. Posted in Lifelines

 

THIS Chapter is compelling poetry and a very detailed description of the fall of Nineveh. Although the military hardware is different it is very reminiscent of city battles we have seen on television news reports in recent years. However, what is far more important is the message of God’s judgment on an evil and cruel empire. The accuracy of what Nahum predicts demonstrates clearly that it is the Lord who is active in the history of the world. He brings down terrible judgment on those who refuse to acknowledge Him, and instead seek to follow the path of peace. After all, the Lord sent Jonah to Nineveh and while the people repented then, the city turned back again to even greater evil.

 

 

            The time of this prophecy was a very worrying one for the Jews - a small nation with danger all around them. However, the Lord told them that their future would be glorious. This is a message for us today. Godlessness and evil seem to be on the increase all around us and God’s true people of faith seem to be a small minority in our land at least. We need to take the Lord’s promise here to heart and keep praying and serving Him faithfully, confident of the victorious future He has planned for us.

 

            However, if we are not His children of faith, we can expect nothing less than judgment. We are given the Lord’s awesome words in verse 13, “I am against you.” When we look at the great cities of today’s world - London, Paris, New York, and our own town or village - in many ways the Lord is still saying, “I am against you.” If the Lord was active in the destruction of Nineveh there is no reason to believe that He is any less active in today’s world. Praise God that He is not against those who put their faith in Jesus.

 

1 Kings 8:46-53

46 “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, 47 yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 48 if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, 49 then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause 50 and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them 51 (for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace). 52 Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. 53 For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.” (ESV)