Nahum & Divine Consolation

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Mike Abendroth, and with these new headphones that I have on, it's hard for me to hear myself, and actually, you know, we could make jokes about people listening to themselves and vanity and pride, and there's probably a lot of that that is truthful, but I like to hear myself when

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Law Gospel, and that's an important topic. Well, today, I want to talk a little bit more to you about Nahum, the book of Nahum, that means to console or to comfort, and when you read

Nahum, the first thing you're going to say is, I don't know if his name matches up to his writing, but I think as we work through the book, you'll see that, in fact, it is true, but I don't want to tell you why that's true quite yet.

In the worship services at Bethlehem Bible Church, I've started the book of Nahum, and last time

I preached, I had to take a week off because of a COVID exposure, but I want to continue on this radio show to talk a little bit about Nahum, those early chapters, and so just let me give you a quick review when we come to the book of Nahum.

Basically, what he, the writer, is doing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is giving the people who are getting oppressed,

God's people, the people in Judah, they're getting oppressed, and he, the writer, wants them to receive comfort knowing that in pressed times, there's a way to think properly, so kind of right thinking in oppressed times, that's the way

I would probably frame it, and that way it's framed loosely enough and generally enough so that you can say to yourself, oh, when there are difficult times in my life, it could be just a trial, maybe not oppression, but if it's persecution or oppression and or oppression, then how can

I respond, and Nahum is a good book for that, so I don't want you to forget the book of Nahum, and if I wanted to get you to think rightly about difficult days and receiving comfort in oppressive times, that's really the whole book, including this first section.

We talked about this in previous episodes, but it's a good review. Number one, embrace the whole counsel of God.

That is to say, if you want comfort, you're going to have to say to yourself, I'm going to have to really trust

God's word. I'm going to have to assume that it's true, inspired, authoritative, sufficient, inerrant, infallible, and that I can trust it, it's reliable, because where else are you going to go?

Everywhere else you go, there's going to be issues. When we think of scripture, we think of revelation from God, God revealing himself to us.

It is from the outside. Other religions, as B .B. Warfield would say, come from the inside.

Maybe it's outside and inside, but once you start thinking, God said to me, or God talks to me, or whatever, you are forgetting the depravity of man, wholly depraved, mankind, humankind, peoplekind, therefore, it's going to be torques.

We need something outside of ourselves that's not affected by the fall, and therefore, if you come to this passage and you're doubting some of scripture, maybe the rough edges of scripture, the pointy edges that talk about God is, verse 2 in chapter 1 of Nahum, jealous and avenging, wrathful, keeps wrath for his enemies.

Those kind of verses, if you're not careful, you might want to say, you know what, I don't really like that part of God.

I cringe when it comes to that, and I duck, I don't want anything to do with that kind of God.

That would be a major tragedy. So, that was the first thing we looked at last time, and it's a good reminder to accept the whole counsel of God.

In addition, what you need to do when you're getting oppressed, how does God want us to receive comfort when oppressed, here in the little book of Nahum, you can see that he points everyone to the character and nature of God.

Maybe you say, look up, not in or around, would be a good way to find comfort.

The comfort is found in the object of your faith, the triune God, and Nahum forces you to read the

Bible in a God -centered way. You would think that he's going to say early on, by the way, these

Ninevites, these Assyrians, they will receive what's due to them. Don't worry,

God's got your back. I know that's a colloquial saying, but you know what I'm saying. That's not what he does, though.

He eventually will get there, that Ninevites are going to be judged, but first, he wants you to get your eyes off of self and eyes off of oppressors, ultimately, and think about who

God is, because some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the

Lord our God, Psalm 20, verse 7. Isaiah 31, woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the

Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord that is Yahweh. And therefore, in Nahum chapter 1, verses 2 to 8, five times you see, even there in two verses, in verse 2 and 3, the

Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, Yahweh. This covenant -keeping

God, when you're in any kind of trouble, any kind of trial, eyes on the Lord. The just shall live by faith,

Habakkuk chapter 2, Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews, the just shall live by faith, that is, those that are justified, those that are right in God's eyes, they live by faith in the

Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, to use the language of Galatians chapter 2.

In the context of judgment, how to see the world, how to see persecution, oppression, it's through the lens of God.

John Calvin said, Nahum begins with the nature of God, that what he afterwards subjoins respecting the destruction of Nineveh might be more weighty and produce a greater impression on the hearers.

The preface is general, but the prophet afterward applies it to a special purpose. If he had only spoken of what

God is, it would have been frigid, at least, it would have been less efficacious, but when he connects both together, this doctrine carries its own force and power.

What Calvin is wanting to say, among other things, is that the problem that needs to be addressed starts with the character of God.

Everything about this chapter is dominated by, and some will say punctuated by, the nature of God, the covenant -keeping

God, who is named Yahweh, and Yahweh, when you want to think about that, we've learned that it means that God exists.

He exists eternally, he is self -existent, he is alive, he is active, it's not that he used to be, and he was, but that he is, right?

I am who I am, and that is a very personal designation, and he's there personally to help with covenant faithfulness, and he is independent of all, and he is more powerful than all, and God causes because he is.

I am who I am, he is independent. What he does will come to pass, and therefore, as you hear me say these things, when it comes to your own problems in life, it's a good rehearsal for who

God is. Any trial, when persecuted, oppressed, difficulties financially, or health, nobody that listens to my show would have health problems, would they?

Not even the host. Nahum starts with the Lord. That's good, and when

I think about this particular style of writing, front -loading with who

God is, I also think of just rehearsing the greatness of God in Scripture, and yes, it might not solve my problem like it goes away solving, but it solves my problem, my personal problem of thinking rightly about God in the middle of a trial.

Verses, well, he doesn't know, he doesn't care, he's got bigger things to do, I know he's my father, but I feel like an orphan.

Listen to Isaiah 40. I'm going to just read some verses, and whatever problem you have, these verses,

I'm not going to say like Joel Osteen, let these verses go over you, but just listen to these verses.

What does that actually mean? Have these verses go over me, like over my head, what does that mean?

Isaiah 40, go up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news.

Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not.

Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him.

Behold his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a sheep.

He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?

Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales.

Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him. They are accounted by him as less than nothing, an emptiness.

That's just good to hear. It's just good to have those verses go over you. What do people think?

Anyway, when we come to Nahum, it is a book that you ought to regularly read because it's a good reminder of the character and nature of God and how everything in life flows from that.

Every perception that we have, every problem we need to deal with, okay, through the lens of the glory of God and his person and his work.

Well, you want to embrace the whole Bible when you're getting oppressed or in a trial. You want to look up and not around.

Additionally, and this flows from the first and then the second, is that you need to be praising

God for all his perfections. Praising God for all his perfections. I've talked about this in maybe one of the earlier shows and in the sermon where I began the series.

One of the things in the Bible, we have something called kind of replacement sanctification, if I want to make up my own terms.

That is to say the Spirit of God working in our lives and we're saying no, the evidence of this work is saying no to sin, no to unrighteousness, no to ungodliness, and yes to obeying

God's law as Christians, yes to obedience, yes to holy living. And that's put on, put off, put on is what we say using the language of Ephesians chapter 4, maybe even

Colossians chapter 3. If he doesn't use the exact words in Colossians 3, the idea is there.

And therefore if you say to yourself, all right, I'm oppressed and I'm groaning,

I am murmuring, I am complaining, I am sighing.

Now we all know what that's like. We're in a trial, in a marriage trial, in a family trial, in a church trial, whatever it might be, work, and you're like, oh brother.

We may actually complain or we may just sigh, grumble, murmur. You can look at New Testament terms for those.

Very unapologetic if you want to know the truth. Of course you want to know the truth. This is no compromise radio.

Instead of complaining, what should I do instead? And we see from Nahum the right way to respond, and that is with praise.

This is probably a hymn in verses 2 through 8, and Nahum is a book with all kinds of songs in it, taunt songs in chapter 2 and chapter 3, mocking as it were.

And this is a praise hymn, a hymn to a sovereign God who is a warrior and who is strong.

No personal experience of Nahum here, nothing about himself.

Right now it's who God is, and he takes vengeance and he's slow to anger.

He's great in power. He doesn't clear the guilty. He's in the whirlwind and the storm, clouds of the dust of his feet, rebukes the sea, makes it dry, and the list goes on.

There's kind of a cadence to this, the awe of God, the power of God. God is

God. And I have said before and done different shows on it, the best way to think about this kind of thing is with the doctrine of divine simplicity.

God is without parts. He's identical to his attributes. That is to say that he,

God, and his attributes are one. They're not parts, like he's part love and part holiness.

Since Isaiah says, holy, holy, holy, he's three parts holiness, but he's only one part love.

And maybe on occasion, he's a little bit wrathful. God just is. He is wrathful.

He is jealous. He is love. He is grace, gracious.

God is God, and he reveals himself to us. And the only way we can really think about him properly is kind of, it's almost like chopped up like this.

It's language of accommodation. But I do want you to know that this makes it easier for you to praise

God for being wrathful. I praise you because you're wrathful. I praise you because you are gracious.

I praise you because you are jealous. Well, if he is what he is and he's not having component parts, then it's easier for us to praise him for everything he is.

This is who God is. If you've got a different God, it's called idolatry. God is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, and more.

R .C. Sproul used to talk about human beings, and he said that would be wrong because we become smarter, we become foolisher, we become older, we become more frail.

We become toddlers to those that are 15, 16 years old.

I didn't really want to say teenager or adolescent because that's a new category that I don't think I really like.

But nonetheless, we change. God is. God is the only being we are becoming.

And therefore, when you see who God is, this is our God. Our God, Christian God, the triune

God, is wrathful, jealous, avenging. He's not a composite being.

He is having life in himself and is all sufficient, to use the language of a confession.

Westminster Confession of Faith, there is but one living and true God who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible without body, parts, or passions.

We're not looking to God as a God of attributes collectively. God is his attributes, singular perfection.

And he is jealous. Verse 2, he's avenging, he's wrathful, he takes vengeance on his adversaries.

This is who God is. And I find it weirdly fascinating that when people see that God is a jealous

God in Exodus and here in Nahum, that they'll say this is the result of, quote, territorial imperative of a primal mind.

And it is also believed that this kind of view of God is a vestige of our reptilian brains, according to another psychologist.

It is nothing more than, quote, the motive in homicide and wife beating.

Now, if you realize how holy God is and how just he is and how he is, then you're going to be able to say,

I praise you for this because there's nothing negative about God's jealousy. God wants his name to be upheld and his honor, and he is going to guard that honor.

And here in the particular case of jealousy, there are people oppressing God's people, the oppressors and God's people, and he has made promises to them way back in the

Abrahamic covenant, and they will be fulfilled because God is jealous for his honor.

He's going to protect his honor for his own sake. For my own sake,

I will do it. My glory, I will not give to another. When you think of God's jealousy, we're thinking transcendence, awe, majesty, everything about this greatness of God.

And please don't translate this as he's zealous because that takes away a lot.

God is zealous, certainly. But I think you lose intimacy when you have the word zealous.

There's just this kind of, I don't know, ferociousness or energy or something like that, versus if I say jealous, he wants to protect his own people by protecting his own honor or the other way around.

God is jealous, and that is very comforting. And also, that makes it easier when we see avenging, verse 2, venging, verse 2, and takes vengeance, verse 3.

God has laws. He's a creator, and people break them. There's a judicial process that goes on, even though it's not technically a process, just to use that word, again, of accommodation.

We don't have to take the law into our own hands. Vengeance is mine. I will, what?

Repay. God is true to his own nature as judge and just and righteous.

And he is going to make sure that if these enemies, oppressors, oppose and go after God's people, there's going to be a day of reckoning.

Simple. It might not be on our terms, but he's writing to these oppressed people and saying, you know what? God knows.

God knows. And you see this language of a poem or a song where he repeats this, double these words for emphasis, just like in a chorus where the words are repeated.

If you don't think there's any wrath or vengeance, then God just lets the universe go, and there's no justice in the world.

And of course, when we think about our Lord Jesus, there'd be no reason for him to pay for our sins, the just dying for the unjust that we might be brought to God.

Anyway, everything is following this just nature of who

God is. Number four, how do we deal with the issues of oppression?

This is not in the text here, but it's going to be soon, so I just want to make mention of it. We need to acknowledge that the

Lord disciplines the ones he loves. In other words, God uses oppressors in trials to refine his children.

This is happening to Judah for a reason, and they have been backsliding, they have been sinning, and then

God uses the Ninevites as an instrument of chastisement. This regularly happens in the

Bible, and it regularly happens to Christians. And we have to realize that when something happens in our life, even sufferings, generally,

Romans 5, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance character, and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit who has been given to us.

God purifies the church in persecution, does he not? That's the pure church. Actually, that's probably what the church needs.

The church in America, generally speaking, is carnal, and it needs a good dose of persecution.

And some churches, they can't even open the doors in the midst of what's going on. Now, what about later?

It's only going to get worse. God uses oppressors, he uses trials, he uses hardships to make us reflect the image of Christ more.

That's why we can count it all joy when we meet various trials of different kinds, knowing that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness.

And steadfastness, let it have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Anyway, that's the first four points that I have as I'm thinking through the book of Nahum.

You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. You can go to the website and you can find all 3 ,000 episodes.

The later episodes are more reformed than the early episodes. I don't quote Richard Baxter anymore,

Doug Wilson, and all those of other people. Thanks for listening. My name is

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