In this episode, we delve into the often challenging question of God’s judgment on nations with Dr. J. Vernon McGee guiding us through the teachings rooted in the Old Testament book of Nahum. We explore the principles by which God judges nations, including the United States, and how these ancient words continue to hold relevance and power in today’s world. The episode also features personal stories of how God’s Word has deeply impacted listeners, transforming lives and strengthening faith within families.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
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If you’ve ever discussed your faith with someone who doesn’t know the Lord, you’ve likely heard this. You don’t really believe the Bible is true, do you? How can you when there are so many mistakes in it? Welcome to Through the Bible. In this study, our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, presents some striking evidence from the Old Testament book of Nahum that will boost your assurance that God’s word can be trusted. But first, let’s continue with Dr. McGee’s introduction about the principle by which God judges nations.
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Will God judge the United States of America? That is the question. Well, life creates responsibility, and that is the basis on which he had judged this nation here. God will judge the United States. The answer is a bold affirmative. There is no specific prophecy that mentions the United States. Let’s be very careful here, because even by a wild and weird interpretation of prophecy or the juggling of names, you cannot come up with the United States by name in prophecy. There’s not a scintilla of suggestion in the Word of God relative to this nation. But there are certain principles that God put down by which He judges all nations. And those great principles are in this little book. And on that basis, He will judge the United States. You see, the founding of this nation was just a little different and on an entirely different basis than any other nations. Men and women came here to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience. The pilgrims and Puritans are the notable example of it. Someone might say, well, Jamestown was settled by adventurers. They were not interested in the Word of God. Well, you’re certainly right about that. But the most impressive ruins at Jamestown today is the church. Life in that colony centered around the worship of God. None came to America to get away from God. We’re today, there’s an effort to try to get rid of the Bible and the church and God. But may I say to you that God will judge America and he’ll judge it on the principles stated here. Now we’re going to hold that till next time.
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Keep those thoughts in mind as we turn to our study and why you grab your Bible and turn to the Old Testament book of Nahum. Let’s hear from a couple of our fellow listeners. First, we got a voicemail from Ricky.
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I love the Bible and my name is Ricky and I’m from Winchester, Virginia. And my wife has turned me on to Dr. McGee. She went through so much pain and, um, through it all, Dr. McGee and opening our Bible and one of our readings has changed our hearts, our relationship, uh, Just everything. God has done all of this mighty, mighty work in and through us and has us back to back. So I just want to thank you for having this. And it has strengthened me and my wife’s marriage. And it’s done a lot with my family. We have a family of five. And I just want to say thank you. It’s changed our lives. It’s eye openers. And it gives us better understanding what it really is. Just want to say thank you. God bless.
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And I enjoy it. Amen. Well, thanks, Ricky. I agree. God’s Word is a game changer in our lives. Next is a quick note from Pat in California. Steve, you always ask us, how is the Word of God helping you? Dr. McGee said exactly what the study of the Word of God does to me. It penetrates my heart at the beginning of the day. I listen at 5.30 a.m. It is full of life. It is just a wonderful way to begin the day along with the reading of the letters about how God is transforming lives around the world. Thank you for helping us walk in and daily feed our minds with his word. May the Lord continue to use this ministry to fling his word around the world for his glory. Well, that’s great, Pat, and I pray that alongside you as well. Now, what are you learning from these studies? You know we’d love to hear your story too. Like Ricky, you can call and leave a message at 1-865-BIBLE or send a note through our app or email it to biblebus at ttb.org. or pop your letter or postcard in the mail addressed simply to Through the Bible, Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C, 6B1. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, as we study, would you fill us with your joy and peace. Thank you for your word, Lord, that assures us that you can be trusted. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Here’s Dr. McGee with our study of Nahum on Through the Bible.
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in this section here in Nahum, where we see the justice and goodness of God demonstrated in his decision to destroy Nineveh and to give the gospel. And that includes this entire chapter here. That is the remainder of it. We have had heretofore the justice and the goodness of God in a general way. And the point that Nahum is going to make And the contribution that he’s going to give with the other minor prophets to God’s philosophy of government and his manner of dealing with individuals and with nations is just simply this, that whether you believe it or not, or whether you can understand it or not, and that applies to me also, of course, that God is just and God is good and When he judges a nation or an individual, God is still a God of love. And God loves the lost. And he is, as John told us, the propitiation. He is the mercy seat for our sin and for the sins of the whole world. Men are lost because they are sinners. And they’re saved because they accept the overture of salvation that God extends to them. And God will get that invitation to any individual on topside of this earth that will accept it. And I have come to believe that we may see, actually, a turning to God today. I don’t mean in great numbers, but I mean there’ll be a turning to God given to every people on topside of this earth. And it looks to me like now radio might be that means. So that we’re in this section where he’s going to be very extreme in what he’s going to say. God is going to judge Nineveh. And he is just in doing it and righteous. We can understand that. But God is love also. And this is actually an act of the love of God. Now, that is very difficult for us to comprehend. But it is absolutely true. Now, we come here to where he mentions the fact in verse 11 that that there is coming up against Israel this enemy, and the enemy is Assyria coming from Nineveh. And in verse 11, we are told who it is. There is one come out of thee that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. And I think there is agreement among all conservative Bible expositors that the invader that is spoken of here and is called a wicked counselor is Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. And you will recall that when we were dealing with this, especially in Isaiah, the 36th and 37th chapters, and I’m not going to turn back to that. But I called attention to the fact that it actually was recorded three times. It was recorded in the book of Kings, and it was in 2 Kings, the 18th chapter. And not only in 2 Kings, but we find here in this particular section that it’s in 2 Chronicles, the 29th and 30th chapters. And it’s also in Isaiah. And the thing I called attention to at the time, you’ll recall, was that when God says it three times, we ought to stop, look, and listen, because that’s what it means. When he says it once, that would be enough. But when he says it twice, and you remember sometimes he says, verily, verily, I say unto you. Well, that’s extra important. But when he repeats something three times, then you can just put it down that that’s all important. Now, what Nahum is doing here is referring to the fact that there would come up against Jerusalem a wicked counselor. And the story was that he sent Rabshakeh with that great army of Assyria. And you will recall that he threatened Hezekiah. And Hezekiah was absolutely frightened to death by it all. I think that the poor man couldn’t sleep at night during that period that he was being threatened. And he went in the temple, though, and called upon God. And Isaiah brought the message that he won’t even shoot an arrow into the city. Well, he had to withdraw because of the campaign against Egypt. And Sennacherib needed his reinforcement. But then God destroyed the army of the Assyrians. And that’s exactly now what Nahum is saying is going to happen. Because you see, Assyria, during the period of Nahum, took the northern kingdom into captivity. And they dealt with them in a very brutal manner. Now, notice what God says here in verse 12. And this is quite a remarkable verse. And we don’t want to miss the point that is here. Thus saith the Lord. though they be quiet and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. Now, what is it that God is saying here? Because as far as I’m concerned, this expression, though they be quiet and likewise many, It just doesn’t make sense to me. I do not understand what he’s talking about. Now, I want to show you here how archaeology has confirmed many things in the Scripture that we do not know or would not have known. And also, it reveals the accuracy of the Word of God. And I would like to read to you now a note that is in the New Schofield Reference Bible. Now, there’s some of you folk, because I have disagreed with several changes that the New Scofield Bible has made, they feel like that I don’t recommend it. Now, may I say this to you? that it’s the best reference Bible that you can get today. I’m beginning now to use this new Scofield reference. I really can’t get weaned away from my old one. I have it right here in front of me, and I have my new one in front of me, because I’m acquainted with the old one, and it suited me fine. But actually, the new Scofield reference For any of you that are new Christians and want to get started studying the Bible, I suggest you get a new Schofield reference Bible. And I’m not disturbed today by the critics who are finding fault with it. Now, when they come up with a better reference Bible, then I’m going to recommend theirs. But so far, all they’ve done is criticize. They have not turned up a good reference Bible at all. In fact, one or two that have come out from liberal sources are, to my mind, very anemic, very weak, very unscholarly, and very unacceptable. And I would not recommend them. I do recommend this, though the men that were the editors of the new reference, I never knew many of the men of the old Scofield Reference Bible, but I know practically all of the men, or at least most of them, of the new one. And I want to say this, all of them are just as human as you and I are. Very human. They’re subject to mistakes. And not one of them, as far as I know, ever felt that their notes were inspired. In fact, the matter is, several of these men are very humble about it and would tell you offhand that they are not inspired. But you know, every now and then, they really put in a good note, and that’s the reason you should have it. I’m going to read their note on this verse here about this expression. though they be quite, and likewise many. Because I would never have known had they not told me what it means. So let me read this for you today. And I’m reading now, in the context, the expression, quite and likewise many, although a literal translation of the Hebrew does not seem to make much sense. And I sure do have to agree with that. Actually, the Hebrew here represents a transliteration of a long forgotten Assyrian legal formula. Excavation in the ruins of ancient Nineveh Buried since 612 B.C., has brought to light thousands of ancient Assyrian tablets, dozens of which contain this Assyrian legal formula. Now, you see what God is doing? He’s picked up a legal formula of the Assyrians. so they’d understand what he was talking about to them, for that’s who he’s talking about here. It proves on investigation to indicate joint and several responsibility for carrying out an obligation. Nahum quotes the Lord as using the Assyrian formula in speaking to the Assyrians, saying, in effect, even though your entire nation joins as one person to resist me, nevertheless, I shall overcome you. So you see that when you put it in light of what we know today, God was saying something that made sense to the Assyrians, and it doesn’t make sense to us today. Now, this reveals something. Now, I’m going to finish the note now that’s in this New Scofield Reference Bible. As the words… would have been equally incomprehensible to the later Hebrew copyists. Their retention is striking evidence of the care of the scribes in copying exactly what they found in the manuscripts and testifies to God’s providential preservation of the biblical text. Now, when the Hebrew scholars came along later on, they didn’t know what this meant either. But they translated it literally. Why? Because they believed in the plenary verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. And thank God for that. Now, that leads me to say this. That’s one of the reasons I can’t buy a lot of these so-called modern translations. They are not translations at all, because many of them were done by men who do not believe that this is the Word of God. Others, although they believed it was the Word of God, they wanted to put it into a form that modern man could understand. May I say to you that I rather disagree with that method. And I’m very happy that one of these translations, it says the paraphrased text. And I would say this concerning it, the Living Bible, that it is a bad translation, but it’s a marvelous paraphrased text. And if you’ll treat it as that, then fine. But don’t believe that you’re getting the literal text of Scripture. And this passage here reveals that, that though you might not understand it, God says you put it down like I have given it to you, and you’ll find out someday what it means. That is, if you’ll work hard enough and study it hard enough. And the trouble of it is, we’re trying to make the Word of God like pablum, and we’re trying to spoon-feed a bunch of babies today that are too lazy to really study the Word of God. And my feeling is, although I… certainly am at least accused of making it simple, and I try to make it simple. But the point is that I believe today that there ought to be a real reverence for the text of Scripture. And I’m no Bible worshiper. I’m no bibliophile by any means. But I do believe that there should be a reverence for the text of Scripture. And I spent time on that because that expression that I don’t understand. Now, with archaeology, digging up, and it’s done a great deal of work yonder at the ancient city of Nineveh. And many of you ought to have my book on Jonah because it goes with this. And I tell about how the ruins of Nineveh were found, the tale that was across from old Musa, the modern city, and how back in the last century the excavations were made. And the book of Jonah tells of the great revival a hundred years before God gave this, or maybe even 150 years. God now says there’s no hope for the people. So he didn’t send Nahum over with the message as he did Jonah. Now, will you notice verse 13? For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. Now, that seemed impossible in that day when Nahum wrote this, because this nation was to continue to go for a long time after this. But God says, I’m going to break the yoke of this nation. And now that’s not all he said. And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown. Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the carved image and the melted image, and I will make thy grave, for thou art vile. Now, God says to Nineveh, and this is harsh, God says that I’m going to bury you. You see, Khrushchev wasn’t the first one who used that expression. He said that about us, that is, our nation, and it seemed very terrifying to us. Naturally, it would be, and we thought it was a terrible expression. But actually, Khrushchev was being biblical, but he didn’t know it. That is, he was using a biblical expression. God said to Nineveh, I’m going to bury you. And when I bury you, you’ll go out of business as a nation. And believe me, when was the last time you’ve seen an Assyrian running around? They’re just not running around today. And they have no nation today. God says, I’ll bury you. And he did do that. He also said, I’m going to get rid of your gods. That is, idolatry. And it was the Medians that came first, the media Babylonians, that came and destroyed this city of Nineveh. And we’ll deal with that next time. But actually, the idolatry was destroyed by the Medians because they were a monotheistic people and did not worship idols. And they really were iconoclasts. They really broke up idolatry as far as Assyria was concerned when they destroyed the city. Now, verse 15, the last verse is an amazing verse. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings and publisheth peace. O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows, for the wicked shall no more pass through thee. He is utterly cut off. Now, God is saying here through Nahum, He said to these people, don’t leave me. Don’t withdraw from the Mosaic system. Don’t give it up for the very simple reason that I intend to destroy your enemy, and I’m going to send to you the Messiah, and he’ll bring tidings of good joy. Now, this is quoted here by Nahum referring to Assyria. Now, you’ll find that Isaiah used actually the same expression. You go over to Isaiah 52, 7, and it’s amplified there. And I’m reading now, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith undesired, thy God reigneth. Now, that is spoken of in reference to Babylon. God says, I’ll destroy Babylon. And Isaiah’s writing to the southern kingdom. Nahum writing to the northern kingdom says the same thing. And then notice what Paul does in Romans. He takes this quotation. I really think Nahum was the first to use it. And he referred to Assyria and Isaiah referred to Babylon. And notice what Paul says in Romans, the 10th chapter, verse 13. And I’m reading now this section. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on? in whom they’ve not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they’ve not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Now, actually, this is quoted from Isaiah. And Paul is making a different application of it. But you must remember, this is the section that refers to Israel. This is the dispensational section of Romans, that God’s not through with the nation Israel, and that for the future. There will come the good tidings of great joy. Now it has worldwide application. It has application for today. And that’s what Paul is doing. Using it in that connection that now good tidings. And that’s the message that we’re giving out today, the message of the gospel of Christ. And that’s to go out to the ends of the earth. And it applies in the future to the nation Israel. This is a marvelous way that the Spirit of God uses the Scripture. And next time, we’re going to see another way that Nahum shows us. And you’ll get the best system of the interpretation of the Word of God. That is, you get a course in hermeneutics. When you read the little book of Nahum, he’ll tell you how to interpret the Word of God. And we’ve already had two here today. You take it literally, whether you understand it or not. There is an explanation for it. The trouble’s not with the Word of God, the trouble’s with us. And then we can understand that God made application of this Scripture to one nation at one time, to another nation at another time, and now it has a worldwide application today. Now, we’ll see the other next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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Well, in our next study, we’ll hear more great principles for interpreting God’s Word. Until then, for help finding a resource that deepens your study of God’s Word, just visit ttb.org or call us at 1-865-BIBLE. And when you get in touch with us, let us know how and where you listen, whether it’s by radio or app or some other way. We want to know so that we can make wise use of ministry resources. But it’s especially valuable information to us if you listen on a local radio station. Let us know those call numbers. So thanks for letting us know. I’ll see you next time right here on the Bible Bus.
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All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
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Just go to ttb.org or download our app to listen again anytime. As always, we’d love to know what’s God teaching you.
