ENGAGE
How many of you here this morning would like for God to be on your side?
I think that most of us would answer that question yes – at least at first. But this morning, I’m going to ask all of us to consider that question more carefully and perhaps as we do that, by the time we finish this message, you might answer that question differently.
TENSION
It is completely natural for us to want God to be on our side and we see that played out in all kinds of different ways. This past couple of weeks the fans of both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors were wanting God to be on their sides and I guarantee you that there were fans of both teams who are praying for God to help their team win the NBA championship. But does the fact that Golden State won mean that God was on their side?
Every time we have an election in this country, there are people praying that God will be on the side of the candidates that they support and praying for God to help their candidates win. And when their preferred candidates win, we hear some of those people say things like “God showed up”, implying that God was on their side in the election.
During his second inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln addressed the idea of whose side God was on during the Civil War with these wise words:
Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.
Those words are consistent with Lincoln’s reply on another occasion when he was asked if God was on his side:
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.
That is the main message of the passage that we’ll be looking at together this morning.
TRUTH
Today, we’ll be starting a new sermon series titled “Little Books with a Big Message”. In this series, we’ll be studying some of the smaller and lesser known books of the Bible – the ones that you could easily read in just a few minutes or that you could easily miss as you flip through your Bible, But even though these books might be small, they do contain important messages for us. So over the next 12 weeks we’ll be studying 8 different books from both the Old and New Testaments.
We’ll begin this morning with a book that most of you are probably only familiar with if you’ve eaten a double-double at In-N-Out Burgers. [Show picture of wrapper]. I’m speaking of the book of Nahum. As I look at that picture I’m thinking that maybe my application for today’s message is to eat lunch at In-N-Out today.
I don’t know about you, but even though I’ve read the book of Nahum several times when reading through the entire Bible, before this week, I couldn’t have really told you anything about it. And I can’t remember ever hearing a sermon on the book or participating in any kind of Bible study where it was the focus.
Even though I didn’t plan it this way when I put together my preaching calendar for this year, the book of Nahum is the perfect follow up to our study of Jonah since it is essentially the sequel to that story.
So before we read the first chapter of Nahum, let me give you a little background. We really know nothing of the author other than what we find in verse 1. His name is Nahum, which means “comfort”, which, as we’ll see, is quite appropriate for the people of Judah to whom he preaches, but not quite so appropriate for the people of Nineveh to whom his message is also addressed. He is from a place called Elkosh, and nobody really knows where that is although some have speculated that it is the town that later came to be known as Capernaum.
Like the book of Jonah, the message that Nahum preaches is directed toward Nineveh, but now, 100-150 years after repenting as a result of Jonah’s preaching, the people of Nineveh have gone back to their old ways.
We know that Jonah prophesied during the reign of King Jeroboam II, who was king over the northern 10 tribes of Israel, some time between 793 and 753 BC. [Show timeline] Later, in 722 BC, the Assyrians attacked and conquered Israel and the people were scattered into the surrounding nations, never to return to their homeland in any significant numbers.
Nahum is a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah and some internal information in the book helps us to narrow down the time frame of his ministry. His ministry had to have begun after 663 BC because Nahum mentions the fall of Thebes, which occurred in that year, in chapter 3. And the latest that his message could have been given is 612 BC, which is when the events that he prophesied were fulfilled with the defeat of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.
We can find much of the historical context for Nahum’s prophecy in Isaiah 36-37 and in 2 Kings 18-19. There we learn that Sennacherib had invaded Judah and was on the march toward Jerusalem and the people of Judah were understandably afraid. And Sennacherib’s messenger, whose title was the Rabshakeh, was even taunting the people of Judah and telling them that they shouldn’t trust in their God to save them.
But as we’re going to see this morning, the issue for the people of Judah wasn’t whether God was on their side, but rather whether they were on God’s side.
So with that in mind, we’re now ready to read Nahum chapter 1. Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using the table of contents in your Bible to find that book. It’s just a couple books after Jonah if you still have that marked, right between the books of Micah and Habakkuk.
[Read Nahum 1:1-15]
Nahum is addressing two different audiences here. He is speaking a word of comfort to the people of Judah, but at the same time he is speaking a word of judgment against Assyria. And sometimes, it can be a little difficult to discern who he is speaking to. But his overall message is very clear here:
It’s more important for me to be on God’s side
than it is for God to be on my side
When Jonah had gone to Nineveh somewhere between 100 and 150 years earlier and confronted the people there with their sin, they repented and God treated them with mercy. But obviously after a few generations the people of Nineveh had forgotten about that and now they had turned against God once again, but this time rather than repenting, they were doubling down on their rebellion against God and they were facing God’s judgment.
But the same action that God was about to take against Assyria was going to be an instrument of His mercy toward the people of Judah. So while the book of Jonah focused more on God’s mercy and the book of Nahum focuses more on His judgment, we find that the character of God has not changed one bit in the century or century and a half that has intervened.
And even though it might appear like it on the surface, it is not that God was on Nineveh’s side in the book of Jonah and now he has changed sides and is on Judah’s side. Rather what has happened is that Nineveh, who had chosen to be on God’s side by repenting at the preaching of Jonah, has now decided to no longer be on God’s side, but rather be on their own side.
Nahum begins here by describing who God is in verses 2-6. But just like we saw in Jonah chapter 4, neither Jonah or Nahum describe God’s character in a comprehensive manner. Jonah focused more on God’s grace, mercy, compassion and patience because those were elements of God’s nature that were most important for the situation he was in. Nahum, on the other hand, focuses on God’s vengeance and wrath, His justice, and his power to carry those things out, because that is the part of God’s nature that is most applicable to his situation.
Then in verse 7, we find the verse that is printed on the burger wrappers at In-N-Out. That verse is the comfort that God is bringing to Judah. Even though His people have often rebelled against Him, we know from the accounts in Isaiah and 2 Kings that King Hezekiah has sought the Lord’s help and prayed on behalf of the people of Judah. They have chosen to be on God’s side and now God is going to be their stronghold and their place of refuge.
In verse 9, Nahum returns to his message of judgment against the Assyrians. That message continues through the middle of verse 12. The overflowing flood that Nahum speaks of in verse 9 was fulfilled both literally and figuratively. According to historical records, during the final siege of Nineveh by the Babylonians, unusually heavy rains caused the rivers to flood and undermine the city’s wall, which then collapsed. That allowed the invading armies to enter the city and conquer it. And God’s promise to make a complete end of Nineveh was also fulfilled as the city was not found again until the rubble was discovered by archaeologists in the 1840’s.
In the middle of verse 12, Nahum returns to his message of comfort for Judah. God promises that He will no longer afflict Judah and that He will break the yoke of the Assyrians. While this is certainly comforting to the Jews, we also clearly see here that God has been using the Assyrians as a means of discipline for His people. That is consistent with what we see throughout the Old Testament where God often used wicked pagan nations and leaders as instruments of discipline for His chosen people.
In verse 14, Nahum once again addresses the Assyrians and continues to tell them that He is going to completely wipe out them and their gods.
Nahum finishes the chapter in verse 15 with more comfort and encouragement for the people of Judah. The very same action that is going to be an instrument of God’s wrath against the Assyrians will be good news for Judah and will bring peace. But along with that good news comes two commands for the people of Judah. They are to keep the feasts that the Lord has ordained for them and they are to fulfill their vows.
In this chapter, both the Assyrians and the Jews learn that…
It’s more important for me to be on God’s side
than it is for God to be on my side
Even though it might appear from a human perspective that God has changed sides, especially when it comes to the people of Nineveh, the truth is that God never takes anyone’s side, other than His own, and therefore He never changes sides, So as Abraham Lincoln rightly observed, the important thing is to be on God’s side, because He is always right.
As Nahum brings his prophecy, we see that the people of Nineveh have no longer chosen to be on God’s side and that the people of Judah, at least for the moment, have chosen to be on God’s side. And what they receive from God is based solely on whether they have chosen to be on His side or not.
APPLICATION
I’m going to take a little different approach this morning when it comes to challenging all of us to make some practical application of what we see in this passage. Normally, I try to provide some principles to apply that tend to all work together toward some goal. But today, I’m just going to share some random implications that God brought to mind as I studied this passage this week. My prayer is that each person will find at least one of these thoughts that are applicable to your life and respond to God as He leads you in that area.
SOME IMPORTANT IMPLICATIONS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)
1. When things go my way, that does not necessarily mean that God is on my side.
When things are going our way, there is a natural tendency for us to assume that is because God is “on our side”. But that is not necessarily true.
When the Cubs finally won a World Series 2 years ago, it wasn’t because God was suddenly on their side or on the side of all their long-suffering fans.
Just because you get a raise or a promotion at work, doesn’t mean God is on your side, especially if you achieved that by flattering your boss or undermining a fellow employee or by being a workaholic who has abandoned your family obligations.
Just because you got an “A” on your report card doesn’t mean God is on your side, especially if you had to cheat on a test or you had someone else write your paper for you.
Just because you don’t get caught when you commit adultery doesn’t mean that God is on your side.
And just because your preferred candidate wins an election doesn’t mean that God is on either your side or the side of that politician.
God will never use the circumstances in our lives to condone any kind of rebellion against the truths that He has revealed to us in His Word. God will never be on the side of sin or evil. So using circumstances as a measure of whether God is pleased with my life or whether He is on my side, is a very dangerous thing to do. The only standard we should be using is God’s Word.
2. Good works are not a means of God’s grace; they are a response to God’s grace
The commands to keep the feasts and fulfill their vows in verse 12 were not a pre-requisite for God to act against the Assyrians. God doesn’t tell His people to first “clean up their act” and then He will be their stronghold and place of refuge. The statements in verse 7 are not conditional in any way. God is good, He is a stronghold and He is a place of refuge for those who are His own regardless of whether they were going to obey those commands.
Although God is going to act against the Assyrians in response to the prayer of Hezekiah, His mercy toward Judah is not dependent at all on anything that the people of Judah do. God is simply doing what He does throughout history – preserving a faithful remnant who will carry out His purposes, plans and ways in this world. He does that for the good of those people and for His glory.
God has done the very same for all of us. He has extended His grace and mercy to us, not because we are deserving, but simply because He loves us and wants what is best for us. The familiar words from the apostle Paul remind us of that:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
(Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV)
From beginning to end, salvation is a gift from God that we can’t possibly earn or deserve. Even our faith – our ability to put our trust in God - is a gift. But Paul also pointed out the importance of doing good works in response to that grace in the very next verse:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10 ESV)
Both faith and works have an important place in the life of every Christian, which is why James links them together so closely in his letter where he writes that “faith without works is dead”. But we need to remember that our good works never get God on our side. For that matter, they don’t get us on God’s side either. Only faith does that and I’ll talk more about that in a moment.
3. There is always hope no matter how dark things may look
At the time of Nahum’s prophecy things, looked pretty hopeless for Judah. The Assyrians, the most powerful nation on earth at that time, had already invaded their country and were on their way to conquer Jerusalem and it looked like nothing could stop them. The people were aware that the Assyrians had completely wiped out their fellow Israelites in the northern kingdom a century or so earlier. They knew just how ruthless the Assyrian army was and what they had done to the people of the other nations they had conquered. And they knew that far more powerful nations had been unable to stop the Assyrians.
But when faced with those seemingly impossible odds, King Hezekiah inquired of the prophet Isaiah and then took this hopeless situation before the Lord in prayer. In effect, He said to God, “God, we’re on Your side and we’re trusting this situation to you.”
And as a result of that prayer, the angel of the Lord struck down 185,000 Assyrians overnight and the next morning Sennacherib returned home, where he was killed by his two sons while worshiping his false gods. And where there had been no hope, the people of Judah now had hope.
Perhaps you’re going through some darkness right now and you just can’t see any hope. Maybe you’ve been told you have cancer or some other disease and there doesn’t seem to be any hope. Maybe you are struggling in your marriage or in some other relationship and there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe you’re struggling in your finances and can’t see any way out. Maybe you’re in a bad situation in your job and it seems hopeless. Maybe it’s just the overall feeling of hopelessness that comes from living in a culture that is increasingly hostile toward God.
But the prophecy of Nahum reminds us that even in the darkest of times God’s powerful hand is at work to bring justice to those who are not on His side and comfort and mercy to those who are – often accomplishing both at the same time through the same actions.
So for those who are on God’s side, there is always hope.
If, as we’ve said this morning…
It’s more important for me to be on God’s side
than it is for God to be on my side
then it’s probably pretty important to conclude by talking about how to make sure I am on God’s side.
4. The way that I make sure I’m on God’s side is by doing things His way
Nahum, without the benefit of knowing fully about Jesus and the cross, hints at this in verse 15, which is obviously a reference to the Messiah, Jesus, who would bring good news and peace to the world when He came to the earth over 600 years later.
And we’ve already hinted at this idea earlier when we looked at Paul’s words in Ephesians 2 that make it clear that the only way to be saved, which is the same thing as being on God’s side, is through faith in Jesus.
But when we look at that word “faith” we need to remember that Paul and James and the other New Testament authors who wrote about faith were all Jews and so they would have thought of the idea of faith through a Hebrew mindset.
For them faith was not primarily about what a person thinks but rather about how he or she acts. Faith to a Hebrew meant taking God’s promises and commands seriously enough to act on them. So choosing to be on God’s side is a matter of intentionally electing to live according to His ways rather than following my own desires and ways.
In other words, genuine faith is more than just believing in Jesus or praying a prayer. It requires making a commitment to God that we will do our best to live according to the principles that He has revealed to us in the Bible. Again, as I hope I made clear earlier, it is not our good works or our obedience to God that puts us on God’s side. There is nothing we can do to earn or merit that. But choosing to be on God’s side does require us to yield control of our life to Him.
INSPIRATION
So now let me ask you again the question that I asked at the beginning of the message: How many of you want God to be on your side? And how many of you want to be on God’s side?
It’s more important for me to be on God’s side
than it is for God to be on my side
Even Jesus understood the importance of being on God’s side. As He prayed these words to His Father in the Garden just before His crucifixion, that is exactly what Jesus was saying:
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
(Luke 22:41 ESV)
ACTION
As we close this morning, I want to encourage all of us to pray that prayer to God. As everyone bows their heads and closes their eyes will you just say to God “Not my will but yours be done.”
Discussion questions for Bible Roundtable
1. What are some ways that we either consciously or unconsciously ask God to be “on our side”?
2. What are some lessons we can learn from the change in the hearts of the people of Nineveh between the time of Jonah and the time of Nahum?
3. Why it is dangerous to determine whose side God is one by looking at circumstances?
4. Many times we develop our own plans and ask God to bless them. Why could that be a good thing and why might it be dangerous?
5. Some people claim that Paul and James had conflicting ideas about the kind of faith required for salvation. How does the Hebrew concept of faith help us to reconcile their ideas?
