Minor Prophets Major Message
The Angry Powerful Good God
Nahum 1:1-7
#minorprophets
INTRODUCTION… God is Complicated (p)
There is much about God that seems like a contradiction or at least is quite complicated.
Some of what God IS makes no sense to my little brain and I cannot understand Him as a human being. Some of what God DOES makes no sense in what I feel is logical. God does not contradict Himself, but there are some things that are true about God and because we cannot see Him or know Him fully we have to keep them in tension or have no complete answer.
For example: It doesn’t make a lot of sense to start a nation with a man who is over 100 years old, and yet God did this with Abraham. It doesn’t seem logical to choose to pass your promises onto someone who is a cheater and a liar and who has terrible character qualities, but God does that with Jacob. It doesn’t make sense to move over a million people through the desert and yet God did this with the Israelites in the Book of Exodus. It doesn’t make sense to incarnate Yourself to an unwed virgin, but that is what happened with Jesus. It doesn’t make sense to feed 5,000 people and 7,000 people knowing that they just want the food and don’t want to listen to You, but Jesus does this.
For example: How is it that God is love and wrath at the same time? How is it that God can judge and have grace at the same time? How is it that salvation seems on the one hand based on free will and yet on the other hand is predestined? How is it that the spread of the Gospel is dependent on human beings and yet is so completely a work of the Holy Spirit? How is it that God is both transcendent and personal? How is it that He is all-powerful with a perfect will and yet allows us to choose?
There is much about God that seems like a contradiction or at least is quite complicated.
SERIES INTRODUCTION
In the Bible, when God wanted to get His people’s attention He would often do something demonstrative like speak from a burning bush or lead by a pillar of cloud or shake the ground or do a miracle in nature. God did all of those things. God also spoke through people we call prophets.
We know some of the names of these folks whom God called to be His prophets: Moses, Miriam, Deborah, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Huldah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Anna, John the Baptist, and many more. God calls the people through His prophets and gives them directions in their relationship with Him. God calls the people through His prophets encouraging their faithfulness and warns them that faithlessness would have dire consequences.
This morning we are continuing our journey in the last twelve books of the Old Testament which I have called “Minor Prophets Major Message.” I want to focus each week on one of these specific prophets and the message that he brought to the people of God because those messages are also important to us. Today we focus on the prophet Nahum.
TRANSITION
We look today at the first seven verses of chapter 1.
READ NAHUM 1:1-7 (ESV)
“An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies. 3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. 4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; He dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. 5 The mountains quake before Him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before Him, the world and all who dwell in it. 6 Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the heat of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by Him. 7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him.
TRANSITION
When I read those 7 verses, I see a complicated God in every verse. We see the God Who is angry, the God Who is powerful, and also the God Who is good.
THE GOD WHO IS ANGRY (VERSES 2-7)
As I read over the beginning of the oracle of Nahum, I noticed words like: “avenging,” “wrathful,” “vengeance,” “anger,” “rebukes,” and “indignation.” All of those are words that are in the anger category and are synonyms of what we define as a negative emotion. If we had to assign these words a color, they would be red and some of them vibrant red. Nahum presents a vision of God where He is angry.
It is not popular to ascribe to God anger or vengeance or wrath. It is not popular to do so because it flies in the face of the love-only view we have of God. It is not popular to do so because it hurts our self-worth to think that God is angry at us. It is crushing to feel like the God of the Universe is mad at us and so we don’t know what to do with the anger of God and so we don’t like to talk about it.
Nahum talked about it.
Nahum says very specifically in verse 2 that God is angry at His adversaries and His enemies. Nahum says very specifically in verse 3 that God is angry against the guilty. So how does one become an adversary or enemy of God? What makes a person guilty in the sight of God? The answer is the same to both questions.
You see, God does not get angry because He didn’t get what He wanted for Christmas or His latest planet turned out wobbly or Satan threatened the archangel Gabriel a little too much on the playground… nope! God does not get angry for the reasons that you and I do. You and I get angry when we find an empty milk container in the refrigerator or our boss is a jerk or the Kansas City Chiefs beat the 49ers. We get angry because of unmet expectations and sinful desires and because we feel attacked. We get angry for so many reasons that I cannot possibly describe them all. God gets angry at one thing: sin. God’s anger is perfect anger and is directed at sin.
GOD is angry at sin.
God is ANGRY at sin.
God is angry at SIN.
In addition, God is allowed to be angry. God’s anger is part of Him because of His holiness and is never misdirected or sinful or out of place or out of proportion or out of control. God is perfect in His holiness and goodness and provision and salvation plan and mercy… and most of the time we… don’t… care. We sin and think it’ll all work out in the end somehow. It doesn’t work that way. Sin breaks the relationship a person has with God and it makes Him angry. God is angry at sin. He is allowed to be angry. Everything He created is tainted by sin and seems to feed on itself away from Him. He is angry because He is separated from us by the sin that we love and plan and repeat and just can’t seem to get rid of.
APPLICATION
A question occurred to me: How do I keep God from being mad at me?
It makes sense to me that if God is angry at one thing and that is sin… then… don’t be a sinner. It is really that simple. Don’t be a sinner. Don’t be an enemy of God. Don’t sin and God won’t have any anger. Except, it isn’t simple. All of us are sinners. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the standard. We all have a sinful nature that gets the better of us daily. Yes, God is angry, but there is a solution. It is a solution that He Himself provided. Jesus tells us:
READ JOHN 3:35-36 (ESV)
“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
For those who love God and accept the blood of Jesus Christ as a covering for their sin, God’s wrath is nothing to fear. I know God is angry at my sin, but I also know His Son Jesus Christ has claimed me. This is something that is complicated and simple with a side of mystery. Only Jesus Christ saves us from the wrath of God because we are rotten dirty sinners.
If you don’t want God’s anger turned in your direction, believe in the Name of Jesus Christ. Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus died on the cross for their sin and place faith in Him and have the assurance of the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit from baptism have absolutely no fear of God’s wrath.
ILLUSTRATION… gracequotes.org/topic/god-wrath/
In his book “The Gospel for Real Life,” Christian author Jerry Bridges says:
“God, by the very perfection of His moral nature, cannot but be angry at sin – not only because of its destructiveness to humans, but, more important, because of its assault on His divine majesty. This is not the mere petulance of an offended deity because His commands are not obeyed. It is rather the necessary response of God to uphold His moral authority in His universe. And though God’s wrath does not contain the sinful emotions associated with human wrath, it does contain a fierce intensity arising from His settled opposition to sin and His determination to punish it to the utmost.”
TRANSITION
When I read these 7 verses of Nahum 1, I see a complicated God in every verse. We see the God Who is angry, the God Who is powerful, and also the God Who is good.
THE GOD WHO IS POWERFUL (VERSES 4-7)
As I read over the beginning of the oracle of Nahum, I notice words and phrases like: “great in power,” “whirlwind and storm,” dries up all the rivers,” “mountains quake,” “hills melt,” “earth heaves,” and “stronghold.” All of those are words that are descriptive of God’s mighty power. Nahum presents a vision of God where He is powerful.
An often-used descriptor of God in the Bible is the word “Almighty.” It is used 58x in the Old Testament and the New Testament and is only used of God. Only God is Almighty. God is in a category unto Himself in every aspect of His being and even more so when we think of His power. There is nothing and no one and no being even close to God.
* God is the only Being Who is omnipotent which means unlimited power and ability.
* God is the only Being Who is omnific which means creator of everything
* God created everything that exists with a Word
* God is the only Being Who is omniscient which means boundless knowledge
* God’s plan of salvation is perfect using sinful human beings through countless generations
* God is the only Being Who is omnipresent which means everywhere always
* God’s total presence in our reality would be the undoing of all reality
Amazingly, God is all-powerful and yet there are times when God limits His power for our benefit. For example, God does not force us to worship Him or force us to love Him, but invites us into a relationship with Him.
APPLICATION
A question occurred to me: Why does it matter that God is all-powerful?
It matters to me and to you that God is all-powerful because if any force or being could outdo God in something, our worship should go to that being. God’s power secures our salvation and if there be some power or will greater than God then our salvation is in trouble. A greater being could take us from God’s hand. A more powerful being could change God’s will for us. Yet, God is the Being Who occupies a category unto Himself that we can scarcely understand.
The Apostle Peter reflects on this in the New Testament:
READ 1 PETER 1:3-5 (ESV)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
ILLUSTRATION… Moving in Georgia (p)
As I was thinking about the power of God, I remembered a weird event that happened to my dad I one time when we were moving from Georgia. A couple things to know: #1 my dad was and is a weight lifter. #2 In Georgia, my parents bought their first house and after a few years, the US Army gave my dad orders to move again. They were blessed to sell their house before we had to move. We had to move to a rental house for a few months. #3 My dad borrowed a truck and a trailer and we moved our items to the rental house because he neither had a truck nor a trailer.
I remember driving down the road to the rental house late in the evening and I looked over from the passenger seat through the driver’s side window and I saw the trailer moving down the road next to us in the other lane parallel. My dad hit the brakes. The trailer shifted right and passed through the light of our headlights and and plowed into the side of the road. Keep in mind, our stuff was all in the trailer.
Here is the part of the story which is why I am sharing it with you today. The tongue and coupler had gone into the dirt, dug in pretty far, and hit a fire hydrant underground. It did not break the fire hydrant, but lifted it some into the air and the tongue was firmly lodged in the dirt next to the fire hydrant. To this day I do not know how the water was not gushing like in the movies.
My dad was upset and scared and shocked probably embarrassed as well. I was just along for the ride and was only about eleven years old. My dad grabbed the tongue of the trailer and lifted it out from the dirt and away from the fire hydrant. By himself. I remember it being dark and in the dark he then lifted the tongue and coupler back into the ball on the back of the truck. By himself. I do not know how he lifted so much weight. I then stood on the coupler and the ball all the rest of the way to the rental house.
I have never seen so much power in real life. Not since that day. I have no idea other than the force of will and years of weight lifting that allowed my dad to lift an entire trailer full of our belongings back onto the ball of the truck. That is power.
And yet the power of Almighty God that Nahum reflects upon makes lifting a trailer seem small. His power is infinite and boundless and means so much for us who believe in Him.
TRANSITION
When I read these 7 verses of Nahum 1, I see a complicated God in every verse. We see the God Who is angry, the God Who is powerful, and also the God Who is good.
THE GOD WHO IS GOOD (VERSE 7)
As I read over the beginning of the oracle of Nahum, I noticed the phrase in verse 7: “The Lord is good.” Just like the other verses, Nahum is not unclear. He is very clear about God and His interactions with His people and Nahum knows and believes that God is good. He is righteous. He is sinless. He is perfect in His goodness. He is only good and holy.
The rest of the Bible would agree that God is good:
READ Psalm 34:8 (ESV)
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
READ Psalm 145:9 (ESV)
The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made.
READ James 1:17 (ESV)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
READ 1 John 1:5 (ESV)
This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
I find it interesting that Nahum communicates to his readers and to us that God is good immediately after explaining how wrathful God is and also how powerful God Almighty is. The wrath of God may tempt us to think that He is not good because our wrath never comes from a righteous place or results in anything good. The absolute power of God may tempt us to think that He is not good because for human beings absolute power corrupts absolutely. Yet, I hope you know and believe that the wrathful almighty God Who is good is in a category all by Himself.
He is only good. He is only good.
* In His will and what He chooses to do and not do He is good
* In His judgment and what He upholds and condemns He is good
* In His preventing of disaster and allowing of disaster He is good
* In blessings and curses He is good
* In the management of Creation He is good
He is only good. He is only good.
APPLICATION
A question occurred to me: Why does it matter that God is good?
It matters to me and to you that God is good because we want to be able to trust the will of God and His word and His way of living. It is no mistake that Nahum says of God also in verse 7 that He is our stronghold in days of trouble and that He knows those of us who trust in Him. Our coming to Him for protection and our trust in Him are based in the foundation of His goodness. We want God to protect us and be our stronghold because He is only good. We can fully trust Him because He is only good. God is only good with no mistakes.
ILLUSTRATON…sermonsearch.com/sermon-outlines/12077/trusting-gods-goodness-when-life-is-bad/
There is a story about a lady going on an airplane trip and she went into the little shop in the airport and bought herself a magazine and a package of cookies as she prepared to go on her trip. She sat down at the gate before her plane was going to leave and began to read her magazine. She heard the distinct sound of cellophane next to her and she looked over and the man sitting next to her was actually helping himself to one of her cookies. She thought, ''What nerve, who does he think he is?''
She reached over and took one of the cookies and ate it, and hoped that he wouldn't eat anymore of her cookies. She continued to read her article and she again heard the rustling sound of the cookie package and he was eating another one of her cookies! The woman noticed that there now was only one left. He looked at her and nudged it in her direction. She thought, ''What is wrong with this man?” and ate the last cookie. The man got up and went to another part of the gate area.
Her flight was called and she walked to her gate. She put her magazine into her purse and was taking her ticket out and saw her package of cookies! All the while she had been eating somebody else's cookies!
I like that story because she thought she was in the right and yet all the while was in the wrong. God is never like that. God is always in the right and He is always good and there are no mistakes with Him. He is only good. He is only good. He is only good and you can trust Him.
CONCLUSION
There is much about God that seems like a contradiction or at least is quite complicated.
Some of what God IS makes no sense to my little brain and I cannot understand Him as a human being. Some of what God DOES makes no sense in what I feel is logical. God does not contradict Himself, but there are some things that are true about God and because we cannot see Him or know Him fully we have to keep them in tension or have no complete answer.
* Our God is angry at sin and this contradicts nothing in His holy righteous and good character filled with boundless love for us.
* Our God is all-powerful and this contradicts nothing in His dealing with us by giving us free will and choice because His ultimate eternal will is done.
* Our God is only good and this contradicts nothing in his anger or power or knowledge.
INVITATION
I invite you to trust in this Angry Powerful Good God Who set in motion a plan for salvation for every person who is a sinner in the Person of Jesus Christ. The anger of God at sin brought Jesus to us. The power of God brought Jesus to us. The goodness of God brought Jesus to us. Please choose to trust God for He is worthy of our faith.
If you already believe in Jesus, reaffirm your trust in God.
If you do not believe in Jesus, choose to trust in God today.
