Today in God's Word—December 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
December 7, Nahum 1
The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood, he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
- Nahum 1:7-8
This text and this book share a prominent characteristic of most of the prophets and their messages. Most prophets and prophecies combine a description and warning about the wrath of God with promises and praise about the goodness and kindness of God. These two verses along with the rest of this brief prophecy illustrate what Paul called "the goodness and severity of God."
Many Bible readers (and not a few Bible scholars) wrestle with the idea that a God of such bountiful mercy and overflowing goodness could ever punish and destroy anyone in his wrath. Truly, God is a God of perfect love and amazing grace. He is patient and long-suffering. He demonstrated his great love for the human family by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins so we could be forgiven and restored to him. But the same Bible that assures us of his love and willingness to pardon warns that those who despise his grace and reject his love will not escape his wrath against the ungodly. The message that offers us pardon also warns of punishment. It is surely more appealing to hear about and rejoice in the reality of the pardon than to accept the reality of the wrath of God. God wants to save us from wrath. But those who reject his love and refuse to come to him through Christ condemn themselves.
Nahum is like a sequel to the book of Jonah. God sent Jonah to warn Nineveh that they would be destroyed in 40 days. The people of Nineveh from the king to the lowest peasant repented, and God relented and spared the Ninevites. But a little over a hundred years later, the people of Assyria's capital city had gone back to their cruel and wicked ways. God sent Nahum to announce that the once-deferred wrath of God would now come and destroy Nineveh.
Nahum described God's anger as an awesome force, more powerful than the most destructive forces of nature. God is Sovereign and unstoppable. No one can escape his plan and power.
Nahum interjected a reminder and assurance that God is good, a stronghold to all who take refuge in him. But when he poured out his wrath, it would be an overwhelming flood that would destroy his adversaries.
God assured his people and warned his enemies when Sennacherib came to Jerusalem to destroy it. God turned away the Assyrian threat when the Lord saved Jerusalem, killing 185,000 enemy soldiers in a single night. Their commander went home where his own sons killed him as he worshiped in his idol's temple. This dark revelation about what would happen to their enemies was good news and glad tidings of peace to God's people. They could continue to worship and serve God because God had destroyed their enemies. Nahum's name means "comfort." His message was surely not comfort to those who had made themselves adversaries of God and his people. But to all who put their hope and trust in the Lord, the message was indeed comforting and encouraging.
God was just in threatening and punishing the hateful, wicked Assyrians. All sin is offensive to God. He hates sin because it is an insult to his divine holiness, because it hurts the people he loves, and because it is the root of all the suffering and death in this fallen world. The Lord is perfectly righteous to hate sin, to judge and punish transgression. But that same God wants to pardon us and forgive us and restore us to himself.
We each must decide. Will we humbly surrender to God, confess our sins and embrace the forgiveness he offers in Christ? Or will we ignore God's sacrifice of his Son on our behalf, love our sin more than we love him and face the wrath of God in judgment? Will we choose reward or punishment? Let’s choose his gracious divine love and never know the awful wrath of God.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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