Yahweh: The Lord of Judgement

Very kind introduction, Dylan. It’s been a privilege to get
to study with Dylan and talking about being with classmates who
you respect and who keep you focused. It’s the exact opposite.
Dylan does that for me. I don’t do that for him, so.
It’s a privilege to open up God’s Word with you this morning. My
wife, Sydney, and her parents and I are delighted to be here
with you this morning. Our sermon text for this morning
is from the prophet Nahum. Prophet Nahum chapter one, verses
two through eight. Prophet Nahum chapter one, verses
two through eight, which we will read momentarily. The title of
today’s message is Yahweh, the Lord of Judgment. And as this
title indicates, our text is a heavy passage that focuses
on the character of God, His judgment, and His judgment on
sin. So look with me at God’s word
as I read our passage this morning. Nahum chapter one, verses two
through eight. A jealous and avenging God is
the Lord. The Lord is avenging and wrathful.
The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves
wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and
great in power. The Lord will by no means leave
the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is his
way, and the clouds are the dust beneath his feet. He rebukes
the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. Bashan
and Carmel wither. The blossoms of Lebanon wither. Mountains quake because of him
and the hills dissolve. Indeed, the earth is upheaved
by his presence and the world and all the inhabitants in it.
Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the burning of
his anger? His wrath is poured out like
fire and the rocks are broken up by him. The Lord is good. A stronghold in the day of trouble. And he knows those who take refuge
in him. But with an overwhelming flood, he will make a complete
end of its sight, and he will pursue his enemies into darkness. Let’s pray together. Our great God of highest heaven,
you are an awesome God of power, of vengeance, of wrath, and you
are good. You are a just God who exercises
judgment against iniquity. And we confess, Lord, that in
our natural condition, we stand before you guilty. We are sinners. We have broken your law. We have
rebelled against you. And yet we are so thankful. That through Christ, our great
God and Savior, we can be saved. Thank you for sending your son
into this world to live a perfectly righteous life, die on a cross,
and to save your people. How grateful we are. I ask that
you would bless the reading of your word this morning. And may
your Holy Spirit enlighten the hearts of these dear people through
the reading of your word. We love you. We praise you. We
thank you. It’s in Christ’s name that we pray. Amen. As Pastor Ron said earlier, we
live in an era where sin is on full display. We live in an era
that preaches diversity, tolerance and inclusion. And if you say
that it’s wrong for a mother to kill her unborn child, well,
the world says you’re not being tolerant of reproductive rights.
If you say that homosexuality is a sin, then you’re an extremist. If you don’t want men entering
a woman’s bathroom, well, then you’re a bigot. And if you proclaim
that the Bible is God’s word and that Jesus Christ is the
only way to the Father, then you’re just not being inclusive.
Now, such language is common throughout our world today. In
America, on both sides of the political aisle, as recent revisions
to the Republican Party platform made all too clear, we won’t
find our hope and our salvation in a political party. Superficial
unity is stressed at the expense of eternal truths of right and
wrong. And sadly, such inclusive language
has even reached its tentacles into the evangelical church at
large. The John 3.16 has been replaced
as America’s favorite Bible verse. Instead, the beginning of Matthew
7.1 is now our favorite. Do not judge. America doesn’t
want anyone judging her for her sin, not the police, not parents,
not the church, and certainly not God. And as our passage in
Nahum states, God is the sovereign judge of the universe. He has
and will continue to exercise righteous judgment against his
enemies. No matter how much the world
tries to disregard, disparage, and discount him, Yahweh is the
Lord of judgment. You see, God is the judge of
all mankind, and he will judge all men justly. And if you fail
to meet his standard, as do we all, then he must enact righteous
judgment. There is not one sin ever committed
that has not or will not be punished by the eternal judge. So my goal
this morning is to present Yahweh to you as the Lord of Judgment. And in our text today from Nahum,
chapter 1, verses 2 through 8, there are three truths concerning
the Lord of Judgment, which should terrify you if you are God’s
adversary and should comfort you if you are known by Him.
Now before we begin, some of the younger members of the audience
might not be too familiar with Nahum, so let me take you back
in time to the time of the prophet to provide the context for today’s
passage. And we have to go back 2,700
years, all the way back to the 7th century BC. Nahum is a prophet
of God whose name means comfort. In Nahum 1, verse 1, Nahum is
called an Elkashite, meaning that he was either born in southern
Judah or perhaps in Galilee. We don’t know much about the
prophet Nahum’s background or his education, but the most striking
factor about his prophecy is its impassioned nature. Nahum
is the most passionate of all the prophets in his literary
style, and you get a sense of that even as we just read our
passage this morning. Now, the major superpower in
Nahum’s day was the Assyrian Empire. This prophecy is given
at the height of Assyria’s power and during a low point in Judah’s
history. A hundred years prior, you might
remember a guy named Jonah, and he delivered a message of judgment
to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria. Nineveh had temporarily
repented of its iniquity, but had resumed her wickedness and
destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, Samaria, around 722
BC, about 70 years or so prior to this prophecy. Nahum is prophesying
to the nation of Judah, or in the nation of Judah. And during
the mid-7th century BC, the king of Judah was Manasseh, the son
of King Hezekiah. And some of you might know him.
Manasseh was a client king of Assyria, and he is described
as the most wicked king in Judah’s history. He placed idols inside
of the temple of the Lord, he practiced witchcraft, sacrificed
his infant children on the altars of Moab. He was a bad king. One sees many parallels in our
present American society, do we not? Only a few years after
Nahum’s prophecy, Manasseh will be taken captive by the Assyrians,
and God graciously uses this judgment to bring about his repentance.
Yet Judah remains downtrodden at this time, while Assyria is
ascendant. They are ruling from Babylon
all the way to Egypt. And Nahum’s prophecy declares
judgment against Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, for
her wickedness and her cruelty. And that prophecy would be fulfilled
roughly 50 years later in 612 BC, when Nineveh is destroyed
by Babylon. Yet the primary subject of Nahum’s
prophecy is not Nineveh. See, Nahum is a book about God. Although verse 1 tells us that
the prophecy is an oracle or a burden concerning the coming
judgment to Nineveh, the word Nineveh is actually found three
times in the book. Conversely, the word translated
as Lord in our English Bibles, or Yahweh if you have the LSB,
is used five times in just the first three verses of the prophecy.
So Nahum’s message reveals that the Lord Yahweh is the divine
judge who exercises wrathful judgment against the wicked and
delivers his people through this judgment. And this message extends
beyond Assyria. Yes, Nahum’s prophecy acts as
comfort for a downtrodden Judah, but Nineveh’s destruction demonstrates
the coming judgment of Yahweh against all of his enemies. In
our passage this morning, Nahum 1, 2-8, it acts as an opening
hymn to this oracle of judgment. It points the reader past Assyria
to Yahweh’s final judgment against his adversaries. So let’s look
first at the nature of the judge in verses 2 through 3. As we
enter into this hymn, the first truth about the Lord of judgment
is the nature of the judge. This will be our longest point
this morning. There are six aspects of God’s
nature that we find in verses 2 through 3. We see that God
is jealous, He is avenging, He is wrathful, He is patient, He
is powerful, and He is just. And we’ll go through each of
those as we make our way through the passage. So first, the prophet
tells us that the judge of the universe is jealous. In humans,
we often associate the word with a strong emotion, generally negative. For example, if your neighbor
buys a nice car, you might become jealous of that vehicle or the
money that they used to buy that. But this is not only jealousy,
it’s also covetousness. But we see here in this passage,
in the beginning of verse two, it says, a jealous and avenging
God is the Lord. Well, is the Lord sinning here? Obviously not. To covet something
is sinful. We read about that in Exodus
20, verse 17, the 10th commandment. And Nahum will lean heavily on
the Pentateuch in this hymn. You will see many references
to scripture, specifically to the Torah, in this opening hymn. Now, the word covet and the word
jealous are two different words in the Hebrew, but we often see
an association. But jealousy is not necessarily
a negative concept. For example, in the Ten Commandments
again, Exodus 20 verse 5, the Lord prohibits idolatry in the
second commandment, declaring, quote, I, the Lord your God,
am a jealous God. Now obviously, if the Lord is
good, and He is, as we read in Nahum chapter 1 verse 7, then
being jealous is not necessarily a bad thing. So what does it
mean when we read that Yahweh is a jealous God? Well, the word
jealous is found 87 times in the Old Testament, and it often
has the idea of a consuming zeal. In Zephaniah 3, verse 8, and
in several other places, the word is actually translated as
zealous or zeal, as God pours out His wrath zealously upon
the wicked. Yahweh is jealous and zealous
for His glory. He will not share worship with
anyone, especially worship from those in a covenant relationship
with Him. When God’s covenant people turn
from Yahweh and serve false gods in the Old Testament, the Lord
says in Deuteronomy 29 verse 20, quote, The Lord shall never
be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord
and his jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which
is written in this book will rest on him. And the Lord will
blot out his name from under heaven. See, in this verse, as
we also see in Nahum, the anger of the Lord is linked with his
jealousy. Yahweh is likewise jealous for
his people. In the Old Testament, we can
see that God is jealous for Israel, his chosen people. Yahweh makes
a covenant with Abraham and then makes the Old Covenant with the
children of Israel. And it is his zeal for his people
that propels the Lord to jealously guard them from wrong. Now how
comforting this must have been to the Judean hearers of Nahum’s
day. Remember, they’re under the oppression
of Assyria. They’re worried about their safety
and yet they can know and trust that the Lord is jealous for
them. Yahweh repeatedly describes his
covenantal relationship with the people of Israel in marital
terms. He views Israel as exclusively
his in this manner. That’s the old covenant. In the
New Covenant, we likewise see the zealousness of our Lord Jesus
Christ for His people, the church. Christ, the fulfiller and mediator
of the New Covenant, is consumed with zeal for the Lord’s house.
We read about that in John 2, 17, when He clears the temple. And of course, this is referencing
back to Psalm 69, verse 9. Christ is zealous for the Lord’s
house, and He’s likewise zealous for us, His church. That’s the
first aspect of our judge, the nature of the judge. The second
aspect is that Yahweh is avenging. In Nahum 1 verse 2, Yahweh is
described as both jealous and avenging. Indeed, if you look
at the passage three times in verse 2, the Lord is described
as an avenging or vengeful God. And to the modern American church,
this might make us feel uncomfortable. I mean, after all, is not God
a God of love? How can God be a loving God of
grace if he’s also a vengeful God? God’s vengeance is rooted
in his holiness and in his justice. Turn with me in your Bibles.
Keep your finger in Nehum. Turn with me back to Deuteronomy,
Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy chapter 32. We’re
going to look at verses 35 through 36, and then verse 41. And this
is a song of Moses. Moses has led the children to
the edge of the promised land. He is not permitted to go in
because of his sin. And he gives them this song after
giving them the law in Deuteronomy. And here we have Deuteronomy
32, verses 35 through 36. It’s a very famous verse. The Lord is declaring through
Moses in this song. He says, vengeance is mine and
retribution. In due time, their foot will
slip for the day of their calamity is near and the impending things
are hastening upon them. Verse 36, for the Lord will vindicate
his people and he will have compassion on his servants when he sees
that their strength is gone and there is none remaining bond
or free. Then go down to verse 41. The
Lord says, if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold
on justice, I will render vengeance on my adversaries and I will
repay those who hate me. So note first that vengeance
belongs to the Lord. It doesn’t belong to us. It is
God who will bring about divine retribution, not man. It says
that in due time their foot will slip. The wicked will not escape
their calamity. Now some of you might know verse
35 was the key verse used by Jonathan Edwards in his very
famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And Edward
notes about this verse. He says, quote, in this verse
is threatened the vengeance of God upon the wicked. So the Lord
exercises his vengeance on those who are wicked. But what is the
purpose of this vengeance? This purpose is twofold. First,
we see in Deuteronomy, it is because the Lord will vindicate
his people. God has compassion on his people.
This compassion is linked to his vengeance. He is an avenging
God that does not allow sin to go unpunished. Now to the 21st
century American living in peace and prosperity, this quality
might be missed. perhaps even looked down upon.
But to a man living in 7th century Judea, God’s vengeance was certainly
a source of comfort. That’s our first reason, first
purpose. The second purpose of Yahweh’s
vengeance is found in verse 41, where we see that the Lord’s
hand will take hold of justice. Now, as we will see momentarily
in Nahum chapter 1 verse 3, the Lord is a God of justice. Our avenging judge is also a
just judge. And it is because of this truth
that God’s vengeance is unlike the vengeance of man. Know that
the wicked will be justly punished for their iniquity, even if it
seems like they’re getting away with their sin and in the present.
As Pastor Ron mentioned earlier, there was an event that happened
at the Olympics earlier this week. And at the opening of this,
A bunch of transvestites openly mocked the Last Supper of Christ.
Such men have been handed over to a depraved and reprobate mind,
but their mockery will not escape the vengeance of Almighty God.
The murderous abortion doctors won’t escape the punishment for
their crimes. The lying politicians, the corrupt
judges, the dishonest media, the false prophets, the fraudulent
pastors, And yes, you, if you remain in your sin, all will
face the vengeance of our judge. Because God is an avenging God.
He is avenging God because he is a jealous God. And these two
attributes, his jealousy and his vengeance, are expressed
through his wrath, the third attribute we find in Nahum chapter
1 verse 2. Go back to Nahum chapter 1 verse
2. We read in Nahum, a jealous and
avenging God is the Lord. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The vengeance of our great judge
is expressed through his wrath. And the Hebrew word translated
as wrathful in the NASB, LSB, literally means the Lord of wrath. Yahweh is the Lord of wrath,
the master of wrath. And the word wrathful here can
symbolize an intense burning heat and emphasizes the inner
fire of anger that burns with an unquenchable fury. It is the
wrath of a jealous God, one who cannot tolerate sin or iniquity. We see in verse 2 that the Lord
takes vengeance, and at the end of verse 2, He reserves wrath
for His enemies. You see, always wrath is not
uncontrollable. Wrath does not consume the Lord
in the sense that it controls Him. His wrath stems from His
justice. See, our God is not made up of
parts. His attributes are the expression of His nature. God
reserves the outpouring of His wrath, holding it back until
the proper time. And who does he express this
wrath upon? Who does he reserve it for? Well,
Nahum chapter 1 verse 2 says he reserves his wrath for his
enemies. You see, God’s wrath is not indiscriminately exercised. It is reserved specifically for
his enemies. He takes vengeance upon his adversaries. And we see that this is done
by reserving wrath for them. We remember from chapter one,
verse one, that it is a vision against Nineveh, the wicked city
of Assyria. These people are idolaters. They
are worshiping gods of their own making. They are a wicked
and violent people terrorizing the people of Israel, Israel
and Judah. And the people of Nineveh pursued
their own desires instead of submitting to the rule of Yahweh.
Such people are worthy of the description enemies and adversaries.
And if you remember our passage in verses two through eight extends
just beyond Nineveh. Yes, Nahum is prophesying against
Nineveh, but this extends beyond Nineveh as well. It is a description
of judgment that is true for all of God’s enemies, no matter
their social status, their gender or ethnicity. And if you are
an enemy of God, the Lord of judgment has reserved his wrath
for you. Romans 2 verse 5, Paul warns,
but because of the stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are
storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and the revelation
of the righteous judgment of God. See, there is a day of wrath
coming when Yahweh’s righteous judgment will be exercised by
the triumphant Christ. After this seven years of great
tribulation at the second coming, Jesus will judge the nations
and bring terrible vengeance on his enemies. Now, perhaps
if you’re not a Christian. You might be thinking, well,
thus far I have avoided God’s judgment, therefore I have nothing
to fear. You would not be the first to scoff at God. Many people
in Nahum’s day thought that Nineveh being judged would be ridiculous. It would be like America falling
today suddenly. Such was the power of Assyria.
Yet, the Lord of Judgment, His nature is unchanging. Hebrews
9.27 warns us, It is appointed for men once to die, and after
this, the judgment. Now, Nahum chapter 1 verse 3
lists three additional elements. Three additional attributes of
God that eliminate foolish speculation. If you’re thinking, well, maybe
I’ll escape the Lord of judgment. I won’t face his judgment. I
won’t face his wrath if I continue in my sin. Nahum makes it clear
that that is foolish. Look with me at verse three.
Says the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord
will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Fourth aspect, Yahweh
is slow to anger. Such an expression demonstrates
the grace and compassion of our God. Yahweh’s anger is not quick
like that of man. Because he is a God of grace,
God exercises patience towards mankind. Nahum describes God’s
grace and patience as a comfort to God’s people. But such patience
should not be tested or tempted. Peter writes in 2 Peter 3 verse
4, scoffers will mock in the last days and say, where is the
promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all continue just as it was from the beginning of the creation.
Then Peter goes on in verse 7 to declare the quote, by his word,
the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire,
kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
If you are a scoffer this morning, Know that God has already once
judged the world through water in the global flood of Noah.
He reserves his wrath and the earth is reserved for the fire
of his wrath. And it should terrify you if
you are an enemy of God, for he is not slow concerning his
promises. He will bring about the final
judgment against sinners. Now, if you’re a believer, on
the other hand, you should take great comfort in these words. Take
comfort in our God, who’s a God of patience and of grace. Know
that despite your sin, our God is gracious and slow to anger.
And your sin, if you’re a believer, has been already atoned for in
the death of Christ. And therefore, you can take comfort
in the grace showered upon you by a merciful God. So we see
that our God is not only one of slow to anger, another aspect
of His Attributes is that he is great in power. Our fifth
aspect, Yahweh is great in power. See, our God will pour out his
vengeance upon his enemies because he is great in power. God’s power
can be seen in his judgment of the world in the days of Noah.
It can be seen in the judgment of Israel for idolatry. It can
be seen in God’s judgment of Nineveh. And one day it will
be seen when Christ triumphantly returns to carry out his final
judgment. Those in Nineveh may have doubted
Yahweh’s power. You see, the Assyrians believed
that their gods were the most powerful in the world. They believed
that since they had conquered their enemies and destroyed the
temples of many gods, that their false gods were most powerful.
We remember when the Assyrian king besieges Jerusalem under
King Hezekiah, he warns the Jewish people in Isaiah 36 verse 18,
quote, Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, The
Lord will deliver us. Has any one of the gods of the
nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
See, the Assyrians thought, well, we’ve conquered everyone else,
so therefore we can conquer the God of Israel. He’s not powerful.
Yahweh is not like their gods. He is not a false god. Yahweh
is not like the gods of the nations. Yahweh is not a weak god. He
is a powerful god. Indeed, Nahum says He is great
in power. And this term harkens us back
to the power displayed at creation. It also speaks of His power to
save His people. See, God’s sovereignty wasn’t
just confined to Jerusalem. His power wasn’t limited to Judea.
His sovereignty extends beyond Jerusalem, beyond Nineveh, which
would be destroyed by His wrath. His sovereignty extends across
the Near East, across mountains and rivers and oceans. His sovereignty
extends across His entire creation, across Time itself, higher than
the highest heavens, deeper than the deepest oceans, into the
darkest pit of Hades itself, into the very hearts of man.
Our God is great in power. The Lord has great power to save
his people, but such power is also exercised in the judgment
of the guilty. We see this truth in the sixth
attribute that Nahum lists for us. We see that the Lord will
by no means leave the guilty unpunished. You see, Yahweh is
a just God. That is our sixth attribute.
Yahweh is just. The Lord does not exercise His
jealousy, His vengeance, His wrath, His patience, and His
power haphazardly. You see, He is a God of justice.
His nature is the demonstration of justice. And once again, Nahum
here is quoting from the Old Testament. He’s quoting from
Exodus 34 from the Pentateuch, using the words proclaimed by
Yahweh at Mount Sinai. You see, in Exodus 34, verses
6 through 7, God declares, quote, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate
and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness
and truth, who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity,
transgression, and sin. Yet, he will by no means leave
the guilty unpunished. You see, those who transgress
the law of God stand guilty in their sin. They will face the
punishment for their sin. Nineveh may have thought that
her guilt would go unpunished, but God will not let iniquity
stand. Just as Nineveh’s guilt would
not go unpunished, so too will you face the judgment for your
sins if you remain outside of Christ. Your guilt will not remain
unpunished. Your sin places you under the
wrath of God. And since God cannot and will
not contradict His nature, He will justly judge sin. So what does this judgment look
like? Nahum does not leave the hearer in doubt. He does not
just proclaim judgment and say, well, leave it to your imaginations. We’ll see here in our next truth
about Yahweh, the judgment of the judge. We’ve seen his nature,
and the second truth involves his judgment. And this is from
verses 3, the end of verse 3 through verse 6. And his judgment demonstrates
the awesome majesty of our God. As we read the end of Verse 3
through verse 6, you will notice a downward progression that demonstrates
the depth of Yahweh’s judgment. His judgment covers the air,
the sea, and the land. It descends from heaven to the
deepest ocean, from the tallest mountain to the darkest, deepest
valley. The second part of the book’s
opening hymn presents Yahweh’s theophanic arrival as his judgment
descends down from heaven to the earth. Look with me at the
end of verse three. It says in whirlwind and storm is his way
and clouds are the dust beneath his feet. Whirlwinds bring with
them devastation and destruction. They’re often referenced in scriptures
bringing about destruction. You remember from Job, his house
with his children is destroyed by a great whirlwind. And if
you have ever experienced the power of a tornado, you understand
Nahum’s description of God’s judgment here. When I was in
the Army, before I was at Fort Carson in Colorado, I was in
Fort Riley, Kansas. We were doing a field training
exercise and a tornado passed less than a mile from where we
were out in the field. And it took about 20 of us soldiers
hanging on to the headquarter tent poles to keep the thing
from blowing away. It was an awesome example of
power and of destruction. And it provides just a brief
glimpse of Yahweh’s coming judgment in a whirlwind. When the Lord
of Judgment brings down His judgment, such is His grandeur that the
clouds themselves are like the dust beneath His feet. Now, we
might think, okay, that’s a wonderful description. What does it mean?
Well, to the people in Nahum’s day, when you had armies like
the Assyrians marching back and forth, the feet of all those
soldiers would bring up great clouds of dust. And so what Nahum
is doing here is he is contrasting Yahweh, who the clouds are like
the dust, versus the Assyrians. Yahweh’s grandeur and power is
so great, it passes anything that the Assyrians can muster.
Yahweh’s arrival is marked by the clouds, as we have seen before
at Mount Sinai, when His presence is hidden by clouds of darkness,
or when He speaks with Moses at the Tent of Meeting, He’s
hidden by a pillar of clouds. Again, Nahum is drawing on imagery
from Exodus. Yahweh’s judgment covers the
air in verse 3. And next it descends into the
sea in verse 4. Verse 4, the beginning, it says,
He rebukes the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. So the depth of Yahweh’s judgment
reaches into the sea. If you have ever stood near the
ocean during a storm, you cannot help but feel small and powerless
as the waves beat down upon the shore. Try as we might, man cannot
control the oceans. They erode, batter, and break
every barrier that man places in their path. Yet the Lord of
judgment, with a simple word, rebukes the seas. He rebukes
the waves. His judgment is expressed in
this rebuke. Nahum is, again, referencing
scripture to describe the judgment of Yahweh. He’s referencing Psalm
18, verse 5, which says, And again from Isaiah 50, verse 2,
which is, Isaiah is just right before Nahum. Isaiah writes, So we see this reference to the
Old Testament in Isaiah and Exodus from Nahum. The Lord of Judgment
is demonstrating his wrath on the seas. He demonstrates it’s
in the air, now on the sea, and then next upon the dry ground.
Look at the end of verse four. Bashan and Carmel wither, the
blossoms of Lebanon wither. Verse five, the mountains quake
because of him and the hills dissolve. Indeed, the earth is
upheaved by his presence. Nahum demonstrates in verse 4
that even the most fertile and prosperous regions will not escape
Yahweh’s judgment. There are three different regions
listed here by Nahum. The first is Bashan. It’s the
modern-day Golan Heights, just a little bit north to the northeast
of Israel. It’s a fertile area north of
the Sea of Galilee. It lacks stones. It’s a prosperous
area. It’s very good for raising livestock. So it’s our first
area that he references. Next, he references Carmel. referencing
the area south of the Sea of Galilee. It encompasses much
of lower Galilee, all the way west to Mount Carmel along the
Mediterranean Sea. You might remember Mount Carmel
as the area where Elijah has his famous confrontation with
the prophets of Baal. It is an extremely fertile area,
good for growing crops. So Nahum references these two
areas and then he references Lebanon. Of course, Lebanon is
a mountainous region to the north of Israel. It’s known for its
cedar trees, which Solomon famously used when he constructed the
temple. Now note, none of these three regions are in Assyria.
None. This is a prophecy, an oracle,
a burden against Nineveh. But then Yahweh’s judgment is
against two regions in Israel and one just to the north of
Israel. And as we will see in just a moment again in verse
5, this points to the universality of Yahweh’s judgment. It’s not
just Nineveh, it’s not just Assyria that will face the Lord of Judgment.
No, it is the wicked, even those in Israel who will face His judgment. Fertile regions will be humbled.
We also see that the mountains will be brought low. Verse 5
tells us that the mountains will quake and the hills dissolve. Again, we see the descending
nature of judgment as the mountains themselves melt before the judgment
of God. If you’re living in Colorado,
you know something about mountains. There’s nothing like hiking to
the top of a mountain, looking out, seeing the grandeur of God’s
creation. Yet the very mountains themselves
will be humbled by the arrival of judgment. Not only will the
mountains be lowered, but the valleys will be raised. Indeed,
the earth, it says, is upheaved by his presence. The judgment
of God reaches to the very depths of the earth and brings them
to light. The earth shakes and quakes as the land experiences
the just judgment of its creator. Nahum details the depth of God’s
judgment here, but he does not stop there. He also describes
the breadth of Yahweh’s judgment. Look at the end of verse 5. He describes the world and all
the inhabitants in it. Yahweh’s judgment extends across
the world. Thus far, the judgment of God
and Nahum has been directed against the natural order, the earth
and physical creation. But now Nahum takes the focus
and places it back on humanity. It is important to grasp the
universality of Yahweh’s judgment. Although Nahum’s burden is against
Assyria, as we’ve already stated, it extends beyond Assyria to
reach the very corners of the globe. All the inhabitants of
the earth, all of them, deserve the Lord of Judgment coming to
swiftly bring down His justice and His wrath. We remember that
the guilty will be punished by our holy and righteous judge.
We read earlier in verse 3, the Lord will by no means leave the
guilty unpunished. This is part of God’s nature
and expression of His justice. And the truth is, just like Assyria,
we all stand underneath the just judgment of our God. Turn with
me to Romans. Your finger in Nahum, turn with
me to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three, we’ll look
at verses 10 through 12. Very famous passage, describes
the doctrine of total depravity. All men born of ordinary generation
stand guilty before God. We have inherited our sin nature
from our fathers. There is no one who is innocent.
And in this passage, Paul lays out the charges against humanity
like a prosecutor in a courtroom. And in Romans 3, verses 10 through
12, we read this. Beginning in verse 10, as it
is written, there is none righteous, not even one. Verse 11, there
is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God. All
have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is
none who does good, there is not even one. Remember, this
applies to all born of natural generation. Therefore, it applies
to you. The evidence of your guilt, of
my guilt, is consuming, it is crushing, and it is condemning.
Skip down to verse 23 in Romans chapter 10. Very famous verse. Many of you, I’m sure, have it
memorized. Paul concludes his charges against humanity, and
he says this, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God. You see, the verdict is in. You
fall short continually every day of God’s glory, and so do
I. You fall short of the righteous standard that Christ displayed
in his sinless life. Now, unless you think that you
will somehow escape the just judgment of God through your
own righteousness or your own good works, Nahum again makes
clear, if we go back to Nahum 1, verse 6, that your sin makes
this impossible. Turn back with me to Nahum 1,
verse 6. Nahum declares, who can stand
before his indignation? Who can endure the burning of
his wrath or of his anger? His wrath is poured out like
fire and the rocks are broken up by him. We have several rhetorical
questions here. First, who can stand before his
indignation? Who can stand before the indignation
of our sovereign judge? Of course, the answer is obvious.
There is no one. For only the righteous will stand in judgment. Psalm 1 verse 5 says, Therefore,
the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in
the assembly of the righteous. The wicked cannot stand in the
judgment. They cannot stand before the indignation of the Lord of
judgment. You have no right in yourself
to stand with the righteous. Likewise, the second rhetorical
question. Who can endure the burning of his anger that yields
the same results? None can endure his anger. Our
God is a jealous and avenging God, and his wrath will be poured
out against his enemies. And we see that in verse six,
his wrath is poured out like fire. The rocks are broken up
by him. The wrath of God will consume
like a burning fire. And is this not an apt description
of the eternal torment of hell, where guilty sinners face the
everlasting wrath of an almighty God? Friends, such description
concerning the Lord of judgment should terrify you. In our natural
condition, we are all enemies of God. Man has rebelled against
God and all of us, like our first father, Adam, shake our fist
at the Lord and declare that we are sovereign, that we are
to be obeyed and not God. So the question is, is there
an escape from the judgment of the judge? We’ve seen two truths
about the Lord of judgment. We’ve seen the nature of the
judge. We’ve seen the judgment of the judge. Lastly, we will
see the truth about the refuge of the judge. See, it is only
in the refuge of the judge that we can be saved from the just
punishment of our sins. Look with me at verse 7. I’ll tell you what, after the
first six verses, it’s just like a heavy weight. Is it not just
pressing down upon you? There is no relief here. And
then verse six, it’s just so wonderful. The Lord, Yahweh,
is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. And he knows
those who take refuge in him. See, in this verse, we see the
tender mercy of the judge. As I said, as I read through
this hymn in preparing for the sermon, I was just struck by
the weightiness. Nahum again and again and again,
he doesn’t let up. He just keeps pressing. And hopefully
as we’ve preached through this sermon, you felt the sense of
that weight, that pressure. But now Nahum provides hope for
sinners. And this hope is not found in
yourself, in your good deeds, your works or your efforts. It’s
found exclusively in the character of the judge. Says the Lord is
good. What a simple yet profound statement. Goodness is not simply part of
God. Yahweh is good. The Lord is the
very essence of goodness. And it is because Yahweh is good
that His jealousy, His vengeance, His wrath, His power, His patience,
and His justice are different from those exercised by man.
We remember from Romans 3 verse 12 that we just read a moment
ago. There is none who does good. Yet God is good. God is holy,
set apart in His goodness. And to quote the Puritan Edward
Lee, the holy goodness of God is, quote, the beauty of all
God’s attributes, without which his wisdom would be but subtlety,
his justice, cruelty, his sovereignty, tyranny, and his mercy, foolish
pity, unquote. The description of God’s nature
as described earlier is incomplete without his goodness. And because
God is good, he is the only hope for sinners. He is your only
hope. Nahum continues in verse 7, pardon me. Yahweh is a stronghold
in the day of trouble. And the day of trouble is quite
similar to the expression found elsewhere in the minor prophets,
the day of the Lord. It is in this day that the Lord
of judgment descends. It is the second coming of Christ,
where Jesus comes to exercise His wrath upon the nations and
save Israel from destruction. You see, Christ will judge the
nations for their iniquity. Yet Yahweh is a stronghold in
that day and is the same judge who brings about judgment that
is the hope and the safety for sinners. And it is only through
the mercy of a good God that sinners can have an eternal hope.
But why is the Lord a stronghold? I mean, after all, we are His
enemies. You stand guilty before Him, wrapped in the disgusting
garments of your sin and iniquity. How can a good God save wicked
sinners? Well, the end of verse 7 gives
us the answer. Look at verse 7. He knows those who take refuge
in Him. See, the word know here is far
more than just an intellectual knowledge. God knows everything
about everyone. The word no here is translated
from a Hebrew word that describes a very deep, intimate, and personal
knowledge. It’s a word that describes experiential
knowledge. It’s the loving knowledge of
a husband and a wife. Yahweh knows those who take refuge
in him. In other words, Yahweh loves
those. What is refuge, safety, rest,
comfort? Where can sinners find comfort?
In him, in Yahweh. Sinners must turn from trusting
themselves in their own goodness and their own strength and turn
to trusting in the Lord. God does not save us because
we are good. In fact, he loved his people
while we were his enemies. Those known by God take refuge
in him and are saved. Even if they are the vilest of
sinners, if they are known by God and submit to him, they take
refuge in him. Paul describes this truth in
Romans 5, 6-8. I’ll read it briefly. You don’t
have to turn there. Romans 5, 6-8 says, For while we were still
helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a
righteous man, though perhaps for a good man someone would
even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love towards us in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You see, friends,
it is Christ who knew and loved his people before the very foundation
of the world. And before the very foundation
of the world, the Father purposed to send his Son, only begotten
Son, into the world. And the Son purposed to come
into the world to take on flesh as fully God and fully man, that
he might live a perfectly righteous life and die on the cross for
the sin of his people. He came to save his people from
their sins. You might think that my sin is
too great, my guilt is too deep. Take heart, O distressed soul.
Your judge is your refuge. This is the refuge of your judge,
that you might take refuge in him, repent of your sins, and
believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you will become
a child of God instead of his enemy. If you remain in your
rebellion against God and in your sin, you will experience
his overwhelming fury, His judgment will be poured out against all
his enemies. Look with me at the close of Nahum’s opening
hymn in verse 8. We’ve had a slight reprieve,
we’ve seen the refuge of God, but then Nahum goes right back
at it. But with an overwhelming flood, he will make a complete
end of its sight, and he will pursue his enemies into darkness.
You see, the Lord of Judgment will obliterate, eviscerate,
and annihilate his enemies. Like an overwhelming flood, he
will engulf his enemies in destruction. And the city of Nineveh is testament
to this fact. In 612 BC, the Babylonians surrounded
the city. A river ran around the city of
Nineveh, keeping the attackers at bay. But what the Babylonians
did is they diverted the waters of the river, and the overwhelming
flood rolled down upon the city, destroying its defenses, allowing
the Babylonians to come in and destroy the city. Nahum prophesies
this over 50 years prior to this event. The destruction of Nineveh
was complete. The Lord of Judgment makes a
complete end of its sight. And such was the destruction
of Nineveh that all evidence of its existence vanished for
over 2400 years. It wasn’t until the 1800s that
the city was rediscovered. Now, the destruction of Nineveh
acts as an illustration of the end of all of God’s enemies.
You see, Yahweh will pursue his enemies into darkness. Darkness
represents judgments. Men cannot flee into the darkness
to escape, even the very darkness of the pit. Hell itself will
not hide the enemies of God from their just judgment. The darkness
itself is part of the judgment, and Yahweh will pursue his enemies,
meaning God’s judgment will not cease. And if you are an enemy
of God, you cannot flee from his judgment. You can’t outrun
his judgment. You cannot avoid his judgment.
Too many preachers today avoid describing the Lord of Judgment,
His wrath against sin, which is best expressed, of course,
in the death of Christ when God pours out His wrath upon His
Son. Many churches today, and I won’t
list the name, but some of them around Easter time say, well,
we’re not going to use the words resurrection or Calvary or the blood of Christ.
Those are going to make someone feel like an outsider. And we
just don’t want to make anyone feel like an outsider. And they
don’t reference sin or judgment or repentance or salvation. Friends,
this is not the gospel. The gospel is not that, well,
you came along, God, you filled me up, all my desires are satisfied
in you, and it’s just so wonderful. That’s not the gospel. Such theology
is directly opposed to the theology of Nahum. The gospel is not that
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. That’s the
theology of hell. As Paul Washer describes so well,
what sinner does not say, well, well, God loves me. Well, I love
me and I have a wonderful plan for my life. And you mean that
God loves me too and has a wonderful plan for my life and he’s going
to satisfy my desires? Sign me up. Who doesn’t want
a God like that? It’s going to make me feel good.
But friends, the gospel is not that Jesus died to satisfy everything
that I wanted to make me feel good. The gospel is the good
news that Christ came to bear your judgment. the judgment of
his people, that they might be reconciled to God and glorify
him with their lives. The gospel must always be placed
against the backdrop of man’s sin and man’s guilt before a
holy God, and that’s what Nahum does so well here in this passage.
So friend, if you have come to Christ simply to make yourself
feel better, if you come to church because it gives you a good pick-me-up,
or maybe you’re viewing your salvation as simply fire insurance,
I got my fire insurance from hell and I’m going to live my
life however I want, then you do not understand the gospel.
If you have not repented of your sin and believed in Jesus as
your Lord, you hang precariously under the weight and wrath of
an almighty God. Christ is the Lord of judgment. To finish, turn with me to Revelation
chapter 19. We’ll finish there. Revelation
chapter 19. This is describing Jesus’ return
in the day of trouble at the end of the great tribulation.
Revelation chapter 19. In verse 11, we see the heavens
opened and a white horse. He who sat on it is called faithful
and true, and in his righteousness, he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire,
and on His head are many diadems. And He has a name written on
Him, which no one knows except Himself. Look at verse 13. He
is clothed with the robe, dipped in blood, and His name is called
the Word of God. And just a quick note, that blood
is not the blood of the cross. That is the blood of His enemies,
as He wages war against them. Verse 14, the armies which are
in heaven, clothed in fine white and clean, were following him
on white horses. And look at verse 15, this is
where we’ll end. From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that
with it he may strike down the nations. He will rule them with
a rod of iron, and he treads the wine presses of the fierce
wrath of God the Almighty. You won’t find such theology
in seeker-sensitive and pragmatic churches. but you will find it
in God’s word. Christ is the Lord of judgment.
And the three overarching truths that we have seen today from
Nahum should terrify you again if you’re an enemy of God. The
nature of the judge demonstrates that he will by no means leave
the guilty unpunished. The judgment of the judge extends
from the height of heaven to the depths of the sea and across
the breadth of the earth. Yet if you seek refuge in the
judge, Take comfort that Christ knows you. He is the stronghold
in the day of trouble, the only stronghold, and he is the savior
of his people. Nahum presents the Lord of judgment
in all his glory and all his majesty. And I pray that if you’re
a Christian, this hymn that we read this morning from Nahum
would comfort you, for God will not allow the wickedness of this
world to triumph. And if you are an enemy of God,
May you repent of your sins and seek the only refuge that you
have, Jesus Christ, the Lord of judgment. Let’s pray.