Creator, Father, King #157

The LORD is avenging and wrathful.

THE ASSYRIAN ARMY WAS once the most feared fighting force in the world. Better than any empire beforehand, Assyria perfected the art of ancient warfare—such as mass-producing iron weaponry, employing siege engines, and using archers and slingshot-carrying infantry as specialists—to crush its enemies.

Once a city’s walls were breached, the Assyrians displayed their now-notorious cruelty. They often slaughtered all the inhabitants—men, women, and children—and impaled the civic leaders on stakes. Survivors were commonly deported elsewhere in the kingdom.

When Jonah preached a message of repentance to Nineveh, one of Assyria’s chief cities, in the mid-eighth century BC, the people repented—for a time. But roughly a century later, the scene was quite different in Nineveh. The city was violent, idolatrous, and thoroughly evil. So God called another prophet, Nahum, to speak out against Nineveh. In fact, the entire book of Nahum is an oracle of God’s looming judgment against the infamous Assyrian city.

“What sorrow awaits Nineveh, the city of murder and lies!” Nahum proclaimed (3:1).

What’s It Mean?

Nahum isn’t a pick-me-up book. There’s no happy ending. But the prophet’s most shocking words aren’t those directed toward a godless city. They are about God himself.

Look at how Nahum 1 (ESV) describes God:

• The LORD is avenging and wrathful. (today’s verse)
• The LORD will by no means clear the guilty. (verse 3)
• 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. (verse 6)
• With an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. (verse 8)

As fearsome as Assyria’s warriors were during a siege, Nahum presents the Lord as infinitely more terrifying.

So which is he? Is he a God of love, mercy, and grace? Or a God of fiery anger, vengeance, and wrath?

Actually, he’s both.

God will endlessly bless those who become his children through faith in Christ, but those who reject him will suffer his frightful, righteous wrath. In love, he has given us Scripture as a warning to turn from our sin before it’s too late. All will be held accountable.

Don’t reject God like Nineveh did and suffer his righteous wrath. Choose his love, mercy, and grace through Jesus!

Now What?

Read Romans 8:1 and remember this: true Christians never have to fear God’s wrath.

Did You Know?

In 612 BC, Nahum’s prophecy was fulfilled when Nineveh fell to a Babylonian-led alliance, spelling the end of the once-mighty Assyrian Empire.