The Bible Series Nahum
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CONFIDENCE… where or what or who is your confidence put in: ???
Is it your wealth (bank account)… We see Job lost all of his in one day
Is it your power or status (or one who is in power)… we see in a moment God took that away from Nebuchadnezzar
Is it your strength, (what makes you feel strong, fearless, comfortable)… today we will see strength was fleeting for Nineveh
But we are in church today… our answer is, “my confidence and comfort is in God”!!!
OKAY THEN… what does your God look like...
Grace & Mercy
Patient & long suffering
Second chances
Restrained or controlled strength
A loving God
A giving God
Maybe he is creator God
Sovereign or even just!!!
This list seems in more peoples’ mind to describe the God of the NT rather than the OT… BUT we have seen these things so CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED by God in our old testament studies!!!
WHAT ABOUT… A God of:
WRATH
JUDGMENT
RETRIBUTION…
As we look at the book of Nahum this morning we will be looking at an oracle… Nahum 1:1
The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
ORACLE:
It was a weighty or burdensome kind of message to deliver. It is a common term in the prophetic writings This oracle is a threatening message given to Nineveh concerning its doom.
RETRIBUTION:
Receiving or dispensing divine judgment, getting what is deserved… compensation
The book carries a serious and heavy tone.
Nahum would probably not be the first book you take someone to when introducing them to God...
That being said: it is Vital and Crucial that we know and understand these things about this God we serve!
Nineveh
Nineveh
A key Capital city in the Assyrian Empire, arrogant
Powerful unprintable inner and outer walls
100 feet high, 3 chariots ride side by side on top, towers 100 feet above the walls
150 foot wide moat 60 feet deep
Could hold up under siege for 20 years!!!
Where are we at with Nineveh???
Where are we at with Nineveh???
This is not a new city… Around 760 B.C. Jonah had gone to the city of Nineveh & God shows mercy as they repent
About 40 years later Assyria took the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity in 722 B.C.
In 701 B.C. we see them attack Judah… but God gets an amazing victory there!!!
The fall of Nineveh, predicted in Nahum, occurred in 612 B.C when Babylon invades
This prophecy was probably written around the time of 660 B.C.
From 760 B.C. to 660 B.C. we see a nation that turned to God (REPENTED) now plots against God in wickedness and evil! (just over a century)
Judah is under the heavy YOKE of the Assyrians Nahum 1:13 speaking to Judah God says…
“So now, I will break his yoke bar from upon you, And I will tear off your shackles.”
Nahum Overview
Nahum Overview
Twice in this book God declares to Nineveh “I am against you”
As we read Nahum we see clear distinctions in each chapter…
Chapter 1: The certainty of God’s Judgement on Nineveh… it is Decreed
We see God’s wrath on sin and evil
We see a side of His character that is vital to see and understand
God’s faithfulness to those who are His… this is comforting
Chapter 2: The vivid description of God’s Judgement on Nineveh
We see the attack and the defeat with plundering
Nahum 2:1 do your best but God will prevail...
The one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road; Strengthen your back, summon all your strength.
We see details that would come to be over the next 30 some years and be complete in 612 B.C.
Nahum 2:5-6 the attacks came when they were drunk and the river within her overflowed
He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their march, They hurry to her wall, And the mantelet is set up. The gates of the rivers are opened And the palace is dissolved.
The Tigris River overflowed crumbling the walls
Nahum 2:10 depicts the outcome…
She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body And all their faces are grown pale!
Chapter 3: The reason for God’s Judgement… this is deserved!!!
Her evil ways, her wickedness
Nahum 3:4 states her evil
All because of the many harlotries of the harlot, The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations by her harlotries And families by her sorceries.
Her violence they will in turn receive what they have dealt
Nahum 3:5-7;19 sums it up...
“Behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord of hosts; “And I will lift up your skirts over your face, And show to the nations your nakedness And to the kingdoms your disgrace. “I will throw filth on you And make you vile, And set you up as a spectacle. “And it will come about that all who see you Will shrink from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated! Who will grieve for her?’ Where will I seek comforters for you?”
There is no relief for your breakdown, Your wound is incurable. All who hear about you Will clap their hands over you, For on whom has not your evil passed continually?
When we read Nahum we are getting a fuller picture of our God… When we read Revelation we get a fuller picture of Christ!
Nineveh and the Assyrians are examples to the world and to Judah hearing this too that God deals with sin and evil!... and He fulfills His Word!
God Is Holy!
God Is Holy!
In the book by C.S. Lewis… “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” Lucy is having a conversation with the Beavers...
“Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy. “Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Look at how God declares Himself in the first six verses of this book… Nahum 1:2-6
A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, And clouds are the dust beneath His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither; The blossoms of Lebanon wither. Mountains quake because of Him And the hills dissolve; Indeed the earth is upheaved by His presence, The world and all the inhabitants in it. Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire And the rocks are broken up by Him.
Look at the adjectives describing God...
avenging / wrathful / jealous
whirlwind / storm / rebukes
like fire
He will not leave the guilty unpunished
Look at this GOD!!! Look at the two questions posed concerning Him… Rhetorical really
Who can stand before His indignation? (RAGE)
Who can endure the burning of His anger? (His furry)
To not recognizing these aspects of God’s character is to poorly recognize the God we serve!!!
The key is you and I need to see SIN for what it is. We need to learn to see SIN as He sees SIN!!!
We should hate evil as He hates evil
Our sin / ALL sin deserves death… (Then what is Sin you ask???)
Sin is anything that falls short of His GLORY / His HOLINESS / His PERFECTION
You and I fall short every time!!! BUT HE IS GOOD… The Lord is good,
This is what makes Nahum 1:3 so amazing … “He is slow to anger & great in power” 2 Peter 3:9 shares this too
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
We see God pictured in a powerful way in Nahum 1:7
The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
How can we see God as “good” as we look at His wrath?
The very NAME NAHUM means :consolation, comforter
Those who KNOW God find comfort...
THAT’S THE POWER… His patience to seek repentance from all who will seek Him… John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
God has a heart for the world
GOD WANTS THE WORLD TO KNOW HIM
GOD WANTS THE WORLD TO KNOW HIM
Nahum stands as an example and a call to the nations to receive God’s Mercy and Grace… to repent otherwise His RETRIBUTION will come!!!
Egypt
Canaan
Ahab and Jezabel
Assyria
King Nebuchadnezzar a Babylonian
The Edomites
The Persian King Xerxes & Medes
Nineveh, Rome, Europe, America!!!
They repented once, but do not test the patience of the Lord. Mark the words of scripture here before you today… GOD WILL JUDGE SIN!
AND… He judged it once for all at Calvary… Nahum 1:7
The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
Does He KNOW YOU? Have you repented of your sin and sought refuge? Let Nineveh be a warning to us… to you today.