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of the vision of Nahum the Elkishite. 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. The Lord 
is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit 
the wicked. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind 
and in the storm. and the clouds are the dust of 
his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes 
it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bation and Carmel wither, 
and the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before him, 
the hills melt, and the earth heaves at his presence. Yes, 
the world and all who dwell in it. 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. The Lord is good, a stronghold 
in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him. 
But with an overflowing flood, He will make an utter end of 
its place, and darkness will pursue His enemies. What do you 
conspire against the Lord? he will make an utter end of 
it. Affliction will not rise up a second time, for while tangled 
like thorns and while drunken like drunkards, they shall be 
devoured like stubble fully dried. From you comes forth one who 
plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. Thus says 
the Lord, though they are safe and likewise many, yet in this 
manner they will be cut down when he passes through. Though 
I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. For now 
I will break off his yoke from you and burst your bonds apart. The Lord has given a command 
concerning you. Your name shall be perpetuated 
no longer. Out of the house of your gods 
I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will 
dig your grave, for you are vile. Behold, on the mountains, the 
feet of Him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace. O Judah, 
keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows, for the wicked one 
shall no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, 
we give You thanks for the Holy Scripture. We give You thanks 
for Your Spirit and we pray even now that He would come and guide 
us and lead us into all truth. Help us to see the relevance 
and the practical importance of this study in Nahum. We thank 
You, God, that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 
that all of it is profitable for doctorate, for correction, 
for reproof, and for instruction in righteousness. And our genuine 
desire, God, is that You would thoroughly furnish us unto every 
good work. And we pray for any and all who 
do not know You here, that they would feel the weight of this 
passage, the reality of a judgment coming that is far more serious 
than what you dished out to Nineveh. We pray, Father, as well for 
Pastors Dunn and Smith. We give you praise and glory 
and adoration that you spared these servants. We pray for that 
church in Islamabad, that they would continue to be faithful, 
that they would persevere in the grace of God, and that a 
whole host of Muslims would turn from their useless idols to serve 
the living and true God. And we pray through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. Well, in our studies in 
the minor prophets, we have seen the prophet Jonah. And Jonah 
had prophesied to Nineveh about a hundred years prior to this 
prophet Nahum. Now, of course, Jonah successfully 
evangelized Nineveh. They repented, they believed 
in God, but unfortunately they turned their back upon the Lord, 
and so God sends Nahum, or gives Nahum, this particular written 
message about the judgment coming to Nineveh. Verse 1, the burden 
against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum, the Al-Kashite. Now, the emphasis of this prophet 
is simple, very simple. God will visit all of his enemies 
with retribution. And hence, this message is extremely 
practical for the church in the 21st century, for we often forget 
this. And the church, unfortunately, 
has soft-pedaled and shrunk back from declaring the whole counsel 
of God and the reality that our God is angry with the wicked 
every day. The Apostle said, knowing, therefore, 
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. If we do not have that element 
of the terror of the Lord, then we run the risk of not persuading 
men to repent and flee for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to look at three things 
this morning. The first are some introductory 
matters. Whenever we come to a new book 
in the Bible, it's good for us to introduce it, to see it in 
its context, to see the author and the audience. Secondly, we'll 
notice a hymn of glory celebrating the doctrine of God. Chapter 
1, verses 2 to 8 are a hymn of glory celebrating the doctrine 
of God. And then thirdly, verses 9 to 
15, is an oracle of judgment targeting the enemies of God. An oracle of judgment targeting 
the enemies of God. But first of all, by way of introduction, 
We know very little about the prophet Nahum. We know that he 
was a writer. We know this for two reasons. 
The first is that he tells us, and secondly, because he writes 
so well. As you read this particular prophet, 
you will be struck with the imagery. You'll be struck with the artistry. Notice in verse 1, the burden 
against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum, the Elkashite. He wrote. Most of the other prophets 
were preachers and they would take those sermons and put them 
into print. Not so with Nahum. It seems as 
if the Lord gave him this burden simply to be written down and 
to be distributed amongst Judah and hopefully amongst Nineveh 
as well. We know that he was an Alkoshite. 
The trouble is we don't know where that is. There are three 
places proposed. but I will not bore you with 
those particulars. But we also know that he had 
a great deal of courage, a great deal of courage. The northern 
tribes of Israel had already been captured by Assyria. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. They were the empire in vogue 
at that particular time. And so the northern tribes have 
been carried away. And depending upon the specifics 
of when Nahum wrote, He may have wrote during the reign of Manasseh 
or Amen, who were kings in Judah, and they had alliances with Assyria. They tried to pay them tribute 
money to try and get some protection from them. So Nahum writes this 
particular letter talking about the downfall of Assyria as a 
whole, and Nineveh specifically, so it is a great deal of courage 
that moves him and a great commitment to the Lord God with reference 
to this prophecy. And as we work through the book, 
we'll notice it is very detailed. In fact, the judgment that ultimately 
fell upon Nineveh in 612 BC is so accurately depicted by Nahum 
that he would have been risking a lot going into print because 
the penalty for false prophecy in Israel of old was not you 
get your own TV show and you get to tell all kinds of people 
bad things and they'll send you a lot of money. That was not 
the penalty for false prophecy in old covenant Israel. Rather, 
it was death. So when Nahum puts into print 
the particulars about Assyria, about Nineveh, about the king 
of Assyria falling under the judgment of God, he is putting 
a lot on the line. Obviously he has received this 
burden from the Lord. Now the date that he wrote, we 
have about a 51-year window in which he wrote. In chapter 3 
at verse 8, you can turn there to Nahum, chapter 3 verse 8, 
he speaks of the fall of Thebes, translated in our New King James, 
and it's Hebrew, no amen. That is Thebes, which was the 
capital of Egypt. Assyria, interestingly enough, 
destroyed Thebes in 663 BC. Nineveh fell in 612 BC. So somewhere in that 51 year 
period, Nahum wrote his particular book. Now, the enemy of God's 
people, we need to see it. It is specified here, though 
it exceeds just what is written in this book. In other words, 
the particular application of Nahum's message in the 7th century 
BC was Assyria and its capital Nineveh. But the message transcends 
that, and that's what I hope you'll appreciate today. The 
message transcends that. In many ways, Nahum is the Old 
Testament book of revelation. Revelation presents us with a 
view of Jesus Christ on His throne, waging war against His enemies. All comers will fall. All comers 
will be destroyed. All those who resist the Lord's 
reign will be subdued under His feet. And essentially that's 
what Nahum reports to us. But Assyria, generally speaking, 
was the great power in the 8th century and most of the 7th century 
BC. You remember, as I just said, 
Assyria took away the northern tribes of Israel in 722 B.C. The southern tribes had come 
very close to being intruded upon by Sennacherib in 701. I realize these are a lot of 
dates, but it's important that you get that the Bible is written 
in real language. It's in real history, in real 
events, in real things. Not just an ethereal message 
that makes us feel fuzzy. It is rooted in God's history. 
And so this empire was a very ruthless people. In fact, they 
mocked the God of Israel. At that event in 701 BC, Sennacherib's 
representative taunted the people of God. He said, all the other 
gods were not able to protect their people. How is your Lord 
going to protect you? Well, how did the Lord protect 
him? But he sent the angel of death to destroy 185,000 in the 
Assyrian army. Good lesson. Don't ever taunt 
the living God. Don't ever challenge the living 
God. Never lay down the gauntlet for 
the living God. One man has written, whenever 
we find any records of this people, the Assyrians, He says, we are 
immediately startled by their savage cruelty and deep-seated 
desire to dominate as much territory as possible. Already in 1100 
BC, the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I described on victory monuments 
how he conquered 83 kings and littered the mountains with their 
corpses. Two centuries later, Asher Nasserpahl 
II vaunted his deeds by flaying captive kings alive and wallpapering 
pillars with their skins, putting out ice, cutting off hands, feet, 
noses, and ears, and burning boys and girls alive. The atrocities 
and brutalities of the Assyrians became legendary in the ancient 
Near East. And you know what? They were 
good records keepers as well. All of the stuff that we find 
written in the Scripture is corroborated or matched by the records of 
these Assyrian kings. They like to boast. They like 
to parade their victories. They like to put it in the face 
of all of their enemies just how successful they were in war. Now the capital of Assyria, which 
is targeted here specifically, was Nineveh. And Nineveh is located 
on the east side of the Tigris in modern day north Iraq. Just bordering the city, or just 
across from the city of modern Mosul in northern Iraq. Now it was one of the grandest 
and most powerful cities on earth. I just want you to feel the weight 
of this because so very often we as Christians can walk by 
sight and not by faith. We see these grand enemies of 
the living and true God and we begin to think they're going 
to be the winner. They're going to trump over the 
church of Jesus Christ. They at the end will be the victor 
over the Lord and His anointed. Well, if ever there was a time 
to fear an enemy, it was the Assyrian Empire and specifically 
the city of Nineveh. And yet God says, I will destroy 
it. I will cast it down and it will 
be ruined. Its size, its power and its wealth 
inspired fables. Its walls were a good picture 
of this magnificence. At least two series of walls 
surrounded the whole city, running on for miles and miles. The inner 
wall, the higher of the two, was about 100 feet high and broad 
enough for three chariots to race abreast. On the outside 
of the two walls was a moat 150 feet wide and 60 feet deep. The Tigris and other smaller 
rivers surrounding Nineveh made the city appear impregnable. It was a gigantic city. Now the 
prophet Nahum speaks of flooding. Interestingly enough, in 612, 
when Babylon, the Scythians, and the Medes came to destroy 
Nineveh, one of the problems was that there was a great bit 
of flooding, and it caused those rivers to overflow, knocking 
down some of the massive walls surrounding Nineveh, by which 
the troops could then go in and sack the city. And this magnificent 
city was so well destroyed, archaeologists did not find any reference to 
it until the 1840s. It was one of those types of 
things in the Bible. Oh, they said, oh, the Bible 
speaks of this Nineveh. There was no such thing. Oh, 
there was such a thing, and it was so destroyed the way Nahum 
had predicted that archaeologists never found a piece of it until 
1842. Just about 300 years after 612 
BC, a Zenith and a Greek took some Greeks through that particular 
region and they were retreating in a battle. They had no idea 
that a great city ever was there. That's how completely the Lord 
had destroyed it. So that's some introduction. 
Let's step into the text. Notice first of all, with reference 
to this hymn of glory celebrating the doctrine of God, we find 
in verses 2 and 3, theology proper. What do I mean by theology proper? I mean the study of the doctrine 
of God. Always when you finish a book, 
or at least for me, you got that period of time in there before 
you jump into another book, you're wondering, what do the people 
need? The wives probably need a good 
sermon on being good wives. Husbands need a good sermon on 
being husbands. You really hit up the children 
because they always need to be encouraged to obey their parents 
in the Lord and to honor their father and their mother. Probably 
when you come and you announce a sermon on theology proper, 
people are saying, wait a minute, what does this have to do with 
me? It has everything to do with you. In fact, the church has 
been inundated and blooded with all kinds of special studies 
and has no sound understanding of who God is. We've got big 
problems in that regard. A man was asked several years 
ago, what's missing or what's the problem with the church's 
doctrine of God today? His answer, the church's doctrine 
of God. We've got a God who's about that 
big. He's a performer. He's our genie. He does what 
we tell Him to do. That's not Nahum's God. And everything 
that follows in this book, Nahum 2 and 3, all goes back to this 
foundation of just who God is. We notice that pattern very often 
in the New Testament. You'll see the Apostle Paul, 
for instance, spend several chapters writing out doctrine. And then 
he comes to the application, the therefore. You can't have 
the therefore without the doctrine. You can't be a good wife or a 
good husband or a good child. You can't be a good member of 
society unless you know God, unless you understand what Nahum 
speaks of in this particular chapter. He highlights two things 
with reference to theology proper. He speaks of God's jealousy. 
God's jealousy. God is jealous, and the Lord 
avenges. Verse 2, The Lord avenges and 
is furious. The Lord will take vengeance 
on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies. In the second commandment, God 
gives as one of the reasons why we're not to make carved images, 
because He's a jealous God. He doesn't take kindly to rivals. He's not about sharing His glory. The relationship of marriage 
very often typifies the relationship between God and His people. Jealousy is legitimate within 
the confines of marriage. Some dude is coming on to your 
wife, jealousy and a righteous bit of anger is godly. The same 
way, ladies, if some chickadee is throwing herself at your man, 
jealousy and righteous anger is godly. We get this idea that, 
oh no, I can't do that. We don't understand man's God. 
We don't know Dan's God. Walter Kaiser says, unlike jealousy 
on the human plane, which unfortunately involves all the wrong attitudes, 
suspicion, distrust, rivalry, God's jealousy shows itself as 
an eager zealousness to maintain the integrity of his own character 
and truth. He's a jealous God. Notice the 
implication of his jealousy is vengeance. Revenge. Avenge. That's what Nahum says. Verse 2, God is jealous and the 
Lord avenges. Why does He avenge? Because He's 
a jealous God. Why does He take vengeance on 
His enemies? Because He's jealous for His 
own glory, for His own honor, for His own dignity, and for 
His own supremacy. I submit to you, brethren, without 
a jealous God, without one who is like this, We would all be 
in a bad state of things. Our God is jealous. Notice, secondly, 
he speaks of the patience of God in his lesson on theology 
proper. It's a bit of a refresher lesson. 
They should have all known these things. But again, it sets the 
stage for all that will follow. Notice in verse 3, the Lord is 
slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the 
wicked." You might be asking yourself, why do we need to be 
reminded about His patience in a document that is orchestrated 
to target Nineveh for her sin? Well, I think the thought is 
simply this. The Lord is patient, not indifferent. See, while Assyria is marching 
around, gobbling up territory, cutting off arms, gouging out 
eyes, burning boys and girls and extending their kingdom, 
the godly are tempted to think, the Lord doesn't notice. The 
Lord is indifferent to our suffering. The Lord doesn't care. Sound 
familiar? When you see God, or when you 
see God's patience rather, And the fact that He doesn't immediately 
act like you think He should, isn't the temptation to conclude 
that He's indifferent? I mean, we wouldn't voice that. 
We would never say that. But we've got issues and trials 
and difficulties in our life, and the Lord is not vindicating 
us. What's happened? You see, he 
reminds us, the Lord is slow to anger and great in power and 
will not at all acquit the wicked. In other words, he is patient 
but not indifferent. See, the righteous see this patience 
of God and begin to unbiblically conclude that he's not going 
to act. Nahum's reminding the camp of 
the faithful. You know his patience. You know 
his long-suffering. You know the fact that he doesn't 
immediately lash out in anger. But you need to remember that 
He does not acquit the wicked. That's a principle the church 
needs to embrace today. Far too often, brethren, we fall 
prey to that. We interpret the patience or 
the long-suffering of God as indifference. He doesn't care. 
He's not for us. Don't you see us suffering, Lord? 
Don't you see us troubled, Lord? Have you no feeling, Lord? Again, 
a lot of times we wouldn't express this verbally or in the Sunday 
morning prayer meeting or on a Wednesday night or with our 
sister or our brother or our husband or our wife, but sometimes 
it is what's going on in our hearts. Where's God? You see, one of the other problems 
with the patience of God, not that it's a problem with God, 
but it's our problem with the patience of God, is for the wicked. 
God's long-suffering and God's patience is interpreted by them 
to say, well, he doesn't care, he's indifferent, so I'll just 
get better at sin. I'll just grow more reckless 
and abandoned in my wickedness. In fact, you can trace through 
the Scriptures, you'll see that sort of mindset. Bad theology 
promotes wickedness. When you misinterpret what God 
is all about, you begin to get embrazened with this idea that 
you can sin and get away with it. Nahum says no. You need to 
understand. The Lord is slow to anger and 
great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. Don't 
you love that? Nahum. He's going to speak of 
the utter devastation of Nineveh and Assyria, highlighting the 
patience of God. Doesn't that just bug you? when 
God does send judgment and everybody freaks out. Oh, what's the deal? How come? Do you know how long 
God suffered in that instance? How about your own private life? 
Can you not praise God for His long-suffering toward you? Can 
you not praise God that He has not acted immediately on your 
sin and rebellion? Is there not an element of theology 
here to take to your closet and praise the Lord God Almighty 
for, that He is slow to anger, that He has not dealt with me 
as I deserve immediately, but there is grace and mercy through 
our Lord Jesus Christ? There is theology proper set 
forth in this hymn of glory celebrating the doctrine of God. But notice, 
secondly, he speaks of the divine warrior, verses 3b to 5. Cam couldn't have read a better 
portion of Scripture than Psalm 18. God steps on the clouds. God comes. in the whirlwind. God comes through the lightning. 
God comes in this phenomena of power and of judgment. The Bible 
uses this language throughout Old and New Testament, that the 
Lord steps upon a cloud when He comes to judge. And here, 
this is what the prophet does. Verse 3b, The Lord has His way 
in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of 
His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up 
all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, and 
the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before Him. 
The hills melt, and the earth heaves at His presence. Yes, 
the world and all who dwell in it." The idea here is the effect 
of His coming. The Scripture oftentimes envisions 
the coming of God as a reversal of creation. When He comes in 
His anger to mete out His judgment, it's as if all the rivers It's 
as if the fertile places like Bashan and Carmel and Lebanon, 
all the fertility is gone. Sterility has taken its place. 
When the Lord God Almighty comes to judge, it's as if the creation 
goes and hides from His presence. You know, the man comes home 
and he has a righteous anger and he begins to issue commands 
in his home. What happens? The animals, they 
run and they hide. They can detect the stress in 
the voice. It's something like that with 
the creation. When Jehovah mounts His cloud of judgment and He 
begins to come in visitation from on high, it's as if the 
creation acts off. The prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah 
used the language of reversal of creation. The coming of God 
as warrior and the withering of nature are very typical in 
the prophets and in the book of Revelation as well. And notice 
in this hymn of glory concerning the doctrine of God, there is 
a most important question in verse 6. Who can stand before 
His indignation? If you don't know Jesus today, 
I want you to consider these questions. Because Christians, 
as I said, oftentimes are a little bit afraid, a little bit embarrassed 
by what God has done in the Old Testament. You know, we get embarrassed when God tells 
Joshua, and the armies of Israel to go and march around Jericho 
and utterly destroy every breathing thing. We like to picture Noah and his 
happy family and all the animals sitting comfortably in the ark, 
but we don't like to speak about the fact that in that God was 
killing every other sinner that populated the earth. There's 
a certain reticence that the modern evangelical fears or has 
when it comes to these judgment passages. But brethren, I submit 
that what will happen on that day of judgment, when Jesus comes 
in the glory of His Father with all of His holy angels, will 
make these events pale in significance. You ask yourself today, verse 
6, who can stand before His indignation and who can endure the fierceness 
of His anger? Now notice, though there was 
a general statement concerning Nineveh in verse 1, the specifics 
concerning Nineveh and Assyria have not come out yet. Verses 
2 to 8 are a general hymn. It could be any time, any application, 
any society, any generation, any people group. These truths 
do not change. God is jealous. God avenges His 
people. God is slow to anger. God comes 
in judgment. God comes on the clouds and in 
the whirlwind. All these things are true all 
the time, so verse 6 is an appropriate question for the 21st century 
North American to ask himself. It doesn't matter how old you 
are. It doesn't matter how young you are. You ask yourself the 
question, can I stand before His indignation? Can I stand before a thrice holy 
God? Have I always lived consistent 
with the Ten Commandments? If I'm a child, have I always 
rendered obedience to my parents? Have I honored them consistently? Pastor Crawford and I were talking 
recently. He said he's been preaching on 
the promises of God. We all like our promises. Oh, 
give us the promises. We all like the promises of blessing. If you're a child, you like the 
promise of blessing that if you do this, it will go well with 
you. You will live long in the land. Notice it's an if. It's a condition. Promise promotes 
responsibility. Promise denotes obedience. Have you always kept the law 
of God? As an adult male here, can you 
say you've always been faithful to the seventh amendment? You've 
never cast a longing eye upon anyone other than your wife? Can anyone in this room say they 
have never coveted? That's the thrust of the question. Can I stand before His indignation? Not just those dirty, rotten 
Assyrians and Ninevites. Can I? Not just, oh, wicked Canada, 
oh, wicked Middle East, oh, wicked California, oh, wicked these 
places, oh, San Francisco, oh, the meccas of evil that populate 
the earth. That's not the Prophet's question. 
The Prophet is saying, can you stand before His indignation? Can you endure the fierceness 
of His anger? When Jesus comes in judgment, 
according to Revelation 6, the whole created realm go to the 
mountains and beg the mountains to fall upon them, the rocks 
to fall upon them, and to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, 
is a wrathful lamb that will execute judgment on all of his 
enemies. That's Nahum's take-home message 
for us. The question for us is, can I 
endure? Am I safely folded in the arms 
of Jesus? Have I run to that stronghold? 
Have I come to Him in the day of trouble? Do I know something 
of His saving grace? Do I know what faith in Christ 
is all about? Have I called Him Lord and Master 
and meant it? Not just did it because there 
was pressure. That's the question of our text. 
Of course the obvious answer is no one, right? It's like the 
psalmist in Psalm 130. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, 
O Lord, who could stand? What's the answer to that? No 
one. If God took out His notepad and 
He started to mark our iniquities, what would we do? We would run 
and hide. When God comes to have dealings 
with Adam and Eve, what did they do? They ran and hid. That is typical. That is our 
response. The Bible isn't against you running 
and hiding. The Bible is against you running 
and hiding in a way not sanctioned by the Lord. You are to run and 
hide in Jesus. You are to run and hide in our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the final portion of this 
hymn is the twofold perspective on divine judgment, verses 7 
and 8. The Lord is good, a stronghold 
in the day of trouble, and he knows those who trust in him. I praise God for this church 
because if I had read that after saying what I've already said. 
A lot of churches would say, how could he be good and wrathful? 
It doesn't make sense. His goodness necessitates his 
wrath. His goodness demands his wrath. You don't spank your son and 
your son say, you're a bad man for spanking me. No, I'm a good 
man. And I am determined to punish 
sin. I am determined to correct you. I am determined to chasten 
you when you victimize someone else. I'm a good man. God's goodness 
demands His recompense of evil. You know, that's been one of 
the lessons lost in evangelicalism today. You know these shows, 
Larry King Live, A Bad Thing Happens, get the evangelical 
on there, professing evangelicalism. Where was God on September 11th? 
I don't know. Our God is in the heavens. He 
does whatever He pleases. There has been a retreat from 
this doctrine into what's called open theology. Open theology 
is something like this. God doesn't really have control 
over the bad things that happen. Oh really? How does that comfort 
the Haitians right now? You go to Haiti, and you start 
to minister the gospel, and you tell them, Oh, God really couldn't 
have stopped this after all. What manner of God is this? He's 
not the God of the hills. He's not the God of the rains. 
He's not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Far better 
to answer with the Scripture, Our God does whatever He pleases, 
and He has morally sufficient reasons for the evil that exists. 
He will bring all things to His own glory, and He will bless 
His people immeasurably. Shrink back from this truth? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. The Lord is good, a stronghold 
in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him. 
He doesn't just know, hey, that's that guy over there in Chilliwack. 
The knowledge of God here is the intimacy, the love, the commitment, 
the union, the fellowship. He is committed to them. He is 
for them. He is their covenant God. Notice 
conversely, verse 8, "...but with an overflowing flood He 
will make an utter end of its place, and darkness will pursue 
His enemy." You see, the blessing of God upon His people often 
involves the damnation of God upon His enemies. What kind of 
a kingdom would it be if it were not secured with power? You remember 
when Solomon took the throne from his father David? There 
was a bit of a skirmish. Adonijah wanted the throne. They found out about that. They 
told and informed David, Bathsheba, and Nathan the prophet. David 
said, no, Solomon's the heir. Adonijah gets very repentant 
very quickly. Oh, well, I'll respect that. 1 Kings, though, however, records 
David's charge to Solomon. You need to secure this kingdom. 
You need to maintain its security. You need to establish it. And 
you do this two ways, David tells Solomon. The first is you obey 
God's law. It's not your feelings. It's 
not your experience. It's not your ingenuity, it is 
your commitment to the written will of God Most High. That's 
how you will maintain security and establish peace in this kingdom. 
The second, you need to deal with your enemies. In fact, you 
read in 1 Kings when Solomon takes the throne, Benaiah is 
quite busy. Benaiah is a swordsman. Benaiah 
swings it for Solomon. See, in order to establish the 
safety and security of the kingdom, some heads, unfortunately, had 
to roll. In order to establish the safety 
and stability of Christ's kingdom, He is armed with a rod, a scepter, 
yes? To chasten His people, but to 
dash His enemies to pieces. That's the message of Nahum. 
That brings us thirdly to consider briefly, we'll just make a few 
observations on this, oracle of judgment targeting the enemies 
of God. He speaks first of all of the 
futility of Assyria's opposition to Yahweh, verses 9 to 11. Now 
there's a lot of personal pronouns used here that it's a bit difficult 
to sort of figure out who's in the limelight. The NIV supplies 
in brackets Nineveh or Judah to sort of help us along. If 
you look at verses 9 to 11, I believe what's in view here is Nineveh. What do you conspire against 
the Lord? He will make an utter end of 
it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. What's that 
mean? Once is enough. In other words, when God comes 
in judgment via historical persons in Babylon, the Medes and the 
Scythians, when God comes in judgment via them, There won't 
be a need for a second time. This isn't remedial training. 
This isn't rehabilitation. This is retribution from God 
Most High. Verse 10, For while tangled like 
thorns and while drunken like drunkards, they shall be devoured 
like stubble fully dried. From you comes forth one who 
plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. A bit of 
a difficulty there, but the idea is, I think the king at the time 
specifically, or perhaps the kingship generically, conspiring 
evil against the Lord. Notice as well, the certainty 
of judgment, verses 12 to 14. Verse 12a again is addressed 
to Nineveh. Though they are safe and likewise 
many, yet in this manner they will be cut down when He passes 
through. I think the He there refers to 
God. God passing through on His cloud. God passing through in the whirlwind 
and the storm. God passing through via Babylon. They will be destroyed though 
they are safe. Though the city looks impregnable, 
Though it's set up high and the walls are surrounding, and these 
rivers provide a natural fortress, and they've built their own moat, 
it looks as if nothing can bring down that city. I meant to check 
Snopes to see if it was actually true or not, but I've heard, 
with reference to the Titanic, prior to them putting it in the 
water, they said something like, even God Himself couldn't sink 
it. I don't know if that's true. If you happen to know the particulars, 
I mean, it may be an urban legend or whatnot, but you could have 
equally said that about Nineveh in the time. It was the Titanic 
of cities, man. Even God Himself couldn't take 
it down. God Himself couldn't destroy 
it. Though they are safe and likewise many. I mean, the angel 
of the Lord cut down 185,000 in one night. Didn't ruin their 
army. didn't stop Assyria, didn't keep 
the empire from marching on. That happened probably a half 
a century prior to that. So they were able to replace 
those 185,000 several times over. They were many. Judgment will 
come despite Assyrian strength. Notice in verse 13. I believe 
this is addressed to Judah. Verses 12b and 13. Notice at 
the end of verse 12, "...though I have afflicted you, Judah, 
I will afflict you no more. For now I will break off his 
yoke from you and burst your bonds apart." You see, if you're 
thinking biblically, you cannot escape the exhaustive and comprehensive 
sovereignty of God. Another doctrine we like to shrink 
back from, but Isaiah 10 tells us very clearly, God raised up 
Assyria. I preached a sermon several years 
ago in a prison, and it was about the ten plagues in Egypt. The 
title of that sermon was, A Haunting View of the Sovereignty of God. 
Not haunting bad, haunting awe-inspiring. God raised up Assyria to chasten 
the northern tribes. Assyria turned on God. Assyria raised its fist at God. So what does God do? God puts 
them down also. This is what he's saying in verses 
12, B, and 13. Though I have afflicted you, 
I will afflict you no more. Now, you might ask, well, Babylon's 
going to come and cart off the southern tribes of Judah. Well, 
not the Assyrians. They are not carting anybody 
off ever again. The Assyrians are history. And 
this was written prior to the fact. Some say, well, Nahum was 
so spot on, he had to write after the fall of Nineveh. No. God's 
able to take a man and predict the future with him because He's 
God. He's not the God of open theism. 
He's not the God who will never violate your precious will. He 
is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who orchestrates 
all things according to His will. And without that God, brethren, 
we're hopeless. We are helpless. We are destitute. Why would anybody want a non-sovereign 
God? You can go build a statue and 
worship in your home and get the same effect. We want the 
God who is committed to us and who will work out every single 
detail in our lives and who will take Assyrian oppressors and 
break them so that the bonds will burst apart. And then notice 
in verse 14, judgment is certain according to God's decree. The Lord has given a command 
concerning you back to Nineveh. Your name shall be perpetuated 
no longer." What's that mean? Death to the current king and 
death to his sons. Just thinking about this, in 
our modern democratic elections, it's difficult for us to envision 
how important it was to kill the heir to the throne. You read 
about the kings and you read about, even in the history of 
Israel, you'll see very often, sons are targeted for destruction. 
You say, wait a minute, what did they do? They had a legal 
right to the throne. So by killing them, you cut off 
his name. In fact, some speculate that 
when Nahum wrote specifically, the particular king of Assyria 
had tasked his son to build a monument with his name on it. God says, 
your name is going to perish. There is one name that will triumph 
throughout, and it's Jesus. It's God. It's the Lord. It is 
Yahweh. Your name shall be perpetuated 
no longer. Notice, their religion or their 
gods would be destroyed. Out of the house of your gods, 
I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. Remember 
when God executed judgment in Egypt? It was against the gods 
of Egypt. Remember when the Philistines 
took the Ark of the Covenant and they put it in the house 
of Dagon? Why? To capture an enemy's gods 
was amazing. Well, when they captured the 
Ark of the Covenant, Dagon fell helpless before it. This God 
says, I will destroy your religion, I will destroy your idols, I 
will destroy every vestige of your religious commitment. And 
then he says, I will dig your grave for you are vile, speaking 
specifically of the king. Well, that's an oracle of judgment 
targeting the enemies of God. Notice the good news of verse 
15. Behold, he says, It's hard to 
know if verse 15 goes with what precedes or with what follows. 
I'm taking it with what precedes. Behold, on the mountains the 
feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace. In this 
instance, the proclamation would be, the king is dead. Assyria 
is dead. Nineveh, that thought they were 
impregnable, is destroyed. That is the peace pronounced 
to Judah. And notice the legitimate response 
from the people of God is to worship. Verse 15, O Judah, keep 
your appointed feasts. Perform your vows, for the wicked 
one shall no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off. God would destroy the religion 
of Assyria. The religion of Yahweh would 
flourish. There would be joy in Judah at 
the demise of Nineveh and of Assyria. You see, when God sends 
His judgment, the saints in heaven cry out with a fourfold hallelujah, 
according to Revelation 19. They don't get embarrassed. They 
don't try to explain it away. They don't trump the card of 
open theism. They don't say, well, man's free 
will is more important and powerful than God. They say, hallelujah, 
the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. And because of that, we will 
worship. See, we miss the boat when we 
take out the wrath of God. We get rid of the terror of the 
Lord. We don't persuade man, and we don't worship God the 
way we're supposed to. The title of this message is, 
The Comforting Truth of God's Judgment. There's one other piece of who 
Nahum was that I didn't tell you. What his name means. It means comfort. It means consolation. Remember the prophet Micah? His 
name means, who is like you, Lord? And in Micah 7, he asks 
that very question. Who is like you, Lord? Pardoning 
iniquity, forgiving transgression. Some of the commentators say 
they don't know whether Nahum's name of comfort really does actually 
weigh upon his ministry to Israel. I say it most certainly does. This is a message of comfort, 
a message of consolation. You cannot look at the world 
around you, and if you're godly, if you're like God, cry out with 
those saints under the altar in Revelation 6, O Lord, how 
long? Nahum's answer is, God will visit 
his people with vindication, and he will judge those who oppose. One is called the Book of Nahum, 
an unmitigated hymn of hate. while another spoke of Nahum's 
malicious joy at the prospect of Nineveh's defeat. No, Nahum 
was the comforter sent from God to encourage his people to take 
heart, to press on, to realize that though the Lord is slow 
to anger, he will not acquit the wicked. The practical importance 
of theology proper It is the foundation for everything. The foundation for everything. 
That's what the prophets spoke of. Who God is. That's what the 
New Testament authors do too. Who God is. In the midst of the 
Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, which could 
make the Assyrian Empire look like amateur. What did the Church 
of Christ do in the New Testament documents? They told the Church 
who God is, what Jesus is or who Jesus is and what He's done, 
and they never ceased to call praise or call for praise to 
the God who has stationed Christ in His right hand until He made 
all of His enemies His footstool. You see, the Church was far from 
pessimistic. The Church was far from thinking 
that their enemies would overcome them. That's what Nahum's doing. He's calling the troops. He's 
saying, be encouraged, the Lord reigns. Jesus is at the right 
hand of the Father, and He must reign till He makes His enemies 
His footstool. We've seen the sovereignty of 
God. I encourage you, go home today and read Isaiah 10. Hopefully 
you'll come away just like... This God is not the God of our 
making. We don't domesticate Him. We 
don't put Him in a box. We don't set Him on a shelf. 
We don't treat Him as if He's an equal. This God is almighty. He is glorious. He is sovereign. He doesn't consult with us. He 
doesn't check in with us. Have you ever gotten a call from 
God saying, hey, how should I handle this? God does not have an advisory 
council. The prophet and the apostle ask 
the question, who has become his counselor? The obvious answer 
is, no one. Paul ends his declaration of 
God's absolute sovereignty in the salvation of sinners by saying 
this, for of him and through him and to him are all things 
to whom be glory forever. Amen. I submit, brethren, that's 
the proper response to this view of God's sovereignty. to Him 
be glory forever. Not the shaking hand of unbelief, 
not the rebellious infidelity that exists under the guise or 
rubric of evangelical religion today. Can you imagine our Puritan 
brothers and our Reformed brothers coming, or the Reformers coming 
in and seeing a church that would actually entertain open theism? 
I just read an article recently about this. When open theism 
began, or when it began to be in vogue among evangelicals, 
In 2003, the Evangelical Theological Society had a vote to determine 
it to be heresy or not. What's alarming is that it wasn't 
voted to be heresy. What's more alarming is that 
as of 2008, many who were involved in that felt bad that it even 
had to come to such a debate. Okay, debating on whether it's 
heresy or not to de-God God, If we're not going to debate 
about that being a heresy, everything goes. If the godhood of God has become 
a debatable item in evangelical religion today, it's a whole 
lot worse than I ever imagined. But Jesus is on his throne. The 
God of Nahum comes in the whirlwind, in the storm, in the clouds of 
the dust of his feet. the good news of the gospel, 
perhaps verse 15a resonates with you. Behold on the mountains 
the feet of him who brings good tidings. Yes, it's in the prophet 
Isaiah 52.7 as well, but it's also in Romans chapter 10. Romans 
chapter 10-15, our brother Paul takes this passage as he's developing 
the blessings of the Gospel, and he says, Behold on the mountains 
the feet of him who brings good tidings. If you've embraced those 
good tidings by the grace of God, the appropriate response 
is to keep your appointed feasts, to perform your vows, to praise 
and worship our God, and to give Him the honor that is due His 
name. If you have not embraced this 
good news, don't go to bed tonight until you believe the Gospel. Don't make peace with your soul 
when there is no peace. Don't try to pretend, oh, that 
was 7th century BC, that'll never happen again. The reality of 
Nahum 1-6 ought to haunt you until you have a closure to this 
question. Can I stand before His indignation? No, but by the grace of God, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, I will be able.