Nahum: Fall Of Assyria Series

ILLUSTRATION:

A few weeks ago my family and I WATCHED the latest Rocky Balboa movie, “CREED.” It was surprisingly a good movie, especially since this is the sixth SEQUEL and seventh MOVIE made

in the Rocky series.

Sequels, of course, are a continuation of a STORY. Hollywood has learned the value of SEQUELS. Hundreds of millions of dollars are made each year off of SEQUELS. I think there are now more SEQUELS than ORIGINAL movies.

A. You may not have REALIZED it, but the Bible also contains a SEQUEL.

1. Nahum is sort of “JONAH: THE SEQUEL.”

2. We studied Jonah a few weeks ago.

ILLUSTRATION:

Jonah was a prophet that was DISOBEDIENT to God because he did not want to go preach to Nineveh, the capitol of Assyria, for fear that they would REPENT and God would SPARE them. Instead, he tried to get away from Nineveh as far as he could by hopping on a boat that was traveling 3,000 miles the opposite direction. But he soon realized the hard way that you can’t run from God.

After spending 3 days in the belly of a great fish that God had prepared him, Jonah changed his mind and preached to the people of Nineveh. And sure enough, to the chagrin of the prophet, the entire city REPENTED of their WICKEDNESS including the KING—and God SPARED them.

3. The SEQUEL of Nineveh continues in Nahum.

ILLUSTRATION:

Some 150 to 180 years has passed. Children and grandchildren were born. New Kings of Assyria were crowned. The NATION had become even more POWERFUL. . . . And the GREAT REVIVAL of the DAYS of Jonah . . . . . . . . . was long FORGOTTEN.

God had used Assyria to DEFEAT and take the Northern Kingdom of Israel into CAPTIVITY about 100 years earlier because of their refusal to REPENT of their WICKEDNESS and IDOLATRY. However, the Assyrian Army went far beyond what God had PLANNED in his PUNISHMENT of Israel. They were extremely CRUEL and FIERCE to God’s people, including the nation of Judah; although they were unable to defeat them. For this reason, God is using the prophet Nahum to pronounce His JUDGMENT against this mighty and powerful NATION.

B. This book contains the only reference to the prophet Nahum.

1. It was written around 630-612 BC.

COMMENT:

Nahum was a patriotic saint who had a deep hatred for the Assyrian nation. He speaks nothing about the internal conditions of Judah and Jerusalem; he leaves that to his contemporaries Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.

His only concern is the FALL and DESTRUCTION of Nineveh. And he is OVERJOYED that God is finally bringing this nation to JUSTICE in VINDICATION of the CRUELTY and VICIOUSNESS it has inflicted upon ISRAEL and JUDAH.

2. Nahum’s name means: “COMFORTER” or “COMPASSION”

MESSAGE:

I. GOD’S ANGER TOWARDS NINEVEH- chapter 1

A. Three times God’s VENGEANCE is emphasized toward Nineveh, His ENEMY- v. 2 (READ)

1. Nahum describes the Lord as a “JEALOUS and AVENGING God.”

COMMENT:

His JEALOUSY can be compared to that of a HUSBAND for his WIFE. God will not TOLERATE any RIVAL for the AFFECTION and LOVE of His PEOPLE. Neither will He stand for PREDATORS to come in and BRUTALIZE His people.

God will AVENGE the Israelites for the VICIOUS, UNMERCIFUL treatment that they have received from the HANDS of the ASSYRIANS.

2. Nahum reminds the Assyrians that “God is slow to anger and great in power”- v. 3.

a. God’s “SLOWNESS TO ANGER”—His SPARING of Nineveh 150 years earlier—was not a

sign of WEAKNESS, but of MERCY.

COMMENT:

Unlike us, God does not ACT impulsively. Sometimes we even allow the smallest of AGITATIONS to SET US OFF into a TIRADE, but not God. He gives a NATION or an INDIVIDUAL every opportunity to REPENT and TURN to Him. We have seen this over and over in our study of the Minor Prophets.

That’s what he did for Nineveh through Jonah. But this time around . . . . . there is NO CALL to REPENTANCE.

b. Nahum- “God will not leave the guilty unpunished”- v. 3b. (Nineveh is going down!)

B. In the midst of describing the Lord’s VENGEANCE toward His enemies, Nahum now describes His

GOODNESS toward His people- v. 7 (READ).

1. This message is directed toward God’s people in Judah- vv. 12-15

a. Israel is already gone; they were PUNISHED because they did not TRUST God. But God is still extending MERCY to Judah in hopes that they will REPENT and seek REFUGE in Him.

b. If you have learned only one thing from our study of the MINOR PROPHETS, I hope it is the

fact that God is PATIENT with YOU and ME.

COMMENT:

He LOVES us and “does not want us to DIE in our SINS, but to REPENT and TRUST Him”- 2 Peter 3:9. God gives us CHANCE after CHANCE after CHANCE to turn away from our SINS and LIVE for Him.