God spared Nineveh through the reluctant ministry of Jonah. It took Jonah three days to walk across the city and they repented. But in the days of Nahum, 150 years later, they have reverted to their old ways of ungodliness and brutality. What is the central message of Nahum? God is a jealous God! Nineveh is an example that explains the doctrine of God’s jealousy.

Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for showing us who you are, disclosing your nature, your plan, by giving us examples in history for how you think, how you work, and what you do, and why you do it. Thank you Lord for showing us your glory so that we might know you and that we might look to you in worship and in service because of who you are. I pray that you would take the moments that we have today and take us deeper into who you are. Amen.

Okay, so turn to Nahum, the book of Nahum. I've entitled this, The Whirlwind of the Wrath of God. But I'd like to begin to just talk about the theme of this book. This is a message for Christians in modern times, especially those who live in brutal times, idolatrous times, threatening dangerous times, maybe surrounded by brutal nations, maybe living in a brutal nation. You know people say the most dangerous place in America is a mother's womb, a baby in a mother's womb.

There's a lot of brutality going on in America right now and as nations depart from God, the brutality always increases. You know they pretend they are so tolerant, but ungodliness never breeds tolerance. It always breeds intolerance. So on the one hand, it's for Christians who are in the midst of or are observing brutal nations. But it's about God's judgment against those kinds of people, and God's judgment is good news for the Christian.

And Nahum makes it really clear that while God's judgment is actually the best news a Christian can ever have, it's bad news for a non-Christian. Here you have the judgment and the mercy of God and really the hope that there is in God's jealousy for your soul. And Nineveh is an example that explains everything I just said. Now Here's what you'll notice. Every verse in the book focuses on Nineveh, except a couple.

Overwhelmingly, the laser beam focus of this book is Nineveh and its destruction. When my kids were little, I used to ask this question, what is the key verse in Nahum? And it's Nahum 1, 2. And it speaks of God's jealousy. Verse 2, God is jealous and the Lord avenges.

The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserves wrath for his enemies. And all this is to say that the book of Nahum is not a call to repentance. Jonah was about a call to repentance, but not Nahum. Nahum is simply a declaration that you will be destroyed, and there will be corpses, and there will be fire, and it will be all over.

That's the message. And it's also a story that illustrates how revivals can fall off. Remember, you know, 150 years earlier, Nineveh repented. And now, something has changed after all those years. Let me read to you William Hendrickson's explanation of Nahum.

To Nahum, Jehovah was the God of vengeance, that is, of retributive justice. At the same time, he's also the God of tender compassion. The very name Nahum means compassionate. Though slow to anger, Jehovah will most certainly pour out his wrath upon those who hate him and oppress his people. On the other hand, those who take refuge in him will have nothing to fear.

I think William Hendrickson said it really well as far as a summary. Let's talk about the historical context. First of all, God spared Nineveh through that reluctant prophet Jonah. Remember, it took Jonah three days to walk across Nineveh to proclaim that God's wrath was coming. You remember what he said?

You have 40 days. And they repented. So the 40 days came and went. And there was no judgment. So now it's 150 years later after Jonah.

And they've reverted back to their old ways of ungodliness and brutality. The tentacles of their evil culture worked their way back and got them into a stranglehold. Let's talk about the man. His name means comforter. He's from the town of El Cosh.

You read that in verse 1. We don't really know exactly where it is, but it's in southern Judah somewhere. Nahum preached to the southern kingdom of Judah, So it's addressed to his countrymen. But one thing about Nahum that's different than Jonah. Jonah was sent into the city to prophesy.

He was sent into the bloody city. How about that? Walking into the bloody city. Nahum got to deliver his prophecy from the comfort of southern Judah. The language in this book is so remarkable, but One of the things that you'll see in this book is his view of nature.

Nahum saw nature as a tool of God. And it's very important that we understand that same thing. Now get this, there are 47 verses in Nahum. There are 50 references to nature in this book. Nahum loves nature.

He loves to see how God reveals Himself in nature. The genre of writing here, I just want to make mention that this is a, this is an extremely sober book. The intensity, the vehemence, I think is there because it's addressed to the bloody city and so there's sort of a style in kind. It's a strong writing. John Calvin spoke of it this way, no one of the minor prophets seems to equal the sublimity, the vehemence, and the boldness of mayhem.

It's a poem. He calls it magnificent. He calls it majestic. He calls it remarkable in its clarity and in its fullness and the vivid colors that are there. It's a poem.

That's the genre of writing. But it's not a poem for softies. It's not all that much like Hosea, where the love and the tenderness is there, or the song of Solomon. It's a different kind of poem. Let's talk about the time of writing.

Probably written between 663 B.C. And 612 BC Hard to know was during the reign of Manasseh one of the most defiling Kings in the history of Israel He had taken the nation to new levels. This was where Nahum was living. It was a hopeless situation where he lived. But God sees to it that there's a prophet by the name of comfort to come on the scene.

And by the time that he's writing, the Northern Kingdom has been destroyed. Assyria swept in in 722 BC and took the Northern Kingdom captive, enslaved tens of thousands, killed tens of thousands. It was just a, you know, this thing has happened and now Nahum is writing to that kingdom that has destroyed his own nation. Now there's a helpful time marker in the book. It's the fall of Thebes.

Thebes is in Egypt and in Nahum 3.8 you read, are you better than Thebes? I'll talk about that later, but it must have happened after the fall of Thebes and the fall of Thebes was in 654 BC. So Nineveh falls around you know 612 BC or before, something like that. Okay, let's talk about the message. That's item six in your outline.

The message is impending judgment of Nineveh. And just to sort of get the idea from the beginning to the end of the book. Now there are only three chapters in this book. So in chapter one, Nahum announces the destruction of Nineveh. And the third chapter, the very last verse, celebrates the fall of the bloody city.

So that's what the whole thing is about. The first person singular is only used of God in this book. It's about his displeasure with sin, his vanquishing power over every willful soul set against his will. It's a judicial attack against all rebellion against God. This is what the judgment of God is.

It's pushback against rebellion, and it shows here how God wages war against sinners through various means. And if you look in Scripture, you'll see dozens of ways that God chastises his people. War, exile, death, wind, waves, earthquakes, plagues, insanity, pestilence, lying spirits. God uses means, He uses physical things in nature to punish His people. In Romans chapter 1 verse 18 we read, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

And think about this next verse in terms of Nineveh, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them." Tragically, God showed himself to the people of Nineveh, and they turned. And it says here in Romans, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. That is the story of Nineveh. Their eyes were opened and then their offspring, their children and their children's children grew more and more corrupt. This is always the danger in a revival.

You can have a revival, but who knows what the next generation is going to do? You or who are here today are part of the rising generation. And just recognize, You know, there has been a revival, but will the revival continue on? That's the question. And we see what happened in Nineveh.

Another thing that we see here that's all caught up in the message of the bloody city is that men under their own laws become tyrannical and they begin to treat people not as human beings but they treat them like animals, like objects of their own sordid and twisted pleasure and wrath. This is what happened to Nineveh. We saw it when they deported the people of the northern kingdom. And they know the 10 tribes just disappeared. They're lost.

You've heard of the lost 10 tribes of Israel? That's what happened in 722 B.C. And this is a book for living in dark times, when the hammer of the judgment of God seems imminent from the idolatry of the day. And Nahum reminds us of this, God's not asleep at the wheel. He's moving.

He's ordering all things. You know, you might be stuck with the darkness of your own heart like the people of Nineveh were. And if so, let Nahum speak. You know, back to this whole matter of it. It's a book for those whose predecessors experienced revival.

It's a warning. You know, Luke 12 48 says, ''For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required." And I think we should just remember, remember Nineveh and what can happen. But thankfully, Nineveh is destroyed and God's people are delivered. So, and we see that from the beginning and the end of the book. Key verses, chapter 1, verse 2, I already read that.

Chapter 1, verses 7 and 8, I'll read it now. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him. But with an overflowing flood, He will make an utter end of its place, and darkness will pursue his enemies. The two ways of God to the righteous and to the unrighteous. Nobody can beat the system.

In chapter 3 verses 5 through 7 is another critical text. Behold I am against you says the Lord of hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile and make you a spectacle.

It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste. Who will bemoan her? Where shall I seek comforters for you? So those three sections I think give us a sense generally of the message. Let's walk through the book now.

It's only three chapters. We're gonna take it section by section, and so look at the outline, And then after we walk through the book, we'll itemize some of the doctrine that's in the book and some of the applications. One way to outline it is that there are four oracles of vengeance. I've got them listed there. If you want to read it that way, that's a good way to read it.

Each ends with behold or pay attention to this. But how you read the book matters. Before you read it, think of where it's going and then read it like that. So it's a better way to capture what's there. So let's start with chapter one.

And in verses one through eight, there are these general principles of divine judgment. This is, of course, all in the context of the destruction of Nineveh and it being announced. So in verse 1 all the way to verse 3 there's this disclosure of the vengeance of God. The burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum, the El Coshite. God is jealous and the Lord avenges.

The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserves wrath for his enemies. Now, first of all, right at the beginning it's good to see what Nahum calls this book. He calls it, first of all, a burden. He's identifying what kind of writing he's engaging in.

It's a burden, and what that means is it's a prophecy. It's taking doctrine and applying it to a situation, in this case to a nation, and it's a burden or a prophecy. Second, it's a book, and it was a scroll, meaning that it's a piece of writing that's going to be preserved for many generations. It was a scroll, most likely, written on goatskin or something, kind of like the Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered in those water pots in the cave near Qumran. So it's a book, meaning that it's to be preserved for many generations, and it was, and here we are reading it.

Now, there are different elements of the holiness of God in these first two verses. First of all, jealousy. The jealousy of God. This is God's disposition. You know, God is jealous for your soul.

He doesn't want someone else to win your heart. If you understand jealousy, you don't want someone's attentions to go somewhere else when you want them to go to you. And God is a jealous God. This is a disposition. But there's another word here, vengeance.

Vengeance is not about God's disposition, but it's about God's action. So jealousy is what God feels. Vengency is what God does about his jealousy. Now, his jealousy is not like our jealousy. When you think of the jealousy of God, don't think about your own jealousy.

Just understand that there might be some similarities to it. We're given this illustration. And notice it's God's vengeance. In Romans chapter 12 and in Deuteronomy 32, we learn that vengeance is God's. God is the one who takes vengeance.

Now there's God's zeal for His Holiness. That's what vengeance and jealousy is all about. And also notice that His wrath is reserved. You see that? The very last phrase in verse 2.

Look at that. And he reserves wrath for his enemies. He's holding back his wrath. He's setting aside, he is going to bring wrath, but he's keeping it in reserve. In other words, God is patient, he's not capricious, he's not impulsive, he doesn't fly off the handle, he's measured.

This is how you see God's wrath expressed throughout the whole Bible. Think about Christ on the cross. There he was, he was hanging there on the cross. He could have destroyed everyone before him. He could have called down wrath.

And eliminated all of his enemies, but God was waiting. And this is why we read in verse 3 the Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked." So God is slow to anger. You know, God gives time. He's patient. He won't acquit the wicked, but He will wait for the wicked to turn.

And we learn that that's true from 2 Peter 3-9. And I'll read it to you. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." So this teaches us that God waits so that we would come to repentance. Why is God letting the world go on? So that more people will come to repentance.

That's why God hasn't stopped life on earth yet. He's creating this testimony of his mercy, and he's bringing people into his kingdom and he's doing it so that all would not perish but that they would come to repentance but he will not acquit the wicked that's the other part of it Now in verse 3 through 6 you see God's use of nature in His wrath. Now just, I didn't count how many mentions of nature in here, but let's read it. The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. And the clouds are the dust of his feet.

He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bation and caramel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before him, the hills melt and the earth heaves at his presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation?

Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. It's astonishing, isn't it? There's a whirlwind and a storm and clouds and dust and a sea and a river and a flower and a mountain and an earthquake and melting hills and earth heaving. It's unbelievable.

There's fire. There are rocks thrown down by him. We were at Mount St. Helens a little while ago, and there were these gigantic rocks several miles away from where the mountain exploded. The historian there pointed to some of these huge rocks and said these rocks came through the air at 300 miles an hour and landed right here.

Just the explosive, unrestrainable power of God. You know, nature is powerful. If you've ever been caught in a time where nature is, you know, moving, like in a rushing river or gigantic waves or in a fire. I mean, there's nothing that stops it. And God gives us these illustrations of fire and waves and raging rivers and earthquakes to show us something about himself.

And here's what he's showing. Nothing stops God. He gives you this little earthquake that you think is so gigantic. It's nothing compared to God. There's this fire.

You've heard of a firestorm? It's when a fire just begins to generate by itself and it just gets absolutely overwhelming and licks everything up. You know, fire is given to us to show us, to warn us of the wrath to come and that we should not be proud, we should not act like there's any pleasure in this world, we should turn to the Lord and run to Him. Well, anyway, you see God's use of nature and His wrath, and this is the wrath toward Nineveh. Then, in verses 7 and 8, after this remarkable, strong, powerful language, then he says in verse 7, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who trust in him isn't that amazing in God you have a stronghold You hide yourself in the cleft of the rock from the wrath of God.

And then verse 8, but with an ever flowing flood he will make an utter end of its place and darkness will pursue his enemies. You know, if you're ever speaking to a non-christian and you want to give them an idea of God's disposition toward them, read this to them, and darkness will pursue his enemies, They'll see it. They'll see how they have these dark days. So anyway, you can see the justice of God, the patience of God, the goodness of God to comfort us. He'll preserve his children and he'll punish those who hate him.

That's verses 1 through 8. Okay, now verse 9, we get down to some really nitty-gritty of the destruction of Nineveh specifically. So verses 1 through 8 is like this general picture. These are kind of like the basic general principles of God's judgment, you know? And then now he gets specific.

Verse nine, what do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. In other words, you're conspiring. Affliction will not rise up a second time. For while tangled like thorns and while drunken like drunkards, they shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.

From you comes forth one who plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor." Now what is he saying? Resistance is worthless. God will vanquish. Now this fall of Nineveh took place on 612 BC. We know when Nineveh fell.

This happened in 612 BC. You know, there was so much pride in Nineveh. You remember King Sennacherib, who was before this. Sennacherib was around in the 8th century during the time of Isaiah. Sennacherib built this palace to what he called the palace without rival.

You know, and the walls were just full of limestone carvings of his boasting of his own qualities and all of his military victories. And you know he was brutal. He had this relocation program for the children of God for Israel, the Northern Kingdom, that was absolutely terrible. The murder, the torture was unparalleled. He marched these people, the people of God, a distance equivalent from New York City to Orlando, Florida.

And he was just brutal. And he created this enormous refugee problem. But he here, as you see, his nation was finally overcome in 612 BC. Then you see the prophet speaking of how they perceived themselves in verses 12-14. They perceived themselves to be safe, impregnable, untouchable.

Nobody can get to us. That was their attitude. Thus says the Lord, verse 12, though they are safe and likewise many, Yet in this manner they will be cut down when he passes through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more." In other words, this is the last time I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna cut you down and that's it.

Verse 13, for now I will break off his yoke from you and burst your bonds apart the Lord has given a command concerning you and here's the command your name shall be perpetuated no longer Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image." And listen to this, I will dig your grave for you are vile. They thought they were so strong, They thought they had so many. Guess what? They weren't too strong and they weren't too many for God. So this is kind of the good news.

Nineveh is destroyed. Here's what it teaches us. The inevitability of the destruction of sinners. The blindness, the pride, the absolute cluelessness of the people who think that they are going to last God's wrath. They cannot do it.

And that's why he frames it in this way. You think you're safe, you think you're many? Don't think that at all. I'm digging your grave. Don't you know that?

Again, you know, another way to speak to the ungodly of this world who haven't turned to Christ. Don't you know God is digging your grave? How about that? You know, here is this picture of the wrath of God. And then we find the preservation of Judah in verse 15.

Behold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings who proclaims peace. Well, that's Isaiah 52. That's Romans chapter 10. This is a promise of the spread of the gospel. It's a promise that God will send a voice and people will hear and they'll turn to him.

He says, oh Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows, for the wicked one shall no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off. So God uses the destruction of Nineveh to show his people that he is going to preserve his people. They'll be cut off, but the good news will spread. There is the whole truth about the wrath of God.

Now, chapter one is all about the wrath of God. Of course, the whole book's about the wrath of God, but I just wanna stop and consider the wrath of God for a second. We're talking about God's jealousy toward His people. We're talking about God's vengeance for those who hate his righteousness. So it's about vindicating the righteousness of God.

Now, without the wrath of God, there would be no hope for sinners. Because it's only in a knowledge of the wrath of God that you can know the grace of God because it was the wrath of God that was laid on Christ. And so the wrath of God must be satisfied. And that's why the wrath of God is good news for the Christian. To diminish the wrath of God is to completely disarm the grace of God.

To downgrade God's mercy is to minimize His wrath. I don't think you can have one without the other. If we are bad enough to receive His wrath, then our salvation is greater than we thought. And if you have a low view of God's wrath, then you have a low view of the sacrifice of Christ. Christ died for sinners.

He endured the full nature of the wrath of God. So if you don't believe in the wrath of God, then you shouldn't try to believe in Jesus Christ's substitutionary atonement, because Christ took the wrath of God. The people who say I don't like the wrath of God maybe are unwittingly saying I don't like the mercy of Jesus Christ in his bloodshed and they have a smaller view of his grace. The bigger view of his wrath, the bigger view of his grace. He who is forgiven much, loves much.

That's the idea. So Don't have a small view of God's wrath. Don't despise the doctrine. Learn the doctrine. But don't learn the doctrine in isolation from the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ because it's through his wrath that you learn of his mercy.

I don't know if you can really be very happy unless you understand the wrath of God and you think it's vanquishing and that you deserve every bit of it. Because if you think you've deserved it all, and then you love Jesus Christ, then you know that he received all of your wrath. So a high view of the wrath of God is equivalent to a high view of the mercy and the grace of God. Let's go to chapter 2. In verse 1 we find this call to battle.

He who scatters has come up before your face. Now This is God or the prophet speaking to Nineveh. And he says, you know, God is in your face. He says, man the fort, watch the road, strengthen your flanks, Fortify your power mildly. I think this is sarcasm.

You know God is a consuming fire, but go ahead go ahead man the fort put your people up on the fort You know watch get your people on the road put them all out there. You know go ahead fine do what you have to do to protect yourself from the wrath of God. It's kind of like the person who doesn't recognize a sin. Here, go medicate yourself with alcohol, Go medicate yourself with your little sport. Go distract yourself and go immerse yourself in some area of knowledge.

Go try to forget about the wrath of God. Think again. Verse 2, for the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob like the excellence of Israel, for the emptiers have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches. Now here, he states His purpose in the destruction of Nineveh, at least one of the purposes, is that he's going to restore the excellence of Jacob. He's going to take this enemy away from his people, and he's going to destroy them.

Then, one of the most fascinating parts of this whole book is how Nineveh was destroyed, okay? Verses three through 13, lots of detail. It's pretty incredible. Now, just as we read it, think about the weapons here that are being spoken of. Verse three, the shields of his mighty men are made red.

The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches in the day of his preparation. Spoken of. Verse 3. Spears are brandished.

The chariots rage in the streets. They jostle one another in the broad roads. They seem like torches. They run like lightning. He remembers his nobles.

They stumble in their walk. They make haste to her walls and the defense is prepared. Verse 6, the gates of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved. It is decreed, she shall be led away captive, She shall be brought up and her maidservant shall lead her as with the voice of doves, beating their breasts. You know the voice of doves?

It's a voice of mourning. You've heard of a mourning dove? You ever heard the sound of a mourning dove? They have voices like doves. They're beating their breasts.

Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, now they flee away. Halt, halt, they cry, but no one turns back. In other words, there's just total disarray. Take spoil of silver, take spoil of gold. There is no end of treasure or wealth of every desirable prize.

She is empty, desolate, and waste. The heart melts and the knees shake. Much pain is on every side. And all their faces are drained of color." Now do you see the contrast in verses 3 through 5 and verses 6 through 10? Verses 3 through 5 is about all their power.

Their shields, their torches, their chariots, they're moving. And then finally, Their faces are drained of color. Everything is destroyed. They thought they were so powerful, but not too powerful for God. In verses 11 through 13, there's this really interesting reference to lions.

Let's read it. Where is the dwelling of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions where the lion walked the lioness and the lion's cub and no one made them afraid. The lion tore in pieces enough for her cubs, killed for his lionesses, filled his caves with prey and his dens with flesh. Behold I'm against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will burn your chariots in smoke and the sword shall devour your young lions.

I will cut off your prey from the earth and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more." This is all about God destroying them. Now they thought of themselves like lions. You learn about this in Isaiah 5, 20, 19, 30. It was a brutal culture of killing and they were proud of it. They thought of themselves like lions.

That's why when you go to the British Museum and you'll see some of the reliefs, you'll see lions all over the place. They, of course, were called the Bloody City. We'll get to that in the next chapter. But they, they flayed their enemies. They impaled their enemies.

They were like lions. They were just tearing with their teeth their enemies. They were horrible. Has there ever been a more brutal culture? I don't know, but this was a very brutal culture.

And what Nahum is saying is, you're no longer like lions. You're acting like lions is over. And so there's this question in verse 11. Where's the dwelling of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions? Where the lion walked and no one made them afraid.

In other words, it's gone. You know it's gone. You know, and there's a lesson here, I think. You know, the nations who rule by fear and intimidation, You know, the companies, the fathers, the children who rule by intimidation rather than the fear of the Lord, they'll fall and it'll be a really hard fall. If you have harshness, hardness, God doesn't take kindly to that.

You know, if you have an unforgiving spirit, God says He turns you over to the torturers in the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew 18. You act like a lion. You'll get your lion, but it'll be the lion of the tribe of Judah. Okay, so that's chapter 2. Now chapter 3.

Now we learn why Nineveh was destroyed. This is kind of the secret of the book. Verse 1 says it, woe to the bloody city. There's an Old Testament scholar by the name of Walter Kaiser, and here's his description of the Assyrians in Nineveh. The Assyrians took a ghoulish delight in torturing people, indiscriminately killing captives, Flailing and impaling and placing dog collars on conquered kings as though they were beasts, worthy of no mercy." Hard, mean, vicious people.

Any ounce of viciousness that you have, take note of it. God is against the vicious. I think when you look at Nineveh and you see one of their great sins and their viciousness, their delight in hurting people. If there is one shred of delight in hurting people, mark it, repent, flee from it. God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

Again, it's a bloody city, that's the first thing we learn. Then in the next phrase, it is all full of lies and robbery, its victim never departs. Now, Remember what this is all about. We're being told why Nineveh was destroyed. So there are these various sins, there are these various things that God hates.

Why this radical, vanquishing fire of destruction? Well, we're learning what God hates. We just heard it was a bloody city. He hates that. Now we learn of lies.

He hates lies. He hates robbery. He takes down the liars. He takes down the robbers. Do you lie?

Do you steal? Have you stolen? Do you need to repent? Do you need to seek mercy? And do you need to make restitution for your robbery?

If the Lord would convict you and you need to go to those you've lied to or robbed of, understand God is against these things. Verse 2, murder. The noise of a whip and the noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of clattering chariots, horsemen charged with bright sword and glittering spear. There's a multitude of slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses. They stumble over the corpses.

This is murder. Now you say, well, I've never taken a sword and murdered a bunch of people. I've not seen any bodies, you know, corpses for my murder. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ says if you're angry with your brother, you're a murderer. It's in Matthew 5.

And then there's harlotry and sorcery in verse 4. Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries who sells nations through her harlotries and families through her sorceries. What are harlotries and sorceries? Harlotries are dependencies upon things that are not of God. To seek something else for pleasure.

That's harlotry. Rather than to find your pleasure in God. You know, God is the only true source of pleasure. All harlotries only give you a fake, short-lasting pleasure, but it always hurts you. God's pleasures are forevermore.

And in sorceries. Sorceries are turning to means for success that God has not ordained. Turning to other than God. This is what the sorcerers do. They're always looking for success.

You know, we go to Malawi, and when you talk to the African pastors, they tell you that the witch doctors have the same message as the prosperity gospel people. The witch doctors make these little leaflets in the villages in Africa and they say things like, you know, you have love problems, you have, you know, health problems, you have psychological problems, come and get fixed by us. You have money problems, come get your success, come get your happiness, you know, come get your money, just come. This is sorcery. Sorceries are the turnings to anything but God for your well-being.

And this was one of the great sins of Nineveh. And then in verses 5 through 7, We learn about God's opposition to all these things. Opposition to what? To a murderous heart, to lies, to robbery, to harlotry and sorcery. This is God's view of it.

Verse 5, Behold I am against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile and make you a spectacle. It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste.

Who will be moan her? Where shall I seek comforters for you? It's a sad tale of turning away from God. There are no comforters. All of your supports are gone.

Filth is cast upon you and you're exposed. I think this is a picture of final judgment, but not just that. I think that God does expose sin. He does show that he's against sin, and he punishes in different ways. And then there's the final destruction of Nineveh in verses 8 through 19.

Are you no better than Ammon that was situated by the river? That's Thebes, by the way. Are you no better than thieves? That had the waters around her whose rampart was the sea whose wall was the sea. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength and it was boundless.

Put and Lubim were your helpers. Yet she was carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her honorable men and all her great men were bound in chains." Nahum is looking at Thebes and he's comparing it to Nineveh and here's what he's saying.

Thebes was impregnable. It had a river around her, it had a rampart of the sea. It was impossible to capture, but the Assyrians captured it. Thebes was captured in 663 BC. So Nahum is giving an example of the destruction of Thebes and he's saying, you know, everybody thought thieves was absolutely unbeatable and yet they fell.

And he's saying, look at it, you're next. You're so confident. The people of thieves were confident too. Now notice it says here, Put and Lubim were your helpers. Put and Lubim were the allies of Thebes in North Africa.

Now, Nineveh didn't even have any allies like that. And so Nahum is just jabbing them and saying, you don't even have anybody like Put and Levine. And they fell. Look out. Smell the coffee.

This is going to happen to you. Then he says in verse 11, they are drunk. They're just inebriated. They can't find their way home. They're not clear about anything.

They're staggering. They're very much like America is today. And then in verse 12, he's really belittling them. He says, All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs. If they're shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

Now, Have you ever picked figs? You know, there are a couple of fig trees that we love to go pick figs, and my mother-in-law has these wonderful figs. Well, figs are very frail, and they're very soft. When they're ripe, If they're just perfect, you got to make sure you don't crush them. Because they're so soft and they fall off so easy.

In fact, a lot of fig trees you just pick up the fruit on the ground because they just fall off so easily. That's what he's saying. You guys, you lions, you're like a bunch of fig trees. You're like a bunch of ripened figs. If they're shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.

You got that? It's the picture of somebody going under a branch of a fig tree and seeing a fig and shaking it. Just shaking it and putting it in his mouth. Figs are so good. I can picture it now.

So and then he says, surely your people are in your midst or women. In other words, he's saying they're weak and afraid. The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies. Fire shall devour the bars of your gates." And then finally, he speaks of their weak leaders in verse 16. And he speaks of different kinds of leaders.

He starts with their businessmen. You've Multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away. Your businessmen, all their stuff's getting eaten up by locusts. They're nothing before me.

And then verse 17, your commanders. In other words, I think these probably are military or civil leaders. Your commanders are like swarming locusts and your generals like great grasshoppers which camp in the hedges on a cold day. When the sun arises they flee away and the place where they are is not known." And then he speaks of shepherds. 18, your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria, your nobles rest in the dust, your people are scattered on the mountains and no one gathers them, your injury has no healing, your wound is severe, All who hear news of you will clap their hands over you.

For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually." So he mentions all these different kinds of people businessmen commanders generals You know shepherds nobles all these people they're brought to nothing and that's the end of the book except verse 19 Verse 19 ends with a celebration Your injury has no healing your wound is severe all who hear news of you will clap their hands over you. It's a celebration. The book begins with an announcement of judgment, and it ends with a celebration that the judgment is done. You know, there's this whole idea of God celebrating the destruction of the wicked. Here are two places that you see it.

Deuteronomy 32, 43, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. Deuteronomy 28, 63, And it shall be that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing." This is a rejoicing of the destruction of the wicked. You know what happened to Nineveh? It disappeared. And it was not rediscovered until 1849 by a Frenchman and an Englishman.

Okay, here's some doctrine. First of all, the doctrine of God. That is, by the way, theology. Theos, God, ology, the study of, okay? The doctrine of God himself.

Our view of God is, I hope, sharpened. We often tend to make God in our own image. We want to make a God of our own version of tenderness and anything that doesn't fit our version of tenderness we calculate as not godly. You know, I remember I read someone who said, I could never worship a God who wasn't more compassionate than I am. So we make God in our own image.

We make, if we like wrath, we make him a God only of wrath. We water God down. Nahum doesn't water God down. He gives you both. He gives you judgment and mercy together.

They're not contradictory. And, you know, Nahum teaches us about God's wrath against those who break his laws, who contradict his holiness and his righteousness through their brutality and abuse and their acts of inhumanity, and they're breaking his moral code, but he must answer and his righteousness requires it. And while God is slow to anger, He's full of mercy. God's the perfect blend of grace and mercy. You cannot disconnect them.

He is both a God of vengeance and of grace. But one thing you must know about God, there's a time when His patience runs out and it's all over like it was with Nineveh. God extends his mercy, but you cannot expect his mercy to go on forever. Yes, his mercies are new every morning, but there will be a morning when they end. Repent, turn to God.

Then there's the doctrine of sin. God will always punish sin. I think that's clear here. And God is a warrior against evil. He will conquer.

He will prevail. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ had the sins of mankind laid upon Him, but He rose again and He conquered death. He defeated sin. He defeated Satan at his death on the cross. And God will always punish sin.

You know, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the last enemy was destroyed. This is all part of God's destroying of sin. The third doctrine is the doctrine of wrath. We've talked about that quite a bit. And the fourth doctrine is the preservation of God's people.

God preserves his people, and they will clap their hands at the destruction of the wicked. God's people will be left standing, but those who hate Him will not be left standing. They'll be completely consumed. Okay, let me just sort of bring all this together somehow. God is the only true God.

God is patient. God will triumph over evil and there'll be that day when the people of God will rejoice over the enemies of God that are destroyed And so beware of false gods. They will have refuse thrown on them. This is the trouble with idols. It never works out very well.

And God punishes all sin. He'll either punish that sin by destroying you in hell, or he'll punish all of your sin by punishing his son. And that's how Nahum teaches us about the wrath and the mercy of God and how they come together in Jesus Christ and in Christ alone. Okay, so there's Nehem.