Today begins a study of the message of the prophet Nahum. Who is Nahum and what was his message?
His name probably means consolation or comforter. He lived during the supremacy of the Assyrian Empire, with Nineveh as the capital at that time (the late 600s BC).
Nahum’s message was to stress the sovereignty of God over history and the world. God is good and just; therefore, He is the champion of the oppressed and helpless and will by no means justify the guilty.
Nineveh is no ordinary city for the prophet, nor is Assyria just another degenerating civilization. They stand for the ultimate supernatural evil that frustrates and suppresses the purposes and people of God.
What Nahum proclaimed about Assyria and Nineveh did not originate with him. It came to him in a vision from God.
An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh (Nahum 1.1).
God’s Justice
To the casual observer, it seems that the world’s most powerful individuals act as if they are beyond accountability. It would be a grave injustice if these influential figures were not held responsible for the significant harm they have inflicted on less powerful people.
The first thing God revealed to Nahum in his prophecy was His intention to hold oppressive regimes and tyrants accountable for their actions.
A jealous and avenging God is the Lord;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and prolongs it against his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. Nahum 1.2-3
The Book of Jonah is an account of how God reveals His unwillingness to bring judgment upon a nation. He is slow to anger.
Two hundred years before Nahum spoke, Jonah came to Nineveh, warned them, they repented, and were spared God’s judgment.
However, this reprieve was temporary, and now the time has come for God to judge this merciless nation.
In today’s YouTube video, Rudy Ross presents the tension between God’s justice and His mercy. There is grace that we can rely upon, and at the same time, God must hold people and nations accountable for their behavior.
The cross represents God’s answer to the human condition. If the crucifixion of God’s Beloved Son is the solution, then our problem is indeed substantial.
By accepting God’s act through His Son and forming a relationship with Him, we allow the judgment meant for us to be borne by Jesus instead.
On the other hand, rejecting this relationship and turning away from it means we must face the repercussions of our sinful actions ourselves.
Change or Judgement
Matthew 25:31-46 narrates the story of the final judgment, where the criteria for determining one’s alignment with righteousness or transgression are based on acts of compassion and care:
- Providing food to the hungry
- Offering drink to the thirsty
- Welcoming the stranger
- Clothing the naked
- Caring for the sick
- Visiting the imprisoned
These acts of kindness are the benchmarks God uses to assess individuals, deciding who stands on the side of righteousness and who is on the side of wrongdoing in the annals of history.
Having a relationship with Jesus fundamentally changes our perspective on the world. It is contradictory and perilous to profess a relationship with Jesus while simultaneously hardening our hearts against those who are suffering within humanity.
James learned from Jesus and had it right when he connected faith to behavior.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it?
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?
So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead (James 2.14-16).
Just like Jesus and James, John also showed that having a relationship with Jesus transforms our treatment of others.
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.
How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth (1 John 3.16-18).
Jesus, James, and John all emphasize that a relationship with Jesus fundamentally changes our lives.
It is a precarious position to believe we have a relationship with Him if our actions towards others do not reflect this.
Nahum’s message resonates strongly, declaring God as the defender of those who have suffered under the oppressive actions of others.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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