Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, I'm going to preach to you from the Book of Nahum this morning.
[00:00:06] And you might ask, why Nahum? Well, the truth is, is because I attended a preaching seminar this past week and this is one of the passages that I was assigned to prepare for a workshop portion of the seminar.
[00:00:20] So I knew I would be spending time meditating on this passage and thought it would be fitting to bring that meditation into our gathering today at Christchurch.
[00:00:29] And I pray that God would work mightily through my feeble efforts to understand and communicate the truth of His Word.
[00:00:37] Do you know what it feels like to want someone to pay for their wicked deeds?
[00:00:47] You've probably wanted to pay someone back for something they did to you.
[00:00:54] Or perhaps you've wanted someone to pay for the evil way they treated someone else.
[00:01:00] Someone weak or innocent or small, whom you wanted to protect.
[00:01:06] Are there people in this world whom you think deserve the vengeance of God?
[00:01:14] Perhaps the terrorists who flew planes into the twin towers on 9 11.
[00:01:20] Perhaps the Nazis who tortured and exterminated millions of Jews.
[00:01:27] Perhaps those in power who used their wealth and influence for the perverse corruption of others and the vile pursuit of ungodliness.
[00:01:39] Those like Jeffrey Epstein and others in power.
[00:01:42] Perhaps earthly powers like the Islamic State who have systematically oppressed the weak and violently molested the innocent people of God.
[00:01:52] Perhaps abortionists who make their living dismembering babies inside their mother's wombs.
[00:02:01] Is there anyone you would not want God to show mercy to?
[00:02:09] The people of Israel knew this kind of hatred. In the 8th century BC they desperately wanted God to judge the Assyrians.
[00:02:20] That's whom the prophet Jonah was called to preach to. About 750 years before Jesus was born, God said to Jonah, get up and go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it.
[00:02:32] But Jonah didn't want to.
[00:02:36] Now I think it's tempting for us to read the book of Jonah and just flippantly say, oh, silly Jonah. Didn't you know God is loving and merciful?
[00:02:47] But to understand Jonah, it helps to know a little bit about who the Assyrians were.
[00:02:52] One Assyrian king was known and boasted of skinning rebels and draping their skins around the city, or for conquering cities and making a public display of the heads and other dismembered body parts of his victims.
[00:03:10] The Assyrians were pioneers in the practice of crucifixion, impaling men alive and naked on stakes for horrific public disgrace.
[00:03:20] The Assyrians practiced mass deportation of their subjects, uprooting tens of thousands of people at a time. And sending them to far off lands, often to enslavement.
[00:03:33] Most everyone in the world, not just the people of Israel, would have hated the Assyrians.
[00:03:41] And this is why the prophet Jonah really, really did not want to go to Nineveh.
[00:03:47] He thought them God, really.
[00:03:55] And Jonah's problem with God's calling on his life wasn't even that. He was being sent by God to Nineveh to proclaim a message of love and acceptance by God.
[00:04:04] All he was supposed to say was, yet 40 days in Nineveh will be overthrown.
[00:04:12] He was supposed to proclaim God's coming wrath, fire and brimstone to Nineveh. But he didn't want to.
[00:04:21] Why didn't Jonah want to proclaim judgment on Nineveh?
[00:04:26] Well, he tells God exactly why he didn't want to proclaim God's judgment.
[00:04:32] This is what Jonah 4 says.
[00:04:35] It says it greatly displeased Jonah, meaning when Nineveh repented and turned away from their sin and he became angry, he prayed to the Lord and said, please, Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country?
[00:04:53] Therefore, in order to forestall this, I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant and loving kindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.
[00:05:06] Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.
[00:05:13] Can you imagine being so opposed to God?
[00:05:18] Can you imagine wanting to die instead of seeing sinners repent?
[00:05:25] I think I can remember those whom you would be disgusted to hear about God showing mercy, to put yourself in Jonah's shoes and imagine being told by God to march into Berlin and proclaim to Hitler and his Nazis their destruction, only to have them repent and to have God say he's actually not going to destroy them.
[00:05:52] How would you feel?
[00:05:54] Would you be angry at God's decision to show mercy?
[00:05:59] Would you be angry that God is a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, and one who repents relents concerning calamity.
[00:06:11] Now you may be wondering why I'm preaching on Jonah and not on Nahum.
[00:06:16] Well, Jonah is a prequel to the book of Nahum.
[00:06:20] Nahum prophesied about a century and a half after Jonah, and he too prophesied to the city of Nineveh.
[00:06:28] By the time of Nahum, the Assyrians had invaded and laid waste to the northern kingdom of Israel, wiping out their identity as a nation, deporting them to foreign nations, and importing foreigners to corrupt the purity of the people of God.
[00:06:41] In other words, by the time of Nahum, the Assyrians had only added to their iniquities, and the repentance of Nineveh we read about in Jonah apparently did not last.
[00:06:54] Here's the beginning of what the prophet Nahum had to say about Nineveh.
[00:06:59] This is the first eight verses of Nahum 1. Would you please stand for the reading of God's Word?
[00:07:07] The oracle of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum. The Elkishite.
[00:07:13] A jealous and avenging God is the Lord.
[00:07:18] The Lord is avenging and wrathful.
[00:07:21] The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies.
[00:07:28] 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.
[00:07:42] He rebukes the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers.
[00:07:47] Bashan and Carmel wither, the blossoms of Lebanon wither, Mountains quake because of him and the hills dissolve.
[00:07:56] 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?
[00:08:08] His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken up by him.
[00:08:13] The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who take refuge in Him.
[00:08:20] But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of its sight and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
[00:08:29] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:08:31] Would you please be seated?
[00:08:34] This prophecy from Nahum begins with a statement about the character of God.
[00:08:42] A jealous and avenging God is the Lord.
[00:08:49] And in case we didn't get the message from that statement, the Lord is avenging and wrathful.
[00:08:58] Unless we remain confused, the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and he reserves wrath for his enemies.
[00:09:10] To open our worship today we sang Holy, holy, holy.
[00:09:17] This proclamation of who God is comes from Isaiah 6, as we saw, and it's reiterated in Revelation 4. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.
[00:09:31] As is often taught, when God repeats something about himself three times it means pay attention and don't forget it. This is who God is.
[00:09:42] All caps underlined, bold, italic highlighted, and with an exclamation point at the end.
[00:09:50] And guess what? The Lord teaches us through the prophet Nahum is absolutely central to his being God.
[00:09:57] Vengeance, vengeance, vengeance.
[00:10:04] This truth is not Unique to Nahum, Nahum is simply proclaiming who the Lord God who made the sea in the dry land has always been.
[00:10:13] Exodus 20, verse 5. As God is revealing himself to his people in his law, I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
[00:10:23] Later, when he's revealing himself in an even more intimate way to Moses, he says, you shall not worship any other God. For the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God.
[00:10:38] Psalm 94 calls God the Lord, the God of vengeance.
[00:10:47] O Lord, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth.
[00:10:53] Nahum goes on to mention that the Lord is slow to anger.
[00:10:58] But do you think this is intended to be a comfort to Nineveh?
[00:11:04] It may have been at the time of Jonah, but it is not intended as a comfort here.
[00:11:10] Rather, it only heightens the certainty of God's coming judgment. Nineveh repented for a time, but because of their stubborn and unrepentant heart, they have only at this point stored up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds. So Romans 2 teaches us, Nineveh's previous repentance only heightens their condemnation now, because the God who is slow to anger will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
[00:11:50] A jealous and avenging God is the Lord.
[00:11:54] But God is not merely avenging and wrathful. Nahum's prophecy continues with a demonstration. After he's talked about the character of God, Nahum goes on to demonstrate the power of God.
[00:12:08] And what better way to demonstrate God's power than to demonstrate his awesome authority over everything that has been made.
[00:12:16] The Assyrians had dealt with spears and swords and chariots.
[00:12:22] They had conquered and subdued the most powerful kings of the earth, who had the strongest weapons. And they were on top.
[00:12:29] What about the Lord God of Israel?
[00:12:32] Is he just some other impotent idol to be put to shame by the king of Assyria?
[00:12:39] No. As we read in Nahum, he is the Lord of Heaven in whirlwind, and storm is his way, and clouds are the dust beneath his feet.
[00:12:52] Whenever you look in the sky and see the clouds spread out like a canvas, remember that is the dust under God's feet.
[00:13:03] Not only is he the Lord of Heaven, in verse four, Nahum shows us that he is the Lord of the sea.
[00:13:10] He rebukes the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither the blossoms of Lebanon wither.
[00:13:19] These places, Bashan, Carmel, Lebanon were places that everyone at that time thought of as fertile, wonderful places to be blessed with the richness of the land and with water well watered by the rivers of the earth. And yet God can stop those rivers and make those places completely dry.
[00:13:41] Not only is God Lord of heaven and the sea, but he's the Lord of the earth. In verse 5, Nahum says mountains quake because of him, and the hills dissolve.
[00:13:54] I remember learning about Mount St. Helens as a kid in elementary school, because that had happened just a few years before I went through grade school.
[00:14:03] And if you've seen pictures of Mount St. Helens, you know it was a volcano out in the northwest that started looking like a mountain.
[00:14:14] But then you look at pictures afterwards and half the mountain is just missing, and it really just melted into the forest and devastated everything around it.
[00:14:28] This is the power of God. The hills dissolve and the mountains quake because of Him.
[00:14:34] Indeed, the earth is upheaved by his presence, the world and all the inhabitants in it.
[00:14:43] The avenging God is not simply jealous in his character, but he is almighty. He not only has right judgments, he has all power to carry out those judgments.
[00:14:57] If he were simply jealous but had no power, the Assyrians would have nothing to fear.
[00:15:03] And on the flip side, if he were powerful but were not avenging and wrathful toward his enemies, the Assyrians would also have nothing to fear.
[00:15:12] But Nahum makes it inescapably clear through the proclamation of God's character and his power, that nothing was going to stand in the way of God's vengeance on Nineveh.
[00:15:27] He continues. In verse 6 he says, who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the burning of his anger?
[00:15:35] His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken up by him.
[00:15:40] The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who take refuge in Him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of its sight. That's referring to Nineveh, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
[00:15:56] Notice again the goodness of God mentioned here, but not for the purpose of softening the declaration of judgment against Nineveh, but actually intensifying it. The Lord knows those who take refuge in him. But verse 8 and the rest of Nahum make it clear that there will be no refuge for Nineveh. Their time was up.
[00:16:18] Judgment came upon Nineveh shortly after nahum's prophecy in 612 B.C. it fell to the Medes and the Babylonians, which eventually led to the demise of the whole Assyrian Empire and just a few years, something that would have been unthinkable to anyone in the world at that time.
[00:16:38] Now all that remains of Nineveh's glory are some broken down ancient ruins and a few museum pieces scattered around the world.
[00:16:45] I've had the privilege of seeing some of those.
[00:16:48] Nineveh was real and Nineveh is dead and gone and buried in the dust.
[00:16:57] Now, what's the message to us today from the Book of Nahum?
[00:17:02] The message is very simple.
[00:17:04] Judgment is coming and nothing will stand in the way of God's judgment.
[00:17:15] We can be sure of that because of two things.
[00:17:18] It's the same things we see in Nahum. Here. God's character has not changed and God's power has not waned.
[00:17:30] First, God's character has not changed. He is still a jealous and avenging God.
[00:17:39] This was not just some truth for the Old Testament.
[00:17:44] We read the New Testament and we see that God is still a jealous God. Philippians 2 teaches us this.
[00:17:50] God highly exalted him that is his Son, Jesus Christ, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[00:18:12] Revelation 14 says in John's vision that he saw an angel flying in the sky.
[00:18:20] And the angel, it says, had an eternal gospel to proclaim. And this is what that. Sorry, he saw an eagle. I don't remember if I said angel or eagle sees an eagle.
[00:18:29] And that eternal gospel says this. Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven and the earth and sea, and springs of waters.
[00:18:45] And this jealousy is not just about God's enemies. James teaches us that God jealously desires the Spirit which he made to dwell in us.
[00:18:58] Romans 14:19.
[00:19:00] Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
[00:19:07] God's jealous and avenging nature is not reserved for the Old Testament. His name is still jealous.
[00:19:16] His character does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. A jealous and avenging God is the Lord is still as true today as it was in Nahum's time.
[00:19:31] So God's character has not changed.
[00:19:34] Nor has God's power changed. His power has not waned.
[00:19:40] He is still the Lord of heaven, sea and earth. And of all those things, all those things will be shaken at the power of God when he comes to judge. And it will make Nineveh's judgment look like child's play.
[00:19:57] Listen to this from 2 Peter chapter 3.
[00:20:02] This is not An Old Testament prophet. This is the apostle Peter. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
[00:20:20] Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat?
[00:20:37] But according to his promise, we are looking for the new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
[00:20:44] Judgment is coming.
[00:20:48] Vengeance is coming from God.
[00:20:54] Now listen to this.
[00:20:56] That is good news.
[00:21:03] For me to tell you that God's vengeance is coming, that is good news.
[00:21:10] How could that be? How could the proclamation of God's vengeance be good news?
[00:21:15] Well, first of all, it is good news that the wickedness of the wicked will be brought to an end.
[00:21:23] Here's what Nahum says just a few verses later. In chapter one, you'll recognize these words. Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace.
[00:21:35] Celebrate your feasts, O Judah. Pay your vows, for never again will the wicked one pass through you. He is cut off completely.
[00:21:44] The whole book of Nahum ends with this. This is the last book, the last verse in Nahum. He says, there is no relief for your breakdown. This is speaking to Nineveh. Your wound is incurable. All who hear about you will clap their hands over you.
[00:22:00] For on whom has not your evil passed continually?
[00:22:06] When Nineveh fell, the world rejoiced.
[00:22:11] And we can take heart knowing that because of God's righteous vengeance, the wicked of the earth will be punished.
[00:22:18] God tolerated Assyria's wickedness for a time, but their end finally came.
[00:22:26] The same is true now.
[00:22:28] God is tolerating much evil in the world as we speak.
[00:22:34] Many use this to accuse God, asking, how can he be a good God when such terrible things happen in the world?
[00:22:44] Well, brothers and sisters, we have a very clear answer to this question. This objection, if we have faith to see it, courage to say it, how can he be a good God when such terrible things happen in the world?
[00:23:00] A jealous and avenging God is the Lord.
[00:23:04] The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he stores up wrath for his enemies.
[00:23:13] The Lord is slow to anger. He's waiting.
[00:23:18] But he is great in power. And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
[00:23:25] We Know that vengeance is coming on the enemies of God.
[00:23:30] This is a great comfort to the people of God, because even as sin is committed and justice is perverted in this world, we know. We know. We know that God will set all things to rights.
[00:23:43] Nahum's prophecy and his judgment on Assyria is evidence of what is coming.
[00:23:51] What God says will happen does happen.
[00:23:56] Now, why else is God's vengeance good news?
[00:23:59] Well, it is always for our good to be warned of the coming judgment.
[00:24:04] Do you remember what Jonah's message was to Nineveh?
[00:24:08] Yet 40 days in Nineveh will be overthrown.
[00:24:12] What was the result of that proclamation of judgment?
[00:24:15] Repentance.
[00:24:18] The proclamation of coming wrath was God's kindness to Nineveh.
[00:24:23] Jonah knew it, and that's exactly why he did not want to proclaim God's wrath to them.
[00:24:31] He knew God responds to repentance, and he knew God might even have compassion on thieving, murderous Gentiles.
[00:24:42] It is always good to be warned of the coming judgment of God.
[00:24:48] Why else is God's vengeance good news?
[00:24:52] The vengeance of God was poured out on Jesus Christ for sinners.
[00:25:01] To proclaim the cross of Christ to yourself and to others is to proclaim the vengeance of God.
[00:25:10] It is to proclaim your need to be saved from the wrath of God through a perfect atoning sacrifice for your sins.
[00:25:19] Before we clap our hands at the overthrow of the wicked men, wicked men in high places. We should read of the character and the power of God in Nahum and tremble. Because when Nahum cries out, who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the burning of his anger?
[00:25:37] He's not only talking about the really bad people out there.
[00:25:42] Can you stand before God's indignation?
[00:25:46] Can you endure the burning of his anger?
[00:25:50] If the Lord should count our sins, which one of us could stand?
[00:26:04] The only reason you or I can stand in the presence of a holy, holy, holy God is because Jesus is able to make us stand.
[00:26:16] If you think you stand on your own righteous enough for God because you're not an Assyrian or a Nazi, you have much to fear when the secrets of your heart are revealed on the Day of Judgment.
[00:26:28] Jonah had forgotten that he was a recipient of God's mercy.
[00:26:33] Let us not do the same.
[00:26:35] Let us not forget, brothers and sisters, what sins Christ has purified us from through his blood.
[00:26:45] Verse 7 in Nahum 1 here says, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who take refuge in him.
[00:26:59] Why do we need to take refuge in Christ?
[00:27:03] It is to be saved from the oppression of our enemies.
[00:27:06] That's true.
[00:27:08] But we don't get to be considered God's friends until we've taken refuge in Christ from the wrath of God on our own sins.
[00:27:21] Only the cross of Christ can be a refuge for us, and that's what the cross of Christ is. It is God's vengeance poured out so that even your sins are paid for. And you can call God your Father.
[00:27:42] A couple of applications if you have not taken refuge Christ, you are God's enemy, and wrath is surely coming upon you.
[00:27:58] Jesus says this to Nicodemus in John 3. He says, he who believes in him, in the Son of Man, is not judged. But he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed. In the name of the only begotten Son of God, judgment is coming.
[00:28:17] You must take refuge in Christ.
[00:28:23] For those who have taken refuge in Christ, do not be ashamed of God's character.
[00:28:31] He is a jealous and avenging God, and that is good.
[00:28:37] It is especially good in light of his provision of a way for anyone to be saved from that vengeance, and not through him forgetting about his justice, but through him satisfying it.
[00:28:52] Have compassion on those who are perishing and have hope for them, remembering that you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy lovingly tell unbelievers they sit under God's wrath, and tell them that God has mercifully provided a way to be saved from that wrath.
[00:29:14] Tell them you know, because you too needed to be saved from the wrath of God.
[00:29:23] Finally, do not take out your own vengeance, brothers and sisters.
[00:29:29] Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.
[00:29:34] Be patient and wait for God.
[00:29:38] He will judge far better than we can in the end, and that should be a comfort to us.
[00:29:46] We close with this from 2 Peter 3.
[00:29:49] Read these things earlier, but want to close with this exhortation from the apostle Peter, since all these things he's talking about the heavens and the earth being melted away, since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat.
[00:30:20] But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
