"A Jealous and Avenging God"

“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.” (Nahum 1:2 ESV)

In chapter 1, Nahum is announcing God’s plan of wrath against Nineveh. Nahum has been given the same task as Jonah. We know that when Jonah pronounced God’s intent to destroy Nineveh, the people repented in sack cloth and ashes. So, what happened?

Jonah delivered his message around 760 BC; Nahum, however, was given the same task as Jonah only 150 years later. You see, the Assyrians fell right back into their evil ways. Nineveh and the Assyrians were a great affront to God. They were wicked and evil. They were extremely violent, and their military took no prisoners. The dead were skinned so the skins could be hung on the walls of the Assyrian cities.

In 722 BC, after repenting before God, the Assyrians attacked God’ people. The destroyed Israel's northern kingdom and threatened Judah. God would not let this stand. God, again using the Babylonians, fulfilled Nahum’s vision by destroying the Assyrians around 612 BC.

The difference between Jonah and Nahum was that God was patient with Nineveh in sending Jonah to them. Unlike Nahum, in which God was pronouncing final judgment.

It is the demise of mankind that we forget. The Assyrians forgot Jonah and their repentance, again turning their backs on God. Our society does the same, does it not. Unlike Nineveh’s repentance at the message of Jonah, Nahum’s prophecy was met with arrogance, and the cruelty and sin continued. In the case of Jonah, God forgave Nineveh, and in Nahum’s message, there was no chance for forgiveness; there was only destruction.

Do you see the similarities between the Assyrian people and our own? Our violence continues, the rebellion against God grows, and arrogance proliferates in the air. Less than 100 years ago, 81 to be exact, our country won a war against a country that wanted to eliminate the Jewish people; it was the genocide of the Jews in Nazi Germany. 81 years ago, the horrors of Auschwitz and other German killing camps were revealed to the world. It is estimated that 3 million Jews were murdered in these camps.

Turning to today, hatred and antisemitism towards the Jews are rising; history is repeating itself. People said, Hitler was the anti-Christ and he was one. When we take God out of the picture, our country and the countries around us start to follow the very same path, spouting the same anti-Jewish rhetoric of 1940s Germany. Hitler was evil and a pawn of Satan. It is the same enemy that twists our world today. God is demonized, and the evil of man is lifted up as truth when, in fact, it is still evil; it never changed.

But God has plans for His children. The mission of Christ was completed, and sin and death for those who would believe were defeated. Salvation is still available for those who, by grace, come to faith in Christ. With one hand, God holds back the evil, and with the other He beckons the lost to come to salvation. My friends, at some point, God will drop both hands. The evil will come, and the lost will perish.

God is patient, and He wants as many as possible to come to Him. However, He has already demonstrated with Nineveh that His patience has an end. God will only be mocked so much before he will demonstrate His glory in destruction.

Our God is righteous and He will defend His name and His glory, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” (Isaiah 42:8) The world will continue to mock until God has had enough, only this time it will not be a prophet like Nahum who announces God’s wrath, it will be Christ in His second coming. “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”(Revelation 19:11-16)

Are you ready? Are you a child of God, or one of the many who are lost? Seek Christ today.

Grace and Peace