Nahum 2:4-6 Fiery Ministers & Watery Graves

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Okay, so we're going to continue our study through Nahum. We're going to be in chapter 2, concentrating on verses 4 through 6, but before that,

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I want to read the end of chapter 1, and then all the way through chapter 2.

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So what I did was I highlighted the verses that we're going to be actually concentrating on today.

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So Nahum chapter 1, starting at verse 15, Behold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace.

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Celebrate your feasts, O Judah, pay your vows, for never again will the wicked one pass through you. He is cut off completely.

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Thank God. The one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road, strengthen your back, summon all your strength, for the

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Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, even though devastators have devastated them and destroyed their vine branches.

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The shields of his mighty men are colored red, the warriors are dressed in scarlet, the chariots are enveloped in flashing steel when he is prepared to march, and the cypress spears are brandished.

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The chariots race madly in the streets, they rush wildly in the squares. Their appearance is like torches, they dash to and fro like lightning flashes.

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Remember his nobles, they stumble in their march, they hurry to her wall, and the mantlet is set up.

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The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. It is fixed, she is stripped, she is carried away, and her handmaids are moaning like the sound of does beating on their breasts.

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Though Nineveh was like a pool of water throughout her days, now they are fleeing, stop, stop, but no one turns back.

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Plunder the silver, plunder the gold, for there is no limit to the treasure. Wealth from every kind of desirable object, she is emptied.

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Yes, she is desolate and waste. Hearts are melting and knees are knocking. Also anguish is in the whole body, and all their faces are grown pale.

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Where is the den of lions and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, lioness, and lion's cub prowled with nothing to disturb them?

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The lion tore enough for her cubs, killed enough for her lionesses, and filled his lairs with prey from his dens with torn flesh.

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Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of Hosts. I will burn up her chariots in smoke.

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A sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the land, and no longer will the voice of your messengers be heard.

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These are heavy words from God. If God is against you, who could be for you?

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So real quick, chapter 2, verses 1 through 3 recap. Last week we learned that the one who scatters and has come up against you, that one is

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God. Okay, God is the scatterer. And this gets us back to, harkens us back to Genesis 10, where all of this actually began.

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When God told the people to fill the earth, multiply and multiply, but they didn't listen and instead gathered together to build a tower and a name for themselves.

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That's the Tower of Babel. So all this, the scatterer, they called

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God the scatterer, the one who wanted them dispersed. So now God's coming back and taunting them. The scatterer is back.

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And watch what happens. God then taunts them. Man the fortress.

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Watch the road. Summon all your strength. Why? Because God will be against them.

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You really think they had enough strength to fight back and win against God?

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No. He's taunting them. Let's see how strong you are now. You like to plunder the other nations.

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You like to flay them, crucify them, do all these vicious things that you did.

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How are you going to handle that when I come against you? God then promises to restore Jacob, Judah, like the splendor of Israel.

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So here we see God is against His enemies and how fierce He's going to be against them, and then just how loving and merciful and fierce

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He is for His people. He's going to restore Judah, Jacob, back to the splendor of Israel.

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He doesn't have to do that, by the way. But because Judah is His bride, He's going to raise her up and protect

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His bride. The shields of the Medes are red and shiny like fire. God's ministers are like a flame of fire, and we're going to go a little bit deeper into that this morning.

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All this is highlighting God's scattering, His sovereignty, and His salvation.

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So let's get into chapter 2, verse 4. The chariots race madly in the streets.

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They rush wildly in the squares. The promised coming judgment of Assyria is described in this passage with graphic and detailed imagery.

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Assyria's enemy will attack, possibly using psychological warfare, maybe dying their equipment red as though covered with blood or actually covered with blood.

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And we talked last week about how a lot of the commentators and I myself think that the red on the shields were the beginning skirmishes that Assyria was having with Judah.

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There was bloodshed already. The protection of Assyria, its gates and its palace, will fall, and the people will be taken into exile, mourning their destruction.

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The destruction will not end until Assyria is completely stripped of possessions and all strength.

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The verses in chapter 2 affirm that Yahweh, God, is the one who will cause Assyria's downfall.

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God was the one who raised Assyria up to come in, into Israel, okay, and to attack it.

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But he's also going to be the one who brings Babylon and the Medes in to destroy

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Assyria because their hearts went too far. The attackers are like a beehive of soldiers ready for action, calculating to attack first and racing around to begin the onslaught to overwhelm their enemy.

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Similar to like a Hells Angels biker group. Did you ever hear all the motorcycles as they drive by?

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You hear zzzz, right? It's like a beehive almost. And they thrive on beating people down in their path, or whoever's in their path.

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This is a situation the Assyrians have never encountered before. They're encountering a large and powerful army that is aggressively moving in on them.

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Where they were normally the aggressor and their enemy was the frightened prey, they now are the prey being stalked by the aggressor.

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So here's big, strong Assyria who's going to get devastated and was told by God this is what's going to happen.

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So they're feeling it. They're feeling the pressure. Obviously, God's taunting them. Summon your soldiers.

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Garner your strength. Protect the walls because here I come. Verse 4 describes the advance of the attackers.

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The text indicates the mad dash of the chariots as they move through the suburbs and outlying areas of Nineveh toward the city walls.

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Now remember when we went through the history of Assyria, do you remember how wide that wall was?

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The wall was like a mile wide. Not just long around the city.

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It was a mile wide. So this is a huge, huge, strong structure. The imagery intends to depict the immediate step of the approach of the assault force, the

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Medes, having been dreaded at a distance when the approaching hordes' brilliant uniforms came first into view and now can be observed more closely.

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So this is like seeing your enemy far off and now they're coming closer and closer and closer.

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So now you see their shields. Now they're covered with blood because they're starting to attack you.

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This is kind of like a suspense waiting. It's coming, it's coming, it's getting closer, closer, closer.

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They have laid claim to all the territory immediately outside the city walls. The last resistance has retreated behind the safety of the city wall and the fearful chariotry of the enemy rushes about securing every possible escape route.

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So now the Assyrians are being surrounded by the Babylonians, by the Medes, okay? And Assyria knows this army is going to come in and they're going to be attacked.

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The Hebrew word for storm means to act wildly as a madman.

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In our verse in the NASB, it says to race madly. So the enemy is acting wildly.

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The NIV translation captures the meaning of the Hebrew as chariots stormed through the streets.

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We speak of jet fighters that scream overhead. Did you ever go to one of the air shows and you hear the fighter jets flying overhead?

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The sound of that, it vibrates through you. This is what's happening to the

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Assyrians. Not only are they seeing it, they're feeling it. The ground is shaking. Nahum wanted to convey the idea of panic and fear in Nineveh as they watched a powerful army arrayed against them.

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The swift movement of the chariots reflecting the sun appeared like flaming torches. The speed of the chariots could be compared with lightning.

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So we're going to talk about this lightning and torches in a little bit more detail because I looked up in the dictionary of biblical imagery and there's so much about lightning and flashing throughout the

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Old Testament and even into the New. Their appearance is like torches.

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They dash to and fro like lightning flashes. Appearance like torches.

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In Hebrew, this is the word lapid, and it's a masculine noun indicating a torch or a lamp.

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It's used mainly of a fiery light, Genesis 15, Judges 7, 15, and 20, but also depicts bright flashes of lightning,

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Exodus 2018. The ones I underlined are the ones that we're going to read in a minute. It's used figuratively of Judah's conquering clans and the eyes of a divine being,

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Daniel 10. Flames of fire may be called torches. So we see this in Exodus 20.

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Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled and they stood far off and said to Moses, you speak to us and we will listen, but do not let

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God speak to us lest we die. All right, so what is this telling us about God and what is this telling us about our view of God?

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What is God doing? When he came to the top of the mountain, what was he doing when he came there?

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What were the, go ahead. Right, this was at the base of the mountain when they worshiped the calf, right, and now

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God's coming in what? Judgment, right? So we see lightning, we see the sound of a trumpet.

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If we read more of the verse, it said a cloud covered the top of the mountain. So again, when we read

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Matthew 24, which I highly encourage you to go back and listen to Pastor's last message on hermeneutics when he goes through part of chapter 24.

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The whole series is excellent, but last week was just a gem. I mean, it's a standout among those lessons.

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So you'll see what it means with clouds. You'll see what it means with lightning. This is a symbolic of God's judgment, such that the people are afraid.

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They say, oh Moses, you talk to us. We don't want to talk to him directly. Yes, Jerry. Sure, the pillar of cloud, right, and the light.

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Absolutely. So where it's judgment, but God to his people, right, to those who hearken to him, that same appearance, but it's not judgment.

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It's guidance. Right. And those who don't hearken to him become judgment.

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The fear is still there. It's that element of fear and fear.

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Right. To one, it's going to be comfort. To the other, it's going to be punishment, judgment, right? So those people who were guilty in God's sight, who were worshiping the calf to them, this is scary.

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We don't want to talk to him. We want to talk to Moses. Ezekiel chapter one, verse 13 and 14.

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As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among living creatures.

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And the fire was bright. And out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.

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Now, that's right out of Ezekiel chapter one. And look at how it relates to Nahum verse four.

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Their appearance is like torches. They dash to and fro like lightning flashes. Right. So God's judgment is not actual lightning.

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He's using the Medes, the Babylonian army, to come in, and it gives the appearance of lightning.

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Remember, there's a spiritual element behind all the things that we see in the world. The reality of the world is behind the world, right?

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And it's being played out in the physical realm. So the lightning, the clouds, this is all symbolic of what

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God is doing against the Assyrians because of their wickedness. Daniel 10 .6,

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his body was like barrel, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.

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You see how in each of these verses, God is using physical elements to get us to get a vision of what this is really like.

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You know, we obviously we can't see into the spirit. God is spirit. We don't see him, but he's relating to us in words.

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We can understand anthropomorphisms. What is actually happening? So this is designed to paint a vivid picture in our mind of what the presence of God is going to look like.

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Now, you either know him or you don't know him. You're either going to be comforted by his presence or you're going to be punished in his presence.

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Yes, Jerry. But in some of these, there's going to be visions that the prophets are seeing where they're actually seeing a

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Christophany. So it definitely speaks to the

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Trinity when you think about that. And if you think about the coals of fire, right?

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When you think about Isaiah's interaction with that, it judged him in the sense that it purged him.

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It cleansed him, but it did not kill him. Whereas when you see it in other places in Scripture, particularly when we look in Revelation, those coals purge, but they also kill.

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Right. Yes. The one image that I didn't happen to put in the lesson but comes to mind is

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Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Right. They're thrown into the fiery furnace. But does the fire burn them?

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No, there's a fourth one in there with them. All right. We're going to get a little bit towards towards the end of the presentation of of how

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God is judging the world now. OK, to continue on, lightning is also known as God's power and majesty.

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Symbolically, lightning represents one of our great primordial fears. Its grandeur and awe reduce us to frighten children acutely aware of our powerlessness and insignificance.

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I can remember when I was little laying on my bed at night and hearing a thunderstorm. And you know what happens after you hear the thunder, right?

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I'm sorry. After you see the lightning, you start going one Mississippi, two

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Mississippi, three Mississippi, and each Mississippi represents a mile. Right. That's that's scientifically proven.

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Right. So follow the science. So the lower, the lower the number of Mississippis, the closer this is getting.

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I was petrified laying on my bed. One Mississippi. Oh, my goodness. This is horrible.

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So you could see, like as a young kid, I didn't understand about this. And listen, lightning is a serious thing.

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The closer it gets to you, the scarier you get. So think about the lightning that they're seeing and attributing this to God.

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This comes out of the dictionary biblical imagery by Leland Rankin, an excellent resource. He says to observe the activity of lightning, especially in antiquity, in the absence of our current naturalistic explanations, was to witness the direct involvement and response of the creator to his creation.

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A creator in control of nature that seems at the same time paradoxically out of control.

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We don't know where the lightning is going to land. We don't know what damage it's going to do. It seems like, my goodness, it's out of control, yet we know that there's a creator.

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There is a God behind it who is in control. Lightning symbolizes at once both the untamable power and unapproachable presence of God.

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Biblical authors return again and again to the theme of God's control over nature as the most obviously obvious and easily understood measures of his power.

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So we know that God is sovereign. When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? We understand all these things, but we're not privy to God's knowledge in that realm.

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Right. So we don't know. Is it going to hit our house? Good. Right. We don't know. All we do know is that God is in control and he works all things together for good for those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.

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Again, what side of the cross are you on? Are you the repentant, the repentant thief that trusts in Jesus?

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Or are you the unrepentant thief that keeps cursing at him? Get us down from here. Get me out of here. Scripture uses lightning as proof of God's terrifying presence.

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It frightens believer and infidel alike. Mount Sinai flashes and smolders as evidence of God's occupancy and also as proof that God attends his chosen people in battle.

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Lightning routes his enemies. So, again, here you have lightning being used to protect

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God's people and route the enemies, and lightning used in judgment upon people who are his people.

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Israel was his people, but they went after idols. Lightning is also used as God's agent and angels, right?

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God has messengers. God's tools and weapons are often difficult to distinguish from his agents.

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God's means easily merge with his messengers, personified and pictured as attendants, spiritual beings doing his bidding.

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His ministers are as a flame of fire, right? So in the ancient mind, lightning was evidence of divine activity mediated by angels.

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The cosmological imagery of the Psalms equates the wind and fire with angels, Psalm 104, which we're going to look at in a second.

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The LXX understood the furies of God's wrath. Who knows what LXX means? Go ahead.

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The Septuagint. And what is the Septuagint? It's the

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Greek translation of the Old Testament, and the word Septuagint means 70, right?

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So it was translated by 70 elders of Israel, right? Coincidentally, that's how many elders

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God told Moses to have, right? He had 70 elders who ruled Israel with him.

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These 70 elders translated the Hebrew scriptures into Greek so that Greek -speaking people could understand it, right?

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So the Septuagint understood the furies of God's wrath and the heat of his nostrils manifested in the storms to be angels.

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A flaming appearance marks celestial armies. Whether fiery chariots or angels on horseback with lightning, 2

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Kings 6 .17, angels are clothed in lightning, underscoring both the residual brightness from the presence of God, Daniel chapter 10, and their otherworldly connection.

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The lightning aura surrounding the creatures in Ezekiel's vision indicates both their power over the created order and their access to God's throne.

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Again, I would suggest you read through Ezekiel because this is going to give you vivid imagery. You're going to see the chariots, you're going to see the lightning, you're going to hear about the thunder.

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Lightning not only marks the activity of God's loyal messengers, but also traces the downward trajectory of the fallen angel.

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Remember what Jesus said about Satan? I saw Satan fall like lightning, right, to the earth.

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So again, lightning, a symbol of judgment, this is the words that Jesus uses. Psalm 104, he makes the clouds his chariot.

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He rides on the wings of the wind. He makes his messenger winds, his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.

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So how is it that we are a flaming fire? Yes. So just for the recording, because people can't hear the answer,

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God's word is going to go forth. It's either going to judge the person, harden their heart, or it's going to soften their heart because God's word doesn't come back void.

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It's going to do what it's intended to do in the minds and hearts of the people who hear it. So if you today, if you hear

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God's voice, do not harden your hearts. So when somebody proclaims the gospel to you that Jesus is

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Lord and there's salvation found in him, judgment is coming. And here there's going to be a final judgment.

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How are you going to stand in the judgment? There is no other name of the heaven and earth by which men must be saved.

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Right. It's only through Jesus. No one gets to the father, but through Jesus. If you don't know the

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Lord, you need to repent and trust in him. The only way to him is through Jesus. Jesus is the mediator between God and man.

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Right. You, if you don't repent, you're going to be like the Assyrians. Okay. Who God says, go ahead, summon up your strength.

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Let's hear your argument, how you were so good to the world. And then I'm going to judge you and you're going to be weighed and found wanting.

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You don't want that. You want to accept God's provision on your behalf through Jesus. Daniel 10, six.

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Now his body was like turquoise. His face was like the appearance of lightning and his eyes were like torches of fire.

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And his arms and his legs were like the gleam of polished bronze. So you see this imagery over and over and over again.

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Lightning messages as of a flaming fire. His face was the appearance of lightning. His eyes were like torches of fire.

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Again, hearkening back to what we see in Nahum. He's saying that the enemy, the

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Medes are coming up against the wall and they're running. They're wildly thrashing about.

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It looks like lightning, like flames of fire. Then we see in the New Testament, Luke 17, and they will say to you, look there or look here.

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Do not go out and follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other.

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So will the son of man be in his day. Again, I would suggest you go back and watch the teaching last week that Pastor did.

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He talks about this. Very, very important that you understand what lightning means in Matthew 24 and coming on the clouds.

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Okay, let's continue. So we read in verses 5 and 6.

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He remembers his nobles. They stumble in their march. They hurry to her wall and the mantlet is set up. The gates of the rivers are open and the palace is dissolved.

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But the question is, because Nahum constantly goes back and forth. Who is the he that summons or remembers his nobles?

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And it's not easy to answer. And none of the commentators say they can be sure who it's referring to.

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Is it Assyria or is it the Medes? He remembers he summons his nobles. Is he summoning the

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Medes or is he summoning the Assyrians? There are two main problems.

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The first is that the verse opens with a singular verb in Hebrew. He summons in the NIV and he commands in the

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New Jewish Version. The nearest singular subject for the he to refer to is the shatterer of verse 1.

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If this is indeed the subject, then the description must be of the attackers. Okay, so this would be of the

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Medes. However, the second problem is the occurrence of the word stumble, which seems out of place if applied to well -organized attackers.

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God's going to summon them. He's got a force come against them. They wouldn't be the ones stumbling. Probably the

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Assyrians would be the ones stumbling. One of the marks of such an army is that its men do not stumble,

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Isaiah 527. The word stumble is more appropriate if used about unready defenders hurrying to man the walls, i .e.

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Assyria. But if this is the case, there is no real subject for the singular verb summons. This is one of those cases where the commentators say it's virtually impossible to be certain what the original writer intended.

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It seems more likely that the whole of verses 3 through 5 describes the attackers. However, translators will do well to consider which interpretation sounds best in their own language.

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So here's my guess. Now, before you hear my guess,

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I don't speak Hebrew. I don't read Hebrew. I don't speak Greek or no

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Greek. So this is just my guess based on the English. So he remembers his nobles is also translated as he summons or calls his officers.

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So I think the he refers to God and the nobles refers to the Assyrians. Remember, God was their commander when he brought

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Assyria against Israel. So this may not be towards the Medes. This probably could be.

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Could be. I shouldn't say probably. This could be towards the Assyrians. This would also accurately describe their stumbling as Assyria is in panic mode.

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He calls or summons his officers and they stumble in their march. This also coincides with the he being the scatterer.

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So the scatterer God summons his nobles, the Assyrians, and they stumble in their march.

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Then I think the next phrase shifts to the Medes becoming the they. They, the Medes, hurry to her wall, meaning

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Assyria. The attackers are hurrying to Assyria's wall because later in verse 7,

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Nehemiah will say she is stripped. She is carried away, referring to Assyria. The she and her are referring to the same party and the they is referring to her attacker.

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This is my guess. OK, next we read the mantlet is set up.

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It's like, what's a mantlet? Right. Let's let's learn for a second. We have to look this up. The mantlet is a shield designed to protect and cover soldiers who are using a battery, battery ram, which is an offensive weapon.

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Now, would the Assyrians who are inside the walls use a battery ram? No, they're not trying to get out.

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Right. The Medes are the ones trying to get in. They're probably the ones setting up the battery ram and coming in to destroy the walls.

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So the mantlet would be designed to protect them from being hit by objects or arrows from inside the walls as they tried to break through.

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The Assyrians wouldn't be using a battery ram or a mantlet. So this would have to be the Medes. So here's my guess.

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And this is the AUV version, not in print yet.

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Probably never will be. Now, I shouldn't say probably. It never will be. OK, that's the bottom line. So this is my guess.

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God again summons his Assyrian officers. The Assyrian army responds but stumbles in their march.

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The Medes push forward and hurry to Nineveh's wall and set up their mantlet to cover themselves.

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That's my best guess. May or may not be. Just trying to understand this a little bit better so that we can we can learn it together.

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In Nahum 2 .5, it may mean the king of Assyria, Sinshar Ishkun, ruler at the time of Nineveh's fall, called up his elite forces to defend the city.

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Yet they stumble from weakness. They rush to the city wall to protect it but to no avail. However, other commentators understand the verse to describe the invading

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Medes and Babylonians as they rush to the city wall. In this case, the protective shield, literally the covering, seems to be a technical term denoting the besiegers' defensive equipment.

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The AOV version solves this apparent dilemma. We have, right, it's partly

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Medes, partly Assyrians. Enough of my comedic. The gates of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved.

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The king of Nineveh will urge his nobles to lead in the defense of the city. These nobles will stumble forth terrified, disorganized, and panic -stricken to take their places of command upon the city walls.

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But the defense will be futile, for the gates of the rivers will be opened and the palace will be dissolved.

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The ancient historian Diodorus Siculus indicates that this prophecy had a literal fulfillment.

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For he states that at the time of the attack upon Nineveh, heavy rains call Kishore and the

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Tigris River to rise and dissolve a portion of the city's walls, permitting the enemy to enter into the city and capture it.

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Next we read, the gates of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved.

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Right, what do you think of when you think water and dissolving or destroying? Once again we see the use of water in judgment.

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God is coming in judgment upon Assyria, even with the mile -wide wall.

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This particular prophecy would have a dual fulfillment. The Medes would come into the city like a flood and then water would literally be used to help erode the city.

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So it's a double fulfillment. Nineveh was located on the east bank of the Tigris River and was protected both by the river itself and a series of walls and moats.

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It is not certain exactly what the river gates, which is the revised standard version those other versions refer to, they may be the gates which controlled the flow of water through the moats.

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If these gates were captured by the attackers, it could either mean that the water was diverted away from the moats and the enemy could therefore approach closer to the walls, or else that the water was somehow released into the city, causing damage by flood.

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Either way, the attackers, the Medes coming in, would overwhelm or flood the

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Assyrians, or literally water would overwhelm and flood the Assyrians. Ancient historians have told us that the reason the city fell was because a great flood broke down the city walls.

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This should not surprise us because it ties in exactly with what Nahum prophesied in chapter 1, verse 8.

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There he spoke about an overwhelming flood. So, do we hear anything similar to this in the

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New Testament? Anybody have anything that comes to mind when you hear floods?

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Okay, that's one. Not sure you could use that. Why don't I just tell you? Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

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The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.

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And everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

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And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell. And great was the fall of it.

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So, here we see floods, God's judgment upon people. Yes, Maria? Yeah, sure, absolutely.

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That's an Old Testament one, right? Yeah, that's okay. Yeah, obviously Noah's flood,

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God's flood, not Noah's flood. God flooded the entire world, saved eight people. Everyone else was judged.

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No one survived except for Noah and his family. So, here we have Jesus telling us that when the flood comes, when the flood comes, not if it comes, everybody's going to get hit with trials and tribulations and things that are difficult.

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You need to build your house on the rock. Now, what's the difference between these two positions? Say again?

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Foundation, right? And one does them. He hears the words and does them. And what happens to the other one?

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He does not do them, right? Do not be hearers of the word only, be doers of the word, right?

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You can hear all you want. If you don't do anything, you're going to be building your house on the sand, right?

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We're all going to be building something. Our lives are evidenced by what we build. And I'm not talking as far as occupation.

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I'm talking about what we do with our lives. We're either building the kingdom, sowing into the kingdom of God, or we're sowing into the kingdom of man, right?

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So, if you hear God's words, you need to obey them. You need to do them. What else does this highlight between these two differing positions?

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If you think of the book of Proverbs, right? The one who does them is like a wise man.

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The one who doesn't do them is like a foolish man. This is what the entire book of Proverbs is about.

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The wise and the foolish, right? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right?

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My son, hear my words, wrap them around your neck like a necklace. Over and over and over, the book of Proverbs says, do not pursue folly.

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She's called an adulterer, right? So, you pursue that, you're going to end up in judgment.

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Versus hearing God's words, putting them into practice, and doing them, right?

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Knowledge is knowing the facts. Wisdom is knowing how to use them. You need wisdom.

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You need to know the facts, not just know them, but put them into practice. Alright, Pesta says the book of Proverbs is really, tells us how to live life with skill.

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How to live life correctly based on the information we have. So, where does the judgment by water come from in the new covenant?

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Well, the messianic period. Anyone want to form a guess? Living waters, yes.

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Jesus says, John chapter 8, whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

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Now, this he said about the spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the spirit had not been given.

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Right, we have the spirit of God running through us. And again, at the proclamation of the gospel, that's prophesying that Jesus is

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Lord. There will be a coming judgment. You need to flee the judgment and cling to Christ.

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He's the Messiah. He's the only one who's able to save you. His ministers are as a flame of fire.

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When we preach the gospel, to some it's going to hurt them, to others it's going to save them.

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Our job is to preach it. We're in the obedience business, God's in the results business. He brings the heart to life.

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Matthew 3 .11, I'm sorry, this is

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John the Baptist. I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals

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I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff will burn with unquenchable fire.

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Over and over we have this imagery of fire, of burning. Luke 12,

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I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled.

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Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.

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Is this generally what you hear about Jesus? You don't often hear that Jesus, his gospel is going to divide people.

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It's going to divide light from darkness, truth from falsehood, believer from unbeliever. This is why this is so important.

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We say this over and over and over again here because it's true. You need to flee the judgment and cling to Christ or you're going to be on the other side of the cross.

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The Assyrians had used their best possible materials that the world had to offer in order to gird themselves against God's wrath.

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These proved no stronger than a beach hut in a hurricane. God decimated them.

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God will judge you if you are not found in Christ. If you don't know the

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Lord, you don't have peace with God, you don't have shalom, you need to cling to him.

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You need to repent of your sins and trust in him and him alone. Because the question is how will you survive the flood of judgment from a sovereign

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God? Any questions? All right, so we see over and over and over again his ministers are as a flame of fire.

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God poured his spirit out upon the earth. To some it's going to be a purifying fire, others it's going to be a punishing fire.

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So you need to resolve that in your mind right now. This is true, Jesus is Lord. He's ruling and reigning, waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet.