Saturday, December 23rd: Nahum 1-3; Revelation14 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Nahum 1-3; Revelation14

Nahum 1:3a The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.

Nahum 1:7-8 The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
8 but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh;
he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.

These verses stood out to me.  We take God's patience for granted, but He will not wait forever for people to repent.

Ray Stedman says the following.....

When you read this you may feel that it is a rather dry account of ancient history but actually, this prophecy reveals something of God more clearly than any other book of the Bible. It is the job of the prophet to reveal to us the character of God. The prophets unfold for us the divine attributes and each sees God in a different light. As you read through the prophets, therefore, you are seeing one facet after another, flashing like a diamond in the sunlight, of the mighty character and attributes of an eternal God.

Now the attribute which the prophet Nahum was given to reveal was God's anger. There is no doctrine quite as repugnant to people today as that of the anger of God. This is one doctrine which many would like to forget. There are some who picture God as a kindly gentleman with a merry twinkle in his eye who cannot bear the thought of punishing anyone or judging anyone. Nevertheless, it was Nahum's task to unfold the anger of God and in this prophecy the God of Sinai flashes forth in awful fury, a God before whom man must stand silent and trembling. You cannot read this prophecy without sensing something of the solemnity of this tremendous picture of God.

As we begin this book it is important to know why and at whom God is so angry. this prophecy is directed against the city of Nineveh to whom God sent the prophet Jonah. When Jonah preached in Nineveh, the city repented in sackcloth and ashes. God's anger was withheld from the city and he spared it, because from the king on down to the lowest citizen, they turned to God and repented of their sins.

The book of Nahum comes some one hundred years after the prophecy of Jonah. During this time, Nineveh had repented of its repentance, and had begun to do the same things again that called forth the threat of judgment through the prophet Jonah....

As the prophet says, "He is slow to anger." He does not move rapidly. He has given this city chance after chance to repent. He has sent prophet after prophet after prophet. They did believe one prophet and repented their evil ways, and God spared the judgment he said he would bring. But they repented from their repentance. That is one of the most terrible things that men can do. Having turned from their evil, they went back to what they had said they would forsake, and this is what evokes the judgment of God at last.

God is angry, and this is no temper tantrum. There is nothing capricious about the anger of God. There is nothing selfish about it. It is a controlled but terrible rage, fearsome to behold. You can get some idea of the awfulness of this divine anger in the fact that all the Hebrew words for wrath or anger are brought together in these six verses. The words are: jealous, vengeance, wrath, anger, indignation, fierceness, fury. All of them describe the anger of God.....

To those who think that God is only a God of love and never of wrath, let them learn from Nahum that a God who is never angry is a God who cannot love. Did you ever think of that? God's wrath comes from his love. It is because God loves that he is angry; because of love that wrath must blaze forth. You can prove that to yourself. What moves you to anger? Isn't it almost always when something or someone you love is threatened or injured? It may be yourself. We all love ourselves. What makes us angry? Somebody injures us and because we love ourselves, we get mad at them. Or someone injures our child and our wrath blazes forth. And if you cannot get angry when you hear or see injury and injustice, it is proof that you are not capable of love, for the one who cannot be angry is the one who cannot love. If you can read stories of atrocities and oppression and the awful traffic in body-destroying and soul-destroying drugs and narcotics among young people and never be moved to burning anger, then I tell you there is something wrong with you. You are incapable of love. If God cannot smite, if he cannot destroy in vengeance, then he has no capacity for love.

It is certainly true that God loves the sinner but hates his sin, as we sometimes say. But that is only part of the story. The Bible tells us that if a man loves his sin and holds on to it at all costs, refusing the grace of God, then he becomes identified with his sin. And eventually, the wrath of God against his sin is also directed against the sinner.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Habakkuk 1-3; Revelation 15

Tuesday, August 9th: Nahum 1-3 ~ Danae

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Nahum 1-3

The book of Nahum is the prophecy of the coming judgement of the Assyrian’s. While it is primarily written to the people of Ninevah, we can be assured that anyone who stays arrogant & resists God’s authority will face his anger.

The Lord is slow to anger & great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind & the storm, & clouds are the dust of his feet. The mountains quake before him & the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, the world & all who live in it.
Nahum 1:3&5

God is slow to be angered.  But as the verse says, when he is ready to punish even the earth will tremble & it will come swiftly as a whirlwind.

We sometimes wonder why evil isn't punished immediately & yet, if it was, none of us would be here. God gives us the opportunity to come to him & we can be thankful for the time he gives for people to turn to him.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage:  Habakkuk 1-3

Wednesday, November 4th: Nahum 1-3, Colossians 2 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Nahum 1-3; Colossians 2

Somehow I got the passages a little mixed up this week.  I've edited the other days and added this one - so it should all be good now. Whoops!


In Nahum we see God pronouncing judgment on Assyria and comforting Judah with this promise.  My Life Application Bible says this....
Judah was comforted to know that God was still in control. Nineveh is an example to all rulers and nations of the world today. God is sovereign over even those who are seemingly invincible. WE can be confident that God's power and justice will one day conquer all evil.

What a great truth, particularly in the light of recent elections in Canada and upcoming for us provincially, and upcoming in the States.   God is sovereign. Period.

This passage also reminds me that the day of judgment will be a horrible time for unbelievers, but a gloriously joyful time for followers of Christ.

As our NT passage says, Jesus nailed our debt to the cross and triumphed over sin and death, so we can have that joyful day, that certain hope still to come.


 Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Habakkuk 1-3; Colossians 3

Friday, October 14 ~ tammi

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Nahum, Acts 23:1-15.

The short little book of Nahum is a prophecy against the city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. In the century since the Ninevites had turned to God after hearing Jonah's message, they had fallen back into their disregard for God and their ruthlessness towards Israel ~ and every other nation they invaded, for that matter. But God's concern is for His people and now God sends Nahum to tell them their time is up. They will be annihilated. My Bible notes that Nineveh was so completely obliterated by the Medes and Babylonians that the ruins of that once-great city ~ one of the world's first "superpowers" ~ lay unidentified for roughly 2500 years.

But among these dire promises, we learn something valuable about the character of God in this book, specifically in 1:2-8. So much time these days seems to be devoted to the teachings of Jesus or about the Holy Spirit, but almost with the feeling that they are somehow separate or more important and relevant than the character of God.  We acknowlege the triune God and yet tend to shy away from getting to know Him for Himself.  But here in the opening of Nahum, we see three principles of God's character: His irresistible power, His inflexible justice, and His infinite mercy.

The images of power in these few verses are vivid. Nahum talks about whirlwinds or tornadoes, storms, great levelling earthquakes. Also mentioned are things we wouldn't maybe often see as an illustration of God's power, like the ability to dry up rivers and lakes or turning lush crops into a barren wasteland. Yet these are no less a demonstration of His dominion over creation than a hurricane. They might take longer (under normal circumstances), but they still follow His command. A friend once pointed out that we have a really pathetic understanding of "acts of God" if we think they only include natural disasters, because He's the cause of all the beautiful, calm, sunny days, too!!

Clearly, the most uncomfortable verses in the Bible are the ones that talk about God's wrath.  No one likes to think about God being angry or jealous, or doling out punishment.  But if He is the Creator, that means He also creates the rules.  This is why so many fight tooth and nail against the notion of a Creator; they don't want to live by His rules. But God absolutely has the right to rule with authority over His creation because He is, well... GOD! He created everything for His own pleasure and glory. He didn't have to, and that's why He has the right to set the principles by which His creation must function. God has the right to do whatever He wants. And if a creature rebels against God's divine government and violates it, that creature then falls subject to the judgment of God. Plain and simple.

The text says "The LORD... maintains his wrath against his enemies." It's not something that goes away with time. Just because it seems like evil people are getting away with everything they do now doesn't mean God's forgotten about punishing them. No, but He may be giving them time to repent and beg His forgiveness.

For which there will be mercy.

Verse 6 asks the rhetorical questions: "Who can withstand [God's] indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger?" The obvious answer is NO ONE. But then just a phrase later, verse 7 starts off with a stark contrast to all this talk of death and destruction, and Nahum reminds us that God is GOOD. That He's a refuge in time of trouble and that He cares for those who trust in Him.

Immediately, Nahum returns to the promises of destruction for Nineveh, but in that brief interlude, we see the infinte mercy of God, kind of like a desert oasis; a breath of fresh air. I think these verses are here for a couple of reasons. Further down, we see some reassurances for Judah and so I think v.7 is intended for them as well, as a reminder that God cares about them and wants to provide for and protect them. But I think v. 7 also serves as an appeal to individual Assyrians ~ and modern-day unbelievers ~ to know they can repent and take refuge in God as well to be spared the promised devastation of future and/or eternal punishment.

And this is OUR God we're talking about here!! Isn't that amazing?? The One who lives IN us! The One who jealously guards the relationship we have with Him because He lovingly created us for His glory! We don't need to fear His wrath because we're in Christ Jesus and His blood wipes out all condemnation, all judgement, no matter how the earth and all her inhabitants will shake someday. And He is our refuge. No matter how many times we mess up, His mercy is there to wash us clean and spare us from the storm of God's just fury all over again.

Isn't it incredible how much about the character of God can be packed into just 7 obscure Old Testament verses??!






Tomorrow's passages: 2 Chronicles 33-34; Acts 23:16-35

August 1st

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is 2 Kings 23:1-20, 2 Chronicles 34:29-33, 2 Kings 23:21-28, 2 Chronicles 35:1-19, Nahum 1-3.

Less flipping: 2 Kings 23:1-28, 2 Chronicles 34:20-35:19, Nahum

In the book of Nahum we see that the repentance of Ninevah, brought about by God's message delivered by Jonah, one of the most reluctant prophets of the Bible, was very short-lived. Nahum prophesies the ultimate destruction of the Ninevites but comforts Judah with a promise of restoration and hope.

The book of Nahum shows us that God will judge all sin with His holy wrath, and that He restores and protects His people.

Nahum prophesies the destruction of Ninevah, but he starts with God, with the character of God.

Mike Leake has a great sermon on Nahum here, and I strongly encourage you to read it if you have time as he goes into each of these points in detail. But Nahum 1:2-8 reveal that God is a jealous God, God is an avenging God and that God is a wrathful God. He is slow to anger and great in power. He is good and is a refuge in times of trouble.

We see in the Cross that the wrath of God is poured out. The wrath that should be mine and should be yours was poured out upon Jesus Christ. For every sin we commit is against an infinite King. Therefore our sin is infinite. It requires an infinite sacrifice. It must be atoned for. God’s wrath will come flooding against it. Oh, this is serious. We must not miss the seriousness and the extent of God’s wrath. We can catch a glimpse in Nahum. We read in Nahum 3:2-7 what the Lord will do. We see in 2:13 that He is utterly against them. All of us stand before God with that same judgment. All of us have whored after other lovers. We have not treasured God as He ought. And for His name’s sake He is going to punish sin.

If we can see that this is what happened on the Cross. It is a display of the ugliness of sin and the awesome might, power, and wrath of God. He poured out His wrath upon Jesus. His wrath to the full!

Can you see what that means for those of us who are in Christ? There is NO more of God’s wrath to be poured out! It has been poured out upon Jesus Christ. That means that His wrath will not come against your sin. Every ounce of sin you have committed and ever will commit is covered by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, what precious blood it is. It covers it. That is what the word atone means. Covers. And because the sacrifice of Christ is infinite and infinitely precious it covers it completely—forever.

And now God has restored us in such a way and will continue to restore us in such a way that we might forever enjoy Him and treasure Him and rejoice before Him as we ought. Oh, He has given us the greatest gift of all—the gift of Himself. Oh what grace. The Cross is a display of the wrath of God and it is also a display of His love.


Tomorrow's passage: Book of Habakkuk, Zephaniah 1-2:7