Nahum, Habakkuk — Zac Poonen

The Value of the Minor Prophets and Repeated Messages

We're going to turn today to the book of Nahum in the Old Testament. I think it's true that lots of Christians never read some of these what are called minor prophets because they find it heavy to read, and yet we believe that all scripture is inspired by God.

I'm not saying that every part of scripture is of equal value. Certainly the New Testament is far more important for us than the Old Testament. But if we believe that all scripture is inspired by God, there must be something, even in these Old Testament books, that we need to hear.

One of the things that we can be tired of is repetition. But the messages of a lot of these prophets repeat something for emphasis, and until we hear something frequently, it doesn't sink in. And the second thing we learn from repetition and emphasis is the importance that God gives to one particular subject or theme compared to other subjects.

God may speak about ten different subjects, and He may speak two or three of those again and again and again and again. Now that's not man's way. Man usually speaks on different subjects and then he wants to go on to other subjects to get a reputation for not being monotonous and for variety.

But the prophets in the Old Testament and even the prophets today are not bothered by all that. They say what God wants people to say, and God knows exactly what people need to hear. And if they need to hear it a twentieth time, the prophet will say it a twentieth time.

So we see that emphasis repeated, certain things repeated again and again in the prophets, and sometimes the same prophet repeats the same thing again. Now Nahum was a man who lived a hundred years after Jonah, and he was speaking at a time when Assyria was still the most powerful nation on earth.

And for these prophets to speak against the most powerful nation on earth and say God is going to judge them was as ridiculous as someone telling a powerful nation today that God is going to destroy them and reduce their whole country to rubble.

Nobody would believe them. Very few believe these prophets. But today as we look back in history, we find that it was exactly like those prophets said. Every word was fulfilled, whether it was concerning Assyria or Egypt before that or Babylon or Tyre.

Some nations God said there'll be no remembrance of you anymore. Tyre, a city of Tyre is just reduced to rubble. Assyria has been reduced like that. But God never said that about Egypt. Egypt was a nation even before Assyria, long before the time when Moses was there.

But God never said about Egypt that it'd be reduced to nothing, and that's why Egypt exists today. But the nation of Assyria has just disappeared. The nation of Babylon has just disappeared. So when God says about a nation that this is going to be the end of you, there'll be no mention of you anymore, that's what happens.

And when God just says, well, you're going to be defeated, but doesn't say you're going to be completely wiped out, it happens like that. So these things written in the Old Testament give us great confidence as we look at the promises in the New Testament.

God's Certain Judgment and the Example of Assyria

What God has said about the future, about the fact that all people who live in sin will one day be punished. Take a simple word like this. Jesus said that every idle word that we ever speak, we will give an account in the day of judgment.

Now it's my conviction that 99 of believers don't believe that, at least the ones I've met. If they did, they would be very careful about their words. But because judgment doesn't come immediately, we say, ah, nothing has happened.

That is exactly what Assyria said here. Oh, Nahum is saying this, but nothing is happening. But it did happen. So that warns us that even though Jesus said something and the judgment hasn't come, it doesn't mean it won't happen.

It will. It may take time, but it will happen. Now, the other thing we see here is that when God sent Jonah to Nineveh, we could ask, why did God send Jonah to Nineveh? Because he knew this nation is going to just flourish and become evil and be destroyed after a hundred years.

But God dealt with that nation as it was then. At that particular time, they were willing to repent. And God could see that many, many people in the city of Nineveh had a heart for repentance. And that's why God sent Jonah there.

And that's a word to us, that God does not send us to a place unless he's got a purpose for that. Now, if you go on your own, you say, oh, there's a need over there, I'll go. Well, then you better take care of yourself.

But if you waited on the Lord and God led you, even if it was to a difficult place like Nineveh, you can be absolutely sure that there is some purpose with which God sent you there. And certainly Jonah was sent with a purpose.

And there were many people there who repented and turned from their sin in that generation. And Nahum was not sent like that to go to Nineveh because God knew that now these fellows are not going to repent.

So he doesn't waste his time sending his prophet there. What I want to say to you from this example of Jonah and Nahum is that if you listen to God, you will not waste your life. You will not go where you're wasting your time.

And you will go where something useful can be accomplished for God. That's why these prophets lived before God's face and waited for God to tell them to do something. They didn't just rush around like a lot of Christian workers today doing this, that and the other.

God's Anger Against Sin and Exploitation

They took time to wait on God. OK, the message of Nahum is a message of God's anger and wrath. And if you look at chapter 1 and verse 2 and verse 6, just these two verses, you see seven words. I mean, maybe different in different translations.

God is a jealous God. Jealous, avenging, wrathful, vengeance and indignation. Verse six, anger, burning or in some translations, rage, fierce anger. Number of words that speak of a variety of words used to express God's intense anger and blazing fury against not just against sin, but against Assyria for their continuing in sin.

And it says in verse three, the Lord is slow to get angry. But when he does get angry, you can't stop him. He's very slow to get angry, he's very long suffering, he's very patient. But finally, he will bring justice.

And mainly, he's angry against those who are exploiting other people. You see this theme throughout the prophets. Like I said way back in the beginning, let me repeat again. There was a difference between Adam's sin and Cain's sin.

Adam hurt himself, Cain hurt somebody else. Whenever we do something which hurts another person in any way, in any way. As I said, even if it is just you speak a word against him and ruin his reputation.

Or you hurt him in other ways. Anyway, you exploit, for example, you become friendly with a girl and stir up her emotions and then drop her. You have hurt her, you may not have touched her body, but you have hurt her.

And I want to say that God is angry, wrathful, indignant, has got a blazing fury. And will take vengeance and revenge on anyone who does things like that. It may not have happened yet, because he waits for you to repent.

But anything, the smallest little thing that we ever do against another human being to hurt that person. I tell you, God takes a note of it and he will reward people for it. Many, many people have lost the anointing of God upon their life because they have spoken careless words against others of God's servants.

Whom they knew nothing about, they just criticized because they heard some stories and spread the stories themselves. That's why God removes the anointing from their life and if they continue like that, he will even remove their salvation.

So God has got a blazing fury, why was he so angry at Assyria? It's not because they were smoking and drinking. No, it's not because they were taking drugs. Now if you heard that somebody here was taking drugs, you'd be horrified.

But if you hear that somebody hurt somebody else, we're not so horrified. And I want to do what those Old Testament prophets did. Give us a proper focus on what God considers serious sins. Other things are also sins, but God says these are more serious.

His blazing fury against Assyria was not because they were taking drugs or drinking. It's because they hurt other people. And one day God will administer justice when he comes again against every single human being on the face of the earth who has ever, ever in any way hurt another person with his words or his actions or in any way.

So that's something we must all take seriously. God is a God of anger and if you find it difficult to believe that, people cannot believe, for example, that hell is a reality. There are people who like to believe that one day God will save everybody.

There are even some believers who have believed that, that everybody in hell will finally get converted. I mean some even go to the extreme of thinking that Satan will get converted someday. But I say I'd rather believe God's word.

If you cannot believe in a God who is full of anger, then you cannot believe in a God who is full of love. Love demands anger, punishment. I'll tell you why. Supposing you have two children and you love both of them equally.

And you see the bigger boy taking a stone and hitting and hitting and hitting and hitting that smaller boy, making him bleed and seeing that poor little boy can't help himself. And you as a father just watch because you love.

You love that older boy. If you love, you'll be angry. If you don't love, you couldn't care less, you won't be angry. Love and anger go together because love demands punishment on somebody who is being hurt unnecessarily.

And you'd stop it. And you would punish that older boy for taking advantage of this poor weaker boy and hitting him. That's exactly what God was doing with Assyria. And that's what he does with people throughout the ages and which we will see more fully at the final judgment seat of God.

God's Refuge for the Humble and Judgment on His Enemies

So I hope all these things that I say will teach us to be extremely careful in the words that we speak about other people. In the things that we do that in any way hurt another person or bring another person down.

My dear brothers and sisters, do you want to be a servant of God? Be careful with your words about other people. And even with particularly about those you don't like or those you don't agree with. So God is slow to anger.

But when he does get angry, he is really furious. And in verse 7 to 10, we find the Lord is good. And there we see his attitude to those who respond to his word in repentance. When trouble comes, he's a strong refuge.

See, if we humble ourselves and respond to these strong warnings of the prophets, you'll find God is very good to you. And when trouble comes, he'll be like a refuge protecting you. Definitely, like a father would go and protect that little boy from this person who's trying to hurt him.

And it says the Lord knows everyone who trusts in him. Oh yeah, he doesn't forget even one person. You may be weak, poor, helpless, but God knows if you trust in him. And then in the next few verses, you see against God's attitude towards his enemies.

Verse 8, he sweeps away his enemies like in an overwhelming flood. You know when a flood comes, it just wipes out everybody in a moment. That's how judgment is going to come upon God's enemies. He pursues his foes into the darkness of night.

God chases his enemies. The prophets use these expressions to show you how God pursues after those who don't take sin seriously. He will destroy you. Verse 9, why are you scheming against the Lord? He will destroy you with one blow.

He will not need to strike a second time. And his enemies, when they are struck by God, will stagger like drunks. Verse 10, and be burnt up like dry straw in a field. Who is this king of yours who dares to plot evil against the Lord?

What are Assyria's sins? Basically, pride towards God. Who dares to stand up before God. And secondly, cruelty towards other people. Because they took advantage of others and exploited others. Basically, these are the two things which always these prophets keep on emphasizing.

You are proud in your attitude towards God and you are hard towards your fellow human beings. So, what's the solution? All the prophets are saying the same thing. And in spite of that, here are believers who don't read these prophets, unfortunately.

And that's why they remain proud and they remain hard towards other people. Because they say, oh these prophets are all boring. That's exactly what the devil wants you to say. So that you never understand God's anger against pride and God's anger against hardness of heart towards other human beings.

I want to encourage you to read these prophets. Even if you find it a bit laborious and get the heart of God to understand how God feels about these things. You see, when you read the prophets, you get an understanding, you get a feeling of how God feels about certain things.

And that constant repetition finally hits home. It's like writing something with a diamond on a rock. And something finally gets written on our hearts. That God hates something and we tremble and we fear to commit those sins.

Nahum's Good News and the Defeat of Satan

And that's the value of repetition in reading these prophets. So, this is what the Lord says to the Assyrians. He says, you're going to be judged and you'll have no more children to carry on your name, verse 14.

And then to Israel, the Lord says, look, a messenger is coming over the mountains, verse 15, with good news. He's bringing a message of peace. This is a similar verse to what we read in Isaiah about the gospel being preached.

Celebrate your festivals, O people of Judah, for your enemies will never invade your land again. It's like the proclamation that the devil has been destroyed. Assyria is a picture of Satan and his kingdom.

And the good news that we have to go proclaiming to people is that, don't be afraid, O people. Satan has been defeated. His kingdom has been destroyed. Very often when we preach the gospel, most people who preach the gospel only proclaim that your sins are forgiven.

That's good. But that's only, to me, a part of the gospel. You can have victory over sin. That's another part of the gospel. Satan was defeated on the cross. On the cross, Jesus died to forgive our sin.

Jesus died that our old man might be crucified with him, that we might not serve sin. Jesus died so that Satan might be defeated. Jesus died that the curse of the law might never be upon us. Many, many reasons why Jesus died.

Very often, most people who preach the gospel proclaim only one part of that truth. Your sins can be forgiven. Here it says, the messenger who is proclaiming the gospel, verse 15, is bringing a message of peace.

What is that message? Your enemy has been defeated and will never have power over you again. I want to ask those of you who preach the gospel, have you preached that? That Satan can never have power over you again?

That sin can never have power over you again? This is the picture. Now we see the judgment itself. In Nineveh, you are already surrounded by enemy armies. This is exactly what happened a few years later after Nehum had prophesied that.

There was no hope for them. This was not like Jonah's time when he said, repent because God is going to judge you. Here, there is no opportunity for repentance. The doors are shut. God has waited long enough.

They kept on sinning, sinning, sinning, sinning, sinning, sinning. And they crossed that red line that God had drawn in front of nations and people. You know, John says, there is a sin unto death. There is no use praying for such people.

1 John chapter 5. A person can keep on sinning, like it says in Proverbs 29 .1. He keeps on rejecting, rejecting, rejecting. He keeps on hardening his neck. And suddenly, one day, he crosses the red line.

Then there is no hope for him. He has sinned against the Holy Spirit. And there is no forgiveness after that. It's a very dangerous thing, particularly for a believer, to keep on sinning and keep on rejecting God's pleadings.

Nineveh's Exploitation and the Judgment of Religious Leaders

Now, there was no place for repentance for Nineveh. They have destroyed the land of Israel and hurt it, verse 2, in so many ways. But the Lord will restore its honor far again. And then it describes the enemy being destroyed with shields and people coming with uniforms and the king shouting to the officers.

And the plunder of all the silver and gold, verse 9, of Nineveh's treasures being taken away by…. It was actually Babylon that came some years later and destroyed Assyria and took over everything. And what has become now of this great Nineveh, verse 11, lion of the nations, full of fight and boldness.

You were once a mighty lion, verse 12. You crushed your enemies to feed your cubs. You filled your city and your homes with captives and plunder. See, this is how they exploited others. They made themselves rich at the expense of other poor people.

Do you think pastors don't do that today? Make themselves rich at the expense of other poor people? Do you think the judgment of these preachers will be any different from the judgment of Nineveh? My dear brother, sister, if you want to make money, go into business.

Don't serve the Lord. That's not the place to make money. A lot of people are doing it today, making themselves rich at the expense of poor believers from whom they collect tithes, etc. I believe their judgment will be worse than the judgment of Nineveh because they have more light than Nineveh had.

Steer clear of that type of Christian work. Those who exploit, take advantage. Your home, verse 12, last part, is filled with what you have taken from other poor people. Is that true? It's not true of many people who earn their own living and do an honest business.

But it is true today in India of a lot of people who have done Christian work. So that's a warning. And the Lord says to such people, verse 13, I am your enemy and you will never again be able to plunder these poor people again for I will judge you.

And how terrible, chapter 3, verse 1, it will be in that day when God does judge the city, the city of murder and lies. She's crammed with the wealth that she took from poor people. Listen, hear the crack of the whips.

It says here in verse 4,. All this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, enticed the nations with her beauty. How did Nineveh attract people? There was something very powerful about it, just like people are attracted to the United States of America.

You know, there's something attractive and people want to go there and live there. Nineveh was like that. It enticed people with its earthly attractiveness. And I want to say to all of you, it's not just in nations.

The warning here is, beware of being enticed. That's the word used here in this translation. Enticed people with your beauty. Beware of being attracted to anything on earth that appears attractive if it is not godly.

That's a warning. There are a lot of things on earth which are attractive and the devil will try to tempt you with them. He even tried to tempt Jesus with them. He told the Lord, I'll give you all the glory of this world, all these beautiful things, if you will bow down and worship me.

And I want to tell you this. If you go after the attractive things of this earth, which are not godly, you can get it. But the way you get it will be by bowing your knee to Satan in some area. And I've seen lots of believers who do that and they've suffered the consequences in their own life.

Pride, Disqualification, and the Final Judgment

So take heed to this warning. Don't let anything on earth be attractive. Chapter 3, verse 8. Are you any better than Thebes, surrounded by rivers, protected by water on all sides? Ethiopia and the land of Egypt were the source of her strength, which seemed without limit.

Put and Libya supported her, yet Thebes fell and her people were led away captives. Her babies were dashed to death. And soldiers cast lots, verse 10 last part, to find out which Egyptian officers would become their servants.

Their leaders were bound in chains. And Nineveh, you attacked Thebes many years ago in Egypt. And Thebes was one of those difficult cities in Egypt that Assyria could not conquer because it was surrounded with waters, protected by so many allies they had.

But Thebes was defeated and Assyria conquered it. And now the Lord says, you think you're any better? The same thing will happen to you. Sometimes God may give us a ministry that somebody else had because he backslid.

Like David was put in Saul's place. Somebody else fell away and maybe you got a position. Beware of pride. Beware of thinking, well, I'm not like him. God's given me something. Beware of ever thinking that what happened to that person can never happen to me.

The Lord says, you are no better. Paul, the great apostle, said, I'm afraid that I can preach to others and be disqualified myself. Because he lived in that fear and humility, he was never disqualified.

And so, the Lord says, you will be punished and your troops will become as weak as women. And finally, he says in verse 19, there is no healing for your wound. Your injury is fatal and all who hear of your destruction will clap their hands for joy.

Men will agree with God's judgment on Nineveh. One day, when God judges all men. I don't know whether you've ever thought of this. Why does God pull people out of hell, put them back into their bodies, resurrect them, and make them stand before him for the final judgment?

I mean, they have already gone to hell. The rich man went to hell long, long ago, Jesus said. But God is going to pull that rich man out of hell after 2 ,000 years, put him into his body, resurrect him.

And Revelation 20 says he'll stand before God in the day of judgment. Why? And then send him back into the lake of fire. Why not leave him there? There's a reason. Everybody who's gone to hell, the whole world must know why they went.

And the whole world will agree with God's judgment in that day. Today, there are a lot of people who've gone to hell and I don't know why they went to hell. And I may sit in heaven and have a doubt. What was that?

Did that fellow deserve to go to hell? You know, there are a lot of people who speak about, oh, so-and-so is a good man. Does he deserve to go to hell? Some of you may have a doubt like that. Such and such person is a good person.

I know he doesn't believe in Jesus, but he's a good person. That day, God will remove every doubt from your mind. And that's why he pulls people out of hell, puts them in their bodies, and makes them account for every single thing they did from the day they were born, and asks the whole world, what do you think?

They all will say he deserves hell. That's why there's going to be a judgment. So we learn a number of things from the book of Nahum. Read it more carefully next time. Now we turn to the book of Habakkuk.

Habakkuk's Questions and the Conflict of Faith

If Nahum spoke about God's anger and vengeance, Habakkuk speaks about the conflict that faith has and the triumph of faith. It's the story of a man of God who has questions. Basically, Habakkuk has two problems.

And he asks God questions. And God gives answers. You know, even a man of faith, a man of God, can have doubts, can have questions in his mind. And those questions, the chapter begins with the conflict of faith.

The book begins and the book ends with the triumph of faith. And that's how it should be in all of our lives. There's nothing wrong in asking God questions. In fact, if little children, as they grow up, ask their father no questions, something is wrong.

A father, a good father, will encourage his children to ask questions. Come my little boy, don't you have any questions? And no father is upset when his little boy or little girl asks questions. And let me tell you, God is not upset when you ask Him questions.

The thing is, when you have a doubt, don't go to other people of your level of maturity. They'll only confuse you and you may confuse them. They don't have any doubt and you put some doubt into their mind now.

Go to God. And the first question that Habakkuk has is a question that we all have. Why do the wicked people prosper? This is the question that Esau had in Psalm 73. We saw that this is the question that Jeremiah had also in Jeremiah chapter 12.

And that's the time the Lord told Jeremiah, if you can't run with men, how will you run with horses? That means such simple things worry you. How are you going to face major problems in life? Major questions.

But God answers these people. Esau said, I went into the sanctuary of God and I understood. Jeremiah went before God's presence and he understood. Habakkuk went before God's presence and God gave him an answer.

And that's the thing that we must bear in mind. When we have a doubt, if you want, go to a godly brother. And Habakkuk went to God. There were not many godly brothers around those days. But it's interesting that Habakkuk lived around the same time as Jeremiah.

And both of them had the similar question. How long, O Lord, chapter 1 verse 2, must I call for help? And you don't listen. I say violence. People are harassing me. I'm your servant. Look what these people are doing to me.

But you don't come to save. I'm godly and these people are all ungodly and it looks as if you're not doing anything. Have you ever felt like that? Christians have felt like that for 2 ,000 years. Lord, why do these godless people prosper?

Why are you allowing them to harass your people? Must I forever see the sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, there's destruction and violence. I'm surrounded by people who love to argue and fight.

He's looking at Judah. And the law has become paralyzed and useless. You know, that happens sometimes for Christians in North India. Where the law is not on their side. It's as if the law is paralyzed and useless.

And it does not help them. And if some of you go to North India to serve the Lord, you may find that. And a book like Habakkuk can help you then. There is no justice given in the courts. It's here. Verse 4.

There is no justice given in the courts. It's injustice even when you go to court. And the wicked far outnumber the righteous. And justice is perverted with bribes and trickery. Written 2 ,600 years ago, relevant for us today.

God's Sovereignty in Raising Up Babylon

And the Lord replies. He doesn't directly answer Habakkuk's question. And Jesus very often did not directly answer questions people asked him. Sometimes they would ask him a question and Jesus said, I'll also ask you one question.

You answer that one and then I'll answer you. And then they would be caught in a situation. They say, if we answer like this, the people will get upset. If we answer like this, then we'll be proved to be wrong.

So they pretended and they say, we didn't know. We don't know. And the Lord says, then I also don't know. I'm not going to answer it. But sometimes he would answer them straight. We need wisdom. God's wisdom is very different from man's.

And the Lord replies to Habakkuk in verse 5. Look at the nations and be amazed. Watch and be astounded. For I'm going to do something in your day that you won't even believe if someone told you about it.

Because it never happened before like that for Judah. It's true that Israel had gone into captivity, but Judah had never experienced anything like that. Many, many years earlier, nearly 800 years earlier, they had been slaves in Egypt.

That was a long time ago. But now the Lord says, I'm going to do something in your generation that you won't even believe. And that's not some mighty miracle of deliverance. You can take that verse and misquote it.

I'm going to do something in your day that you won't even believe if somebody told you about it. As if God is going to do some great miracle. But that's not what he's talking about. He's saying, I'm going to raise up an evil, corrupt nation to destroy my people.

And you won't believe it. That God will ever do such a thing. I'm raising up the Babylonians to be a new power on the world scene. So the first thing God says, which Habakkuk, if he's listening carefully, can get is this.

Listen, I am in control of this universe. Don't think these Babylonians came up by accident. I am raising them up. Through the years in India, in our church, whenever there's been elections, we've always had times of prayer.

Prayer, we cannot influence the elections by voting. But we believe we can influence the result of the elections by prayer. Because we believe God is in control. Promotion comes from God, as we read in the Psalms.

God raises up one and puts down another. And so we pray, Lord, we don't know what is good for this country or especially for the believers in this country or for the spread of the gospel in this country.

But we want you to put into power those whom you have sovereignly permitted for the good of your purposes. And sometimes what we think may not be good. How many of you would select the Babylonians to rule over Judah?

Nobody. But that's why God says, I'm going to do something which you won't even believe because you don't know my ways. See, when we don't know God's ways, we can't believe it. We can't believe that God would ever do such a thing.

Because our idea of God is like a grandfather who sits in heaven and always gives us toys and cakes and ice cream and makes us happy all the time. See, a lot of Christians don't have a proper idea about God.

They have no idea of God's holiness. They only think of God like a grandfather who's always giving them gifts. And that's a totally wrong concept of God. And that's why God says, I'm going to do something which you won't even believe if somebody tells you that God would ever act like that.

That God would use heathen people to punish his children. For example, let me take a situation. Supposing in one country, all the Christians are always fighting with each other. I'm not going to tell you which country that is.

Where all the Christians are fighting with each other, everybody's thinking we are the only group and everybody else doesn't belong to the Lord. And they go to court against one another and they hate one another and criticize one another and always trying to find some little fault in the other group or find some little fault in some preacher.

And as if only their leaders are the holy people in the world. And supposing God finds a country like that where Christians, who are supposed to be a testament to the world, are like this. And the election time comes and all the Christians are praying, Lord, give us some godly government, people who will allow us to preach the gospel and people who will give us freedom to have conferences and people who will allow plenty of foreign money to come inside India.

Sorry, I've mentioned the country. I wanted to keep the country a secret anyway. And then God raises up a government that stops foreign money and persecutes the Christians. What is going to happen? These Christians who were criticizing one another will stop criticizing one another.

They become a little united. And these Christians who are always dependent on foreign money will say, Oh, we've got enough money in our country to serve the Lord. Why do we need to get it from there? And those Christians will become better, stronger Christians.

Wasn't God's way better? But who understands that? This prophet says, even if I tell you, you won't believe it. Because you think God is a grandfather who is always sitting, giving gifts to his people and keeping them happy.

So Habakkuk's message is very relevant for our day. You read these minor prophets. I tell you, they've got a prophetic message for our time. So the Lord says, I'm raising up the Babylonians. They didn't raise themselves up.

I am raising up the Babylonians. The Lord told Pharaoh, the greatest man on earth in his time, in Moses' time, I have raised you up to manifest my power through you. That means, in the way he rebelled against God, God would crush him and manifest his power.

At the same time, God raised up Moses in that same generation to manifest his power through Moses in another way. If you cooperate with God, he will manifest his power through you like Moses. If you don't cooperate with God, he will make you a warning to all generations as to what will happen to a man who defies God.

If you humble yourself, God will make you an example to other people as to what he can do through a humble man. If you are proud, even if you are a believer, God will do something through you, make you a warning to all other believers, say, don't be like that believer.

Babylon's Violence and God's Purposes in Persecution

It's up to you. So he raises up the Babylonians. It says, to be a new power on the world scene. They are a cruel and violent nation who will march across the world and conquer it. They are notorious for their cruelty.

They do as they like. Their horses are swifter than leopards. They are fierce people, more fierce than wolves. Like eagles, they sweep down and pounce on their prey. Verse 9, all of them are bent on violence.

The hordes advance like a wind from the desert. They scoff at kings and princes, scorn their defenses. They simply pile ramps of earth against their walls and capture them. They sweep like the wind are gone.