Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Dave McAllister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. An ancient king can't sleep. He wants his dream interpreted. God's man, Daniel, tells of future kingdoms and the end of this age. And a confederated Europe lies at the core of geopolitics as the end times begin. Today, how that reunification is already underway.

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. Today, an analysis of where modern Europe and prophecy line up.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: 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. 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. On January the 4th, 1999, some 12 years later, what do we have? We have the Euro. 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, and tourism is easier. 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. It is much better to have what they called electronic cash that can be sent, and 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Let me draw some final thoughts from this passage of scripture here in the book of Daniel. First of all, remember God is in control of the nations. It is He who has ultimately the headlines in His hand. You'll notice that Daniel says that it is He who gives knowledge to the wise and—we read it there in verse 21—He sets up kings and deposes them. God is God. And here is God looking into the future.

If you take the book of Daniel and say that it was in the four or five centuries B.C., He's looking into the future 2,500 years or even maybe beyond our era, and He is saying, "This is what is going to happen in the end of time." Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that talks about four kingdoms, and the fourth kingdom extends to the return of Christ. All the way, you see it. So let us keep in mind that God is God.

When you pick up the headlines and when you see things politically that are very disquieting, and you feel that there are people who are getting by, always remember that God is God. I feel so sorry for atheists. We ought to weep for atheists. We ought to weep for the naturalists who simply say that there is no God because for them, that means that there will never be justice brought to a situation. Never. It'll always be unjust.

I have an atheistic friend who lives actually on the same block as we do. Because he's Jewish in his orientation, I said to him one time, "Do you feel a little bit disquieted? Does it trouble you to think that Hitler will never be judged?" And he did agree that that was troubling to atheists. Well, I want you to know today that the Bible teaches that God is actively involved, but God is also judge. Therefore, all the things that seem to be slipping through our fingers never escape the notice of God. Always remember God rules.

There's a second lesson Daniel can teach us, and that is that the return of Jesus Christ is certain. There are few things in life that are absolutely certain. Mathematics, I think we would all agree is absolutely certain. Two plus two is equal to four, even if other things should happen that you wouldn't expect to happen. There's a certain amount of certainty in the connection of ideas. When it comes to other matters, nothing seems to be really certain.

But there's only a few inevitabilities in history, and one is that God's word will be fulfilled and Jesus Christ shall come. Count on it. Now, here's what strikes me. Here's Jesus being born in Bethlehem under Roman rule, by the way, as Palestine was in those days. The Jews were under the heel of Roman occupation. Here's Jesus born under Roman rule. And then He comes again, and the Scripture says that that fourth kingdom is going to last.

It'll have to be revived so that Jesus Christ can come again. You'll notice it says He is like a rock coming out of the mountain. This is verse 34. Not with human hands it was cut; it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. And the iron and the clay and the bronze and the silver and the gold were broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer.

He's coming back when Israel will be under Roman rule because the Antichrist is going to have his peace treaty with Israel. The simple fact is, what a difference how He's going to come. Not that little baby in the manger you could pick up and cuddle. Now He comes as the rock, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. And the Romans who crucified Him and nailed Him to the cross, there will be a Roman ruler who will again try to defy Christ as the Antichrist, but no matter, Jesus will show that He is King and all others before Him as chaff. And to think we get to love Him. We get to love Him and we get to rule with Him.

Finally, your relationship with God today, my dear friend, is determined by your relationship with Christ. We don't know when Jesus will come. All that we can do is to see that things seem to be coming together in ways that were unthinkable even years ago. But all that we know is that come He will, and whether He comes or not, we're all going to die. We're all going to die. Some people die young. It comes in such a haphazard way.

And then we shall be in His presence, and if you are standing on your own record, you will be damned because nobody stands in the presence of God on his own record. It's like standing 10 yards from the sun. The holy God about whom we heard this morning. The only way you can do it is to flee to Christ who is our righteousness, who is the one who makes us acceptable to the Father. There is no other person who's qualified. You come to Him and you receive Him as Savior and say, "I want to receive Him so that I too may look forward to His coming."

And by the way, I just want you to know, I look forward to His coming. I'm anxious to see Jesus. Now He's with us by His Spirit, I understand that. But wouldn't it be wonderful to see Him in person with the body that He was resurrected and the body that was taken to heaven? And to actually see the nail prints on His hands. That's how real the body is. And to know that we shall be with Him forever and ever.

Isaac Watts was a great hymn writer, and one day he wrote a song that many of us sing. "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does his successive journeys run. His kingdom spread from shore to shore till moons shall wax and wane no more. To him shall endless prayer be made, and endless praises crown his head. His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice." There are only few inevitabilities, and one is that He shall come as the stone and smash everything in his way.

And my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. I need to add and remind ourselves that it says in the book of Philippians that we shall have a body like unto His body. That our vile body, that is to say our human body which is subject to decay, is eventually going to be like unto the body of Christ. When you begin to contemplate that, you want to be faithful all the way to the end because you realize no matter what you are going through, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, everything is going to end well.

But meanwhile, we are often discouraged. For gift of any amount, we're making available for you a book entitled *Failure: The Back Door to Success*. It will help you to see how God is able to integrate our failures into His larger purpose. I believe that it will be a real blessing. And when you're there, you'll be given information as to how this book can be yours. Click on the endurance partner button. Investigate what it would mean if you became committed to helping us on a regular basis. Meanwhile, don't forget the book *Failure: The Back Door to Success*.

Dave McAllister: Erwin Lutzer concluding "Europe Reunited," the second sign in a series on seven signs of Christ's return. Next time we turn to sign number three, "The Rise of a World Dictator." 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.