#49a - Nahum - Two Unchangables?
Most of us have asked the question Habakkuk will ask in the next book: “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?” (Habakkuk 1:1) It was part of what Jonah felt when God called him to go to Ninevah, Israel’s most vicious oppressor. It is what we tend to feel when we see “In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;” (Psalm 10) In blindness to our own self-righteousness, we long anxiously for God to judge those who trample others while shaking their fist in God’s face. To this history-long feeling God appoints Nahum to answer. Nahum 1:2 “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.” The revival in Nineveh was short-lived as they soon returned to their brutal and murderous oppression of Israel and Nahum was called to deliver the message of judgment that Jonah would have liked to deliver. It is not that God made a mistake in forgiving and postponing the judgment of Nineveh, but that God “is not willing that any should perish, but that all might come to repentance.” So when Ninevah returned to their idolatrous and viscous ways: “The scatterer has come up against you.” (2:1) “Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions….” (2:13) “Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder…” (3:1)
But mixed in among the declarations of judgment we find, “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him.” (1:7) “Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep you feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.” (1:15)
What is unchangeable? From the first “you shall surly die” to the the Babylonian destruction of Nineveh, the justified wrath of God remains. While we may not always see it when we think it should happen, God’s justice is always paid. No matter whether it is a nation, a group or an individual, God always judges our sin. It can be ignored but can never be altered. EXCEPT, by one other unchangeable. We cannot understand it, and it may not make sense, but amazingly, beside God’s Wrath is His Grace. Adam and Eve deserved to die, but God’s Grace clothed them. The Israelites deserved to be left to die in the wilderness, But, God’s grace brought them to the promised land. The Ninevites of Jonah’s day deserved to be “overthrown” but God’s grace sent Jonah with a warning. When Nineveh ignored both God’s grace and His warning, they could not change the outcome. Nahum concluded: “Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. There is no easing of your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?” (3:18,19)
Who, in blind arrogance, has not, in some degree, sought to change the judgment they deserve? While it may appear that some escape God’s judgment, Nineveh, Hitler and a million others scream otherwise. But just as blindly, we ignore our violent breaking, in a million variations, the Ten Commandments of God. And we cannot change God’ justified Wrath.
Justice and Grace met as Jonah walked through Nineveh. And they meet in billions of places every day. But there is One Day when they collided. God’s Judgment killed Jesus, but God’s Grace used that judgment to pay the penalty of our sin and gave us His LIFE instead of our deserved death. People may deny these things. People may ignore these things. But they cannot change them or alter them to fit their personal preferences. Would you ignore or believe if Jonah or Nahum warned you? They are!
Watch Bible Project video about Nahum
But mixed in among the declarations of judgment we find, “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him.” (1:7) “Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep you feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.” (1:15)
What is unchangeable? From the first “you shall surly die” to the the Babylonian destruction of Nineveh, the justified wrath of God remains. While we may not always see it when we think it should happen, God’s justice is always paid. No matter whether it is a nation, a group or an individual, God always judges our sin. It can be ignored but can never be altered. EXCEPT, by one other unchangeable. We cannot understand it, and it may not make sense, but amazingly, beside God’s Wrath is His Grace. Adam and Eve deserved to die, but God’s Grace clothed them. The Israelites deserved to be left to die in the wilderness, But, God’s grace brought them to the promised land. The Ninevites of Jonah’s day deserved to be “overthrown” but God’s grace sent Jonah with a warning. When Nineveh ignored both God’s grace and His warning, they could not change the outcome. Nahum concluded: “Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. There is no easing of your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?” (3:18,19)
Who, in blind arrogance, has not, in some degree, sought to change the judgment they deserve? While it may appear that some escape God’s judgment, Nineveh, Hitler and a million others scream otherwise. But just as blindly, we ignore our violent breaking, in a million variations, the Ten Commandments of God. And we cannot change God’ justified Wrath.
Justice and Grace met as Jonah walked through Nineveh. And they meet in billions of places every day. But there is One Day when they collided. God’s Judgment killed Jesus, but God’s Grace used that judgment to pay the penalty of our sin and gave us His LIFE instead of our deserved death. People may deny these things. People may ignore these things. But they cannot change them or alter them to fit their personal preferences. Would you ignore or believe if Jonah or Nahum warned you? They are!
Watch Bible Project video about Nahum