WHEN GOD GIVES UP ON A NATION?

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: NAHUM 1:1-15



INTRODUCTION:


  1. Nahum the prophet prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah, probably about 100 to 150 years after Jonah. "He has but one subject – the destruction of Nineveh" (Scofield introduction; 1:1).
  2. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, located to the north-east of Israel. It was an immense city by the Tigris River.
  3. You will recall that Jonah reluctantly went to Nineveh to preach and under his preaching the entire city got right with God (c. 862 BC). This is undoubtedly the greatest revival recorded in the Bible (cf. Jonah 3:3-10).
  4. But as is often the case, the Ninevites went back to their wicked heathenistic ways, and by the time Nahum arrived on the scene 100 years later, they were more wicked than ever (Nahum 1:1,2).
  5. Interestingly, Nahum’s name means "Comforter." But his message certainly is not comforting to those who are not living right (cf. 1:2-6).
  6. On the other hand, it is comforting to those who love God. God looks out for those who serve Him. For decades Judah had lived under Assyrian oppression. The Assyrians were a cruel, demon-possessed nation. Nahum’s message of the impending doom of Nineveh must have brought immense relief and encouragement to God’s people.
  7. If you know your Bible you know that God gives up on people (cf. Pro. 29:1). He gave up on the people in Noah’s day and He gave up on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. Romans 1).
  8. And all throughout the Bible we see that God gives up on nations as well as individuals. And according to the prophecy of Nahum, He gave up on the Assyrians. Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC by the Medes and Babylonians.

I. GOD GAVE UP ON ASSYRIA

    1. God sent Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh and they did repent, but now 100 years or more had passed and God was going to judge them – He "will not at all acquit the wicked" (1:3).
    2. God gave up on Assyria. There is no Assyria today. God told them that it was too late – it was all over (cf. 3:19).
    3. J. Vernon McGee wrote these words: "You will find that every great world power went down, and they went down at a time when they were given over to wine, women, and song." He added that when a nation reaches that point it is on the skids and will soon pass off into oblivion. Obviously the United States of America has reached that point. America has become a country that only cares about money, sex, and worldly pleasures.
    4. As we read Nahum’s prophecy, we cannot help but notice the similarities between his day and ours (1:2).
    5. The repetition of vengeance and the repetition of God’s name in 1:2,3 emphasize the solemnity of Nahum’s prophecy – it was all over for Nineveh.
  1. GOD IS SLOW TO ANGER BUT WHEN HE MOVES, "WHO CAN STAND BEFORE HIS INDIGNATION?"
    1. Over and over the Bible declares that God is "slow to anger" (1:3). i.e. He is long-suffering and forbearing (cf. II Peter 3:9).
    2. However, the Bible also teaches that God is just "and will not at all acquit the wicked" (1:3; cf. Exodus 34:6,7; Psalm 103:8,9).
    3. Nahum asks, "Who can stand before His indignation?" (1:6). And the obvious answer is no one (cf. Malachi 3:2; Rev. 6:17). God’s ineffable holiness, deeply offended and disgusted by man’s wickedness, makes His indignation and fierce anger utterly unendurable.
    4. Nahum said, "His fury is poured out like fire" (1:6). How little of this is preached today. Yet this was the message of all the OT prophets, John the Baptist, our Lord Himself, the apostle Paul, and just about every other preacher in the Bible!
    5. God says, "and darkness shall pursue his enemies" (1:8b). Our Lord said the unsaved "shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 8:12).
    6. Do you recall what He said about the man who came to the marriage feast without a wedding garment? "Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 22:13).
    7. And what about the unprofitable servant? "And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 25:30).
    8. Jude refers to the wicked "to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever" (Jude 13). And Nahum says, "darkness shall pursue his enemies" (1:8).
    9. I was visiting a family one night and they had the TV on and I noticed a commercial about an upcoming show on tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc. The title was "the wrath of nature."
    10. Beloved, that is not the wrath of nature, it is the wrath of God, who controls nature, and the weather, and the tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, volcanic eruptions, and rivers and seas and so on (cf. 1:3-6).
    11. We are speaking now of God’s omnipotence. This is one of His divine attributes – along with His longsuffering and His righteousness. Another one of God’s attributes is His goodness – "The LORD is good" (1:7).
    12. Beloved, thank God the Bible says the LORD is good and that "He knoweth them that trust in Him" (1:7). Are you trusting in Him?
    13. "And He knoweth them that trust in Him" (1:7) – what comfort these words were to King Hezekiah and his people shut up in Jerusalem, being taunted by the arrogant Assyrian Rab-shakeh. God delivered King Hezekiah and the people of Judah, and God will deliver you and me if we put our trust in Him.
    14. "And He knoweth them that trust in Him" (1:7). Our Lord said in John 10:14, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine."
    15. Paul wrote in II Tim. 2:19, "The Lord knoweth them that are His." Are you one of His? What a tremendous blessing! He knows all about us, all about our burdens and our problems.
    16. The hymn-writer put it this way:

      17. Jesus knows all about our struggles,

      He will guide till the day is done;

      There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,

      No, not one! No, not one!

    17. He is our "strong hold" (1:7). The Lord was comforting Judah because they were about to be attacked by Sennacherib.

III. GOD WILL MAKE AN UTTER END OF THE WICKED

    1. "What do ye imagine against the LORD?" (1:9; cf. 1:11; Psalm 2:1; Rom. 1:21; II Cor. 10:5). God gave man the ability to imagine good things but unfortunately man has used it "against the LORD" (Nahum 1:9).
    2. God’s punishment upon the Assyrians was so severe (notice twice: "He will make an utter end" – 1:8,9) that He would never need to repeat it.
    3. "Affliction shall not rise up the second time" (1:9). Nineveh will not get a second chance. God gave Jonah a second chance, but not the Assyrians. Let’s not trifle with God’s patience.
    4. The Assyrians were very much like modern-day Americans – "drunken as drunkards" (1:10) and oblivious to God’s impending judgment.
    5. Have you noticed that oftentimes when reporters want to interview people to get their opinions they go into bars! Secular history tells us that while the Assyrians were getting drunk, the flood-gates of the city were swept away by a sudden rise of the Tigris River. The Babylonian army then entered in and burned Nineveh to the ground while the drunken inhabitants tried vainly to escape (cf. 3:11-13).
    6. I can imagine the same thing happening here today. For most Americans today, their religion is sports and TV. Their gods are professional ballplayers and Hollywood movie stars. Instead of singing hymns and spiritual songs, they listen to loud rock music. Their "Bible" is the TV Guide. Unfortunately, many Christians spend much too much time in front of the boob-tube. Here is a poem called "The 23rd Channel":
    7. The TV set is my shepherd. My spiritual growth shall want.

      8. It maketh me to sit down and do nothing for His name’s sake, because it requireth all my spare time. It keepeth me from doing my duty as a Christian, because it presenteth so many good shows that I must see.

      It restoreth my knowledge of the things of the world, and keepeth me from the study of God’s Word. It leadeth me in the paths of failing to attend the evening worship services, and doing nothing in the Kingdom of God.

      Yea, though I live to be 100, I shall keep on viewing my TV as long as it will work, for it is my closest companion. Its sounds and its picture, they comfort me.

      It presenteth entertainment before me, and keepeth me from doing important things with my family. It fills my head with ideas which differ from those set forth in the Word of God.

      Surely, no good thing will come of my life, because my TV offereth me no good time to do the will of God; thus I will dwell in spiritual poverty all the days of my life.

    8. The "wicked counsellor" (1:11) is probably a reference to haughty Sennacherib, the king of Assyria at the time they captured Samaria.
    9. And verse 12 is probably a reference to the time the angel of the LORD slew 185,000 Assyrians (II Kings 19:35-37).
    10. God was getting ready to judge Nineveh, the capitol city of Assyria (1:13,14). No more of their name would be sown (1:14), i.e. their name will no longer be perpetuated; the Assyrian dynasty was coming to an end. This prophecy was literally fulfilled in the suicide of Saracus, the great-grandson of Sennacherib.
    11. God was getting ready to make their grave (1:14). Think about it. Perhaps God is getting ready to make your grave and you do not even know it.
    12. Why was God getting ready to make their grave? Because they were "vile" (1:14), i.e. detestable, contemptible. They were weighed in the balances and found lacking.

CONCLUSION:

  1. Scofield says that the moral theme of the book of Nahum is "the holiness of Jehovah which must deal with sin in judgment" (Introduction).
  2. Beloved, if God did not deal with sin in judgment than He would not be God.
  3. If God did not deal with sin in judgment than heaven would not be heaven. Think about it: if God did not deal with sin in judgment heaven would be hell!
  4. If God did not deal with sin in judgment, than the Bible cannot be trusted, God is not real, heaven is hell, and man has no hope in this life or in the life to come.
  5. We know very little about the prophet Nahum. Elkosh, the place of his birth, is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible.
  6. Interestingly, Capernaum, our Lord’s adopted hometown means "The Village of Nahum." We do not know if Capernaum was named after Nahum the prophet because Nahum was not an uncommon name in Israel.
  7. But we do know that God gave up on Capernaum (Matt. 11:23,24). Today there is no more Capernaum – there is nothing there but ruins, it is completely desolate.

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