Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Dave McAllister: Let's see, a king dreams of a giant statue and wants to know what it means. Then Daniel forecasts the rest of history, heavy stuff indeed. And this dream predicts a united Europe at the time of Christ's return, a Europe we're seeing form today. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Erwin Lutzer is in a series on seven signs of Christ's return. We're learning about sign number two, Europe reunited, and from Daniel chapter two about King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to the end, but it itself will endure forever. You know what Daniel's saying? He's saying, "King, you had a vision that really began from when you're ruling all the way to the end of time till the return of Jesus Christ."

The stone that is cut out of the mountain is Jesus. And Jesus comes. When does he come? When it says, verse 44, at the time of those kings, when there is a ten-nation confederacy roughly united. It is at that time that Christ comes. Now, everyone that I know and have read agrees that when it talks about the legs of iron, that is the Roman Empire that followed the Grecian Empire. It is the Roman Empire.

And yet, Rome is no longer in existence today as the Roman Empire. And what do we have? We have, however, an extension, an extension of those legs in toes that are mixed with iron and clay, and it's during those days that Christ comes. There's really no way to interpret this except to say that there's a gap of time here, that the Roman Empire has to be revived.

The legs of iron perhaps took place in ancient Rome during the centuries that Rome ruled, but there is still a future time when that empire is going to have ten toes, ten kings, because that's the time that Christ is going to come back and establish his kingdom. Now, what about the Roman Empire? You know that it existed for centuries and according to Edward Gibbon, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, he says that there is some disagreement as to when Rome fell because it really disintegrated from within.

And so historians date it variously, but the Roman Empire has kind of fallen apart. Now, it's been fragmented, but interestingly, during this ten-toe stage, the book of Revelation has something to say about this, too. You know, it would take too long to show all the parallels and how they fit in, so I'm just going to read a verse to you because what this verse is going to show is that these ten kings are going to get together, not by force, but voluntarily.

It's going to be a voluntary federation of ten states. This is what it says. And now the imagery is not ten toes, but it's ten horns. The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive, that means a brief period of time, will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose, and it is to give their power and authority to the beast. They give the power and the authority to the beast. And the Bible says they make war against the Lamb.

Notice that these ten toes, by the way, as we shall see in the next message when we talk about the rise of Antichrist, this is where he's going to come from is among those ten-nation confederacy. But you'll notice it says they give their power to the beast. It isn't forced upon them. And because they are iron mixed with clay, you'll notice it says in Daniel they are united and yet they're not really united. They're maintaining some kind of identity. But it's during those days that the Lord will come.

Now, let me just simply remind you of the fact that historically people have always tried to revive the old Roman Empire. We go back to the days of Charlemagne, Charles the Great. He was in St. Peter's Basilica, you remember, on Christmas Day in the year 800. And the Pope surreptitiously, I don't use that word often, but I love it, I'm going to say it again. The Pope surreptitiously came and put the crown on his head and said, "I need you."

Charles the Great became the beginning of what is sometimes called the Holy Roman Empire, which Voltaire says was neither Roman nor holy, nor was it an empire. But he became the civil head. He tried to unify Europe, and the Holy Roman Empire never really unified Europe. They were all independent states. But there was a rough kind of unification. And how long did that last? Nearly a thousand years until the time of Napoleon in 1806.

So you have the year 800 to 1800. That is a thousand years. The Holy Roman Empire had this rough, fragmented existence. After Napoleon, of course, it broke apart, and you have the end of the First Reich. That's the German word for kingdom. When I was growing up, we used to always say the Lord's Prayer in German: "Dein Reich komme," "Thy kingdom come." That's the First Reich. Years go by, and in 1871, Kaiser Wilhelm is crowned in the Hall of Mirrors in France, despite the French.

Bismarck had Kaiser Wilhelm the First crowned there in France. And why is he called Kaiser? The German word "Caesar." He is Caesar Wilhelm. The intention was to revive the Roman Empire and to finally unite Europe. If it takes war, let it be war, but let us unite Europe together in one. Well, you know, of course, that failed after Germany lost World War I, 1918. And then there was another man who arose, and this other man was Adolf Hitler.

Hitler began what was known as the Third Reich. The Third Reich, the third attempt now, major attempt since ancient Rome collapsed, to unify all of Europe. And he always said that he was beginning a Reich that would last a thousand years. He knew that Charlemagne had not really accomplished it because the empire was too loosely federated, but he thought he could begin something that would last for a thousand years. It lasted 12 years and six months.

Today, do we begin to see this voluntary association of states in Europe coming together? Not with war, not with war yet, but with a federation, a sense of voluntary, the scripture says, giving their authority. Some people have thought it would be the European Common Market. We don't know. There's always some danger in trying to read the present trends into what we are seeing. But let me give you some ideas as to how I think Europe will look under the unification that is described here in the book of Daniel.

First of all, we can expect some kind of geographic unity. The rough outline of the old Roman Empire, it doesn't have to be the exact boundaries because those boundaries even changed. But roughly speaking, and that included parts of North Africa, even some of England, Southern Europe, and all of those countries that were roughly the Roman Empire, we can expect them to be unified, at least in a general sense, as the nations give their authority and their power.

Secondly, we can also expect economic unity. Economic unity. Back in 1988, The Economist said, "Lo, a central bank for Europe," and it predicted the day when Europe would have a single European currency, a single European currency. Well, wouldn't you know that on January the 4th, 1999, some 12 years or so later, what do we have? We have the Euro. And you have the Euro bringing Europe together in that economic powerhouse that will be important for its survival.

What you find is now trade happens more easily, tourism is easier, it's going to be because all that you need to do is to change your money once and then you can go from France and Germany and the different countries which now belong to this federated union. Time magazine had its lead cover story entitled, "The Future of Money," and Time said that the day is going to come when cash will no longer be needed, that it is much better to have what they called electronic cash that can be sent.

Therefore, all transactions can be known. You can't have drug dealership where there's thousands of dollars passing in cash under the table, but what you can do is to make sure that all transactions, therefore, are done on a computer, and it's going to be so much easier, so much better, so much faster, and so much more accurate. Now, we're going to discuss that in the next message when I talk about the rise of the Antichrist, but we can expect in Europe today economic unity. Political unity.

I came from the National Religious Broadcasters meeting less than a month ago, and in the final banquet, my wife and I sat with a correspondent from England and also a representative from Germany. And it was interesting to hear the two of them discuss something, namely, now that Europe is having a central currency, are they also going to have a central government? Is there some place where this loose federation is finally going to have a clearinghouse?

The feeling is beginning to grow that a country, when you have 10 or 12 or 15 different countries all using the same currency, you need some kind of centralized economic control. And central economic control means a central government. It's interesting that the conversation, I had not thought of that, but that's what they were talking about. So we can expect political unity, we can expect military unity, because wherever there is wealth that is concentrated, that wealth, of course, must always be protected.

And so Europe has this. Now, this was the dream of Eisenhower. Eisenhower talked about the day when there would be the United States of Europe, he said. And the scripture says that when you have that ten-nation confederacy, it is then that Jesus Christ will appear. Seven signs of Christ's return. Possibly one of the signs is what is happening before our eyes as Europe begins to come together.

Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer, and I want to emphasize that when it comes to prophecy, it is best to say much too little than a little too much. Predictions have been made throughout the centuries, and many of them have failed. So it's best for us to simply wait to see what God does. But this much we do know: eventually, the world is going to come together, and Antichrist is going to rule. But his rule is going to be very brief.

Until all these events unfold, we want to run the race of life successfully. That's why we're making available for you a book entitled Failure: The Back Door to Success. It explains how that Adam and Eve, they committed the greatest failure, the greatest wrong decision, but even then, God gave them grace. Satan cannot keep God from giving grace. For a gift of any amount, this book can be yours, and I believe it will encourage you in your spiritual journey. Read it and pass it along to others.

Dave McAllister: Erwin Lutzer with part two of Europe Reunited, the second sign in a series on seven signs of Christ's return. Next time we'll conclude our look at a reunited Europe. It was Corrie ten Boom who said, "There is no pit that is so deep that God is not deeper still." Failure is like a pit, and Pastor Lutzer has written a book he calls Failure: The Back Door to Success.

This life-changing book will be sent as our gift when you give a gift of any amount to support Running to Win. Just call us at 1-800-215-5001. That's 1-800-215-5001. Online, go to offerrtw.com. That's offerrtw.com. Or write to us at Running to Win, Moody Church, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. Ask about Failure: The Back Door to Success. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win comes to you as a ministry of the Moody Church.