God's Patience
When tempted to believe
God is cruel and lacking in compassion,
we should review His extraordinary patience
and continual communication,
both with His people Israel
and with the Gentile nations.
Here's Gene to explain:
As we know, the focus of Nahum's prophecy
is on Nineveh.
And judgment is coming.
A cruel, cruel nation.
At one point in time they'd repented.
But following that, kings that arose
were more evil than even the one that repented
and led to the repentance as a city.
But here's an interesting observation.
Before God's ultimate judgment
is coming on Nineveh--before it's coming--
He had given them at least
three clear warnings before it came.
For example, He sent Jonah.
That was an incredible event in history.
And those who lived beyond that period of time--
the kings particularly should have known
what happened as a result of repentance.
And yet they didn't listen.
They continued to serve false gods and to degenerate.
But the second thing that God had done
in terms of patience.
On one occasion He sent a clear message
to the Assyrian King Sennacherib.
And Sennacherib came with the
Assyrian army and was going to
wipe out the Israelites.
And God sent an angel that
totally wiped out the king's army.
In other words, the Israelites
just stood by and watched.
God eliminated them.
And that was a message both to Israel
and of course to the kings of Assyria.
So that was a warning.
But the third warning we have right here
in this prophecy written by Nahum.
What happened is that Nahum
predicted a number of specific judgments
that were going to happen to this city
because of their unrepentant and sinful attitudes.
And the interesting thing is that
God gave them 30 years--30 years to repent.
In other words, if they were interested
in appeasing God--
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--
they had 30 years to think about it.
And there were very specific
prophecies against them.
Actually, in the chapters that follow--
of the chapters here in Nahum.
There are actually about 11 specific prophecies
that came true that were given
at least 30 years before it happened.
Let me just give you 6 of those.
For example, first of all:
Nineveh's destruction will be final.
This is what the prophecy that
God gave Nahum said.
...Whatever you plot against the Lord,
He will bring it to complete destruction;
oppression will not rise up a second time.
In other words, total destruction this time.
Well what does Babylonian
and Assyrian history tell us?
You can go to the British museum.
And you can find records.
And here's what happened:
Many cities of the ancient near east
were rebuilt (for eample, Samaria, Jerusalem, Babylon)
but not Nineveh.
It has never been rebuilt.
And probably will never be rebuilt
because God said it would not.
It's never happened.
The second prophecy that we have
in Nahum chapter 2:
Plundering and pillaging would
accompany the overthrow of the city.
And here's what Nahum wrote
under the inspiration of God:
"Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!"
There is no end to the treasure,
an abundance of every precious thing.
Desolation, decimation, devastation!
Hearts melt, knees tremble,
loins shake, every face grows pale!
What happened in history?
What is the record in Assyrian history?
The Babylonians carried off
great quantities of spoils from Nineveh.
Nahum prophesied that was going to happen.
Because it was the Babylonians
obviously that ultimately conquered the Assyrians.
Here's another one.
We find this in Nahum chapter 3 verse 3:
The city's capture would be attended
by a great massacre of people:
And here is what Nahum prophesied--
30 years before it happened:
Charging horseman, flashing sword,
shining spear; heaps of slain,
mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end--
they stumble over their dead.
And what does Assyrian history
tell us and Babylonian history?
It's recorded:
So great was the multitude of the slain
that a stream, mingled with their blood,
changed color for a considerable distance.
That is secular history recording
when that happened.
Here's another one.
Nahum prophesied that
in the final hours of the attack,
the Ninevites would be drunk.
He stated this specifically:
You also will become drunk;
you will hide yourself.
You also will seek refuge from the enemy.
What do you suppose happened?
What is recorded in history.
While the over-confident army was carousing,
the enemy made an unexpected attack
on Nineveh by night.
And the city came down.
Nahum prophesied that 30 years
before it happened.
Here's another one:
The Assyrian fortresses surrounding
the city would be captured.
Nahum wrote--the word of the Lord:
All your fortresses are fig trees
with figs that ripened first;
when shaken, they fall--
right into the mouth of the eater!
Using metaphoric language, of course,
the "eater" were the Babylonians.
What does history tell us?
The fortified towns in Nineveh's
environs began to fall in 614 B.C.
And notice it says all the fortresses surrounding
the main city are going to go down.
And it happened--the prophecies.
God's love, God's grace, God's warning.
It's going to happen.
If God forgave them the first time
when Jonah went, do you think
He'd forgive them a second time?
Of course He would.
Now this happened, obviously years--
years after the first repentance
under the preaching of Jonah.
And here's another prophecy:
The Ninevite officers would
weaken and flee.
And so Nahum wrote:
Your court officials are like
the swarming locust,
and your scribes like clouds of locusts,
which settle on the walls on a cold day;
when the sun rises, they take off,
and no one knows where they are.
And here's the fulfillment:
The army of Assyria deserted the king.
And that was prophesied.
Now again we know that when you take
a series of prophesies like this--
and there were actually 11.
I just shared 6 with you.
When all of those are fulfilled,
the probability of being just
an accident is beyond imagination.
These are just a few prophesies
from the Old Testament that came true.
In this case it happened within that
30-year period, when Nineveh fell.
So you see, God was reaching out
with His patience.
But ultimately judgment came
because they didn't listen.
They were without excuse.
And of course today, God
is continuing to reach out.
He has since the cross for 2000 years.
With His love and His grace.
Hebrews chapter 1 refers to God's Revelation:
Long ago God spoke to the fathers
by the prophets...
Well we know who those prophets are.
We've been studying them.
There are lots of them in the Old Testament.
Nahum was one of them.
...Long ago God spoke to the fathers
by the prophets at different times
and in different ways. ...
And that's one of the most interesting things
as you study not just the minor prophets
but the major prophets.
And even those that are not recorded
in writing, such as Elijah and Elisha.
He spoke in different ways.
With Elijah it was amazing
what God did with King Ahab
and the prophets of Baal.
...In these last days...
And the last days of course,
he's referring to the fact that "in the last days,"
it happened about 2000 years ago.
Those were the last days.
We're living in the last days
as far as God's plan is concerned.
...In these last days, He has spoken to us
by [whom?]
His Son [Jesus Christ]. ...
The greatest revelation that
God has given humanity is
in Jesus Christ Himself.
...[And] God has appointed Him heir
of all things and made the
universe through Him.
And so God continues to reach out
with His grace, with His patience.
And one of the greatest things that
He's given us since Jesus Christ came
was to call those apostles
and then make them a promise that He was going--
Jesus said: I'm going to send the Holy Spirit
and He will guide you into all truth.
He will bring everything
to your remembrance that I've
taught you here on earth.
And you will be able to record
those great statements--the message.
And what we have in our
New Testament today is what the
apostles recorded through
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
So we have in our hands the whole of Scripture.
God didn't just send His Son to work miracles
to verify that He was the Son.
But He chose men to record in Scripture,
to add to the Old Testament,
to show how all these promises in the
Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
And will be fulfilled until the time
at the end when we see the
new Jerusalem descend from heaven.
With a new heavens and a new earth.
So God is reaching out
with His message to people.
And why don't they listen?
Well that's the question for Reflection and Response:
Why do so many people miss
the message of God's patience
in the midst of His judgments [even]?
In the midst of His judgments even.
In view of what's happening
in our culture, our society today.
The deterioration, the evil, terrorists--
innocent people.
All these horrendous things that are happening.
Why do people turn away
rather than towards God?
Well I think Paul answered that
to a great extent in Romans when he
penned these words, which I've called
"Hardened Hearts and Foolish Choices:"
For though they knew God,
they did not glorify Him as God
or show gratitude.
Instead, their thinking became nonsense,
and their senseless minds were darkened...
We see that throughout history.
We see that happening in
our own culture today.
...Claiming to be wise...
We've never lived in a culture--
our own culture--at any moment in history
where we see so many people
claiming to be wise.
As to having answers to the world's problems.
...Claiming to be wise, they became fools
and exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images
resembling mortal man...
The first step downward is humanism.
It's worshiping ourselves. Worshiping man.
What we've discovered.
What we know.
What we think.
And so we forget and we start worshiping,
rather than [the] Creator,
the ones that God that
has created--mortal man.
And then you see the deterioration.
And you see this throughout history. Worshiping:
...birds, four-footed animals,
and reptiles.
And all I have to do is go into
the museums of the world and see the statuary.
And see the documents and see all
these things that demonstrate this truth.
It's absolutely recorded in history.
And still, man turns away from God.
Well the exciting thing is that
in spite of all that,
we see breakthroughs.
We do not see whole nations change.
The Roman Empire wasn't changed.
But people within the Roman Empire
were changed through the church.
Today in our own culture, we'll probably
never see our society--I hate to say this
but I hope I'm wrong.
We'll never see our nation go back
to what it once it was in terms of biblical values.
But the exciting thing is we'll see people change.
And we're seeing that happen.
We're seeing it happen literally
all over the world.
And we're part of that great wonderful
redemptive plan.
And so let's remember this Principle
that grows out of this Old Testament prophet:
When tempted to believe God is cruel
and lacking in compassion,
we should review His extraordinary patience
and continual communication,
both with His people Israel
and with the Gentile nations.