Wrath, Power and Mercy of God

Nahum 1:2-8

Introduction

Nahum is a short little 3 chapter book with a big message.

Nahums message in this book is to the people of Ninevah.

You likely have heard of Ninevah before if you have heard the story of Jonah.

Everything that happened in the story that is told of Jonah is because Jonah did not wart to see Nineva saved. God tasked Jonah with going to Nineva to warn them to turn from their worship of false gods and their evil deeds.

Eventually though after being thrown overboard into the ocean and swallowed up by a big fish Jonah relented and did as God commanded. He went to Ninevah and preached the word to the peop;e and they repented and turned to God.

But that repentance didnt last long. they once again turned to idol worship and a wicked lifestyle.

But God, being longsuffering, opted to give Ninevah one last chance. Follow him as he had commanded of face destruction. And the person God chose to give them this warning was the prophet Nahum.

Ninevah though was stubborn and did not repent.

Verse 1 of Nahum is a double title. In the days of the Bible , using a double title or saying something twice to begin was an indication of the importance of the message.

Jesus himself used this literary device several times as he was teaching in the pages of the New Testament. For example in John 14:12 ““Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

it was meant to say “pay attention!’ to what im saying!

So by starting his message this way Nahum was stressing the importance of his message which was this. “Forsake your evil ways and turn back to God and you will be spared.

Nahum begins by giving a picture of Gods wrath.

Verses 2 and 3 paint a powerful picture of one of the qualities of God. The first thing we see here is God is jealous.

Now Godly jealousy is not like sinful jealousy which can be akin to envy. Sinful jealousy at its root is covetousness. A strong desire to have what God has given to someone else.When we covet something that belongs to another we cannot love that person as we should because we see him or her as competition.

However,there are times when jealousy is appropriate.God is described as being provoked to jealousy over idolatry.

God is jealous when we take something that rightly belongs to him and give it to another. Like for instance worship and praise. God alone deserves our worahip, praise and adoration. When we give praise to false gods God is provoked to jealousy and we are committing a grave injustice and you can understand why.

We have the sovreign creator of all things, the creator of us,the one who gave us life and we take that paraide and worship that should only be his and give it to something or someone else,

Its recorded in Exodus 20:4 ““You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

and Exodus 20:5 “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,”

We were given this command in the law and it the Hebrews didn’t even wait until Moses came down from the mountain, tablets on which the law was written in hand to do just that. It took them no time to melt down their gold and fashion the image of a calf and say “this is our God whom we will worship!’

Now many of us think that we ourselves would never do such a thing but,it happens all the time. Anything that is higher in our thoughts and in our hearts whether it be the ga Bulldogs or even our spouse, can very easily become an idol and provoke God to jealousy.

So God is jealous and also avenging and wrathful. He takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps his wrath for his enemies.

This sentence prompted me to look up the difference between an adversary and an enemy.

An adversary is one who is an opponent in a contest or dispute. An enemy is one who actively opposes another.

We all sin. But as Christians we are not actively seeking to sin. Yet we are still adversaries. But when we actively seek out sin, we are an opponent of God. Again we need to define terms. Vengeance is is revenge taken for an isult, injury or other wrong. Wrath is great anger.

So there are still consequences to being adversarial toward God. But the consequences of his wrath are going to be far greater.

This is why we should be exceedingly grateful that God has provided us an escape from both his vengeance and his wrath.

Verse 3 says that God is slow to anger and great in power and he will by no means acquit the guilty.

This is why we dont see God meting out his justice all the time. He could if he wanted to destroy us all at any moment. He is thankfully slow to anger or longsuffering as it were.

He gives us every possible chance to repent. To turn from our evil ways and put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ.

But if we stubbornly, persist in our sins there will come a time , as Paul says in Romans 1:28 that he will give us over to our depraved mind and when God gives us over from that, i dont believe there is any return. Nahum seems to quoting here from Exodus 34:6–7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””

His way is in the whirlwind and the storm.

A direct reference to Exodus 19:16 “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.”

Verses 4-6 give us a picture of the power of God

Nahum 1:4–6 “He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. 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.”

What are times that God has actually done these things?

God parted the waters of the red sea and dried up the floor of the sea so that the hebrews could cross. also in Joshua as the hebrews prepared to cross into the promised land God dried up the Jordan river for them to cross over.

The mighty power of God is revealed here in these works. As in the crossing of the Red Sea and the jordan.

Or with Bashan and Carmel. Bashan, which was located below Mt Hermon was known for its lush pastures.Carmel was located along the coast on Canaan and became synonymous with fruitfulness. Lebanon of course was known for its beautiful Cedars. Yet they too would wither before the infinite strength of the omnipotent Judge.

The mountains shake quake before him and the hills melt. John Calvin said in his commetary on this verse “that when God takes his place as the Judge of the world, he won't just shake all the elements, but he'll also force them to change their nature. I mean, can you imagine anything less natural than mountains trembling and hills melting? It's beyond our understanding. But what Nahum is saying is that mountains don't stand strong on their own, they're held up by God's power.

All this serves a purpose to warn the wicked not to doubt Gods judgement or to think that they can escape his wrath.

Even though God stands ready to forgive those who hate their sins and truly repent he will not reconcile with the wicked and stubborn. So in his presence the mountains tremble and the earth quakes.

These words are meant to teach us that the world cannot exist , even for one second ,without God upholding it in all his power and glory.

In verse 6 Nahum asks the questions Who can stand before his indignation? and Who can endure the heat of his anger Indignation is defined as anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment.

This takes us back to God being a jealous God. He should be indignant. Imagine the creator of all things the one who created you, me the sun, the moon ,the earth and stars. all the tiniest atoms and molecules. and we have the utter audacity to wave him off so to speak. To give glory and honor to his creation and not to him.

We see this several times happening in scripture as i spoke of earlier the Hebrews creating their own god to worship even as the true God of all creation is giving his for them to live by to Moses. Paul in Romans 1 talking about how men worship the creation instead of the creator out of sheer apathy and ignorance.

THIS SHOULD NOT BE.

God and God alone is worthy of all praise and honor.

Nahum says his wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

There is no escape from his judgement of our own accord.

But after all this in just these 5 passages Nahum then pivots.

As long as there is breathe in our body there is a way to escape Gods wrath and judgement. Nahum seems to be quoting the Psalms in verse 7

English Standard Version Psalm 100

For the LORD is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations

Nahum continues; he takes refuge in those who take refuge in him.

We know today what that place of refuge is do we not.

Jesus Christ is our place of refuge. Christ is the one upon whom we can rest. By turning from our sin and believing on him we have our refuge. We have our escape from utter destruction. Our advocate who sits even at this very moment at the right hand of the father making intercession on our behalf. And there we will live forever.

He made a way and that way is clear. It is true as we are told in Ephesians 1 That he chose us as his children before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless.before him in love. And we have a sacred responsibility to follow his commands. To trust in Christ.

Nahum finishes up here with a final warning in verse 8 that God will make an overflowing flood, not necessarily a flood of water that he’s speaking of her but, a flood of judgement that he will make a complete end of his adversaries and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

There is nowhere to hide. there is only Christ Jesus who can take away our sins and leave us blameless before God. And i urge everyone to follow him. and to live according to his word.