A Pointed Promise of a City's Destruction

The Meticulous Judgment of God and the Fall of Nineveh

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. That's a mouthful. If you're looking for children's names there's one for you Isambard Kingdom Brunel. You have no idea who that is and I don't really either other than he was a 19th century engineer and what he's known for is being the chief engineer the chief architect of the Great Western Railway which would connect London and then into the west of London Bristol.

And the reason that Isambard Kingdom Brunel is known is because he was meticulous in the laying out of these tracks even did some things that others thought weren't conventional. And he went and surveyed the lands himself and even took the tracks into places that were rule.

And the reason he did that is because of the elevation. He wasn't so much worried about the city he was worried about the the way the tracks would lay out and all that to say that he accomplished one of the greatest railway accomplishments if you will if that's even a category in in in the history of of railway engineering he really helped revolutionize the railway system.

And turn over in your Bibles to Nahum chapter 2. Isambard Kingdom Brunel is a was a master architect but God is an even greater architect and he's meticulous in his plans. And we're when we get to Nahum chapter 2 that God has planned and will execute his meticulous judgment upon the city.

And he will do it like he has planned and he will do it in the way that he sees fit. But as we consider this I think there are some encouragements and exhortations to the church and to those of us in here to consider.

And so this morning we look at Nahum chapter 2. We pick up where we left off. Actually goodness now almost two months ago. But appointed promise of a city's destruction. Appointed promise of a city's destruction.

Would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word. Let me just for sake of context read chapter 2. Our focus is on three through six. The scatterer has come up against you man. The ramparts watch the road.

Dress for battle. Collect all your strength. For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel. For plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches. The shield of the mighty man is red.

His soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them. The cypress spears are brandished. The chariots race madly through the streets. They rush to and fro through the squares.

They gleam like torches. They dart like lightning. He remembers his officers. They stumble as they go. They hasten to the wall. The siege tower is set up. The river gates are open. The palace melts away.

Its mistress is stripped. She is carried off her slave girls lamenting moaning like doves then beating their breasts. Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away. Halt halt. They cry but none turns back.

Plunder the silver plunder the gold. There is no end of the treasure or of the wealth of all precious things. Desolate desolation and ruin. He hearts melt and knees tremble. Anguishes in all loins. All faces grow pale.

Where's the lion's den. The feeding place of the young lions. Where the lion and lioness went. Where his cubs were with none to disturb. 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. Behold I am against you declares the Lord of hosts. And I will burn your chariots and smoke. And the sword shall devour. Your young lions will cut off your prey from the earth.

And the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. Father as we think about this text and it may be surprising to some but really what this text does for the church is to cause us to say like that song we sang just a moment ago never fear only trust and obey Lord.

This text is given for the great comfort and consolation of the church. It's a great warning to those who would reject Christ who would turn their back on the church who would even seek to be the church's enemy.

And yet it is a great comfort for those who are in Christ. And so I pray that we would hear both the comfort and the concern both the consolation and the warning. Lord. For those who stand outside the mercy of Christ today I pray that they would repent and believe the gospel.

They would see that in this place and through the preaching of your word Christ is offered to them and their exhortation is that they would lay hold of him by faith or help us to understand your word.

Even this little book tucked away in the minor prophets nay whom help us to be comforted encouraged and strengthened. Lord we confess to you our great need of the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit. Would you bless the preaching of your word.

Would you. Would you work through the instrumentation of preaching. Would you comfort hearts. And would you open hearts when you give us ears to hear. Would you convict those of us that need conviction.

Would you encourage those of us that need encourage. Would you bring a variety of your graces to our hearts today and help us to be the church. That you'd have us to be here in Perryville for the glory of King Jesus.

We pray in his name amen. You may be seated as I said the last time we were in a home was right before Thanksgiving. And so it's been a while now we're bringing our minds and our hearts back to this prophecy.

And you saw as we read chapter 2 that chapter 2 is an account of the destruction of Nineveh. And it's a rather meticulous account. It's rather detailed. I remind you you can turn back just two books to the left a hundred years before.

Just a reminder. I'm a turning back to Jonah some hundred years before. Nay whom you have Jonah. Jonah enters the city. And in Jonah chapter 3 verse 1 the Word of God says. Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying arise go to Nineveh that great city and call out against it the message that I tell you.

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the Word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. Three days journey in breath. Jonah began to go into the city go in a day's journey. And he called out yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

And here's this wonder. Verse 5. And the people of Nineveh believed God and they called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. So we remember a hundred years or so before Jonah goes into the city of Nineveh he warns of the judgment that is to come and the people by God's grace repent.

And the city was spared. Can let me just offer a commentary on America for just a moment. Let us never stop praying for the repentance of our nation. We remember that God is merciful to those nations that repent those nations that trust his word those nations that seek his mercy.

Of course this all flows from his own grace. But let us never stop preaching and praying for our own nation's repentance. Now a hundred years later in Nineveh a century or so later God has been rejected his mercy has been ignored.

And here we are again. And we have a pointed promise of a city's destruction. And I say pointed promise because of the of the detail. So one commentator makes this observation. Nahum describes the battle scene in more graphic detail than even the actual count given by the Babylonians.

So here's what is happening. This was written around 650 BC and it actually gives us more detail more vivid information than what the Babylonians decided to write after they overthrew the city the Babylonian and the Medes in 612.

But what we see in our text is that the Babylonians are merely an instrument in God's hands in which he is going to bring judgment upon this city. So the point number one today first point the fearfulness of judgment the fearfulness of judgment.

Imagine the scene now I I think of this scene is like this may be a bad illustration because some of you may not like Lord of the Rings. I know I know Noah loves Lord of the Rings. But you have Lord of the Rings the two towers and you have the movie version.

I'm seeing all the there at Helms Deep and they're kind of retreated into Helms Deep. And before Helms Deep you have that vast army of orcs. And I think about that when I read verse three this vast army now is arrayed against the city of Nineveh.

The shield of his mighty man is red. His soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them. The cypress spears are brandished. We're talking about here the fearfulness of judgment.

And so you have here arrayed before the city of Nineveh these mighty men now that word for mighty men it's it's it's first used in Genesis 6 the mighty men of renown. But it's used out in scripture in various ways.

So it's used of David. David's called a mighty man. It's used of Goliath. He's known as a mighty man. David's chief soldiers around him are known as mighty men. And so these stand arrayed before the city of Nineveh as a mighty army.

I say this not in jest but to think about that these are not modern armies given over to the LGBTQ agenda. If you watch some of the commercials if you will even for the Army National Guard sometimes. And the kind of people that are on there they do not exude to me a strong army.

But this does. These are mighty men. They are warrior men. And they have one purpose in mind destroying Nineveh. Now the army look there in verse three the army is bearing red shields. The shield of his mighty men is red.

And it's possible perhaps that the shields are red because they've already been soaked in the blood of other enemies. And so here's this army that has already conquered other enemies and now is is is coming through its tasted blood.

And now Nineveh is next. Or some would say the red were just simply refers to the type of bronze being used. Some have suggested there that the scarlet clothing signifies wealth. Or others have thought maybe they wear scarlet because when you're in battle and if you as the invading army if you're bleeding the scarlet kind of hides that and so it it keeps away fear and panic in your own army.

But but either way the point is this army is intimidating. This is the fearfulness of judgment. You stand upon the walls you look out and you see this army. And you ought to be terrified. Because not only these men here it's not just infantry right.

In ancient warfare this army has the equivalent of what maybe we'd call a tank in ours. Look at verse three. The chariots come with flashing metal. So I picture here this idea of flashing metal. I picture this army racing toward the city and and you know how.

Right now with the snow on the ground you almost need sunglasses to go outside. It's so bright. Well these chariots and this arm his army is marching. This chariots are racing to the city. And then the Sun is gleaming off the the metal and it's and it's shining.

And you have all this happening. Then you have these great spears there in verse 3 the cypress spears are brandished. And so I just think about the difference for a moment between Jonah and Nahum. Jonah says in 40 days the city is going to be overthrown and the people repent.

But here Nahum is writing in vivid detail exactly what is going to happen. And he's showing the city the fearfulness of God's judgment. And yet the Assyrians do not repent. Maybe one reason they don't repent is because this letter never even finds its way to Nineveh.

This this or this letter this book this prophetic book was written primarily for the people of God. We'll talk about that more in just a moment. The fearfulness of judgment. Secondly the fury of judgment.

And we move now into verse 4. Now remember that this is Hebrew poetry and so it kind of moves back and forth. But I think in verse 4 we're inside the city. The chariots race madly through the streets.

They rush to and fro through the squares. They gleam like torches. They dart like lightning. So now the wall has been breached. The chariots are inside the great city of Nineveh and havoc is being inflicted now.

I know it's crazy to consider. But imagine if if we're in Perryville and there's enemy tanks going up and down the streets of Perryville. This is quite an intimidating situation. This is the fury of judgment.

This is when all of Nineveh's fears are realized. Okay we tend to imagine a lot of crazy scenarios as people. I've done this before too I still do this. You have a headache. What do you do. You you you google it.

That's what you do today. You google it you have a headache. And then all of a sudden within minutes you've diagnosed yourself with the rarest of rarest diseases. And now you're you're worried. Your whole day is messed up because you think about silly things.

Or you worry about silly things. Sometimes we have the strangest worries. Sometimes about our children or we're worried about the stock market or our home or our vehicle or the HVAC unit. And on and on and on.

And in so often our fears are not grounded. We trouble ourselves with things that should not trouble us. However the opposite is true as well. Too many people are not troubled by things that should trouble them.

And this is one of those things the fear of God's judgment. And here the fears are not fanciful. They are realized. Verse 4. The chariots an enemy chariots racing madly through the streets. They rush to and fro through the squares.

They gleam like torches. They dart like lightning Nineveh. At one point the Assyrian capital the epitome of world power is now ravaged in the streets by a foreign regime. But it's not merely another world power here that you need to understand.

Yes this is the Babylonians and it's the Medes and I think there's others. It's a it's a coalition as it were overtaking the city of Nineveh. But it's without a doubt God's doing this is God's hands upon them now.

Now God is free. You remember Sodom and Gomorrah and he rained down fire and sulfur from the heavens. God is free to do that. God could have destroyed Nineveh like that but he didn't destroy Nineveh like that.

He works through other means too such as in a city economic collapse or in this situation bringing in the Babylonians and the Medes to wipe out the Assyrians. It's without a doubt God's judgment. And I just want to pause for a second in this sermon I want to think through some things we need to understand and we don't.

Often enough we don't understand and we don't appreciate often enough the sovereignty of God. God is the God of the ends. That is the judgment and the means how he will bring that judgment about. Okay everything that is working everything is orchestrating.

It is simultaneous will blow your mind. It blows my mind too. But the Babylonians chose to go and destroy Nineveh and at the same time parallel running to their desire to do so is God's sovereign orchestrating of this entire event.

It's amazing to think about. Let me give you an illustration in your own life. Go back and you don't even know these people. Most of you probably have no idea who these people are. Go back in your family 12 generations.

So that's your parents. One grandparents two great-grandparents three all the way until you get to generation 12. Now when you get to generation 12 do you know how many grandparents that you have now just think about it.

No don't do the math and I don't want anybody be injured today. But to you for you to be born in the place that you're born with the exact genetics that you have with the skin color that you have with the the shape of your nose and the type of eyebrows that you have and your receding hairline.

You know how many grandparents are in your lineage. And you're just going back 12. You're not going all the way back to you know. No or whatever. Just going back 12. Do you understand how many 4 ,096 just for you 4 ,096 the 12th generation is your 10th great-grandparents.

And you have 4 ,096 of them. Now suppose of those 4 ,096 grandparents that you have. Suppose just one of them doesn't make it. Just one of them is accidentally dropped as a child or an infant. And they die.

Just one of them contracts the plague and they die just one of them. And they stand an inch over here and a bullet rips through them. And they die just one of them. All the things that that orchestrated for your eighth great-grandparents to meet.

And it was just this quote-unquote chance meeting. And and they barely meet. And it was only because of this and that scenario. Suppose that doesn't happen in 4 ,096 cases. Suppose it doesn't happen in just one.

You may not even exist. And if you do exist the genetics and your and the way that you think and your and your and your and the way that your mouth is shaped and and all these things it would be different.

And yet what I'm saying to you today is God is meticulously sovereign in each one of those things. Do you just think. I mean I think some people just think of God like well he just knows all these things.

No he doesn't just know all these things. He's orchestrating these things. He's involved in these things. He's sovereign in these things. This is the sovereignty of God who ordains the ends and the means.

He is not the divine watchmaker God. He is meticulously involved in this creation. And we see that in our text. And we don't appreciate it enough and we don't marvel at it enough. Frankly we sing songs like behold our God with way too much complacency.

Consider friends the sovereignty of God. And so in our text the chariots race madly through the streets. They rush to and fro through the squares. They gleam like torches. They dart like lightning the fury of God's judgment.

It's brought by God's hammer. And God's hammer is the Babylonians and the meats. The fearfulness of judgment the fury of judgment. Thirdly. And then we'll talk about some application. Thirdly the futility of the judged.

Now again this is my take here on verse five we are dealing with Hebrew poetry and it seems to me and there's different commentators think different things. But it seems to me now we're kind of looking at the perspective of the king of Nineveh.

And so we're we've gone from being outside the city to being inside the city. And then we're kind of backing up a little bit and we're thinking about it now from the king of Nineveh. So verse five he remembers his officers.

They stumble as he as they go they hasten to the wall. The siege tower is set up. The river gates are open. The palace melts away. Now the word here in verse five for officers it means nobles or majestic ones.

If he were a evil knight we might translate it or medieval king we might translate it as knights his knights these men. And so the idea is the city is about to be under siege. All seems like it's lost.

It's going to be terrible. But then the king remembers his nobles his knights. I will send them regulators mount up. Here we go. And they will go out and they will end. They will stop this invasion. But what happens.

Verse five he remembers his officers. They stumble as they go. The word there means like stumbling. Staggering. Feeble can mean exhaustion. But what is being communicated is this. The city musters up its strength.

The city brings forth the best of the best all that it can resist. And all is futile. The officers the text says stumble. They finally make it to the wall. But what. It's too late because why the siege tower is set up.

They could not prevent it. They weren't able to stop the judgment that God was bringing. And just like that decades of a Syrian rule is over in a moment you better be careful. I learned this with my children and I thought about it this last few days in the snow.

I mean I am kind of crazy about the snow. But also it is hard to stop everything you're doing and go play in the snow. And there's a couple times my kids were like dad will you come play with us. And I was really tempted.

I was like no I ain't doing that. You know I want to just sit here in my chair and enjoy you know just kind of some rest. And then I was just reminded how quickly things happen in your life and how quickly you go from one season of life to the next.

And you turn around and you got these two crazy boys that are always out driving around duck hunting and I'm like I'm what I don't. They didn't want to build snowman with daddy. They didn't want to throw snowballs.

They didn't want to sled. So here my younger children want to do that. And I was like you know what by God's mercy I'm going out and we're going to do it. And we're going to enjoy. Because before you realize it in life circumstances change and the way that you thought that things were going to be they don't last that way forever.

Well in this text in a more sobering reality a Syria thought well I'm always we're always going to be like this. We're always going to be the world power. Maybe as Americans we need a check with this and we need to think through this and we need to be sobered up and we need to think through and and seek the Lord's mercy and it's never going to change.

And then just like that it's over the palace is gone now. There's been discussion there about verse 6 but I think it actually God is telling us how Nineveh is going to fall. And so in verse 6 it says the river gates are open the palace melts away now.

Oh Palmer Robertson gives this commentary. He says Diodorus Siculus an ancient Greek historian indicates that in the fall of Nineveh a series of heavy rains swelled the Euphrates flooded parts of the city and overthrew the wall for a length of about two miles.

The text says the river gates are open. I think that's what God is saying here in the text he's predicting that actually what's going to happen is it's not only it's not only men who are going to attack the city but even as it were quote-unquote nature.

Right nature. And yet God is sovereign even over nature. He's the sovereign Oh God over the ends and the means he is sovereign over the reign of kings and over the rain from clouds every drop hitting its specific location and fulfilling its God-ordained purpose.

I say seeing the snowfall the other day I just got to thinking of it. Y 'all know I like snow. I just got to thinking about seeing the snowfall. I got to think about this before the foundations of the world God had a plan even for these snowflakes.

As you watch the snowflake fall and it's carried this way and that way maybe by the breeze. And finally it touches the ground exactly what God had ordained that it would fall. Now some people they don't like to think of God that way but I'm just telling you all of scripture points to us to a God who is sovereign like that.

And here he brings the men and he brings the rain and the city will be overthrown. And the point I'm arguing here is no amount of a Syrian strength could have stopped this. Any effort. I'll say this in your life.

And I'll say this in the life of nations. I'll say this in the life of the world. Any effort that there would be to muster to stop the coming judgment of God it will prove futile. The palace melts away.

The text says. I think that's just a figurative expression for the ending of this wicked ruler. The king of Nineveh now has no city. He has no home and he has no life. You just think about that for a moment.

That's the person with maybe in the whole world at one point who had the most resources the most resources at their disposal could not stop the judgment of God. The rich of this world cannot buy their way out of God's judgment.

The powerful of this world cannot muster an army big enough to prevent God's judgment. We talk about irresistible grace. Pastor Jacob taught that just a couple of weeks ago. But here we might mention irresistible justice.

The justice of God cannot be thwarted. So the question that you need to ask yourself this morning as we go through Nahum is what will you do when the judgment of the Lord comes here we have seen the futility of the judged.

Now I have some application before I do. I actually think this outline can get us to Christ. So let's just review for a second. When we think about the fearfulness of judgment let us think about our Lord Jesus in Gethsemane.

Now I don't want you to think that Christ was afraid. But the text tells us that he sweat drops of blood understanding what was before him. Roman torture was before him. The slander of false witnesses was before him.

A crown of thorns was before him. But most importantly the cup of the wrath of God was before him. The fearfulness of judgment. And when we think about the fury of judgment let us think about Golgotha.

God gave his son into the hands of Roman officials who at that point had perfected the pain and torture and suffering of crucifixion. And then of course there is no greater fury and force of judgment than God himself unleashing his wrath upon you.

And that we have in Calvary in the cross happening to Jesus. And then when we think of the futility of the judged let us think about Christ. Passive obedience. Now listen. It's not that he could not have done anything.

He had the power as it were to stop it all. But he allowed himself to be judged as a sinner in our place not bearing his sin. He had no sin. He was perfectly righteous but bearing our sins as a substitute.

This we have in the gospel. Remember as we think about Nahum remember the gospel. Christ our King was born of Mary. Christ our King kept God's law. He paid the penalty of sinners under God's wrath being nailed to a cross dying that propitiatory death and then raising again on the third day.

And this gospel is not futile it's effectual. So think about this. God's judgment will bring about his intended purposes. But so will his gospel. Now all that putting all this together in light of this message in Nahum in light of the gospel of a few applications for us to consider.

One is this. One is this. And we're reminded this all over the place. And you've already been given this application in Nahum. One is that God's Word can be trusted. This prophecy this meticulous prophecy you know have you ever heard like parents we do this all the time.

Oh my family and I you guys know we're we're getting excited and we're trying. We're trying to go to this founders conference in on revival in in Florida. And so we're telling the kids okay here's kind of our plan.

Here's what we're gonna do when we say a lot of things. But so many things can derail our plans. And nothing can derail God's plan. And God says here in his Word. Here's what I'm going to do. And guess what happened.

This is around 650 BC. And guess what happens in 612 BC. God carries it out to perfection. So an application here is we must trust the Word of God when we are dealing with the scriptures. We are dealing with an infallible inerrant sufficient clear necessary authoritative Word from the Living God.

Let us treat the Bible this way. This is our trust. This is our hope. This is our authority. We must not play games with the scriptures. Here we are. The second Sunday in 2025. What are your habits with this book.

Oh would you consider we could consider for just a moment that God time and again proves the trustworthiness of his Word by his Word. Will we be a people who are considering how we will spend time in this book personally with our families.

Will we commit ourselves to the preaching and teaching here at Providence Baptist Church. Nay whom reminds us of the authority and trustworthiness of God's Word. Secondly another application. The Assyrians as you probably guessed are examples of what not to do.

So some of you today if you will go with the analogy some of you stand here today behind your little city walls the walls that you've built by your good works. Or maybe your fearlessness before God. Or maybe your sin.

Or maybe your unbelief. And here you are. And you stand like this great stone in a river and you're unfazed. The preaching is coming and there you are now. You're not outwardly this way but there you are in your heart just standing there and the water of God's Word rushes over you.

But this text must serve as a warning to you. 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 him. The cypress spear spears are brandished.

The chariots race madly through the streets. They rush to and fro through the squares. They gleam like torches. They dart like lightning. He remembers his officers. They stumble as they go. They hasten to the wall.

The siege tower is set up. The river gates are open. The palace melts away. That should shake fear into you. You have to be an irrational soul to hear of the judgment of God in this way and to be unfazed.

You understand that the river eventually will win over the stone. You just got to give it time. But your judgment is going to come even more swiftly. And all your fears and actually worse than all your fears will come to fruition upon you.

And in one sense we could say it this way God will judge you even worse than he judged Nineveh. Because you are here hearing the fullness of Christ. You are here hearing the fullness of the gospel. And yet you've closed the city gates and you will not hear.

I'm just telling you if you remain in that state the day of judgment will be terrible for you. The text serves as a warning to you. How will you escape if you neglect so great a salvation. But then there's another application and that is for believers.

I'll remind you of this. You read Nahum and it's almost like it's almost comical. You're almost like this is this is. I can't understand why Nahum is named Nahum. Because in Hebrew Nahum means what we told you this long ago.

We'll remind you again today the name Nahum means comfort. It's like the book of Nahum doesn't seem very comforting. Yeah. If you're in Nineveh right. If you're in a Syrian if you're outside of God's covenant promises.

If you're outside of God's grace if you're outside the people of God then yeah Nahum should be terrifying. But if you're in Christ if you are a believer the book of Nahum is meant it is in the Bible friends to be a comfort to you.

Why. Because Nineveh's destruction and the church's salvation go hand in hand. You understand both kingdoms cannot and will not coexist forever. The the the city of Nineveh and the city of God won't always exist together.

One of those cities must fall. Read Revelation 19. Spoiler alert. It ain't the city of God. She will prevail. The church wins. Christ has conquered he is defeated. Sin and death and hell and the grave.

He will have his bride. He will have his kingdom. He will have his city. And you need to be reminded of this. Because if you will go with the analogy there are that exists today. There are what we would call present-day Nineveh's.

There are cities and countries and terrorism. And there are terrible things in the world today that seem as though at times they may get victory over the church. False teachers greed lust wicked regimes.

You know what I'm saying. And at times if we're not careful it can seem like these things are winning. Think about again. Think about the people of Judah in 650 not 612 650. Think about what they were like when they read this in 650.

And they're reading this on one hand but they're looking up with the other and they're reading and they're like okay this says Nineveh will be overthrown but never looks pretty good right now. Well that's the whole point.

That's why God gives you to trust this. You're to read this and you're to be comforted. Let Nahum comfort you. God knows in specific and meticulous detail how he will bring down the church's enemies. And so he will.

And their fall one day will be swift and it will be righteous and God is going to do it. And so as we wait that day we look at the book of Nahum and God causes people to trust him and to follow his ways.

Look to our sovereign God hope in Christ. Rest in the gospel. This won't be this way forever. We must learn to redeem the time. A new year is a good time to think about that. You need to think about which city it is that you're investing in the city of Nineveh or the city of God.

Our habits and our priorities and our commitments and our love all of this it ought to reflect that our hope is in Christ. And God uses texts like this to graciously remind his people just this phrase trust me trust me church.

Let me just ask you. Is there an area of your life that you've been afraid. Is there an area where you have misaligned your allegiance. Is there sin. Then hear the comfort of Nahum to God's people. Righteousness wins.

Justice will be satisfied. Rest in Christ. For the Christian justice has been satisfied in Christ and we are a new creation in him. So the the call then to believers is don't walk the way of the Assyrians.

Why would you when God's judgment comes you want to be found living like an Assyrian. And the chariots are racing through the streets. Do you want to be seen as one who is aligned with the Syria or aligned with God.

So don't walk that way. Don't play in their city. Don't trust their gods. They can have those things. Leave those things. Repent in the areas that you need to and cling again to Christ. Trust the providence of God.

You're often tempted. I know this because I am like you a man. You're often tempted to find solace inside Nineveh's walls. But remember they're fleeting and they're falling. Christ is enough. I can't get through this this through my skull.

And so I don't know that I'll get it through yours unless the Holy Spirit is pleased to just put it in both of our hearts. And that is you don't need the things the Assyrians say are so important they're going to be swept away in the flood of God's judgment.