Back Story:When Jonah warned Nineveh of God’s wrath, the Ninevites repented and God spared them. But their repentance didn’t take.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, and the Assyrian empire had only grown more mighty and more wicked since the time of Jonah. Nineveh continued to lead nations into idolatry (Nah 3:4).The Assyrians had touched Israel, the “apple of God’s eye.” They had carried off the northern tribes into captivity, and had since oppressed the people of Judah during the time of the righteous King Hezekiah (Is 36:1).

The people of God must have wondered, “are they really going to get away with this?”

No way!

God sends the prophet Nahum to reveal Nineveh’s future: utter desolation. With Jonah, there was a chance to repent. Now the time for repentence is over. God is good and compassionate (Nah 1:7, Jon 4:2), but He will not leave the guilty unpunished (Nah 1:3).
Why would a loving God send such a harsh message?

The structure of Nahum’s oracle gives us a clue. The book doesn’t begin with a simple description of the judgment to come; instead, Nahum leads by describing God in the following ways:

Jealous. There is one God, and there are none equal to Him. He allows no room for idols, and although Nineveh had recognized Him in Jonah’s day, they viewed Him as just another god (Is 36:20).

Avenging and wrathful against His enemies. Historians recognize Assyrians as a brutal people even today, and these violent people had to answer for their crimes.

Slow to anger. God had plans to punish Nineveh decades earlier (Jon 3:4), but He had spared them when they repented before Him (Jon 3:10).

Great in power. Nahum points out God’s sovereignty over the sky (Nah 1:3), the sea (Nah 1:4), and the whole earth (Nah 1:5–6).

Good. He’s a stronghold to those who take refuge in Him. God is good—that’s the twist.
Because God is about to display all His wrath and might and jealousy, but the Assyrians have not taken refuge in Him. God is safety to those who fear Him, but danger to those who disregard Him. So because the Assyrians disregard, or do not fear Him, they cannot be safe.

Nahum is a brutal prophecy against the enemies of God and His people, but Nahum’s name means “comforter.”

Nahum comforts God’s people by showing them that He is still in control. He still watches over His own. And even when justice seems completely out of balance, He has a plan to right the scales.

The purpose of Nahum is to declare:
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And yet the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. (Na 1:3)

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace!
Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;
Pay your vows.
For never again will the wicked one pass through you;
He is cut off completely (Nahum 1:15).

Nahum prophesied during Judah's darkest time, when Judah was being ruled by Manasseh, its most wicked king, and Assyria (with its capital in Nineveh) was near its height in power, arrogrance, and evil. The faithful in Judah would have been near despair because of the evil at home and all around them. The justice of God seemed nowhere to be seen. 

Yet, Nahum, a prophet of Judah, was sent to bring a message of hope. Judah would be delivered from the oppression of Assyria. Like the beautiful feet described in Isaiah 52:7, which would bring the message of salvation, so the news-bearing feet in Nahum brought a good message, one of deliverance and peace.

Nahum exhorted the people to "Pay your vows (to the LORD)", an expression suggesting devoted worship to the LORD. In other words, in view of God's deliverance, the prophet encouraged the people to persevere in their faithfulness to Him.

Friends, we also live in dark times, certainly in the world around us, perhaps even within our own homes and personal circumstances. These words of encouragement from Paul come to mind:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Paul reminds us that all that we see and experience around us, all that pertains to the physical universe, which includes our sufferings and loss, all these things are temporary and passing away. He calls them "light and momentary troubles" compared to "an eternal glory that outweighs them all." Because of this presently unseen but certain, eternal glory, we do not need to lose heart.

We can pick ourselves up when we fall because of the full assurance that there will be an end to suffering, hardship and evil. We can confess our sins, receive pardon from the Lord, and move on in faithful fellowship with Him. We can put every hardship into perspective because of the eternal redemption that we look forward to in Christ. So, let us take this encouragement from Paul to heart:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9).

Friends, persevere in faithfulness. If you, like me, find yourselves falling on your face time and time again, consider this. In our failing, we have the opportunity to humble ourselves and confess our absolute and ongoing need for God's grace. It would be a greater wrong to give up or give in or to fail to confess and acknowledge God once again. So, dear friends, you, who are called to be ambassadors for Christ, let us persevere in doing God's good, perfect and holy will until the Lord brings us to our eternal home in heaven. 

Around 800 B.C. Jonah reluctantly proclaimed an oracle of judgment against Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. The whole city and its king repented, and God forgave them and did not destroy them. At that time, Jonah declared the greatness of God's mercy:

I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relentsfrom sending calamity (Jonah 4:2).

Fast forward 150+ years later, some time between 650 and 612 B.C., Nahum is sent to proclaim a similar oracle of judgment against Nineveh. This time there is no indication of repentance by the people or the king of Nineveh. And God judges them, destroying the city and the whole Assyrian empire in 612 B.C. Just as Jonah declared God's mercy, Nahum affirmed God's justice:

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished (Nahum 1:3).

Friends, today, let us remember both the mercy and justice of God. He is both gracious and holy. In the cross of Christ we see the magnificent display of the full extent of God's grace and holiness. The psalmist expressed it this way:

Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other (Psalm 85:10).

Love and faithfulness meet together in the cross of Christ. Righteousness, for which God must judge sin, and peace, for which God made the ultimate sacrifice, kiss each other in Christ. Hallellujah! Praise the Lord!

"And He knows those who take refuge in Him" (Nahum 1:7).

I'd like to think that in a crowded shopping mall with kids running everywhere, if my child calls out to me ("Appa!" - Korean for "Daddy!"), I will immediately recognize her voice and come to her. I know her voice, and if I sense any kind of distress, I would disregard all caution and discretion and go to her. She is my child.

Perhaps this is the sense that Nahum conveys here with respect to God's knowing those who take refuge in Him. They are His children, and He will certainly come to them. Nahum also writes that to those who take refuge in Him, He is "a stronghold in the day of trouble."

Friends, this morning, as I prayed to the Lord, this Scripture came to mind:

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies (Romans 8:31-33).

I was reminded that God is not only with me, He is for me. Not only is He for me, He has already given me His most precious treasure, namely, His Son, compared to which everything else must, when properly seen, prove insignificant.

As I prayed to Him this morning, there was a shouting in my mind, "What do I have to worry about?! What do I have to be afraid of?!" The Lord has already done for me what is most needful. He has already given me what is most precious. Whatever my aspiration and imagination of greatness, it is dwarfed by the magnitude and fullness of what God has already accomplished for me and in me.

Therefore, friends, let us live with this overflowing joy. Let us not allow the petty things of this life to overshadow the greatness of our hope and the significance of our cause for which we remain living. Knowing that to be absent from this body, we will be at home with the Lord, though it may be with fits and starts because of our sinful natures, let us constantly remind each other to live in every way so that Christ is most glorified in our lives.

"I am against you," declares the LORD (Nahum 2:13; 3:5). 

This is God's pronouncement against Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian empire. In the modern world it was not long ago when nations were deathly afraid to have the United States against them. They were afraid because of the power, intelligence, resources, and reach of the U.S. military. In the ancient world Assyria was no pushover nation. They were the largest empire.

But still they were no match for the LORD. They did the right thing about 150 years earlier when they humbled themselves with tears, sackloth and fasting at the preaching of Jonah. At that time they rightly recognized that no matter how great their empire, they could not hold a candle to God's power, wisdom, and authority to either save them or destroy them at will. 

Friends, you and I face many challenges in this life. We face financial challenges, occupational challenges, physical and emotional challenges, and relational challenges. But the Scriptures teach, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). What power can come against us when we have the most powerful Force on our side? What wisdom can prevail over us when we have the wisest One on our side.

Then again, if God is against, it matters not who stands with us. It is only a fool who would stand with someone that God is against. As the writer of Hebrews declares, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:13).

But someone has said that if God is on our side, we are always a majority. If God is protecting us, we are immortal. So Paul also writes with confidence, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). So we also read in Psalm 56:11, "In God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?" Again, the psalmist writes,

The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me? (Psalm 118:6 NIV)

Therefore, dear friends, I encourage you to find your confidence in the Lord as you face the various and sundry challenges of life. There is but one concern, and one only: Is God for you or against you? Are you on His side or are you not? When we humble ourselves and are devoted to Him, we don't need to fear uncertainty, failure, defeat, loss, or even death. For God is greater than all of these things. 

The Assyrian Empire that the prophet Nahum prophesied against in today's text lasted from 934 BC to 603 BC. They were the most powerful people on earth at the time but their splendor lasted only 300 years. In contrast, our King, Jesus, didn't have any military power, majestic splendor, or charming appearance while He was walking on earth with us, but His Kingdom stands forever because He was a humble servant, obeying His Father to the death ofn the cross for our sake. I am humbly proud of being a citizen of His Kingdom and will invite others to this wonderful citizenship that cannot be revoked by anything or anyone, including even ourselves because the King himself initiated and secured it. Let us praise Him all day long today for He will never be shaken!