Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 756. Bible Study: Nahum 2 and 3 (Nineveh's Fall)

Transcript

756. Bible Study: Nahum 2 and 3 (Nineveh's Fall) · Faith by annm2705

• 0:00
  This is chapter 2 and maybe chapter 3 of Nahum.
• 0:05
  So first let's pray. Dear God, please give us wisdom,
• 0:09
  insight as we read through this so that we know what you want us
• 0:14
  to pay attention to. We ask for this in Jesus name,
• 0:18
  Amen. Chapter 2.
• 0:21
  An attacker of the advances against you, Nineveh.
• 0:26
  Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, Marshall
• 0:30
  all your strength. So who was this attacker?
• 0:33
  In the study Bible it says perhaps the king of Babylon are
• 0:36
  more likely the alliance of nations that joined forces to
• 0:40
  destroy Nineveh. So I searched Nineveh is in Iraq
• 0:45
  and I searched, you know, this happened some time ago.
• 0:48
  So I searched who destroyed Nineveh and I found that it was
• 0:53
  the Medes who destroyed. So they were the one who came
• 0:57
  against Nineveh and scattered them, Says the Lord will restore
• 1:02
  the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though
• 1:06
  destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.
• 1:13
  This is kind of interesting too, because in if we go to
• 1:18
  blueletterbible.org and we look up, let's see, I don't think I
• 1:25
  have that one saved again. So I'm going to have to look it
• 1:29
  up and go to Nahom 2 and see what these words are.
• 1:37
  So it's it's just really interesting when you do a deep
• 1:40
  dive study into some of these things, sometimes our
• 1:44
  translations aren't as clear as they could be.
• 1:48
  Or there's a little bit more that, you know, we could think
• 1:51
  that the destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their
• 1:56
  vines. OK, that could be just a literal
• 1:58
  thing like their grape vines are destroyed because the destroyers
• 2:02
  came through. So yes, that's and like I
• 2:06
  noticed before in studying the Bible that a lot of times these
• 2:09
  do have double meanings. They have a literal meeting and
• 2:15
  then they also have a spiritual meeting.
• 2:17
  And you'll see this when it when you get into this sentence.
• 2:21
  So it talks about their vine branches.
• 2:24
  And so that's Strong's age 2156, and it's called a, a branch, a
• 2:31
  twig or a chute. Well, that's the literal sense
• 2:34
  of it. So that makes sense that these
• 2:36
  were the things that were destroyed.
• 2:39
  But then when you get into the further detail about this in
• 2:47
  Strong's 2156, it talks about, it gives all these different
• 2:51
  references for a branch, a twig, a chute.
• 2:54
  And of course, you know, it's an absolute physical item, but then
• 3:02
  it also talks about like the branch of a Grapevine.
• 3:05
  There's a lot of symbolism in these branches and the Grapevine
• 3:11
  and so forth. So it says like branch and twig
• 3:14
  used in idolatrous worship. And then it says, compare it to
• 3:23
  in Isaiah 17 verse 12, twigs of a strange one, IE of a strange
• 3:32
  God figurative of idolatrous cults adopted by Israel.
• 3:39
  So that's interesting to me. And then it says plural in
• 3:42
  figure of Israelites. And then it references Nahum 2
• 3:46
  verse 3. So it's almost like there's like
• 3:49
  a a double meaning here. And it's actually referencing
• 3:54
  Nahum 2-3 and it's talking about a strange one, idolatrous cults.
• 4:00
  So I I do think this one may have multiple meanings though.
• 4:07
  Destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.
• 4:10
  So because of this idolatrous cults, the, the people of Israel
• 4:16
  have been ruined by this by allowing this into their land
• 4:22
  and or these lands, not really even allowing it, but these
• 4:25
  destroyers coming into the land, they're destroying what God had
• 4:29
  identified as their land and they're bringing in this
• 4:33
  idolatrous cult into Israel. So like I said, I think there's
• 4:39
  a little bit more to this. And so it says the Shields of
• 4:42
  the soldiers are red, the warriors are clad in scarlet.
• 4:47
  When it, I don't know. I mean, it's just, you know,
• 4:50
  maybe a literal thing. And those were how they were
• 4:54
  actually dressed. But then you think about red and
• 4:58
  scarlet and sometimes you think about this like description of
• 5:04
  evil. A lot of times it's red and
• 5:06
  scarlet. People that have tendencies
• 5:09
  towards evil are sometimes referenced like that, like the
• 5:14
  dragon in the Book of Revelation.
• 5:17
  Like let's see, what was Esau? Who for who didn't who gave up
• 5:24
  his right as a first born because of an immediate desire
• 5:29
  he had for soup. He was hungry.
• 5:31
  He wanted that, so he gave up his status and as the first born
• 5:34
  and Esau was described as being red haired, there was like red,
• 5:38
  you know, attached to the description of him.
• 5:42
  So you do see that about this, this redness that's being tied
• 5:49
  to that. Or you could make a conclusion
• 5:52
  from that. So could it just be referencing
• 5:55
  something evil? The Shields of the soldiers are
• 5:57
  red, the warriors are clad and scarlet.
• 5:59
  You know, there's a lot of different meanings.
• 6:01
  So I can't can't really jump to the conclusion of that.
• 6:03
  But it just is interesting. The metal on the Chariots
• 6:07
  flashes on the day they are made ready.
• 6:11
  So this also says to me that God is still in control in this.
• 6:15
  He's making them ready for this specific date.
• 6:20
  The Spears of juniper are brandished like nothing happens
• 6:23
  without God allowing it. God is still over all the
• 6:27
  authority of everything. The chariot storm through the
• 6:31
  streets, rushing back and forth through the squares.
• 6:35
  They look like flaming torches. They dart about like lightning.
• 6:40
  Nineveh summons her picked troops, yet they stumble on
• 6:45
  their way. They dash to the city wall, the
• 6:48
  protective shield is put in place, the river gates are are
• 6:52
  thrown open and the palace collapses.
• 6:56
  This is kind of interesting too, because in searching about
• 7:00
  Nineveh in the destruction, first the Medes came and
• 7:04
  destroyed the town and then apparently a massive flood from
• 7:11
  the I guess the kosher, kosher KHOSER River breached the city.
• 7:18
  So and then it was even further destruction.
• 7:21
  So it was like thrown into lots of destruction.
• 7:26
  Here it is decreed that Nineveh be exiled and carried away.
• 7:30
  Her female slaves moan like doves and beat on their breast.
• 7:35
  Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away.
• 7:40
  Stop, stop. They cry, but no one turns back.
• 7:44
  Plunder the silver, plunder the gold.
• 7:46
  The supply is endless. So it's showing the wealth, I
• 7:50
  guess, of Nineveh, the wealth from all its treasures.
• 7:54
  She is pillaged, plundered, stripped.
• 7:57
  Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows
• 8:04
  pale. So this is almost like something
• 8:06
  really unexpected happening when they see this happening, like it
• 8:11
  wasn't anticipated. This also reminds me of what's
• 8:14
  going to happen with Mystery Babylon.
• 8:17
  Then it says where now is the lion's den, the place where they
• 8:21
  feed their young, where the lion and the lioness went, and the
• 8:26
  Cubs with nothing to fear. The lion killed enough for his
• 8:30
  Cubs, and he strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lair
• 8:34
  with the kill and his dens with the prey.
• 8:38
  So this, you know, the lion is sometimes referred obviously to
• 8:44
  Jesus sometimes, but it's also referred to the enemy.
• 8:49
  It's like a copycat of Jesus. So there's and then you look
• 8:54
  into the deeper parts of Scripture and there's the the
• 8:57
  main theme it seems like God is upset about is idolatry is
• 9:03
  people putting something else as more important than him.
• 9:11
  And and it could be through all sorts of things in our lives.
• 9:17
  Like it's not me. It is idolatry is anything that
• 9:22
  takes away from God being the priority and we are all guilty
• 9:27
  of that. So it's it's something that we
• 9:31
  all need to self reflect on because if just pay attention to
• 9:36
  what we prioritize and whether or not we are prioritizing God
• 9:41
  because it's really important because that is probably the
• 9:44
  most offensive thing to God. And if you look throughout the
• 9:49
  Bible, it talks about, you know, the prostitute, the adulterous,
• 9:53
  this like cheating on God with something else.
• 9:59
  That's what it's like. And, and we don't seem to think
• 10:04
  about that like, like, you know, just like as a as a culture, do
• 10:11
  we think about what our actions are this.
• 10:14
  So this is like these sentences here where they're talking about
• 10:18
  the lion's den. Obviously, this is the enemy of
• 10:20
  God. And it's a place where they fed
• 10:22
  their young and they killed enough for their Cubs and
• 10:26
  strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill
• 10:31
  and his dens with the prey. All of a sudden, like when I
• 10:34
  read these things, I think of these things like in a spiritual
• 10:38
  aspect, that this is something that it, it talks about the
• 10:44
  lion. Now, isn't it usually the
• 10:46
  lioness who goes out and hunts for the, for the, the pride, the
• 10:52
  family? But yet this is talking about
• 10:55
  the the male lion going out and he's doing that and he's filling
• 11:03
  his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.
• 11:07
  So this is a little bit different.
• 11:10
  And so I wonder again, the spiritual aspect of it because
• 11:15
  of Mystery Babylon is called a, it's referred to as a female.
• 11:20
  And over time, I've been coming to the conclusion that this is a
• 11:25
  spiritual entity that is affecting those who rebel
• 11:34
  against God. That's ultimately it.
• 11:37
  So again, this is like this, this, this prostitute that God
• 11:45
  refers to is a spiritual thing. And I think it might be, oh
• 11:50
  gosh, all of the different ancient religions.
• 11:54
  I think it's Inanna this and I don't remember what culture that
• 12:03
  came from but or Ashtar. I mean it's OK.
• 12:08
  Inana was a major Sumerian and Mesopotamian goddess, also known
• 12:16
  as Ishtar of love, fertility, war and justice, embodying
• 12:24
  contradictory traits of pride, ambition and wisdom.
• 12:30
  So in it, it connects her with the underworld and it's it's it
• 12:36
  also says that she inspired later goddesses like Aphrodite
• 12:41
  and Astarte. So this is just, when you get
• 12:47
  into this, I mean this, you start seeing how it blends into
• 12:54
  other cultures. And it was it, that was who they
• 13:00
  worship. That's who the Babylonians
• 13:01
  worshipped. And so it's also her
• 13:06
  independence and strength in a patriarchal pantheon have made
• 13:11
  her a subject of feminist analysis.
• 13:15
  So this is really like tying into a lot of the things that
• 13:18
  we're seeing here culturally and the effect that we're having.
• 13:23
  And could it be I, I believe she might have also been like
• 13:26
  androgynous. But the things that are
• 13:31
  afflicting, I'm just going to say afflicting our country, the
• 13:35
  world, it seems like they are embodiments of this like
• 13:42
  spiritual entity. And I just wonder if God is like
• 13:47
  in code, talking about these things in scripture and warning
• 13:52
  people of them. Is this this entity, a true
• 13:57
  spiritual entity that God is going to annihilate eventually.
• 14:03
  But this thing is like coming through and just destroying
• 14:10
  people with with its. I don't know, with its we'll get
• 14:18
  into it in chapter 3. So this is this is just really
• 14:22
  interesting. I think my point will maybe be
• 14:24
  clearer in the next chapter. So anyway, something to think
• 14:30
  about and ponder on and maybe research and not to get into all
• 14:35
  that stuff. Because the the most important
• 14:38
  thing to know is that if we surrender to God, if we ask God
• 14:44
  to be Lord over our life, if we ask God for the Holy Spirit to
• 14:50
  guide us in holiness and righteousness and what God wants
• 14:54
  us to be, If we surrender our natural sinful state and say,
• 14:58
  God, I don't want this anymore. I want you, I want you to change
• 15:02
  my life. If we give God permission,
• 15:05
  that's showing our free will. That's what we want him to do
• 15:10
  and we reject all this other stuff that has been influencing
• 15:13
  our lives. When when our eyes are open to
• 15:17
  that and we can go to God with us and repent of that, God will
• 15:23
  protect us. God will.
• 15:25
  God will be there for us. We won't have fear.
• 15:28
  There's not going to be anything to be fearful of.
• 15:31
  But I think when we are like blindly not seeing who the enemy
• 15:35
  is in our life and this enemy of God is spiritual and affecting
• 15:44
  people today, it's I, I don't know.
• 15:48
  I think when I believe when people have the Holy Spirit,
• 15:53
  they can see these things. And when they don't have the
• 15:56
  Holy Spirit, they don't see these things because one of the
• 15:59
  gifts of the Spirit is spiritual discernment.
• 16:02
  And to see the spirit behind something that is, that is
• 16:07
  happening and some people can see it and other people can't.
• 16:12
  And I, I believe that, I mean, God doesn't give the same gifts
• 16:17
  to every single person. So maybe not all people who have
• 16:20
  the Holy Spirit had that spiritual discernment, but it's
• 16:24
  possible that people can have that from God.
• 16:29
  And, and it's not so much about the gift, but it's just like
• 16:33
  having your eyes opened. I mean, there are many times in
• 16:36
  scripture where someone with spiritual discernment has prayed
• 16:43
  to God and said God like open their eyes for them, let them
• 16:47
  see what I see. And then God does that.
• 16:52
  And then the people like this is often well, one example that I'm
• 16:55
  thinking of is when they were in battle and everybody was getting
• 16:58
  fearful. And the, the person, I can't
• 17:02
  remember who it was that said this, but he prayed to God and
• 17:05
  asked God to open the eyes of those so they could see.
• 17:08
  And when God opened the eyes, the, the other person who was
• 17:11
  fearful saw all these armies, God's armies and people who have
• 17:20
  been in witchcraft and been in a cultish practices, they, and now
• 17:26
  they are followers of Jesus. Like their eyes were opened and
• 17:29
  they, they, they, they, they changed, they repented.
• 17:35
  They are no longer a part of it. They actually have some insight
• 17:39
  into what goes on, which is really kind of shocking to
• 17:42
  people because we don't think that kind of certain kinds of
• 17:45
  things happen. But these people who have been
• 17:48
  there, seen it, experienced it, they have told us that these
• 17:54
  things happen. But here's the one thing that's
• 17:55
  really awesome that they do also tell.
• 18:00
  They say that the prayers of the righteous one protect ones like
• 18:04
  even when they are coming and praying against something or you
• 18:08
  know, like going to use their sorcery to do that, that there
• 18:12
  is some sort of shield around those who are God's children.
• 18:17
  There is some shield around those who are prayed for by the
• 18:19
  righteous ones. Like our prayer is so powerful
• 18:25
  not because of anything of us, but because of God, because God
• 18:28
  is the authority. If we are trusting in God, if we
• 18:31
  are relying on God, if we are praying it, it makes all the
• 18:37
  difference in the world. I mean, Scripture says like be
• 18:41
  alert and of sober mind and because a couple different
• 18:46
  things, one of them because the devil prowls looking for his
• 18:49
  next victim and another thing says so that you can pray
• 18:55
  because prayer is so important our daily communication with
• 18:59
  God. So pray for pray for ourselves
• 19:05
  that we can be guided by the Holy Spirit that we can be
• 19:09
  protected by God that we can that we have salvation and pray
• 19:16
  for others. So one, the reason why I say
• 19:20
  pray for ourselves first is because if God hears the prayers
• 19:25
  of the righteous, so we need to be righteous.
• 19:27
  So God can hear our prayers. I mean, he obviously hears
• 19:30
  prayers of repentance to people. But if we're like living in sin
• 19:35
  and we're asking God to do things, it doesn't say that God
• 19:39
  responds. He may because sometimes he has
• 19:42
  mercy, but it does say that God hears the prayers of the
• 19:46
  righteous. So if you want God to hear your
• 19:50
  prayers, the Bible tells us he hears the prayers of the
• 19:53
  righteous. Focus on how we are living, what
• 19:58
  we are doing. So that's why I'm saying ask God
• 20:01
  to guide us, to protect us and for our salvation so that we can
• 20:06
  stay on the narrow path that we're not misled led to the
• 20:11
  broad and wide path that leads to destruction.
• 20:14
  So anyway, I'm again getting a little bit off track so I need
• 20:18
  to get back to scripture. On verse 13 of chapter 2 it says
• 20:22
  I am against you, declares the Lord Almighty.
• 20:26
  I will burn up your Chariots in smoke and the sword will devour
• 20:30
  your Young Lions. I will leave you no prey on the
• 20:36
  earth. The voices of your messengers
• 20:40
  will no longer be heard. OK, so I want to just talk about
• 20:47
  that verse. The voices of your messengers
• 20:50
  will no longer be heard. So we can say, OK, so they have
• 20:53
  an army and they have messengers that go out and it's just saying
• 20:57
  they're going to be destroyed. And that's what a lot of people
• 21:00
  probably think. And then you get into the actual
• 21:05
  text and, and let's see, I want to, I want to go there because
• 21:11
  again, when you deep dive study into scripture, it will show you
• 21:15
  things that you don't absorb when you just first, at first
• 21:22
  glance. I mean, it takes a little bit of
• 21:24
  getting into the actual language.
• 21:27
  And like I said, Blue Letter Bible is really great because
• 21:30
  it'll go back to it'll, let's see, I'm going to the wrong
• 21:36
  verse. It'll, it'll take you to the
• 21:38
  original Greek and Hebrew depending on if you're in the
• 21:40
  Old New Testament or Old Testament.
• 21:43
  So if we go to Blue Letter Bible and go to Nahum chapter 2, verse
• 21:49
  13, I want to show you something.
• 21:53
  So if you go into the toolbar on blueletterbible.com and it says
• 21:56
  the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.
• 22:00
  So we look at what are the original Hebrew words and we get
• 22:05
  down to, we Scroll down to your messengers of your messengers.
• 22:12
  And this messenger is called Molok and that's the Hebrew word
• 22:21
  for it. Now in the King James
• 22:23
  translation of Strongs H 4397 and OK, so it is there.
• 22:31
  First of all, it is found in the Bible 214 times.
• 22:35
  Of those 214 times, it's referring to an Angel, 111 times
• 22:45
  it's referring to a messenger 98 times, and then ambassadors and
• 22:50
  then a variant one time ambassadors are like 4 times.
• 22:55
  So the majority of the time it's talking about an Angel
• 23:00
  messenger. And so then it gives the outline
• 23:04
  of the biblical usage. It says a messenger are
• 23:08
  representative number one messenger #2 Angel and #3A
• 23:13
  theophonic Angel. So then you get into the
• 23:18
  strong's definition of this word malloc, which from an unused
• 23:24
  route meaning to dispatch as a deputy a messenger specifically
• 23:30
  of God, IE an Angel, also a prophet, priest or teacher,
• 23:39
  ambassador, Angel, king, messenger.
• 23:43
  So again, we are we probably don't all have the right the
• 23:53
  right answer, the right understanding of Scripture and
• 23:57
  it's subject to translation. And how do you think maybe the
• 24:04
  voices of your messengers will no longer be heard?
• 24:08
  Think about this like, what if it happens to be these, the
• 24:11
  voices of your messengers? What if it has to, if it is both
• 24:20
  physical people but also like angelic beings?
• 24:23
  Because I want to just make you think about this for a minute.
• 24:28
  Because the mess, the voices of your messengers will no longer
• 24:31
  be heard. There's going to be a time where
• 24:33
  God takes back all authority and all of this idolatrous spiritual
• 24:39
  idolatry that is happening in the world is going to be gone.
• 24:43
  It'll be separated. It will not be in the presence
• 24:45
  of God any longer. But think about the false
• 24:49
  religions that are out there. And oftentimes they were given
• 24:55
  by angels. And so I just want you to think
• 25:01
  about that for a minute and think about the spiritual aspect
• 25:06
  of God and his enemy, which seems to be spiritual and seems
• 25:14
  to be infiltrating people and separating them from God and
• 25:20
  through idolatry and through quote prostitution, through so
• 25:25
  many different things that God just detest.
• 25:29
  So something, just something worth considering.
• 25:33
  I'm going to read through the questions and answers.
• 25:36
  I don't know if that's clear to you or not, but I will read
• 25:39
  through the questions and answers of this chapter.
• 25:41
  So did God keep this promise? The splendor promised here may
• 25:45
  not be earthly fame for Judah so much as eternal rewards for the
• 25:50
  faithful and the honor of being the homeland of the Messiah.
• 25:56
  Compared to Nineveh, which was destroyed and never rebuilt,
• 26:00
  Judah's honored place in history has been forever assured by
• 26:04
  Christ's birth there. Why does God sometimes wait so
• 26:09
  long to answer His promises? The promise is to restore.
• 26:14
  Jacob comes on the heels of God's judgement against his
• 26:17
  people for their idolatrous ways.
• 26:21
  The delay is in fact a testimony to God's grace that though he
• 26:27
  does deal with sin seriously, he does so with restoration in
• 26:33
  view. So God is not anxious to punish.
• 26:36
  He wants everyone to come to repentance and to turn to Him,
• 26:39
  and he wants to restore people. He wants people to leave sin and
• 26:47
  to turn to Him. What was this protective shield?
• 26:50
  The exact meaning is uncertain. It could refer to a framework
• 26:54
  covered with the hides and used by defenders on the top of the
• 26:57
  city wall to defect the arrows of invaders.
• 27:00
  And then why does this prophecy include such graphic violence?
• 27:04
  People oppressed by this cruel nation undoubtedly cheered this
• 27:08
  scene. The vicious Assyrians would soon
• 27:12
  get what they deserved. Their atrocities were well
• 27:15
  known. Pillaging, plundering, impaling
• 27:19
  victims on poles, even heaping the bodies of their unfortunate
• 27:23
  victims in huge mounds. Now, in terms as graphic as
• 27:28
  Nineveh's own reputation, God promised through Nahum that
• 27:32
  Nineveh would be plundered and its people victimized.
• 27:38
  What were these river gates? These may have been Nineveh's
• 27:42
  main gates, which face the Tigris River.
• 27:44
  However, some think thrown open suggest that dams above the city
• 27:50
  were opened suddenly, flooding the city and eroding parts of
• 27:53
  the city wall. One ancient source reports that
• 27:57
  a flood helped the invaders breach Nineveh's defenses.
• 28:03
  So that's the end for Chapter 2. And then because Chapter 3 is
• 28:08
  not that long, I think I'm just going to go ahead and continue
• 28:11
  it because there's a little bit more to understand.
• 28:14
  It kind of gives us more detail. So actually the first question,
• 28:20
  how was Nineveh like a prostitute?
• 28:22
  In the ancient world, the term prostitute was a standard insult
• 28:27
  levelled at anyone who broke a promise or violated treaties,
• 28:31
  something Assyria did regularly. Nahum's prophecy implies that
• 28:36
  all nations, even Assyria, have some kind of covenant with God,
• 28:42
  and that's in accordance with Amos chapter 1 verses and going
• 28:49
  on into chapter 2. Nineveh had in fact repented and
• 28:53
  humbled itself in the days of Jonah, but the city had long
• 28:58
  since returned to rebellion against God.
• 29:02
  So we'll start reading chapter 3.
• 29:04
  Woe to the city of blood full of lies.
• 29:10
  That's, you know, the enemy, right?
• 29:12
  He's that's what Satan is described at the father of all
• 29:15
  lies, right? Full of plunder, never without
• 29:19
  victims. The cracks of the whips, the
• 29:21
  clatter of the wheels, galloping horses and jolting Chariots,
• 29:24
  charging Calgary Calvary, flashing swords and glittering
• 29:29
  Spears. Many casualties, piles of dead
• 29:33
  bodies without number. So I want people to think this
• 29:38
  is talking about Nineveh. But if this is a spiritual
• 29:44
  entity that's impacting people, causing this to happen with
• 29:48
  people, think about this today. Who slaughters today?
• 29:54
  Just think about that, people stumbling over the corpses all
• 29:59
  because of the warden lust of a prostitute alluring the mistress
• 30:07
  of sorceries who enslaved nations by her prostitution and
• 30:13
  peoples by her witchcraft. Doesn't that sound spiritual?
• 30:19
  Think about that. Reflect on that.
• 30:22
  Like this sounds to me like Mystery Babylon.
• 30:25
  And you know, is it Ishtar Inana?
• 30:28
  Is it, you know, by all these different names?
• 30:30
  Like it goes by a lot of different names.
• 30:32
  But is it the same spirit that's coming against people?
• 30:36
  And it says that this is all happening all because of the
• 30:40
  wanton lust of a prostitute alluring the mistress of
• 30:46
  sorceries who enslaved nations. So again, this is talking about
• 30:52
  multiple nations, not just Assyria.
• 30:55
  That's why I really think, you know, when we look into Bible
• 30:58
  prophecy and we look at Mystery Babylon, could it perhaps be
• 31:03
  something spiritual that actually effects all the land?
• 31:08
  You know, it does sound like it's a place.
• 31:09
  It's really it gets confusing when you study Mystery Babylon.
• 31:13
  And, and there could be many possibilities of what it's
• 31:18
  describing, but ultimately behind those, that specific
• 31:23
  place or people, I believe that there is a spiritual entity that
• 31:28
  is at war with God because Ephesians 6 chapter 12 talks
• 31:33
  about that, that we're not wrestling against people.
• 31:36
  It's against the, the evil in the heavenly realms.
• 31:40
  And it seems like the evil in the heavenly realms has
• 31:43
  influence on people. And if people are not turned to
• 31:47
  God in repentance, they're susceptible to that.
• 31:50
  They are being manipulated. Like it says here, who enslaved
• 31:55
  nations. That's not really like a, a, a
• 31:59
  willing thing that people go into.
• 32:01
  But if that spirit is active and it's working in people, then it
• 32:08
  that person becomes a slave to it.
• 32:10
  And Paul even talks about that in his scripture about how we
• 32:13
  are, how we are enslaved by that.
• 32:16
  And this is the what Jesus broke the curse like.
• 32:19
  But people don't turn to him. The people who do turn to him
• 32:23
  and repent and receive the Holy Spirit.
• 32:26
  This is not talking about those people.
• 32:28
  This is talking about all who have not yet done that and don't
• 32:31
  even realize and, and we all start out like that.
• 32:36
  So it's essentially talking about every single person before
• 32:39
  they come to Christ, before they surrender to him, that they're
• 32:43
  not protected and they are influenced by God's enemy.
• 32:49
  And it all started in back in the book of Genesis.
• 32:53
  And that's where sin came into the world.
• 32:56
  I think it sounded like God created everything to be good,
• 33:00
  but then sin entered the world through the serpent, through
• 33:04
  Satan. People questioned God.
• 33:08
  And because of the free will, then that made everything change
• 33:13
  at that point. And it had to do with some legal
• 33:15
  thing that I don't really understand, spiritual law that
• 33:18
  God, because I guess he gave us free will so we can allow
• 33:24
  whatever influence we want spiritually.
• 33:27
  It's our free will that determines who is influencing
• 33:31
  us. And that's why I want to
• 33:34
  emphasize more than ever that we all need to turn to God.
• 33:37
  We all need the Holy Spirit. Jesus said we can't get into the
• 33:41
  Kingdom of God unless we are born again, unless we become a
• 33:46
  new creation, unless we have the Holy Spirit.
• 33:50
  And you don't hear that a lot in today's churches.
• 33:54
  So that's why I choose to emphasize that because it's
• 33:59
  important for people. I want people to be in God's
• 34:02
  Kingdom and people need to know this.
• 34:07
  Anyone who's not telling us this is not helping us get into the
• 34:12
  Kingdom of God. So anyway, I really think you
• 34:16
  know, by her prostitution people's, by her witchcraft.
• 34:19
  So it says I am against you, declares the Lord Almighty.
• 34:22
  I will lift your skirts up over your fate.
• 34:25
  I will lift lift your skirts over your face.
• 34:28
  I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your
• 34:32
  shame. I will pelt you with filth.
• 34:35
  I will treat you with contempt and make a make you a spectacle.
• 34:40
  This is what God's doing. So we have to remember this is
• 34:43
  also a character of God. God does not like evil.
• 34:47
  He does not like the stuff that he's been describing and he is
• 34:53
  going to deal with it all. You all who see you will flee
• 34:59
  from you and say Nineveh is in ruins.
• 35:02
  Who will mourn for her? Where can I find anyone to
• 35:06
  comfort you? Are you better than Thebes
• 35:10
  situated on the Nile with water around her?
• 35:13
  The river was her defence, the waters her wall.
• 35:16
  Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength put and Libya
• 35:21
  were among her allies. Now it's talking about specific
• 35:26
  countries, and if you look at the idolatrous aspect of those
• 35:31
  countries, spiritual idolatry of the worship that they have in
• 35:37
  those countries, that they are not countries that worship God.
• 35:41
  And they have a lot of different things they worship, but it's
• 35:44
  not God, not the one true God. So I do think that this is, you
• 35:51
  know, saying like, everybody is kind of like, linked through who
• 35:55
  they worship. Yet she was taken captive and
• 35:59
  went into exile. Her infants were dashed to
• 36:02
  pieces at every street corner. Lots were cast for her nobles,
• 36:06
  and all her great men were put in chains.
• 36:10
  You, too, will become drunk. You will go into hiding and seek
• 36:15
  refuge from the enemy. All your fortresses are like fig
• 36:20
  trees with their first ripe fruit.
• 36:24
  When they are shaken, the figs fall into the mouth of the
• 36:28
  eater. Look at the troops.
• 36:32
  They are all weaklings. The gates of your land are wide
• 36:36
  open to your enemies. Fire has consumed the bars of
• 36:39
  your gates. Draw water for the siege.
• 36:42
  Strengthen your defenses. Work the clay, tread the mortar.
• 36:45
  Repair the brickwork. There the fire will consume you.
• 36:49
  The sword will cut you down. They will devour you like a
• 36:54
  swarm of locust. Now this is a thing like God can
• 36:57
  use evil to combat evil. So God can use ungodly people to
• 37:05
  come against another ungodly group or entity, and that he
• 37:11
  uses people's will. They're bent on evil and he uses
• 37:15
  them for his will because God is sovereign.
• 37:19
  Multiply like grasshoppers, multiply like locust.
• 37:22
  You have increased the number of your merchants till they are
• 37:26
  more numerous than the stars in the sky.
• 37:29
  But like locust, they strip the land and then fly away.
• 37:33
  So I think this is really interesting.
• 37:35
  Like Nineveh must have been a center of wealth and it says you
• 37:38
  have increased the number of your merchants till they are
• 37:41
  more numerous than the stars in the sky.
• 37:43
  That's that's many of them. But I also think this has a
• 37:47
  spiritual reference. Those who quote buy into false
• 37:54
  religion. So you have increased the
• 37:58
  numbers of your merchants, the people that are buying your
• 38:00
  sorcery, that are buying your idolatry, that are buying your
• 38:04
  worship, that are buying into a false religion.
• 38:08
  And they're becoming numerous and, and like locusts, they
• 38:13
  strip the land and then they fly away.
• 38:15
  So if there's like a desolate land and there's people who
• 38:20
  worship a certain way, that's not worshipping the one true
• 38:24
  God. Think about countries in the
• 38:26
  world that are not focused on the one true God.
• 38:31
  And then think about what do their cities reflect?
• 38:36
  Just think is, I don't know, it's just a thought.
• 38:43
  So then it says your guards are like locusts, your officials
• 38:46
  like swarms of locusts that settle in on the walls of a cold
• 38:50
  day when But when the sun appears, they fly away and no
• 38:54
  one knows where. King of Assyria, your shepherds
• 38:58
  slumber, your nobles lie down to rest, your people are scattered
• 39:03
  on the mountains with no one to gather them.
• 39:07
  So king of Assyria, I just wonder if that's more of like a,
• 39:10
  again, a spiritual thing where there's some spiritual entity
• 39:15
  that's in charge of all this. And it's saying your shepherd
• 39:18
  slumber like the shepherds are what you know, Jesus is, you
• 39:22
  know, the the shepherd and we are the sheep, but our shepherds
• 39:26
  can also be spiritual leaders. So it's saying king of Assyria,
• 39:30
  whoever that may be, maybe that's a spiritual entity and
• 39:33
  you're the people who are doing his deeds.
• 39:39
  Are they slumber? Your nobles lie down to rest.
• 39:41
  Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather
• 39:45
  them. Now, On the contrary, Jesus
• 39:48
  gathers the 144,000 on the Mount of Olives.
• 39:53
  So I just think that's kind of like a juxtaposition position of
• 39:56
  that, where it's like an evil copy of what Jesus will do to
• 40:02
  his people. Like he will gather them, He's
• 40:04
  going to protect them. But the king of Assyria.
• 40:06
  Isn't nothing can heal you. Your wound is fatal.
• 40:11
  All who hear the news about you clap their hands and at your
• 40:15
  fall for who is not felt your endless cruelty, so endless
• 40:21
  cruelty. It's just, you know, obviously
• 40:24
  this could be like a double fulfillment of a prophecy like
• 40:27
  this was absolutely no question about Nineveh.
• 40:30
  And but I think it's also like there's something greater to
• 40:35
  this, like Mystery Babylon, especially when you think about
• 40:40
  how it describes Mystery Babylon and and what it says about that,
• 40:47
  about, you know, fallen, fallen is Babylon and rejoice over her.
• 40:54
  You heavens rejoice, you people of God rejoice, apostles and
• 40:58
  prophets, for God has judged her with judgement, with the
• 41:02
  judgement she imposed on you. So I just think this, this
• 41:07
  mystery thing is a little bit more spiritual than it is a
• 41:11
  literal person. It could have a manifestation in
• 41:16
  a person, I don't know, but I do think it's more spiritual, the
• 41:19
  spiritual influences of it. So Revelation chapter 18 talks a
• 41:25
  little bit more about that. I'm not going to get into that
• 41:27
  for this chapter, but I'm going to just read the Bible, the
• 41:31
  study Bible's questions and answers about this.
• 41:36
  So let's see, how does a merciful God punish anyone?
• 41:41
  God dispenses His mercy with His justice.
• 41:44
  Though God had extended mercy to Nineveh a century earlier when
• 41:49
  the Ninevites had responded to Jonah's preaching, Nineveh had
• 41:53
  reverted to its earlier wickedness.
• 41:56
  Justice now required payment for the nation's crimes against
• 42:01
  humanity. The Assyrian Empire exploited
• 42:05
  much of the world with its brutal army.
• 42:07
  It was notorious for its wartime atrocities.
• 42:10
  One of the kings of Assyria boasted that he had conquered
• 42:13
  cities, chopped off the heads of the inhabitants, and piled the
• 42:18
  heads like a gruesome monument outside the city gates.
• 42:22
  A serious day for mercy was over.
• 42:25
  Since they had returned to their wickedness, they could expect
• 42:29
  God's judgement. They would receive what they had
• 42:32
  given others. Sometimes showing mercy to
• 42:34
  victims requires punishing the cruelty of the victimizers,
• 42:40
  which is a display of justice. When it talks about I will show
• 42:46
  the nations your nakedness. The picture of another
• 42:49
  embarrassed prostitute nation, this time Israel, is found in
• 42:53
  Hosea chapter 2, verse 20. Why would a holy God do such
• 42:57
  humiliating things? Prostitutes and adulteresses
• 43:01
  were sometimes publicly humiliated, humiliated in this
• 43:05
  manner. Nahum referred to this practice
• 43:08
  to illustrate the degree of humiliation God would bring to
• 43:12
  those who defy him. The description of Assyria's
• 43:15
  humiliation would could also be a play on words, since the
• 43:21
  Hebrew term for nakedness can also mean exile.
• 43:26
  Why compare Nineveh to Thebes? Both were capitals of
• 43:29
  superpowers in the ancient Near East, thieves of Egypt and
• 43:33
  Nineveh of Assyria. Assyria sacked Thebes in 663 BC.
• 43:39
  Half a century later, Nineveh was crushed by Babylon.
• 43:43
  Both were mighty. Both were utterly destroyed.
• 43:46
  Who dashed infants to pieces? In the ancient world, it was not
• 43:51
  uncommon for an invading army to punish a resistant city by
• 43:55
  killing the babies of the city's residents.
• 43:58
  Assyria killed Egyptian babies in Thebes in 663 BC.
• 44:04
  We also saw this on October 7th, 2023 when the when the people
• 44:10
  of, I guess it's Hamas, the people of Gaza.
• 44:13
  Hamas came in and did this to the Israeli people.
• 44:17
  Why call Nineveh's troops weaklings?
• 44:20
  Nineveh believed that her troops could protect her from the
• 44:23
  judgement that was coming, but her army, fortifications and
• 44:27
  troops were wide open targets. Their defenses were no match for
• 44:31
  an avenging Lord. How were Nineveh's guards like
• 44:35
  locusts? Locusts, which travel in huge
• 44:37
  swarms, can swoop in and destroy acres of crops within minutes.
• 44:42
  They devour everything in their path and then disappear as
• 44:45
  quickly as they came. So too, Assyria's leaders left
• 44:49
  devastation in their wake as they invaded enemy cities,
• 44:53
  committed unspeakable horrors, and moved on to wreak havoc
• 44:57
  elsewhere. Yet, as Nahum prophesized,
• 45:01
  Nineveh would fly away, disappearing without a trace.
• 45:05
  God's Word through Nahum was fulfilled.
• 45:08
  When Nineveh fell to the Babylonians in 612 BC, It was so
• 45:14
  totally destroyed that it was never rebuilt.
• 45:17
  In fact, even its runes weren't discovered until 1845.
• 45:22
  So can we pass the point of forgiveness if nothing could be
• 45:27
  done for it? If nothing could be done for
• 45:30
  Assyria, it is possible for us to pass the OR.
• 45:36
  It says. Is it possible for us to pass
• 45:39
  the point of forgiveness? Nahum's intent was not to say
• 45:44
  how far God can be punished before punishment becomes
• 45:49
  certain. Sin is sin.
• 45:52
  We cannot think in terms of minor or major sins.
• 45:57
  Yet the Bible does indicate that persistent, willful refusal to
• 46:04
  obey God will bring punishment. So that part applies to all of
• 46:11
  us. The Bible does indicate that
• 46:14
  persistent, willful refusal to obey God will bring punishment.
• 46:21
  We should all know that and pay attention to that.
• 46:24
  Like, do we want that in our life?
• 46:27
  When people continue to rebel, they can become numb to God's
• 46:32
  Spirit. At some point, God declares
• 46:36
  enough. Persistent repeat offenders in
• 46:40
  that type of situation cannot escape the consequences of their
• 46:44
  rebellion against God. When judgment comes to such
• 46:48
  sinners, it is too little, too late for them to beg for mercy.
• 46:56
  It says, does God refuse to listen to sinners?
• 46:59
  And then that's addressed on a different place.
• 47:01
  Like God is gracious, but he cannot be mocked.
• 47:05
  That's in Galatians chapter 6. So we can't just like bend the
• 47:10
  grace of God. He's not going to be mocked.
• 47:12
  Like, does he want hypocrites running around saying, oh, I'm
• 47:16
  covered by the grace of God? Do you think that makes God?
• 47:20
  Like, does he look holy? Then he says, be holy because
• 47:22
  I'm holy. Nevertheless, we can be
• 47:26
  confident that when it comes to our eternal destiny, God desires
• 47:31
  to forgive our sins when we turn to Him in repentance.
• 47:36
  Only those who persist in their rebellion against God will fail
• 47:41
  to find his forgiveness. So persistent rebellion against
• 47:47
  God will fail to find his forgiveness.
• 47:51
  It says in Scripture that if we are persistent like that,
• 47:56
  there's nothing left, like the grace is not left for us, only
• 48:00
  the fear, I guess the fearfulness of his judgement, of
• 48:03
  his wrath and judgement that will come upon us.
• 48:05
  And again, that's an uncomfortable truth that people
• 48:11
  don't want to hear. Don't like to hear.
• 48:14
  But seriously, don't you like, I mean, when I read these kinds of
• 48:19
  things in the Bible several years ago, that was kind of what
• 48:24
  I reflected on my own life. I thought, if I keep doing
• 48:27
  things against what God says, then when is it going to be the
• 48:32
  time that God says enough? Either I'm going to just turn
• 48:36
  you over to that and that's it. Or, you know, like how many, you
• 48:42
  know, God is merciful. But there's a certain point.
• 48:45
  And what if something that we do actually causes our death
• 48:50
  suddenly where we don't have the opportunity to repent?
• 48:55
  That would be tragic. So while we have the time here
• 49:00
  available to us, where we have the opportunity to repent and
• 49:04
  reflect on our lives, we should use it.
• 49:08
  We should turn to God. We should turn to him so that we
• 49:12
  are protected by him, so that we are covered by him, that we know
• 49:16
  that we have salvation and and we can we can have a good
• 49:22
  relationship with God. But it certainly is something
• 49:25
  that I think is important for all of us to reflect on and
• 49:30
  consider. So that I'm going to wrap this
• 49:33
  up now and we will continue with a new book because we finished
• 49:38
  Nahum.