*audio issues. Hopefully corrected now*
Introduction: Jonah & Historical Preface (Jonah mid-700s; Nahum Mid-600s.
These verses preview the whole book. If Jonah shows God’s mercy for those who repent. Than Nahum shows God’s justice against wicked unrepentant Ninevah. This serves to comfort God’s people who suffer under the oppression of an evil Assyrian empire.
Read: Nahum 1:1–7
[1] An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
God’s Wrath Against Nineveh
[2] The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD is avenging and wrathful;
the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
[3] The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
[4] He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the bloom of Lebanon withers.
[5] The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.
[6] Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
[7] The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him. (ESV)
First, v. The Burden of the Book, v. 1
Second, the Character of God: Good but not Safe, v. 2-6
Third, Wrath & Refuge, v. 7
#1 The burden of the Book: This is an oracle, literally a burden, a weight to speak!. Nahum is a prophet and like a water tower creates water pressure that leads to water pouring forth. Nahum must pour forth the very word of God. This is not Nahum’s thoughts, nor the thoughts of a mere man, this is the word of the Lord. This is the word of which the psalmist in Psalm 119 says, “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart” (v. 32); “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors” (v. 24); “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever”
Nahum is pouring forth truth that we ought to meditate on, long for, delight in, and see as righteous and enduring forever, more precious than Gold. But the key phrase there is that we need our hearts and minds enlarged and conformed to it, counseled by it. Because God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Because God is God. And so we must meditate all the more to receive the teaching of the word of God to our hearts, souls, wisdom, and affections.
Nahum’s burden is that we receive the truth of Who God is and in particular that he is living and active. He says specifically that this concerns Ninevah. But it is written to Judah to encourage God’s people. Ninevah, though mighty, though powerful, though cruel that God remembers his people and his judgement will fall on Ninevah and he will remember his people. Like Israel is remembered in Exodus.
If, like Ninevah, you are unrepentant, and doing wrong towards others, this would make this a terrifying book.
But for southern Judea, and Nahum is meant to encourage God’s people that he has the power to save. God will be their defender and avenger of every wrong directed toward them, showing we need both a good God and a God who saves. That is the burden of the book.
#2 The Character of God: Good but not Safe, v. 2-6
Look again in verse 2
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD is avenging and wrathful;
the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
There are three terms here applied to God we must think through carefully here because each of these three terms, jealous, avenging, and wrathful, is very different if the person described by them is entirely Good, Wise, and Just vs Evil, Foolish, and unjust. if the person has a right relationship with you or one of harm….
…depending on context, these traits may drive loving care, justice, and salvation for weak and defenseless creatures….Or terrible news to the defenseless if assigned to a sinner, someone we morally do not trust to be Good.
Second, it not only depends on the person with these traits but on you. It truly depends on if you are currently harming the loved one of this jealous avenger or if you are the victim being rescued by your avenging savior….ILL: Taken, Liam Neesom (Daughter)…It matters if you are the kidnapper or the kidnapped…
Jim Mccarthy says, this of v. 2: “… We equate jealousy with envy, bitterness, and covetousness. But God’s jealously is holy. It is his righteous zeal for that which belongs to him. As a wife is jealous over the eyes of her husband, the Lord is jealous for the singular worship of his people. As a father is jealous for the safety of his children, so the Lord is jealous for the well-being of his own when they are threatened.” – Jim McCarthy, 69.
In this context. Here, God’s Jealousy is that of a husband witnessing someone insult or attack his wife. Ninevah, the Assyrian empire, has overstepped. [Pause].
Second term: Vengeance: Romans 12:19 says, Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
This is a call to entrust ourselves to God’s moral timing in justice. To remind ourselves that, as mere humans and limited creatures dealing with our own sin, we have to, in faith, entrust ourselves to a wise God.
We distinguish two types of Avengers: One type of vengeance is illegitimate. Because it is without a transcendent moral claim, it is without complete knowledge; these avengers are frowned upon. Versus, God’s vengeance, which is always true Justice, based on true knowledge, perfect righteousness, and perfect holiness. God by Definition of his transcendent moral authority NOT a vigilante.
God is the rightful king of the universe who will take vengeance on his adversaries and keep wrath for his enemies. Why? He is jealous Husband, shepherd, and friend for those who are his. He knows those who take refuge in him, verse 7 says. …Good news. But also Scary right?
ILL: Remember in Narnia the Lion the Witch and the wardrobe. The children go through the wardrobe into Narnia…Its always winter never Christmas…evil has a frozen hold on the land through the White Witch…But Aslan is coming. And the children hear he is a great and powerful Lion.
And they ask is he safe? And Mr. Beaver replies Safe? Of course, he isn’t safe…but he is Good.
The Assyrians are being warned that they have the wrath of a Jealous King for his people turned against them….And I think as westerners we rightfully have caution over jealousy, wrath, and retributive justice because We know Human beings do not always have all the facts, we are emotionally volatile, we can be jealous of things for which we have no right over.
We believe in limited government because we believe in Total Depravity, the sinfulness of mankind, that one who has an impure heart, is not perfectly HOLY tends to use power corruptly. [pause]
But God is the rightful creator and judge, he is full of wisdom and knowledge, and he is jealous ultimately for His covenant people. He is Good and incorruptible.
He has said, “I will be your God and you will be my people’ Ultimately those who are the bride of Christ, the Church, he is jealous for his flock the sheep whom he will guard from evil wolves. So Ninevah has become a rabid wolf, or in Narnia, the White Witch who is an adversary an enemy of his people…God is A Terror…to evil….but he is Good.
And that is where this word wrath comes in. God is not disinterested about evil, God is not apathetic toward wickedness. No, the word Wrath speaks of personal heat and fury directed against particular evil and evildoers. Nahum illustrates the strength of God’s holy opposition to evil by using the strength and fury of Nature in (look in v. 3-6). God’s power is a Tornado and it’s all under his feet. He is greater than the fury of the Ocean. (if you’ve ever seen videos on boats on the oceans it is immense terrifying…and the ocean dries up before his might; the mightiest mountains melt before him, and he is stronger than the most powerful of earthquakes and so v. 6 asks:
[6] Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
That question is one to be wrestled with especially when we place it right next to verse 3.
v. 3….The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, [repeat slow to anger AND great in power
and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.
If we know the sinfulness of sin in light of the Holy Goodness of God we will recognize his great patience…
When Adam and Eve sinned, he said “you will surely die…that is the greatness of sin, the greatness of his patience is that very day God who is slow to anger and great in power…substituted an animal in their place and clothed them in animal skins….Did God just forget that it was Adam and Eve who deserved death? Was he clearing the guilty? OR did all guilt, sin, and wrongness in the world actually get addressed? …God is not the security guard at the Movie theater who sees you smuggling food into the theater…who sees you smuggling sin into his creation and just waves you through….
Can God be both Slow to Anger, Great in power, and not clear the guilty without all of us perishing?
Both must be true. Can both be true?
Walk with me a little longer we’re going to circle all around this a few more times.
Do we believe God is God? Do we believe God is Good and Patient And that he can pour out Wrath and Justice against particular sinners, particular people? And do we believe this can possibly be good news?
Long quote but I appreciate Jim McCarthy here: “This reality [of God’s wrath] can be difficult for believers. But it is utterly unbearable to an unbelieving world. So when preachers and churches fear the wrath of the world more than the wrath of God, this inconvenient but inescapable truth is usually the first to go. One need look no further for evidence than to Rob Bell’s 2011 bestseller, Love Wins. The former pastor wrote, ‘Millions and millions of people... were taught that the primary message of the gospel of Jesus is that God is going to send you to hell unless you believe in Jesus. And so, what got subtly sort of caught and taught is that Jesus rescues you from God. But what kind of God is that, that we would need to be rescued from [him]? How could that God ever be good? How could that God ever be trusted? And how could that ever be good news?... The good news is that love wins.
But Bell is wrong. There can be no perfect love without perfect hatred. God’s love and wrath are the equal and opposite manifestations of his holiness. God loves righteousness because he is holy. God hates wickedness for the very same reason: he is holy.” (McCarthy, 71).
Do we believe God is God and we are not? Jonah struggled with that when God said, “I will show mercy on your enemies because they have repented and turned to me.”
What is not yet clear in the Bible’s history is just how that sin will be covered. We know the wages of sin are death. We know that they had transgressed the justice of God and that the only way people could be shown mercy without compromising the justice, holiness, and perfect goodness of God is that a costly covering and atonement for that sin had to happen.
But that wasn’t any of Jonah’s business. We, now see Christ, who was God, left heaven SENT by this Just and Holy Father sent to save us. We are saved by Jesus, the Son voluntarily being sent by the Father and giving up his glory. Jesus, in perfect harmony with the Father left The Glory of heavenly hosts to step into the world that now is filled with death, sin and misery in order to provide that costly atonement, in order to enter into and raise us up from the muck itself.
So as Western Christians, we intuitively say Jonah, look at the mercy of God of course God is merciful.” …because we are on the other side of the cross, where costly mercy was shown—By the Father sending Jesus who would lay down his life, and he has laid down his life for us.
And if he is for us then there remains no more penalty for sin, and that indeed is true of us—IF we have fled sin and wrath into his marvelous grace.
But this isn’t Jonah, this is Nahum and Nahum gives us a very different kind of Mind & Heart challenge. God is God and we are not! God in his infinite goodness and holiness, can say to the Ninevites 100 years later, “you have stepped over the line” “you have assaulted my child Israel, and my goodness means that I must administer justice. Every wrong willbe made right.
And every wrong being made right is done with righteous fury, righteous jealousy over his child Israel, a righteous putting to death of all that is wicked and sinful.
I want to press this home a little more by contemplating more fully who Christ Jesus is and how he matches this portrait of God, and why this is Good news: So how does the Wrath of God and the Hope of Heaven God together?
Once again remember what Jim McCarthy argued in response to Rob Bell: “There can be no perfect love without perfect hatred. God’s love and wrath are the equal and opposite manifestations of his holiness. God loves righteousness because he is holy. God hates wickedness for the very same reason: he is holy.””
Look in verse 7 The LORD is good,a stronghold in the day of trouble;he knows those who take refuge in him.
#3 Wrath & Refuge: In order for heaven to be Good and paradise, then God must be wrathful towards sin.
If one day heaven is going to be a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace, the book of Revelation says sin cannot dwell there. Look with me in Revelation 19 & 21 and ask: How is everything made right, glorious, and beautiful?
First, Look in Revelation 19:11-16 and listen to this description, of Jesus. In his first coming, Jesus came in humility to rescue sinners on the cross…Paul says this is a time of patience, but when Christ returns he comes mounted on a White Horse to defeat evil and usher in heaven.
[Rev. 19:11] Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. [12] His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. [13] He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. [14] And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. [15] From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. [16] On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Next look in Revelation 21:1–7 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. [4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Everything is made right. Jesus came in humility and made it right on the cross….But in order for there to be life and light, the holy city, safe from all harm… the End of Revelation 21 must also be true. God must dwell there. And God is God. God is good. God is just. And Second. Sin cannot dwell there for it to be truly beautiful and a safe refuge for those who names are written in the lambs book of life
Last Look in Revelation 21:22–27 asking but what must also be true of heaven for it to be a wonderful place?
[22] And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. [23] And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. [24] By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, [25] and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. [26] They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. [Pause… v. 27] But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
To which we must ask the question, where does the justice of God fall in my life when I take a full inventory of every thought and deed in my entire life, and I do fall far short of the goodness of God…And well, yes, we can say “much sin has been done against me. I see the misery of this world impacted by sin.”
But. I myself have contributed evil in this world, so I must look to God for mercy to be enfolded in Christ Jesus and cleansed and made acceptable, such that God then becomes a refuge, a shelter in the time of storm.
Rev. 21:27 said, “only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” shall enter in there. It further says, “nothing unclean will ever enter into it.”
Nahum 1:6-7 asked the question: [6] Who can stand before his indignation?Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire,and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
But then equally true: [7] The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
“Who can stand” the answer No one but the singular righteous man. Christ and Christ chose not just to stand for himself but to stand in our place.
Because God’s good and just indignation against sin fell fully upon Christ, it does not fall upon those who are united to Him by faith. We endure as guilty sinners before God not because His justice has been set aside, but because His justice has been satisfied in Christ.
And Nahum presses this home so vividly such as it almost hurts us in our guts in our stomach to hear what happens to sinbecause then we realize how very wrong it is in comparison to God and how very great our sin really is if it warrants, and it does warrant the response of God described in Nahum against Nineveh.
And then we look to Christ, and we see unearned mercy, steadfast love, and a savior who bore our sins on the cross, our sins our burden buried in his tomb, and his life, light, and holiness clothing us in his resurrection by the Holy Spirit uniting us Sinners to Christ our savior, and God our Father, and he was both Just and Refuge because he knows each and every individual name of those who take refuge in…him…those who take refuge in Christ!
Prayer
Benediction
