that we're doing wrong, that God intervened. We had the votes to get rid of you. Forgive us." We were able to work things out. God delivered me. I want to say to you as a Christian, when times get hard and you're tempted to give up because some thoughtless Christian said an unkind word to you in church or didn't shake your hand, remember God calls us to be persevering, to follow it through. Nehemiah followed it through, and praise God the walls were finished and they rejoiced that God had done a wonderful work.

I know that you as a Christian will understand when I say that we should stand fast. I love this verse in Psalm 34:4-5: "I sought the Lord and He answered me. He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them." Listen, you do God's work. Hang in there when the opposition comes and you'll find out the Lord will get you through. God give you the courage to hang in, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Liz Ayelo: 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. Just ask for AR-T8, "God's Final Solution to Evil." It's available for a contribution of just $12.

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