God's Wrath
We must never take God's patience for granted,
assuming He will not judge sinful humanity
simply because it has not happened.
Here's Gene:
You know it's very easy to take God's patience for granted.
And the fact of the matter is,
there's much more in the Old Testament
about God's patience than there
is about God's wrath.
We tend to remember God's wrath
because when it fell it was horrible.
But in between those periods of wrath were years,
centuries often, of patience--both with
the Gentiles as well as with the nation of Israel.
God is the God of patience.
And because He is the God of patience,
we can take that for granted.
And so out of this story here--
this reflection, this prophecy from Nahum-- we have this tremendous Principle
that we shouldn't take God's patience
for granted. Because wrath will ultimately come.
So let's look right into the very first
verse here of Nahum chapter 1, verse 1.
I've called this "Nahum the Elkoshite"
because that's what is used right in the
biblical text. We read:
The oracle [or the prophecy] concerning Nineveh.
The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
One of the first things we learn is that
the focus of this prophesy is against this
very, very pagan city called Nineveh.
We also know that Nahum was the Elkoshite,
which probably means that he came
from a town called Elkosh.
That would make sense because of the
way in which individuals were identified
with where they lived.
We see this with other prophets.
The problem is, we don't know where this town was.
And we don't know anything more about Nahum.
This is all we know except what he
wrote and his prophecies.
And the focus, as we'll see, is on Nineveh.
Look at verses 3 and then 6, here in chapter 1:
...The LORD is slow to anger but great in power...
Again, let me just underscore when you
read the Old Testament,
what you see is the Lord is slow to anger.
In fact, His patience is almost
unbelievable in terms of the sins
that were committed by humanity.
But He is great in power.
And because He is patient
doesn't mean He is not a God of power.
And that He is ultimately going to deal with sin.
And so this is what we read about here in Nahum:
...the LORD will never leave the guilty unpunished. ...
Yes, He is patient, longsuffering.
But ultimately because of His holiness,
those who are evil will be punished.
And then he describes with metaphors--God's judgement:
...His path is in the whirlwind and storm,
and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
Who can withstand His indignation? ...
When God reveals His power,
and we see that in Old Testament settings.
Who can withstand it?
You can't. This is God. This is His power.
...Who can endure His burning anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
even rocks are shattered before Him.
And so the message that God gave
to this prophet Nahum is very clear
right in the very opening verses.
And He's going to-- God is going to bring judgement on Nineveh.
Now, first some background in relationship to Nineveh.
Nineveh is first mentioned in the Bible
in the book of Genesis.
The city was founded by Nimrod who is
identified as the first powerful man on earth.
And if you look at the background of this man,
he was the son of Cush.
He was the great, great grandson of Noah.
And he became a very wicked, evil man.
So Nineveh and its evil has its roots
right from the very beginning
in terms of the king--the king who was called Nimrod.
And tradition has it that this was time of
the tower of Babel when men totally tried
to build this tower to show
how powerful they were to reach God.
So right from the very beginning,
there's a history of evil.
And as we go on in the history of Nineveh.
And this is an Assyrian city.
Assyria was the country. Nineveh the capital.
And during the 9th and the 8th and the
7th century BC--and of course
as we are living after Christ,
you have got to think the opposite.
During the 9th, the 8th, the 7th centuries BC,
the Assyrian Empire
grew in tremendous power.
It was an evil, evil, cruel group of kings.
In fact, that explains why Jonah
did not want to go and proclaim repentance to this city.
Because he knew how evil they were.
He didn't want God to forgive them.
He wanted God to wipe them
off the face of the earth.
Particularly in terms of the way
in which they had attacked Israel.
And some of the things they had done.
In fact, the sins of these kings is so cruel
that it's almost embarrassing to
read how evil they were--
what they would do to their fellow man.
They were arrogant. They were prideful.
Now, God in His grace, God in His mercy,
sent Jonah to Nineveh.
This was during the time of Ashurdan III [or Assur-Dan].
And he repented. Remember?
Even though Jonah didn't want to go.
And we read about that here in Jonah chapter 3:
The men of Nineveh believed in God. ....
Why? Because of Jonah's message.
Now remember, Jonah didn't want to go.
And he went the opposite direction.
And they threw him overboard from the ship.
He was swallowed by a whale.
He was vomited out on the land.
God appeared to him once again and said:
Now I want you to go. And he went.
But he didn't want to.
But in spite of the fact that he didn't want to,
God still honored the message.
And you see this great repentance in Nineveh.
The men of Nineveh believed in God.
They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth--
from the greatest of them to the least. ...
And then we read about this king
that I just mentioned--Ashurdan [or Assur-Dan].
...When word reached the king of Nineveh,
he got up from his throne,
took off his royal robe,
put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
Now you could hope that they
would remember God's mercy.
But it didn't happen.
Because the kings thereafter led people
downward into horrible sin.
In fact, I'd like to just share some statements
by some of these kings in terms of
their pride and their arrogance.
For example, Esarhaddon
who reigned from 681 to 669 B.C.
Listen to his words.
This is what he said. This is in writing.
This is in the Babylonian and Assyrian histories:
"I am powerful, I am all powerful,
I am a hero, I am gigantic, I am colossal,
I am honored, I am magnified,
I am without equal among all kings,
the chosen one of Asshur Nabu, and Marduk."
And those three names that are
mentioned right there at the end--
Asshur, Nabu, and Marduk were gods--
evil gods that he believed in.
That's the attitude that these men had.
Here's another quote.
This comes from Ashurbanipal
who followed the previous king:
"I am Ashurbanipal, the great king,
the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria. ...
The great gods...
magnified my name; they made my role powerful."
So you see, Nahum is called to
prophesy against these evil kings,
and these evil people,
and all that they were doing.
Now you know, degeneration is
something that is predictable.
It happened in Nineveh, even though
God forgave them and preserved them.
They went downhill; they went back to their paganism.
The same thing happened to Israel. It's amazing.
For example, listen to these words in Judges
that relate to the nation Israel:
Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord,
died at the age of 110. ...
And you remember Joshua
led them into the promised land.
Led them to conquer the land.
...They buried him in the territory of his inheritance,
in Timnathheres, in the hill country of Ephraim,
north of Mount Gaash.
That whole generation was also
gathered to their ancestors. ...
Now get this--hard to believe.
...After them another generation...
Just one generation.
...rose up who did not know the Lord
or the works He had done for Israel. ...
Why did it take one generation?
Because the parents didn't teach
the children and they got into idolatry.
And the children followed their behavior.
...The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight.
They worshiped the Baals and
abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers
who had brought them out of Egypt.
They went after other gods from the
surrounding peoples and bowed down to them.
They infuriated the Lord,
for they abandoned Him and
worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.
One generation for degeneration to take place.
And this was in Israel.
So it shouldn't surprise us what
happened to a city like Nineveh.
And to those who were the Assyrians.
You know, even in the New Testament days,
we see people taking God's patience for granted.
For example, 2 Peter 3:4,
The Power of Unbelief:
Where is the promise of His coming?...
These were people that no doubt,
had heard the gospel and heard the
message of salvation.
And even in the first century world
before a couple of decades passed by,
they say: where's the promise of His coming?
...For ever since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they have been
since the beginning of creation.
What was their attitude? It's not going to happen.
They deteriorated, they degenerated,
they walked away from the message that they heard.
And of course, Peter responds
and explains God's patience:
Dear friends, don't let this one thing escape you:
with the Lord one day is like 1,000 years,
and 1,000 years like one day. ...
For these people in the New Testament world,
just a few years went by and they deteriorated.
One generation. Peter continues:
...The Lord does not delay His promise,
as some understand delay, but is patient with you...
That's what we see in the Old Testament.
...not wanting any to perish,
but all to come to repentance. ...
But as Nahum said, God's patience
will come to an end.
And Peter says the same thing:
...But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief;
on that day the heavens will pass away
with a loud noise,
the elements will burn and be dissolved,
and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.
It indeed will happen.
And that's what we see here in Nahum
in his prophecies in relationship to
what's going to happen to the Assyrians
and Nineveh particularly.
So here's the question for Reflection and Response:
Though true believers will be
delivered from God's wrath,
how does this principle regarding God's patience
apply to all of us who have received
the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior?
And I'd just like to take you to the words of Paul who I think addressed
the answer to that question when he said this:
But since we belong to the day...
Speaking of those of us who are
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
...we must be sober and put on the armor of faith
and love on our chests, and put on a
helmet of the hope of salvation. ...
Paul loved those three words:
faith, hope, and love.
And he says: the day will come
and while we're waiting,
let's put on the armor of faith and love,
the helmet of the hope of our salvation.
...For God did not appoint us to wrath...
Isn't that wonderful?
God did not appoint us to what is going
to happen in Nineveh.
Or what God will do in judging sinners and sin.
He will deliver us.
I feel that it doesn't mean we will not have persecution.
But not God's wrath.
I think we'll be delivered at the rapture.
The church will be removed
before God's wrath comes on the earth.
But in the meantime, this is what he says-- what Paul says to us:
...For God did not appoint us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ...
Praise the Lord for that.
But how shall we live?
...[He] died for us, so that whether
we are awake or asleep,
we will live together with Him. ...
Wonderful promise.
Therefore while we're waiting.
...Therefore encourage one another and
build each other up as you are already doing.
And so here's the Principle that
we need to take seriously:
We must never take God's patience for granted,
assuming He will not judge sinful humanity
simply because it has not happened.