Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1652

September 1, 2024

Nahum 1.1-15         Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“The God of Good News”

 

¹An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. ²The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. ³The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. ⁴He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. ⁵The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. ⁶Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. ⁷The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. ⁸But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. ⁹What do you plot against the Lord? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time. ¹⁰For they are like entangled thorns, like drunkards as they drink; they are consumed like stubble fully dried. ¹¹From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a worthless counselor. ¹²Thus says the Lord, “Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. ¹³And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart.” ¹⁴The Lord has given commandment about you: “No more shall your name be perpetuated; from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.” ¹⁵Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

 

• God as Judge

 

The prophet Nahum takes up another chapter in the history of Nineveh. In Jonah we saw the repentance of Nineveh and they were spared the destruction God had intended for them. Nahum is several generations removed from the time of Jonah and Nineveh is again under the indictment of God for their evil works. I suppose they have forgotten their history and have fallen back into sinful ways. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a nation that was used by God to enact His judgment upon Israel's sin. Nahum and Jonah refer to Exodus 34.6-7 which is a powerful and comprehensive text we should all get to know.

⁶The Lord passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

 

Nahum borrows from this text in a shorthand way… Nahum 1.3, The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Jonah 4.2 also makes reference to Exodus 34. In Jonah's narrative, God shows His great mercy as Nineveh repented of their sin. In this generation, during the time of Nahum, Nineveh will see the emphasis on God not clearing the guilty and Nineveh will be destroyed. God’s judgment comes upon them and the language of Nahum is striking from verses 2-6 and 8-14. Listen again to some of the language used of God in these verses. The Lord: jealous, avenging, wrathful, taking vengeance, He dries up rivers and seas, mountains quake, hills melt, rocks broken. That’s just the consequence within creation. Next, 8-14, is the wrath against the enemies of God...two times Nahum pronounces that the adversaries will come to a complete end. Cast into darkness, cut down, pass away, burst your bonds, name erased, idols destroyed. It is complete and utter judgment upon the enemies of God. This is the kind of fire and brimstone preaching that went out all the time back in what the days of preaching to scare the heebie jeebies out of people so that they would put their faith in Christ. It was especially prominent in the tent revivals that the preacher would do whatever it took plant the fear of God in one’s soul. That kind of preaching was effective then, I suppose, because more people had a general belief in God throughout our country or at least some comprehension that God exists. Today, much less a setting of general belief, but people are generally more like those who “plot against God” (Nahum 1.9) or verse 12, “Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away.” Those who oppose God and God’s created purposes believe that they are at full strength right now. They are surrounded by many people who agree with them on issues that are anti-Christian like abortion and sexual immorality and woke ideologies that seek to divide people into sub groups for the purpose of chaos and confusion.

If Nahum were alive today I suspect he would just have to get His book out and start proclaiming the same message of judgment against the enemies of God today. Not much has changed for there is nothing new under the sun. People are still broken in sin, walking in darkness, worshiping the idols of modern times that destroy lives on a daily basis.

Our role, like that of Nahum, is to call out the idolatry of our time and shine the light of Christ in this darkened world and our darkened nation, as Paul reminds us in Philippians, “that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (2.5).

 

• God as a Refuge

 

Nahum has some good news sandwiched in the midst of the judgment of God against His enemies. Nahum 1.7, The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. Surrounding this verse is the fire and brimstone news of judgment upon the nations who oppose God and His people. In the center of that pronouncement of judgment is this oasis of refuge for those who fear the Lord and take refuge in Him, who trust in Him and believe in Him. This is a great affirmation of the goodness of God, whether showing mercy or pronouncing judgment, God is good. God is true to His holiness. God is faithful to His character and personality, and the good news for all who trust in Him is that God is a refuge in times of trouble. We can count on God's protection and provision in all the perils of life. Here in 1.7 is an affirmation of trust in the midst of violent nations and peoples. Here at the center of chaos and destruction is the stronghold God in the day of trouble. I think this really relates to our ability to remain calm in the storms of life, in the attempts of people to destroy God’s order for men and women by destroying the distinctions of men and women. It relates to our ability, with God’s help, to remain faithful and steadfast in God’s Word in a world that has no consideration for God or His Truth.

As we look to the connections between the minor prophets and Jesus, I think we have to consider here how Jesus is a stronghold in the day of trouble. I think about John 14.1-6a, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ²In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to where I am going.” ⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

Nahum 1.7, first half, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.” The same with Jesus, “Jesus is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.” For He is the way, and the truth, and the life. There is no god like our God, no savior like our Savior, no spirit like the Holy Spirit. The Lord is good. He is our refuge and strength in the days of chaos and trouble and uncertainty and in the midst of all the bad news we receive daily that the sky is falling again and again and again.

 

Second half of Nahum 1.7, “he knows those who take refuge in him.” Jesus is all over that one!

John 10.14-15, I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10.27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one.”

Jesus gives us the same refuge in the midst of chaos, just as God did in the prophet Nahum for all who took refuge in God. We go to Jesus. We trust in Jesus. We live in faithful obedience to Jesus and to His Word, and He empowers us to proclaim the good news of God to everyone around us.

 

• The God of Good News

 

Our God is a God of good news. Nahum 1.15a, Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Who is this who brings good news and publishes peace? While this phrase "the feet of him" would have included any messenger who brought good news to a king or kingdom, ultimately, the blessing is realized in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! He is the Prince of Peace. The apostle Paul renders this verse as: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” (Romans 10.15)! Jesus, who preached good news, who published peace, He is the One who has revealed and fulfilled the saving grace of our God. Good news! Be blessed in that good news.

Good news in the middle of the chaos of bad news. National news used to be the only source for our news before the 24 hour cable world began. It was usually time for commercials, 8 minutes, then 21.5 minutes of one crisis after another, then 30 seconds of some feel good news story that posed as good news. 29.5 minutes of the world trying to sell us something we don’t need and news stories to convince us that the sky was falling. It is still pretty much the same pattern, every news network trying to get the exclusive, to sensationalize one story after another, or to shape and manipulate news stories to fit a certain agenda.

God is much much bigger than that, with good news that covers all the bad news! It is the love that covers a multitude of sins (James 5.20). It is the good news that cleanses us by the blood of Christ, 1 Peter 1.18-21, “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Jesus is the Prince of Peace and has given all who believe in Him the peace that surpasses knowledge (Phil 4.7). The message of Nahum is clear, God will judge the evil ones. God will save His people in the day of trouble. God does save His people ultimately through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the One who brought good news and published peace for His sheep. Jesus is our stronghold, our refuge, our Savior and Lord. Trust in Him and live! Amen.