Running To Win 15 Minute Version

Guest (Male): Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Man's rebellion against God will reach its peak when a future ruler arrives. His name, the Antichrist. His doom, certain. He will arise out of a reunited Europe. His rule over earth will be total. Today, what the Bible says about the future world dictator. 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. Today we turn to sign number three: the rise of a world dictator.

Erwin Lutzer: In the Hofburg Library in Vienna, there is a spear believed by some to be the spear that was used to pierce Christ's side. Now, you need to understand that in this library of the imperial treasury, there are many different rooms. As a matter of fact, my wife and I were there several years ago and we saw this spear.

When Hitler was a student in Vienna—and actually, he was a student, but also doing some painting along the side—at the age of 20, he lived in Vienna for four years. When he was there, he would go into the Hofburg and he overheard a tour guide say that whoever unlocks the mystery of this spear will rule the world.

Hitler says that that changed his entire life. He began to study the spear and he discovered that there are 43 spears that claim to be the one that was used to pierce Christ's side. But he concluded that this one was authentic. And according to observers, he would stand in front of the spear, inviting its spirit to possess him.

A man by the name of Dr. Stein, who was a friend of Hitler, oftentimes stood beside him and he said that the Adolf Hitler as he stood there, he was filled with ghostly experiences and sometimes engulfed in ectoplasmic light. When Hitler left Vienna, of course, he was a runner in World War I, and then after Germany lost World War I, he became a member of the Thule Society, seeking a way to make Germany great again.

It was there that he was taken through the deepest levels of occult transformation. Dietrich Eckart, one of his mentors, said regarding Hitler, "Follow Hitler, for he shall dance, but it is I who have written the tune because I have introduced him to the powers. I shall have influenced German history more than any other German."

Of course, you know that he became der Fuhrer and later on, Austria was annexed. He was able to go into Vienna and that night before he slept in the Imperial Hotel—and when he was there at the age of 20 to 24 in Vienna, he used to shovel snow to get a little bit of money in front of the Imperial Hotel—now he went there as conqueror, as king. That night, apparently, he went into the Hofburg, took that spear and held it to his bosom and said it was as if he was holding the world in his hands.

I mention Hitler because I believe that he is a kind of prototype of the Antichrist for several reasons. First of all, he began a program of peace and prosperity at a time when the economy was in bad shape. People were willing to work up to 20 hours a day, they were so obsessed with the revival of German nationalism and the greatness of Germany. Hitler used to say, "Peace is all I want. Peace, peace, peace. That's all that I desire."

There's a second reason and that is because he became an enemy of the Jews. His final solution, the intention was, of course, to finally take care of the Jewish question and to blot out the Jews from Germany and hopefully the world.

A final reason is because there's no doubt that he was the pawn of the devil. Those who knew him well said that his body was but the shell for the spirit that inhabited him. And so there he was, as the leader of the world, hoping to bring about a thousand-year Reich.

Perhaps some of you know I've written a book about Hitler and I was amazed to see the parallels that he always had between himself and Jesus. At the age of 30, he began his call and his greatness as der Fuhrer, and he made associations in his own speeches between him and Christ. If anything, of course, Antichrist.

Now, the Bible says that there is going to be a ruler who is going to arise at the end of time. As you know, this is a series of messages titled Seven Signs of Christ's Return and today we get to message number three: the rise of a worldwide dictator.

Now, many of you might know that when we talk about these things, there is, of course, a difference of opinion. For example, many of us believe that we will not be here when Antichrist actually arrives, when some of the events that we are reading about today—and we are going to read many scriptural passages today—some of us think that the Rapture of the church will already have happened and we are going to be in heaven.

It is after that period of time that Antichrist arrives. It is somewhat after that period of time that the seven-year tribulation begins and then Jesus comes in glory at the end of that time. So there are really two aspects to his coming: a coming for his church, a coming for his saints, and then a return in glory with his saints.

Of course, not everybody believes that. There are those who believe that the church will go through this period of tribulation. And then there are those who don't believe that there's a specific period of tribulation at all. They look at Antichrist either symbolically or they see him as the culmination of various nations and the scriptural references to him are otherwise explained.

Well, I'm convinced that the Bible teaches the rise of Antichrist. I believe that there is a man who is going to come from the European confederacy, as we shall see in just a moment, who eventually is going to receive the worship of the entire world. What a day that is going to be.

Now, I'm going to tell you how we're going to proceed. This is going to be very simple. We're going to talk about the Antichrist's career and I'm going to ask you to turn to passages of scripture and we shall read them and I shall make some comments and in this way, we will sketch what he's about to do or will be doing when he appears on the scene. It will help us, hopefully, to put all of this into some kind of perspective.

I invite you to begin with the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter seven, actually. Daniel has many visions. Now, if you were with us last time, you know that Daniel talked about the vision that Nebuchadnezzar had and the interpretation of that vision. You remember the head of gold was, of course, Babylon. Then you had Medo-Persia, then you had Greece, and then you had Rome.

Daniel receives now personally a similar vision except that more details are added. In chapter seven, he talks about four beasts that come out of the sea and the beasts actually parallel the figure that we spoke about last time. For example, it says in verse four, the first was like a lion and it had the wings of an eagle. Verse five, there was a second beast which looked like a bear. Verse six, I looked and behold, there was another beast, one that looked like a leopard.

Verse seven, after that in my vision at night I looked and behold, before me was a fourth beast, terrifying, frightening, and very powerful. It had large iron teeth. It crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts and it had ten horns.

While I was thinking about the horns, before me there was another horn, a little horn which came up among them and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. And as I looked, thrones were set in place and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow, his hair was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire and its wheels were all ablaze. And what you have here is the coming of Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom.

See, one of the questions that you might ask is, why is it that you go into the book of Daniel, why is it that you go into the book of Revelation, and you read all these passages as prophecy? Well, the answer, my friend, is that the context in which they are given is the context of the return of Jesus Christ.

It's during the days, you see, when this little horn—and you remember in Daniel's vision there were ten toes? Now we have similar truth conveyed but it happens to be ten horns. It is during that period of time that the Ancient of Days comes and establishes his kingdom. That's why we know that this is prophetic and it has not yet happened.

Daniel is very troubled by this experience. In fact, he says in verse 19, "I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast which was different from all the others and most terrifying with its iron teeth and bronze claws, the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell, the horn that looked more imposing than the others, that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully."

And as I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High. Daniel says, "I'm trying to figure this out."

And if you're a new Christian, or if you've been a Christian for many, many years and prophecy is very difficult for you as it is for all of us, myself included, we too would like to know more. We say, "God, teach us more."

And so God comes and gives Daniel an interpretation in verse 23. He gave me this explanation: This is the deal now. The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth. This is Rome, as we learned last time. It will be different from all of the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.

The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones. He will subdue three of these kings. He will speak out against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times, and a half a time. That's three and a half years.

But the court will sit and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom and all the rulers will worship and obey him. This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.

This is a reference to the fact that Antichrist is going to subdue three of those ten kings that we talked about last time and that are represented here. And so the first stage of Antichrist is this, as we look very briefly at his career: number one, he will emerge from a ten-nation confederacy which I believe is going to be the revived Roman Empire and he will emerge speaking words of peace. He'll be a peace candidate.

Guest (Male): Well, my friend, this is Pastor Lutzer. Of course, we don't know the details about prophecy, but we know enough that we should spend these days on earth living for Jesus Christ. And that's why I've written the book entitled Failure: The Back Door to Success.

I have a heart for those who have failed badly. They've messed up their career, perhaps they've messed up their entire life. Is there hope? Yes, there is. Failure: The Back Door to Success has stories of people who have done evil, yes, even evil, and yet they have been redeemed.

This is a book that's going to be an encouragement to you. I believe that when you have a copy, you not only will want to read it for yourself, but you will want to pass it along to others. As we go through life, it's hard, but God is with us.

Erwin Lutzer with part one of The Rise of a World Dictator, the third sign in a series on seven signs of Christ's return. Next time, more on why people will welcome the Antichrist with open arms.

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. Running to Win comes to you as a ministry of the Moody Church.