July 25-27, 2015 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Nahum 1:1-7 “NAHUM: GOD COMFORTS HIS PEOPLE!”

MAJORING IN THE MINORS: NAHUM

July 25-27, 2015

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Nahum 1:1-7

“NAHUM: GOD COMFORTS HIS PEOPLE!”

1.     Know that God is in control.

2.     Know that there will be justice.

Nahum 1:1-8  (NIV1984) “An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. ²The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. ³The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade. ⁵The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. ⁶Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him. ⁷The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.”

          His name means Comforter. Nahum, that is, the Comforter. Yet when you read his book’s three short chapters you are going to wonder how that can possibly be true. If you try to picture it as you read it, you will see in your mind the complete destruction of a large city. Chariots, horsemen and soldiers are pictured running through the city, pillaging, injuring, killing. The inhabitants of the city are quaking in fear and screaming. There is death and destruction. It does not sound like a pretty sight. How can that be comforting? It goes back to another minor prophet we heard about earlier. Jonah. If you recall, he was the prophet who didn’t want to do his job. He didn’t want to go to Nineveh, the capital city of the great Assyrian Empire. Why not? Well God had told Jonah to call the city to repentance. If the people did not they would be destroyed. Sounds pretty straight forward. What was Jonah’s problem? Instead of going he ran away. Thrown overboard. Swallowed by the great fish. Vomited up. Goes to Nineveh. Preaches. They repent. Good news right? Not to Jonah. Here was his reaction: But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." Strange. Unless you know the history. The Assyrians were the ones God had said would be his tool to chasten the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Assyrians would capture and take away all the people. Jonah was hoping the people of Nineveh would not repent and would be destroyed instead. Maybe think of how you would feel if God had told us that the Muslims would invade and conquer our country and then WELS came and asked for you to give money for outreach to Muslims. Well Nineveh repented then and was spared by God. Later the Assyrians did come and conquer Israel as God said. But when they did they were excessively cruel. These Assyrians did not care about the God who had showed their ancestors mercy. They were merciless! The Assyrians often gouged out the eyes of their captives. They cut off their ears and noses to mark them as captives. They had people specially trained to skin the conquered people’s leaders while they were still alive and then they would hang their skins on public buildings. Imagine if St. Jacobi got conquered and every time you came to church you had to pass the Pastor Spaude skin or Pastor Waldschmidt skin hanging on the wall. This is the background for Nahum. God’s people are down in the mouth. They have seen death and destruction. They are hurting. And those cruel Ninevites just keep winning. God sends Nahum the comforter with this comforting message. Nineveh is going to be destroyed. That’s what the book pictures. Now why would this comfort them? Why does this comfort us? Let’s find out.

          “An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. ²The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. ³The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade. ⁵The mountains quake before him and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. ⁶Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him.” The first truth God used to comfort His people with is that He is in control. He tells seas when to be and when to dry  up. He tells mountains when they can exist and when they need to self destruct. He tells nations when they can conquer and when to be conquered. The Assyrians were not in control. God was. Know that God is in control.

          Know that there will be justice. This truth is often called God’s alien side. Not alien like a space creature, but alien as in foreign to Him. Like when a parent really doesn’t want to enforce the discipline they know will hurt their child but has to God would much rather show mercy and compassion and forgive sins. He does that quickly and freely. But when there is continued rejection, when evil builds and grows God does His alien work. He judges. “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. The earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. ⁶Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger?” It’s a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Nineveh found out. Those who had gloated as they inflicted such great pain without pity or remorse received no mercy themselves as the Medes and Persians sacked their city. And that was the easy part. As rejecters of the Savior God they now exist in the eternity of pain called Hell wishing all they felt was having their skin removed. Know that there will be justice.

          That was Nahum’s comforting message. God is in control and there will be justice. And it’s a comforting message for us too. I don’t think we can really compare the unjust suffering and the pains we’ve experienced to what God’s people went through at the hands of the Assyrians. However because we are sinners living among sinners in a sin filled world injustice and oppression are also part of our lives. Kids you feel it at home or at school when something happens that just feels unfair and makes you want to cry. In the teen and adult world we experience it again and again when the cheater seems to get away with it and the one who stands for what is right is ostracized, not included. We live in a metro area that has an escalating violence issue. We live at times when militant Muslim groups and individuals are killing thousands of innocent people. Know that God is in control. He could have stopped the Assyrians when they went too far in their conquering of Israel. He can stop evil now. The fact that He doesn’t does not mean He is powerless. He is powerful and in control. There is a reason He allows this that we just don’t see now. Know that there will be justice. God’s grace is so great, the forgiveness that Jesus won on the cross so encompassing that yes, Hitler, Hussein, Bin Laden and whomever else you want to put on that list could also be saved through faith in Jesus. That does not mean they are. Those who reject will be condemned. Those who mock our trust in God our Savior will feel God’s wrath and fierce anger. Don’t be deceived by what you see with your eyes. God will not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows and just because you can fool people does not mean you can deceive God. There will be justice.

Are you in a hurting spot right now? Suffering unjustly. God haters looking like they are winning? Listen to Nahum’s message is: God comforts His people. While his book contained words that should have had the Assyrians shaking in their boots and running to God for repentance, there is a different message for people who believe, people like you and me. Let’s read it together. “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” He cares for you. Amen.