Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Nahum 1
There are many sections of larger prophetic books that are similar to Nahum.They address specific nations directly or speak of those foreign powers, and communicate the Lord’s indictment of these adversaries.There are actions that nations may take, especially against the Lord’s people, that bring upon them the condemnation of God.We should not be offended that the Lord had a message against Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire.We should be more surprised if we were to find out that the Lord refused to take a stand against oppressive powers.What kind of God would forever ignore abuse of national authority, allowing the weak to be continually decimated at the hands of the mighty?The Lord will take action.His words against the Assyrians are one small example of His dedication to justice and His concern for the oppressed.
To some degree all civil authorities are called to imitate God in His concern for the weak.We are not called as individuals to execute vengeance against evildoers by our own authority.Nonetheless the Lord has placed people in positions of civil authority, and they do not bear the sword in vain.The governors who have civil powers have military muscle, and they sometimes need to flex it.When they do this justly they are acting as the Lord’s servants.It is His to execute final vengeance against the wicked, but those with civil authority are called to act on behalf the innocent by appropriately punishing the guilty.When they do this rightly they are agents of the Lord’s wrath.
This does not mean that every time that a nation expresses indignation against an enemy that it is always acting justly.Men and nations should be careful in their expressions of anger.Even the Lord, who has every reason to be angry with us, and who could justly have ended this entire experiment in the garden of Eden, is said to be slow to anger.He is judicious and good in His use of His amazing sovereign power.The Lord is slow to anger, but He will by no means clear the guilty.He has complete control over all the forces of nature.We could never endure the heat of His wrath.
This is not to suggest that the Lord is bad.Suggestions that men know more about doing right than God are very offensive.It is always mistaken when people act as if they are holier and better than God, despising His wrath as if they were equipped to sit in judgment against the Almighty.Our best response in the face of some biblical account of the display of God’s anger is to turn away from all sin, and to take refuge in God, for He is good.His mercy is upon those who fear Him.The Assyrians repented at the preaching of Jonah some years before Nahum.It would have been commendable for them to renew their humble plea for deliverance when this message was first brought forward.Eventually He will make an end of all those who insist on being His enemies.It is not noble to shake our fist at God; it is just foolish and stubborn.
There are those who would be deluded into thinking that they can safely rebel against the Lord.He is too smart for us and would be too powerful an adversary against us.When we make plots against Him we will not be victorious.He certainly will defend His loved ones in the end, and those who harm them will fall.
The Lord had a powerful case against the brutal Assyrians.Though He heard their cries to Him in the days of Jonah, in the final analysis nothing had changed.His judgment was merely delayed.The true God is sovereign and mighty, and He hates false worship and evil actions.It is also a fact that all the nations of the world deserve His judgment.While the Lord may delay His wrath for a time, His anger will finally burn against all sin one way or the other.
We return to the idea that He is a refuge for His people.His destruction of their enemies is part of His good news, but how will any of us stand if our sin has placed us in the status of being the enemies of God?There must be some reason why we are still here.We long for some explanation.We know from so many passages that He had a case to make against Israel and Judah, just as He had a case to make against Nineveh and the entire Assyrian empire.If that is true, then why would we even bother with the story of the Bible?Is a delay in divine judgment the only thing that any of us can reasonably hope for?Isn’t their some way to remove the wrath of God that is coming against us?
With that sense of gospel desperation, we look to the mountains for a messenger who would be running toward us with some good news.We know the facts of war.Does anyone have a solid and cogent message of peace?We look around us and find grief and destruction.Where is the hope that gives us something more solid than wishful thinking upon which to build our lives?In the life and death of Jesus Christ we are given our answer.Here is an intellectually beautiful solution to the problem of our debt before God that satisfies more than our minds.In the love of Christ expressed so fully in the cross we find an answer for the deepest longings of our hearts.In His resurrection our eternal peace has become a settled reality.
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