What a sobering chapter this is. I looked for just one verse that we could claim from this chapter for hope and encouragement. I couldn't find one. And as I asked God to show me what I needed to learn from this horrific description ... slowly a thought began to take root. Nineveh had time to repent ... Jonah had been there before with a call from God for repentance. The king and the people had responded ... but only briefly. Evidently the idolatry, the violence, the arrogance had all returned. And their time was finished. God is just. Sin must be paid for. And the rod of justice is coming down on Assyria.
Years ago ... when I was a young mom with three little girls ... my dad's single engine private plane went down in terrible weather in Dallas. It was February. That crash cost him his physical life. He was a Godly man - a servant of God. But he was not a perfect man - not a sinless man. Sitting in the funeral home ... alone ... in front of a closed casket because of the accident ... I began for the first time to get a glimpse of the horror of sin. Death is a part of this world experience because of sin. And death is horrible. Would that we all could be like Enoch and just be "taken away" by God. (Genesis 5: 18 - 24) I had not disregarded sin ... but it was all so abstract ... such religious language. My mind could hear the comedian Flip Wilson and his "the devil made me do it!" comedy, making satan and sin an object of humor. For the first time, I truly grieved the presence of sin in the world ... in my life ... the cause of death. I can hear Paul in Romans 6:23 as he says, "the wages of sin is death." The payment. God is just. Sin must be paid for.
As I read Nahum 3, those same thoughts fill my mind. The horror of sin. The end result of sin. God is just. Sin must be paid for. The picture of destruction painted by Nahum is all-inclusive. Consuming. Complete. Final. There are no sadder words in all scripture than Nahum 3:19a:
Nothing can heal your wound;
your injury is fatal.
God is just. Sin must be paid for.
O my friends, deal with your sin! It is not a source of comedy ... it is not a case of, "well, everybody else does worse than me" ... it is not abstract. It is real and it is serious - 'deadly' serious.
Before we give up in despair and begin to wail, there are some things you MUST remember. Perhaps you need to hear them today with the words of Nahum echoing in your mind ...
2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Did you hear it? Our Lord BECAME the sin ... the reason for the kind of destruction we have read about this week. Can you hear Jesus from the cross crying out "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" Jesus took it ... and He did not deserve it. Nineveh and Assyria deserved it. You and I deserve it. And my Lord BECAME my sin and with that 'becoming' took the justice. I have no words to describe that reality. I can do nothing but fall on my face in awe, reverence, and gratitude.
Close today with these words from Paul in Romans 8 ...
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (are you?) because through Christ Jesus the law of the the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
Are you free from the law of sin and death? If you are, spend some time right now in silent adoration of a God who would pay that price to set you free. If you are not, post a comment to me about it. All comments come to me first before any posting for open viewing occurs and can be kept confidential.
Praise God ... there is no condemnation for those of us who are "in" Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.
A gift from God ...
The book of Nahum has greatly increased my gratitude and awe over the reality of forgiveness in Christ. Worship Him with me today ...
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