Join us on the Bible bus as listener stories reveal the transformative power of God’s word in everyday life. From a widow sharing hope and inspiration, to a young couple grounding their relationship in faith, the personal testimonies offer a heartwarming backdrop to our study. As we contemplate the avenging action of God justified in the destruction of Nineveh, we take away insights into how He deals with nations and individuals alike. Remembering that these ancient texts hold messages that resonate in our lives today, let us be reminded of God’s enduring mercy and calls to repentance.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to Through the Bible. We’re in the book of Nahum as our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, continues to tell us the backstory of the wicked city of Nineveh and why Jonah and people like him wanted to see the Ninevites wiped off the earth. I’m Steve Schwetz welcoming you aboard the Bible bus as we continue our great five-year journey through God’s entire word. Now to get us started, here’s more of the introduction that Dr. McGee began last time.
SPEAKER 01 :
And did you know that it’s quite interesting that women’s lib didn’t seem to help this great city of Nineveh? We read in 2.13, “…Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I’ll burn a chariot in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, and I’ll cut off the prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall be no more.” Well, actually, it says that here also that they’ll be like women. And believe me, that is the picture that’s given to us here. And I don’t think it really means women, but it actually means the men were acting that way. That is, they were not courageous. Now, big business and commerce did not really save Nineveh, and they had a great deal of that. We’re told in Nahum 3.16, “…thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of the heaven. The canker worm spoileth and flyeth away.” In other words, they survived a depression, but they were destroyed. I think the General Chariot Company and the Bale Steel Works and the Moloch Wine Company didn’t have a dividend one year, but you can be sure of one thing, that this nation went down. We are told that the crowned are as the locusts and the captains as great grasshoppers which camp in the hedges on the cold day, but when the sun arises, they flee away and their place is not known where they were. In other words, there was no leadership at all. They lacked courage. They lacked decision. There was a lethargy and an indifference. The shepherds slumber. O king of Assyria, thy nobles shall dwell in the dust. Thy people are scattered upon the mountains. No man gathereth them. That’s Nahum 3.18. In other words, there was a lethargy and indifference of the people and no one to take the leadership at all. And then liquor was another thing that destroyed this city. We have a statement here concerning the liquor interests. For while they be folding together as thorns, and while they’re drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. Now, we’re becoming a nation of alcoholics. Now, these are the things that destroyed Nineveh. Do you think that this nation today, filled with the same thing, violence, arrogance, and pride, and lawlessness, sexual and sensual sins, do you think that we can escape when God brought this nation down low? Is God speaking to us today? I think he is.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, no doubt God is speaking to us today through his word. He’s calling us back to himself. He’s pleading with us to turn from our sin and assuring us of his mercy. As we prepare for our study, let’s rejoice in how God is speaking in the lives of our fellow listeners. Here’s a note that we recently received from Denise. I’m a widow in my 70s and have been traveling the Bible bus for over 30 years. I’m grateful for how God continues to sharpen my walk in shoe leather, especially during this riveting study in 1 Peter. I recently shared a Bible bus pass with a homeless man waiting for a bus ticket. I’m praying for him and so many others who need the Lord. Please send more passes. I’ll be looking for opportunities to pass them along. Well, thanks for helping us fling the seed, Denise. And then here’s an email from Megan who wrote this. My husband and I are both in our early 20s living in Florida. We met five years ago this month. During our very first conversation, he shared your program with me and asked if I would listen to it so that we could discuss the passage and teachings. Well, during those first few weeks, this program was influential in guiding us closer together. Listening and learning together helped us build the foundation of our relationship firmly rooted in God’s word. As we begin our second trip on the Bible bus together, we now have two children, our son who is a year and a half and sweet little girl who is not yet two months old. While we realize they do not yet understand the teaching, we feel it is important they hear the word of God every day. The peacefulness of our home has allowed the opportunity for us to teach both of them how to listen respectfully and quietly to in an age-appropriate way. Our son already recognizes the opening of your program. He is so excited to hear it, he will shout, Bible, Bible, Bible, in his beautiful baby voice. Every day we pray for their salvation and that God provides us all the tools that we can use to prepare them to make a decision for Christ when they reach the age of understanding. Through the Bible is one of the best tools we have. We thank God every day for giving us this program to help us learn individually how to be better followers of Christ. We will continue faithfully listening, praying for the entire staff and listeners, and spreading God’s word in our own community here in Florida. Now, what’s your story? You know we’d love to hear about it. You can drop us a note from our app or email us at BibleBus at TTB.org. And to receive a pack of BibleBus passes to hand out, just like Denise mentioned in her letter, call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. Now let’s pray and get our study going. Heavenly Father, thank you that your word continues to speak to the lonely, the searching, the young and the old. As we study, Lord, help us to hear your voice and then soften our hearts, Lord. Help us to be convicted of our sin and remind us of your mercy and then lead us to walk more closely with you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Nahum 3 on Through the Bible.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, as we come to this last chapter of the book of Nahum, I want to repeat again, it was our original intention, as we said last time, to finish today. But very candidly, I must confess that I have been digging into this chapter, and I found that it’s another one of these wonderful chapters of the Word of God. And I believe that God gave his total word and that he intends for us to not bypass over any of it. And I feel very badly when I am forced, because of time, to bypass over some. But we did save these last books of the Bible. that we could give more time to them. And when we finish this rather unusual book of Nahum, we’re not going to the New Testament. We’ll just continue on with Habakkuk and then with Zephaniah, because they are two more unusual books. But now let’s get in underway here in this third chapter. And actually the subject of the third chapter is the avenging action of God justified. That is, we have here really the cause of the destruction of the city. That is the heading that the New Scofield Reference Bible mentions. gives, and I go along with it because I’d already had it in my notes in a little different language for years, the avenging action of God justified. In other words, He does give the cause, but He justifies God in the destruction of this city. And this is an example of the fact that whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. And that’s true of a nation. you find out that God deals actually with individuals and nations in many ways in a very similar manner. Now, notice what we have in the first verse. We have a picture here and it describes actually the internal condition of the city. And lies marked the total culture of the city. And they also made slaves, as we’ll see in these two verses now. And I should also call attention to the fact that many literary critics have found in this third chapter one of the most vivid descriptions of the destruction of a city that is imaginable. And you will not find anything in any language more descriptive than this. He begins like this in verse 1 of chapter 3 of Nahum. Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey departeth not. The noise of a whip and the noise of the rattling of the wheels and of the prancing horses and of the bounding chariots chariots, not jumping chariots. This is not a jumping jack that you have here, but the picture is very vivid. It’s a bloody city. Nineveh, as the capital of Assyria, this nation was known in the ancient world as being very brutal and very bloody. They were feared and dreaded, as we said at the beginning, by other nations. And when a city found themselves in the pathway of the coming of the army of the Assyrians, just like a hurricane, although they actually moved rather slowly, but they certainly did devour as they moved. An entire community would commit suicide. You have a very vivid description of the city now. It’s full of lies. Now, what better description would you have today in our country right now? I feel very much like we are given very little fact, but we’re given a great deal of propaganda. And that not only pertains to Washington and the news media, but it comes from every area. Actually, even news today is propaganda. Even anything that comes out of Washington, regardless of what party it is, if you want to know my opinion of the two-party system, today we have Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and you can pick them. If you come from the section of the country I come from, you’re a Democrat. That was your background. But when I got to California, I found out I thought I needed to change. And now that I found out I needed to change, I need to change again, not back to where I came from, but to be free of this thing today of where I’m fed nothing in the world but propaganda and never given the truth. One thing that’s needed today is the truth. One of the reasons God judged this city, Nineveh, was full of lies and robbery. And today, your things in your home are not safe. I was in the home of some friends in Louisville, Kentucky, and they’re very lovely folk and will have a very lovely southern home there, and they have some beautiful antiques. And do you know that they have had to put bars, double locks, triple locks, on the doors of their home. Where do you think we live today? We live in a nation, we say, of law and order. But it hasn’t been that. What an apt description. When I first began to study this, I asked them, I said, who are you talking about us? You’re giving a vivid description, maybe of Nineveh, but it’s a picture of our own nation. And as we’ve said, this little book and the book of Jonah reveal that God deals with Gentile nations. And he did back in the Old Testament. And that the government of God moves in the government of man today. And God will overrule the sin of man. He will overrule a nation. And you come down through history and great civilizations after another like crumbling in the dust and the debris of the ages. Why? Because God judged them, friends. That’s the reason why. And we are no pet of God. We’re not something special. We think we are as a nation. And we can boast of the fact right now we’re the strongest nation in the world. But you know, that might even be questioned today. and we live in a security that may be a false security, because God brings great nations down, and he brings them down, as he says here. And the next book we get is really going to open our eyes to something that I think ought to alarm us today. But now, will you notice, he goes on to give this vivid description of these chariots. They’re like tanks. They were tanks of the ancient world. And they came inside the city. And as they did, the noise of the whip. You can hear the driver whipping up his horses. And you can hear the noise of the rattling of the wheels. My, you can hear them as they come in. And of the prancing horses and of the bounding chariots. The chariots can’t come in. They’re leaping over everything, especially dead bodies. Now, will you notice, as this description continues, and these first two verses describe the internal condition of the city. Lies and robbery mark the culture and the climate of the city. And they also made slaves, as we shall see. Verse 3, “…the horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear, and there’s a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses, and there is no end of their corpses.” They stumble upon their corpses. Now, the dead that are there seems unbelievable. And I tell you, if a well-placed bomb is dropped somewhere in this country today, we’ll see probably the same sort of thing. And do you know that there are nations today that may pretend to be friendly? They wouldn’t hesitate five seconds to drop that bomb on this country if they thought they could get by with it. And I’m beginning to think that they believe they can get by with it. Now you have here that which characterizes the external condition of the city. They were a brutal and cruel enemy. And here you have this picture that is given here. That’s in the third verse and actually in the fourth verse. They are now reaping what they have sown. Now, verse 4, another remarkable verse that we have here. Because of the multitude of the harlotries of the well-favored harlot, this city is likened unto a harlot. And she was the one that they all played up to, the mistress of witchcrafts that selleth nations through her harlotries and families through her witchcrafts. Now, there are several things I’d have you note there. One is the shame of this city. It’s likened unto a harlot. And since God likens it to a harlot, a well-favored harlot, it’s a harlot that all the world in that day courted her. And we have here she was the mistress of witchcraft. And that’s mentioned twice. We are told that the nations would sell themselves through her witchcrafts. And that word is repeated twice. This is the echo. Don’t for one moment say that the idolatry of the ancient world was meaningless. Paul called an idol a nothing. There’s nothing to an idol. But back of the idol is Satan. And back of idolatry was that which was satanic. Now, I don’t need to labor this point today. If you are not acquainted with what is happening in the world of the occult, then you haven’t been to Southern California. And it’s not taking place down with a bunch of down and outers and a bunch of criminals or the underworld. This thing happens on college campuses today. And it’s taking place in the best sections of our city, giving over to witchcraft. And it’s amazing how many people today will go to the five and ten cent store to get their horoscopes. And they follow that. Many carry all kinds of amulets, good luck pieces, charms, and little dolls and that sort of thing. That is growing today by leaps and bounds in a materialistic age and a culture that thought it had graduated from that sort of thing. And now we find there is a return to that. Now that’s exactly what this great city had turned to. And God says, I’m justified in judging the city because of that. And he calls the city a harlot. Now you find that when you come to the end of this age, that the church, the organized church, will become a harlot, engaging in this sort of thing. And I’m of the opinion that you’re seeing a movement in that direction. All of this is very dangerous. In fact, a man who is a very fine Pentecostal preacher, and he preaches the Word of God. He believes in tongues. He believes in healings. But he said to me that he’s expressing today a real danger in the tongues movement. He says that not only does our group have it, but these that are in the occult are having it. And he says we today in our church are being very careful about this sort of thing. I think that is quite amazing, and this is an enlightened man, and I mean spiritually enlightened, and he’s rather reluctant to engage in this sort of thing. And I’d put up a warning to you today, friends. Just because a thing seems to have the mark of the supernatural on it, you better examine it very carefully and see whether it is scriptural. If it’s supernatural and not scriptural, it’s not a God. And there’s only one other fellow that’s in the business of the supernatural except God, and that is Satan. Satan will ape him and imitate him in every way that he possibly can. So that you have here the reason God is justifying his action in destroying this city. Now, he makes this statement in verse 5. He says, Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will uncover thy skirts from thy face, and I will show the nation thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. Now, he says, I’m against thee. This is the second time that he said that. And this is the thing, you remember, that God says against Gog and Magog in the 38th, 39th of Ezekiel. And we believe that refers to Russia. Definitely so. I think without a shadow of a doubt. When I graduated from seminary, I would not accept that 38th and 39th referred to Russia. And I decided on my own I’d make a study of it. And I did. And those of you that have our notes, on Ezekiel know that I went into a great deal of detail there, a threefold reason why I’m confident that it is Russia that’s mentioned there. Now, there’s a nation that wasn’t even in existence in Ezekiel’s day. God said, I’m against you. Well, we know now why. Atheistic. Now, here is a nation that God says, I’m against you. But not because they’re atheistic, but they’re polytheistic. And this nation was given over to idolatry. But back of the idol was the occult. Back of the idol was this that was witchcraft. And witchcraft has become a reality today. And men are finding that there is a reality to it. And it’s those in the upper echelons that are making the discovery of it. I wonder, and I don’t know that a study’s ever been made, but I’ve been told on rather good authority, and when I say good authority, from those that are in Washington, that it would be very amazing and alarming the number there that appeal to fortune tellers, to the horoscope, and to this same type of thing of trying to enact Interpret the future. Men want to know the future. Now, God says, I’m against thee, saith the Lord of hosts. And then he says, I’m going to uncover thy skirts from thy face. Now, today, in this day of nudeness, and when they, with their tongue in their cheek, try to call it art to present that which is salacious and very sinful and very suggestive, And they call it art, but they got the tongue in their cheek when they say that. The display of the nude today, and now both women and men. But in that day, this civilization had sunk pretty low, but not as low as we have. They did not display the human body. They were not given over to that. In other words, it was a disgrace. for a woman to be displayed nude. And now God speaks of the shame that he’s going to bring on Nineveh. He says, I will uncover thy skirts from thy face. That is, I’m going to pull your skirt up over your face. You’ve been a harlot, and I’m going to reveal you in all of the lurid details. And believe me, that was a real disgrace. He says, I will show the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. That’s what God says I’ll do for you. Now, Assyria went down, friends, a great nation, a great civilization with its riches and with all of its power. It went down into the dust, never to rise again. God said, that’s what you do to it. And he says, “…and I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and I will set thee as a gazing stock.” That’s verse 6. In other words, God says, I’m going to bring you down, and God says, I’m opposed to you, and I will expose you to the world for what you are. And the excavations that brought to light this great civilization reveal that that all of this is quite accurate. Only this just happens to be a vivid description and a prophecy given long before that it actually took place. This is something that is quite amazing. Now, I said that I did not realize just how we’d end the day, whether this would be our last study in Nahum. And as you see now, it’s not the last study in Nahum. And I was afraid that was going to be true because all of the description that’s given here was something I just did not want to pass over lightly because it has such a tremendous application for us today. And it’s such an apt picture of this present day. And it reveals God’s method in dealing with the nations of the world. And I don’t think He’s changed His method. And if he hasn’t, we’re in trouble, friends. And I mean deep trouble. We ought to pray for our nation. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 03 :
If we can recommend a resource to help you go deeper in God’s Word, call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE or visit ttb.org. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll be here saving a seat on the Bible bus just for you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Through the Bible exists to take God’s whole word to the whole world. And we invite you to stand with us with your faithful prayer and financial support. Where will God’s word go today?
