May 04, 2022

“NAHUM- THE CHARACTER OF GOD”

GOD IS JEALOUS

NAHUM 1:1-15

His name means “comfort” or “compassion,” and his message of Assyria’s doom would certainly have comforted the people of Judah who had suffered because of Assyria.

The message of Nahum is “the vengeance of God on His enemy.

Nahum 1:1 “The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 

Nahum made it clear that God is indeed the Judge of the nations and that pride goes before a fall:

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Nahum describes the character of God and how He is faithful to who He is. In the book of Nahum, Nahum makes three declarations about God and Nineveh. In chapter one we will look at the first one:

*God Is Jealous

Nahum 1:1-15

1.   God Speaks Of Himself

Nahum 1:2-8

Three important words are in these verses that need to be understood because they all relate to the character of God: jealousy, vengeance, and anger.

*Jealousy is a sin if it means being envious of what others have and wanting to possess it, but it’s a virtue if it means cherishing what we have and wanting to protect it. 

God prohibited the worship of idols for this reason:

Exodus 20:5 “You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.”

Exodus 34:14 “(For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God).”

Deuteronomy 4:24 “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

Deuteronomy 32:16 “They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.”

Deuteronomy 32:21 “They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.
But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.”

1 Kings 14:22 “Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.”

*We commonly think of vengeance as a sin, and it usually is; in fact, both Jesus and Paul warned about it (Matthew 5:38-48; Romans 12:17-21).

Deuteronomy 32:35,41

The Jewish people prayed to God to avenge them when they were attacked by other nations:

Psalm 94:1 “O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs—
O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!”

When God takes vengeance by judging people, it is because He is a holy God and is jealous (zealous) for His holy law.

*God’s anger isn’t like human anger, which can be selfish and out of control. His is a holy anger, a righteous indignation against all that defies His authority and disobeys His law.

Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.”

Henry Beecher said “A person that does not know how to be angry does not know how to be good.”

Nahum 1:2 “… The Lord avenges and is furious.” Filled with wrath. vs.6 “Who can stand before His indignation?…” God describes “indignation” as so fierce and powerful that it is “poured out like fire…”, with the power to throw down or break the rocks. 

Jonah 4:2 “So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”

Exodus 34:6 “And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.”

Nahum 1:3 “… The Lord has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.”

Nahum 1:4 “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 God that Nahum introduces to us is a jealous God who is angry at sin vs.2, but He is also a good God who cares for His people:

Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.”

Nahum invites us to consider the goodness and severity of God, as Paul put it:

Romans 11:22 “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.” 

2.   God Speaks To Nineveh

Nahum 1:9-11,14

He informs the leaders of Assyria that He knows their plots (vs.9,11) and will cause all of their plans to fail.

Nahum 1:10 “For while tangled like thorns, And while drunken like drunkards, They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.”

3.   God Speaks To Judah

Nahum 1:12-13,15

Yes, the Lord had used Assyria to chasten Judah in the past, but that would not happen again. 

Good news to Judah, Nineveh was fallen and the Assyrians army defeated and in disarray. Judah could now live in peace and enjoy her annual feasts and regular festivals.

Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Paul quotes this in Romans 10:15 “And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”