Bible Study - 06/03/2020

Reading the Old Testament book of Jonah is as pleasant and as enjoyable as teaching or preaching any text from it. We all like to bask in the compassionate nature of God and share the love and grace of Jesus Christ. This is wonderful as God is well-described by all of these traits. But too often, it is less comfortable to read, teach or preach from the unpopular book of Nahum.

Good Wednesday evening to all.

Remember Nineveh? Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris river and was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. ( Wikipedia)

You would remember that the citizens of Nineveh were a vile and evil civilization deserving of destruction. In His relentless mercy, God choose the prophet Jonah to serve a warning to these people. Jonah had some initial problems getting to his place of witnessing, even taking inappropriate detours, but eventually ending up exactly where God desired him to be. After preaching to the people and warning them of impending doom, the city's king and all its subjects repented, and God relented of His judgement against them. - Jonah 3:5

All went well for Nineveh for about 100 years. But then, the people decided to resume their idolatry and varied perversions. Did God know 100 years before in the time of Jonah's preaching that Nineveh's repentance would be short-lived? Of course He did! Hence His reason for sending yet another prophet of warning. Nahum, whose name means "comfort" would repeat the warnings of Jonah. This time, the people refused to pay attention to God and His messenger. Do we ever fall into the same situation as Nineveh? Has God ever withheld His judgement from us when we repented? Have we ever allowed ourselves to wallow in the very sin from which we previously repented? I cannot answer those questions for you, but that was the story of Nineveh.

God' patience was stretched to its limit and His tolerance of Nineveh's sin had been exhausted. God decided in His infinite wisdom to unleash His wrath on Nineveh. He totally and completely destroyed the city and its people. - Nahum 1: 7-8. In fact, so utter was His destruction of Nineveh, that God allowed modern archaeologists to discover the ruins of the ancient city only in the 1800's. Some of you might remember that two of the main gates of the city were leveled in 2016 by ISIS. It's not inconceivable that the Lord would allow Nineveh to be unearthed as a witness to our modern world currently steeped in sin and wickedness. May God help us to heed the warning.

God's goodness and long-suffering must not be preached to the exclusion of His wrath and intolerance for sin. His wrath is a necessary aspect of His goodness. God cannot be good and do nothing about evil. God cannot be light without exposing darkness. Some may argue that the wrath of God is an OT concept. Not true by any means!

Here are some NT verses for you to consider. Please read each one carefully.

John 3:36, Romans 1:18, Romans 2:5, Romans 3:5-6, Revelation 19:15

Pastor Chandroo