The Last Days of Nineveh: A Prophetic Warning in Nahum 3:7-19

SPEAKER 03 : 0:17

When you’re walking with the Lord, His Word is a light to your path. It’s comfort and encouragement. Every bit of instruction helps you walk closer with Him. But when you’re far away from Him, God’s Word is painful to hear. It reminds you of what you’re missing. As we make our way through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee, we’re studying a section of Scripture that originally was written to people who turned a deaf ear to God. In our five-year study of the whole Word of God, it’s not unusual for us to travel through sections that may at first sound confusing until you realize who the original audience was and what they were dealing with. We’re studying the Minor Prophets right now, specifically the book of Nahum. And if you look at the Minor Prophets as a whole, all 12 of them, they have one general message. They call people back to God. Dr. McGee tells us more about this in his introduction. Let’s listen.

SPEAKER 01 : 1:09

As we come to our study today, I want us to do something that at this point, I feel it’s very important for us to understand these minor prophets that we’ve been going through. Because there is a conspiracy today among churches that the minor prophets are inferior to other books of the Bible. They’re strictly second class. The parables of Jesus in John 3.16 and the practical teaching of the pastoral epistles and the instructions for the family, they are all elitist, they are first class. And from the Old Testament, you could put Isaiah and the Psalms and probably the book of Daniel, that they are all top drawer. But the minor prophets, no. This is just something that they don’t include. Now, they don’t always come out and say that, but by their actions of pushing this section of the Word of God almost out of the Scripture. We talk today that we believe the entire Bible is the Word of God, but we don’t always act like that. Now, this syndrome in the church has relegated some of the greatest teaching that’s in the Bible to the back burner, and very little attention is given to the minor prophets. Bible preachers and teachers largely ignore them for what they think is more exciting stuff. Before we conclude the minor prophets, therefore, let’s take a look over our shoulder and see from where we’ve come. and take a look into the future and see where we’re going. In other words, let’s scan these 12 minor prophets and see if we can come up with the message that they have. First of all, of course, we had Hosea. Hosea was asked to do a frightful thing in that day. He was asked to marry a harlot. And when he married her, she proved unfaithful. And the Lord said, you are to go and get her and receive her back into your home and back into your family. And according to the Mosaic law that God had given, she should have been stoned, but not the way God wanted it now. In other words, it’s giving God’s people a second chance. And when Hosea had this experience in his own family, he could go out to the nation and tell his people that God wanted to give them a second chance. Though they had been unfaithful and to God, why he says, I want them to come back to me and I will receive it. In other words, the key to that little book is return. Fifteen times it’s used, return to the Lord. And how many are in our churches today that are really far from God? They probably are saved. I wouldn’t want to argue about that. But God is saying to them, return. Come back to me, the prodigal son. He wants him to come home. Now, in the little book of Joel, he introduces us to the day of the Lord, a day coming when And it’s going to be like the Hebrew day. It’ll open with sundown and darkness and then move into the light of a new day. Now, the day of the Lord is his great theme, and he introduces us to it. But it begins in darkness, and that darkness is the great tribulation period into which that nation and the world at that time will go, and it will be followed by the light of the millennium. This is a picture, you see, that God has given in this little book. Now, when you come to the book of Amos, he presented God as ruler of the world, that he judges nations. And he has the judgment of God upon eight nations that surrounded a little nation of Israel, those nations that were contiguous to it. All nations are responsible to God. That’s his message. The government of God overrules the government of man. And that is the great message of this little book. And by the way, it’s a rather important little book, as you can well see. Now, I’m not going to be able to cover all of these this morning, so I think I’ll break off right there. Because next time I’ll take up and we’ll take a look at each one of the minor prophets and then come up with a great message that comes out of these little books.

SPEAKER 03 : 6:22

Let’s commit this final lesson in the book of Nahum to the Lord. Father, thank you for seeking us out and drawing us back into a relationship with you. We listen now for your voice, and please speak to us and help us to obey. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Now here’s through the Bible with our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

SPEAKER 01 : 6:43

Now for our last study today in the little book of Nahum, And we are seeing in this last chapter a very vivid description that’s given to us of the destruction of this city. And you must remember, this is prophetic when it was given, and it’s not the historical record of it. Now, God has used some very strong language here in describing this city. He called this city a harlot. and that he was going to absolutely display the shame and all of the filth and the vileness of this great civilization and make it a gazing stock to the world. And that was the end of the great Assyrian empire. Now we find here in verse 7, “…and it shall come to pass…” that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee and say, Nineveh is laid waste. Who will be mourner? Where shall I seek comforters for? In other words, God says, where in the world will I get people to come and mourn over this city? Nobody will mourn over it. Nobody will weep over it. There’ll be no mourners there. It is a very sad situation and a very sad one indeed. I know that here in Southern California, one of the saddest experiences that I had as a pastor was to be called by a funeral home. And several of them here in Pasadena became my very personal friends over the years. And they would call me to come in and conduct a funeral. And I never shall forget one funeral that I had of a dear old man that had died. And this man actually was a Christian, but he had come out here from the east with his wife for her health, and she had died, and he became bedridden, and people forgot about him. and when he died why I guess many even didn’t recognize his name and when I went down to conduct the funeral wasn’t anybody in there nobody came to me was the saddest thing so I went in I knew the funeral director pretty well and I got him up and I said you get all your office force and come on in there we’re going to have a funeral service and They rounded up everybody around there that they could and brought them in. And we had about a dozen. So I brought a message. message of hope for a Christian and the gospel right over his remains to be able to say Jesus died for our sins and he rose again for our justification. But it was sad to have a funeral service like that, to have no one attend. Well, God says there’s not going to be any mourners at the funeral of Nineveh. The whole world actually will rejoice in that day, which they did. And God brought them down, this great city. And when God said this, who would have believed it? Unless you’d believe God, you would have to accept it by faith. But it came to pass just as God said it would come to pass. Now, will you notice what he says in verse 8? Art thou better than populace? No, amen. And no, amen was what we understand is Thebes. That was the great capital of Upper Egypt. Several of the pharaohs reigned up there. Fact of the matter is, let me finish this, and then I want to give you a quotation from a very fine Bible expositor. I’m reading now all of this verse. He says here, verse 8 now, “‘Art thou better than Populus, Noah-Ammon?’ That is, a Thebes that was situated among the rivers, and rivers is used as plural for a great deal of water. When the Nile River would overflow at the flood season, it looked like an ocean, by the way, that had the waters about it, whose rampart was the sea, and a wall was from the sea, so that Actually, this city was so built that at the flood season, this city would not be flooded out at all. And you remember they had to move all of this when the dam was put across the Nile River. I would like now to read this. This is an excerpt. from Dr. Charles Feinberg’s book on the little prophecy of Nahum. I’m reading now. It was the capital city of the pharaohs of the 18th to the 20th dynasties and boasted such architecture as the Greeks and Romans admired. The Greeks called it Dios Polis. Because the Egyptian counterpart of Jupiter was worshipped there. It was located on both banks of the River Nile. On the eastern bank were the famous temples at Karnak and Luxor. Homer, the first Greek poet, spoke of it as having 100 gates. It’s ruined cover an area of some 27 miles. Ammon, the chief god of the Egyptians, was shown on Egyptian relics as a figure with a human body and a ram’s head. The judgment of this godless and idolatrous city was foretold by Jeremiah. And that’s in Jeremiah 46, 25 and in Ezekiel, the 30th chapter, verses 14 to 16. Know Ammon. Our Thebes was situated favorably among the canals of the Nile, with the Nile itself as a protection. The Nile appears as a sea when it overflows its banks annually. Nineveh can read her fate in that of Noammon. for she is no better than the mighty Egyptian capital. But you see, God here is justifying the fact that he’s judging this city, you see. Now, I want to read on. Verse 9, Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength. And it was unlimited. Put and Lubin were thy helpers. And this P-U-T here was also in that area, and so was Lubin for that matter. In fact, this Lubin is mentioned here in the first chapter of Nahum. In other words, this city, And Thebes, the capital of the Egyptian empire at one time, never felt it could ever fall because there’s a big desert on both sides. River Nile actually was a protection. There were allies in the north and in the south, and how could anybody get to them? Well, the Assyrians did. Now, actually, the Assyrians felt like they were impregnable in that day. Now, today, we feel that we have enough of the atomic weapons to and other sophisticated hardware that we can defend ourselves. But my friend, when God’s time comes, we’ll go down. And our best defense today just doesn’t happen to be in that area. Our best defense today in this country is a return to God. is a recognition of him in government today. I’m not impressed by what I see in Washington. They have a little prayer breakfast, and then they step outside, and I’m told, and cuss like sailors, some of these men do that pretend to be Christians today. And men make a profession of being Christians, and then their language is so vile that you can’t even listen to it. May I say to you what a hypocrisy there is today. Now, is God going to let us off today? Are we something special? I think not. And our defense would be men of character again. Actually, if they’re not Christian, at least they espouse the great morality that the Word of God espouses. You see, that is the thing that built our nation. I’m not greatly impressed by some of our founding fathers. I don’t think Thomas Jefferson was a Christian at all. But I’ll say this, he had respect for the Word of God. He believed in the morality. of the word of God. And this idea today of despising it, in fact, of contradicting it today, God can’t bless us as a nation. And I don’t think he will. Now, will you notice verse 10? God says here, yet was she carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets. And they cast lots for her honorable man. And all her great men were bound in chains. Now, that’s what Assyria, That’s what Nineveh had done to Thebes. Now, chickens are coming home to roost. Be not deceived. God’s not mocked. Whatsoever man sows, that shall he also reap. Now, verse 11, thou also shall be drunk. Thou shall be hidden. Thou also shall seek strength because of the enemy. They’re going to try to fortify their courage by getting drunk. But that’s not going to help them a bit. Now he says, all thy strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs. If they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. Now, if you know anything about growing figs, I used to have a fig tree in my yard. All you had to do when the figs were ripe, you could just touch a branch and it all come tumbling down. And that’s what he says here, that all your defenses are like that. The minute the enemy comes, why, he’s going to break right through them. Verse 13, behold, I people in the midst of thee are women. The gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies. The fire shall devour thy bars. Now, the fact is here that the men were acting like women. I believe that is the thought. And the men are very womanly, let’s say. Or it could mean that actually women were the ones in position of authority. Now, I know I’ll get reaction to this, but I don’t mind. Frankly, I don’t thank God as far as this women’s live movement. I still believe that woman’s place is the home. And I feel very frankly that the church today is at fault in using women in too many offices in the church. A woman’s first place is not to teach a Sunday school class in the Sunday school, but she’s to raise her own family. That’s her place. And women are taken away from their homes today and church work and every other kind of work. And unless she’s forced to work for a living, her husband is passed on or he’s unable to work. Why? I don’t believe that it’s justified. Now, believe me, will I hear from that. But I’m saying it because I think that’s the mark of the downfall and the disintegration of a civilization is when this happens. Now, he says in verse 14, draw the waters for the siege, fortify thy strongholds. go into clay and tread the mortar, make strong the brick kiln. In other words, at the last minute, they get busy, they try to make brick to fortify themselves, and they heat up the water. You know, the way they did it, get to the top of the wall, and they get a great big bucket of scalding water, and you pour that on the fellow that’s scaling your wall, he’s through scaling, I can assure you that. He’ll be finding himself back down on the ground. Verse 15, there shall the fire devour thee. The sword shall cut thee off. It shall eat thee up like the canker worm. Make thyself many like the canker worm. Make thyself many like the locusts. In other words, you try to… Bring in reinforcements. Not going to help you. Verse 16, thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven. The canker worm spoileth and flyeth away. You see, each year their national product grew and there were great merchants, but all that’s over now. Verse 17, “‘Thy princes are like the locusts, thy captains like the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day. But when the sun arises, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.'” In other words, the leaders, when the time came, they managed to escape, that is, for a while anyway. Now, verse 18, “‘Thy Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria. Thy nobles shall dwell in the dust. Thy people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathers them. In other words, the leadership of the nation had disintegrated to the place where they no longer attempted to lead the nation. Now, may I say this, and I hope that I’m not misunderstood because I’m not discussing politics and certainly not from any party viewpoint because as far as I’m concerned, I’m disgusted with both. Now, may I say this, that I believe that one of the great evidences of our disintegration and deterioration as a nation is the lack of leadership that there is on a national level, a state level, a county level, a city level, and even a community level today. There is lack of real leadership. It just seems today that the one with the big mouth And the big talk is the one. And the rich man. Lincoln could never run for president here today. He wouldn’t have enough money to run. And God says that’s the thing that brought down Assyria among these other things that he’s mentioned. And believe me, you can just fit this down on our nation, what God has said in this third chapter, just like a glove. One glove fits Assyria, and that’s been fulfilled. The other glove fits the United States. But are we listening to God today? No. No one’s paying any attention to speak of, certainly among the leadership of the nation today. And the tragedy of the hour is our retreat from God today. And our rejection of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, the Savior of the world. Now, listen to God’s final word. And he gives this with a note of finality, a note of dogmatism. May I say to you, this is a word that makes your spine tingle. And it’s frightening. I read the last verse now. There is no healing of thy bruise. Thy wound is grievous. All that hear the report of thee shall clap the hands over thee, for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually. You see, these people here had sinned and sinned and sinned that it was a way of life with them. When they now want to point the finger and say God is wrong and that God permits evil and that God does nothing about evil, God says, I do do something about evil. And that you can look around you today at the injustices, and there are many of those. But my friend, God’s doing something about them. And the next little book, Habakkuk, is going to bring out that point. God was just and righteous, and he was a God of love, even when he destroyed Nineveh and wiped it like a dish off of the face of the map and off of the face of the earth. They disappeared. And God took full responsibility for their judgment. Now, next time, we’re going to see Habakkuk. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:52

dr mcgee ends our study in nam with a faithful word yes we see the suffering and injustice in the world you don’t have to look beyond your own community maybe even your own home to see it but we can have confidence that god sees them too and even better he’s doing something about them maybe not the way that we would deal with it or on our own schedule that’s often the difficult part right But when we say God is sovereign, it means that these issues are safe in His hands. And you know, there’s something that we can do in light of suffering and heartache. We can share the only source of sustaining peace, the peace that comes from believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and living each day in fellowship with Him. Now, of course, the best way to do that is to introduce people to the Word of God. And we do this together through the Bible when we pray for and provide for God’s Word to be shared with the world. Or as we like to say it, we take the whole word to the whole world. If you’ve been on the Bible bus for long, then you know about the good work that our World Prayer Team is doing, praying for a different country or language group every day. If you’re not yet on that team, why don’t you sign up in our app or at ttb.org forward slash pray. Or if you want a free pack of Bible bus cards that’ll help you introduce this program to those you meet along life’s journey, just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. That’s 1-800-652-4253. Next time, we’re going to begin our study of another minor prophet. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll save a seat just for you.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:23

Jesus gave it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left the prince unsaved.

SPEAKER 03 : 25:45

Our story on the Bible bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire Word of God. Come along for the ride, and you’ll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God’s great redemption story. Is this your story too?