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The Harvester Podcast is brought to you by the Florida School of Preaching. Listen weekly to take a dive into biblical topics and thoughtful studies on things that matter to our eternal souls.
Welcome to the Harvester Podcast.
We are happy that you have joined us today as we continue our season number five.
And this season is entitled, Majoring in the Miners, the Minor Prophets, That Is.
And we've had an introductory session on the prophets in general.
And we've had, we've spoken about Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.
And today we are going to address Nahum, the minor prophet Nahum.
And I'm a host, Brian Kenyon, and with me are two other hosts we have with us.
Forest Antemesaris
and Steven Ford.
and we're happy to bring this to you today mayhem is one of these profits we don't know a
whole lot about maybe and so forces going to leave this in this study of this wonderful
profit
Alright, yeah, so the book of Nahum, as Brian said, we don't know a whole lot.
If you look at just chapter one, verse one there, in Oracle concerning Nineveh, the book
of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
So we know a little bit of where um Nahum's from there, but as far as his lineage or his
genealogy or who exactly he is, we don't really know anything.
We also don't have any, you know, sometimes the minor prophets we'll start with during the
days of these kings or whatever.
We don't have any of that.
But this book is usually dated to around 650 BC and uh it foresees the destruction of
Nineveh.
And Nineveh, secular history tells us Nineveh falls in 612 BC to the hands of the
Babylonians.
So, we're a couple of decades before that happens, we see Nahum by the Spirit of the Lord
foreseeing those things.
Sometimes Nahum is called kind of a sequel to Jonah because Jonah went and preached to
Nineveh.
but this time with very different results, right?
Because Jonah, know, preached that message to Nineveh, but they repented.
And here in Nahum, it's very clear that there's really no oper- I mean, they're going to
be destroyed, right?
Like, kind of no matter what.
So of course that's up to the Lord, but the Lord's pretty clear here.
Hey, you've reached a point where you're going to be, this is going to be your fate,
right?
So Jonah, like you mentioned, it's kind of like the predecessor book, it's like the first
Jonah's message, even though Jonah doesn't want to do it and God says, in eight days
you'll be destroyed.
Was that just their call to repentance because it had that result?
And here it's not even kind of framed like that.
This is what's gonna happen.
eh
This is it, and it seems more certain, though both of them had kind of the message of
destruction, know, Jonah's sermon was just the eight words in King James.
It seems like maybe the appeal was different, perhaps.
Yeah, and I think, yeah go ahead.
I was gonna say that it also shows us here that because someone repents and is right with
God, doesn't mean they can just kick back and now say, okay, I'm right with God from here
on out.
Right.
Because obviously something happened between Jonah and Nahum where, as Steven just said,
they're ripe for judgment.
There's nothing that's gonna turn this back except, of course, repentance.
But as the way God talks in here, they're not gonna repent.
And I was just reading earlier today in Luke chapter 11 where Jesus cast out the demon.
they said he did by the parable of els above and has a little couple of verses every talks
about you know once the demons cast out everything is swept clean right if nothing else
occupies that space he's going to come back
right even with seven words yeah i was like
right and so it seems that principle you could illustrate that was never that obviously
something happened in the middle did not keep up the riots for whatever reason
And of course, know, Jonah is about a hundred years before Nahum.
a lot, I mean, think about America in 1926 versus 2026.
You know what mean?
Like there's some differences, you know?
I think you can see, and even God's own people, like think about the generational change
after Joshua dies.
mean, the next generation essentially is in idolatry, right?
So those things can move quick, but that's a great point.
you know, we can't just presume upon past faithfulness for future rewards.
the book starts right off the bat with this description of God in chapter one, verses two
through three, where says, Lord is jealous, the Lord is a jealous and a venging God.
The Lord is a venging and wrathful.
The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power.
The Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
So some of that kind of echoes Exodus 34, six through seven, right?
Where God reveals himself.
to Moses and the children of Israel, but this idea of God being jealous, God being
avenging, God being wrathful, taking vengeance on his adversaries.
And, you know, history tells us that Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire, especially the time
between Jonah and Nahum, was absolutely wicked.
They were like bloodthirsty and they were just expanding their empire by any means
necessary and trampling people under their feet.
And God as a loving God and as a just God and as a holy God, he can't just
watch that happen and not do anything, right?
And so Nahum's here to tell that message.
But it's all about how you relate to the Lord, because verse seven says the Lord is good.
A stronghold in the day of trouble, He knows those who take refuge in Him.
So you kind of see both sides of God here, right?
And obviously it's not like two sides against each other, but both of those make up who
God is, where He's avenging, He's vengeful, He does have wrath for His enemies.
But if you make Him your stronghold,
He's gonna take care of you.
He's not gonna let those things happen to you.
I'm thinking about just the contrast between Jonah and Naam, how you might have people
today say, oh, well, why isn't God acting?
Why isn't God doing something?
And in both of those books, God is doing something.
He's patient at times.
You know, think, well, why isn't God stopping these people?
Well, he's patient, hoping that they would repent.
And that happened with the book of Jonah.
And then you say, well, they did right.
Well, why is he doing it?
They turned back wicked again.
Well, this is what Naam is about.
Like you mentioned you see both sides of coin, but God is always active.
He's either patiently waiting ah Or he is in the process of acting in terms of the action
actually being poured out, right?
But in both ways God is not like dormant or aloof
yeah yeah So, you know verse 7 I think is one of key verses of this book, you know, the
Lord is good stronghold in the day of trouble He knows those who take refuge in him where
God's justice and vengeance and everything does not mean you cannot go for it to him for
help and if you do repent like none of a hundred years before this and You find your
refuge in him.
He is gonna take care of you verse 9
Verse 8, with an overwhelming flood, he will make a complete end of the adversaries and
will pursue his enemies into darkness.
And then verse 9 says, what do you plot against the Lord?
He will make a complete end.
Trouble will not rise up a second time.
So that really tells you, like, hey, there's not going to be a second opportunity to
repent, right?
I sent a prophet to you, you repented, you went back into wickedness.
Now we're in the show.
I just want to back up a couple verses, man.
Four and five jump out to me and he says, he rebukes the sea, makes it dry, dries up all
the rivers, bastion is languished, caramel and the flower of Lebanon languished, the
mountains quake in him, the hills melt, the earth is burned at his presence, yes, the
world and all the dwell therein.
So when I read that, my mind jumps immediately to Psalm 46.
So in 46, of course,
The world is in chaos, but God is the stronghold that steals his people.
But then here, it's like God is the one who is making the world to quake.
And you see those two contrasts.
It's like, man, God is either the stronghold who makes those turbulent situations of none
effect, or he is the one that causes them.
So whatever stronghold that you are in is gonna be of none effect.
you know, it's like,
to
contrasting concepts, you kind of go back and forth, you see, like even in verses one or
two and three, like you mentioned, this destruction, but then God is merciful.
He's jealous and wrathful, but then he's long-suffering.
see, you know, it's just kind of back and forth throughout this first chapter of these
both sides of the same coin of God, like Paul was saying in Romans 11, 22, noticing the
goodness and the severity of
Right, absolutely.
And is in control, no matter what side you're on, no matter what you think is against you
or for you, it's God that ultimately speaks.
He's the one that's in control.
Right.
And even, you know, verse nine there, what do you plot against the Lord kind of harkens
back to Psalm two, you know, those who are plotting against the Lord and trying to, and
the Lord just sits in heaven and laughs, right?
Because you can't do that.
You're not going to be successful in whatever you're plotting against God.
So, you know, God's making it clear you're not going to have a second opportunity to
repent.
And keeping in mind just this judgment that's in Nahum, chapter two and chapter three
really just show more
specifics about this judgment and we're going to kind of skip around a little bit just to
show what's being talked about here.
So verse 3 of chapter 2, the shield of his mighty men is red, referring to the one that
God is sending to destroy Nineveh.
The shield of his mighty men is red, his soldiers are clothed in scarlet, the chariots
come with flashing metal on the day he musters them, the cypress spears are brandished.
And Ezekiel 23, 14 through 15 tell us that the Babylonians wore red.
So this is probably an indication, you know, Nahum is telling Assyria, the Ninevites, that
this Babylonian kingdom is going to be the one that comes and conquers you all, which is
exactly what history tells us happens.
And of course, they become the world power until the Medes and the Persians.
ah In verse six, the river gates are open, the palace melts away, referring to Nineveh.
And there's a ah Roman
historian Diodorus Siculus in 60 to 30 BC, he wrote about how exactly Nineveh was
destroyed and part of it was they were surrounded by this river and there was like a hole
in the gate or whatever and the waters came in and kind of started to wash them away,
right?
So Nahum's foreseeing all this because God's telling him what's going to happen.
In verse 9, plunder the silver, plunder the gold, there's no end of the treasure or of the
wealth of all the precious things.
And here really see justice because the plunderers are being plundered.
It's like all this stuff that they stole from other people now is being stolen and it's
like what are you gonna say?
You're gonna say no, you can't do that.
Where did you all get it?
You know, so God is kind of just using that kind of almost poetic justice to show You're
getting what you deserve
Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap.
Exactly.
And I think, one of the big messages in Ahum is that's true for nations too.
Yeah.
And that's what we see going on here with Assyria.
And then verse 11, where's the lion's den, the feeding place of the young lions, where the
lion and lioness went, where his cubs were with none to disturb.
The lion was a national symbol of Assyria.
And, know, the kings of Assyria, the way they would show their power is by going on these
lion hunts and hunting lions.
And when you go to the British Museum, you can see these reliefs of
you know, Ashurbanipal or Tiglathpales or whoever these guys are going, I mean, they would
make art out of, look at our king killing these lions, right?
And now God's saying, where are the lions?
You can't find them.
The dens are empty, right?
So there, he says, I'm dealing with them.
We're taking them all out of the picture.
It's kind of interesting that you mentioned like those release in the museums.
These pictures, these words kind of paint pictures in your mind when you think about the
lines and that.
And Assyria, if you were entering to the King's Palace, all the walls were lined with
these release and images of torture and terror and murder and mayhem.
And now we get to kind of walk through these halls of imagery here and kind of see what's
happened to them.
they are getting, as you mentioned, the same thing that they dealt out to so many people.
Exactly, yeah, exactly.
And then verse 13, you've got like the worst, pretty much the worst five words God could
say to you.
Behold, I am against you.
Right, because we know Paul says, if God is for us, who can be against us?
But if God's against you, where can yeah, what can you do?
Where can you go?
You know, you really, in that moment, you really don't have any hope.
um
And kind like you were saying, you know, in the beginning of chapter three, we see nations
reap what they sow.
Verse one, woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder, no end to the prey.
So now that those who were plundering and those who were shedding blood, now they're going
to be plundered.
Now their blood is going to be shed.
And, you know, verse five continues, behold, I'm against you declares the Lord of hosts.
I'll lift up your skirts over your face.
I'll make nations look at your nakedness and the kingdoms that your shame.
Like people are going to see you for who you really are.
Like you think you're all
puffed up and you can't be stopped, that's going come to an end.
God says, will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.
So God really, I mean, he's not, you know, there's no two ways about it here.
That Nahum, I mean, sorry that Nineveh is going to experience this judgment.
and it won't be in a close corner somewhere.
It's not like they'll just have some, they'll disappear under the darkness.
That's why that verse five you just read, three, five, it's so important.
says, no, God again repeats that same phrase you read in verse 13, chapter two, 13, where
he says, I'm against you and I'm gonna lift your dress over your face and all the nations
are gonna see it.
Everybody's gonna see your shame.
And you think of these images of a person having this embarrassment.
and the shame trying to hide themselves, trying to cover themselves, trying to maintain
some sort of modesty.
God said, nope, everybody's gonna witness your demise, your destruction, and they'll be no
hiding it.
And can you imagine being the people to hear this?
You are the might of the world.
You are the terror that makes people shudder.
And then you hear this from Jehovah, knowing what he's done in the past, and he says, I'm
gonna embarrass you, I'm gonna shame you, you're gonna.
come to ruin and everybody in the world is gonna see it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, I think, you know, when you keep going with chapter three here, if you look at verse
seven, God asks, ah he says, all who look at you shall shrink from you and say wasted is
Nineveh, who will grieve for her?
Where shall I seek comforters for you?
And God's saying, like, nobody's going to feel bad for you when this happens.
Right.
Like you said, whatever a man reaps, that also shall he sow.
Like you without compassion harmed all those other people.
And now when it's your turn, nobody's going to be crying for you.
Nobody's going to be there to comfort you.
And then verse 11 is kind of another key verse, I think.
He says, you will be drunken, you will go into hiding, you will seek a refuge from the
enemy.
But remember, God already told us, Nahum 1 verse 7, the only refuge is the Lord.
So because they rejected the Lord, God's saying there's no refuge for you, right?
There's nowhere you can run and hide from this enemy.
They're going to get you.
They're going to destroy you.
In history tells us there was really no trace of Nineveh.
Two hundred years later, Xenophon and his 10,000 Greeks marched over where Nineveh used to
be and they had no, like there wasn't anything left.
They couldn't even tell there used to be city there.
And that's this historian named Lanyard wrote that in 1849, that like it really was an
utter end.
Like it ceased to exist and that's exactly what God said was going to happen.
You even have, you mentioned uh like who's gonna help you.
He lists a few places in uh verse number nine.
Ethiopian Egypt were her strength and it was infinite.
Putin, Livium were her helpers, yet she was carried away.
you might have had support, but again like you mentioned, when God is against you, what
army are you gonna mount against God?
No, but yeah, you can't do anything.
you know you you have this in the book of revelation like the people who were once their
enemies not only just abandon them sometimes actually participate in the attacking in the
demise of right well and then that you use those nice other nations to tear down the
nation is after ronnie and uh...
we see that throughout world history
Yeah, for sure.
And then verses 12 through 18, I'm just gonna hit some key words here, I'm in the ESV, but
you know, verse 12, their fortresses are like fig trees without figs.
Verse 13, your troops are women in your midst, which is a whole, I think there's a whole
maybe a political conversation we could have about that, but we're not gonna do that.
The gates of your land, yeah, the gates of your land are wide open, right?
Verse 14, strengthen your forts.
Verse 16.
You increase the merchants, you know, for what?
Verse 17, your princes are like grasshoppers.
Your scribes are like clouds of locusts.
Your shepherds are asleep.
Your nobles slumber.
Your people are scattered.
Right?
So just like every piece of architecture and every class of person, God is just going
through and saying none of it, none of it's going to be there.
None of it's going to be left.
None of it's going to be able to save.
None of it is going to work out.
Right?
This is just complete destruction upon the judgment of the Ninevites.
And then
Yeah, good.
I was just gonna say the verse kinda jumps out in verse 12 of the words, all of your
strongholds be like fig trees with the first fruit figs and so you think like it's all
gonna just be ripe for the picking.
And then it says it's gonna be shaken and fall into the mouth of the eater.
It's gonna be easy almost to just come in and yeah.
I just just shake it and it just falls off and they'll be people The devouring is certain
rather right right man.
That's the imagery man.
You for God to have these work because he could very easily just say You're done or the
people are gonna come in do this do this do this right?
But then when anybody would be able to picture this what is it like you guys gonna be like
a ripe fig tree Just shake it.
Yeah, and it's over
And you gotta think, think Atra-Bani-Paul was the king of Nineveh or Assyria at the time.
If he heard this, he's probably like, no way.
Like that's impossible.
You know what mean?
Look at us, we're strong.
got all this stuff.
Like he wouldn't believe that, but that's what's gonna happen.
That's what did happen.
yeah, think how they were with, ah was it with Hezekiah?
When they were like, look at what our ancestors have done.
God has ever stopped us.
Why would the God of Israel?
Look at what we've done in past.
Look at my track record.
We've done all this stuff and and you're next Yeah, and you know so being the big bully
for a long time right now the Bully of bullies if you will in terms of being able to bring
out judgment.
Yeah, it's telling you you're done your days are numbered and Destruction is certain and
there's nothing you or your army ah Will ever be able to do
Yeah, and even in Hezekiah's day, they'd be the Assyrians without a single sword or a
single troop, right?
Just God did it.
God did all.
And then, you know, sometimes we got the Auburndale train coming through, you hear it.
That means we're at Orange Street.
um Sometimes these, oftentimes when these minor prophets are addressed to Judah or Israel,
you have a glimmer of hope at the end.
But here in verse 19, it's just like there is no glimmer of hope for the people.
Nineveh says,
There's no easing your hurt.
Your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you will clap their hands over you.
For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil." And that's how it ends, right?
And God is just saying, people are actually going to celebrate when you are destroyed.
And you know, I don't know what it says in other translations with ESVs there.
It unceasing evil.
Like, how could God not act?
If you're just evil, evil, evil, evil, evil, evil, evil, stop, no repentance.
Obviously, it's time for God to act and that's what he was saying through Nahum.
Yeah, so I was reading this, just kind of reading over and reading over and reading over,
thinking as, and as you mentioned, the book closes with like this hard end of judgment for
them.
And it's just, there is no healing of your bruise.
This is going to be a wound that leads to death.
ah And the people are going to clap.
Like when you think about that, you're so terrible that you'll be applauded when your
demise comes.
But then I remembered like, well, though this was addressed to Nineveh, who would have
been reading this?
God's people.
And so then I'm thinking about, well, where is the hope?
And then I look at 1.15, the hold upon the mountains of the feet of him.
It's my next section.
Why you it?
No, I'm just joking.
Go ahead.
No, it's just the, maybe this will be the segue.
I'll make it short so you can get the big point here.
But for God's people reading this, the message is clear, that Jehovah wins.
And the news of judgment on any enemies of Jehovah is good news for Jehovah's people.
So you read a book like this, you're like, man, there's zero hope in this book.
And it kinda could seem like that, guess, at first blush, if you're maybe in the Syrian.
But if you are God's people you can see just this little this little piece here and
There's just like a little in my mind.
I see like there's a little ray of sunshine for sure all of these gloomy messages here
that yeah No matter what the good news is that Jehovah wins, right?
That is great news.
You see this writer bringing a message Jehovah wins no matter how wicked people are
That's your point, if God, just theoretically, if God wrote a book of the Bible to the
devil, it wouldn't be good news for him.
But we'd probably get some hope by reading it.
sure.
You know what mean?
we're you're going to do all that to the devil?
You know what I mean?
Like, it would encourage us.
Absolutely.
but then there would be a uh...
uh...
kind of a wake-up call to that if god can do this to that nation he could do it uh...
for sure if we follow the same things yeah
And that's where I think, you know, chapter three, verse 19 is big because I mean, the
Bible tells us like the book of Hebrews, you Esau had no chance for repentance, though he
sought it with tears.
And I hate to say it, but like that's going to be some people's reality when Jesus comes
back, you know, and I think that just shows the importance of getting right now.
Like you want to be like if you're an Inavite, you want to you want to be like the people
under the preaching of Jonah and not the people under the preaching of Nahum, you know.
Oh yeah, I'm thinking about what he says to them here.
He says in verse 19, there's no healing in your bruise.
there might be some that say, oh, look at, God was just terrible to these people.
Well, that's reminiscent of what he says in Isaiah one.
Verse six, says, from the sole of your foot, even to the head, there's no soundness in it
but wounds and bruises, putrefying swords that have not been closed, neither bound up,
neither mollified with ointment.
So God is looking even at his people.
So it's not that there's this one group of people that God kind of protects over to the
side.
God's a judgment.
sin.
Exactly.
No matter who commits it.
And so God is just.
And so if there's any sin with any group of people, any individuals, he's going to find it
out.
He's going to deal with it.
Right.
for sure.
Well, let's go ahead look at, you know, the hope of really not restoration for Nineveh,
but hope for the people of God.
uh As was mentioned in Ahum 1 verse 15, behold upon the mountains the feet of him who
brings good news, who publishes peace, keep your feasts, O Judah, fulfill your vows for
never again shall the worthless pass through you, he's utterly cut off.
So this idea of the destruction of God's enemies is good news for God's people, right?
And if you even think about the gospel, the way we usually talk about it, the gospel, part
of the gospel message is Satan has been destroyed by our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ,
right?
He's been conquered.
Jesus is victorious over him.
He came into the work, he came into the world to destroy the works of the evil one, right?
Hebrews two talks about destroying the one who has power over death.
So that's good news for us because we've been prayed to Satan and now Jesus comes in and
he's the victorious conqueror and it's
the good news that's published and we get to hear it and react to it.
That's the, in our teen class last night, we were kinda talking about this as our
introduction, just the premise that you just mentioned.
What is the good news?
And one of them said, well, the good news is I'm saved from my sins.
And I'm like, that is part of it.
But the whole of the good news is surrounded around God.
And everything that comes out of it is just things, but it's about God.
He reigns, He rules, He conquers, He's victorious.
And then we get to be a part of that.
And we get to be a part of his kingdom.
We get to share in his glory.
We get to bask in his glory.
And as a part of being a part of his kingdom, we get our sins forgiven and then we get to
live with him forever.
But if the whole of it is only about me, then once my sins are forgiven, then what?
I guess I'm done.
I just need to find a seat in the pew and wait till the Lord returns.
But if it's all about honoring, glorifying, magnifying, spreading the news about the king
and his victory, then that never ends.
and is always centered around him.
And there's work to do now.
know, think about, Jesus calling the disciples, come with me, I'll make you to become
fishers of men.
So it's not just like, come follow and observe me.
Come and be my coworker.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
We got work to do.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
you know i all kind of goes together in one package you know just like with god's defeat
of the enemies with the victory of his people can be really victorious unless the enemies
are completely different and you do have a lot of passes you know coming from the old
testament repeated in the new testament about you know until he makes his enemies his
footstool right in that enemies footstool this total conquering just total wiped out which
of course you know the sentence has been given but it has been carried out yet
until Jesus comes again in our case.
And so until that time the devil's gonna be walking about as a roaring lion seeking who he
may devour because that's just who the devil is.
But yeah, the destruction of God's enemies, the victory of God's people, but God's people
can't be victorious unless, like we've been saying, they're working with him while it is
day for the night comes when no man can work.
so we have to be involved, God's involved, just the whole package.
and we see that in Nahum.
Yeah, and even see that in verse 15, you know, keep your feasts, so, Judah, fulfill your,
like, keep doing, keep living for God, keep obeying Him.
Like, it's not, oh, like, none of us gone, we can live however we want.
No, you still need to follow the Lord, right?
It's like, oh, well, Jesus gives power over Satan, therefore I can, no, what?
You need to stick closer to Jesus now, right?
Of course, that last enemy to be destroyed is death, but that victory is good news.
I was thinking about the phrasing in verse 15 as it begins and how that is repeated or
stated in Isaiah 52 where he says in verse 6, therefore shall my people know my name.
Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak.
Here I am, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bring good news, who
publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says Zion
your God reigns.
Think about those words there.
God's people will hear his voice.
I'm thinking about if Nineveh is just raised to the ground, R-A-Z-E-D, there's just
nothing left.
And then what is the voice you hear?
You just hear God's voice and his thundering of victory and what his people have to see in
that.
Here's his world power who just literally runs roughshod over everybody.
Nothing and nobody can stop them.
then Jehovah steps in and says, it's over.
And as you mentioned, the historian said that there was nothing left, there's no trace of
this group of people.
I thought, man, there people that we saw as the biggest threat.
God treat them like they were the fig tree.
They're women or whatever.
And now here we are on God's side, so what should our response be?
One, praise for God, but then, man, fear, reverence, awe of who he is and what he can do.
Definitely.
Yeah, but yet that Nahum 115 echoes in Isaiah 52 verse 7 then Romans 10 15 obviously But
this idea like when we share in the gospel people we're telling them God is winning God is
going to win and you can be on his team like he can be on his side you can join his Right
like kingdom and do this work and then experience everlasting results and that is good
news, right?
Because the opposite of that is just destruction and chaos and misery forever and ever and
ever
But even that is good news for God's people.
Because whatever's on the opposite of that end is not just, there's John, or there's Mary.
Whatever's evil.
So whatever and whoever aligns itself with evil is gonna be destroyed.
So when we look at Revelation, we think about, it's gonna be peace and joy and love and
nothing that defiles is gonna be there.
Well, why?
It's gone.
God destroyed it all.
He defeated it all.
So nothing that's wicked, unrighteous, unholy,
is going to be able to stand against God and so when we think about the other part of that
good news, yeah I'm saved, yes I have eternal life, but man everything that corrupts is
gone, everything that tempts is gone, everything that could draw me away is gone and so I
don't have to worry about any enemy rising back up, know, the roots and remnants being
left, you know, these things can grow back, it's gone.
Yeah, like the song we sing, there's a great day coming.
Amen.
It's great, it's happy.
It's also sad, right?
Like if you're Nineveh.
But the good news is, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, there's still room to
repent and come to Him.
yeah this is like throughout the minor profits in the major profits for that matter with
the day of the lord the end of the day of the lord was a good day or bad day depends on
what the order
Right, right.
And then the last, I guess, know, piece of hope we got here, Nahum chapter 1 verse 7, the
Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, He knows those who take refuge in Him.
And you know, today, not being an Innoviate, I mean, that's the option all of us can make,
is to take refuge in the Lord.
And of course, today, that looks like being in Jesus Christ, right?
Being in, going to the Good Shepherd, being in the sheepfold, going through the door of
the sheep, and being in His flock.
That's a really neat premise that he says the Lord is good, strongholding the of trouble.
So that part great, but then he says he knows him to trust in him.
And when I think about if I were to run into a castle or palace or whatever, hey, shut the
door behind me, the and they close the door.
I might just be a stranger that needs help.
But the imagery here is that God is that, but he also knows those individuals who put
their faith in him.
I think it says it's more than just, oh, God is more than just a means to an end.
You have a relationship with Him.
He actually knows you.
Yeah, that's what makes the king so great that we serve.
It's like, he doesn't just say, I'll save you, now go over there.
He's like, no, I want to be a family with you.
I want us to be together and I want you to enjoy the spoils of my kingdom and I want you
to enjoy the beauty of my kingdom.
It's not just like how we see earthly kings today, you know.
They walk on the backs of the peasants and all that kind of thing.
He says, no, no, no.
I'm going make one big table, and we'll all be at it together.
Right.
Yeah, that's a great and that's a great illustration because our King Came and let other
people walk on his back, right?
So that we could be in his kingdom and experience his reign and everything like that, you
know So it's like totally reversed and it's not like you just go from Like negative to
neutral.
It's not like God goes from like you go from being subject to God's wrath to God being
indifferent about you Like you go from negative to positive you go from being the subject
of God's wrath
between God's chosen, loved, precious child.
Talk about the imagery of the prodigal.
uh Pen to having this fatted calf.
Yeah, and you run your dad's sandals and robes and rings and stuff.
Yeah, and I was just reading in seven, chapter one, verse seven, he knows those who trust
in him made me think of the first psalm.
You he knows the way of the godly.
And it's not talking about intellectual knowledge, but right there he approves of them.
He endorses them.
And so like you just said, fourth, we go from objects of wrath to the people he endorses.
He knows that he approves, that he shares his great glory and blessings with.
Yeah, So a lot there in Nahum, you you've got a lot of judgment obviously on Nineveh and
you do have hope but it's not for God's enemies.
The hope is for those who are God's people and those who take refuge in Him and those who
respond to that good news.
excellent well that and i guess what about wrap it up for nay home we appreciate your
joining us in this episode eight episode number eight of our fifth season and we'd invite
you to can't continue this study your feedback is welcome but we invite you to continue
this study as we approach a backup in the next episode and so we will look for you there