Nahum 1:1-2:2

Now, I’m going to take a wild guess that Nahum is an obscure book that most of us are probably unfamiliar with. So before I read the entirety of Nahum 1, let me offer four things that I think will help us as we come to this book.

First of all, Nahum is unique in that he is a writing prophet. So all the other prophecies in the Bible, they seem to have been spoken before being written down. Nahum is different. It is written from the beginning. It’s called the book of the vision of Nahum in chapter 1, verse 1. So this is a written prophecy.

Second thing, this prophecy is against Nineveh. Now Nineveh is famous from the book of Jonah. But Nineveh’s fate is not as positive in Nahum as it was in Jonah. Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria. That’s the world’s superpower at the time of Nahum’s ministry. Assyria had already exiled Jews from the northern tribes, from Israel, and the southern tribes remained in their homeland but remained under threat. So that is who is in view. And Nahum is writing probably about a century after Jonah’s ministry in Nineveh.

Third, everything that Nahum writes, he writes before Assyria falls. In other words, Nahum predicts with great accuracy the fall of a world superpower.

And then the fourth thing is that the central theme of Nahum is the wrath of God, the wrath of God. And I think a good overall title for Nahum would be Treasuring the Wrath of God, Treasuring the Wrath of God. And we’re going to explore that a little bit more as we look at Nahum chapter 1.

So let me read Nahum 1. We’re actually going to read the entirety of Nahum 1 and the first two verses of Nahum 2. This is the word of the Lord.

An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in the whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time. For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried. From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a worthless counselor.

Thus says the Lord, Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart. The Lord has given commandment about you: No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.

Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength. For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.

So reads the word of the Lord.

Let’s pray, and then we’ll look at this passage together.

Our Father, as we read passages like this, we are so glad that the Apostle Peter wrote in his second letter that some of the Scriptures are difficult to understand. And so we acknowledge that with him tonight. And yet we acknowledge with the Apostle Paul that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable, useful for teaching us and equipping us for everything that is good. And so we ask, Father, that as we come to this challenging book of the Bible, and this difficult passage, you would indeed help us to see it as breathed out by you and profitable for us. For we pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Well, the world is full of things that are good for us but we don’t like. The world is full of things that are good for us but we don’t like. It seems that the universal experience of children is that they don’t like vegetables. I see a few children. Am I right? Don’t like vegetables? Eh. We’re not committing to anything. And some of us never grew out of that. We continue to not like vegetables into adulthood. You might want to prove me wrong in this. I’m yet to find anybody who loves going to the dentist. Anybody love going to the dentist? Yeah, oh, one person’s gonna prove me wrong. There’s always one. And we don’t like them, but they’re good for us, especially when we’re suffering toothache. And I’m sure that everybody at some point has fallen out of love with your job. We mightn’t like it on any particular day, but our jobs are good for us, and not just because they bring an income, but they give us a sense of purpose. Exercise. There are some exercise junkies, but most of us don’t really like it. We know it’s good for us, but we don’t really like it.

The world is full of things that are good for us, but we don’t like. And Nahum likewise introduces to us something that is good for us, but we struggle to like it. The wrath of God. And so the book of Nahum teaches us to treasure the wrath of God. And in chapter 1, it does so by helping us see the promise of wrath, the promise of wrath.

1 The promise of wrath communicates the greatness of God

Nahum is not talking about any old God here in his book. In our passage, Nahum names him. And we talked about this this morning. He names him Yahweh. In your English Bibles, it’s the LORD in all capitals. That name appears ten times in this first chapter. It’s particularly striking in verse 2, where he’s named three times in just one verse. Look at verse 2.

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries.

The God of wrath is not some faceless entity. He is a personal God who has revealed himself. He has told us his name, and he has told us about his wrath. And the greatness of this God is then established in the opening eight verses of this book. Here, God’s character is outlined and detailed for us as Nahum poetically presents the greatness of God.

He tells us that God is wrathful and vengeful. We’ve just read it in verse 2.

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.

This is no secretive, underhanded revenge. The Lord owns his actions. I do this, the Lord says. We then see that the Lord is powerful. Look at verses 3 through to 5.

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in the whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and he makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him, the hills melt. The earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it.

The places named in verse 4, Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon, they’re all well-vegetated areas, and they’re all in different directions from where Nahum is writing. This is reinforcing the power at the Lord’s fingertips. No matter how lush, and no matter which direction, he can dry it all up. This is how powerful he is.

Nahum tells us that the Lord is indignant and angry. Look at verse 6.

Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

Just like a volcano explodes, spewing lava and ash up into the air, like an earthquake rips across the earth’s crust, crushing, causing everything to crumble, so is the Lord’s anger. It’s that powerful, it’s that explosive.

The Lord eliminates his enemies. Look at verse 8.

But with an overflowing flood, he will make a complete end of the adversaries and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

Like a flood sweeping through a town, nothing escapes. God’s final judgment. This description of God should terrify us.

But all of this furious power is laced with patience and goodness. Look again at verse 3: “The Lord is slow to anger.” Or maybe you noticed that I skipped verse 7. Look at verse 7.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

I think Nahum is picking up on God’s self-revelation in Exodus 34. This is what we read in Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7. Moses is on the mountain, and we’re told that the Lord passed before him and proclaimed:

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation.

Did you notice that balance of grace and justice in Exodus? It’s clearly informing Nahum’s comprehension of the greatness of God. He’s both gracious and just. And it’s important to note that God exercises his greatness in different ways towards different people. Did you notice that it’s the enemies of God who face his vengeance, his wrath, his indignation, his fury? Fierce judgment. But it is those who take refuge in the Lord that enjoy powerful patience, safety, refuge. Both aspects of God are predicated on his greatness. Deliverance from God’s power is found in God’s power. And there are therefore only two options open to us. Either we take refuge in Yahweh, in the Lord, or we face destruction from him.

These first eight verses of Nahum are a hymn that proclaims the greatness of God. And I wonder how often you’ve heard God’s greatness described in this way. Which of the songs that we sing in church declare that God is indignant? I can’t think of any. Maybe you can. Have you ever read a best-selling Christian book that revels in the wrath of God? It’s a central core tenet to who he is, yet I don’t know of any best-selling book on the wrath of God. How many of our Sunday school lessons teach children that God dries up the rivers and seas and burns up the forests of Bashan and Carmel and Lebanon and melts mountains?

We must be so careful about what we teach ourselves concerning God. See, too often we portray God as some kindly uncle who is desperate to win our affection. We convince ourselves that God is fortunate to have me serving him in the way that I do. We communicate to others, whether consciously or subconsciously, God is a utility to be exploited for your own benefit. But that’s not the God of the Bible. Our God is gloriously great. He is furiously ferocious. He is perpetually powerful. And yet, he is all of these things perfectly.

I think this is our challenge whenever we try to think about God in these categories. Because we think about him from a human perspective, where all of these things are tinged with sin. But in God, his greatness is perfectly pure. None of this wrath and indignation ever goes too far. None of this grace and patience is ever too soft. It’s perfect. And one implication of this is that everybody out there is wrong about God, because the God they talk about is not the Lord revealed in Nahum 1. They know nothing of a God like this. They need to be corrected.

2 The promise of wrath communicates the grace of forewarning

So, as I’ve said, the Lord acts on the basis of his character, and so he exercises his greatness in different ways towards different people. And in Nahum, he forewarns wrath in three episodes in the remaining verses. So look at them with me. Chapter 1, verses 9 to 11.

What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time. For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried. From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a worthless counselor.

Here Nahum promises that the Lord will exterminate the plans of the helpless, worthless, wicked people. In verse 9, there’s a definitiveness, there’s a finality here. God will put an end to things. Verse 10 is an image of futility. Neither intertwined thorns nor drunkards who drink are very useful. And in verse 11, there’s the implication that Nineveh is producing worthless counselors, people who vainly plot against God. Vainly plot against the God revealed in the first eight verses. Nahum says God will put all their plans to an end.

Look at verse 14 with me. There Nahum writes:

The Lord has given commandment about you: No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.

In this verse, I think that Nahum turns to address the king of Nineveh. Everything is in the singular in this verse, so I think it’s the king that’s being addressed. And he makes three assertions about the king. One, this king will not have a dynasty. His name will not be perpetuated. Two, the idols that this king trusts in will be uncovered as helpless. Like Dagon, the Philistine god, who fell face down in front of the ark. And three, this king will die because he is vile.

And then we read this in chapter 2 and verse 1.

The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts, watch the road, dress for battle, collect all your strength.

Here the Lord calls Nineveh to prepare themselves for battle. He’s coming. Prepare. And the irony is that no human force can stand against this Lord. He melts mountains and dries up rivers and seas.

But all of this that Nahum writes, it is forewarning, and in that, it is grace. I’m hoping that there’s no one from Traffic Branch in this evening, or nobody works in those ranks. But these forewarnings by Nahum are the equivalent of a car driving down the road flashing its lights at you. And you know what that means? There’s something up ahead. Speed trap, obstruction, traffic accident, whatever it is, there’s something up ahead. And so every flash of a light is a warning, a forewarning. Pause. Think. Be careful what’s around the next corner. The promise of wrath is actually the grace of forewarning.

And what’s striking about the book of Nahum is that the victory is celebrated before the battle is actually waged. Remember, he’s writing before Assyria falls. But the victory of God against Nineveh is certain. And the Bible is equally certain about the end of human history. Consider this verse from Acts 17, verse 31, the Apostle Paul preaching on Mars Hill. He says that God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Or Revelation 20, in verse 12, the Apostle John records this vision:

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

The Bible is telling us that final judgment will happen, and the verdict will be God’s alone. And therefore, we must take this warning to others. So let me ask you this evening, who do you know who has not yet taken refuge in the Lord? Give them the grace of forewarning by telling them about the promised wrath. A church that is not evangelising is a church that does not love. A Christian who’s not evangelising is a Christian who does not love. Who are you showing grace to by forewarning them of the promised wrath?

3 The promise of wrath communicates the good news of salvation

As we have noted, the Lord acts on the basis of his character, and so that means that the Lord acts in his greatness in different ways towards different people. And so just as Nahum forewarns wrath in three episodes, well, he then proclaims the good news of salvation in three episodes. Look at these verses with me. Reverse back into Nahum chapter 1, verses 12 and 13.

Thus says the Lord, Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart.

Nahum is saying that despite the strength of Judah’s enemies, the Assyrians seem to be at the peak of their powers at the time that Nahum is writing. Despite that, they will be stopped. God will cut them down like a lawnmower scything down grass. They’ll be gone. More, the Lord will end Judah’s affliction, which has been under his control this whole time. One commentator observes, “The brief statement, ‘I have afflicted you,’ is therefore pregnant with the suffering of centuries, though expressed in a single Hebrew word.” The Lord has had his hand on his people for affliction, and he will lift it and it will be gone. The Lord will release his people from their oppression, no matter how long it has lasted.

Nahum continues, look at verse 15.

Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

This verse should sound familiar. Nahum is reflecting on Isaiah 52:7, which appears in Romans 10 as well. But in Isaiah, these words are part of an oracle declaring the coming salvation of the Lord. Nahum seems to be quoting Isaiah to tell his readers, yes, salvation is coming. You read of it in Isaiah. I’m telling you again, it is coming. Peace will return.

The second half of verse 15 elaborates on this presence of peace and salvation. I think it’s implying the return of full worship. The feasts that are being alluded to here are probably the celebrations of Passover, and Weeks, and Booths. Jewish festivals celebrating salvation. It seems to be that Nahum is saying, you will celebrate these feasts again. Salvation is coming.

And then we read this in chapter 2 and verse 2.

For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.

Nahum’s saying, despite present circumstances, there will be a restoration of the majesty in Judah. And so Nahum’s message is clear, good news of salvation. Salvation is coming. And so just as there’s the certainty of wrath on Nineveh, well, so too there’s the certainty of salvation to Judah through that wrath on Nineveh. Nahum is saying God is good and sovereign and salvation is coming.

I know it’s only October. But I love Christmas. I really love Christmas for lots of different reasons. But one reason is Advent calendars. Now, chocolates are way too small in Advent calendars, but despite that, I love Advent calendars. I do enjoy that small chocolate every day. Yes, I still buy myself one even though I’m in my late 30s. But what I appreciate about Advent calendars is a sense of anticipation that they create. Every day opening a door, one day closer to Christmas. Day by day, it trains you to eagerly anticipate the day that’s coming. They help us to count down and to look forward. And I think Nahum is doing something similar here. He’s promising salvation is coming. Count down and look forward.

And the promise of Nahum is progressively fulfilled throughout redemptive history. And it’s progressively fulfilled through Jesus’s earthly ministry. Take Matthew chapters 8 and 9, for example. There we read of Jesus healing the sick, controlling nature, exorcising demons, forgiving sin, raising someone from the dead. All of that is good news. It’s peace. It’s the invasion of the kingdom of God into the kingdom of darkness. It is salvation being worked out in real time in history.

But Nahum’s promise of full salvation will not be complete until the return of Jesus Christ. The Bible is clear, however, Jesus will return. And when he does, he will make everything right. He will lift all affliction. He will establish a perfect peace that will reign for all time. He will restore the cosmos’s majesty, and it will never be violated again. So brothers and sisters in Christ, hold on and hold out. Eagerly anticipate the return of Jesus and know that when that day comes, everything will have been worth it. Everything will have been worth it.

The only legitimate response to this passage is an immediate and an absolute submission to the great God who in grace forewarns and gives us the good news of salvation. And this good news of salvation is that God has punished the sins of all who trust in him and has done so in the suffering and death of his only Son, Jesus Christ. And in this, the Lord remains perfectly holy and just, punishing sin and yet graciously offering deliverance from wrath.

For those who have not yet taken refuge in the Lord, I am bringing you good news of possible peace. Because there remains time to repent and believe, to turn away from sin and to trust in Jesus. There remains opportunity to be known by the Lord and to take refuge in him. And for those of us who already trust, full and final salvation is coming.

And this is why Nahum says we need to treasure the wrath of God. Nahum is unashamed in calling us to treasure the wrath of God. And in this first chapter, he does so by calling us to recognise the promise of wrath. The wrath of God is good for us. Because without the wrath of God, there’s no justice. Evil reigns unaccountable and without consequences. The wrath of God is good for us because without it there is no gospel. Sin must be punished, and in Jesus it has been. The wrath of God has been poured out on Jesus so that we can experience forgiveness and find refuge in God alone. Michael Lawrence warns, “For the gospel to make sense, we must preach the justice and wrath of God. When we fail to preach the justice of God and downplay his wrath, we’re talking about some other gospel.”

So, let’s with Nahum treasure the wrath of God. And this promised wrath communicates to us a great God who in grace forewarns, and then proclaims the good news of salvation. Amen.