Scatterer And Justice - [Nahum 2]

The Justice of God as Comfort for His People

Well, I've noticed that people are very schizophrenic in what they believe in the world. Maybe I could say they're very hypocritical in what they subscribe to for their belief system. If someone wrongs you, you want what?

Justice. You want the right thing done, righteousness or justice. You want them to pay. People, I think, love justice. I mean, if I ask you, who am I? I'm holding scales, I'm blindfolded and I have a sword.

Who would I be? Lady Justice. She has scales that she's holding because she's weighing out the merits of each case. Blindfolded with impartiality and then with a sword to give justice that is quick and many times fatal.

We know what justice is. Here's the schizophrenic part. We want justice done when people hurt us, but sometimes we wonder, is God just? I mean, He's immutably just. He's always just. He always does the right thing and sometimes when we see Him in action with His justice, we step back and think, really?

I mean, we want justice for us, but for the Lord God Himself? So I'd like you to take your Bibles and turn to the book of Nahum. As you know, we're going through the books of the Bible and as we were singing about the Lord Jesus, I thought to myself, the Lord Jesus loves the book of Nahum.

Did you know that? Did you know our Lord and Savior read the book of Nahum and He appreciated the comfort of God that Nahum, this prophet, would give and that comfort would come mainly because God is just and God will exact justice on people temporarily in time, but ultimately in eternity.

We're going to look today at the justice of God as a comfort for the people of God. These people were oppressed and they needed comfort and what did God say? He could say, I'll never leave you nor forsake you.

That would be good. He could say, I'm sovereignly working everything together for your good and my glory. He could say, I'll give you enough grace to get through. He could say, this is just chastisement, this is just punishment.

But here in the book of Nahum, it's mainly this. Your comfort should come from knowing that God is just and everybody will get what they deserve one day. We don't have to run around and say, everybody's unjust and therefore, look at them, they're getting away with it.

And the book of Nahum says, no, they're not. This doctrine, the justice of God, I think is a lost doctrine today. I love to hear about the love of God in Christ Jesus. God demonstrates, present tense, His love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Rightfully so. I love to hear, by grace you've been saved through faith. Can you imagine you stand before God all on the merits of another. Not just unmerited favor, but demerited favor. I like to hear about that.

But this book of Nahum pushes us a little bit because we've already heard about His jealousy and His vengeance. And now we're going to think this morning about His justice. And for us, it's not God has just, just He is just.

Nineveh Will Fall Because God Restores Jacob

So the book of Nahum talks about the justice of God as He anticipates and proclaims and prophesies the future destruction of God's enemies. And that is to give you comfort. Here this man, Nahum, proclaims that Nineveh will fall.

Assyria will be over. These people that have persecuted you who live in Jerusalem and Judah, God is going to take care of them. Don't worry. Have comfort from that. If you go back to chapter 1 as we kind of just review a little bit.

How would you receive comfort in times of oppression? The first way you receive comfort is you just see God and who He is and His attributes, His essence, His character, His nature. Including verse 2, the Lord is jealous and avenging.

Verse 3, thankfully He's slow to anger and great in power. Wonderfully in the midst of all this, verse 7, He's good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in Him. And God is going to judge the people's oppressors.

And that's good, but remember in the background of all this is He doesn't like it that these people, these enemies, these adversaries, oppress the people of God. And while He wants to give them justice, and He will, He also has a special relationship with His people to such an extent that when you poke the apple of God's eye, His people, something's going to happen and it's not going to be good.

The oppressor will end. We have some good news at the end of chapter 1, do we not? Something from Isaiah 52 and of course in Romans and in the middle of all this oppression, you look over the hills in Jerusalem and behold upon those mountains the feet of Him who brings good news, who publishes peace.

Keep your feast, O Judah, fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you. He is utterly cut off. What a great messianic hope that even these people would have back then thousands of years ago that there's going to be good news.

And ultimately we know that comes from the Lord and Savior. Now here's what I'd like to do. This might be a little different than normal. I'm going to read something from the Bible that pretty much summarizes what's going on in Nahum so far.

And you will hear this is how God deals with His enemies and His adversaries and you'll be encouraged by it. And maybe as I read you can say to yourself, I wonder where that's from or maybe some of you know it.

Let me read you something from the Old Testament that really echoes the same truths in Nahum 1 that will serve as a good reminder. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will recount all your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and exult in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. For you have maintained my just cause. You have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.

You have rebuked the nations. You have made the wicked perish. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins. Their cities you rooted out. The very memory of them has perished.

But the Lord sits enthroned forever. He has established His throne for justice and He judges the world with righteousness. He judges the peoples with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed.

A stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you. For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the Lord who sits enthroned in Zion. Tell among the people His deeds.

For He who avenges blood is mindful of them. He does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me, O Lord. See my affliction for those who hate me. O you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may recount all your praises.

That in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in your salvation. The nations have sunk in the pit that they have made. In the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. The Lord has made Himself known.

He has executed judgment. The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. The wicked shall return to Sheol. All the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten. And the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged before you. Put them in fear, O Lord. Let the nations know that they are but men. Anybody know where that's from? Good. That's a good guess.

That's a large book with a lot of chapters. Psalm 9. That's an echo of everything that we've been learning in Nahum. And interestingly, as Nahum 1 was kind of this partial acrostic, this way that people would write to make you think, you know what, there's got to be something more that's coming.

Psalm 9 is written that way as well. And what's coming is judgment, chapter 2, justice, chapter 3. So today we're going to look at Nahum, chapter 2, verses 1 through 13 is the section. I think we can get through it, but one never knows now.

You never know either, right? I heard a pastor once and he said, sometimes I just show up on Sunday mornings to see what I'm going to say. It's not quite like that here. We're coming to this chapter now.

The people in Jerusalem and Judah are getting persecuted. Will there be any hope? Yes, I see some good news, a runner over the hill. And the news now is in the future, Nineveh is the capital of Assyria.

So when I say Nineveh, I mean all of Assyria. Nineveh, the Assyrians will all be judged. This is future judgment. He's looking into the future and he sees what's going to happen because he is the prophet of God.

He's received the oracle of God by the vision of God. And this is prophetic preaching to make you say, you know what, something in the future is going to happen and these enemies are going to be dead.

Now, when we read chapter 2, verses 1 through 13, I want you to know it's like you're there. It's an eyewitness account. It's almost like you're in some kind of movie where you get transported, in their case, to the future and then you watch what's going to happen.

And the way he writes, kind of brief little snippets, the way he writes is so wonderful that you just get drawn in. You're like, I am right there. I feel like I can see it. I feel like I can taste it.

You know, I've gone to movie theaters before. Remember what those are? Movie theaters? They have a screen. And you sit in seats and sometimes those seats vibrate and you've got the speakers right behind you so it feels like you're kind of there.

And then it's THX and everything else. You're like, I feel like I'm in the movie. Or maybe you put on those lenses now that people have. Accusomething, where are they? Whatever they... And I'm like, I see these 3D things.

All the techie people are looking at me going, he doesn't even know the name of those. I can see it. I mean, while the Ninevites were ruthless and ferocious, something's more ferocious and more ruthless, and that is the just justice and righteousness of God.

Most people, when they think of God this way, they don't like it. But for us as Christians, we realize this is right and this is good, and we know God is not some oh God grandfather who never judges. One man said, you cannot read this prophecy without sensing something of the solemnity of this tremendous picture of God.

This chapter demands your attention. It will suck you right in and you'll see this is who God is. So for our outline in Nahum chapter 2, since a lot of people ask a lot of questions about God's justice, how could you do that, God?

How could you judge? How could you send people to hell forever by temporal sins on earth? How could you this? How could you that? They have a lot of questions for God. Let me now ask three questions for our outline that will help you think about God's justice rightly so that you might praise Him for it.

Maybe some of you are even asking the question before we get into the outline, what is justice? A. A. Hodge said, the absolute justice of God is the infinite moral perfection or universal righteousness of His own being.

Tozer said, justice when used of God is a name we give to the way God is. Nothing more. And when God acts justly, He's not doing so to conform to an independent criterion, but simply acting like Himself in a given situation.

God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity and when He sentences evil men or rewards the righteous, He simply acts like Himself from within, uninfluenced by anything that is not Himself. As Moses would say in Deuteronomy 32, righteous and upright is He.

The Lord's Justice in Nahum 2:1-2 Is Always Just

Question number one, Nineveh chapter two, is the Lord's justice always just? Verses one and two. Is the Lord's justice always just? In other words, does He have a reason to judge? Is He capricious? Is He just, you know, flying off the handle?

You can't kind of predict Him. I know with my father, one moment he was fine and the next minute, you know, he'd lose his temper. Does God have a reason to judge? And of course, with this entire passage, dear Christian, I want you to remember that like with the book of Exodus, we see temporal judgment in the book of Exodus and a redemption that is temporal for Israel out of Egypt.

And it's all pointing to something, a greater Exodus, one that's spiritual. Slavery from sin is abolished now by the redemption through Christ Jesus. Nahum is doing the same thing. There's temporal judgment for the Ninevites, but it's leading to something else.

So keep that in the back of your mind. Question one, is the Lord's justice always just? Well, the answer is yes, but let's find out. Verse one, the scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts, watch the road, dress for battle, collect all your strength.

For the Lord Yahweh is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel. For plunders have plundered them and ruined their branches. There you see the initial judgment that will happen in the future, and we're given a reason.

We don't have to be given a reason. God's just. We would accept that, but there's a reason. Think of it this way. God promises Israel, right? The Abrahamic covenant to be a nation, a people. Enemies oppress Israel.

Therefore, God both punishes the sinful oppressors and keeps His promises. He's going to keep His promise, and I hope I'm going to keep my voice. I talked to the men yesterday about, you know, I hate it when people are preaching and they drink their water and they do all this all the time, and I said never drink water from the pulpit, just grin and bear it.

So that's what I'm going to do. God's going to punish the Ninevites and He's going to restore the glory of Israel. This is a preview to a battle. So if you're in these days when Nahum was talking to you and his name means comfort, and he wants to try to comfort you because the people are oppressing you and persecuting you, he says, you know, in the future, they're going to get it.

And God is going to be the one who gives it to them. What do you mean the scatter here? Scatter is easy to think about if you just pause for a minute. You've got a bunch of sheep. You've got a bunch of goats.

They're all together in a pen. And somebody, some marauder comes in with a stick or a wolf comes in. And what happens to all the sheep? They all scatter. And scatter was also used for kings back in those days who were victorious because when they went into a town, guess what the people did?

Some fought, yes, but many of them scattered. So this scatterer that's going to come and judge the Ninevites is a real person. Most likely at 614 B .C., King of the Medes comes in and he with his army attacks the Ninevites, scatters them.

But we know, of course, the ultimate scatterer is the Lord God. I mean, these Ninevites were proud people. They've got all the armor. Look at the passage. He's now saying to the Ninevites, you better man the ramparts, watch the road, dress for battle, collect all your strength.

I mean, you think you're so powerful. You run around the whole world being so powerful. Okay, it's time to get up and see if you're a man as it were. Get your troops ready because the scatterer has come up.

Get ready for battle. Man the ramparts. And it's almost like this is like the mocking language of Psalm 2 that we looked at even last week where it's like, okay. Or this is the language of the Tower of Babel where they're building this tower and then the Lord comes over to kind of bend down to see what they're doing.

This is mocking language. It's like, I mock you. You take all your stuff, get it ready, marshal all your strength is the idea. Brace yourself. This is the same language that is used in Joshua where Joshua is told by the Lord, be strong and be courageous.

Except now it's said to the enemy. Okay, get ready. Such irony here. But he gives the reason. And God always has a reason to judge. And here's the reason is because while God used the Ninevites to chasten those in Judah, those people are responsible and should not have oppressed his people.

He, the Lord, is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel. Jacob, that kind of man who is a conniver. Israel full of glory uses the play on both of their names there. And he says, God is restoring their majesty.

I'm sure they thought back in those days, what's the majesty of God? It's the temple. The temple will be rebuilt one day. We need that restoring because the text says for plunders have plundered them and ruined their branches.

The splendor of Israel, God would restore her to her former glory. May I say this? Of course I may. I must say this. Nahum is showing us that every earthly kingdom is accountable to God himself, the judge.

And of course, we live in a society so we are also accountable to the judge of the universe. We will stand before him one day. And there's a reason for judgment. On that day, God will judge fairly. You say, well, this is kind of back then.

It's a nice history lesson, Pastor. But can you help me for our time? I'm glad you asked the question. 2 Thessalonians 1. Would you turn there? Remember I said as Exodus is a good template for us to think about temporal bondage and temporal redemption and then it moves forward to the paradigm for eternal salvation and redemption.

So too, Nahum is doing the exact same thing. We're thinking about this judgment on people and there's going to be an ultimate judgment that we need to think about that we, as we have read our Bible with progressive revelation, know what's going on.

2 Thessalonians. You ask yourself the question, on judgment day, when people stand before God and they've been good people, they've been kind Hindus, they've been good Buddhists, they're secular people who like to serve other people.

What will happen on that day? Is God's justice really just? And Nineveh gives us the answer temporally. 2 Thessalonians gives us the answer eternally. And of course, the same author that wrote Nahum wrote 2 Thessalonians that is the divine author.

Let's just pick it up in chapter 1, verse 1, 2 Thessalonians. For the introduction, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly. And the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

Now ask yourself the question, is God's justice always just? Does He have reasons to judge people? This is the evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering.

These people were oppressed. These people were persecuted. These people were suffering since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. See where we're going with this?

When the people of God are persecuted in Nineveh, in Jerusalem, God knows. God will vindicate His people. Well, how much more so now when we look in the New Testament? We see it right here. God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to those who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.

Inflaming fire. Inflicting vengeance on those. This is the reason. Is God always just? Does He do just things? Or is it just random? No, no. It's not going to be that at all. Inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the Gospel of the Lord Jesus.

When God gives His Son, His only Son, His beloved Son, and He sends Him to earth and people mock and despise and spit and kill, do you think there will be justice? Of course. And then will there be justice for people that say, I won't trust in Him?

I won't believe in Him? Will their judgment be just? Verse 9, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction because it's such a grievous sin to not bow your knee at the name of Jesus that everyone should bow to.

Away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might. When He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints, to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed.

Congregation, question 1, is the Lord's justice always just? In other words, does He have a reason to judge? Yes, He does. So whenever you think about what God is doing, you can trust in Him. Let's go back to Nahum, question 2.

Temporal Judgment and the Overwhelming Force of Divine Justice

Nahum, chapter 2, verses 3 through 12. This section goes by pretty fast and you can even see in your Bible a lot of white space in many of your study Bibles because they're short sentences. It's like a steed that's running really fast and that's what's happening with this destruction of Nineveh.

Question 1, is the Lord's justice always just? Question 2 in verses 3 to 12, if temporal justice is overwhelming, how much more will eternal justice be? If temporal justice is overwhelming, how much more overwhelming will eternal justice be?

Let's take a look at temporal justice here and you're going to see language in chapter 2 and 3, flashing shields, chariots, spears, whips, swords, all kinds of things. Look at verse 3. The shield of His mighty men is red.

His soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day He musters them. The cypress spears are brandish. So Nineveh is going to get attacked in the future and Nahum says to the people, take comfort.

Now the marauding armies are coming in and this is what they look like. Did you know the shields and the uniforms of the Midianites and the Babylonians were typically red? They loved red. And you say, well, why do they want red?

There's lots of different theories about it. One was, so when they would come with this sea of red, it might be intimidating. Another one was, do you know what? Let's dress in scarlet and have shields that are red so that when my blood's on that, I'm not afraid.

I won't be able to see my own blood and I'll be more courageous as I battle the enemy. Who knows, but these warriors had red on and scarlet and they would paint those. Some say, you know what? Their shields were permanently stained with the blood of their enemies.

They were powerful people. Spears made out of cypress. You can just imagine those long cypress or pine spears showing readiness for battle. Here they come. Here comes the enemy to judge the Ninevites at God's request.

The chariots race madly through the streets. They rush to and fro through the squares. They gleam like torches. They dart like lightning. The army is coming in. They're not to the walls yet. It's like they're in the suburbs.

So you're going to attack the city. First you go to the outskirts. That's where they are now. And there's this dizzying effect of all this attacking army. Medes, Babylonians, maybe Scythians, all at the request of God to go judge Nineveh.

One man said they were so turbulent that they were out of their minds. Just imagine what's going on in the battle. Racing through the streets, racing through the squares. It must have been horrible. I was reading about old chariots back in those days, and maybe this is how they were equipped.

Four members in a chariot. A driver had a large spear and a shield. An archer and two shield bearers for protection of the other people on the chariot. And here they come. Can you imagine? You're downtown, and all of a sudden this all happens.

Verse 5, he remembers his officers. Now we're getting a little picture of the Ninevites. What are they going to do? Oh, wait, I have to remember my officers. I mean, I'm so frantic, I forgot to say, you do this and you do that and you do that.

It's postponed. But he suddenly remembers, in the midst of the chaos, they stumble as they go, probably over dead bodies, is my guess. They hasten to the wall. The siege tower is set up. The army is getting close to the city wall.

They're in the suburbs, and now they're close. The defenders here are described. They're supposed to be strong. They're supposed to be powerful. They've slaughtered hundreds of thousands in their time.

And now the king says, guard the city. Come on, wait, maybe he woke up and now he's got to remember those guys and he sends them out. Say, what's going on in the city? Now it's like we have the drone that comes up and over the wall and into the city and we look into the city and we see this, with the prophetic eyes of Nahum, the prophet.

The river gates are open. The palace melts away. Sometime, dear congregation, look at the 67th book of the Bible called the book of maps. And you will find a map and you will see on the map Israel. And then you'll go that way, that is northeast, and you'll see a river, a Tigris River, just kind of at the base of some mountains.

And you'll see a little city and that city's Nineveh. There was a big river there, but there's some tributaries that would run through the city. And of course, back in those days in the middle of the Middle East, you needed to be by water.

And they'd figure out how to make some dams according to history. There were two dams that were above the city. And they had kind of gates and you could let out water and you could do this, that, or the other.

You know what's happening here? These hordes driven by God, the ultimate scatterer, have figured out a good way to get rid of the city. You don't let any water out of the dam. You block it up, let it fill all the way to the top, let all the water out, and what happens?

The river gates, verse 6, they're open. And you know what water does? It just destroys everything in its path. And it looks like this palace is melting away because the crumbling foundation and then the walls caving in.

They had this big water supply with these gates and now it's used against them. And by the way, if you go back to verse 8 of chapter 1, He told them so. But with an overflowing flood, He will make a complete end of the adversaries and will pursue His enemies into darkness.

The palace is melting away. All the flood water. There's water everywhere. Verse 7, its mistress is stripped. She's carried off. Some think it's a queen. I doubt it. It's just the mistress, her slave girl is lamenting.

Even people that aren't Assyrians are in there and they're like, this is bad. They're moaning like doves. They're beating their breasts. She's carried off. It's just a disaster. And now we get more description.

Verse 8, Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away. Hall to hall they cry, but none turns back. Do you see it? Water floods in and just destroys everything. And then it kind of leaks out again. It dissipates.

The flood waters subside. And it kind of just trickles out of the city. And you know what else trickles out of the city? All the brave men of Assyria. And you're like, hall to hall, don't go AWOL. Don't leave the city.

They cry, but none turns back. I mean, they are running. Fleeing. They hear the commander saying, stand and fight. Grab your swords. Get back in the chariots. And like the water that goes out, they run out too.

Stay at your post. No. Verse 9, So, when you're in there, and you're the Babylonians, and you're the Scythians, and you're the Medes, God says something. Enjoy the plunder. Verse 9, Plunder the silver.

The command of God. Take it. By the way, did they have a lot of silver? Yes. Plunder the gold. Was there a lot of gold? Yes. By the way, there is no end of the treasure, of the wealth of all precious things.

Take it all. Pillage it all. Strip it all. And in the Hebrew language, these words just kind of build on one another, and there's an intensity, just rob them blind. History says the Medes were the first to breach the defenses of Nineveh.

Then the Babylonians came and successfully attacked it. The commentator says, the Medes, however, were not interested in a long-term occupation. They wanted a quick profit. And God says, take it all.

And now we see kind of a taunt. Verse 10, Desolate, desolation, and ruin. I mean, there is total destruction. Hearts melt. I thought these people were strong. I thought they were powerful. I thought everybody bowed down to the Assyrians.

And knees tremble. I thought that's what you did when the Assyrians came in and attacked you. But now, it's the opposite. Anguish is in all their loins. All faces grow pale. The blood is draining from these mighty warriors.

If I had to summarize this defeat, it would be found in verses 11 and 12. Where's the lion's den? By the way, Nineveh loved lions. You can go to the British Museum. I've been there. You can go to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, and I've been there.

And you see the Assyrian lions that are huge because lions were ferocious. Lions were scary. We have mascots, do we not? For football teams, we have the mascot. What's the West Boylston mascot? Lions.

Isn't that funny? What's the Washington football team's mascot? That's another question. Lions. The mascot of the Ninevites is a lion. Where's the lion's den? Verse 11. Where's the feeding place of the young lions?

Where the lions and lionesses went out? Where his cubs were with none to disturb? Where are they? Where, where, where? Where are these lion-hearted men? The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses.

He filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. While lions devour, while the Assyrians devour, they, because of God and His promises to His people, is the devourer. Kings back in those days were the ultimate when they could kill a lion.

What a boast that would be. Sadly, lions, when they kill, they typically kill enough. They kill only enough to eat. The Ninevites were too vicious for that. And then number three. Question number three as we think about God's justice.

Is the Lord's justice always just? Yes, He has a reason to judge. If temporal justice is overwhelming, how much more will eternal justice be? I'll talk about that in a moment. Now question three. What is God's final word about you when it comes to justice?

What's God's final word? Have you ever been in an argument and you want the last word in edgewise? I've never done that, but I've seen some of you do that. Here's the last word. Who gets the last word?

Think about that even for our society, for our government, for the people that persecute you, the people that persecute those in China and other places in the Middle East. Who gets the last word when it comes to justice?