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755. Bible Study: Nahum 1 (Nineveh- Iraq- Jesus return) · Faith by annm2705

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Let's try this again. The book of Nahim, the
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introduction. So why read this book?
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Have you ever been angry? Not just annoyed, but really
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angry. Perhaps a friend has been
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cruelly victimized by a bully. Perhaps you've worked for a boss
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who puts people down to make himself or herself look good.
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Perhaps you've been the target of racial slurs.
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Whatever you've been through, the book of Nahum will remind
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you that God is in control of history and will not allow evil
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to persist forever. Who wrote the book Nahum?
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An otherwise unknown prophet whose name means comfort.
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To whom was it written? Although the book may seem to be
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addressed to the Assyrians, Nahum's message was actually for
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God's people, the nation of Judah.
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When was it written? Between 663 BC when Assyria
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conquered Egypt, and 612 BC when Nineveh, the capital of Assyria,
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fell to the Babylonians. Although Nahum's ministry was
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probably near the end of this period, since he represented the
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fall of Nineveh as imminent, this was approximately 100 years
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after Jonah had delivered God's message to Nineveh.
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I think it's interesting that Nineveh was the capital of
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Assyria and it fell to the Babylonians.
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And so I think that's kind of interesting what was happening
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in the world at this time. Assyria had defeated the
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northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC.
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Now, approximately 100 years later, the southern Kingdom of
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Judah was ruled by Manasseh or Josiah, depending on when when
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Nahem's ministry is dated. How was it or why was it written
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to assure people that evil does not endure forever and that God
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will one day fulfill his plan to permanently restore good?
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What to look for in Nahum? Mercy and judgement, both of
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which reveal the character of God.
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Look for for ways these seemingly opposite traits
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actually reflect God's consistent stance towards his
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people. So let's start with a prayer
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before we get into the 1st chapter.
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Dear God, please be with us as we read through the scripture,
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as we read through the words that you gave to Nahum.
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Please let our eyes be opened and our minds be opened to
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receiving wisdom from the Holy Spirit and also to be able to
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apply things that are stated here to our own lives and how we
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can learn from what you've given Nahem.
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We ask for this in Jesus name, Amen.
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So a prophecy concerning Nineveh, the book of the book of
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the vision of Nahem the Alkoshite, the Lord is a jealous
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and avenging God. The Lord takes vengeance and is
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filled with wrath. So gosh, just starting there.
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I mean it, you know, it's it talks about the kind of the
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juxtaposition of God's mercy and judgement.
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Well, this certainly starts out that way.
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He's So we should read a couple things from the study book about
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this. So what is a prophecy?
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The Hebrew word for this word is related to a Hebrew verb meaning
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to lift up, carry, and is possibly to be understood as
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either lifting up one's voice or carrying a burden.
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Such Old Testament prophecies often contained a message of
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doom. Is God wrong to be jealous?
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In its usual sense, jealousy is a sinful trait, but the word can
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also denote A godly quality. In this second sense, God is
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jealous. The word is related to the word
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zealous for people's faithfulness.
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God's jealousy shows his love, not selfishness or lack of
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control. God's righteous jealousy causes
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him to take vengeance on those who hurt his children.
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So we'll go back to Scripture. The Lord takes vengeance on His
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foes and vents his wrath against his enemies.
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The Lord is slow to anger but great in power.
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The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
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His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds and
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the clouds are the dust of his feet.
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He rebukes the sea and dries it up.
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He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel whither, and
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the blossoms of Lebanon fade. The mountains quake before him,
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and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his
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presence. The world and all who live in
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it, who can withstand his indignation, who can endure his
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fierce anger. His wrath is poured out like
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fire. The rocks are shattered before
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him. See, a lot of people don't like
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to talk about this aspect of God, this character of God, and
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they only want to talk about him as love or they want to separate
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him and say, oh, he was different in the Old Testament.
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Well, Scripture tells us that God doesn't change, he's the
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same. And if we read the whole Bible,
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we see that God is both. And if you really think about it
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from a logical sense, you would have to be if there's evil in
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the world, then God would need to show love, but also show
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wrath or have wrath occur because evil hurts.
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You know, it impacts the love aspect.
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So it has to be dealt with. And so it to me, it just seems
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like it's not really hard to understand how God can be both
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because he's not taking out vengeance or anything on his
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children. In fact, it switches the in
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verse 7 and it says the Lord is good, a refuge in times of
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trouble. So there's trouble going on
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around us and the Lord is a refuge and he is good.
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It's the, the when trouble occurs around us, it's, you
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know, there's several, there could be several things
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according to the Bible. It can be consequences of
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actions. It can be the evil one trying to
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test 1 of God's people, like in the case of Job, or it could be
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something that God allows to draw people closer to him.
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Because a lot of times people, you know, we get opportunities
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to get close to God, but we don't do it.
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So if we keep ignoring him, he's going to keep making, he's going
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to keep shaking us up a little bit more to get our attention.
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And it's not for bad because if we think about ultimately what
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he wants to do is he wants us to come to him so that we can be
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his children in the Kingdom of God.
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That's the purpose behind all of this.
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But sometimes we're just so stubborn and we just keep
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ignoring God that he has to send calamity to us to to make us
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wake up. But then there's the other
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circumstance where Job, who was always righteous and always did
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good things and God had, you know, it actually said in
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Scripture, he said, I think it was Satan that said, yeah, of
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course he loves you because you always had some sort of hedge of
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protection around him. And but he was righteous to God.
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Like he loved God and he showed God he was a righteous man.
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It's, you know, his faith in action was shown and and so he
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believed in God and therefore his actions reflected that.
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And so it wasn't anything that Job did, but Satan being the
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accuser, challenge God about Job and just said, well, you know,
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you've just been great to him. So he's not going to turn away
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from you or he's he's there has no reason to turn away from you.
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But let me at him and then you'll see how he turns.
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I mean, that was like Satan's kind of play on this.
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And then God was like, OK, but you cannot have his soul, but go
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ahead. And he allowed Satan to test
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Job, but and Job didn't understand what was going on and
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he kept pleading with God, but he never turned away from God.
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And that's a great example for us that if and when we go
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through things like that, we shouldn't turn away from God
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because there is a blessing. In fact, at the end of the book
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of Job, God like doubly blessed his life as a result of him
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staying true to God and keeping his relationship with God rather
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than rejecting God. Because we all have that choice
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when bad things come about, what what we do after that.
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So anyway. But God is a refuge in times of
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trouble, certainly in the world. Like Jesus said that in this
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world we will have trouble but trust in him because he's
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overcome the world. So when we have trouble, the 1st
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place we should go to is God. I mean, it just makes sense.
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Like immediately go to God. Because God, if we are his
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children, he's going to protect us.
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He's going to give us a refuge. He's going to make a way for us.
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And he, this is, this is the way God is.
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And it shows us this throughout history.
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So he cares for those who trust in him.
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But with an overwhelming flood, he will make an end of Nineveh.
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And Nineveh is in the in the country of Iraq.
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And I think it's interesting because I didn't really know
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where Nineveh was originally, but it's it's in Iraq.
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And also Babylon was in Iraq. And so then it just kind of
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leads me to wonder, is there something about this place that
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keeps like spawning these evil people that are coming from it?
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It's a question that's not really answered in the Bible,
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but we just see it repeatedly occurring here.
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So anyway, he said in here, he said, but with an overwhelming
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flood, he will make an end of Nineveh.
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He will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.
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Now, that seems like a little bit further than just a battle
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between. I mean, it is a battle, but it's
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more like a spiritual battle because the realm of darkness, I
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mean, that's usually like a place where God sends people as
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in judgement. So it says he will pursue his
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foes into the realm of darkness. Whatever they plot against the
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Lord, he will bring to an end. Trouble will not come a second
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time like when God does this, when he takes his vengeance.
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And I really do believe that this is about like the end of
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the age when this happens because it says, you know,
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trouble will not come a second time.
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So when God takes care of it, it's over.
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God is the final authority. They will be entangled.
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They will be entangled among thorns and drunk from their
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wine. They will be consumed like dry
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stubble from you. Nineveh has has one come forth
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who plots evil against the Lord and devises wicked plans again,
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that's, you know, this, this Nineveh, there were a lot of
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sinful people there and that's why God sent Jonah there.
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Jonah didn't even want to go there, but he hit that's what
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God wanted him to do and he made it happen.
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And like the study Bible said it was 100 years before this.
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So within 100 years time, they're turning back again.
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It's just, you know, none of these things seem to last very
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long on this earth. I mean, there's very few people
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that stay true to God, and I think we kind of see that today
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too, you know? Anyway, this is what the Lord
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says. Although they have allies and
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are numerous, they will be destroyed and pass away.
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Although I have afflicted you, Judah, I will afflict you no
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more. Well, Judah has Judah or the
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Jews have suffered throughout history and that's still has
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happened and is happening today. So that's again why I think this
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is talking about more at the end of the age that I will afflict
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you no more. There's going to be a time when
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all this stops. Now I will break their yoke from
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your neck and tear your shackles away.
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The Lord has given a command concerning you, Nineveh.
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You will have no descendants to beat, to bear, to bear your
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name. I will destroy the images and
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the idols that are in the temple of your gods.
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I will prepare your grave, for you are vile.
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Look there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good
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news, who proclaims peace. So as soon as I read that, I
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think immediately about Jesus, because Jesus brings everlasting
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peace. When God is saying, you know,
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that there's never going to be anything, that God's going to
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take care of this. There will not be a second time.
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It's going to be 1 and done. That's only going to be at the
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time when Jesus returns. And so celebrate your festivals,
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Judah and fulfill your vows vows.
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No more will the wicked invade you.
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They will be completely destroyed.
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Well, that hasn't happened yet. And so when I was thinking about
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look there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good
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news, who proclaims peace. So I know this talks, I mean
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about there's a about evangelism, evangelization is
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talked about in that way. But I think this also refers to,
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I mean, especially here refers to Jesus at this time.
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And see, I'll read the verse that makes me think that it's
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from Zechariah, another prophet, Zechariah 14, verse 4.
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On that day, his feet talking about Jesus will stand on the
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Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of
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Olives will be split in two from east to West, forming a great
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valley with half of the mountain moving north and half moving
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South. So let's see because the the
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prior verse to that says then the Lord will go out and fight
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against those nations as he fights on a day of battle.
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So this is yeah, if I go up to Zechariah 14 verse one and start
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there and read down maybe to get the full context.
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And because this is talking about the Lord comes and reigns,
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and it's in Ezekiel 3839, Mark 13, Revelation 20 through 22 are
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also things that are compared to these verses.
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So a day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your perceptions
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will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.
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This is kind of reading that right now next week we have
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this, I don't know what's going to happen, but this UN meeting
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actually in one week from today on the 23rd and they are talking
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about, I mean it's on the agenda.
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I don't know how official it will become, but they did have a
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vote last Friday about the two state solution dividing land
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between Israel and Palestine. And the nations that voted there
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were, I think 142 that voted for it and maybe like 10 against it
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or 12 against it, I'm not sure. And then there were another like
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10 or 12 that with withheld their vote.
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But the majority is believing that they should divide the land
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of Israel in the name of peace and security.
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And Scripture also tells us when they say peace and security
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comes sudden destruction. So this is interesting that
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Zechariah says, Zechariah 14, a day of the Lord is coming,
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Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up
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within your walls. I will gather all the nations to
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Jerusalem to fight against it. The city will be captured, the
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houses ransacked and the women raped.
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Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the
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people will not be taken from the city.
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Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as
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he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet will stand
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on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of
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Olives will split in two from east to West, forming a great
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valley with half of the mountain moving north and half moving S
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You will flee by the mountain valley, for it will extend to
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Azel. You will flee as as you fled
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from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.
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Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him.
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So this is going to be like this is that that final battle that
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God has with final battle of good and evil.
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On that day there will be another neither sunlight nor
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cold frosty darkness. It will be a unique day, a day
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known only to the Lord, with no distinction between day and
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night. When evening comes, there will
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be light. On that day, living water will
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flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half
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of it West to the Mediterranean Sea.
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In summer and in winter the the Lord will be king over the whole
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earth. On that day there will be 1 Lord
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and His name, the only name. The whole land from Giba to
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Rimmon South of Jerusalem will become like Arabia, but
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Jerusalem will be raised up high from the Benjamin Gate to the
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site of the first gate to the corner gate, and from the Tower
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of Hananel to the royal wine presses, and will remain in its
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place. It will be inhabited.
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Never again will it be destroyed.
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Jerusalem will be secure. This is after Jesus returns.
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This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all nations
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that fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh will rot while they
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are still standing on their feet.
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Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will
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rot in their mouths. On that day people will be
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stricken by the Lord with great panic.
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They will seize each other by the hand and and attack one
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another. Judah too will fight at
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Jerusalem. The wealth of all the
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surrounding nations will be collected, great quantities of
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gold and silver and clothing. A similar plague will strike
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horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in
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those camps. Then the survivors from all the
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nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after
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year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate
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the festival of Tabernacles. If any of the people of the
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earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord
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Almighty, they will have no reign.
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If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have
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no reign. The Lord will bring on them the
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plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to
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celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
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So we see here that when Jesus returns we will be people will
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be going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of
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Tabernacles during the Millennium reign of Christ.
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This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all
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the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of
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Tabernacles. On that day.
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Holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the
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horses and the cooking pots in the Lord's house will be like
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the sacred bowls in front of the altar.
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Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord
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Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the
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pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no
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longer be a Canaanite in the House of the Lord Almighty.
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Well, that was the whole chapter 14 of Zechariah.
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But again, this is when his feet will be on the Mount of Olives
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and, and it says, look, they're on the mountains.
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The feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace.
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That's Jesus. So anyway, again, Jesus is all
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over the Old Testament, but we don't always see it right away.
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So let's go through questions and answers, and then I will end
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this chapter. Our tornadoes and earthquakes
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signs of God's anger. We should caution against making
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an automatic connection between natural calamities and the wrath
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of God. It is clear, however, that God
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has a passionate commitment to righteousness, and He becomes
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angry when confronted with unrighteousness.
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Whether a particular natural calamity is a direct act of God
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against a community or country is something known only to God
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unless He reveals a connection. Does God have mood swings?
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No, although here it seems that he does abruptly ship from wrath
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when he was talking like the first part of his wrath, and
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then it said the Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.
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It might be difficult at times to see how God's love can be
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compatible with His judgement, but God never changes.
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His character and actions are consistent throughout human
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history. He loves people and hates
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injustice. Who would plot against God?
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Perhaps Sennacherib. And I've been saying that name
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for so so wrong and it's hard to.
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Sennacherib, I believe is the way it's supposed to be stated.
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The Assyrian king who defied God and threatened Judah during
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Hezekiah's reign. Another possibility is Asher
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Banapal, a later Assyrian king who conquered Egypt and subdued
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Judah's king Manasseh. Or the verse could refer
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generally to nation to the nation of Assyria itself, with
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all its brutally ambitious kings.
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Some think the phrase suggests an evil spiritual power behind
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Assyria's aggression. That's something that today
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everybody seems to, well, not everybody, but a lot of people
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still have a hard time getting their heads around that, about
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the spiritual battle that we are in and to see things for what
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they are, to have spiritual discernment of this.
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But Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12 tells us that we wrestle not
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against flesh and blood. It's not against human beings
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that we are in conflict with. There's a spiritual aspect and
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maybe I just, it actually helps me to deal with people because
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if you think about it, if you think that all of us are sinners
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and we are all like disobedient to God until the point where
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our, our eyes are opened and we decide that we don't want to be
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that way anymore And we ask for forgiveness and we repent and
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receive the Holy Spirit. Then the Holy Spirit, the power
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of God starts working in our lives and starts changing us
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from the sinful ways of our past.
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We become a new creation. Just like Jesus said, you must
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be born again to enter the Kingdom of God.
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No one can enter the Kingdom, Kingdom of God unless they are
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born again. That's in John chapter 3.
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So unless we are filled with the Holy Spirit and we become a new
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creation, we can't get into God's Kingdom.
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And that's what Jesus himself said.
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So there is. I listened to what Jesus said.
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So anyway, this we, this whole thing about for our struggle is
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not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers.
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This isn't like all rulers, but against the authorities, against
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the powers of this Dark World and against the spiritual forces
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of evil in the heavenly realms. Just like what Job experienced
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if Satan was up there and he has people that are aligned with him
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as well. They are all under the control
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of God. That's The thing is that they
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cannot do anything without God giving him permission.
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So it, you know, like ultimately pray our prayers to God matter
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and God will take care of this. Like we have No Fear when we
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have the Holy Spirit because we have the Holy Spirit residing in
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us. We are a new creation.
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We don't have to fear these kinds of things because we have
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the armor of God. It is God's protection that we
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have. And it says in in Ephesians 6,
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verse 11, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your
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stand against the devil's schemes.
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The devil is scheming to. He's seeking, killing and
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destroying. That's what he wants to do with
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people. And the reason I say this is
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because I want people to know you are not helpless.
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All we need to do is trust in God to be born again, to have
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the Holy Spirit, and then we don't have to fear these things
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because it will be God acting on our behalf.
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We just trust God. We put our faith in God.
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We know scripture, I mean it talks about all the components
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of the armor of God. But if we are just ignorant to
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this, if we're blind to this, we have no idea that there's an
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enemy, an unseen enemy targeting us, trying to destroy us, and we
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don't see it. So we how do you fight something
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you don't see? If you're if your knowledge is
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blinded, if you, if you are, if you are ignorant of the fact of
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this, you won't even think about this.
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You'll think it's all natural causes that are happening and
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you won't even think that maybe it's something I'm not seeing
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here that's active, that's trying to destroy.
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And like I said, that really helps with people because then
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you can see beyond the person. You can say they're just being
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used by God's enemy to come against me and they don't even
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know it. So we can't.
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And, you know, we were in the same condition until we have
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spiritual discernment, until we are born again and we have the
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Holy Spirit that reveals these things to us.
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And then we can see that what spirit is actually influencing a
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person because we are either being influenced by the Holy
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Spirit or we are in rebellion to God.
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And we've given the enemy access to our lives.
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And that affects us. It affects how we interact with
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other people and we all came from that.
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So we should have empathy for each other knowing that we
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ourselves came from that condition too.
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But it's again like trying to share the good news that you
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don't have to be stuck there. All you need to do is turn to
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God and receive the Holy Spirit and God will begin changing our
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lives and being that safe refuge for us.
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And we don't have to go through the, the, the battles like that.
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If we just trust God and just know that he will.
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He's a, he's a God of like he keeps his promises.
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So there's so many things about it that I, I guess that's really
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all I need to say about this right now.
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But let's go to the next question.
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Why does God afflict people he loves when Israel betrayed her
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commitment to God? So there, it's kind of like
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Israel's not being obedient to God.
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God allowed Assyria to destroy the northern Kingdom of Israel
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and afflict the southern Kingdom of Israel, of the southern
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Kingdom of Judah until Judah repented of her unfaithfulness
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and cried out for deliverance. See, God will give us more.
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It's not, you know, He. Because ultimately, if we're so
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stubborn that we don't see the little things when God's trying
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to gently say, hey, turn to me, turn to me and we just ignore
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Him, we don't even realize that the the stuff in our life is a
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consequence of our actions. So we just keep on going and
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we're like, gosh, I don't know why all this stuff is happening
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to me. Well, if we knew the Bible, we
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would know why it's happening and then we can pray about it
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and say, God, please take this from me, please deal with this.
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Please address this, or please give me wisdom on how to do
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this. But ultimately, before we even
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ask God to do anything, what does it say here about what
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Judah did? Judah repented of her
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unfaithfulness and cried out for deliverance.
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That's like, I don't want this anymore.
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So we have to humble ourselves, recognize that we are, you know,
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acting like an enemy of God and ask for forgiveness and say,
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take this away from me, the deliverance of this, like, you
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know, repenting of unfaithfulness.
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Are we not being faithful to God?
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Are we doing things that he says don't do?
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And if so, then we need to change that.
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When God's people cry out in repentance, God keeps forgiving,
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loving, and working to restore the broken relationships.
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God's loving discipline is at work today in those who who are
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committed to Him. So again, it it requires A
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commitment to Him. If we are not committed to Him,
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how can we expect that He's going to be protecting us
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because we've chosen to be an enemy of His.
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We're at war with him when we are rebelling against him.
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That's not showing love to God. So how can we think, OK, I'm
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going to do these things against you, but now life got tough and
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now help me, help me get out of this.
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Like I don't want to change my ways, but just take the stuff
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away from me. That doesn't work according to
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the Bible. According to the Bible, we have
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to 1st recognize what we're doing and go to God about it.
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So how did how did God afflict Judah?
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God put his people into the hands of a cruel foreign army.
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Assyria became God's tool to punish and cleanse and punish
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and cleanse Judah. This thus fulfilling the
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prediction that foreigners would dominate God's people if they
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were unfaithful to Him. And boy, there's a lot of
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references, a lot of biblical references about that statement,
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and I think we might want to read that again.
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Foreigners would dominate God's people if they were unfaithful
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to him. Talk about needing a revival,
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needing to turn to God. And these foreigners, they're
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not. It's not just like these are
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like mean people, evil people, cruel people.
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It says a cruel foreign army. That's what it is.
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It's not just, you know, other Christians from another country
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or something like that. No, that's not what this is
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talking about. This is talking about evil, like
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God allowing evil whenever he talks about foreign.
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It's not in the Bible, it's not about race.
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It's not about the things that people make it into today, color
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of people's skin and all that stuff.
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No, these are usually people who are worshipping another God, not
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him. They are worshipping another
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God. Those are what foreigners are in
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the Bible. They're people who worship
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something else other than God. So God did it to to them and he
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will, He will do it like God doesn't change.
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Why would he treat us any different than the way he treats
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treated Judah? I mean it shows God's character,
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shows how God responds when we are disobedient.
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So then it talks about like when would this peace come?
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Some see two contexts in which this promise could be fulfilled.
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First, the people of Judah heard great news of coming
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deliverance. Nineveh would be destroyed and
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Assyrian forces would suffer their final defeat soon
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afterwards. And that was fulfilled in six O
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9 BC. Nineveh was so completely
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destroyed that it's runes were not identified until 1845.
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The second context of this promise of peace tells the good
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news of the Messiah. Jesus Christ breaks the power of
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evil and will achieve final victory at his second coming.
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So this study Bible references the feet of one who brings good
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news. It's talking about more like
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people. But I kind of see this as more
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like Jesus is going to bring, you know, because it says the
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feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace.
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Like Jesus will be announcing his authority over the earth.
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He will be the king and he will pronounce peace.
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I mean, I think that's the ultimate feat of the one.
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And that'll be on the Mount of Olives.
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Like I said, the study Bible will refers us to Isaiah 52
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verse 7 and says how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of
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those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good
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tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion your God reigns.
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So again, that is when Jesus takes over like that God is will
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be reigning that's and there will be salvation will that
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salvation only comes through Jesus.
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So that's all talking about Jesus and that's in the book of
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Isaiah chapter 52. Then in Romans it talks about
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this the feet also Romans 10 verse 15 and how can anyone
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preach unless they are sent as it is written.
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How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
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So it also reflects on the good news that are shared, that are
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that are shared. So anyway, that's the end of
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Chapter 1. So I'll end now and we will
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start with Chapter 2 the next time.