Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good evening!

My name is Brenton, and I am on staff here at Apostles Downtown.

If this is your first time at Apostles or you are just beginning to check us out here, I want to welcome you.

We are so glad you decided to join us.

Tonight, we are continuing our series called Reviving Grace.

Over the past 5 weeks, we have been studying the books of Jonah and Nahum.

We have seen the journey of Jonah to preach the message of repentance to the Ninevites including a short detour through the belly of the whale, and now in the book of Nahum, just 150 years after Jonah entered the gates of Ninevah, God is pouring out his wrath on the people of the city.

I want to admit to you that this text has not been an easy text to process as I have prepared for tonight.

As I have read the text, I have wrestled with the idea that a God so full of love and grace could take out so much wrath on a people.

I’m sure many of you are wrestling with this idea yourself, or you have found yourself in a discussion with someone about how a God of love could allow things to happen like the events that we just read aloud in want you to know that this place is a place where we can ask hard questions and process these hard ideas together.

Where we can discuss these difficult topics together in a community.

And, I know a passage with this much vivid imagery of death and destruction can draw up a multitude of emotions, and I want to let you know that I want to be sensitive to those emotions tonight.

As we dive deeper into this text, you may find yourself sensing emotions that you did not expect to have to encounter tonight.

I want you to know that it is ok to sense emotion as we discuss these verses tonight.

Don’t let those emotions tonight divide you from hearing the word of the Lord, but rather, let them be moments where you allow God to speak to to certain things in your heart tonight through the emotions you may feel.

So before we begin, can we go to God and ask him to guide us through this difficult passage tonight?

Father, we come tonight asking for your divine wisdom as we process your scriptures together tonight.

May you guide us as we discuss topics such as wrath and destruction.

May you continually remind us that you are slow to anger.

That you love us and you are with us.

Father, we ask tonight that you would allow us to look more deeply into your character to see the depths of your love for your people.

We commit ourselves and this time to you.

Amen.

Some of my favorite movies growing up were movies with epic battle scenes.

I am not sure this was the best thing for my young mind as it formed, but I vividly remember several movies that I watched more times than I can count.

These movies captivated me.

Now before you begin to judge my choice of movies, there was usually a theme that flowed through these movies and battle scenes.

There was usually a great army of power.

One side was always much stronger or more evil than the other side.

This was the side that was expected to win the battle and plunder the other side.

This was the side that had all the chariots, weapons, and manpower.

They looked and acted the part of conquering warriors.

But then there was the other side.

Usually, a smaller army with less weapons, less skill, and less manpower.

Or there was an opressed people looking to break away from the greater evil force that had been holding them captive.

This was the underdog.

I watched these scenes each time on the edge of my seat.

Waiting for the underdog to rise up against the evil army and defeat them.

My emotions rode this roller coaster as the less skilled army in the end rose up to defeat the other, more skilled, side.

At the end most of the time, the small army would be standing on the battle field looking out over the sprawling field of death and destruction, breathing heavily, and processing their miraculous victory.

And most of the time, there was this miracle moment where this smaller force was able to take hold of the battle and complete the stunning victory.

These moments brought about a certain emotion for me.

The oppressed had beat the oppressor.

For us a westerners, we usually take the viewpoint of the oppressed.

Just as I watched these movies, through the viewpoint of the underdog.

We connect with the oppressed and Vulnerable.

This prophecy was written for the Israelites.

So you may be asking tonight why God would pour out his wrath upon the Ninevites.

Well, Nineveh was the oppressor.

The strongest of the strong in Assyria.

Nineveh was feared.

For anyone in the region, nothing would have been worse than Nineveh marching troops toward your gates of your city.

Nineveh was evil.

They had no regard for human life, and they took no mercy on their enemies.

They were proud.

They showed no mercy.

And the people of Israel was one of Nineveh’s main targets.

For years, the people of Israel had been the enslaved and exploited at the hands of the Ninevites.

In our passage tonight, Nineveh was the oppressor.

The strongest of the strong in Assyria.

Nineveh was feared.

For anyone in the region, nothing would have been worse than Nineveh marching troops toward your gates of your city.

Nineveh was evil.

They had no regard for human life, and they took no mercy on their enemies.

They were proud.

They showed no mercy.

And the people of Israel was one of Nineveh’s main targets.

For years, the people of Israel had been the enslaved and exploited at the hands of the Ninevites.

In our western culture, we have a predominately compassionate people.

For most all of us, we cringe at the thought of evil and death.

We want to

So as the people of Israel heard this prophecy from Nahum.

You can imagine that there was a bit of elation from the Israelites.

For a people that had been at the hands of these evil people, God’s wrath being poured out on the Ninevites was welcome news.

This was not an unjust judgement for Nineveh.

This was not God raging out against the Ninevites for no reason.

We had just encountered a few weeks ago when God sent Jonah to Nineveh to preach to the people of the city.

And they repented.

But now just generations later, they had turned their backs toward God.

They had went back to doing the same things that they were doing before Jonah showed up.

And God’s grace that we saw in Jonah is now turning to wrath in Nahum.

We see in scripture: in that God is slow to anger.

God had been patient with the Ninevites.

He had watched them turn away from his commandments and teaching.

And now the wrath of God would be poured out upon the city.

Nineveh, and its proud and boastful evil, was about to be no more.

So lets look at .

And see how God’s wrath was turned towards Nineveh.

See, I watched these movies from the viewpoint of the oppressed.

I longed to see the lesser army win.

In our westernized culture, we have a sense of compassion about evil things.

For most all of us, we cringe at the thought of evil and death.

We wrestle with anyone dying, even the

NINEVEH’S WARNING (VS.

1-2)

Chapter two begins with a warning.

A warning from Nahum to the people of Nineveh.

The armies are preparing to have their day with Nineveh.

Nineveh should begin making preparations because they are about to meet their fate.

This mighty and powerful city of evil is about to be brought to its knees.