Nahum 1:1-8

God Is Just - God Is Love

March 1, 2015

First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi

USA

What’s the number one thing?

The Glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV 31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of

God.

March Memory Verse:

Romans 3:23 NKJV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

IT IS HERE

MARCH MADNESS

SHOOTING FOR 7,000 IN

5 SUNDAYS AT FIRST JACKSON!

We do desire to see 7,000 people have the opportunity to be loved and

discipled through the incredible ministry of Sunday school and community!

The class that has the most guests during March Madness and Highest Average

Attendance during March Madness will receive breakfast for the class on the

choice of your Sunday during the month of April.

On March 8, Spring Forward before going to bed on Saturday, March 7, to be on

time.

We will have sausage biscuits with jelly for 9:00 a.m. Sunday School.

March 20, 2015

Little Feet Consignment Spring Sale

SAVE THE DATE

Tuesday, March 24th, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

BOOMERS AND BITES COVERED DISH NIGHT IN 7 METRO JACKSON COMMUNITIES

LOCATIONS WILL BE ANNOUNCED NEXT WEEK

A Great opportunity to connect with people that live in your neighborhood!

We have three challenges that the Education Department has placed before us

in 2015:

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1.) Memorize the monthly memory verse and know each month we are hiding

God’s Word in our heart.

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January verse:

Romans 10:9 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that

God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

February Memory Verse:

Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from

yourselves, it is a gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”

2.) Share your faith with one person each month and build a relationship with

them, so they will become a believer in 2015 as God uses you to plant seeds

with that person.

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3). Ask two Sunday School class members to share how they have seen God at

work during the week.

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J. Vernon McGee's

Thru The Bible

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Instead of calling them major and minor prophets, it would perhaps be more

appropriate to refer to them as the prophets with longer works and the prophets

with shorter works.

The four prophets with longer works (major prophets) are: Isaiah, Jeremiah,

Ezekiel, and Daniel.

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The twelve prophets with shorter (minor) works are the last twelve books of our

Old Testament: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,

Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Of the hundreds of prophets in ancient Israel in Old Testament times, only 16

were chosen to speak oracles that would be collected and written down into

books.

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These 16 writing prophets may be divided into four groups:

1) Prophets of Israel – Jonah, Amos, and Hosea

2) Prophets of Judah – Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and

Habakkuk

3) Exilic Prophets – Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel

4) Post-exilic Prophets – Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

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“What was the goal of their prophetic ministries?”

Or, perhaps more appropriately, “What was it the prophets were seeking in their

ministry?”

You might say restoration, i.e., a restored covenant relationship with God.

Yes, that may properly be understood as the ultimate goal but what was it the

prophets actually sought?

The prophets sought repentance.

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Restoration was the goal, but repentance is what they hoped to see from the

people.

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In fact, this message of the prophets was so prevalent that Zechariah (one of the

last prophets) was able to sum up in one sentence all the prophets that

preceded him: “the earlier prophets proclaimed: Thus says the Lord of Hosts, turn

from your evil ways and doings,” (Zechariah 1:4).

The message of the prophets was a call for repentance.

Is there a need for a message of repentance today?

In the New Testament the message of John the Baptist was, Repent!

Matthew 3:1-2 NKJV 1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Jesus thus repeated the message of John the Baptist when He issued His first

command:

Matthew 4:17 NKJV 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of

heaven is at hand.”

Jesus sent out disciples who "proclaimed that people should repent". [Mark 6:12]

In his Pentecost sermon, Peter the Apostle called on people to repent, [Acts 2:38

and Acts 3:19]

Paul the Apostle likewise testified "both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance

toward God" [Acts 20:21] and said that "The times of ignorance God overlooked,

but now He commands all people everywhere to repent". [Acts 17:30]

Israel, the people of God in the Old Testament, turned away from God and

needed a message of repentance.

• We Christians, who are looking so much like the pagan society around us

that we are virtually indistinguishable, need the same message?

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God preserved a faithful remnant in Israel but being an Israelite did not

guarantee you were part of that remnant: “not all Israel is Israel,” (Romans 9:6).

God is also preserving a faithful remnant in the church today, but being “in the

church” does not guarantee that you are a part of that remnant.

The prophets serve as constant reminders to us of God’s serious regard for His

covenant. For those who obey the stipulations of the New Covenant (loving God

and loving one's neighbor through Jesus Christ), the final, eternal, result will be

blessing.

In thinking about application of the prophets to us today, we can make at least

two observations:

(1) The ungodly society in Israel and Judah in the days of the prophets is

certainly similar to the ungodly society of our day; i.e., we see the similar self-

indulgence, materialism, sexual promiscuity and perversion, pluralism, humanism,

rampant ungodliness, etc.

• Does that in itself not suggest that there is a message in the prophets for us

today?

(2) We see through the prophets that God is serious about His covenant with

Israel.

• Does this not suggest He is just as serious about His New Covenant through

Jesus Christ?

• Does this not imply that there is a message in the prophets for the church

today?

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How much are we like Israel, who claimed God’s eternal favor based on His

promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then worshipped the things of this

world?

We claim the eternal favor of God based on the blood of Jesus, we say “once

saved always saved,” and then we worship the things of this world.

How different is that?

The prophets of the Old Covenant do indeed have a message for us today.

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Divided Kingdom

The schism that Jeroboam (922 to 901 B.C.) caused within the Jewish kingdom

was the beginning of the end for Israel.

• The Jewish people never again had twelve tribes working together.

There was never even a movement to reunite.

The ten northern tribes slipped inexorably toward the bottomless pit of history.

Judea was saved because:

1) they were not seduced by and entrenched in idol worship,

2) the dynasty of David and

3) the prophets were able to influence them, and

4) the Temple in Jerusalem.

Those elements saved Judea from the fate that befell the Northern Kingdom.

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The people of Judah witnessed the destruction of the northern kingdom, as did

Isaiah and Micah, who warned that they were not immune to God’s wrath and

were, in fact, on the same road to destruction.

Thereafter, the mounting sinfulness of Judah and the rise of another superpower,

Babylon, became the subject of the prophets Nahum, Habakkuk, and

Zephaniah, as well as Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Judah, too, was later destroyed for its disobedience and carried off into exile in

Babylon.

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Nahum - 614 B.C. His theme is the destruction and fall of Nineveh which

occurred in 612 B.C.

• He reveals the eternal principle that for a nation to survive it must be

established upon and directed by principles of righteousness and truth.

Nahum 1:1-8 NKJV

1 The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

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;

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3a The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,

And will not at all acquit the wicked.

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3b The Lord has His way

In the whirlwind and in the storm,

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3c And the clouds are the dust of His feet.

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4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry,

And dries up all the rivers.

Bashan and Carmel wither,

And the flower of Lebanon wilts.

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5a The mountains quake before Him,

New Madrid fault.

5b The hills melt,

And the earth heaves at His presence,

Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.

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6 Who can stand before His indignation?

And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?

His fury is poured out like fire,

And the rocks are thrown down by Him.

7 The Lord is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble;

And He knows those who trust in Him.

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Isaiah 49:16a NKJV 16a See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

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8 But with an overflowing flood

He will make an utter end of its place,

And darkness will pursue His enemies.

Nahum 1:1-8 NKJV

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Nahum Chapter 1

THEME: Justice and goodness of God

The little Book of Nahum is a remarkable prophecy. The prophet has just one

theme, the judgment of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, but we will

find that he also has a meaningful message for us today.

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Nahum 1:1 NKJV 1 The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

"The burden against Nineveh" -- burden means "judgment," as it is also used in

the prophecy of Isaiah.

• 150 years earlier, Jonah had brought a message to Nineveh which

revealed the love of God, and now the message of the Book of Nahum

reveals the justice of God -- the two go together.

• Although God will judge a nation, He is still love, and He still loves -- you

cannot escape that.

• The thing which makes the judgment of God so frightful is the fact that

God does not do it as a petulant person.

• He doesn't do it in a vindictive manner whatsoever.

• He does not do it in a spirit of revenge or of trying to get even.

• He does not judge because He has become angry for a moment in a

sudden emotional outburst.

• God judges because He is just.

• He still loves, but He is just.

• Since He is just in His dealings, He must deal with sin even in the lives of

those whom He loves.

• Nineveh was a city that God loved -- He told Jonah that.

Jonah wanted the city destroyed, but God said, 11 And should I not pity Nineveh,

that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand

persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much

livestock?” Jonah 4:11

God wanted to spare the city and the people who were in it, many of whom

were little children.

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And God had spared Nineveh, but now judgment is going to fall upon this great

city -- this is Nahum's message.

• Jonah, almost a century and a half before, had brought a message from

God, and Nineveh had repented.

However, the repentance was transitory.

God has patiently given this new generation opportunity to repent (see v. 3), but

the day of grace now ends and the moment of doom comes.

Nahum 3:19 NKJV 19 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?

In other words, Nineveh has come to a place where there is no healing for her

people.

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There is a point that for a nation and for an individual it is possible to continue in

sin until you cross over a mark.

• As humans, we do not know where that mark is -- but there is such a

place.

When you pass over that mark, it is not that the grace of God cannot reach you

but that you cannot reach God for the simple reason that you have come to the

place where you are hardened and in a state of unbelief which cannot be

changed.

Romans 1:18-32 NKJV 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, they are

without excuse, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for

God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible

attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even

His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because,

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.

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the

incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-

footed animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, 25 who exchanged the truth

of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the

Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions… and receiving in

themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 27 Likewise also the men,

leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men

with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty

of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave

them over to a debased mind, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual

immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife,

deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God,

violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing

the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are

deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who

practice them.

Romans 1:18-32 NKJV

This can be true of a nation, and it can be true of an individual.

• As you consider the things which are happening today, you are apt to be

discouraged.

• Many of God's people are disturbed today.

This is one of the reasons we have had such an interest in prophecy.

God's people, ignorant of the Word of God, are desperately reaching out

because of the things which are happening today.

Jesus said in Luke 21:26 NKJV: 26 “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which

are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

We are at that state for sure; we've come into that particular orbit today.

• These things are disturbing to us but let us understand that God is still

running the affairs of this world.

• He is still in charge.

• It hasn't slipped out from His hands.

God is not sitting on the edge of His throne, biting His fingernails.

• He is not nervous today about what is happening.

• God is carrying out His plan and purpose, and He is overruling the sin of

man.

This should be very comforting to the child of God in this day.

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Assyria had served God's purpose and is now to be destroyed.

The destruction of Nineveh, according to the details given in this written

prophecy, is almost breathtaking.

This is a message, therefore, of comfort to a people who live in fear of a powerful

and godless nation:

God will destroy any godless nation.

• All you need do is to pick up your history book and start reading at the

beginning of written history.

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.

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When a nation reaches that place, you can be sure that it is on the skids and will

soon pass out into the limbo of the lost.

That is where all the former great nations of the world are today.

Where is the United States today?

We are on the way down, my friend.

Dr. J. Gresham Machen said years ago, "America today is going downhill with a

godly ancestry."

America, which has had a godly ancestry, is going downhill on a toboggan.

And Dr. Machen added, "God pity America when we reach the bottom of the

hill."

How close are we to the bottom of the hill?

J. Vernon Magee said, “I'm no prophet nor the son of a prophet. It seems to me

like we're getting very close to the bottom of the hill.”

The reason that the Book of Nahum is such a remarkable prophecy is that it

speaks right into our own situation today.

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"The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite (probably in Galilee)."

• This is all that is known of the writer of this book.

• Nahum was apparently born in the northern kingdom of Israel, and that

was his native country; but he moved to the southern part of Judah

sometime when he was very young.

He had a great concern for the northern kingdom, and he apparently was alive

when it was carried away into captivity by Assyria.

His message is of the judgment that is coming upon Nineveh.

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Nahum 1:2 NKJV 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;

Jealous, according to Webster's dictionary, means "exacting exclusive

devotion."

God is a jealous God, and He demands that His people worship Him alone.

God knows that He is a loving, benevolent Father Who has your best interest at

heart.

He knows that if you give any of your devotion to anyone or anything else that

would not work out best for you.

God alone is able to make all things to work for your good (Romans 8).

Romans 8:28 NKJV

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to

those who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:32 NKJV 32 He Who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He

not with Him also freely give us all things?

Romans 8:37-39 NKJV 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor

powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any

other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in

Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:37-39 NKJV

When any people, no matter who they are, turn to idolatry or turn to sin (all that

which is contrary to God), and when they give themselves to it, God is jealous.

• God is not jealous because He is selfish but for your best good.

Exodus 20:3-6 NKJV 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that

is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under

the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your

God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to

the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to

thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Exodus 20:3-6 NKJV

God loves you - it does not make any difference who you are, you cannot keep

Him from loving you.

You can, however, get into a place where you will not experience the love of

God.

When you put up an umbrella of sin, the sunshine of God's love will not fall on

you (but it is still there for you).

You can put up the umbrella of indifference.

Psalm 14:1 NKJV 1 The fool has said in his heart,

“There is no God.”

You can put up the umbrella by turning your back on Him and not doing His will.

• There are several different umbrellas you can put up that will keep the

love of God from shining upon you, but you cannot keep Him from loving

you.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the only unpardonable sin, is the state of

continued unbelief.

There is no pardon for a person who dies in unbelief.

Continual rejection of the Holy Spirit’s promptings to trust in Jesus Christ is the

unpardonable blasphemy against Him.

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John 3:36 NKJV 36 “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe

the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

The only condition wherein someone would have no forgiveness is if he is not

among the “whoever believes in Him,” for it is he who “rejects the Son.”

1 John 5:11-13 NKJV 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His

Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does

not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the

Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may

continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

1 John 5:11-13 NKJV

Since God loves you, He is actually jealous for you which means that He wants

you.

God doesn't want what you've got, what you possess -- He wants you!

He's jealous when you give yourself, your time, and your substance to other

things.

When you give yourself to sin, God is jealous.

A good husband is one who is going to love his wife and want her above

everything else and he won't want to share her with anybody.

If a lady says that she doesn’t have a jealous husband then she does not have a

good relationship with him.

• God very frankly says, "I'm a jealous God. I want you. I don't want to share

you with the sin of the world and with the Devil's crowd and with idolatry.

I don't want to share you -- I want you to belong to Me."

There is nothing wrong with God's saying that He is jealous, and Nahum says,

"God is jealous."

I'm glad that He is.

Nahum 1:2a NKJV 2a God is jealous, and the Lord avenges;

The Lord avenges and is furious.

There is a great difference between revenge and avenge.

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Romans 12:19 NKJV 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is

written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

God says to you and me, "Don't you indulge in vengeance because, to begin

with, you will never exercise it in the right way.

Turn it over to Me.

I handle it without any heat of anger.

I handle it in justice.

I will do the right thing.

And I know all the issues -- I know everything about it."

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God is still on the throne, and He is still running things.

God is “furious” and He does not take any delight in the sin of man.

God hates sin, and He is furious at it.

Nahum 1:2b NKJV 2b The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries,

And He reserves wrath for His enemies;

God is glorified when He judges a nation, as we see especially in

Ezekiel 38.

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When Assyria went down, God was glorified in that.

They were a brutal, hated, sinful nation, and God brought them down to wrack

and ruin and into the debris and dust of the earth.

He is glorified when He does things like that.

Maybe you don't like it, but the Word of God says that that is the way He moves.

I would suggest that you get yourself reconciled to the way God does things,

because that is the way they are going to be done.

Nahum 1:3a NKJV 3a The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,

And will not at all acquit the wicked.

In verse 3 Nahum puts down a great principle by which God not only judged

Assyria (and Nineveh, the capital, in particular), but also the way that God

judges the world and will judge the world in the future.

"The Lord is slow to anger."

Nahum makes this very clear.

God had sent Jonah to Nineveh to tell them that they were to be destroyed

because of their awful sin.

They were known as probably the most brutal people in the ancient world, and

God said that judgment would come to them.

• But the entire city of Nineveh repented and turned to God at that time.

Obviously, the message of Jonah penetrated the entire empire, and there was a

great change.

We would say that a great revival arose up but it didn't last very long.

It has been characteristic of the great waves of revival which have come that

they have never lasted permanently.

The Wesleyan revival had tremendous impact upon England and this country, as

well as side effects upon other nations, but it was of brief duration.

There has been some carry-over from it, of course, even down to the present

hour.

This is true also of the great revivals under Moody in this country, when entire

cities moved toward God.

Nahum says that God is slow to anger, but this great city of Nineveh has now

turned back to its old ways.

• Over one hundred years after Jonah, Nahum comes to say, "The clock has

struck twelve, and time has run out. There is no longer any delay.

Judgment is coming!"

"The Lord... will not at all acquit the wicked."

• The justice of God is seen in His judgment because He is slow to anger.

It took Him over one hundred years to get around to executing judgment

against this city, and He is just and righteous in doing it.

• He is not going to let the wicked off and never will He let the wicked off

unless they turn to Him.

Unless they accept Christ as their Savior because He paid the penalty for their

sins, they will have to be judged for their sins.

God is never going to let them off -- He is just and righteous.

The forgiveness of God is different from our forgiveness.

When somebody does us wrong, we say, "I forgive you" -- and that's it.

A penalty has not been paid.

Our forgiveness is generally for something that is just a trifle.

But when God forgives, the penalty has already been paid.

God is the Judge of this earth.

He is not only its Creator, He is not only running it, but He is also the moral ruler of

this universe.

God is not a crooked judge, you cannot slip something under the table to get

Him to let you off easy.

You cannot tell Him that you belong to a certain family, that your father is very

influential and will be able to get you off.

Nor can you say you are wealthy and will see that the Judge loses His job, nor

that you will pay Him just a little extra to be lenient with you.

You cannot deal with God like that.

God must judge the wicked, and we are all told that the heart of man is

desperately wicked -- not just a little wicked, but desperately wicked (see Jer.

17:9).

Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV 9 “The heart is deceitful above all things,

And desperately wicked;

Who can know it?

You and I do not really know the depths of the iniquity that is in our hearts; we do

not know what we are capable of.

Now God cannot acquit the wicked; therefore, if we are going to be acquitted,

Someone must pay the penalty.

That is the reason He has provided a Redeemer for us.

When an individual or a nation turns its back on God's redemption provided now

in Christ, then judgment must follow -- there is no other alternative.

Nahum 1:3b NKJV 3b The Lord has His way

In the whirlwind and in the storm,

And the clouds are the dust of His feet.

God today moves even in nature, the storms which come are under His control,

and they serve His purpose.

• So-called Mother Nature doesn't really have anything to do with it, Mother

Nature does what God tells Mother Nature to do.

Our God is the Creator, and He is the Redeemer, and He is also the Judge and

He alone is running things.

Just leave it in His hands, and rest in Him today because He is good, He is

gracious, and He is the Savior.

Nahum 1:4 NKJV 4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry,

And dries up all the rivers.

Bashan and Carmel wither,

And the flower of Lebanon wilts.

God had already shown His power to do this -- He dried up the Red Sea and the

Jordan River.

Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon are the three fertile areas in that land.

Carmel is actually the Valley of Esdraelon, and Megiddo was the main city

there.

This is one of the most fertile spots on the topside of the earth.

When you go farther north, along the cost of Lebanon all the way from Beirut

down to the ruins of old Tyre, you see beautiful country.

In the spring of the year, you can see the fruit trees blooming and in the distance

the Anti-Lebanons covered with snow.

The fruit trees -- apricots, peaches, cherries, bananas, and citrus fruit --

everything is grown there, and the land is very fertile.

Nahum says that a drought is to come.

Nahum 1:5 NKJV 5 The mountains quake before Him,

The hills melt,

And the earth heaves at His presence,

Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.

He is the Creator, and He's also the Preserver of this universe -- He's the One Who

holds it together.

"The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt" refers, of course, to

earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

New Madrid fault.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ad/NMSZBig.gif

The New Madrid fault zone is six times bigger than the San Andreas fault zone in

California and a major Midwestern earthquake may cause 6,000 deaths and

$450 billion in damage, a U.S. government-sponsored study said.

Major Quake in U.S. Midwest Might Kill 6,000, Study Estimates

By Brian K. Sullivan [portions cut]

Nov. 21, 2008 (Bloomberg)

There is a 90 percent chance that an earthquake of magnitude 6 or 7 will strike

the area in the next 50 years, said the study.

Elnashai said earthquakes of equal magnitude would be felt over a larger area

in the New Madrid zone than in California because of the composition of the soil.

The New Madrid seismic zone was the site of massive earthquakes in 1811-1812

that rerouted the Mississippi River.

Nahum 1:6 NKJV 6 Who can stand before His indignation?

And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?

His fury is poured out like fire,

And the rocks are thrown down by Him.

"Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of

His anger?"

This question was directed to the people of Nineveh who had rejected the

mercy of this all-powerful God.

Does the unsaved have the answer to that question?

Maybe they are depending upon their own righteousness and goodness.

Do they really believe that one can stand in the presence of a holy God Who

absolutely hates sin and intends to judge it?

Is anyone able to stand in His holy presence without Christ?

The very brilliant Oxford don, C. S. Lewis, wrote a story in which he tells about a

bus trip that was run from Hell to Heaven.

• It was the sort of tour in which those who were in Hell could take a bus trip

to Heaven.

The bus was filled and, when it arrived in Heaven, the driver parked the bus in a

parking lot.

The driver told everyone on the bus, "At four o'clock this afternoon, the bus is

going to leave and head for home."

Home just happened to be Hell and at four o'clock that afternoon, the bus was

filled -- everyone was back even though the bus driver told them, "If you want to

stay, you can stay."

Why didn't they stay?

It was because they had found out they had no place in Heaven.

One of the great saints of the past put it this way: "I would rather go to Hell

without sin than go to Heaven with sin."

"Who can stand before His indignation?"

If you don't have a Savior, how are you going to stand as a sinner in the

presence of a holy God?

Do you think that you've got a chance?

Revelation 6:12-16 NKJV

Sixth Seal: Cosmic Disturbances

12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great

earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon

became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops

its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a

scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its

place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the

commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves

in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and

rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and

from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who

is able to stand?”

Revelation 6:12-17 NKJV

You don't have a ghost of a chance, my friend.

• You cannot stand there without a Savior.

• To be able to stand in His presence is what it means to be accepted into

the beloved and to be in Christ.

This is a tremendous principle that Nahum is putting down here.

God must judge sin.

There is something radically wrong with God if He doesn't judge sin.

Nahum's description of the power and the anger of God was to reassure the

people of Judah of the protection of their all-powerful God when Assyria would

invade their land.

Nahum 1:7 NKJV 7 The Lord is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble;

And He knows those who trust in Him.

"The Lord is good."

Remember that the psalmist said, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good:

for His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so..." (Ps. 107:1-

2).

If the redeemed don't say so, nobody's going to say so.

God is good -- that's wonderful to know.

If you are not saved, it is simply because you will not come to Him, for He can

save you and He will save you.

God is good -- that is an axiom of Scripture and an axiom of life.

"The Lord is good."

"A strong hold in the day of trouble."

Are you having any trouble?

Do you want to get to a good shelter?

The Lord is that shelter which you need.

“He knows those who trust in Him”.

I'm very happy that I'm not going to get lost in the shuffle, that I won't get lost in

the multitudes.

The multitudes which are in the Orient almost shock us.

And in Egypt, in the Arab countries, and in Turkey there are multitudes of people.

He doesn't need a computer to record your name.

He has you written on His heart; He's written your name on the palms of His

hands.

Isaiah 49:16a NKJV 16a See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

http://christfromtheheart.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/isiash-49-16.jpg

Nahum 1:8 NKJV 8 But with an overflowing flood

He will make an utter end of its place,

And darkness will pursue His enemies.

The Lord will overwhelm and destroy the Assyrians.

"An overrunning flood" pictures a river that is overflowing its banks and causing

devastation as it moves.

It is believed that this refers to the invading army of the Babylonians which

overcame Nineveh.

The Greek historian Ctesias of the fifth century B.C. records that the Babylonian

army was able to invade Nineveh when the Tigris River suddenly overflowed and

washed away the floodgates of the city and the foundations of the palace.

"Darkness will pursue His enemies" raises a question regarding the place of

permanent punishment.

There is more said in Scripture about darkness being the lot of the lost than there

is about fire.

Darkness is mentioned here -- "and darkness shall pursue His enemies."

Even the Lord Jesus used the term: "But the children of the kingdom shall be cast

out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt.

8:12; & Matt. 22:13).

Literal fire could only affect the physical, never the spiritual.

• But, oh, the fires of a conscience that has been suddenly alerted to the

awful thing one did in rejecting Christ and in not doing the things he

should have done.

Think of the darkness of a lost eternity!

Darkness is a better and more fearful description of hell than fire is.

Exodus 10:21 NKJV

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there

may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.”

End

Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee.

Begin

Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) - Old Testament - The Bible Exposition

Commentary – The Prophets.

The City Is No More

Nahum 1-3

Queen Victoria was celebrating sixty years on the British throne when Rudyard

Kipling published his poem "Recessional."

Not everybody in Great Britain liked the poem because it punctured national

pride at a time when the empire was at its peak.

"Recessional" was a warning that other empires had vanished from the stage of

history and theirs might follow in their train.

God was still the Judge of the nations.

Kipling wrote:

Far-called, our navies melt away;

On dune and headland sinks the fire:

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The prophet Nahum would have applauded the poem, especially Kipling's

reference to Nineveh, for it was Nahum who wrote the Old Testament book that

vividly describes the destruction of Nineveh, the event that marked the

beginning of the end for the Assyrian Empire.

Nahum made it clear that God is indeed the Judge of the nations, and that

"pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18,

NKJV).

In the seventh century B.C., the very mention of Nineveh brought fear to

people's hearts, but today, Nineveh is mentioned primarily by Bible students,

archaeologists, and people interested in ancient history.

In his brief book, Nahum makes declarations about God and Nineveh.

1. God Is Jealous: Nineveh Will Fall (Nahum 1:1-15)

2. God speaks of Himself (Nahum 1:2-8).

The prophet characterizes his inspired message as both a "burden" and a

"vision," something he felt and something he saw.

The word translated "burden" simply means "to lift up" and was often used to

describe prophetic messages that announced judgment.

Isaiah used the word ten times in his prophecy as he wrote about "the burden of

Babylon" (Isa. 13:1), "the burden of Moab" (15:1), etc.

These burdens came as a result of the visions God gave His prophets ("seers") of

dreadful events determined for the nations.

• It wasn't easy to be a prophet and see what lay in the future, and they felt

the burden of their messages.

2) God speaks of Himself (Nahum 1:2-8).

Three important words in this paragraph need to be understood because they all

relate to the character of God: jealousy, vengeance, and anger.

Jealousy is a sin if it means being envious of what others have and wanting to

possess it, but it's a virtue if it means cherishing what we have and wanting to

protect it.

A faithful husband and wife are jealous over one another and do everything

they can to keep their relationship exclusive.

"Jealous" and "zealous" come from the same root, for when you're jealous over

someone, you're zealous to protect the relationship.

Since God made everything and owns everything, He is envious of no one, but

since He is the only true God, He is jealous over His glory, His name, and the

worship and honor that are due to Him alone.

In the second commandment, God prohibited the worship of idols and backed

up the prohibition with this reason: "for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God"

(Ex. 20:5).

In the Book of Hosea, we learn that the Lord was "married" to Israel in a

covenant relationship, and any breach of that covenant aroused His jealous

love.

He will not share His people with false gods any more than a husband would

share his wife with his neighbor.

"For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a

jealous God" (34:14, NKJV).

"For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God" (Deut. 4:24, NKJV; and

see 6:15; 32:16, 21; 1 Kings 14:22).

Nineveh was a city given over to iniquity, especially idolatry and cruelty, and

God's jealous love burned against their pride and willful breaking of His law.

In Scripture, vengeance is usually presented as a sin.

• Both Jesus and Paul warned about it (Matt. 5:38-48; Rom. 12:17-21).

• But a just and holy God cannot see people flouting His law and do nothing

about it.

"It is mine to avenge; I will repay.... I will take vengeance on my adversaries and

repay those who hate me" (Deut. 32:35, 41, NIV).

• The people prayed to God to avenge them when other nations attacked

them.

"O Lord God, to Whom vengeance belongs—O God, to Whom vengeance

belongs, shine forth!" (Ps. 94:1, NKJV)

• When God takes vengeance by judging people, it's because He is a holy

God and is jealous (zealous) for His holy law.

God's anger isn't like human anger, which can be selfish and out of control.

His is a holy anger, a righteous indignation against all that defies His authority

and disobeys His law.

God's people ought to exercise a holy anger against sin (Eph. 4:26), for, as Henry

Ward Beecher said, "A person that does not know how to be angry does not

know how to be good."

• He was speaking, of course, about righteous anger that opposes evil.

If we can stand by and do nothing while innocent, helpless people are

mistreated and exploited, then something is wrong with us.

• "Anger is one of the sinews of the soul," wrote Thomas Fuller. "He who lacks

it has a maimed mind."

In Nahum 1:2, Nahum wrote that God was "furious" ("filled with wrath," NIV); and

in verse 6, he described God's "indignation" as so fierce and powerful that it is

"poured out like fire" with the power to "shatter" the rocks (NIV).

However, verse 3 assures us that God's wrath isn't a fit of rage or a temper

tantrum; for "the Lord is slow to anger" (see Jonah 4:2; Ex. 34:6; Num. 14:18).

God is so powerful that if His anger were not a holy anger, and if He were not

"slow to anger," He could easily destroy everything.

He controls the forces of nature (Nahum 1:3); He opened the Red Sea for the

people of Israel to march through, and he can turn off the rain and make the

most fruitful areas of the land languish (v. 4).

At Sinai, He made the mountain shake (Ex. 19:18), and when He pleases, He can

cause the people of the world to tremble (Heb. 12:18-21).

The God that Nahum introduces to us is a jealous God who is angry at sin

(Nahum 1:2), but He is also a good God who cares for His people (v.7).

• Nahum invites us (as Paul put it) to "consider the goodness and severity of

God" (Rom. 11:22, NKJV).

"God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16), but He is also light (1:5), and His love is a holy love.

He is a refuge for those who trust Him, but He is an "overwhelming flood" to those

who are His enemies.

End

Bible Exposition Commentary (BE Series) - Old Testament - The Bible Exposition

Commentary – The Prophets.

The Plan of Hope & Salvation

John 3:16 NKJV 16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever

believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 14:6 NKJV 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the

Father except through Me.”

Romans 3:23 NKJV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23a NKJV 23a For the wages of sin is death,

Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.

Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to

pay the penalty for our sins.

The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in

Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 NKJV 8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,

sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with

fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Romans 6:23b NKJV 23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 NKJV 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

Revelation 21:7 NKJV 7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be

My son.”

Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to accept Jesus as our Savior.

Romans 10:9-10 NKJV 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that

God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one

believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto

salvation.

Romans 10:13 NKJV 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

If you have questions or would like to know more, Please, contact First Baptist

Church Jackson at 601-979-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/