Friday, June 24, 2016

In our study of the two prophetical books of Jonah and Nahum we have seen that God “is slow to anger and great in power.” The focus of these two books has been the Assyrian empires capital city, Nineveh. The people of Judah were bystanders watching their nemeses Nineveh come into the cross-hairs of God’s judgment two times over a hundred years apart. The first time God didn’t pull the trigger to unleash His great power against them because they repented of their evil ways. Though Judah lived in relative peace during those years Assyria was like a yoke on their neck and shackles hemming them in. Now Nineveh was in the cross-hairs again and this time God would pull the trigger: “With an overwhelming flood (the Lord) will make an end of Nineveh…No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed” (Nahum 1:8,15). As a result “The Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel” (Nahum 2:2). It would have been great had Judah learned from Israel’s folly and failure, but they didn’t learn from history, so history repeated itself, as they later fell at the hands of the Babylonians. It is still true, however, that “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble, He cares for those who trust in him” (vs 7). That’s probably why Paul picked up on Nahum’s words when he wrote to the Romans in Romans 10:15, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” The Good News of the Gospel is now to be proclaimed to all peoples of the world.