Nahum: Done
Notes
Transcript
Nahum 1:1
Nahum 1 English Standard Version (ESV)
1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.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. 4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. 5 The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. 6 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. 7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. 8 But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries,[a] and will pursue his enemies into darkness. 9 What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time. 10 For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried. 11 From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a worthless counselor. 12 Thus says the Lord, “Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. 13 And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart.” 14 The Lord has given commandment about you: “No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.” 15 [b] Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.
As we just finished up the book of Jonah I couldn’t think of a better book to go though then Nahum. In fact I find it funny how we all associate Nineveh with Jonah but no other books really. I don’t know if you know how many other books that mentions Nineveh?
Genesis, 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jonah, Zephaniah, Matthew, and Luke
Jonah is probably one of the most known of the scripture references to Nineveh, but I believe after these next three weeks you will probably consider Nahum much the ending of a story Jonah taught.
A century before you get to Nahum you have Jonah
Jonah preached repentance- Turn away from sin
This nation was humbled.
The repented
They mourned over their sin
They followed God
And now we are 100 years later and Nahum is preaching destruction.
I think Jonah would have been thrilled to take them this message from God, to switch places with Nahum.
Its almost like God has done a full 180 on his treatment of Nineveh.
Some people believe that God acts differently in the OT and NT. Some go as far as saying the NT god is a different God. But there is only one god, in three persons and according to James there is no change or shadow of variance. Not only that but look here in the OT you have God described in Jonah 4: 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
And here in Nahum as the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
As I began to study through the Book of Nahum I was excited to see how well you can see the characteristics of God in these two books. From Love to Anger, from Mercy to Justice, from Renewal to Destruction. We have to come to a complete understanding of the character of God as a whole so that it will never influence our theology in the wrong way.
These verses brings to light a subject that we as a church must discuss but will probably not exhaust in one sermon. In fact we should do a whole study on the attributes of God soon.
Lets look back just in Nahum 1 and see many attributes of God.
1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.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. 4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. 5 The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. 6 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. 7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. 8 But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries,[a] and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
Truly worshiping God starts with understanding him and his many attributes.
A.W. Tozer said in his book the knowledge of the holy, “A right concept of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse.”
When we don’t understand then we see problems like we have in our world today. We try to simplify him to our own pickings and choosing of attributes.
What comes to you mind when you think about God?
In society today I see two answers that pop up often and are so closely related
Love – God is love. I agree with this statement but only to the point that this is one attribute of God not his whole essence. But this stance has been used by Religious and non-Religious to totally destroy the person of God. Religious people have taken this statement to say if God is love then no one will go to hell. How can a loving God send any to hell? Non-religious use God is love to show how there cannot be a god with this much pain, suffereing, horrible viruses in this world, and even a hell, if he is love. That leads to the second major thought people have today Unbelievable – God is a figment of our imagination. Fairytale.
What is the answer that came to your mind?
What comes to you mind when you think about God?
To understand God the best we can we have to understand all the aspect of God. The Westminster Confessions of Faith define God in three statements.
1. There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal, most just, and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
2. God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them.
3. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.
How have you seen God in your worship and praise of him? Have you even considered him in this respect? We as a church need to come to a proper understanding of God so that we can give a proper defense for the hope that is within us.
A.W. Tozer in his book the knowledge of the holy also said, “Always the most revealing thing about the church is her idea of God”
What are we revealing to this world today?