Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Let’s read God’s Word together….
Flip back just a couple of pages to the prophet .
If you can remember the name of this city Nineveh that Nahum is telling us about is the same city that Jonah was told to preach to.
We read here about the Ninevites in Jonah’s time repenting.
4 "Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!” 5 "Then the people of Nineveh believed God.
They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least.
6 "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.”
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The king issues a decree starting in v7, but read with me what he said in v8.
8 "Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God.
Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing.
[there’s repentance] 9 "Who knows?
God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.
10 "God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with.
And he did not do it.”
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But now that Nineveh’s leaders had resumed their wicked actions, the Lord called Nahum to reaffirm His coming judgment.
The prophecy of Nahum is unique in the sense that he tells us that he is writing a book (1:1).
The prophecy of Nahum is unique in the sense that he tells us that he is writing a book (1:1).
The prophecy of Nahum is unique in the sense that he tells us that he is writing a book (1:1).
He is the only prophet to describe his oracle (or, rather, collection of oracles) as a book.
This means that it was not necessarily the result of verbal preaching;
perhaps what we have in our Bibles
is something which was originally written as a pamphlet for circulation and discussion among the people.
We know nothing about Nahum except that he came from a place called Elkosh, which was
probably a town lying somewhere south-west of Jerusalem.
This means that it was very likely that he came from the same geographical area as the prophet Micah.
The name ‘Nahum’ means ‘comfort’ or ‘consolation’, and,
although his book is taken up with the theme of the destruction of Judah’s great enemy
(which thought alone must have brought great comfort to God’s people),
there are many other matters in this prophecy
which would also have given consolation to the Judeans.
At the time in which Nahum prophesied, Assyria was THE one great power
whose terrible influence was felt throughout the whole region.
People were in fear of the Assyrians for hundreds of miles around.
History tells us that they were extremely cruel, inflicting awful torture on their victims before they finally killed them.
Naturally everyone was terrified of the Assyrians and their city of Nineveh was, to the Judeans, a symbol of extreme evil.
No one wanted to get on the wrong side of these people.
Because of their very wickedness, they despised everyone who feared the one true and living God.
People of every nation were afraid of the Assyrians.
Everyone was hoping that the Almighty would do something to destroy them,
and no one could really settle down to live peacefully
the whole time these ‘savages’ were causing such havoc.
However, God raised up Nahum to tell the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and the surrounding areas
that He was going to deal with those who threatened them.
But, strangely enough, Nahum did not start his prophecy by describing the wickedness of the Ninevites (the Assyrians).
Nor did he begin by referring to the unease of the people of Judah.
His first recorded words were a description of God himself.
Let’s look first of all at the CHARACTER OF GOD. 2 "The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is fierce in wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance against his foes; he is furious with his enemies.
3 "The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished.
His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath his feet.”
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In these opening words Nahum used the covenant name for God.
He reminded the people that the Lord is one who has an agreement with them.
He is the gracious God who promises to protect and care for all those who put their trust in Him, and
He always keeps all the promises that He has made to His people.
The prophet said that God is a jealous God.
In the 10 Commandments we find out what that phrase means: In verse 5 we read:
"Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ iniquity, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,”
The Lord means that he will put up with no rivalry.
Just as a husband will not allow any other man to share his wife in those ways which belong to the marriage bond alone,
so God will not permit his people to give any affection whatsoever to any other ‘god’, be it
a pop star or
a quest for materialism.
If anything at all is allowed to come between God and one of his children, then the Lord will not overlook it.
He will show His jealous anger against whoever, or whatever, seeks to win the affection of any of His beloved ones.
God has an exclusive claim upon each of his children.
He demands that they refrain from sin and anything else which might bring his honor into disrepute.
He has purchased them with the precious blood of Christ which was shed for them on Calvary’s cross, and now they belong to Him alone.
Because of this, God’s people today must each do everything they can to maintain their deep love for the Lord.
Sadly, some people do drift away from the Lord.
Christ Himself speaks about this when He writes to the angel of the church at Ephesus.
There it is said that the church had forsaken their first love ().
We, too, must make certain that our love for the Lord never begins to grow cold.
Because the Lord is a jealous God, He will allow no rivals for the affection which should be given to Him alone.
However, the inhabitants of Nineveh had sinned grievously against God.
They had destroyed the northern kingdom and had taken away as captives a great many of its people.
They had treated all of their captives with great contempt.
And for many years the Assyrians had been threatening the southern kingdom of Judah.
It was for these reasons, and many more, that the Lord showed another side of His nature.
He told them He was going to display His vengeance.
Three times Nahum mentions this word in the second verse of the opening chapter of his prophecy.
2 "The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is fierce in wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance against his foes; he is furious with his enemies.”
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There is more to vengeance than merely fighting against an enemy.
‘Vengeance is retaliatory punishment for wrong which has been done.
Bentley, M. (1994).
Balancing the Books: Micah and Nahum Simply Explained (p.
96).
Darlington, England: Evangelical Press.
The Ninevites had committed great evils.
Now they were [going] to be repaid for those iniquitous acts by the one who had solemnly declared,
35 "Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay.
In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.””
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How can anyone read this prophecy and still think of God merely as some
kindly old gentleman, living up in the sky like a rather absent-minded Santa Claus who regards everyone as worthy of a generous Christmas present?
Our God is not only a God of love (He is that); He is also a God of justice.
He cannot look upon sin in any shape or form.
There is no way that He can overlook it, or its consequences.
Sin, and all those who perpetuate evil, must be dealt with severely.
Nahum said, ‘the Lord takes vengeance and is fierce in wrath’ (1:2).
Indeed the complete and utter destruction which was soon
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