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Nahum 2-3

Sunday Morning Bible Study

June 8, 2014

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Introduction

Theme

Comfort in Judgment

The book is all about the destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrians, the enemy of the Jews. This will give God’s people comfort.

The main topic in this book is the judgment that will be coming on the capital city of the Assyrians, Nineveh.

Nahum’s name means “comfort”, and there will be a type of comfort given through this prophecy.

The Assyrians are the enemies of the people of Judah.

Comfort comes from knowing that God “has this one”. He is in control. He will take care of it.

Date

The book was written between the years 663-645 BC, after the northern kingdom has been wiped out by the Assyrians.

This is during the reign of King Manasseh of Judah.

Manasseh was a wicked king. He was a vassal (servant) of the Assyrians.

Nineveh will be wiped out in 612 BC.

1:15 Behold, on the mountains The feet of him who brings good tidings, Who proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, Perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; He is utterly cut off.

:15 The feet of him who brings good tidings

In ancient days, there was no TV or internet.

People got their news of far off places from messengers travelling on foot.

When David’s army was battling Absalom’s army, David heard about what was going on in the battlefront from the messengers.

(2 Samuel 18:24–27 NKJV) —24 Now David was sitting between the two gates. And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate, to the wall, lifted his eyes and looked, and there was a man, running alone. 25 Then the watchman cried out and told the king. And the king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” And he came rapidly and drew near. 26 Then the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “There is another man, running alone!” And the king said, “He also brings news.” 27 So the watchman said, “I think the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”

Nahum is like the one coming from the mountain pass, running to Jerusalem to give the news of what’s happening with their fearsome enemy in Nineveh.

Nahum is writing forty years before the actual news would be delivered.

The concept is also used in:

(Isaiah 52:7 NKJV) —7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

(Romans 10:15 NKJV) —15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

:15 O Judah, keep your appointed feasts

Even when everything looks hopeless, keep serving God.

This is a bit of conjecture, but during the first part his reign, King Manasseh of Judah led the nation into gross idolatry. As a wakeup call, God allowed the Assyrians to take Manasseh captive to Assyria.

(2 Chronicles 33:10–13 NKJV) —10 And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. 11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. 12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

After his release, Manasseh finally knew who God was.

And perhaps it’s at this time that God reminds the people, don’t walk away from God.

Keep worshipping God.

Nahum 2-3 The Battle of Nineveh

Starting in chapter 2, we get a peek into the future good news through Nahum’s eyes.

The Battle of Nineveh

See “Battle of Nineveh”

645 BC – Nahum is writing his book during the height of the Assyrian Empire.

629 BC The Assyrian Empire starts to decline.

Even though the Assyrians are near the peak of their empire, within twenty years (629 BC) things will begin to change.

624 BC War breaks out between Assyria and Babylon

Eventually the Babylonians will ally themselves with the Medes and other nations, , Persians, Cimmerians, and Scythians, and together they will attack Nineveh.

612 BC Nineveh falls.

Assyria isn’t finished. They will set up a new capital in Harran.

Eventually the Assyrians are completely defeated by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 605 BC.

Longer Version: Ashurbanipal is the ruler of the Assyrian Empire. Over the next twenty years he will take Assyria to its place of greatest dominance over the world. After the death of Ashurbanipal (629 BC), Assyria will begin to decline.

The war that would lead to the fall of Nineveh started around 624 BC, a war between Assyria and Babylon.

In 612 BC, the Babylonians finally allied themselves with the Medes, Persians, Cimmerians, and Scythians, and that’s when the tide of war began to change.

The Medes are the first to lay siege to Nineveh.

The king of Assyria (Sin-shar-ishkun) was killed during the siege.

One of the ancient historians, Didorus, wrote that during the siege the river Tigris flooded its banks and had broken down part of the wall, which would eventually allow the enemy a way of getting into the city.

When the Babylonians join the battle at Nineveh, the defenses were finally broken down after three months. The city was plundered and burnt.

In the meantime, the Assyrians had made Ashur-uballit II their king, and as the city was plundered, he successfully fought his way out of Nineveh and fled to Harran, which he made his new capital.

The Assyrian Empire would finally be defeated by the Babylonians (Nebuchadnezzar) at Carchemish in 605 BC.

As we go through Nahum’s prophetic description of the battle, I want to take time to point out what we know actually happened historically. See if you can count how many of the prophecies where we document their fulfillment.

First I want to back track to …

1:14 …Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image.

:14 I will cut off the carved image

The prophecy is that Nineveh’s images and idols would be destroyed.

R. Campbell Thompson and R.W. Hutchinson reported that the statue of the goddess Ishtar lay headless in the debris of Nineveh’s ruins (“The British Museum Excavations on the Temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, 1930–1,” Annals of Archeology and Anthropology. 19, pp. 55–6).

2:1 He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily.

:1 He who scatters

The enemy marching on Nineveh would be led by Cyaxares the Mede and Nabopolassar the Babylonian.

:2 For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob Like the excellence of Israel, For the emptiers have emptied them out And ruined their vine branches.

Even though Assyria had “emptied” Israel, God will one day restore them.

:3 The shields of his mighty men are made red, The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches In the day of his preparation, And the spears are brandished.

Nahum is describing the attacking Medes and Babylonians. Their shields are red from blood.

:4 The chariots rage in the streets, They jostle one another in the broad roads; They seem like torches, They run like lightning.

Sounds like the way some people drive.

The judge fined a motorist $225 for speeding, and gave him a receipt. “What am I supposed to do with this, frame it?” snapped the driver sarcastically. “No, save it,” replied the judge. “When you get three, you get a bicycle.”

:5 He remembers his nobles; They stumble in their walk; They make haste to her walls, And the defense is prepared.

:6 The gates of the rivers are opened, And the palace is dissolved.

:6 The gates of the rivers are opened

Prophecy: Flood

This was also mentioned in Nah. 1:8

(Nahum 1:8 NKJV) —8 But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies.

An earlier Assyrian king, Sennacherib, had built a dam up river. The enemy slowed down the flow of the river and when the reservoir was full, opened up the flood gates.

Ancient historian Diodorus (20 BC) wrote that the river had flooded and broken down part of the wall, allowing the enemy troops to eventually enter the city. (Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 9; 2. 27.3).

Ancient Greek historian Xenophon referred to terrifying thunder (presumably with a storm) associated with the city’s capture (Anabasis, 3. 4. 12).

:7 It is decreed: She shall be led away captive, She shall be brought up; And her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves, Beating their breasts.

:8 Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, Now they flee away. “Halt! Halt!” they cry; But no one turns back.

:8 Now they flee away

Prophecy: Some escape

Diodorus wrote, “King Sin-shar-ishkun(Diodorus’ text reads “Sardanapalus”) sent away his three sons and two daughters with much treasure into Paphlagonia, to the governor of Kattos, the most loyal of his subjects” (Diodorus, Bibliotheca Historica, 2. 26. 8

:9 Take spoil of silver! Take spoil of gold! There is no end of treasure, Or wealth of every desirable prize.

:9 Take spoil of gold!

Prophecy: Plundering

According to the Babylonian Chronicle, “Great quantities of spoil from the city, beyond counting, they carried off. The city [they turned] into a mound and ruin heap” (Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 2:420).

:10 She is empty, desolate, and waste! The heart melts, and the knees shake; Much pain is in every side, And all their faces are drained of color.

:11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, And the feeding place of the young lions, Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub, And no one made them afraid?

Assyrian kings used to describe themselves as lions. They even hunted real lions. But now the lions are all gone.

:12 The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, Killed for his lionesses, Filled his caves with prey, And his dens with flesh.

:13 “Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.”

:13 the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more

The Assyrians sent their officials throughout the world to collect tribute and bully nations into submitting to them. No more.

Nineveh earned this title by her “atrocious practice of cutting off hands and feet, ears and noses, gouging out eyes, lopping off heads, and then binding them to vines or heaping them up before city gates [and] the utter fiendishness by which captives could be impaled or flayed alive through a process in which their skin was gradually and completely removed” (Maier, The Book of Nahum: A Commentary, p. 292)

Nahum 3

3:1 Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs.

Nineveh was famous for how it tortured its victims cutting off hands, feet, ears, noses, gouging out eyes, or slowly stripping the flesh off of prisoners.

:2 The noise of a whip And the noise of rattling wheels, Of galloping horses, Of clattering chariots!

:3 Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, A great number of bodies, Countless corpses— They stumble over the corpses—

:3 a multitude of slain

Prophecy: Great Massacre

Diodorus wrote, “… so great was the multitude of the slain that the flowing stream, mingled with their blood, changed its color for a considerable distance” (Diodorus, Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 6–7).

:4 Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries.

:4 The mistress of sorceries

One of the chief gods of Assyria was Ishtar, the goddess of sex and war. She was known in Israel as “Ashtoreth”, or “Asherah”.

:5 “Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts; “I will lift your skirts over your face, I will show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame.

:6 I will cast abominable filth upon you, Make you vile, And make you a spectacle.

:7 It shall come to pass that all who look upon you Will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

:8 Are you better than No Amon That was situated by the River, That had the waters around her, Whose rampart was the sea, Whose wall was the sea?

:8 Are you better than No Amon

Video: Thebes map clip

Nineveh is located on the Tigris River. No Amon is about 1,000 miles from Nineveh.

No Amon was known by the Greeks as Thebes.

Thebes was a huge city located on the Nile River in Egypt.

It was four hundred miles south of the Mediterranean Sea.

Thebes was also known as Luxor (not as in Las Vegas), a city filled with huge temples.

In the 14^th century BC, Thebes was the largest city in the world. Eight hundred years later, in 663 BC, it wasn’t quite the large city it used to be, but it was still an impressive place.

:9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, And it was boundless; Put and Lubim were your helpers.

These are all the nations surrounding Thebes, allies to protect it from attack.

:9 Put – Libya

:9 Lubim – a nation of northern Africa, west of Egypt (still modern Libya)

:10 Yet she was carried away, She went into captivity; Her young children also were dashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound in chains.

:10 Yet she was carried away

To the surprise of everyone, the Assyrians marched down the Nile River and conquered Thebes. When he conquered Thebes, Ashurbanipal (Assyria’s greatest king) wrote,

This city, the whole of it, I conquered it with the help of Ashur and Ishtar. Silver, gold, precious stones, all the wealth of the palace, rich cloth, precious linen, great horses, supervising men and women, two obelisks of splendid electrum, weighing 2500 talents, the doors of temples I tore from their bases and carried them off to Assyria. With this weighty booty I left Thebes. Against Egypt and Kush I have lifted my spear and shown my power. With full hands I have returned to Nineveh, in good health.

:8 Are you better than No Amon

There is some irony here.

The language God uses sounds just like the language that the Assyrians themselves would use (2Ki. 18:33-35) when laying siege to a city.

They would often taunt a besieged city by reminding them of all the places they had conquered and that no one could stop them.

Yet in the end, God is the One who is in charge, not Assyria

This is what the Assyrians had said to Jerusalem forty years before the fall of Thebes:

(2 Kings 18:33–35 NKJV) —33 Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

Lesson

Reaping and Sowing

The same taunts the Assyrians used are now coming back to them.

The same judgment that they brought on the nations they conquered – leading to captivity, plunder, destruction – will now come upon them.

(Matthew 7:1–2 NKJV) —1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

I see this replayed in so many of our lives over and over again.

The way you treat others will come back to you.

If you are harsh and critical of others, you will find people being harsh and critical towards you.

You may be surprised that people could be as harsh and critical at such a nice person like you, but it will happen.

If you would listen to the words coming out of your mouth about other people – your comments, your criticism, your “judgments” on people – are they harsh or merciful? Critical or gracious?

I am finding that if I will work at being kind and merciful towards others, I will find the same treatment coming my way.

It’s not absolute. There will always be mean people. But it’s something that works over the majority of your life.

:11 You also will be drunk; You will be hidden; You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

:11 You also will be drunk

Prophecy: Drunkenness

This was also prophesied in Nah. 1:10

(Nahum 1:10 NKJV) —10 For while tangled like thorns, And while drunken like drunkards, They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.

Diodorus wrote, “The Assyrian king … distributed to his soldiers meats and liberal supplies of wine and provisions … While the whole army was thus carousing, the friends of Arbakes learned from some deserters of the slackness and drunkenness which prevailed in the enemy’s camp and made an unexpected attack by night” (Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 4)

:11 You will be hidden

Prophecy: The city disappears

Some parts of the city were inhabited later, but by 1500 AD the city virtually disappeared. Bible critics used to say that Nineveh was a fable. Then in 1842, the archaeologists discovered the ruins of the city, the walls, and a huge library.

:12 All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs: If they are shaken, They fall into the mouth of the eater.

:12 strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs

Prophecy: Fortresses captured

According to the Babylonian Chronicle the fortified towns surrounding Nineveh began to fall in 614 BC.

:13 Surely, your people in your midst are women! The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies; Fire shall devour the bars of your gates.

:13 Fire shall devour the bars of your gates

 Prophecy: Gates destroyed

Historian A.T. Olmstead wrote, “The main attack was directed from the northwest and the brunt fell upon the Hatamti gate at this corner … Within the gate are traces of the counter wall raised by the inhabitants in their last extremity” (History of Assyria, p. 637).

:14 Draw your water for the siege! Fortify your strongholds! Go into the clay and tread the mortar! Make strong the brick kiln!

:14 Make strong the brick kiln

Prophecy: Bricks to refortify

Olmstead wrote: “To the south of the gate, the moat is still filled with fragments of stone and of mud bricks from the walls, heaped up when they were breached” (History of Assyria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951, p. 637).

:15 There the fire will devour you, The sword will cut you off; It will eat you up like a locust. Make yourself many—like the locust! Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts!

:15 the fire will devour you

Prophecy: Fire.

This was also mentioned in 1:10, 2:13

(Nahum 1:10 NKJV) —10 For while tangled like thorns, And while drunken like drunkards, They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.

(Nahum 2:13 NKJV) —13 “Behold, I am against you,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.”

Archeological excavations at Nineveh have revealed charred wood, charcoal, and ashes. R.C. Thompson wrote, “There was no question about the clear traces of burning of the temple(as also in the palace of Sennacherib), for a layer of ash about two inches thick lay clearly defined in places on the southeast side about the level of the Sargon pavement” (R. Campbell Thompson and R.W. Hutchinson, A Century of Exploration at Nineveh. London: Luzac, 1929, pp. 45, 77).

:16 You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away.

:17 Your commanders are like swarming locusts, And your generals like great grasshoppers, Which camp in the hedges on a cold day; When the sun rises they flee away, And the place where they are is not known.

:17 your generals like great grasshoppers

Prophecy: Officers flee

The Babylonian Chronicle states that “[The army] of Assyria deserted [lit., ran away before] the king” (Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 2:420).

:18 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, And no one gathers them.

:19 Your injury has no healing, Your wound is severe. All who hear news of you Will clap their hands over you, For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

:19 Your injury has no healing

Prophecy: Nineveh’s complete destruction

This was also mentioned in 1:9, 14

(Nahum 1:9 NKJV) —9 What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time.

(Nahum 1:14 NKJV) —14 The Lord has given a command concerning you: “Your name shall be perpetuated no longer..

History has shown us that many cities of the ancient Near East were destroyed and later rebuilt (like Jerusalem), but not Nineveh.

Lesson

God’s Amazing Word

When God promises something, it will happen.

As we’ve seen, Nahum is extremely accurate in predicting the fall of Nineveh.

We tracked 12 specific things that were actually fulfilled 40 years after they were prophesied.

It happened just as he said it would.

The Bible is filled with hundreds of prophecies that have been made and fulfilled.

This is one of the main reasons why we know the Bible is not man made, but given by God.

Only God can speak about future things and be correct every time.

We know this book we study is unique in this aspect.

This is how we know that it is God’s Word.

Some people have this crazy idea that the Bible is just a manmade book, written to control people or some goofy idea like that.

Friends, this is God’s Word to us.

What are the odds?

Peter Stoner wrote a book called Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963) that applies the science of probability to the prophecies of Jesus.

First, Stoner started with looking at just eight of the prophecies and considers the probability of just these being fulfilled by one man. (from Evidence That Demands A Verdict… pg.174-176)

Being born in Bethlehem (Mic.5:2)

Preceded by a messenger (Is.40:3)

Entering Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec 9:9)

Betrayed by a friend (Ps.41:9)

Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zec 11:12)

Betrayal money thrown in the temple, buying a potter's field (Zech 11:13)

Dumb before accusers (Is.53:7)

Crucified (Ps.22:16)

Stoner concludes that the odds of any man that might have lived down to the present time fulfilling all eight of these prophecies are 1 in 10¹⁷. That's a one with seventeen zeroes after it!

To grasp the size of this number Stoner talks about gathering 10¹⁷ silver dollars. That’s enough to cover the state of Texas two feet deep. Then you mark one of the silver dollars and stir the whole batch up. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel throughout the state of Texas and when he feels like it, reach down and grab one of those silver dollars.

The odds of a man grabbing the right silver dollar is the same as Jesus fulfilling just eight of the prophecies made about Him.

“Suppose we take 10¹⁷ silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wished, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.”

If we take 48 of the prophecies, the odds increase to 1 in 10¹⁵⁷ (That’s a “1” with 157 zeroes after it). I’m not sure we can even comprehend that number.

What's that like?

Stoner writes, "We must select a smaller object. The electron is about as small an object as we know of. It is so small that it will take 2.5 times 10¹⁵ of them laid side by side to make a line, single file, one inch long. If we were going to count the electrons in this line one inch long, and counted 250 each minute, and if we counted day and night, it would take us 19 million years to count just the one inch line of electrons. If we had a cubic inch of these electrons and we tried to count them it would take us, counting steadily 250 each minute, 19 million times 19 million times 19 million years, or 6.9 times 10²¹ years".

"With this introduction, let us go back to our chance of 1 in 10¹⁵⁷. Let us suppose that we are taking this number of electrons, marking one, and thoroughly stirring it into the whole mass, then blindfolding a man and letting him try to find the right one. What chance has he of finding the right one? What kind of pile will this number of electrons make? They make an inconceivably large volume"

Yet there weren’t just eight prophecies about Jesus, there were over 300 prophecies, all written hundreds of years before He came.

There is a very good, rational reason to believe in Jesus.

When Jesus says,

(John 14:6 NKJV) “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Do you think you ought to pay attention to what Jesus says?

Jesus also spoke of the future.

(John 14:3 NKJV) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

If God has kept His promises throughout the Bible, will He keep this one too?

Lesson

God is for me

The whole point of Nahum it so encourage the Jews that God will take care of their enemies.

Nineveh was judged because they had messed with God’s people.

When you have Jesus in your life, God is your side as well.

There was a time when the prophet Elisha became the prime target for the army of the Syrians. The Syrians knew that Elisha was using knowledge from God to give away the Syrian troop movements. So one morning Elisha’s servant got up to get the morning paper and found the entire hillside they lived on surrounded by Syrians. The servant panicked, but not Elisha.

(2 Kings 6:16–17 NKJV) —16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Paul wrote,

(Romans 8:31–39 NKJV) —31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

If the Creator of the heavens and earth is on your side, who could ever hurt you?

32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

Satan might bring accusations against you, but God is the one who has cleared all the charges against you when you received Jesus’ forgiveness for your sins.

34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Note: Having God on your side doesn’t mean that you won’t have problems. There will be times when God allows you to go through even great difficulties.

But those difficulties can’t separate you from the God who loves you.

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate you from God. He is on your side.

Lesson

Comfort in judgment

The book of Nahum is about God promising to take care of those enemies who were trying to destroy God’s people.

It happened just as he said it would.

The book of Revelation records the words of those in heaven who have been martyred. Their words are cries to God for justice over their deaths.

(Revelation 6:9–11 NKJV) —9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

They were told to rest until their numbers were completed.

We get the answer to their cry in Revelation 16 –

(Revelation 16:5–7 NKJV) —5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” 7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

God will one day deal with those who are trying to harm you.

How about this promise –

(Revelation 20:11–12 NKJV) —11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

God promises that one day everyone will stand in judgment before Him. Do you think that will happen?