“God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies.” (Nahum 1:2)
I don’t recall any message from the pulpit about the prophet Nahum. And although I’ve read through the Bible several times, I never understood Nahum’s prophecy. This is the research part of the lesson. Nahum prophesied about Assyria, particularly, Ninevah. Ninevah was the city that Jonah refused to warn about the impeding destruction because of its wickedness. He finally did God’s will and warned the city. Ninevah did repent and God didn’t destroy it. This lasted over one hundred years. As always with people here on earth, we forget the traditions of our fathers. They returned to their sinful and wicked ways. God sends Nahum to warn them again of the coming destruction because of their wicked ways, but they do not repent this time. Assyria is eventually totally destroyed by the Babylonians.
In our Scripture of study, Nahum begins his description of God’s character. “God is jealous.” This is a description that has long bothered some people. They ask, “How can God be jealous of me?” But they don’t understand that ancient ways of speaking have to be studied, and the actual meaning dug out because the meaning is different from what we mean when we read that God is jealous. The word “qanna” is the word that means envy. When that word is used to describe God’s character it means that He is jealous for us not of us. In our Scripture, a different Hebrew word was used. The word “qanno” is used and the word jealous is translated for the word angry which fits with the content of Nahum’s prophecy and makes more sense.
“The LORD revengeth” and “the LORD will take vengeance” mean the same things. Both the words that were translated revengeth and vengeance mean punish. So, in other words, Nahum is saying God is angry and will punish those who have opposed themselves against Him, those who have refused to obey His commandments and those who have made themselves His enemies because they love to sin more than they love and fear or reverence Him.
We can see how the attitude of the Assyrians in Ninevah are the same throughout the ages of mankind. There is not a person today who doesn’t have a basic understanding of what evil and sin are. They are aware of a God who hates sin. They may not have an understanding of any particular sin. And they have no defense against sinning because they are in darkness. But they have a basic understanding. The sin of the Assyrians was idolatry. They worshipped many gods, even though they had knowledge of the One True God, Creator preached to them by Jonah. We can now see why the Lord was so angry with them. They had knowledge of Him but refused Him and worshipped other gods.
In today’s world, there are pockets of places where there is idol worship. The big offender is the Catholic Church. The Catholics are Christian because they believe in Jesus, the Savior and Lord of our forgiveness and salvation. But in the west mostly and not in the Greek orthodox church, they worship idols, saints, mere men in whom God worked His marvelous miracles. This started in the 12th century and was not a part of the early church. This has led to other strange and idolatrous practices that have been accepted in the west Catholic church. And God hates it. “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:8-10) And He explicitly said that He hates it. “Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.” (Deuteronomy 16:22) In verse Deuteronomy of 5:9, we read of a jealous God. The word jealous there means envy. God is not jealous of us but is jealous for us. He is our creator. Mankind is His possession. And He hates that people are being led astray and destroyed by the deceit and lies of His enemy. And He does punish this sin.
A clarification is needed here. We are living in a dispensation or era of grace. This means that during this time and it’s the time of the church, God is being very patient with mankind. He wants everyone to repent and turn to Him. Sin has been dealt with. It’s been forgiven and forgotten because of the sacrifice, death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s a free gift. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) But as with every gift, we must accept it. To accept God’s gift, we have to believe on the One Who gave us this gift, Jesus. “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:8-9) When we accept His gift, miracles happen in the spiritual. We are loosened from the kingdom of sin and darkness. We are brought into the kingdom of light, love, peace, joy, the kingdom of God’s dear Son, Jesus. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” (Colossians 1:13-14). We are indwelled with the Holy Spirit of Truth as prophesied by Ezekiel. “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:27) Paul wrote to Timothy how the indwelling Holy Spirit would help him keep the Gospel. “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.” (2Timothy 1:14) We are given a new heart and become a new creation in Christ. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Corinthians 5:17) Our whole world changes. We become what God created us to be. And for that reason, God is jealous for us.
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