Nahum

Thank you very much, Sarah. I was just sitting there enjoying the special music and then realized I had to get up. I was just really dreaming a little, you know, as she played. Very, very nice. So thank you very much for contributing to Sabbath Services today. And good afternoon, everyone. Happy Sabbath Day to you all. And hello to those who are on the webcast watching us on our YouTube live stream right now. So welcome to Sabbath Services to you all as well. Busy time of year, of course, for us in the church at the moment. The Council of Elders is in the middle of selecting another president.

The General Conference of Elders is in the middle of selecting four more council members for three-year terms. We have ABC graduation coming up. We've got the speech banquet tonight. We're preparing for the Feast of Pentecost. Just a camp out for the church. And just a lot going on in the church. And of course, that's all in our spare time. And we have the rest of the work going on as well.

And then meeting communication services, we're, of course, busy as always. Things are going well. And the program tomorrow is, watch out. Jesus Christ may just come like a thief in the night if you're not ready. So a lot happening in the church at the moment. It's an exciting time of year. When we look at the Bibles that we have here on our laps today, sometimes you'll wonder why everything's in there. When you look at some of the obscure books and obscure authors, and you start to read some of the hundreds of stories that are in there, it makes you stop and think, why did God record all those for us?

One of the most interesting historical accounts in the Bible is that of the people of Nineveh. You remember the prophet Jonah fleeing from God when given the job to warn Nineveh to repent. And after spending three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, Jonah finally relented and did his job. As you'll recall in the book of Jonah, the population of Nineveh listened to God and repented. They changed their ways, and they repented in sackcloth and ashes, and the king even had the livestock fast, and they put sackcloth on top of the cows.

So they took it seriously. And this will happen in the 700s B.C. The people of Nineveh did change their evil ways for a while, and this national repentance was a first for a Gentile nation. But as we know, it did not last. About 150 years later, the prophets pronounced final destruction upon Nineveh, from which the city then never recovered.

In fact, Nineveh totally disappeared from the face of the earth. That's the background of the story that we're going to study today. We're going to look at the rest of the story of Nineveh. We're going to take a close look at the book of Nahum, which is found in the Mayanah prophets section of the Old Testament. So as you look at, like I said, the obscure stories and books in the Old Testament, you have to ask, how often do you read Nahum? It's just barely two pages in my Bible.

That's 60 verses or so. Three chapters. Well, what can we learn from Nahum's message to Nineveh? Does it have an end time significance? Is it relevant for us today? Does it have an application for you and me? I've titled the message, Nahum, A Warning to us all. Nahum, A Warning to us all. And I've divided it up into six sections here for the sermon this afternoon. Nahum is a mixture of history.

It's an historical record of what was to take place to Nineveh. It's also prophetic. And I hope inspirational for us today, too, as we go through some of these verses. I have a handout for you today. Derek Smith and the Ashu should have copies to give everybody. There's more than enough copies to go around. With 40 less students, I think, I've over-calculated. So there's a copy for everybody to have one, the handout. And the handout shows the reach of the Assyrian Empire of which Nineveh was the capital. And on the reverse side of the handout are some graphics and paintings that depict Nineveh.

So you'll see on the front side a depiction of the Assyrian Empire, both before Nahum's time and then afterwards. You'll see that it expanded. And on the back some graphics of Nineveh and an interesting painting that we'll talk about in a moment. Let's begin in Nahum, chapter 1, verse 1. And I've titled this section of the sermon, Nahum the Poet. Nahum the Poet. I think you'll get a bit of education here today, but also hopefully some inspiration as we see where this all leads and how it's relevant for us today. Nahum 1.1, the Burden Against Nineveh, the Book of the Vision of Nahum, the Alkeshite.

The Hebrew name Nahum means compassion or comfort, which you may not think of at first when you read the book when it's about the end of a city. But Nahum means compassion and comfort, and it's interesting in light of God's promises throughout the book of comfort and deliverance for his people. But Nahum was a poet, and he wrote in a very vivid and powerful style, and he's being called the Poet Laureate among the minor prophets.

Richard D. Patterson in his book, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, says on page 10 that Nahum was the Poet Laureate among the minor prophets. Nahum was introduced in Kelvin's Bible commentary as a complete and finished poem. Kelvin's commentary on Jonah, Micah and Nahum on page 6, says this, and this is the English translation of it by John Owen, No one of the minor prophets seems to equal the sublimity, the vehemence and the boldness of Nahum. Besides, his prophecy is a complete and finished poem.

His exordium is magnificent and indeed majestic. And the book of Nahum is in many ways a literary masterpiece. Robert Loth writes in his book, Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, on page 239, None of the minor prophets seem to equal Nahum in boldness, aja and sublimity. His prophecy forms a perfect and regular poem. The exordium is not merely magnificent, it is truly majestic. Now, unfortunately, in the English version of the Bible we have here today, we lose the original poetic style of the Hebrew manuscript. But those who have studied Hebrew say that all three chapters are a carefully worded poem from start to finish.

Perhaps we would appreciate Nahum a lot more if we could read his prophecy in the original Hebrew. Now, the time of Nahum's prophecy is determined from two key facts. The fall of the Egyptian city of Thebes, which occurred in 663 BC, which is mentioned in Nahum as a past event, and the fall of Nineveh, which occurred in 612 BC, which was yet future in the book.

So, Nahum must have written between these dates, between 663 and 612 BC. But as you look at the map here now, you've probably all got your copy now. On the map side, you'll see the Assyrian Empire at around 824 BC in the dark green and around 671 BC in the light green.

And you can see that the Assyrian Empire expanded over that time all the way down into Egypt and east into what is, of course, today Iraq and Iran, and north up into Turkey and up into parts of southeastern Europe.

So, the Assyrian Empire, of which Nineveh was the capital—you'll see Nineveh on the map there— was—Nineveh was the capital of this huge empire that ruled about half of the known world at that time. The prophet is called an Alkishite in the very first verse of the book, apparently after a city named Alkosh, the location of which is not quite certain. Hailey points out in his Bible handbook in the section on Nahum that his name is in the word Capernaum.

Remember, Capernaum is a town in Judea. Capernaum is Capernaum. Nahum is in the name Capernaum. And that, Hailey says his name means—or Capernaum means village of Nahum. And this may indicate that he was a resident or a founder of Capernaum. And Hailey says his birthplace, Alkosh, was probably nearby. But many scholars believe that Alkosh was not in Judea. Smith's Bible dictionary places Alkosh much further away. Smith writes in his dictionary, This place is located at the modern Alkush, a village on the east bank of the Tigris River.

The Tigris River goes right by Nineveh. So some speculate that Nahum was one of the captives from one of the ten tribes of Israel that was taken captive by Assyria years before. That maybe Nahum lived up near Nineveh as an Israelite that had been taken captive. Hailey's Bible handbook comments on this. And Hailey says on his section on Nahum, There is said to have been an Alkosh on the Tigris River, twenty miles north of Nineveh, and that Nahum may have been among the Israelite captives.

So perhaps Nahum was actually among the few from the captured northern kingdom who came back to the Promised Land from northern Mesopotamia. But in any count, the words of Nahum were written to the people of Judah, and it's the Jews who preserved the prophecy that we now have before us. There's no evidence that was ever actually read to the Assyrians. So I just want to give a little background on Nahum there as we look at the chart and the map, and understand Nahum was a prophet who wrote in poetry, in prose, and is well-respected as the Pope Laureate among the minor prophets.

But now, second point, as we move into the story, I've titled the second point, The Evil Assyrian Empire. The Evil Assyrian Empire. Nahum's book directly addresses this empire and its capital city, at Nineveh. The Assyrian Empire appeared invincible at the time. The Assyrians had already destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, and taken into captivity the ten northern tribes. The southern kingdom of Judah still remained. In fact, if you look at this map, see that tiny little yellow spot there called Judah?

The Assyrians had marched through the whole land, and all that was left of any foreign nation surviving, including down in Egypt, was this little yellow spot of Judah. If you've ever studied the books of first and second kings, you come to realize why that little yellow spot is still there. Remember, Hezekiah and Josiah were righteous kings, and Nahum may have been alive at around that time of Josiah or Hezekiah. You recall the story of Hezekiah praying to God to protect Jerusalem from the advancing Assyrian army and Sennacherib.

Hezekiah was a more righteous king, and the Jews woke up the next morning to find the entire Assyrian army dead out in the field outside the city. God miraculously preserved Judah. That's just kind of a bit of the backstory.

Miraculously preserved Judah from the Assyrians. So this is the time period that Nahum is writing in. The Assyrians were a mighty army. They had taken over that part of the known world.

And when you look at this huge empire with that little bit of yellow left in the middle where Judah was, what Nineveh says in his prophecy is, Assyria, Nineveh, you're going down. And when you look at the empire and say, that's not impossible. That's impossible. It's not possible for anything to happen to such a mighty kingdom. James Muir graphically describes the empire at the time of Nahum in his book, Archaeology and the Scriptures, on page 182. And here's how Muir describes it in his book.

The great walls which surrounded the city measured 12 miles in circumference. And on the backside of the map, you'll see kind of an outline of the city of Nineveh and the walls that went around it. To the left of that is the Tigris River. Just out of the edge of the graphic there is the Tigris River. So it was that city wall measured 12 miles. It was a big engineering feat in itself. Some say the walls were 100 feet high. Well, in spite of Nineveh's greatness, Nahum foretold not only the city's destruction, but predicted that it would never be rebuilt. And after its destruction in 612 BC, this mighty metropolis of the ancient world vanished from view. We have to ask why. In his book, The Luck of Nineveh, Arnold Brakman writes on page 21, Nineveh disappeared so quickly from sight. According to one author that when the Greek general Xenophon and his 10,000 soldiers passed over the site in his famous reconnaissance of the Persian Empire, he didn't realize the ruins of Nineveh were under his feet. What had happened, asked Brakman, when Nineveh was put to the torch, everything was burnt, and gradually what was left became an artificial mound covered with grass. So although few would have believed that at the time, in looking at the power of the Assyrian Empire, Nehem's remarkable prediction came to pass, just as he had foretold. And Nineveh was believed to be just a fable. The story of Jonah and the Big Fish was considered to be just a fable, because archaeologists could not find that Nineveh ever existed.

They said, this story in the Bible was just made up. It was totally destroyed. Well, Nineveh was rediscovered in 1845. So for more than 2,000 years, people thought it was just a fable. But in 1845, British archaeologist Austin Henry Layard uncovered what came to be known then as Nineveh.

And as a result, they dug down deep and found even a lot of the many treasures and pieces of artwork from ancient Nineveh that are now seen in famous museums and galleries around the world, especially in the British Museum. The ancient bas-reliefs and artwork are now in museums, and it was proven that the Bible was correct and that Nineveh did exist.

But why was it destroyed? Because Nineveh was an evil empire that could not be allowed to continue. Look at Nahum 3 now in verse 1. Nahum 3 in verse 1. Nahum writes, Woe to the bloody city! It is full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs.

So they were always victims of the Assyrian Empire. They were continually taking advantage of their enemies. Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire had a well-earned reputation for being bloody and evil.

And if you ever get a chance to look at some of the artwork and the bas-reliefs from the palaces of Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal that are now in these world-famous museums, you'll see the bloodthirsty history. There are graphic depictions, and you can just Google it. You'll see them. There are graphic depictions of Israelites and other captives being impaled, decapitated, flayed open like a fish, tongues pulled out. Other reliefs show the Assyrians making people grind the bones of their dead ancestors, and even vultures picking out the eyes of their captives. So they were a gruesome empire. One panel graphically shows their disrespect for human life, where a general is giving a prestigious award to a soldier who decapitated six heads. And there are two scribes there recording the event for posterity's sake. Assyria was portrayed like a den of ravaging lions here in Nahum. Look at Nahum 2, verse 11. Nahum 2, verse 11. Like a den of ravaging lions feeding on the blood of the nations. And Assyria was brutal, almost beyond imagination. Nahum 2, 11. Where is the dwelling of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions? Where the lion walked, a lioness and lion's cub, and no one made them afraid.

The symbolism of lions is appropriate for Assyria here, as its ancient emperors often compared themselves to lions in power and in prowess. And the kings even held ceremonial lion hunts for the royal family. The lions had no chance. They were like captives in the garden around the palace.

Like ceremonial lion hunts. Verse 12. Here's a depiction here of Assyria, like a lion. The lion, taught in pieces enough for his cubs, killed for his lionesses, filled his caves with prey, and his dens with flesh. And verse 13, behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more. So though Nineveh had temporarily repented at Jonah's preaching around 150 years beforehand, and been spared for a while, the capital city of Assyria, Nineveh, is now marked for destruction.

Because Assyria now came to represent the height of evil. If you notice in verse 13, basically it's saying, if God is against you, who can be for you? Today we say, if God is for you, who can be against you? Well, what we're seeing here in verse 13, if God is against you, what chance do you have in reality? Nineveh's fate is now sealed in this prophecy from Nahim.

And this is because of the torturous, brutal, evil regime that the Assyrians had become. And God says he'll bring infinitely more power and finality than Assyria ever brought to its enemies. And so we have to start to ask a question as we go through the book. Does this hold a lesson for you and me today?

The third way I've divided up this message is, vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. The book opens with a portrait of God as an avenger, but as an avenger of his people. God will watch out and look after his people.

And you can only take advantage of God's people for so long.

Notice Nahim 1 verse 2, because this term avenge is used three times in verse 2. Nahim 1-2, God is jealous and the Lord avenges. The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserves wrath for his enemies.

Verse 3, the first part, the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, but he will not at all acquit the wicked. So while God can be patient, eventually wickedness cannot be allowed to continue and God will avenge. He's described here as jealous and furious. And the fact that he's slow to anger here in verse 3 may be a reflection back on the fact that he did allow Nineveh to repent back in the time of Jonah.

But that slowness would not last forever at being slow to anger. Eventually, Nineveh would pay the penalty.

But now, Nineveh had degraded into its previous conduct. It was no longer a repentant empire. And God said, I cannot allow sin to continue forever.

God said, I cannot be patient with Assyria indefinitely.

Now, remember this jealous God that is going to seek vengeance for his people Israel is the word that came and dwelt amongst us and was Jesus Christ. The God here of the Old Testament is the one that became Jesus Christ.

People always think of Jesus Christ as being the one, the God of love and the God of the Old Testament being the mean God. It's the same being. The word was the God of the Old Testament that became Jesus Christ. And God's all-consuming power is witnessed here in the next few verses by his control over even the elements of the earth. We're talking about the creator of the universe here.

The last part of verse 3.

In other words, God is up in the heavens.

He's not bound by the physical world. Verse 4. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry. Maybe that's a reference to Israelites crossing the Red Sea.

Dries up all the rivers, Bayshend and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at his presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation and who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him. So this is a warning to Nineveh. No matter how big and strong you think you are in your big empire, God is much greater. In fact, he even controls the elements of the earth. In verse 8, the end of Nineveh comes with an overflowing flood, where we read, But with an overflowing flood he will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue his enemies.

Now remember, this is all written before Nineveh was destroyed. It's a prophecy, and so many elements of this prophecy came to pass exactly as Nahum was inspired to write. The Nelson Study Bible notes here about verse 8, It is believed that the invaders of Nineveh entered the city through its flooded waterways. This may well be as the city was guarded by walls a hundred feet high, And it seems to be supported by Nahum 2, verse 6, says Nelson. If you read Nahum 2, verse 6, you'll see Nahum prophesies, The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved.

Here on verse 6 of chapter 2, Nelson says, Archaeologists have found evidence of flood debris that may be associated with the destruction of the city. So when they uncovered Nineveh just a hundred years ago or so, They found evidence of it being destroyed by water. Whether it's a literal flood or a flood of armies, Because a flood can also be a flood of armies in the Bible, we're not sure, But the result is the same. The palace was dissolved. As verse 6 says, the palace is dissolved.

God's judgment on Nineveh became very swift. Here's a bit of information about the palace. And on the back here of the map, you'll see this artist's depiction of the palace. It's called the Palace of Nimrod at Nineveh. So archaeologists believe that here on the west wall of the city was a magnificent palace at Nineveh. It's interesting that it's named the Palace of Nimrod in this painting.

Here's a bit of information about the palace from historian Will Durant. He writes in his book, The Story of Civilization, of volume 1 in the section, Our Oriental Heritage. On page 282 he says, Sinacarib, of course Sinacarib was the one who was defeated by God outside the walls of Jerusalem earlier, Sinacarib raised at Nineveh a royal mansion called the Incomparable. So he built a mansion. He said this is incomparable to anything else on earth.

So passing inside is all other palaces of antiquity. And through the reign of Sinacarib's son Esarhedon, the palace had deteriorated so much that when the next emperor, Ashrow Benepol, the last great ancient Assyrian emperor, came to power, he extravagantly rebuilt it. So there's historical evidence of this giant palace once flanking the walls of ancient Nineveh. But the palace was destroyed. It was dissolved when Nineveh was invaded to the point that nobody ever even believed the city ever existed there till the 1800s when it was discovered under the sand.

So God's destruction of Nineveh was very, very complete. In Nahum chapter 1 verse 14, the prophet proclaims to Nineveh a direct warning from God because God's judgment was to be metered out, and its idolatrous religion was to be brought to an end. God cannot allow wickedness to remain unabated to continue forever.

In Nahum 1 verse 14, the Lord has given a command concerning you, Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the molded image, and I will dig your grave for your vial. And in ancient times, this was centered on the worship of the forefather of the Assyrians, Asher. Asher is where the name Assyrian comes from. If you look at some of the cities on here, on the map you'll see the city of Asher and the city of Nineveh.

But the Assyrians were of Asher's descent. That's where they get their name. And there's an ancient forefather of the Assyrian religion. He was also the founder of Babylon. Do you know who that ancient forefather of the Assyrian religion is? It was Nimrod. It was Nimrod, and I think that's why this palace was named after Nimrod that was painted like this.

The worship of Nimrod has actually persisted to today. It's not called Nimrod worship anymore. It's called Mystery Religion of Babylon. Revelation calls it Mystery Babylon. And it's a great false religion that today masquerades as Christianity. So the forefathers of what we would call Babylon today, the Mystery Religion today, were Nimrod and the Assyrians and those who worshipped at Nineveh.

You see the ziggurat or the temple here on the chart. It's an artist's depiction of one of the many ziggurats that were throughout the Assyrian Empire. It was like a temple for worship and where sacrifices were made. And they weren't only animal sacrifices, as you know. Often people sacrifices. So this mystery Babylon, as Revelation says, will eventually come to an end with the return of Jesus Christ.

It is still with us today in many forms. There's some interesting studies even about the study of Baal, B-A-A-L, of Baal being with us today. Now, notice in verse 14 of Nahum 1 that God also states that Nineveh will be buried or become a grave. The Nelson Study Bible notes here on verse 14 concerning Nineveh. This prophecy came true literally. The city was destroyed so completely that its very existence was questioned until its discovery by archaeologists in the 19th century.

Nahum 2, verse 3, let's read on a little bit as we look at our evil empire here. As we look at God's vengeance on it. Nahum 2, verse 3, the shields of the mighty men are made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches in the day of his preparation and the spears are brandished. This is talking about the destruction of Nineveh. The chariots rage in the streets. They jostle one another in the broad roads. They seem like torches. They run like lightning. He remembers his nobles. They stumble in their walk. They make haste to her walls and the defense is prepared.

Verses 3, 4, and 5 here are images of warfare. And as we'll come to see, maybe images of even modern warfare yet future. Nahum 2, verse 8, the Nineveh of old was like a pool of water. Now they flee away. Halt, halt, they say, but no one turns back. Take spoil of silver, take spoil of gold.

There is no end of treasure or wealth of every desirable prize. Verse 10, she's empty, desolate and waste. The heart melts and the knees shake. Much pain is in every sight and all their faces are drained of color. So what we're seeing here is the completeness of God's judgment on Nineveh. Nineveh's soldiers, the mighty men of war, flee away in spite of the military leader's efforts to rally them and tell them to stop.

They halt, but the soldiers flee. They're so terrified by the advancing onslaught. Nineveh possessed incredible wealth from plundering its enemies and he would see the gold and the silver just being taken out of the city. And then, amazingly, the city is finally emptied. Verse 10 says, she is empty. And so the powerful ravenous beast of Assyria is itself devoured because God has brought these stronger forces against her to the point that the city is emptied.

And as we know, it was emptied so thoroughly that nobody lived there ever again and it disappeared off the face of the earth. Much of this judgment that we read here is reiterated in chapter 3. I might just read verse 11 here, though. In chapter 11, where is the dwelling of the lions? So where is this mighty lion Assyria? Where has it gone? It's disappeared. And the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion walked, the lioness and the lion's cub, and no one made them afraid.

Assyria was not afraid of its enemies. But God says, now where is this lion? It becomes completely disappeared and is gone. And so then in chapter 3, a lot of this judgment is reiterated. But chapter 3 in the original poetry is a woe oracle. It's repeated again in a different style in the Hebrew. And it's an oracle of woe pronounced upon those who are then doomed. God will have, Nahim says, the final word when it comes to sin.

And this should always be a lesson in our mind, too. It's a direct application to us and how we live our lives. You can't get away with things forever. Just like Nineveh and Assyria could not get away with their atrocities, neither can modern nations, neither can modern man get away with sin forever.

Eventually, judgment will come. Notice Nahim 3 verse 8. Nahim 3 verse 8, are you better than no Ammon that was situated by the river that had the waters around her whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the sea? Here, Nahim refers to a city called Noammon, which is the city of Thebes in Egypt. And you'll see it down here on the chart. Thebes is down here on the Nile River in Egypt. Of course, it's all green on this map now, isn't it?

The Assyrians completely wiped out Thebes and took over Egypt as well. And that was during the time that they were trying to get Judah and couldn't because God protected Judah miraculously. So, Thebes had itself sat on a great river too, just like Nineveh did. It was the mighty Nile for Thebes. It had been the seat of many pharaohs and a major center of religious worship with sprawling temples throughout the land. But notice verse 9 of Nahim 3. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was boundless. Put and Lubim were your helpers.

So Thebes and Egypt thought they were indestructible too. And so Nahim is saying, Nineveh, don't think this can't happen to you as well. Verse 10, yet she was carried away. Thebes was carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. You see, Thebes' neighbors were allied with her, yet she fell to the Syrians in 663 BC.

And the children of Egypt were slaughtered, and her mighty ones taken captive. So this is a warning to Nineveh. The same thing is going to happen to you, to what you did, not only to Israel, but to even the Egyptians. Verse 11 of Nahim 3, you also will be drunk. You know, you can't fight very well when you're drunk. You will be hidden. You also will seek refuge from the enemy. All your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs. If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Surely your people in your midst are women. Your army is like an army of women. The gates of your hand are wide open for your enemies. Fire shall devour the bars of your gates. And you can almost imagine the poetry here and the symbolism that would have been in the original Hebrew, as Nahim was writing this oracle here, this woe oracle. You know, the analogies of the figs falling from trees into the mouth of the eater. So here God announces that Nineveh will fare just as badly as Thebes. There's no Ammon. Nineveh will be taken as easily as ripe figs are shaken from a tree. We had a fig tree in Melbourne where I grew up, was in the backyard. And when the figs were ripe, if you just knocked the tree, a whole bunch would fall on the ground. Didn't take much for them to fall off. That's how easily Assyria will be defeated. The soldiers of Assyria will be like drunks or as women in the coming battle, and her fortress walls will be useless. Notice verse 17. It's an interesting little bit of poetry. Your commanders are like swarming locusts. Your generals like great grasshoppers, which camp in their hedges on a cold day. When the sun rises, they flee away, and that place where they are is not known. It's like when, you know, if you've ever been in a place where there are cockroaches or bugs and you turn the light on, they're gone. That's what it was like for the Assyrian army. Like grasshoppers disappearing when the sun comes up. You know, the generals are saying, stop, hold, hold! And they keep fleeing. Verse 18. Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria. Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them. And verse 19. Your injury has no healing. Your wound is so severe. In other words, there's no coming back from this attack, Assyria. This injury is not going to heal. All who hear news of you will clap their hands over you, for upon whom is not your wickedness pass continually. So, Assyria's leaders are going to disappear when they're needed the most. There will be absolutely no recovery, no healing from this devastation. The people who are left in the surrounding lands will at last rejoice, clap their hands, and be relieved at the removal of this oppressive empire that treated them all so harshly. And what we read here in these verses surely did then come to pass in 612 BC, and then it was totally destroyed. But it's also a type of what has yet to happen in the last days. So once again I ask, does it have an application for you and me today? Think about that as we continue.

For all of its might, Nineveh quickly fell into ruin, leaving no trace that it ever existed except for a mound in the desert, which is known today as Tel-Chiongik.

It's a place in Iraq now in the suburbs of Mosul, Iraq, called Tel-Chiongik. Tel means mound. Mound-Chiongik. It means the mound of many sheep. So eventually it just became a place where sheep grazed, but was once a mighty city.

Listen to historian Will Durant's account again of what happened to ancient Nineveh. This is from the same book, The Story of Civilization, Volume 1, Our Oriental Heritage on page 283. Will Durant says, Asher Bonapal died in 626 BC. Of course, even the king's name is Asher Bonapal, like Assyria.

He died in 626 BC. Fourteen years later, an army of Babylonians under Nebo-Pelossar, united with an army of Medes and their Syeserxes, and a horde of Scythians from the Caucasus, with amazing ease and swiftness, captured the citadels of the north.

I might mention that the Scythians, combined with the Babylonians and the Medes, to destroy Nineveh. A lot of those Scythians were probably Israelites that had been captured many years before, that had blended into the society. So, Durant says, Nineveh was laid waste as ruthlessly and completely as her kings had once ravaged Susa and Babylon.

The city was put to the torch, the population was slaughtered or enslaved, and the palace so recently built by Asher Bonapal was sacked and destroyed. At one blow, the Scyria disappeared from history. Nothing remained of her. The Near East remembered her for a while as a merciless unifier of a dozen less estates, and the Jews recalled Nineveh eventually as the bloody city full of lies and robbery. And a little while, all but the mightiest of the great kings were forgotten, and all their royal palaces were in ruins under the drifting sands. Two hundred years after its capture, Xenophon's ten thousand men marched over the mounds that had been Nineveh and never suspected that these were the site of the ancient metropolis that had ruled half the world.

Not a stone remained visible of all the temples with which the Scyrias' pious warriors had sought to beautify their greatest capital. And Duran says, even Asher, the everlasting god, was dead. So when the armies came through just two hundred years later and crossed over that mound, they never even knew a city had existed there. Yet, all this, what happened to Nineveh, was but a forerunner of the destruction that will finally come on the end time, Syrian-Babylonian superpower to be sent in Europe. Which leads us to our next point. Number four, is Nahum preaching a dual warning? So once again, I ask so many little obscure books in here that have been restored and preserved for us to read. Why? What we find is that not only was Nahum a prophecy about ancient Nineveh, it's also a prophecy about a future Assyrian empire that will be destroyed. Nahum 1 verse 7. Let's go back to Nahum chapter 1 and read verse 7. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who trust in him. What you're going to see here now, some clear indications that Nahum is also an end time prophecy. Now first here in verse 7 is this mention of the day of trouble, which in scripture signifies the day of the Lord. Then there's the fact that God's people will be afflicted no more in verse 12. And this has not yet been the case for the tribe of Judah. It's a future statement. At the end time, modern Assyria, a modern version of the Ninevites, will once again arise as the foe of God's people known as Israel. Spiritual Israel and physical Israel. You can actually read about that in Isaiah chapter 10. I'm not going to turn there right now, but Isaiah 10 verses 5 and 6 specifically talk about an end time Assyrian empire that will persecute Israel. And it will be the physical descendants of Jacob, but also the spiritual descendants of Jacob. And as we understand from history and the biblical record, it's the people of central Europe who are in large part descended from the ancient Assyrians. And here in Nahum, Nineveh may represent a future European nation or an empire that the descendants of ancient Nineveh will come to dominate. You see, the Assyrians are still with us to this day. A modern day Assyria will most likely be the foremost nation of the coming king of the north or the beast power and end time Babylon, which will once again enslave Israel and fight against Christ at his second coming. But once again will be brought to destruction. The prophecy here is dual. Notice Nahum 1 verse 9, because here the prophet directly addresses Nineveh, seen as conspiring and plotting against God. Nahum 1 verse 9, what you conspire against the Lord, he will make an utter end of it, and affliction will not rise up a second time. Verse 10, for while tangled like thorns and while drunken like drunkards, they shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.

Verse 11, from you comes forth one who plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. What we read here in these three verses does not appear to refer to anything that transpired in Nahum's time. It seems to make more sense to view it as an end time prophecy or an end time context. When the people of Central Europe, as part of the final king of the north, will destroy a modern Israelite nation and then oppose Christ at his return. This is a direct plot against God as by a wicked counselor. It's an end time prophecy.

The wicked counselor of verse 11 could be the end time false prophet or end time beast dictator, or perhaps even Satan the devil himself who empowers their evil. Notice Nahum 1 verse 15. Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace.

O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows, for the wicked one shall no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.

Now here, Nahum repeats a prophecy of Isaiah 52 verse 7, which is a prophecy of the preaching of the gospel message, the feet of him who brings good tidings.

It's good news. It's the gospel. And it's the prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ who came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

That prophecy from Isaiah was about Christ's first coming. But it may even refer here to Christ's second coming, when Christ will bring world peace at last.

Because this is a prophecy in Nahum 1.15 of one who proclaims peace to the whole world.

Also in verse 15, the Jews are told to keep their appointed feasts.

The feasts of the Jews' observer are actually God's feasts. They are not Jewish feasts. They are God's feasts that are intended for all of mankind to keep. And God is telling them to keep these feasts in an end-time context at a time when peace will be proclaimed, at a time when the gospel will go forth.

And here at the end of verse 15, the wicked enemy will never again be allowed to pass through their land.

And this has not been the case for the Jewish people for 2,600 years. This is a future event. It's something that has not yet happened.

So are we talking about an end-time event? Is Nahum a dual prophecy? It undoubtedly is.

Let's go to chapter 3 again to the Woe Oracle. Nahum 3, verse 1.

Nineveh is described as a bloody city continually at war, deceitful in foreign policy and plundering her neighbours. Woe to the bloody city, Nahum 3, verse 1. It is full of lies and robbery. The victim never departs. The noise of a whip. The noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses of clattering chariots.

Horsemen charged with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain.

A great number of bodies. Countless corpses. They stumble over the corpses.

So this is a picture of how the Assyrians would invade their enemies.

Countless corpses. And we have seen things like this. In the Third Reich, even.

Millions of corpses from gas chambers.

Yet, much of this is just a forerunner of the end-time empire to appear on the world scene that will do likewise.

But as the prophecy shows, Assyria, both ancient and future, will itself then be destroyed.

Notice Nahum 3 verse 4. Notice the description of Nineveh as the great harlot of sorceries.

And this ties in directly to other prophecies of end-time Babylon in Isaiah and Revelation.

Nahum 3 verse 4. Because of the multitude of harlotries, of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her harlotries, and families through her sorceries.

So this verse describes the seductive harlot, the mystery of sorceries, clearly a reference to end-time Babylon, dominated by the Babylon mystery religion.

So Nineveh would, in this sense, seem to represent the spiritual capital of the coming European empire and the great religion centered there.

In verse 4 she said, to have sold entire nations.

The end-time beast power does the same thing in the book of Revelation chapter 18.

It has happened before, and it will happen again. It's the same trait that the Assyrians have.

It's happened religiously or spiritually in the world, but it will also happen literally as bishops of the Middle Ages gave people over to various despots to ensure the prominence of their church.

But there will also be a literal fulfillment when the end-time sorcerer, the end-time harlot, participates in the selling of conquered people prior to Christ's return.

Like I said, you can read about that in Revelation chapter 18.

So Nahum is talking about something that's going to happen yet future as well.

And for her abominations, God will cause her to be shamed, defiled, and destroyed, because, as God says, vengeance is mine.

Nahum 3 verse 5, Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

So God is going to embarrass Assyria and Nineveh.

Verse 6, I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle.

It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste. Who will bemoan her? Where shall I seek comforters for you?

The Book of Nahum is a book of stern warning to the peoples of Nineveh of old.

But it is also, in a larger sense, a warning to the descendants of ancient Assyria, many of whom now live in Central Europe.

And that's another whole study to see how the Assyrians migrated to Europe.

But, in an even larger sense, the Book of Nahum is a warning to any who will oppose God or oppose his people. Eventually, it will catch up with you.

And what we see here in Nahum is very much an end-time setting, and Nahum is preaching a dual warning.

Number five, now, we start to see how God takes care of his people. And I've called this God's goodness to those who trust him. God's goodness to those who trust him. Here in the Book of Nahum, God releases fierce anger against his enemies. We've seen that. Especially against the depraved empire that the Assyrians had become.

Like I said, sometime do an online search about Assyria. You'll see the impaled hedge. You'll see gruesome abortions, even. People being skinned alive and so much more.

However, the Book of Nahum is also about blessing and great comfort to all who will stand with God and put their trust in him.

Just as Hezekiah and Josiah put their trust in God and were spared for quite a time from the Assyrian Empire, we too, and anyone who put their trust in God, will be spared.

And God will show His goodness to them.

God will stand with anyone who will forsake the ways of sin and pursue God's righteousness in His kingdom.

There's an encouraging outcome to the whole story of Assyria.

While the Assyrian Empire was destroyed and while we reave an end time beast power that will be destroyed, there's an encouraging passage that tells us that just like under the times of Jonah, in the end time Assyria will repent and will change.

And will turn to God and will serve alongside Israel.

I'll just reference the chapter for you. It's Isaiah chapter 19, where you can read that.

I'll just read you Isaiah 19 verse 24.

Talking of the time after Christ returns, Isaiah says, In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land.

So while this is a story of gloom for Assyria here in the book of Nahum, it's encouraging to know if we look beyond till after Christ's return that Assyria will actually become a blessing in the world alongside Egypt and Israel.

But the destruction of Nineveh is all contrasted with God's goodness to those who do trust Him.

And that has a definite application for us today.

Let's read verse 7 again from Nineveh 1.

Nahum 1. Let's read verse 7 from Nahum 1 again.

But we looked at it a moment ago in the context of it pointing towards an end time event, the day of the Lord, the day of great trouble.

But notice verse 7 in this context. The Lord is good. The Lord is a stronghold in the day of trouble. And He knows those who trust in Him.

If we remain faithful, we will be preserved through any day of great trouble.

Be it in any time of great difficulty or even during the worst time of trouble the world has ever seen.

The Lord is good to those who trust Him.

Verses 12 through 13 here in chapter 1 contain a message to us, to God's people, about His goodness.

Nahum 1 verse 12, Thus there's the Lord.

Though they are safe, and likewise many, the Assyrians thought they could get away with this for a long time.

Yet in this manner they'll be cut down when He passes through.

Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

For now I will break off His yoke from you and burst your bonds apart.

God is telling His people that He will preserve them. He will break the bonds of oppression apart.

And God's people will be afflicted no more.

And though Assyria felt safe in its military might and its cruelty, God says she'll be utterly cut off.

No more will God afflict His people with this destructive empire, whether it be in the past or whether it be in the future.

The bursting of bonds here at the end of verse 13 shows that God's people will be enslaved at some point again.

You can actually read about that in Jeremiah 30, verse 8, that talks about end-time Israel being enslaved once again.

But God says that He will free them and free them for good, free them forever.

God will honor those who trust Him. God gets upset when people repent but then return to their sin. And that's what Nineveh did.

Nineveh repented in the time of Jonah, but then it didn't last long and they returned to their sin. That's the lesson of Nineveh. And we too betray God when we return to sins that we've previously repented of.

We might think that we're better than the Ninevites or the Assyrians, but in reality we're not if we keep going back to the slop.

If we keep going back to sins that we've repented of in the past.

We have to learn the lesson of Nahum here and the lesson of Nineveh and not return to sins once repented of.

Nahum 2 verse 1. Let's go to Nahum 2 verse 1.

Because our Christian life cannot be an empty ritual. Just something we do once a week when we come to church. Nahum 2 verse 1. He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort, watch the road, strengthen your flanks, fortify your power mightily.

God is actually being sarcastic here to the Assyrians. It's as if he's saying, man the fort as if they could defend themselves against God.

Verse 2. For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob like the excellence of Israel. For the emptiers have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches.

So in this picture in verse 2, the emptiers or the Assyrians have emptied and ruined the Israelites. But God says he will restore them and all their excellence.

And so he will restore Jacob and his chosen people of Israel.

This is the prophecy of an ultimate restoration for God's people.

Verse 1 and 2, here in Nahum chapter 2, appear to be telling Nineveh to defend itself against a restored Israel.

Israel was not restored back in those days, and the people of Israel, I'm talking all 12 tribes, have not yet been restored on this earth.

This is a future prophecy, and would appear to apply a little bit to Nahum's time, but much more to the latter days.

Once again, showing the duality of this book.

Nineveh or the Assyrians are told to watch out for a restored Israel.

And in the future, the Babylonian system that will enslave the whole world once again, is going to devastate the descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Israel, and empty them out of most of their people.

That's one of the scary prophecies of the future about the descendants of Jacob being emptied out once again.

But around the time of Christ's return, God will be good to those who have trusted in Him.

He will empower a resurgence of His people.

And those people, now spiritual Israel and the church, will be used to help bring peace and good tidings to the whole world through the Kingdom of God.

And if you want to, at some point you can read a lot more about Nineveh and Nahum's prophecy in our Bible reading program online, all about the resurgence of God's people in the end time when Christ returns.

Also, Revelation Unveiled talks a lot about the end-time Assyrian world power that will rise again, known as the beast.

So God will be good to those who trust Him. We must remember that and have faith and trust in that.

In the sixth point, I've simply titled Nahum a warning to us all. Nahum a warning to us all.

As I said a moment ago, God gets upset when people repent but then return back to their sin. It's the lesson of Nineveh.

And we too betray God when we return to sins we've previously repented of. That's what we studied, of course, during the days of Unleavened Bread.

God will not allow us to return to old sins forever.

Jesus Christ, our elder brother and high priest, will not be patient forever. Eventually, destruction will come upon us if we don't change. This story of Nahum does have an application for you and me today. It's there for us to learn from, to heed.

It's not just a story from history. It's not just a story of what happened to Nineveh. It has a duality to it.

It's a warning, not just to Assyria, but it's a warning to all of us to read and heed that God does not take sin lightly.

It will lead to our destruction if we don't change.

And we might think that we're better than Nineveh, but in reality we're not if our Christian life is an empty ritual.

Before God, any sin, if not repented of and moved beyond, can lead to our destruction.

All sin brings a death penalty if we don't repent and change.

How seriously do we work to put God first in our life, to put Jesus Christ as the head of the church first in our life?

How seriously do we watch our talk and our gossip? How seriously do we practice undefiled true religion?

It's very difficult in today's day and age to put the world out of our lives, to put our own selfishness out of our lives.

Notice James 1, verse 27. I'm just going to read two passages as we close that are not in the book of Nahum.

James 1, verse 27.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

It talks about taking care of the widows and the fatherless.

Then it ends with, keep oneself unspotted from the world.

If you're a true Christian, if you're an undefiled Christian, you must be unspotted from the world.

And as we know in today's society, that is so hard to do.

Everywhere we go, everything we do causes us to be influenced by this world.

We must keep ourselves unspotted.

If we don't take our calling seriously, we too will have a catastrophic downfall never to be found again.

We too will be trampled underfoot as was the dusty remains of the city of Nineveh.

Our calling is serious. What God has given us is real.

And the promises that He gives us are worth it and are amazing.

But we must remember, just like with Nineveh, God will not allow wickedness to continue forever without consequences.

Instead, let's work diligently to make our calling and our election sure, to prepare to meet Christ in the air as His bride.

Let's continue to aim for our own resurrection.

We're told just as Christ was resurrected, we too will be resurrected to eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

Let's conclude with 1 Thessalonians 3, verses 11-13.

1 Thessalonians 3, verse 11.

Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you.

And what is that way that they're directing us in? Verse 12.

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you.

Of course, that was some of Christ's final words to His disciples before He was crucified.

Then notice verse 13.

Before our God and Father, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

Our hearts must be established in blameless, to be blameless, and to be holy before God.

We must stay unspotted from the world.

We cannot allow the influences of Babylon, which is ripe in our world today, that will eventually be destroyed by Christ.

We cannot allow that in our lives.

Just like God could not allow that ancient mystery religion to continue any longer for a while there in Assyria, we too must keep it out of our lives.

So, what can we learn from Nahum's message to Nineveh?

Why has it been recorded for us as one of the prophets?

By the way, the minor prophets are not any more minor. It just means they're little books. They're major in message, right?

Does it have an end-time significance? Does it have an application for you and me today?

Most certainly, yes, it does.

We're told, don't let yourself go the way of Nineveh.

Live a blameless life of holiness before God, before your God.

And look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ and your resurrection to a mortal life.

That's the message of Nahum to us today.

Thank you.