“This Could Be You”

Series: The Minor Prophets

Text: Nahum 3:-19

Introduction: (What?)

In 1 Cor 19:11-12 Paul wrote “These things (from the OT) happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.”

This is an apt introduction to chapter 3 of Nahum which describes in vivid detail the destruction of Nineveh. It brings to mind the adage “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” This statement was made by philosopher George Santayana. If America doesn’t learn from Nineveh’s experience, we may be doomed to experience it ourselves.

Examination: (What?)

1. Vivid Description of Debauchery

Na 3:1-4 “1 Woe to the city of blood, totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without prey. 2 The crack of the whip and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and jolting chariot! 3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead. 4 Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute, the attractive mistress of sorcery, who treats nations and clans like merchandise by her prostitution and sorcery,”

This vivid description of Nineveh could well be a description of America today. Our major cities are bloody because of murders and random shootings that we read about almost weekly. Many of our politicians are deceitful in order to plunder the very people they are sworn to represent. Rioting results in carnage and death. This is all because we have left our “first love” (God) and prostituted ourselves with other gods. Sin is rampant because of our idolatry. J. Vernon McGee noted that “man does not become a sinner because he sins, but rather he sins because he is a sinner.”

Nineveh, as the capital of Assyria, was a notoriously bloody city. The “ Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead is descriptive of their blood lust. The Assyrians were known for such atrocities as slashing open the bellies of pregnant women when they captured a city. (story of Robt. Mata) Although they thought themselves to be secure because of their military might, they did not take into consideration the intervention of Almighty God who can and does devastate pagan nations.

The “attractive mistress of sorcery” refers to both witchcraft and drug use, both of which are flourishing in America today. The Greek word for sorcery is pharmakea, from which we get our word, pharmacy. In Rev 9:21 the same word is used. “21 And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.” Rarely does a day go by in America when we do not hear of crime related to illicit drugs or of someone dying of an overdose or use of fentynol.

2. God’s Warning

Na 3:5-12 “5 I am against you. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. I will lift your skirts over your face and display your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms. 6 I will throw filth on you and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you. 7 Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying, “Nineveh is devastated; who will show sympathy to her?” Where can I find anyone to comfort you? 8 Are you better than Thebes that sat along the Nile with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the river her wall? 9 Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. 10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her children were also dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains. 11 You also will become drunk; you will hide. You also will seek refuge from the enemy. 12 All your fortresses are fig trees with figs that ripened first; when shaken, they fall---right into the mouth of the eater”

Beginning in vs 5 God made it abundantly clear that He was the One who would see to the downfall of Nineveh. While we are prone to think of God as being infinitely patient and always giving people another chance, we must face the fact that there is a limit to His patience with sin. In Gen. 6:3 “3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years.”” The word “remain” is often translated as “strive”. In other words God said that His patience was coming to an end with the evil that was rampant in the days leading up to the flood.

The phrase, “I will lift your skirts over your face and display your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms” meant that what they were doing behind closed doors, God would expose to the world. Their sexual immorality, though done in secret, would be exposed. In our day the sexually immoral say “what we do in the privacy of our own bedroom is no one’s business but ours”. However, the day will come when God says, “Enough is enough” and our debauchery will be flashed across the screens of the world. In recent days several evangelical leaders have been exposed for their illicit sexual behaviors. They thought that they would never be exposed. They thought they were above even God’s laws, but their rude awakening was that their private sins became front page news.

Nahum pointed out to Nineveh that they were no better than other nations that the Assyrians had destroyed. Even though those nations appeared to be secure. In America we thought we were secure until 9/11/01. Since then we have been reminded over and over that we are sitting ducks for some nations with nuclear capabilities. Should God lift His hand of protection on America all bets are off. In vs 10 Nahum graphically described what Assyria had done to others that was now to be their fate. “Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her children were also dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.”

As McGee noted, “the chickens had come home to roost.” The reality of Gal 6:7 “7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person (or a nation) sows he will also reap.”

3. No Place to Hide

Na 3:13-19 “13 Look, your troops are like women among you; your land’s city gates are wide open to your enemies. Fire will devour the bars of your gates. 14 Draw water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Step into the clay and tread the mortar; take hold of the brick-mold! 15 The fire will devour you there; the sword will cut you down. It will devour you like the young locust. Multiply yourselves like the young locust; multiply like the swarming locust! 16 You have made your merchants more numerous than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away. 17 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. 18 King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together. 19 There is no remedy for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news about you will clap their hands because of you, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?”

Again Nahum used graphic language to describe the devastation that was coming to Nineveh. They would be besieged by enemy troops and their own troops would be as weak as women not trained in combat. They would run out of food and water and eventually be burned to the ground. The political leaders would head for the hills and the people would be left to fend for themselves. Those who heard of her demise would celebrate just as the radical Islamists celebrated in the streets after the 9/11 attack.

In other words Nahum told them that they could run but they could not hide from the destruction that was imminent. (This means you can try to escape what you fear most but ultimately you must face it. This saying originated in the United States in the 1940s and is attributed to boxing great Joe Louis describing his impending fight with light heavy weight champion Billy Conn.)

Application (How should I respond to this warning?)

Repentance is the only recourse left. Jesus told a story in Luke 13:1-5 “1 At that time, some people came and reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And he responded to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well. 4 Or those eighteen that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.””

Like Daniel we must repent for the sins of our nation. “We have sinned.  We have not obeyed Your voice. All Israel has transgressed Your law.”  Daniel identified himself with his people. Although he was probably the godliest man in the whole nation of Israel, he repented.  He repented for himself and for all of Israel as their representative.  Then he called on the God’s mercy.