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Bro. Bill Nichols
Well, I gave some consideration this week to bailing on Nahum and jumping into Luke.
And in fact, I did two different lessons. And I decided just before I came to church this morning that we'd finish
Nahum today and then we'd go to Luke. And then on the way in,
I was listening to Jeffers in his sermon and guess what book he quoted from?
Nahum. I had never heard anybody quote anything from Nahum and I took that to be a sign that we need to do
Nahum. And it was actually a quote out of chapter 3, which we would not have gotten to otherwise.
Let's begin with a quick prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we praise you because you are, after all, different than we are.
You are holy and set apart. We thank you for giving us this time and this place where we may come together and study your holy word.
We thank you for the Holy Spirit that you've given us to illuminate your word so that we can understand it.
But most of all, we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, that you gave us so that we might not need to bear the judgment that we have earned.
We've earned no less than the city of Nineveh earned their judgment. And we'll learn today what their judgment was.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, Nahum chapter 3, verse 1.
Woe unto the bloody city! It is full of lies and robbery. The prey departeth not.
The noise of a whip and the noise of the rattling of wheels and of prancing horses and of jumping chariots.
The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear, and there is a multitude of the slain and a great number of carcasses, and there is none end to their corpses.
They stumble upon their corpses because of the multitude of their whoredoms of the well -favored harlot, the mystery of witchcrafts that sell off nations through her whoredoms, the families through her witchcrafts.
What we have here in the first four verses of Nahum is an accounting of the sins of Nineveh.
It's a bloody city, a city full of lies and robbery, a city with no lack of victims.
The prey departeth not. It's a city full of predators and a city full of prey.
Verse 2. The noise of a whip and the noise of rattling of the wheels and the prancing horses and of the jumping chariots.
It's a busy city. Well, it was a busy city. Busy with violence, busy with deception, and busy with idolatry.
The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear. There is a multitude of the slain and a great number of carcasses, and there is none end of their corpses.
They stumble upon their corpses. It was a city that was not only extremely cruel.
It was a city that boasted of its cruelty. Monuments exist today.
At least this was said by Boise. Monuments exist in museums to this day that stagger the imagination.
Here are some choice quotes. I cut off their heads and formed them into pillars.
Bubo, the son of Bubba, I flayed in the city of Arbella and spread his skin upon the city wall.
To flay means to skin alive. I flayed all the chief men who had revolted and covered the pillar with their skins.
Many within the border of my own land I flayed and spread their skins upon the walls. I cut off the limbs of officers, the royal officers who had rebelled.
Three thousand captives I burned alive with fire. Their corpses
I formed into pillars. From some I cut off their hands and their fingers.
From others I cut off their noses, their ears, and their fingers. Of many
I put out their eyes. Cruelty just for the sake of cruelty.
Cruelty that's almost unimaginable until we reflect upon what's happening in the world today, particularly what's happening in the
Middle East. This austere religious scholar that was killed last week, that was some of the things that he did.
It could have just as easily been talking about him burning prisoners alive in cages, cutting off their heads.
We're just as cruel today as the Ninevites were. It was bad enough that Nineveh indulged in this evil for herself.
It was worse that she led the nations into violence, deception, and idolatry.
And it was for this that the judgment of God was coming. And we'll do well to consider
God's judgment for the nations today. Verse 4, because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well -favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth the nation through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcraft.
It's not talking just about sexual immorality. Actually, the focus here is not that at all.
The focus is religious immorality, religious immorality, not sexual immorality.
The focus is idolatry, the worship of false gods. And associated with this worship is sorcery and witchcraft.
Thousands of tablets uncovered in the Mesopotamian Valley show superstition.
Hundreds of sorcery incantations have been brought to light. That was quoted by Boyce as well.
Something to consider. Are idolatry and witchcraft a problem in the world today?
What about Judaism? If it were in the time of Judah, not
Judah, if it were in the time of Nahum, it would have been a true religion.
But what happened after Nahum, after Christ was born, after he presented himself as the
Messiah? You see, before the Messiah, they were saved, or not saved, by looking forward to the
Messiah. After Jesus, we're saved by looking back to the
Messiah. What they did was, when given the opportunity, they rejected the
Messiah. Now, can Jews be saved today? Absolutely. And how can they be saved?
The exact same way that Gentiles are saved. By Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ alone.
And if you go any other path, you're on the path of a false religion. There's only one way to God, and that's through the cross.
You arrive through Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. That's the only way.
He says, I am the way, the truth and the light. No man comes to the
Father but by me. If you don't know that way, you don't know any way.
That's exactly right. Well, I couldn't resist throwing in a city. What about Seattle, Washington?
Brother Davey can tell you that witchcraft is a problem in Seattle.
I don't know if it's as much of a problem as it used to be. It may be more than it used to be, I don't know.
But I know there is a serious problem with sorcery and witchcraft in Seattle.
And I don't think it's confined to just Seattle. And it's not really the town of Seattle so much as it is the little town just north of that.
Okay, Port Angeles is the city that's really, really bad.
I didn't remember that. All I knew is, in general, it's in Seattle. Yes, incantations, witchcraft, all of these things are ways of Satan.
Remember what we said last week in the sermon, half God said? Satan's major tool is convicting
God's people of doubt. Making them doubt and then giving them something else to run after.
So, first we doubt and then we move away from Christ.
And that is Satan's method. Whether it's
Judaism, whether it's Islamism, whether it's Confucianism, whatever it is.
All of those things are not of God. Now, in the next couple of verses, we deal with the judgment of Nineveh.
This is the verse that Robert Jeffress quoted. And I understood something because he did it in a different version than the
King James version. And so I understand what it's saying now. It says,
Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts. I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
What's it saying there when it says, I will discover thy skirts upon thy face? Translated in other versions, it says,
I will lift thy skirt up over thy face and expose thy nakedness. That's how we would interpret that verse.
I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
I was just going to let that slide by, and then Robert Jeffress explained it to me so I understood it. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and I will make thee vile, and I will set thee as gazing stock.
And it shall come to pass that all that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say,
Nineveh is laid waste. Who will bemoan her? Whence shall
I seek comforters for her? So first verse,
I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts. I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdom thy shame.
Now, I've already discussed what that means. The first time this phrase was used by Nahum, it referred to the total military destruction of Nineveh.
Nineveh is going to be totally destroyed. But more than that, it's going to be destroyed to the extent that it will never be seen again, at least for 2 ,000 years.
This time, it deals with the utter humiliation of the city. After this defeat,
Nineveh can no longer be considered prideful, powerful, strong. They will be utterly humiliated.
And I will cast abominable filth upon thee. He, that is
God, will take the idols of Nineveh, referred to as abominable filth.
And the Greek word shikots is often translated abomination.
Here it's translated abominable filth. And throw them back in their face, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock.
The idea behind the Hebrew word for vile is something that is made weak, foolish, and contemptible.
So here's what we can say. The mighty, prideful, and fearsome people of Nineveh will be made weak, foolish, and contemptible.
And it shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say,
I seek comforters for thee? Nineveh, prior to its destruction, walked high in their pride.
But they will certainly be brought low, with no one to comfort them.
Adam Clark, writing before the discovery of the ruins of Nineveh in 1840, quotes an author commenting on the disappearance of the city.
And the author said this, What probability was there that the capital city of a great kingdom, or a city which was sixty miles in compass, and there's some doubt about that, whether it's sixty miles around, or sixty miles straight through.
Either way, it's a big city. A city which contained so many thousand inhabitants.
A city which had walls a hundred feet high. And yet, so totally was it destroyed that the place is hardly known where it was situated.
Great as it was, formerly, so little of it is remaining that authors are not even agreed about its situation.
They couldn't even, at the time of Clark, say for certain where Nineveh was.
There was doubt among certain religious scholars that the city of Nineveh even existed.
Or even the Assyrian Empire. Many of the more liberal scholars insisted that Assyria was only a legend, whose roots lay in biblical stories.
Very much like the city of Atlantis. You've heard of Atlantis? The city that sunk into the ocean?
Do you know the roots of that story? Plato told the story.
And it had such a gripping hold on the people that some men are still searching for Atlantis today.
Just like before 1840, when they found
Nineveh, there were some men searching for the ruins of Nineveh. Verse 8.
So now we're talking about a real city. The city of Noah. This city, like Nineveh, was completely destroyed.
But unlike Nineveh, it was rebuilt. That city was No -Amon.
Here's just the word, no. It says, are you better than No -Amon?
No -Amon is the Hebrew name for the Egyptian city of Thebes. Thebes was another wealthy and mighty city that was destroyed completely.
The Assyrians in Nineveh knew this. Do you know why? They're the ones that destroyed
Noah. It was their armies that destroyed Thebes. Nahum is in effect saying, remember what you did to Noah?
The same is coming to you, but more so. You will be destroyed so completely that you will disappear from the earth, not to be seen again for more than 2 ,000 years.
And that's exactly what happened. We talked about that in Nahum 2.
Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength. So Thebes was allied with Ethiopia and Egypt.
They were her strength. And it was infinite. Well, it wasn't really infinite, or they wouldn't have been defeated, but it was mighty.
Put and Luban were thy helpers. Even though the city was strong and allied with other strong cities,
No -Amon was not able to prevent the destruction of her city by Nineveh and its allies.
Its allies were Put and Luban. Similarly, Nineveh will not be able to withstand the
Babylonians. Noah could not withstand the Assyrians. The Assyrians will not be able to withstand the
Babylonians. And they, in their turn, will be destroyed.
But unlike Thebes or Noah, Nineveh will be destroyed to such an extent that absolutely nothing will survive.
Not even the ruins will remain. Well, they'll remain, but not to be discovered for 2 ,000 years.
And yet she was carried away. She went into captivity with her young children. Her young children were also dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets.
And they cast slot for her honorable men. And all of her great men were bound in chains and carried back to Nineveh or destroyed along the way.
You remember what happened to No -Amon. Worse will happen to you. That's what
Nahum is saying to the Ninevites. Thou shalt be drunken.
Thou shalt not be hid. Thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. Well, this certainly is speaking to Assyria.
But it might also be speaking to us today, to those of us in America today.
In many ways, we are like the Ninevites. We see empires and we see nations judged by God and judged in history.
Just like the Assyrians saw Thebes destroyed. And yet we, like the
Ninevites, somehow think we'll be spared. Despite our sinful arrogance and rebellion.
The things that are happening in the United States today is enough to bring God's judgment upon us.
Verse 12. All thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs.
If they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
Their strongholds will fall as easily as ripe figs fall when the tree is shaken. There is no stronghold which can withstand the judgment.
Verse 13. Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women. The gates of thy city shall be set wide open unto thine enemies.
The fire shall devour thy bars. Archaeologists studying the ruins of Nineveh document the burning of Nineveh.
The excavators of Nineveh have remarked on the large deposits of ash which were evident of a giant conflagration.
Draw thee nigh for the siege. Fortify thy strongholds. Go into clay and tread the mortar and make strong the brick kiln.
Nahum is practically mocking the people of Nineveh. He's telling them to do the best they can.
Fortify your strongholds. Make new bricks. Tread the mortar.
Burn the bricks in the oven and make them hard. Cheering them on to do the best they can in light of the coming judgment.
They can prepare as many provisions and as many people as they please.
But it will all come to nothing against the judgment of God. There shall the fire devour thee.
The sword shall cut thee off. It shall eat thee up as the canker worm. Make thyself many as the canker worm.
Make thyself many as the locust. It doesn't matter how many of you there are. The fire will devour you.
Verses 16 through 19 tell us that because her leaders are weak,
Nineveh is ripe for judgment. You can say that about our country.
Our leaders are weak. And I would say not all of them and not all the time, but most of them most of the time are weak.
And like Nineveh, we're ripe for judgment. Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of the heaven.
That's a lot of merchants, more than the stars in the heaven. The canker worms spoileth and flyeth away.
Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day.
But when the sun ariseth, they flee away. Their place is not known where they are.
It's like the swamp dwellers in Washington. They flee away when the heat is on.
Thy shepherds slumber. O king of Assyria, thy nobles shall dwell in the dust.
Thy people are scattered upon the mountain, and no man gathers them. There is no healing of thy bruise.
Thy wound is grievous. And all that hear the brunt of it shall clap their hands over thee, for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually.
Every one of these classes of leaders, even though they were numerous, would be ineffective and come to nothing in the day of judgment.
It didn't matter how many leaders they had. They will come to nothing in the day of judgment. Despite their numbers, still your people will be scattered upon the mountains, and no one gathers them.
The sinful and rebellious leadership of Nineveh will be powerless against the judgment of God.
Verse 16, Now as multiplied by merchants above the stars of the heaven, the canker worms spoileth and flyeth away.
Thy crowns are as locusts, and thy captains as great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in a cold day.
But when the sun ariseth, they flee away. And their place is not known where they are.
All of the wealth of all the merchants will avail of nothing. It won't matter how much money they have, how much gold they have, none of it will be left.
Verse 18, Thy shepherds slumber. O king of Assyria, thy nobles shall dwell in the dusk.
Thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathers them. Those who should have protected and led them were asleep.
Their shepherds were asleep. There is no healing of thy bruise. Thy wound is grievous.
All that hear the brunt of it shall clap the hands over thee, for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually.
Nineveh was known, even renowned, for its violence and cruelty.
I messed up something.
I got to recapture it. There we go. Even known and even renowned for its violence and cruelty.
So it's no wonder that Nahum sees the nations applauding when the city is judged and destroyed.
In Psalm 73, the psalmist Asaph dealt with the same problem.
It seemed to him that the wicked constantly prospered and lived at ease.
It troubled him so much that he doubted his own walk with God. And as I said earlier, that's always the first mark of Satan's attack upon you is you begin to doubt.
But Asaph remembered, Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then
I understood their end. Whose end? The wicked. Just because they're prospering now doesn't mean they'll prosper forever.
And just because they're prospering now doesn't mean that it's incumbent upon me to interfere with their prosperity.
What he said was it troubled him so much that he doubted his own walk with God until he went into the sanctuary of God.
And then he understood their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places.
He says, God, I know that you placed them on a slippery place. And even though they're prospering now, they won't prosper forever.
Thou castest them down unto destruction. That would be the end of them. How are they brought into desolation?
As in a moment, they're utterly consumed with terrors. We can take comfort in knowing that the judgments of God are faithful and true.
And as we referred to a couple weeks ago, there is no sin that is ever committed by any man that is not punishable by death.
Every single sin ever committed by every man, both the elect and the non -elect, every one of them, is paid for by death.
Some of them, the non -elect, by the death of the sinner. And some of them, the elect, by the death of Jesus Christ.
But every one of them was paid for by the death of someone.
We can take comfort in knowing that the judgments of the Lord are faithful and true. We don't need to envy the unrighteous or seek vengeance against them ourselves.
Nahum and Aesop each show us that God is more than able to take care of them and to take care of us.
Each according to his promise to us. The promise to us, the elect, that Jesus Christ will pay for our sins and has already paid for them on the cross.
And the promise to them that they will pay for their own death because after all, the wages of sin are death.
Death of someone. Death of Jesus Christ or death of the sinner. If it's the death of Jesus Christ, that was a temporary death and a resurrection and because of that you avoid the permanent death.
Oh, you'll have a temporary death unless you're lucky enough or unlucky enough whichever way you view it to be here when the rapture comes or the temporary death that all men face otherwise.
Each of us according to his promise to each of us. Any comments about this chapter?
I think it was 200 years. I'm not exactly sure of the date but it was more than a generation later and it took only 200 years.
That's right. It's everywhere.
It is everywhere. You're right. And as Marianne said, it took even less time for us but we were not 100 %
Christian at the beginning of our nation and less than 100 years later we are almost totally pagan.
I don't know if we're worse or better than Nineveh probably not quite as bad yet but we're bad and what happened is all these little kids that are out there playing
Easter playing Halloween Easter as well and Christmas as well too.
At this stage they don't really worship. They don't know what they're doing but as time goes by they will lose they will be yin to doubt.
There's absolutely nothing. But the other day there was a lady that came in the store and wanted to go look.
She said, no, we don't think it's so different.
I mean, they had that endless door but he wanted to go look but she didn't.
And if you had to go... That's absolutely true.
I can't go into Home Depot without seeing the skeleton the skeleton creatures.
As you go down the front it's like you're in a... The evil supernatural it just grows and grows and grows.
You know, I mean we're as bad as the Jews with our traditions. Maybe they don't mean it but Satan does.
Well, we can't have
Christ to be what is exposed when the snow settles, can we? That's stupidity.
Okay, I think we're probably imposing... We're probably imposing on Brother David's time.
Actually, we're a little bit early still so we can continue to discuss but most of this is not getting on the machine.
So it's... You're not quite anonymous but there'll be a little bit of roar back there that we probably can amplify and get you up to speed.
But it is a... And that's one of the reasons why about three or four weeks ago
I intended to start on Luke. And I'm going to do that next time.
But the first thing I'm going to do with Luke is to tell you why we don't celebrate it on December the 25th because that's not when he was born.
He couldn't have been born then because the sheep were still out in the fields. They brought them in sometime in October or November.
And in fact, Brother David and I have an ongoing discussion. I think it's the third and he thinks it's the fourth.
That is Jesus' birthday. But... And now we've got another pretender,
Paul Davis, who's not here to defend himself. He probably thinks it's the sixth. Isn't he the sixth or is he the fifth?
He's the fifth. So he probably thinks it's the fifth. So we've got it pinned down. It's either the third, fourth, or fifth. Because one of us had to be born on Jesus' birthday.
That's just as foolish as saying it has to be on the 25th of December. You know why it's the 25th of December.
That's when the pagans celebrated. You know the
Yule log. Anybody know what the Yule log represents? The children that were burned in the arms of Baal.
And we just love that... We just love burning that Yule log. It's amazing what's out there.
Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all our many blessings that you've given us.
Thank you for the protection that you've given us. Thank you for giving us your Son to bear the burden of our sin so that we can bear the goodness that he has earned.
He bore our sins so we could bear his righteousness. That is an amazing thing. Thank you.