Nahum 3:11-12 Drunk, Hidden and Seeking Refuge

Okay, so we're still in the book of Nahum This is the last chapter, so we're probably gonna have three or more four or more sessions after this one

I'll read this passage today. We're gonna concentrate on verses 11 and 12 those are the ones that are in red

So now here now God's inspired word And it will come about that all who see you will shrink from you and say

Nineveh is devastated who will grieve for her Where will I see comforters for you? Are you better than Noam on which was situated by the waters of the

Nile with water surrounding her whose rampart was the sea whose? wall consisted of the sea

Ethiopia was her might and Egypt to without limits put in the beam were also among her helpers yet She became an exile she went into captivity

Also her small children would dash to pieces at the head of every street They cast lots for her honorable men and all her great men were bound with fetters

You too will become drunk You will be hidden you too will search for a refuge from the enemy all your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit

When shaken they fall into the eaters mouth Behold your people are women in your midst the gates of your land are open wide to your enemies fire consumes your gate bars

Draw for yourself water for the siege Strengthen your fortifications go into the clay and tread the mortar take hold of the brick mold

Their fire will consume you the sword will cut you down. It will consume you as the locust does

Multiply yourself like the creeping locust multiply yourself like the swarming locust You have increased your traders more than the stars of heaven the creeping locust strips and flies away

Or if there were any words that would you would hear that would make you not want to be Nineveh Those are them.

I mean Nineveh really has it in for them based on the way they've Conquered and treated the other nations around them and when

I say in Nineveh remember I always mean a Syria Nineveh in a Syria Nineveh is the capital of a Syria So I use those those terms interchangeably same way if somebody was talking about the

United States They could say Washington or Washington did this meaning the capital capital represents the whole

So real quick week recap from last week The Assyrians would eventually be exiled by God.

They would be forced to live somewhere else Just like Thebes which is the city low

Amman, which was a much more powerful and important city So there was a contrast between Thebes and Nineveh Nineveh thought who they were

God was basically showing them that the city of Thebes low Amman was much much better than her much much stronger than her and Yet she fell because I brought it down.

What do you think you do? You think you can stand against me if Thebes couldn't?

Like these their little children would be affected as well and dashed to pieces And we had reflected on that one particular verse in Psalm 137 where it says you're young your youth will be your children will be dashed against the rock and we recognize in that Particular passage he was talking about the rock meaning

Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that Nineveh did not kill innocent children it they did so Particular to what we had talked about there's a way of understanding that because skeptics always like to say

Jesus repeated this see he he thinks your children are going to be he's he's

Advocating that your children be dashed against rocks to pieces And what he was referring to was the fact that they would be they would fall upon Jesus the rock and either be crushed or saved

Psalm 137 explains how children of Babylon would be dashed against the rock which is Jesus Christ, which we just talked about Daniel reminds us that the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth

So so the stone again, which is Jesus struck the image the image was the the statue of the steel bronze and clay

Jesus hits that Knocks those nations down and now establishes his kingdom.

That's what the mountain is The mountain represents the kingdom of God the temple of the Lord God's enemies and our enemies

God's enemies are our enemies and our enemies are God's enemies which exemplifies the

Covenantal nature of our relationship again, brother Lawrence brought that up again. We hold the federal headship

You're either in Adam or in Christ. Okay, so these two nations these realms are warring against each other

There's one kingdom on earth. It's Jesus's kingdom. Okay, and his kingdom will prevail Lots were cast for the prominent men their lives were placed in the hands of wicked men just like themselves

So we know Proverbs says that the lot was cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord So even though this looked like a random act of chance, these people were handed over to their enemies

Our sins are just as awful and worthy of punishment, but we have received mercy that's the big difference between The the the realm of Satan and God's kingdom the people who are in God's kingdom who are born of his spirit

Have received mercy their sins have been blotted out Cleansed on the cross by Jesus Christ.

The rest of the people have their sins on their record with them They will stand before God and have to give an account for those sins and receive the just rightful punishment for those sins

Our lives are now in the hands of a gracious and merciful God Paul says I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing

Christ Jesus my Lord That should be the refrain of every single person here who has received mercy.

I consider everything loss Jesus is prominent. Jesus is preeminent in my life

He is supreme and I am thankful that I know him John 17 3

This is eternal life that they may know you the one true God and Jesus Christ whom use you've sent

Eternal life is not just saying a prayer And receiving the gift of eternal life

Although it is it's knowing who God is being in a relationship with him the way

God knew Israel God knew Israel different than every other nation around them.

He was their God. He had an intimate relationship with them The church now is the nation of God.

Okay, it's his people. We're a holy nation We now know the God the triune

God of the scriptures and for that we should be eternally grateful To the point where we actually go out and evangelize we tell other people about this because we don't want them to end up like Nineveh or Assyria Okay, so let's get into today's verse

You too will become drunk. You will be hidden You too will search for a refuge from the enemy all your fortifications are fig trees with ripe fruit

Consider these dreadful cruelties which Nineveh inflicted upon Thebes drunk hidden searching for refuge

God said though his servant through his servant Nineveh that similar treatment would be meted out to the

Assyrians He puts it in these terms. He says you too will become drunk He meant that Nineveh would drink from the cup of God's wrath

There was a day coming when the proud powerful people of Nineveh the conquerors of thieves Would run away and try to hide from the anger.

God will release upon sinners So God is talking about you too will become drunk

He's talking about the cup of wrath that is going to be poured out on the Ninevites Now I just want to preface something because some people are listening to this by podcast

They don't get to see that I had the references again But at the end of each of these quotes,

I'm basically taking things that I see pertinent in the commentaries Compiling them together to give you my understanding because some of the commentators disagree on certain things and some of that I'll put up here too

But I don't want anybody to think if you're listening to this message that I'm the one who came up with these words okay, so I do have the little bibliography

Under each one of them. So you don't think that it's me as was the fate of Thebes So all shall also shall be the fate of Nineveh the prophet then uses five different images to vivify the helplessness of the city that by Unrighteousness and brutality has made itself

God's enemy Nineveh is described as a nation that has become like a staggering drunk like a panicked fugitive

Like a trembling fig tree like a feeble woman and like a city with its gates thrown open

This is abject fear. Like these people are should know once they hear these prophecies as God comes in and brings the

Babylonians in to destroy the Assyrians. This is how they're going to feel So let's talk about this word drunken

It's a figurative reference to the cup of the Lord's anger from which all who defy him are forced to drink

It's Isaiah 51. We're going to take a look at that Nineveh in her distress tries to hide and find refuge, but only the

Lord provides refuge in times of trouble Compared to him even the most powerful are weak and vulnerable.

Where do we first see someone trying to hide from the Lord? Adam and Eve, right?

What's the first thing he does? He runs and hides and When that doesn't work, he tries to cover himself as if that's going to you know, hide him from God Right the people who recognize that their sin is

Apparent to God and is seen by God don't run away from him. They run towards him for forgiveness

Now he's the only one who can solve our problem. We can't solve it ourselves Thankfully, he's provided a

Savior who will what cover our sins expiate them pull them away Isaiah 51

Wake yourself. Wake yourself stand up Oh Jerusalem You who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath

Who have drunk to the dregs the bowl the cup of staggering? Lamentations rejoice and be glad Oh daughter of Edom you who dwell in the land of us

But to you also the cup shall pass you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare who wrote the book of Lamentations Jeremiah right, so it's

Jeremiah Lamentations. So when Jeremiah wrote this this was About the time of the

Babylonian exile. All right, so that's pertinent to this us is a city south east of the

Dead Sea Okay, so this is in that area where they're going to be taken and and dragged off to Babylon Jeremiah 25 thus the

Lord the God of Israel said to me Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath and make all the nations to whom

I send you drink it They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them now

This when you read further on in Jeremiah chapter 25, this is directed toward Jerusalem Judah and the officials in those cities

And he's talking basically to the southern tribes. God is going to make a waste of you

He's going to give them over to Nebuchadnezzar who was the king of Babylon? So a lot of times people use that that verse in Jeremiah I know the plans

I have for you plans to prosper you and not to harm you says the Lord and they love to quote Meanwhile those people those exiles would be in Babylon for 70 years

That's the plan that he's telling them about. I know the plan I have you're going to be here for 70 years

You're going to have to you know Grind it out, but then I will vindicate my my covenant and bring you back to the land.

Yes, Jerry Mm -hmm

Right. So Jerry's comment was that that would have a positive Impact on the remnant those who did know

God who were called to to build houses in Babylon and would eventually come back to Jerusalem and build rebuild the temple who's a famous person who was exiled to Babylon who?

Actually has a book after him Daniel and Nehemiah exactly

Nehemiah is dragged off as a as a youngin He he he excels in in the government such that he becomes a teacher there

And ends up being able to to teach biblical understanding of things to to to the people there so It's not in the scriptures, but most people say that the

Magi who came from the east Came to see the star Bethlehem, which would point to the

Messiah Why because Daniel had taught that to them ages and ages and ages before Okay So don't think

I mean we're in a tough situation right now. You know, we're ripe to be taken over America, right?

What we have to do is stay faithful to the Lord So into the people who are around us because ultimately it's the kingdom of God that's going to win.

We have to remember that this verse directly applies to verses 8 and 10 in Nahum Nineveh you can expect the same everything that comes with drinking the cup of God's wrath you will experience

Just as a drunken man cannot effectively defend himself against an attacker So Nineveh will not be able to turn its back on its enemies and it's so easy to see this now with Facebook and YouTube They show you drunken people who can't you know defend anybody.

It's it's prevalent. Oh gosh Anyway, you will be hidden you will be hidden prophesized

Nahum about the great city of Nineveh and So it was Nineveh disappeared from the public eye and is now an obscure ruin in the

Near East It was not until ad 1842 when the Frenchman Paul Emile Bata and Englishman Austin Henry layered and the native

Christian Hormuz Razzam Excavated the site that it received any attention at all

So this particular city once it was destroyed Nineveh no one really knew anything about it.

I mean there were there were Obelisks and leftover writings and paintings that we have shown but the city was basically in ruins

No one ever paid any attention to it. Then these guys excavated stuff that we look at today hiding

Figuratively Nineveh will be conquered and humiliated such that if it could the city would go into hiding from fear

And shame go into exile voluntarily more literally This could refer to the remnant band of Assyrians who fled to the

West and temporarily had their base at Haran So there's two ways of looking at this according to the commentators. I think it's going to be both.

It's both literal and figurative Exactly how Nineveh would go into hiding is unclear.

Could they hide from the wrath of God? Can anyone hide from the wrath of God? No, right could anyone escape the day of God's judgment as much as Many of us would try to escape

That day it's not going to happen. We will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ The difficult this difficulty has led many translators to look for a word meaning faint or dazed

And if you change one letter in in the Hebrew word for hidden It could be affected in other words

You could they could with the change of one letter say that this word meant faint or dazed, but I don't think it does

In defense of the Masoretic text the second part of the verse indeed speaks of hiding in the day of trouble

The people of Nineveh would seek refuge from the enemy Try as they might to escape the wrath to come

Nineveh could not escape it must drink the cup of the Lord's wrath So, how does this apply to us in one way?

We recognize that will not be we will not be able to escape the day of the Lord the day of God's wrath Right, we seek refuge

But we don't seek refuge in anything that we've done because we know everything that we've done is stained by sin

We seek refuge in what God has done for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

You need perfect Righteousness to get into heaven not a righteousness that you had that was broken and fixed you need perfect righteousness from beginning to end that can only come through a perfect Savior and Jesus lived the perfect life.

We needed to live and died for the sins that we brought into the world All right, the only way into heaven is through Jesus giving him your sin

He gives you his perfect righteousness Now you can stand before God without his wrath being poured out on you because it was poured out on Jesus already

That is good news Nineveh had no way to find refuge from the enemy the fortress of Nineveh probably guarded mountain

The fortresses of Nineveh probably guarded mountain passes or other strategic entrances to Assyria These cities had especially fortified walls to help repel the enemy and to give

Nahum and other cities of Assyria time to prepare its defenses We had spoken about this a couple of weeks ago.

Nineveh had a wall around it, which was tremendous protection It was the largest wall in the world at that time and it had natural defenses

It had mountains that were surrounding it So the gates could refer to the city walls and the gates or it could figuratively

Refer to the mountains that were surrounding it as well What Nineveh had counted on so strongly her strongholds were no more reliable than the first ripe figs on a tree

Shake the tree and the figs will drop into the mouths of their connoisseurs These strongholds these ramparts these defenses

Likewise would give way and fall just as easily So when it comes to God any walls you have any mountains you think they're gonna protect you

Just as easy as shaking a fig tree and watch those figs fall off the things

Nineveh depended on were of no help to her and no match for God, but for God's people

Psalm 20 Some trust in chariots some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of the

Lord our God They collapse and fall but we rise and stand upright

We do not trust in our army to defeat all the other nations in the world right now

We do not trust in horses again Signifying armies we trust in the name of the

Lord our God. What is what does that word name mean? Everybody want to venture yes

Jerry character reputation

We pass on a good name to our children It's who God is

God is not a man that he should lie When he says he will find victory and build his mountain and the mountain of the

Lord shall be the greatest the biggest mountain and cover The earth that's a guarantee God doesn't say these things and hope they'll happen

He makes them happen. We have to recognize that God is sovereign over all things

So even as we're going through a difficult time in our society today We need to still the righteous are as bold as a lion and fear of man as a snare

You stand up and you speak truth to the situation it may cost you and It cost him

Right. This is our souls. This is this is our King that we're fighting for and with it's not that we're fighting for him

He goes with us. All right, he goes before us. He stands behind us. He's in our midst We have to be willing moving on in Jeremiah 16

Oh Lord my strength and my stronghold my refuge in the day of trouble

To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say our fathers have inherited nothing but lies

Worthless things in which there is no profit can man make for himself gods Such are not gods

Right when things go wrong Where do the people of God go to God right you have something

Okay So again, what is the word Nahum mean Comfort right, so again the analogy or the the contrast is between the people of God who run to God from comfort for comfort and The enemies of God who are gonna run away from God to try to get comfort

Ultimately, they will never be comforted Ultimately God's people will because they're going to the source of all comfortness

Thank goodness Nahum is a book that's designed to bring comfort to God's people

It's not going to be it's not going to bring comfort to God's enemies As you can see what we read every week is just like wow

God actually said that Yes, he did. That's why we need the full counsel of God. All right, we need to know

Psalm 5 psalm 7 psalm 11 that says God hates evildoers. Yeah, but John 3 16

Yeah, psalm 5 psalm 7 psalm 11 Proverbs chapter 6 there are six things the

Lord hates seven that are detestable him Proud looking eyes, you know on and on and on hands that shed innocent blood.

Does God just hate the hands? Or the man behind the hands Right. So there are

God has enemies Right and he hates those enemies Now well, let's not get into this but anyway

Nahum is comfort for God's people That could bring us into a whole other tangent None of his strongest fortifications are compared to fig trees with ripened figs

The slightest jar or bump sends the plump fruit plummeting into the mouth of a ravenous eater

The strongholds the most fortified places of the city will be no more effective in their defense against assault than over ripened fruit poised to be plucked

That's right. Oh Oh Palmer Robertson wrote it like that. It's very poetic According to Nahum they kept this characterization applies to all of Nineveh's fortifications.

No effective defense shall remain Your strongholds are fig trees with ripened fruit as easily as ripe fruit falls from a shaken tree

So will the strongholds of Nineveh fall before the judgment of God? We often have our strongholds of sin and pride that we put great confidence in But they are ready to be shaken and fall to the ground

You have to remember there's still things in our lives that those besetting sins the sin that so easily

Entangles that we have to we have to work on we have to be go through the process of sanctification

Identify those things and exercise self -control in those areas, you know, just because you're saved

It doesn't mean you don't sin anymore You know, we do sin, but we remain faithful to God and work through that right where we're supposed to put to death the misdeeds of the flesh

Nahum described with the ease with which Nineveh would be taken by her foe

He pictured her people vainly trying to strengthen their fortifications only to have them fall like ripe figs

Anyone can cause figs to fall easily just by shaking the tree as the cheering enemy burst through Nineveh's walls her renowned shock

Shocked troops would become like women who were frightened out of their wits We're gonna get into this for a second the imagery of a falling fruit has such vividness about it that it naturally was picked up in the book of Revelation to describe the cataclysms associated with the end of the present age

The Apostle John sees the day in which the stars of the sky shall fall to the earth as a fig tree

Casts its unripe fruits Like Nahum John depicts that the kings of the earth great men rich and strong Hiding themselves in caves of the mountains

Pleading for the rocks to fall on them so they can be hid from the wrath of the Lamb The readiness for judgment which ripened for Nineveh's Nineveh in Nahum's day

Soon shall characterize the whole of the earth The same Lamb of God that showed compassion for sinners by exposing himself to the consuming wrath of God Shall appear in wrath to bring judgment on all who have denied him

So this wrath that Nineveh is going to experience is going to be the same wrath that all of the people who reject

God's provision For forgiveness in Jesus are going to experience now.

Is it a sin to reject God's provision in Jesus? Yes, but that's not the only sin that they're going to receive wrath for they're gonna receive wrath for all of the sins that they've committed in addition to rejecting

Jesus right right Romans 1 tells us that ever since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes is divine nature and Eternal power have been clearly seen through what has been made so that man is without excuse even the people who did not have

Revelation of Jesus Christ will still be held accountable for the sins. They committed So rejecting

Jesus is a sin, of course But aside from that there's plenty of others.

Look just go through the Ten Commandments ask yourself how many times you've you've broken those This is

Revelation 14 He will also drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the

Holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb There will be no refuge for anybody who rejects

Jesus Christ who thinks that they're good enough to stand before God in their own record and pay for their own sins and The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night

These worshipers of the beast and its image and whoever ever receives the mark of its name so What one word

I want you to take a look at that word torment a lot of people even Christians say oh God's gonna torture people in hell and I have to remind them the

Bible never says that God's gonna torture people in hell God's gonna give them the wrath give them just the just punishment

The righteous punishment for the sins that they've committed and it will be torment to them

God's not sitting around, you know torturing people as if he's getting joy out of that He's pouring his wrath out righteously on the people who deserve it net

Should cause us to tremble because we too could be in that situation but for Jesus and it should cause us to Want to share our faith with the people around us.

We should not want anyone to to suffer the torments of hell The Oracle of Judgment begins in verse 13 behold your people are women in your midst verse 13 opens with the word translated in the

New King James Version as surely though It's better translated as it as behold as it was in chapter 1 2 and in the beginning of 3

And then of his troops would become weak as women and that's a frequent metaphor for fear in situations like this

Isaiah 19 describes the fear of the Egyptians Jeremiah 50 and Jeremiah 51 described the fear of the

Babylonians The famous gates would be thrown wide open Apparently by the unexpected flood at this as discussed earlier early in Nahum We talked about how

God says he's going to flood the city of Nineveh The rest of the destruction would come as the city was set on fire

Archaeologists who have excavated the city attest to the presence of layers and ashes Rawlinson concludes the recent excavations have shown that fire was a great instrument in the destruction of Nineveh Nineveh Nineveh's palaces

Isaiah 19 16 and that day the Egyptians will be like women and Tremble with fear before the hand of the

Lord of hosts shakes over them Jeremiah 50 a sword against her horses and against her chariots and against all the foreign troops in her midst that they may have become women

Jeremiah 51 the warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting they remain in their strongholds their strength has failed

They have become women her dwellings are on fire her bars are broken So now do you think that this that God is talking bad about women here?

What does he mean men are the ones who should be on the front line? They had a one that men are men are the priests of their household

They're gonna be held responsible for what happens to the family men are the one who are called to lead men are the ones who?

Call to fight now. It doesn't mean that women Are less than men they have a different role and a different function

Think about what women can bring forth children How come nobody talks about that?

You know like men Can't I mean what a blessing that women can bring for children.

What a blessing from God Well, that's that's true and again.

Here's why gender matters Right this is this is why God created them male and female there's only two genders no matter how

What else you think yes, Jerry? Right right yeah

Deborah rose up because the men didn't right if the men rose up There would be no reason for Deborah to rise up and have to become a judge you read

Isaiah 3 and and in in a statement Of judgment upon Israel. He said they they will be led by children and women

Now unless you think that Governments right now should be led by children which maybe they are

Unless you think that being led by women and children is a good thing Then maybe you should see what the

Bible says right men are the ones who? The woman was deceived all right, so we there are differences between men and women

Ontologically right and physically when when he's talking about they'll be like women

Women are not supposed to be on the battlefield Physically fighting yes, should they be at home praying and is that warfare absolutely vital necessary right so we?

Complement one another we're not equal to one another as far as the function right and you see when you see

Society pushing in a certain direction you could be pretty certain that it's the wrong way

So all the movies that come out today you have strong women right Wonder Woman you have

All the yeah, hold on a second. Oh all these all these other women characters who are who are to be warriors

That's not what God says that they should be they should be warriors like you said in prayer, but on the battlefield

That's a that's a manly office That's a manly function and when we see women doing it and pushing it means that the men have not taken their proper place and Should be out and doing what they're supposed to but are not

I'll get you next week. Don't worry Kayla even

Caleb's laughing Nina all right none of his inhabitants are compared to feeble women although the modern feminist movement may deny it

Generally speaking women are weaker physically than men Particularly when speaking to speaking of hand -to -hand combat of battle men retain prominence, and here's where this movement

Cannibalizes itself it implodes because now a man can identify as a woman and go into the octagon the ring and As I'm as a woman meanwhile physically he's a man

He has XY chromosomes and now he's going to fight against a woman who has XX chromosomes who is physically smaller and and not as strong as the man and now the man

Who identifies as a woman is going to beat the woman? So what have the women done they shown that they can't fight in an octagon with a man a physical man

Right so that the movement is going to implode. It's going to cannibalize itself. We have

God has defined what a man and a woman is he has created us that way you can rail against it

You can try to hide from it. You can try to cover it up. It's ultimately going to come out God's creation speaks to us

The Assyrian forces Fortresses surrounding Nineveh will be the first to encounter the advancing enemy army the coalition forces will easily and quickly take these strongholds with two results

First the gates of Assyria will be wide open to the enemy since the fortresses which guarded those entrances entrances have been destroyed

Second the troops in other words the soldiers within Nineveh will be demoralized and filled with fear so that they cannot acquit themselves as men in the coming siege

Because the defenders cannot fight the gates of your land are wide open to your foes it is not certain whether the gates of your land refers to the gates of the city of Nineveh itself or to the mountain passes that Gave entry to the country of Assyria as a whole remember

It's either the gates around the city or the the mountains around its that would appear as gates

The use of your land rather than your city suggests the latter Today's English version seems to take take it that way

It also drops the figurative use of gates and expresses the meaning in plain language as your country stands defenseless before your enemies

One may also translate the sentence as and there is no one to defend you as your enemies attack

The Prophet may also have referred to a person's dreading of combat as John Calvin says

The hearts of men are so in the hand of God that he melts whatever courage there may be in them whenever he pleases

Sometimes God may leave men with courageous hearts so that they will run into ruin But in either case when the time of God's judgment has arrived escape from judgment will prove impossible

It seems like our nation right now is trying to escape from judgment. It's impossible. God's judgment is upon this country

We need to be faithful and the church needs to do its job None of us shall be like a besieged city whose gates have been flung wide open

Like foolish Canaanites who rushed out of the city leaving their gates wide open So none of his gates shall be flung open to give their enemies free access to their city

Total exposure to the ravages of alien forces shall characterize Characterize the entire nation for it is not merely the city gates

But the gate of the land that shall be open The last remnants of defense in terms of the heavy bars that seal the gates shall be consumed with fire

These famous gates would be thrown wide open apparently by an unexpected unexpected flood that was discussed earlier

The rest of the destruction would come as the city was set on fire Archaeologists who have excavated the city attest to the presence of layers of ashes

Rawlinson concludes the recent excavations have shown that a fire was a great instrument in the destruction of Nineveh's palaces

Fire shall devour the bars of your gates Archaeologists document the burning of Nineveh The excavators of Nineveh have remarked on a large deposit of ash which are evidence of a gigantic conflagration

Fire has devoured your bars These are the bars used to fasten shut the gates of the city

But it's not clear whether the sense here is literal or figurative Again, I think it's both If figurative then the bars probably stand for the fortresses that guarded the passage

Which were called gates in the previous clause If literal then the bars would be the wooden beams which prevented the gates of Nineveh itself from being opened

Today's English version follows this interpretation It says fire will destroy the bars across your gates

Translators take both the gates and bars as figurative If they take both the gates and bars as figurative A possible translation model is the following The borders of your land are wide open to your enemies and fire will destroy your fortresses

Matthew talks about this And I tell you, you are Peter And on this rock I will build my church

And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven

And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven

So the same way Nineveh's gates would not be able to withstand the judgment of God Neither will the gates of hell be able to withstand faithful Christian people

God's church going in through those gates Speaking the gospel to people and seeing them

Seeing God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven God's mountain will be the largest mountain and encompass the whole earth

As the waters cover the seas So now we have to remember

Sometimes we get all uppity in ourselves We sometimes forget and think that we're stronger than we are

Matthew 20 is a good reminder for us Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him

Meaning Jesus with her sons and kneeling before him She asked him for something and he said to her What do you want?

She said to him, say these two sons of mine are to sit One at your right hand and one at your left hand in your kingdom

Hey, I want to sit in the place of honor I want to be Jesus' right hand man

What does Jesus say? You do not know what you're asking Are you able to drink the cup that I am able to drink?

What did we talk about before about the cup? The cup of God's wrath

Are you able to drink that? They said to him Oh, we're able

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed My father if it be possible Let this cup pass from me

Nevertheless not as I will but as you will Jesus ultimately would drink the cup of wrath that belonged to us

Take God's wrath upon himself So that we could escape and be rescued from our own sins

Romans 5 Since therefore we now have been justified by his blood How much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God?

Thank goodness for Jesus The Ninevites the Assyrians They find their refuge in themselves

Their own strongholds Their armies, their strength Their reputation

Where do the people of God find their refuge? In Jesus Christ alone That's it