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My House, My Rules (Isaiah 56:1-8)

April 21, 2024

“Are we there yet?”

Script writers know that they can elicit a response by having a character ask, but since it is so over-used, they must be creative about it.

One of the best exchanges ever is in Avengers: Infinity War. On the way to Nidavellir, Thor responds to “I am Groot” with “You’ll know when we’re close.”

The disciples of Jesus were constantly wondering, “Is it here yet?” 

They meant the Kingdom of God on Earth:

✍︎ “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?’ ” (Matthew 18:1).

✍︎ “Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest” (Luke 22:24).

✍︎ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your Kingdom” (Matthew 20:20-21).

✍︎ When Jesus ascended into Heaven, “They asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?’ ” (Acts 1:6).

Let’s be fair to the disciples. It was Jesus’ doing. In Acts 1:3 we read, “To whom [Jesus] also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”

If I told you that Jesus used the word “Kingdom” 50 times in the Gospel of Matthew, would you believe it? If I told you He used it 75 times? 100 times?

The count in the NKJV is 158 times in 150 verses.

  • In the Old Testament God promised the nation of Israel that a King from the line of David would rule over a future Kingdom from Jerusalem.
  • John the Baptist came preaching “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” 
  • Jesus preached that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.
  • When Jesus sent out His disciples, He told them to preach that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.

Jesus came offering the Kingdom to His own, to Israel. They violently refused Him as their King.

The apostle Paul told the leaders of Israel, in the last chapter of the Book of Acts, “No Kingdom for you!”

Not in the first century that is. There still must be a real, physical, on-the-Earth 1000 year Kingdom. It is coming, and Jesus is bringing it with Him.

Kingdom life is on display in our text. I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 Jesus Gives You His Blueprint For Waiting, and #2 Jesus Shows You His Blueprint For Working.

Let’s take a look at the blueprint for waiting in verses one & two.

Isa 56:1  Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.

This is a prophecy of an event over 200 years in Isaiah’s future. The Southern Kingdom of Judah is going to be attacked by Nebuchadnezzar. Three times. God uses Babylon as His instrument of discipline against His wayward children.

When Isaiah quotes the LORD saying, “My salvation is about to come,” he is referring to being delivered from Babylon after their captivity. When the LORD says “My righteousness,” He is referring to both the captivity and their release as the right way of dealing with their sin.

Of course we believe that God is righteous in all of His ways. On paper, that is. In our experiences it can seem otherwise.

Moses would serve God faithfully for a total of 120 years. At one point in his leading the children of Israel through the desert, God told him to speak to a rock. Moses was angry, and so he struck the rock. For that momentary lapse, God told him he could see the Promised Land, but he could not go in.

You are going to have moments like that in your life. You might even have a life like that in your life if you get my meaning. God is righteous in all His ways, and His ways are above our ways.

The Lord is talking about a “righteousness” that you “do.” Right behavior towards Him and towards one another. Know what is right and then do it.

When you don’t “do” righteousness, you are to be held accountable for your actions by “justice.”

Isa 56:2  Blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

“The man” and “the son of man” is like our saying “any man and every man.” “Lay hold on it” is to do it.

They were set free, forgiven, to “do” the Sabbath, and to eschew “evil.” Seems simple enough.

The Sabbath is prominent because it had a lot to do with their discipline.

The sixth century Jews went into captivity for defiling the Sabbath.

Yes, the Jews committed idolatry and practiced child sacrifice and ritual prostitution. But they also defiled the Sabbath and, in fact, that sin is what dictated the precise 70yr length of their captivity.

The Jews were told to farm their land for six years. On the seventh year were to let the land get a rest. The Jews were to trust God’s provision by not farming for an entire year.

For roughly 490 years, they disobeyed this Sabbath rest. Thus they ‘owed’ God 70 year-long Sabbaths!

If you’ve never seen it, you’ve got to watch a skit with comedian Bob Newhart about counseling. Search YouTube for Bob Newhart Stop It. He tells the client he can solve her issue in just five minutes. She reveals that she has a fear of being buried alive in a box. He diagnoses her as claustrophobic. He then says he has two words for her. He leans over the desk and yells, “Stop it!”

“Stop defiling the Sabbath!” God said. Period; problem solved.

Jesus used this approach with great success:

  • When He dealt with the woman caught in adultery, Jesus told her He did not condemn her, and to “Go, and sin no more.” Five words.
  • When Jesus wrote to the church in Ephesus, He told them to “repent and do the first works.” Six words.
  • He used this approach in a modified way with the rich young ruler who asked what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus answered concisely, “Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor” (Mark 10:21).

Is there something you need to deal with? “Stop it!”There is no condemnation from Jesus. Repent… Return… “Go and sin no more… Get back to obedience.”

Maybe you feel like the man with the withered hand. Jesus told him to “stretch out your hand” (Matthew 12:13). He simultaneously could not and could stretch out his hand. God’s Word is His enabling. What He tells you to do He enables & empowers you to do.

Let’s take a look at the blueprint for working in verses three through eight.

In a classic line from The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy says, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

While reading the Bible, especially prophecy, it’s not unusual for the writer to suddenly jump into the future.

In the remaining verses the LORD mentions eunuchs, foreigners, and outcasts.  He says of eunuchs, “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant, Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off.”

You and I expect that kind of grace from God. A Jew who knew the Law of Moses would be stunned. In the Book of Deuteronomy Moses wrote, “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation [i.e., a eunuch] shall not enter the assembly of the LORD. One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever” (23:1-3).

Eunuchs, foreigners, and outcasts who were excluded will be welcomed, even sought out. It seems to be a modification of the Law of God. That’s because Isaiah is describing the Law of God as it will be applied in the Millennium.

Isa 56:3  Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, “The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”; Nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.”

Isa 56:4  For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant,

Isa 56:5  Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off.

Eunuchs could not produce children. The LORD said that He would do something “better” for them. If there is something, or someone, that’s is being withheld from you, don’t take matters into your own hands.   

Isa 56:6  “Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants – Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant –

Isa 56:7  Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Isa 56:8  The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

“Gathered” refers to dispersed Jews returning to Israel. They were dispersed in AD70. The gathering started happening when Israel became a nation in a day, May 14, 1948. It continues and will continue into the future Time of Jacob’s Trouble.

The Lord says “My Sabbaths… “My covenant”… “My house”… “My walls”… “My holy mountain”… “My house of prayer”… and “My altar.” It reads like He is giving us a tour of the Millennial Temple and some of its rituals.

Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the 1st Temple, built by Solomon. When the Jews returned and built the 2nd Temple, they did not call it “My house of prayer for all nations.” Neither did nations flock there. This is future, Millennial.

Super quick Temple facts: When Rome occupied Jerusalem, Herod the Great remodeled the Temple. It was still considered the 2nd Temple. It was again destroyed around AD70. From then forward, the Jews have had no Temple.

Two more Temples are predicted:

  1. A Temple will be built during the first half of the future time of great tribulation known to Jews as the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. It is the Temple that will be defiled by the antichrist.
  2. The prophet Ezekiel describes the Millennial Temple, occupying chapters 40-48 of his book.

You obviously noted the mention of the Sabbath and burnt offerings.This is where it gets sticky. Those who come to the Lord in the Millennial Temple will, in fact, keep the Sabbaths and offer animal sacrifices.

Why? The Millennial Kingdom will initially be populated by mortal believers who survive the Great Tribulation. They will have children, and their children will be like them – human with a sin nature. Over time, there will be multiplied millions of people.

It seems very odd to us, but these mortals will still be under the Law of God. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till Heaven and Earth pass away, one jot or one title will by no means pass from the Law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18). According to the Book of the Revelation, Heaven and Earth do not pass away until the Millennium ends.

Something really important: The Old Testament sacrifices did not save. They made it possible for sinful men to approach a holy God. They acknowledged sin & the need for a Savior.

The Millennium is going to be great; but it’s not going to be perfect. It can’t be – not as long as there are sinners in it. There will be law-breaking and law-enforcement:

  • Zechariah 14 tells us that any nation that refuses to come annually to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles will have no rain. They instead shall receive a plague.
  • In the Revelation we learn that a huge number of unbelievers alive at the end of the Millennium will rebel against the Lord. Fire comes down from God out of Heaven and devours them.

Three times the Revelation says Jesus will rule “with a rod of iron.” You don’t need a rod of iron to rule unless there is unruliness.

These Millennials are hardcore unbelievers. They see the risen Lord in His glory. They see us in His glory, having received our glorified bodies at the pre-Tribulation rapture. The OT saints & Tribulation martyrs are on Earth in their glorified bodies. The Earth is as good as it’s gonna get before the new creation. They rebel! They need more than an altar call to salvation. They need to shed the blood of substitutes.

If their unbelief seems unbelieveable, in one sense they will be no different from anyone today who rejects Jesus. He did tons of miracles proving He was King.

Should we expect to keep Sabbaths & offer sacrifices? That’s an emphatic, “NO!!”

Zane Hodges writes, “As believers who have been united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, [the Church has] passed out of the sphere to which the Law applies. Mark this well; removal from the Law’s sphere affects only those who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. Thereby they have been co-crucified with Christ and raised to live a resurrection life in Him. Just as soon as the Church is removed by the Rapture, the Law will again be in force for God’s people. First it will be in force for the believing Jews of the Tribulation period, as Jesus makes clear in Matthew 24. After His Kingdom is established, it will be in force for the whole world.”

Think of it this way: Do we not love the Sermon on the Mount? It is God’s code of conduct, His Law, for Kingdom living.

If the 1st century Jews had received the King, He would have established the Kingdom.

Don’t even ask. All I can say is that everything would have worked out. For example: The Bible teaches that Elijah will come before the Day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5). Jesus told us, “And if you are willing to receive it, [John the Baptist] is Elijah who is to come” (Matthew 11:14).

It is not a cop-out to realize we cannot explain everything in the Bible.

Returning to Isaiah 56:3-8, think of it as potential ministry we might be involved with in the Kingdom:

  • We will present a message of hope & healing, telling those who have previously been excluded that they are now included. We already do that, or want to. Our delivery and compassion will be elevated in the Millennium.
  • Since the Millennial Temple is a House of Prayer, we will lead prayer meetings and teach unbelievers about prayer. We will need to adapt to, “Thy Kingdom came!”
  • We will assure those who seek the Lord with their whole hearts that their sacrifices will be acceptable. Today we can assure unbelievers that Jesus’ sacrifice was acceptable. There is still time to be baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Church.

I feel like I’m always pointing out the dark underbelly of the Millennial Kingdom. It isn’t Heaven, and it is full of sinners. But Jesus will rule with His rod of iron, enforcing righteousness and implementing justice.

And we, the Church, co-rule: “For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, We shall also reign with Him” (Second Timothy 2:11-12).

Prophecy Update #783 – Like A Flood

April 21, 2024

I feel a little like comedian Jim Gaffigan.

Every time I’ve watched him, he does a string of jokes on a single topic. Somewhere along the way he mimics the audience, saying something like, “How many horse jokes does this guy have?”

Our weekly Prophecy Update has been dominated by what is going on in Israel and the war with Hamas. Our focus has been odd, or so it seems. We’ve not been talking about the conflict.

We’ve been talking about red cows.

We are going to do it again. Feel free to turn to the person next to you and say, “How many red heifer updates does this guy have?”

While Western news outlets have at least mentioned the red heifers, foreign outlets put it center stage.

Real quick: “What is the red heifer?” A perfect, all-red, red heifer is incredibly rare. In Judaism the ashes of a sacrificed red heifer are necessary to perform a ritual cleansing. The purification is through a mixture of ashes – of a sacrificed red heifer, red yarn, cedar wood and hyssop – with fresh spring water collected by ritually pure children who were born and raised under certain conditions. This ash mixture is believed to remain effective for up to 100 years and can be mixed with spring water as needed.

Without these ashes, the Jews cannot build a Temple. Period… End of discussion.

Lo & behold, a rancher in Texas USA sent 5 ‘perfect’ red heifers to Israel. ALJAZEERA reported it this way:

They have come from halfway across the world and are kept under tight security and raised according to the strictest rules.

They are five pure red heifers without blemish who have never worked, given birth, been milked or worn a yoke.

These red heifers and the archaic ritual they were brought to Israel for stand at the heart of a convoluted effort by a segment of ultranationalist Jews to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam that has stood on a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem for more than 1,000 years, and replace it with a “Third Temple.”[1]

I didn’t know until a few days ago that Hamas calls the attack and the subsequent conflict, Al Aqsa Flood.

Al Aqsa is the name of the compound of Islamic religious buildings that sit atop the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock, many mosques and prayer halls, and other domes and religious structures, as well as the four encircling minarets.

What’s the Flood. Former Israeli Defense Forces official Col. (Ret.) Miri Eisin decodes the real motive behind Hamas Commander Mohammed Deif’s ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ call. She says that Hamas is trying to draw in the entire Muslim population across the world into the war with this call. They wish to ‘flood’ Israel with warriors & flood the land with Israeli blood.

Futurists like ourselves have been pointing-out the literal fulfillment of building a Tribulation Temple for decades. Whether it happens sooner or later, it’s going to happen.

We know what is going on…And we know that we are going up.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

The resurrection and rapture of the church is presented as an imminent event. It could happen anytime. Right now, for example.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up.

Ready or not Jesus is coming! 

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/9/what-do-texan-red-heifers-have-to-do-with-al-aqsa-and-a-jewish-temple

Why Woe, Why Woe? It’s Off To Filth I Go (Nahum 3:1-7)

April 17, 2024

If you do a Google search for the phrase, “God has some explaining to do,” you will be met with many results from Christians and non-Christians and pretend Christians alike. Usually the articles are about suffering or after some tragic event. How could God allow something terrible to happen?

I listened to a song titled My God (Has Some Explaining To Do).[1] The artist sings about general sad things and comes to this line: “If I’m ever to believe that His Word is true, my God has some explaining to do.”

In the aftermath of the Las Vegas massacre, Shannon Johnson Kershner said, “God has some explaining to do.” Who is she? Just the pastor of a 5,500-member church in Chicago – the second largest Presbyterian church in the country. She’s also on record saying that God is “not a Christian” and that Christianity is not the only way to heaven.[2]

Terrible things happen in this world to individuals and to nations. We’re see them day-in and day-out in the news. The common response is, “How could God allow such tragedy?”

Of course, we know all that tragedy is because of humans – specifically because of our sin. Now God works to redeem what’s been lost and marred by our sin. And, the truth is, He does not need to explain anything to us, and yet He loves to do just that! He goes to considerable trouble to reveal and explain and contextualize and instruct and help us understand why things are the way they are and how we can partner with Him so that more lives can be saved, more societies can be benefitted, more redemption can take place around the world.

The book of Nahum is all about God revealing the terrible things that were going to happen to a terrible empire, but also explaining why. It wasn’t because He delights in human suffering – it’s because when He offered life and forgiveness, His offer was rejected.

In our text we see why Nineveh was doomed. He wants other societies to avoid Assyria’s fate.

Nahum 3:1 – Woe to the city of blood, totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without prey.

Nineveh was guilty of extreme levels of violence, deceit, robbery, and oppression. I’ve covered some of their atrocities in previous weeks. They were unmatched in brutality. Did you know the Assyrians invented crucifixion?[3] They decorated their palaces with remains of their victims. They displayed their enemies in merciless and barbarous ways around town.

Assyrian “diplomacy” was based on lies, intimidation, and force. They would make peace then attack.[4] They would often break truces and their promises to other nations.[5] When Assyria besieged Jerusalem, they promised everyone would have their own fig tree and their own vine and their own cistern. Give in to Assyria and you would live in peace and prosperity.[6]

What was the reality? Look at the example of Manasseh:

2 Chronicles 33:10-11 – 10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn’t listen. 11 So he brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

Assyria didn’t just take, they ripped apart.[7] They delighted in violence and oppression. As a result, God pronounced a woe on them.

The Old Testament prophets used this term a lot. It was most often used as a warning that God’s physical chastisement was coming.[8] It was also used as a lament for the dead.[9] God wasn’t happy that these people would die. But He had waited for decades for Nineveh to turn from their sin, to show some sign of repentance, but it never came.[10] And so, the only other option was wrath.

Nahum 3:2 – 2 The crack of the whip and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and jolting chariot!

The Assyrians are reaping what they sowed. That is a spiritual principle explained to us in the Bible. The choices we make come bundled with consequences. They had been the attackers, now they were the victims. If you sow to the flesh, you’re going to reap destruction.[11]

Here in verse 2, Nahum focuses on the sounds. Crack and rumble and the pounding of the hooves. This year, the Academy Award for Best Sound didn’t go to a sci-fi epic or action-adventure full of explosions and car chases. The Oscar went to a movie called Zone Of Interest. It tells the story of the family life of the commandant of Auschwitz, who lived in a house next to the camp. I haven’t seen the movie, but I saw a clip where they’re out on their lawn, having a regular day, and in the background you hear the muffles of what was happening in the camp. It’s haunting and sickening – the wholesale destruction of a people. That’s what Assyria was doomed for.

Nahum 3:3 – 3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over their dead.

Now Nahum focuses on the sights of the judgment. The warfare was so savage, even the Babylonians called what happened an “evil” thing…and they were the ones that did it![12]

Assyrian kings used to pile up corpses of their enemies. They paraded mangled and disfigured captives. That’s how they decorated their palaces. Now, they would become part of the furniture.

Where once they had an endless heap of treasure, now they had an endless pile of death. This was the inevitable result of a life in rebellion against God.

Nahum 3:4 – 4 Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute, the attractive mistress of sorcery, who treats nations and clans like merchandise by her prostitution and sorcery,

In addition to the lies and violence and oppression and greed, Assyria was deep into idolatry, sorcery, and immorality of every kind. This second list is added to the charges.

The Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal had “almost fanatical devotion to divination.”[13] The library of Nineveh had many tablets full of occult rituals and incantations. There were rituals for farmers, incantations for meeting with public officials. They divined using oil or the entrails of slaughtered animals.[14]

And then there was the idolatry. Assyria worshiped a variety of gods. They were particularly fond of Ishtar, and they often referred to her as a prostitute.[15]

On top of these practices, Assyria would entice other nations to take on their culture – to join with them and become like them. During Nahum’s time, King Manasseh was converting the Temple of Jerusalem to paganism. Altars to Baal, poles for Asherah, altars to the stars of the sky. He burned his sons for these pagan gods and did all sorts of witchcraft and divination, just like the Assyrians.[16] He was enamored and enticed by their wealth and their power and their culture. And what happened? He wanted to be their friend. What did they want? They wanted his money and his territory and his life. They came and ensnared him, dragged him off with hooks.

Nahum 3:5 – 5 I am against you. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. I will lift your skirts over your face and display your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms.

The action here in verse 5 is shocking, but God is simply exposing what they were already doing. It reminds me of those social media accounts that just repost TikTok videos and people get all upset. Hey, they’re just showing what you put out!

The language is harsh, but the Lord is saying to the world, “You think Assyria is the queen of the earth right now, you think she’s the strongest, greatest, most enviable. Take a look after I remove her trappings of power – the palaces and the gold and the art and the finery.[17] Let’s look behind the curtain and see what’s underneath.”

I think our tendency is to read verse 5 and feel a little uncomfortable and think, “Lord, that’s not very loving.” The truth is, it would be unloving for God not to judge Assyria. They had victimized the whole world for centuries and had refused to go God’s way, even when He gave them a gracious, merciful chance year after year, decade after decade, and now it was time for the reckoning.

Every culture, every person must face their Creator one day. The accounts must be settled. Judgment has to happen. If you want to stand before God in your own strength, in your own ability, in your own merit, then you’re going to be like Assyria. You’re going to be uncovered before Him and all that will be left is your shame and your guilt.

But if you are willing to turn from your sin and receive salvation, what happens? Then God, by His grace, clothes you in His righteousness. You are covered. And when God sees you, He sees you perfect and redeemed in His Son. And instead of your shame being on display, the immeasurable riches of His grace are displayed in you.[18]

Nahum 3:6 – 6 I will throw filth on you and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you.

Our buddy Ashurbanipal once captured an enemy leader and put him on display as a fun spectacle for his people. Here’s what the king wrote:

“I pierced his chin with my keen hand dagger. Through his jaw I passed a rope, put a dog chain upon him and made him occupy a kennel of the east gate of Nineveh.”[19]

Sin is awful. James explains to us that when sin is fully grown it gives birth to death. Now, most of us don’t act like Assyrian kings, but sin is the same. Sin bears the same fruit in a heart. And God cannot pretend like sin is no big deal. He must judge it and it is right for Him to do so.

When an individual continues in a life of sin, the result is waste and ruin and, ultimately, death. When a nation continues into a culture of sin and rebellion against God, the result is Assyria – not just the horrors of the culture, but ultimately the destruction of that nation.

God says there, “I’m going to treat you with contempt” (your version may say “make you vile). Literally the words can read, “I will treat you as a fool.”[20]

The Assyrians were fools. They could’ve escaped judgment, but they wouldn’t turn to God. And so, God allowed them to go their own way, and this is the result.

Nahum 3:7 – 7 Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying, “Nineveh is devastated; who will show sympathy to her?” Where can I find anyone to comfort you?

Not only was there no one to show them sympathy, we’ll see at the end of the chapter that everyone in the world was going to applaud the fall of the empire. None of Assyria’s peers thought God was going to far in His treatment of this nation. To all of them it had been a long time coming.

In the end, there was no one there to comfort Assyria. The saddest part of that statement is the fact that God Himself had wanted to be their Comforter. That’s always what He wants.

Nahum 1:7 –7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in a day of distress; he cares for those who take refuge in him.

But Assyria said, “No. We’re going this way. We like our culture. We like our weapons. We like our chances on our own.”

Worst of all, Judah was going the same way. In verse 1, Nineveh was called the city of blood. Both before and after Nahum, other prophets would call Jerusalem a city of blood, built on a foundation of bloodshed. In Micah 3, God says to the leaders of Israel, “You guys tear off people’s skin and devour them…kinda like the Assyrians.” In Hosea and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the Lord repeated tells His people, “you also are guilty of harlotry – you’re acting like spiritual prostitutes.”

The Assyrians are an example, not a tall-tale. They show what happens when a people turn from God and refuse God and reject God. The end is the death of their nation. The only way for a people to find refuge and comfort and redemption is by running to the Lord and receiving His mercy. To turn their backs on greed and injustice and violence and immorality and instead say, “We believe God, we trust that His way is the only way to life, and so we’re going to go that way.”

As individuals and as a nation we have this choice. The Assyrian way comes along and says, “Go with us and everyone will get their own cistern, their own vine, their own fig tree. It’s gonna be great. Pay no attention to the mounds of bodies left behind us. Pay no attention to our track record or the rot beneath the surface.” Meanwhile, the Lord says, “Go My way and the result is rest and life and hope. God promises that in His Kingdom:

Micah 4:3-4 – 3 He will settle disputes among many peoples and provide arbitration for strong nations that are far away. They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war. 4 But each person will sit under his grapevine and under his fig tree with no one to frighten him.

How’s our nation doing? Could we be found guilty of bloodshed and deceit and greed and oppression? How about idolatry, sorcery, immorality? Yesterday after watching a YouTube video some random ad started playing. The opening line was, “Can ancient witchcraft unlock the secret to luxuriant hair growth?” Our nation needs revival. And that starts with me. But we need to have a Jonah 3 moment so that our nation doesn’t have to face a Nahum 3 moment.

Have you heard it said that Shakespeare’s comedies end with a wedding and the tragedies end in death? That’s really the choice set before us. If we go with the Lord, the result is joy, leading to the wedding feast of the Lamb. If we go our way, the result is death and judgment. God has explained all of this and set before us life and death, blessing and curse. Choose wisely.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Malcolm Ruhl   My God (Has Some Explaining To Do)
↑2 https://www.christianpost.com/news/christianity-is-not-the-only-way-to-heaven-prominent-presbyterian-pastor-says.html
↑3 Peter Preskar   The Assyrians — The Appalling Lords of Torture
↑4 James Bruckner   The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah
↑5 Walter Kaiser   The Preachers Commentary, Volume 23
↑6 2 Kings 18:31
↑7 Robert Alter   The Hebrew Bible: A Translation With Commentary
↑8 The Theological Wordbook Of The Old Testament
↑9 David Baker   Nahum, Habakkuk, And Zephaniah
↑10 Kaiser
↑11 Galatians 6:7-8
↑12 The Expositor’s Bible Commentary ,Volume 7: Daniel And The Minor Prophets
↑13 Gregory Cook   Ashurbanipal’s Peace And The Date Of Nahum
↑14 Eckart Frahm   Assyria: The Rise And Fall Of The World’s First Empire
↑15 The New American Commentary Volume 20: Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, And Zephaniah
↑16 2 Kings 21, 2 Chronicles 33
↑17 James Smith   The Minor Prophets
↑18 Ephesians 2:7
↑19 Hobart Freeman   Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk: Minor Prophets Of The Seventh Century
↑20 NAC

Sinner, Sinner, Come To Dinner (Isaiah 55:1-13)

April 14, 2024

Jesus accepted enough dinner invitations to be criticized as “a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners”[1]

  • He attended a wedding in Cana where He functioned as sommelier (suh-muhl-yay).
  • He invited Himself to pop-in for a pop-up dinner with tax collector Zacchaeus.
  • He catered wilderness lunches for thousands on two occasions.
  • He cooked breakfast for His disciples after He rose from the dead.
  • When He arrived in Emmaus, He accepted the dinner invitation of the two disciples He had been walking with.
  • Jesus has made future reservations and sends out invitations for His marriage supper.

Why is Jesus such a foodie?

Robert Kelly reminds us, “In the various cultures underlying the New Testament, dining with someone indicated solidarity with that person. To eat with is to identify with. To take a meal with another was to offer that individual the right hand of fellowship in the deepest sense of the term. Meal fellowship – what an appropriate image for an incarnational Christianity.”

Jesus wrote, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). I prefer the KJV, “I will come in to him, and sup with him.”

“Ho, everyone that thirsts,” come sup with Jesus

I’ll organize my comments around two questions: #1 If You Are Saved, Are You Supping With Jesus?, and #2 If You Are Supping With Jesus, Are You Spreading Joy?

#1 – If You Are Saved, Are You Supping With Jesus? (v1-5)

Without question, human beings are God’s master work.

We are His workmanship, made in His image, and will one day be presented holy and without blemish. We will be like Jesus.

Why did God create us? I like what Billy Graham said. “God created us for one reason: to know Him and love Him and have fellowship with Him.”

Adam & Eve had one job – obey God by not eating from one of the trees in the garden. One job.

C.S. Lewis wrote:

“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. If a thing is free to be good it’s also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata – of creatures that worked like machines – would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they’ve got to be free.”

Fellowship with God was broken, but not beyond repair. It would be repaired by God coming to Earth as a man. As both God and man He could remain just and be our justifier:

  • The price & penalty for sin is death. By dying in our place, Jesus paid the price and satisfied the penalty. God therefore remains just in saving sinners.
  • God justifies us has always been explained to me in the non-academic phrase, ‘just-as-if-I’d never’ sinned. Believe Jesus and you are described as being “in Him.” God can declare a believing sinner righteous, just as if they had never sinned. 

God became man by descending from a brand new nation. Abraham and Sarah birthed Isaac; Isaac and Rebekah birthed Jacob; Jacob and his wives, Leah and Rachel, had twelve sons who were the twelve tribes. Along the way, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.

Israel’s history is rife with unfaithfulness. In Isaiah’s time, the northern 10 tribes had succumbed to Assyria. The southern 2 tribes would succumb to Babylon, then Rome, then be dispersed all over the planet for centuries. Nevertheless God promised them they would be saved.

Isa 55:1  “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

We cannot help but think of the first century Gentile church of the Laodiceans. Jesus wrote to them in the Revelation, saying, “You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked – I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see (3:17-18).

Whether Jew or Gentile there is no currency that you can earn that is acceptable in the exchange of Heaven.

Jesus invites Himself to sup with you. The metaphorical “door” of our heart is constantly being knocked on. Creation… Conscience… Commandments. Those are three ways Jesus knocks throughout your life.

The door knocking – Is it for believers or unbelievers? There were both in Laodicea. It was for both. It is for both today.

Water, wine & milk can be comprehended as aspects of the Holy Spirit’s ministry:

  • “Water” always brings to mind “the rivers of living water” that Jesus promised the Spirit would bring to our lives (John 7).
  • Paul told us not to be drunk with “wine,” but instead be filled with the Holy Spirit.
  • “Milk” we associate with “the milk of the Word.” Jesus said, “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).

Isa 55:2  Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

If you are hungry & thirsty, the foods that religion, philosophy, politics, and psychology offer either do not nourish you, or they make you sick. In the end, they are fatal. They are filled with poisons.

Wanna be like Scientology’s poster boy, Tom Cruise? You’ll be paying $128,000 to reach Clear, another $33,000 to reach Operating Thetan III, and an additional $100,000 to $130,000 to reach Operating Thetan VIII, which is the highest level currently available.

There are worse costs than money. These false worldviews cost lives… marriages… families… careers.

Meanwhile Jesus offers to forgive your sin and remove your guilt. He invites you to cast all your cares upon Him, knowing He cares for you. His requirements and easy & light, illustrated by you & He being yoked together. He gives you the Gift of the permanent indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. He gives you gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Heaven you have a custom mansion waiting for you. In it, as it were, is a safe where no one can touch your spiritual treasures. You also have guaranteed employment as we will be ruling and reigning with Christ in the 1000 year kingdom on earth.

Isa 55:3  Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you – The sure mercies of David.

God made four covenants with Israel, given in this order: (1) The Abrahamic Covenant, (2) The Mosaic Covenant, (3) The Davidic Covenant and (4) The New Covenant. He specifically mentions David, so it seems logical that it and the New Covenant are what we ought to ponder.

In chapter seven of Second Samuel God promised a descendant of David will reign on the throne over the people of God. This covenant becomes the basis for hope of a Messiah and the earthly kingdom.

The New Covenant is explained in Ezekiel: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (36:26-27). Jews & Gentiles receive the permanent indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. The New Covenant was and still is intended for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. On account of the nation of Israel rejecting Jesus and His offer of the Kingdom on Earth, the Church enjoys some of the spiritual promises of the New Covenant right now, e.g., the indwelling Spirit. Israel will in the future.

Isa 55:4  Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.

Isa 55:5  Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the LORD your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”

Either David or his ancestor/offspring, Jesus, will rule the Earth from Jerusalem in the promised but postponed Kingdom of God on Earth.

In Israel right now: Are the nations hurrying to get to Jerusalem so they can “know” the Lord, the Holy One of Israel? Are nations looking at the Jews and saying, “Your God has glorified you?”

Comedian Dana Carvey had a short-lived television show. In one of the recurring skits he and a companion would go to a drive-through and order a ton of stuff. At the window, they’d pay. Then they would speed away laughing, without their change or their food.

Have you ever gotten to the window and the cashier told you that the car ahead of you paid for your meal? A Chic-Fil-A in Minnesota tried to break the record for the longest consecutive single-day pay-it-forward at a drive thru in a single day. They did, with 369 total.

Which car are you in? The one in which you waste all your resources and receive nothing? Or the one in which you get to the window and purchase, without currency, all spiritual blessings?

#2 – If You Are Supping With Jesus, Are You Spreading Joy? (v6-13)

Here is First Peter 1:8 in several translations:

✎︎ NKJV – Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

✎︎ ISV – Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,

✎︎ AMP – Without having seen Him, you love Him; though you do not [even] now see Him, you believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy.

✎︎MSG You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him – with laughter and singing.

It makes sense that if you know Jesus, and sup with Him, your joy will be indescribable and inexpressible. It will be glorious in the sense that it is a manifestation of the transformation supping with Jesus brings. There will be laughing and singing.

The language of the last two verses reminds us we are still looking forward to the Kingdom.

Isa 55:6  Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

This assumes there comes a time the LORD cannot be found. It is appointed unto men once to die, after which comes judgment upon the unsaved.

We could translate it while He permits Himself to be found, indicating a divinely determined day of grace and salvation.

Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum discovered a unique Jewish understanding of this text. “In rabbinic theology, the time when this repentance is possible is the ten-day period between Rosh Hashanah (the Feast of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).”

This does not mean that individual Jews could only repent & be saved during those ten days. It suggests a time when the Lord would forgive & restore the nation.

Jesus fulfilled or brought about the fulfillment of the spring feasts on the Jewish calendar: Passover, unleavened Bread, First Fruits and Pentecost. He fulfilled them on the very day they were happening. Three fall feasts remain: Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles.

We evangelicals make a huge deal out of the fulfillment of the four feasts, but if you suggest His return has anything to do with the fall feasts, you’re labeled as a ‘date setting’ heretic.

Isa 55:7  Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

The future kingdom will begin with a population of saved humans who survive the Great Tribulation. Their human offspring will be unsaved. They are the “wicked,” “unrighteous” people who are called upon to repent.

Isa 55:8  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

Isa 55:9  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee said, “The Gospel is God’s way. It is not man-made. No man could ever have devised it.”

Examine yourself regularly to make sure you’re walk with the Lord is not something man-made.

Isa 55:10  “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater,

Isa 55:11  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

✎︎ Water from the heavens has a transformative effect upon the Earth and its vegetation.

✎︎ God’s Word has a transformative effect on you.

As long as Israel was faithful to God, they were promised abundant rainfall. A righteous Jew had complete confidence in God to fulfill His promise of precipitation. They should – we should – have complete confidence He will keep His promises about the future kingdom.

Isa 55:12  “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Isa 55:13  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

This isn’t fanciful. It is factual. I’m not saying Treebeard will finally be united with his Entwife. But there are phenomena we can cite.

Do you realize that the Earth hums? It’s called (are you ready?) Earth Hum. Is it going too far to suggest it is a form of worship? Or maybe it is what the apostle Paul meant when he pointed out that the creation “groans” (Romans 8:22).

“Thorns” were a thing unknown until Adam & Eve sinned. They are part of the curse sin brought. They will be unknown in the future kingdom & beyond.

“You shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace.” Yes, that was written to Jews about the future kingdom. But we read about our joy unspeakable. It is for now.

Water, wine & milk can be comprehended as aspects of the Holy Spirit’s ministry:

  • “Water” always brings to mind “the rivers of living water” that Jesus promised the Spirit would bring to our lives (John 7).
  • Paul told us not to be drunk with “wine,” but instead be filled with the Holy Spirit.
  • “Milk” we associate with “the milk of the Word.” Jesus said, “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).

Do you express The Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in your heart? Do others see that you’re so happy, so very happy? Or is your life more characterized by the song, I hear You knocking but You can’t come in?

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Luke 7:34

Prophecy Update #782 – Have A Cow

April 14, 2024

If ever there was a time to get excited about the Bible’s Last Days prophecies it is now.

The major trends revealed in the Bible are converging: A one-world government, a global economy, a ‘mark’ of some kind that is necessary for a person to access all products & services, weird marriages and genetic tampering as in the Days of Noah, professing Christians renouncing Jesus, and the exponential growth of human knowledge.

The key, of course, is the nation of Israel. In fulfillment of prophecy, the ethnic descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are back in their land.  Also in fulfillment of Bible prophecy, Israel and Jerusalem in particular are a problem for the Gentile nations.

The current war with Hamas was triggered by the arrival of red heifers to Israel. They said so, not me. The spokesman for the the military wing of Hamas, Abu Ubaydah, issued a recorded video. Among other things, he underscored the real cause for the October 7 atrocities, the growing conviction on the part of the Hamas leadership that the Jews were on a path of religious reawakening that would lead to the demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Abu Ubayduh said, “We look back 100 days to remember the educated, the complicit, and the incapacitated among the world powers governed by the law of the jungle, reminding them of an aggression that reached its peak against our path… with the start of its actual temporal and spatial division, and the bringing of red cows as an application of a detestable religious myth designed for aggression against the feelings of an entire nation in the heart of its Arab identity, and the path of its prophet (the Night Journey) and Ascension to heaven.”

We’ve reported on the red heifer many times, especially recently. Its ashes after sacrifice an essential ingredient for worship in a rebuilt Temple. The problem as they see it is the existence of the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount where the Jewish Temple once stood. If that is its location, it would mean conflict and war to control the site.

Rare red heifers were found in Texas. They are in Israel. There are voices calling for its sacrifice this upcoming Passover season.

Think of it this way: When President George W. Bush created an alliance of nations to go to war against Iraq, one of the major reasons given was that Sadaam had ‘weapons of mass destruction.’

Hamas declared war on Israel because they have…red heifers of mass destruction??

Longstanding Jewish tradition says there were nine red heifers offered so far. The tradition says that the tenth and final red heifer will be burned by the Messiah at the time of the rebuilding of the future Temple.

That is as far as I need to go with talking about the red heifers sacrifice. The Bible predicted Israel would be back in her land, and that her Temple would be re-constructed. These thousands-of-year-old prophesies are coming true before our eyes.

I received the Lord on account of the power of the Word of God in boldly making prophecies that always, 100%, come true. Unbelievers and believers both are wondering what is going on. We can tell them.

Of ourselves we say, “We are going up!”

I’m referencing, of course, the Rapture of the Church. Described as imminent, the Lord will raise the dead in Christ and then transform living believers from these decaying bodies into our forever bodies. All saints from the Church Age in which we live will be safe in Heaven while those who dwell ion Earth will be subjected to 7-yrs of God’s wrath.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

The Hunter Becomes The Hunted (Nahum 2:11-13)

April 10, 2024

In 1898, two maneless, male lions terrorized the Tsavo region of Kenya. They dragged off and devoured human victims almost daily, and were particularly focused on a British construction camp. Thousands of Indian and African workers were there, building a bridge over the Tsavo river. The estimated number of victims ranges from dozens to over a hundred. The truth is, casualties among the African workers weren’t documented.[1]

What do you do when lions are brazenly hunting people? You gear up and hunt them. John Patterson, who was in charge of the bridge-building, spent months pursuing the beasts. He was ultimately successful, though the second lion had to be shot nine times and died “gnawing on a fallen tree branch, still trying to reach him.” After all that terror and destruction, the Tsavo Man-Eaters became rugs in Patterson’s home. Years later the skins were sold to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where they were stuffed, mounted, and are now on display for the world to see.

Israel had a lion problem: Assyria. They were the apex predators of the ancient world, victimizing everyone in their territory. They devoured peoples and cities and nations. They lived, breathed, and celebrated violence. They dared God to stop them, roaring their blasphemies wherever they went.

Isaiah described the unstoppable Assyrian army this way:

Isaiah 5:29 – 29Their roaring is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.

What you may not know is how into lions the Assyrians were. They used lion imagery more than any culture in the ancient, semitic world.[2] They used it in their art and in their architecture and in their literature and their propaganda. Lions were featured on the royal seal for hundreds of years, pressed into countless clay tablets.[3] Tiglath-Pileser I wrote, “I left the chariots and took my place at the head of my warriors. I was bold as a lion, and advanced triumphantly.” King Sennacherib said, “I raged like a lion, I stormed like a tempest, with my merciless warriors I set my face against Merodach-baladan.” His son, King Esarhaddon, also wrote about roaring and raging like a lion.[4]

The Assyrian goddess, Ishtar, was often depicted as a lioness or as riding a lion.[5] And kings like Sargon and Sennacherib, would put what are called Lamassu sculptures at the entrance of their citadels and throne rooms. These statues were protective deities with human heads and bodies of bulls or lions with wings.[6] The lamassu figures were often followed by statues of a hero, grasping a wriggling lion. These are great, tall wall-sculptures that are currently on display at the Louvre.

Lions were a part of Assyrian culture for a long time, but it was Ashurbanipal who could really be called the original Lion King. We believe this was the king who reigned while Nahum wrote. He frequently used lions in his propaganda, and literally used lions to show that he was the strongest king in the world. He once said, “Among men—kings, and among the beasts—lions; all are powerless before my bow.”[7] He decorated his palace walls with images of lion hunts, which he frequently took part in. In fact, he was the only king of Assyria to put himself as a lion-slayer in reliefs on the palace walls. He had a big ego, but it also had a practical, PR purpose.

You see, lions were not only a symbol in Nineveh, they were also a real a problem. There was a population explosion in the area during Ashurbanipal’s reign.[8] They threatened both people and livestock. As king, Ashurbanipal was responsible to do something about it. So, he had an arena constructed in Nineveh so he could publicly “hunt” lions in front of his people. He wanted his citizens to know that he was the boss of lions. He told his people he could kill lions with his bare hands.[9] And he once reported that he killed 18 lions just 40 minutes after daybreak.[10] He said he was able to do this because he had been divinely empowered.[11] In fact he called himself the king of the universe.

So, hearing all this, now listen to what Nahum wrote at the end of chapter 2:

Nahum 2:11-13 – 11 Where is the lions’ lair, or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled, and the lion’s cub, with nothing to frighten them away? 12 The lion mauled whatever its cubs needed and strangled prey for its lionesses. It filled up its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey. 13 Beware, I am against you. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. I will make your chariots go up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the sound of your messengers will never be heard again.

Nahum closes this chapter with a taunt song.[12] Assyria had roared and ravaged and ruined the land for centuries, but now it’s over because the Lord God of Israel was going hunting. Look at verse 11 again.

Nahum 2:11 – 11 Where is the lions’ lair, or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled, and the lion’s cub, with nothing to frighten them away?

This wasn’t just about one city – the whole Assyrian empire was going to be wiped out. All the lions. All the lionesses. All the cubs. All their feeding grounds would be reclaimed. They were going the way of the buffalo.

Now remember: At the time of writing, Assyria was as strong as ever.[13] And they were swollen with pride. Back when Ashurbanipal’s grandfather, Sennacherib, sent an army to besiege Jerusalem, his field commander had mocked the God of Israel. He said, “Your God can’t help you or save you. NO god can overpower Sennacherib. Where is the god who can rescue you from Assyria’s power?” Then they found out. There is a God Who acts and responds and protects His people.

Assyria was going to find out again, only this time it would be their final lesson. In the previous verses, Nahum depicted the siege of Nineveh. Now, the dust has settled and there’s nothing left. Nahum mocks the Assyrians, saying, “Where’d everybody go?”

Nahum 2:12 – 12 The lion mauled whatever its cubs needed and strangled prey for its lionesses. It filled up its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey.

When Jeremiah described what Assyria did to Israel, he said, “Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions. The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria.”[14]

The Assyrian kings were very excited to talk about how violently they devoured their enemies. Here are a few lines from their annals. Ashurbanipal: “…cities I conquered, destroyed, laid waste and burned with fire…carrying booty away from them which was beyond counting.” Sargon: “I smashed their fortified walls and reduced them to the ground. The people together with their possessions I took as booty.” Tiglath-Pileser: “I felled with the sword 800 of their combat troops, I burned 3000 captives from them. I did not leave one of them alive as hostage. I made a pile of their corpses. I burnt their adolescent boys and girls. I flayed…their city ruler and draped his skin over the wall of the city[15]… I crushed the corpses of their warriors…I made their blood to flow over all the ravines and high places of mountains. I cut off their heads and piled them up at the walls of their cities like heaps of grain.”[16] The lion’s roar of Assyria was terrifying.

Their empire stretched over 1,000 miles, from the Nile river to the Caucasus mountains.[17] And through that whole territory they spread fear and violence and bloodshed. One source writes, “Assyrian cruelty stands almost unparalleled in the record of human history.”[18]

Just three weeks ago, in Northern California, a man and his brother were attacked by a mountain lion. One man was killed, the other survived with traumatic injuries to his face.[19] What do you do when lions start killing people? You hunt and kill them. And we do that even knowing that the lions are simply following their animal nature. Lions aren’t evil. They’re not criminals. But they are dangerous, and so we protect people from them. We step in and put a stop to their violence.

The Assyrians were not animals – they were human beings. They should’ve known better, especially since they had had a real encounter with the Living God during the time of Jonah. And in that encounter the Lord had told them, “You have to stop doing what you’re doing. You’ve got to turn from this evil and this violence otherwise I’m going to destroy you.” And, for a time, Nineveh did. They repented and turned toward God. But then, years went by, new rulers came to power, and the people went back on the prowl. They chose to run with the lions of Assyria, rather than the Lion of Judah.

Nahum 2:13 – 13 Beware, I am against you. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. I will make your chariots go up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the sound of your messengers will never be heard again.

I am against you. Most of us have heard the comforting words of Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” But this is the opposite of that. And if God is against you, it doesn’t matter who is on your side. It doesn’t matter your wealth or power or position or fortification or intelligence. All of it will burn in God’s wrath. Like the chariots of Assyria, it all goes up in smoke.

Their strength, their people, their empire, their culture, it was all going into the dirt. And while we shrink from the severity of their judgment, the truth is that they were reaping what they sowed. You love violence? Well then, you can die doing what you love.

The messengers of Assyria figure prominently in the Old Testament. They’re highlighted here – but we also see one of these messengers in Isaiah, 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles. He’s called the Rabshakeh. He was the royal spokesman of Assyria and he’s very much like the Mouth of Sauron if you’re familiar with The Lord Of The Rings. These messengers came to intimidate, to blaspheme, to demand submission, to exact tributes.[20]

They were messengers of death.

Finally, the Lord said, “That’s enough. I’m going to stand up on behalf of all your prey. I’m putting a stop to this once and for all.” And, along the way, He would remind the world that He is the Almighty God. He is the One in charge of the flow of human history. He is the King of the universe. Not some Assyrian. Nineveh was seen as the hub of the world at the time.[21] But God was showing His people and anyone else paying attention what was really true. The Lord is in charge.

We’re don’t know if Nahum’s message actually made it to Nineveh, though I suspect that at some point in the forty years between writing and wrath it made its way to Nineveh’s great library. But we know God was always willing to save individuals who fled to Him when judgment was coming. Rehab in Jericho. The mixed multitude in the exodus. The Gibeonites in Joshua. God is always ready to accept Ruth the Moabitess, Uriah the Hittite, Naaman the Syrian general. Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian. He’s not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance. But when they don’t, perish they will.

The city of Nineveh was doomed. The Assyrian empire was going to be wiped off the map. But individual Assyrians could still be saved. What should they do? They should desert. They should desert their temples, their culture, their sin, and ally themselves with God Almighty.

This is always the choice. We’re all guilty of sin and rebellion and blasphemy against the One True God, and the only hope we have is to fall at His feet and receive His mercy and become one of His people. That’s the only way to be saved from His devouring sword. To become citizens of His Kingdom.

Meanwhile, what was Israel supposed to be doing – the people who already belonged to God? Nahum told them, back in chapter 1, verse 15 what they should be doing:

Nahum 1:15 – 15 Look to the mountains—the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace. Celebrate your festivals, Judah; fulfill your vows.

Judah was supposed to remain faithful and remain separate. Don’t become the new Assyrians. Be who God made you to be. Orient your lives around your walk with the Lord.

I was stunned (and a little disturbed) to discover that, outside the San Francisco library, stands a 15 foot tall statue of…Ashurbanipal. In one hand he holds a clay tablet, reminiscent of his great library where he sought to compile all the world’s knowledge. In the other hand, the statue clutches a wriggling lion cub to his chest. It’s said that the sculpture cost $100,000. It has stood there for nearly 40 years[22] – an emblem of man’s wisdom, man’s hubris, man’s blasphemy, and failure.

Who is our lion King and what does He stand for? We don’t want to be anything like the Assyrians. God calls us to not love violence, to not be greedy, to not oppress the weak, to not think more highly of ourselves than we ought. He invites us to lives of mercy and thankfulness and generosity and grace. And as His messengers, we’re to be the exact opposite of the messengers of Assyria. They were messengers of death, we’re messengers of life. They came with intimidation, we go in gentleness. They extracted tribute, we freely give. They demanded submission, we go with invitation to join the family of God, to submit one to another and together kneel before our loving Savior, Who protects and provides and walks with us through life. He is the real Lion King, coming once again to put down the oppressor and deliver His people.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_Man-Eaters
↑2 Gordon Johnston  Nahum’s Rhetorical Allusions To The Neo-Assyrian Lion Motif
↑3 Eckart Frahm   Assyria: The Rise And Fall Of The World’s First Empire
↑4, ↑11 Johnston
↑5 The New American Commentary Volume 20: Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, And Zephaniah
↑6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamassu
↑7 Johnston
↑8, ↑9 ibid.
↑10 Frahm
↑12 Ralph Smith   Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 32: Micah-Malachi
↑13 NAC
↑14 Jeremiah 50:17
↑15 J. Daryl Charles   Plundering the Lion’s Den: A Portrait of Divine Fury Nahum 2:3-11
↑16 R. F. Harper   Assyrian and Babylonian Literature
↑17 https://www.ushistory.org/civ/4d.asp
↑18 W.A. Maier   The Book Of Nahum
↑19 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/24/mountain-lion-fatal-attack-california/73085116007/
↑20 The Bible Knowledge Commentary
↑21 John Goldingay, Pamela Scalise   Minor Prophets II
↑22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Ashurbanipal_(San_Francisco)

I Now Announce Us Husband And Wife (Isaiah 54:1-17)

April 7, 2024

Christians who held a conviction that it was wrong for them to watch a Rated R movie were conflicted: How could they not join their brothers & sisters who rented-out theaters and invite unbelievers to watch The Passion of the Christ?

It was the top-grossing Rated R movie of all time. It has since slipped to #9. It has a chance to move up on the list if it does well in its theater re-release this year commemorating its 20th anniversary.

Have you ever wondered why Christ’s suffering is called His passion? The Latin word passio means suffering. Its first recorded use is in early translations of the Bible that appeared in the 2nd century to describe the death of Jesus. Its meaning remained exclusively ‘Christological’ until the middle of the 11th century. Then its meaning & usage began to change:

  • It started being used of His followers to describe their persecution & martyrdom.
  • By the 13th century, passion was being used to refer to any strong drive or emotion in anyone.
  • William Shakespeare is believed to be the first to use it to describe a strong romantic and sexual desire.

The LORD expressed a more Shakespearean passion in chapter fifty-four. “For your Maker is your husband.”

I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 In His Passion The Lord Is Always Preserving You, and #2 In His Passion The Lord Is Always Providing You.

#1 – In His Passion The Lord Is Always Preserving You (v1-9)

I say, “Jesus preserves you,” and some would say, “Only if you persevere.”

The Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints is our attempt to understand “whether or not a true believer who has experienced genuine regeneration can fall away from the faith and perish everlastingly.”

The Lord is portrayed as preserving His people. He says to them, “With great mercies I will gather you… With everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you.”

For their part, the Jews do everything they can to not persevere.

IMHO, Christians over-emphasize perseverance to the point it becomes works. It’s easy to fall into self-righteousness.

If you are going to over-emphasize something, then you under-emphasize something else. Christians under-emphasize the Lord’s passionate preserving of the saints. That is one reason we like to talk more about what Jesus has done & is doing for us than what we are expected to do for Him.

Chapter 54 is future prophecy touching upon the Great Tribulation, the Return of the King, the Kingdom of God on Earth, and eternity.

The Great Tribulation that lasts 7yrs has many names. We prefer to call it The Time of Jacob’s Trouble. It reminds us that its purpose is to save Israel. When we say Great Tribulation, we mean The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, and vice-versa.

One more clarification. Historically, the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been destroyed & dispersed. Isaiah was thus addressing the Southern Kingdom of Judah. I’m going to use ‘Israel’ in the general sense of God’s future people, the “all Israel” that the apostle Paul says will be saved.

Isa 54:1  ‘Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,’ says the LORD.

The LORD compared His nation to “barren” women “who have not borne,” who “have not” been in labor. It was a great shame to be barren. So much so that the LORD called Israel “desolate.”

In the OT Book of Deuteronomy the LORD lists blessings upon Israel for her obedience, and what He called “curses” upon them for disobedience. Barren wombs are on that list of curses.

Why should they “sing,” “break forth into singing, and cry aloud?” Because “desolate” Israel would be brought to salvation and fulfill all that God promised her – including having children too numerous to number.

Being temporarily “desolate” is better than being “the married woman.” These were Gentile nations that prospered while Israel languished.

Isa 54:2  “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.

“You’re gonna need a bigger tent!” Israel has never possessed all of the land God promised her. In the future, not only will she possess all of it; she will need to annex more.

Isa 54:3  For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.

Prophecy check: Has verse three happened? No.

Isa 54:4  “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.

Israel could also be compared to an old widow in a ‘reproachable’ widowhood. “No worries,” said the LORD. A renewed Israel was coming and all such comparisons will be forgotten.

Isa 54:5  For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.

After the incident at the Tower of Babel, God was the “Maker” of a new nation through Abraham & Sarah. Their son, Isaac, would produce their grandson, Jacob, who would produce the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Israel is suddenly presented as the wife of Jehovah.

Is the NT Church ever portrayed as fully married? As a wife?

No! We are always the betrothed, yet-unwed “bride” and Jesus our heavenly Bridegroom.

Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum explains, “Any clear understanding of the Scriptures requires that proper distinctions be maintained. One of these key biblical distinctions is the contrast between Israel and the Church.”

He is “The LORD of Hosts.” It means, the LORD of Armies. It may seem odd to say so, but even though God is omnipotent, He maintains a strong military!

Their Husband is their “Redeemer.” It suggests familial ties & obligations that only Jesus could fulfill.

This “Holy One” of Israel is simultaneously “the God of the whole Earth.” It’s Jesus.

Isa 54:6  For the LORD has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused,” Says your God.

Israel was guilty of repeated, unrepented of, spiritual adultery. She worshipped idols and participated in abominable pagan sex rituals. God would restore her!

The Babylonian captivity cured Israel of idolatry once-for-all. As a nation, however, they remain in unbelief of their Messiah. Once again Dr. Fruchtenbaum is helpful: “To this day, Israel is still in the period of punishment. The persecutions of the Jews around the world and the present worldwide dispersion prove this point.”

There is no antisemitism in saying this. We are pro-Israel. We support her statehood. The United States ought to reject any proposal to divide Israel into two states.

Isa 54:7  “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you.

Isa 54:8  With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the LORD, your Redeemer.

At any point Israel could have repented and they would find that God was right there. What, then, does “I have forsaken you” and “hid My face from you” mean?

It looks forward to their Time of Trouble.

The word “little” that modifies “wrath” can be translated “overflowing, “outburst,” or “surge of anger.” The LORD is anticipating the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, the culmination of His “wrath.” That whole period of seven years is known as the Day of His Wrath. The discipline will be so strong that Israel will conclude they are forsaken, and that God is hiding His face.

This isn’t at all talking about Jesus & His relationship with you, or His Church. He promised to never forsake you, or hide from you. It is on you to sort things out when you feel that way.

His “mercies” are “great.” “His “kindness” is “everlasting.” A lot of things in your Christian life eventually boil down to this: Am I going to believe what God said? Or am I going to believe how I feel?

Isa 54:9  “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.”

The dialog is so casual, so intimate. God says, “You know, this kinda reminds Me of the flood.”

Outside, all around, was tumult & terror. Water from the sky, waters from the deep. Think of the most terrible storm, or flood, you have encountered. It was nothing compared to the flood.

Inside the ark – Noah & Co. were kept safe through it.

The flood story starts in chapter six of Genesis. In the closing verses of chapter five we read, “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (v21-25).

Enoch was raptured. Note that it was before the flood. He was saved from out of the flood while Noah and his family were saved going through the flood. Enoch is a type of the Church. Jesus has promised us we will not be on the Earth during the Day of Wrath (Revelation 3:10).

How do we persevere? You discover these essentials: Abide in Christ, talk to God through prayer, engage with the Word, participate in Church life, and let others know about Jesus.

Do not forget passion. You are the Lord’s passion and He must be yours. The more you are humbled by seeing Jesus preserving you, the more you’ll be motivated by love to persevere. Otherwise your perseverance drifts into woks and becomes a destructive legalism.

#2 – In His Passion The Lord Is Always Providing You (v10-17)

He’ll feel the Earth move under His feet.

The prophet Zechariah says this about the Return of the King: “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south” (4:14).

In verse ten of our text we read, “For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Massive changes in the heavens and on Earth are in store for the future time of tribulation. Those enduring it will certainly think it is the end of humanity.

Isa 54:11  “O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted…” Sounds like the last 3½ years of the Tribulation when Israel is being hunted down by the antichrist.

Isa 54:11  “… Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires.

Isa 54:12  I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.

“Gates” & “walls” are physical components of a city. It is not the New Jerusalem. The description doesn’t match what we read in the Revelation.

Jerusalem on Earth will be destroyed by antichrist & his armies before the Lord returns. Could this be the rebuilt, earthly Jerusalem, during the Millennial Kingdom? Sure.

Isa 54:13  All your children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children.

This is a snapshot of the future Kingdom on Earth. It is a dispensation of peace on Earth during which Jesus will set time aside to teach children.

Maybe we should call the thousand years Story Time.

Isa 54:14  In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.

Isa 54:15  Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.

Throughout its history, God ‘assembled’ nations to discipline Israel. In fact 150 years after Isaiah wrote, the Jews would be conquered by Babylon.

There will be unbelievers in the Millennium. At its end, Satan will be let out to “assemble” against the Lord & His people.

Isa 54:16  “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.

The next “Destroyer” would be Babylon, who leveled the Jewish Temple. Then Rome, who leveled the Jewish Temple. These would be “created” instruments of God’s discipline.

The antichrist will defile and level the rebuilt Temple in the future.

A whole lot of suffering is still in Israel’s future.

Isa 54:17  No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD.

Notice the important word, “heritage.” This promise is inherited in the future. I don’t in any way want to discourage you, but this verse is only for Israel, and even they can’t claim it yet.

Apologist Greg Kokl writes, “Many promises in the Bible were made to other people and we cannot legitimately claims those. We can learn from them. They’re profitable for us. All Scripture is.”

Christian – do not claim promises that God never made to you.

Claim Second Corinthians 12:9-10, “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

We trip over the word, “sufficient.” Its synonyms are adequate, passable, OK, minimal, and ordinary.

Is that what Jesus meant? “My grace is passable…My grace is minimal… It’s OK in a pinch.”

To the apostle Paul it meant “strength.” It was the the strength to “boast in… [and] take pleasure in [his] infirmities.”

“Reproaches,” “needs,” “persecutions,” and “distresses” are no match for sufficient grace.

God provides you everything necessary for a godly life. Thomas Brooks wrote, “God hath in Himself all power to defend you, all wisdom to direct you, all mercy to pardon you, all grace to enrich you, all righteousness to clothe you, all goodness to supply you, and all happiness to crown you.”

Prophecy Update #781 – A Kohen Brother

April 7, 2024

An embassy is the primary diplomatic mission in a foreign country’s capital, while a consulate is a smaller mission in a major city.

Israel on Monday struck an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, and killed a number of senior leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the Pentagon.

An attack on an embassy or consulate is an attack on the country itself. Israel & the US believe Iran is about to retaliate. It is just the kind of thing that would escalate the fighting in the Middle East. In fact, military strategists say it was intended by Israel to draw Iran into the conflict. That scenario would probably draw the US in as well.

While we are on the precipice of WWIII, a red heifer is getting lots of attention.

A red heifer is needed for a special sacrifice after which its ashes are used to ritually cleanse the implements of the Jewish Temple. Finding a red heifer that meets certain strict biblical standards is rare. The Mishnah, which is an authoritative, written embodiment of Jewish oral tradition, teaches that only nine red heifers were sacrificed from the time of Tabernacle worship until the Second Temple was destroyed in AD 70.

The Jewish sage Maimonides believed that the tenth animal would only be found and sacrificed when King Messiah was ready to appear.

This brief background helps you understand why a spokesman for Hamas cited the red heifers as a major motivation for their attack upon Israel.

The Jews believe they have found the Kohen who qualifies to lead the ceremony.

Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest and it is specifically used in reference to the descendants of Aaron. The Temple Institute released a photograph on twitter with the caption, “A KOHEN FIT TO PERFORM THE RED HEIFER CEREMONY!”

They said, “The young kohen in the photo visiting the red heifer candidates in Shiloh, is fit to perform the red heifer ceremony. He came into the world via home birth, has never set foot in a hospital or cemetery, and therefore considered by halacha (Jewish law) to be of the highest level of Torah purity, having never contracted impurity imparted by contact with a corpse.”

These events in and involving Israel are exactly what you’d expect from reading the Bible’s unfulfilled prophecies.

End Times events are going to progress according to God’s plan. The seven-year time of great tribulation is going to break-out upon the Earth. You can read about it in chapters 6-19 of the Revelation.

What you won’t read about is the Church.

We are significantly absent as God’s wrath is poured-out upon those who dwell upon the Earth

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from [out of] the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of those 7yrs by raising deceased Church Age saints, and rapturing “we who are alive and remain”

The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

D&D&D (Nahum 2:1-10)

April 3, 2024

The opening 24 minutes of Saving Private Ryan changed movies forever. Spielberg’s epic set a new standard for brutality and intensity that filmmakers have been imitating ever since.

Nahum chapter 2 is like the opening of Saving Private Ryan. It depicts the fall of Nineveh in shocking, visceral terms. There’s no question who is going to win this battle. In fact, the scene is depicted as if all the casualties are on Assyria’s side.

As the smoke of the battle clears, Nahum describes what he sees with three words: “Desolation, decimation, devastation.” The Lord God was coming, and hell on earth was coming with Him.

Nahum 2:1 – One who scatters is coming up against you. Man the fortifications! Watch the road! Brace yourself! Summon all your strength!

We’re going to move in and out of the city – one instant hearing Nahum talk to the Ninevites, in another instant we hear shouts from the soldiers. Suddenly we sweep down onto the Babylonian siege ramp, then to the rushing rivers flowing through the city. One commentary described the passage as a kaleidoscope of destruction.[1] It’s an explosion of chaos and violence.

Nahum’s calls for them to prepare themselves aren’t serious – this is ironic satire, maybe even sarcasm.[2] He’s mockingly cheering them on.[3] There was no way to prepare because this was history written in advance. Nahum uses what is sometimes called the “prophetic perfect” tense – he talks about these things as if they’re already done, because that’s how sure it was to happen.[4] Your version may not say “One…is coming against you,” but, “has come up” – past tense.

The Assyrians also had no hope in this fight because of Who they were fighting. Their eyes told them that it was a coalition of Medes and Babylonians (the Babylonians led by Nebuchadnezzar’s father), but in reality it was Someone else Who was coming to crush them: The Scatterer. The title means the One Who overflows and disperses.[5]

For centuries the Assyrians inhaled cities and peoples, gathering them under her control through savage atrocities. Now, the Lord was going to break this empire into pieces and scatter them.

It’s hard to overestimate Assyria’s prominence was when Nahum wrote. They were the superpower. They had the dominant military. They were the first to make war a science.[6] King Sennacherib spent six years building an armory in Nineveh that covered 40 acres. His son, Esarhaddon, enlarged it. They widened the royal road inside the city so that it could facilitate troop movements. They were all about war and conquest and violence. But now, the Smasher[7] was coming with His war club.[8]

Nahum 2:2 – 2 For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob, yes, the majesty of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their vine branches.

One of the main reasons why God was going to judge them was because they ravaged His people, Israel. The northern kingdom was totally destroyed by Assyria back in 721 BC. The southern kingdom was also terribly oppressed by this empire for many decades.

The question is: Why did God allow these things to happen to His chosen people? His people had turned their backs on Yahweh. In fact, they were largely going along with the Assyrian culture, worshiping Assyrian gods, and so, God raised up these merciless people to discipline them.

The testimony of the Minor Prophets is that God’s people cannot live in sin and expect no consequences. That’s not the case. In fact, judgment begins in the house of God.[9] That’s why Assyria had the power they had. That’s why Judah was a vassal state in constant danger.

If you’re a Christian and you’re living in habitual sin – you’re ignoring God’s commands or overstepping the boundaries He’s given you, you’re devoting yourself to the idols of the world or refusing to obey Him in some way, you should expect consequences from God. He loves you too much to allow you to destroy your life and He will not be mocked.

In the end, God’s would reconcile His people to Himself. Yes, we fall short and make mistakes, but our God is a reconciler. He says that after all Israel did, after all their unfaithfulness, “I will restore the majesty of Jacob and Israel.” How could He possibly do that when “Israel,” as far as the 10 northern tribes, no longer existed? With God it was possible. Here’s what God said through Isaiah:

Isaiah 27:13 – 13 On that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they will worship the Lord at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.

The people of Israel were wayward, but they weren’t lost. That’s still God’s plan for Israel, by the way. He will restore His people, not just to life, but to splendor and majesty by His grace and power.

Nahum 2:3-4 – 3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red; the valiant men are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariot flash like fire on the day of its battle preparations, and the spears are brandished. 4 The chariots dash madly through the streets; they rush around in the plazas. They look like torches; they dart back and forth like lightning.

These invaders were quite fond of red in their militaries.[10] They wore scarlet tunics. Their shields were either covered in skins dyed red or plated in copper which gave off a red glow in the sunlight.

There’s another possibility here, though. Some scholars say that Nahum means that the shields have been reddened, and the soldiers are stained in crimson.[11] Meaning that, as the Ninevite watchmen looked down the road, they saw the enemies advancing, covered in the bloody gore of the Assyrians they already slaughtered in the cities along the way.

The chariots of the day were the weapons of mass destruction. They were often fitted with scythes on the wheels, maybe 3 feet in each direction.[12] Think Ben Hur’s chariot race. Greek historians talk about heads rolling in their wake, rib cages torn open, limbs shorn from bodies. Here’s a quote: “Everything arms and men was horribly mangled.”[13] Even if you killed the driver of the chariot, the horses would keep running, and the chariot would continue it’s gruesome work.

In a battle in 395 BC, just two Persian chariots caught hundreds of Greek soldiers in the open, charged, and scattered the Greeks who were then finished by the cavalry.[14]

These sort of chariots were now racing through Nineveh – Nineveh which had widened their streets so that troops and chariots could move easily through. Now the people were trapped in a cage with these highly maneuverable death wagons.[15]

Nahum 2:5 – 5 He gives orders to his officers; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place.

In a few of these verses, scholars have a hard time determining if we’re looking at the invaders or the defenders.[16] But that adds to the chaotic frenzy of the scene.

The Babylonians and Medes came against Nineveh for a three year period. At first, the Assyrians won a few victories. But then, at the end, there was a three-month siege and we’re seeing the breech here. The ramp is built, and this “siege mantel” would be put in place to protect the attackers from arrows or other items that the Ninevites would drop from the top of the wall.[17]

Archaeologists have found an old Assyrian siege ramp. It was 230 feet wide at its base and was made of 14,000-21,000 tons of stone.[18] This was ferocious war. Both sides going all out.

There are two reasons why troops stumbled. If it’s the invaders, it’s because there are so many dead bodies, they’re literally tripping over the corpses. If it’s the defenders, it’s because when the breech happened, most of the army was drunk! That’s something Nahum prophesied and it’s attested in ancient history. The Assyrians had a small victory, so the king distributed a bunch of meat and wine and everyone started carousing and getting hammered. Some of the wiser soldiers deserted to the enemy, who heard the city was undefended and started attacking at night.[19]

Nahum 2:6 – 6 The river gates are opened, and the palace erodes away.

Nahum gives at least 12 specific prophecies about the fall of Nineveh that were literally fulfilled.[20]This is a big one – that a river would suddenly flood, and bring down the wall and palace.

Nineveh was built on the bank of the Tigris river. Two tributaries ran through the city. They had an elaborate system of sluice gates to control the flow of water.[21] This helped make Nineveh strong and prosperous, but it was also a concern for the leaders of the city. Sennacherib specifically fortified the palace foundations with “mighty slabs of limestone” in the decades prior, just in case the river flooded.[22] But, during the siege, multiple ancient historians record that sudden downpours flooded the river which then brought down more than 2 miles of the wall and part of the palace. Archaeology also backs up this account.[23]

When the flood came and the wall came down and the palace started to crumble, the Assyrian king  “resolved not to fall into the hands of his enemies, he prepared a gigantic pyre in the royal precincts, heaped up all his gold and silver and his kingly raiment as well upon it, shut up his concubines and eunuchs in the chamber he had made in the midst of the pyre, and burnt himself and the palace together with all of them.”[24]

The Assyrians had flooded cities in conquest, showing no mercy. Sennacherib called this palace the “palace with no rival.”[25] They were reaping what they sowed.

Nahum 2:7 – 7 Beauty is stripped; she is carried away; her ladies-in-waiting moan like the sound of doves and beat their breasts.

Linguists struggle with this verse. Your version may say something like “it is decreed,” or it may refer to some feminine figure like my translation does. It could mean the queen of the city, the goddess Ishtar, or the city itself. It doesn’t really matter. All would be destroyed and carried off. One commentary notes that “carried away” carries with it the sense of “being led up to sacrifice.”[26]

Nahum 2:8 – 8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water from her first days, but they are fleeing. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.

This great metropolis had amazing reservoirs of strength and power and treasure and resources and population. But they didn’t have the one thing that makes a society strong: a relationship with the God of the Bible. All that other stuff didn’t matter one bit when judgment came. It was every man for himself. No one helping anyone, everyone just running and dying and despairing. History records that people fled the city, casting themselves into the river rather than face the invaders.[27]

Nahum 2:9 – 9 “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.

Assyria had plundered nations for hundreds of years. Nahum says they stripped the world like locusts in a field. Breaking into the vaults of Nineveh would’ve been like the end of National Treasure. It was the richest city in the Ancient Near East.[28] But their wealth could not save them.

Nahum 2:10 – 10 Desolation, decimation, devastation! Hearts melt, knees tremble, insides churn, every face grows pale!

Your version may use other words like, “empty, desolate, and waste,” but in the Hebrew, Nahum uses rhyming, assonant, alliterative words. One linguist calls it intense sound play.[29] Another says it imitates the sound of a bottle being emptied of liquid.[30]

Assyria’s reign of terror would end in terror. They would be hollowed out, emptied of everything they had. Everything they thought made them great. Everything they thought made them safe. It would all be taken because God was against them.

A consistent theme in this little book is how what was bad news for Assyria was good news for Judah. That idea continues in our time. The Scatterer is coming again! Some will mourn at His return, because for them He’s coming with judgment. But if you’re a believer, then the coming of the King is our blessed hope. He’s coming to us with a reward in His hand. Which group are you a part of? If you’re not a Christian, nothing will save you from the wrath of God. If you are a Christian, there is nothing that can separate you from His covenant of love.

James 5:7-8 – 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 David Gunn, John Roberson, Anthony Gelston   Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah
↑2 The New American Commentary Volume 20: Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, And Zephaniah
↑3 CSB Study Bible Notes
↑4 Walter Kaiser   The Preachers Commentary, Volume 23
↑5 The Lexham Theological Wordbook
↑6 The Assyrians: The History of the Most Prominent Empire of the Ancient Near East
↑7 James Smith   The Minor Prophets
↑8 Ralph Smith   Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 32: Micah-Malachi
↑9 1 Peter 4:17
↑10 Charles Lee Feinberg   Jonah, Micah And Nahum
↑11 Robert Alter   The Hebrew Bible: A Translation With Commentary
↑12 Xenophon   Cyropaedia
↑13, ↑14 ibid.
↑15 The Expositor’s Bible Commentary ,Volume 7: Daniel And The Minor Prophets
↑16 James Smith   The Minor Prophets
↑17 James Bruckner   The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah
↑18 Eckart Frahm   Assyria: The Rise And Fall Of The World’s First Empire
↑19 C.J. Gadd   The Fall Of Nineveh
↑20 The Bible Knowledge Commentary
↑21 The NET Bible First Edition Notes
↑22 D.D. Luckenbill   Ancient Records Of Assyria And Babylon
↑23 NET
↑24, ↑27 Gadd
↑25, ↑28 EBC
↑26 W.A. Maier   The Book Of Nahum
↑29 Alter
↑30 Feinberg

The Cameo King

March 31, 2024

Before his death in 2018, Stan Lee was known as the king of cameos. He had over 130 acting credits, but it’s in the MCU where his appearances were most appreciated. He showed up 38 times in Marvel movies.[1] He was a WWII general, a mental patient, a dog-walker, a galactic barber, an oblivious librarian, a FedEx driver, and once mistaken for Larry King, another frequent cameo actor.

His flashes on the screen almost never had any bearing on the plot. They were meant to be a fun easter egg for fans. The truth is he had almost nothing to do with the movies. Even though he was often listed as an executive producer, it was a purely honorary title.[2] And, there is substantial evidence that Stan may have really created many of the iconic characters he laid claim to.[3]

On a hill called Calvary, Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He never misrepresented Himself – He never stole any ideas or cheated anyone. He had only done good His entire life. He was God come in human flesh – absolutely perfect in every way.

Human beings, on the other hand, are absolutely imperfect in every way. That’s why Jesus came to earth. Because God loves every man, woman, and child who has ever been conceived. We need to be saved from our guilt, saved from our imperfections, saved from the sins that disqualify us from heaven. And so, Jesus came to die in our place, taking our sin and the debt we owed, and giving us the riches of His righteousness, if we would simply believe on Him and join the family of God.

On the Sunday morning after He died, Jesus came out of the grave. Others had been raised before, but Jesus was the first to rise and never die again. After Jesus rose, He made a bunch of cameos. In one, He seemed to be a gardener. In another, a traveler. In another, a cook. But these weren’t just throw away scenes. Each one of them mattered very much to the people He encountered. Each one of them was full of purpose. Each one of them advanced the plot of God’s story – His drama of redemption.

Why did Jesus make these appearances? Was He taking a victory tour? Politicians sometimes do that after winning an election. Was it guerrilla marketing? Brands or movies sometimes do this when they want to get attention. Did Jesus need to generate buzz to gain market share?

When you read through these encounters, some of His visits don’t seem to make a lot of sense. You wonder why in the world the risen Christ would “waste” His time with such small potatoes. His cameos come in totally unexpected places, one time to a large group of 500 people,[4]

but otherwise almost always to very small groups – out of the limelight – no fanfare or pomp.

But these meetings were very important to Jesus. They were essential. They are very personal, very tender, very sympathetic, and loving. The Lord of glory – the One true God, Who conquered death and the grave, Who holds the universe in His hand – took the time (a bunch of times) to show His disciples that He loved them and had a message for them and intentions for them. A new life for them.

In each encounter the Lord helps His disciples, either by giving them encouragement, or direction, or commission, or correction. Let me read to you the opening to some of these cameos.

Matthew 28:1, 9-10 – After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb…9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.

Matthew 28:16-20 – 16 The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Luke 24:13-15 – 13 Now that same day two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles, from Jerusalem. 14 Together they were discussing everything that had taken place. 15 And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and began to walk along with them.

John 20:19 – 19 When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

John 20:26 – 26 A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

John 21:1, 4-5 – After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias…4 When daybreak came, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus. 5 “Friends,” Jesus called to them, “you don’t have any fish, do you?”

“Jesus revealed Himself.” “Jesus came near.” “Jesus came [and] stood among them.” “Jesus met them.” “Jesus Himself came near and began to walk along with them.” “Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them.”

He came. He found these beloved friends of His, whether they were on a dusty trail miles outside of Jerusalem, or out on a boat at sea or hiding in a locked room. Jesus came. Jesus drew near to reveal Himself and speak to them and make things right. He came to show them the truth and invite them to join Him in His mission to save more and more people out of death and the grave.

Since 1987, when Super Bowl champions are interviewed after the game, one of them always says: “I’m going to Disneyland!” After Jesus conquered death, He said, “I’m going to find My friends.”

Jesus Christ is a personal Savior. I’m sure we’ve all heard that phrase – Jesus Christ the personal Savior. In 1990, Depeche Mode released their song Personal Jesus. I’ve never heard their version, but I love Johnny Cash’s cover.

Your own personal Jesus

Someone to hear your prayers

Someone Who cares

He does much more than hear our prayers – He answers them. And He not only cares, He protects and provides for us. He makes plans for us. He walks with us. He includes us in His work.

In the days following the resurrection, Jesus showed again and again how much He cares – how He really is a personal Savior who is looking for people who need saving. Mary needed comfort. Jesus found her and consoled her. Peter needed restoration. Jesus found him and reconciled him. Thomas needed an attitude adjustment. Jesus gave it firmly but lovingly. Cleopas and his companion needed hope and clarity. Jesus walked with them and unfolded hope to them, mile after mile, helping them understand the truth. At least three times, He sat and had a meal with His friends, spending time with care and purpose and kindness and love. That’s our Savior!

These cameos weren’t only to make them feel better. It was also to commission them. He said, “You’re My people. Because I’m alive you can have hope and purpose and assurance. And this salvation thing I’ve been talking about is not just for when you die – it’s for right now.”

Jesus told them to go make disciples. He asked them to be eye-witnesses. He told Peter to feed and shepherd the Lord’s lambs. He told them to live by faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit.[5]

Before Easter Sunday, their lives had been shattered. They were hopeless and afraid, confused and despairing, not knowing what to do next or how to do. Then Jesus comes, and takes the time to put their lives back together. He gives them a new trajectory that would go beyond their lives, it would continue in an unbroken chain for thousands of years.

You see, it wasn’t just the 11 disciples and a few others that Jesus wanted to reach after Easter. He kept finding people and revealing Himself and drawing them in. Paul, writing in 1 Corinthians, lists different people and groups that Jesus appeared to after the resurrection and he says this:

1 Corinthians 15:5-8 –  5…he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.

The cross was more than just settling a bill. It was more than a battle against the devil. It wasn’t just a hoop Jesus had to jump through. He loves you personally. It was your sin on His shoulders, but it was His love for you that held Him there. He loves you the way He loved Peter or Paul. His desire is to specifically save you and then fill your life with His goodness and His joy and His heart and His mind and then use your life for His everlasting purposes.

The family of God doesn’t have a limited membership. There are just 780 players in the MLB. Just 450 in the NBA. Did you know there’s an ultra-exclusive dining club at Disneyland? It’s called Club 33. It’s limited to 500 members and right now there are 800 people on the wait list. It can take a decade before your chance to join comes up and when it does, you’ll need to pay a $25,000 initiation fee, followed by $12,000 every year.[6]

What’s the cost for joining team Jesus? The price has already been paid. Here’s how you join:

John 3:16 – 16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 10:9 – If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Jesus is a Savior Who loves to save, Who still saves, and Who still appears to the lost of this world, the hopeless of this world, the fearful and the searching. The King of kings spends His time saving.

Did you know there are many reports of Christ appearing to individuals in the Muslim world today? Here is an account from an interview with a missionary called Yazim who works in the middle east:

“Yazim began by stating, ‘God is moving inside the Middle East with dreams, visions, and personal visitations.’ He shared the story of a man who lived outside of an unnamed Middle Eastern city known for vast opium use. “This man said ‘A man wearing all white knocked at my door every night and I couldn’t look at him because his face was so shiny and bright,’” Yazim recalled. “‘When he would come inside, he asked me to write down what he said.  The next night, he would come again and this went on for a whole month.’” Yazim asked the man, “What did you write?”  The man showed Yazim his notebook. In it was written: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” “He had the whole book of John verbatim in his notebook,” Yazim revealed. “Jesus visited him every night until he finished the book. The amazing thing is, the man actually asked us, ‘who was this man that visited me?’”

We might wonder why the Lord didn’t identify Himself to this man. The reason is because He now shows Himself through His followers – through you and I who are Christians here this morning. In His resurrection cameos, Jesus more than once said, “I’m sending you as a witness. I’m sending you to spread the Good News. I’m going to use your life to save others.” You are the cameo now because you have been made a part of the Body of Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in you. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:20 that God makes His appeal through us.

We don’t see Jesus, visibly today, the way Peter and Paul and Cleopas did. But we can see Jesus on the pages of Scripture. He is revealed in the volume of the book. We see the testimony of the risen Christ in the lives of Christians who are walking with Him and carrying His message.

The message of Easter is clear: Jesus is the Messiah and He loves you and wants to reach you so that He can share the resurrection with you. Of all the things He could be doing, He chooses to come near to you. In John 21, while some of the disciples are out fishing, there’s Jesus just hanging out on the shore, prepping a fish breakfast, tending the fire, waiting for them. Because that was the most important place He could possibly be at the moment.

If you’re not a Christian here this morning, please understand that God loves you and wants to save you. I know that’s true because the Bible proclaims it and shows it in great detail. If you reject His offer of salvation, then you are choosing to keep the debt of your sin. And the cost for that sin is death. Physical death and eternal death. But you can escape your debt today by receiving the free gift of salvation.

If you are a Christian, be reminded that Jesus is still your personal Savior. He still has intentions and callings and opportunities for you. He wants to commune with you and show Himself through you.

A few film directors are famous for appearing in their own movies – Alfred Hitchcock and M. Night Shyamalan most famously. The other actors in those movies may have roles to play, but they’re not the director. Our heavenly Director has invited us to join His cast – to play a part in His masterpiece. He’s given us a script, He gives us direction, He’s called out “Action!” And we continue His story.

Stan Lee made two cameo appearances after his death: Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame. But, Marvel has officially made a policy: No more Stan Lee cameos.[7] After His death, Jesus made many cameos. He continues to reveal Himself thousands of years later, because Jesus is not dead. He is alive. And He is coming back one day in a worldwide appearance. All the plot of human history is leading to that moment when the King returns and sets up His Kingdom. Meanwhile, He comes near to each individual on earth, desiring to save, to sanctify, to assist, to set apart, to transform our lives with His love and grace. To share with us everything that belongs to Him.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 https://www.thepopverse.com/stan-lee-mcu-marvel-superhero-movie-cameo-ranked
↑2 https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/15/how-much-did-stan-lee-make-on-the-avengers
↑3 Abraham Riesman   True Believer: The Rise And Fall Of Stan Lee
↑4 1 Corinthians 15:6
↑5 Matthew 28:20,  John 21:15-16, John 20:22, 29
↑6 https://www.wikihow.com/Join-Disneyland-Club-33
↑7 https://insidethemagic.net/2021/07/marvel-no-more-stan-lee-cameos-jm1/
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