Bible Story: O.T. Review

Introduction

Can’t you see the work of these twelve prophets? What a wonderful job they did. Let’s notice again. Great lessons from each book. Hosea said, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4 6. God’s unfaithful brand. Joel says, It shall come to pass in the last days, and predicts the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the fulfillment of that on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2, verses 16 and 17. Amos, the fiery prophet of repentance, who said you only have time to prepare to meet God in judgment, said you’re like a basket of summer fruit, overripe, overripe, smelling badly. As a result, he said there’s a famine in the land, not of bread and water, but of the word of God. They tried to run Amos out of Israel.

Said, Go on back to Judah and haunt those people. He said, I’ve got another message or two for you. And I’m not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but when the lion roars, I’ve got to speak, and God told me to come preach to you, and you can’t hire me or fire me. I’m going to preach what God told me to tell you. We need more preachers like that. Obadiah tells of the overthrow of Adameah, the land of the descendants of Esau. And incidentally, do you know who in the first century were the descendants of Esau? The Herodian family. The crass, shallow, profane people who tried to rule Judah in harmony with the Caesars. And so we find all the way through that Esau and his descendants overthrowing the book of Obadiah and living again in the shallow lives of the Herod family, still would sell their birthright for a mess of pottage.

Still so carnal. Obadiah 3 says, The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. They were overthrown because of pride. And pride goes before destruction, a hearty spirit before fall, Proverbs 16, 18. In the book of Jonah, we read of God’s compassion for his enemies and Jonah’s lack of it. God wanted his enemies saved. Jonah was more patriotic and spiritual. Reminds me of some people today, even in the church, who are more patriotic than they are spiritual. They think every time God looks down from heaven, he sees red, white, and blue, southwestern American white people. But the Bible teaches God loves everybody and wants everybody saved. And when we fail to rejoice over the redemption of all men, we’re less like God than we ought to be.

We’re more like Jonah. Jonah cared more for the gourd tree that gave him shade from the sun off the desert and the eastern wind than he cared for the souls of 120,000 people in Nineveh. And that’s the way that book ends, just abruptly. The book of Micah is a very wonderful book that tells of God’s care for his people, and yet how they rejected the prophet of God, and now they were begging down in captivity for a prophet, and none could be found. In Micah 7, we have the most beautiful verse of all. We read that God will cast their sins into the depths of the sea. Who is a God like unto thee, full of compassion, who will cast their sins into the depths of the sea.

In Acts 3 19, on Solomon’s porch in the first century, Peter said, Repent and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. He’ll cast our sins into the depths of the sea. The book of Nahum tells of the overthrow of Nineveh, 135 years after the work of Jonah. And one of the great verses in Nahum ought to be read in every court of law today. Every judge in America ought to remember this. God will in no wise clear the guilty. Nahum 1, verse 3. Now he is of loving kindness and wants to forgive those who repent, but he will in no wise clear the guilty. Today, only the criminals have any rights anymore in America.

It’s difficult to find people who meet out justice and be consistent with law. But God will not clear the guilty. The old idea that God’s going to save everybody in heaven someday is anti-biblical. Only the righteous are going to be saved. And God would not be just and honest and honorable with his word if he saved everybody. Only those who choose to do his will will be saved by his grace. There is a side of God known as the wrath of God, Romans 2 11 and following. And the justice of God, Revelation 6:17. The book of Habakkuk tells of Jehovah’s use of the nations.

And that’s the kind of plain preaching we need today. We need to be so clear that anybody can understand what we’re talking about. And the preacher has to spend two sermons explaining what he didn’t mean in the first one is not preaching like God told Habakkuk to preach. In Zephaniah 1:18 we read, Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of God’s wrath. Judgment would fall upon Judah as well as enemy nations, because they rose up early to corrupt all their doings. Zephaniah 3 7. The most famous words in Haggai are these: consider your ways. And God said, When you begin to do my will, from that moment will I bless you. Indicating that until we choose to do his will, he will not bless us.

The book of Zechariah has more promises of the Messiah per square inch, per ratio of verses than any other book of the Old Testament, more than Isaiah. In Zechariah 13:1, we read, a fountain for cleansing and for sin would be opened outside Jerusalem. And when that great shepherd of the sheep, the one who would stand on Mount Olivet, Zechariah 13, 7 and 14, 1 to 4, came, Jesus Christ, that fountain for cleansing and for sin was opened. Malachi prophesies of the coming of John the Immerser and of Jesus Christ and paves the way for the Lord who would suddenly come to his temple. But in the book of Malachi we read that God hates divorce. 925,000 divorces in America alone last year. God hates divorce. We also read that he changes not Malachi chapter 3, verse 6.

1. Hosea, the Prophet of the Sorrowful Heart

And in chapter 3, we read that he has and has always had a book of remembrance, referred to as the Lamb’s book of life in Revelation 21, for those of us under New Testament Christianity. God knows and sees and cares and records, and we cannot hide from him. Thou, O God, seeest me. Genesis 16, 13. Can’t you see the valuable contribution that these wonderful prophets give in their books? Let’s take the heart of Hosea, for instance. That great book of Hosea is in a class all by itself. There’s nothing else just like it throughout the rest of the Bible. There’s sadness and doom, coupled with hope and sweetness rippling across his pages. Some commentaries label Hosea as more sob than sermon and a love story that went wrong, as they label Hosea the prophet of the sorrowful heart.

This grand treatise is a very tender section of Holy Scripture that ought to challenge and enrich our hearts. One of the sterling points in the entire book of Hosea is found in chapter 2, verse 7, where we learn that life with Jehovah is always the better way. C. P. Jones wisely wrote, There’s nothing so precious as Jesus to me. That earth with its treasures be gone. I’m rich as can be when my Savior I see, I’m happy in Jesus alone. Hosea wept over Israel’s sin seven centuries prior to Christ. But the errors of God’s people then parallel our problems today. One grave mistake in that long ago era was the fruitful nature of Israel in secular realms, but its barren success in spiritual pursuits. The tragedy of secularism haunts the church even today.

If all the talented folk who are supposed to be Christians would really stand up for Jesus, how bright and influential would be our plea.

Strong politically and economically, Israel was a half-baked cake in spiritual matters, good for nothing, raw on one side and burned on the other. Hosea 7, verse 8. They had eaten the fruit of lies and had trusted in military might instead of the power of godliness. Hosea chapter 10, verses 13 to 15. As a result, God’s people were reaping the whirlwind of the seed sown in sin, Hosea 8.7. Hosea’s excruciating experience with his own faithless wife paralleled God’s sorrow with Israel, his guiding bride. Trusting more in the nations around them than in the true and living God brought shallowness into the northern kingdom of Israel. The citizens of Samaria, the capital city, needed to return to the valley of Achar for the disciplinary chastening that would provide their own door of hope.

Read Hosea 2.15, and then the saga of Achan in Joshua 7, who brought sin into the camp. There was no truth, mercy, or knowledge in the land, and the very earth mourned, chapter 4, verse 3. The ancient landmarks were being removed, Hosea 5 10, as Satan rejoiced over the adulterous actions of a decadent society. It is chapter 6 that projects the major thrust of this eloquent treatise known as Hosea. One dynamic verse states, let us press on to know the Lord. This word for know refers to intimate knowledge as the Bible view of a husband knowing his wife, Matthew 1 25. Sadly, however, God’s bride was unfaithful and flippant, like the dew that goes away early. The creator, nonetheless, demands steadfast love, leal love, the Scots say, love with loyalty, chapter 6, verse 6 of Hosea.

In the revised Standard Version, we learn how seriously degraded Israel had become.

Ephraim’s harlotry is there, Israel is defiled. Surprisingly, the northern kingdoms seem to think they could hide their sins from the all-seeing God of heaven. In 7 2 of Hosea, we read this piercing word. But they do not consider that I remember all their evil works. Yes, our Father above records all things in a book of remembrance. They do not cry to me from the heart is the startling avow of Hosea 7.14. In Ezekiel 33, 31, we have a similar word. They hear what you say, but they will not do it, for with their lips they show much love, but their heart is set on their gain. Such disregard for divine emphasis made Israel like a silly dove. Chapter 7, verse 11, flitting back and forth between lovers, Egypt or Assyria, and forsaking the Lord.

The vulture of iniquity and doom hovered over the house of God, Hosea 8:1. Multiplying altars of idolatry, forgetting their maker, trusting in weapons and material strength. These points made God promise to devour their strongholds. Truly the day of recompense and the day of punishment had come. Hosea 9 7. The orchards and vineyards were luxuriant, but Israel was spiritually barren. They were fruitful, but not for God. The very sons of Jehovah were guilty of double iniquity. Chapter 10, verse 10. As Isaiah 30, verse 1 states, rebellious children add sin to sin. How desperately they needed to break up uncultivated soil and to sow a rich crop of righteousness. Chapter 10, verse 12. They had eaten the fruit of lies long enough. Yet God loved them still, and with deep compassion, drew them with bands or cards of love.

Indeed he loved them freely and fully. Chapter 11, verse 4, and chapter 14, verse 4. Just as Hosea loved his unfaithful wife and redeemed her from a life of impurity, Jehovah maintained a love for his nation, so steeped in infidelity. What matchless concern. Even the land would mourn for the shame of the impurity of Israel, who should have been righteous, faithful, and loving to her bridegroom. A typical reference to the decline of spiritual fervor is chapter 4, verses 16 and 17. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. Jehovah has always demanded truth, mercy, and sincere devotion of his servants. Chapter 4, verse 1. Loss of well being before God is the result of failing to meet these requirements.

Israel had destroyed this beautiful concord. They had cast off the thing that was good. Hosea 8 3. The great things of the law were counted as strange words. They had forgotten their Maker. Chapter 8, verses 12 to 14. It was way past time to seek the Lord. God has always demanded more than lip service. Hosea forever proves that old testament worthies offered praise from the depths of their hearts, or it wasn’t accepted. Half-hearted worship never has been anything but noise to God, Amos 5.23. Jehovah would only receive mercy and not sacrifice, Hosea 6. Burnt offerings from singed consciences would never suffice. Obedience is better than sacrifice. 1 Samuel 15 22. Israel had played the harlot and had no right to rejoice. Chapter 9, verse 1 of Hosea.

Because they would not listen to God, they would aimlessly wander among the nations. They would cry for the very mountains to hide them from the wrath of their creator, but they would be buried under the ruins caused by sin. As the northern kingdom slip more and more into the oblivion sin always brings, a deeply compassionate God would cry in the language of Hosea 11 8, How shall I give thee up? O Ephraim.

2. Joel, Amos and Obadiah: We Reap What We Sow

Frother O Sanderson provides us with a fitting clothes for these thoughts. We must go the narrow way till the sun goes down. God’s commands we must obey till the sun goes down. Every day the Lord confessing with true hearts, our wrongs redressing, if we would obtain the blessing when the sun goes down. May we always show our love to God with reverential loyalty. The book of Joel is a short book, but a dynamic one. I guess one of the most famous verses in the Bible is Joel 3 14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. And we stand in the valley of decision because of the prophecy of Joel fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Because the kingdom of God’s dear son did come, as Joel said, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed the apostles and introduced the gospel to the Jews and later at the household of Cornelius, when this promise and prophecy was consummated and fully conveyed and revealed, confirmed.

We find that all nations, all flesh had seen the salvation of God. Luke 3, verse 6. The gospel had gone to Jew and Greek alike. The kingdom of God had been established. The last days had begun. I love the little book called The Bible in Verse by Alvey Ford. He sums up each book of the Bible in poetic form, and let me share with you what he says about the book of Joel. Hear now, you people, destruction is come. Wasting and poverty, dearth is begun. Gather your elders and pray for the land. Cry for the day of the Lord is at hand. This is a day of destruction and sword. Yet there is hope for the call of the Lord. Then shall his people abide without shame, having deliverance safe in his name.

Down to Jehoshaphat nations shall go, learning while there God’s destruction to know. Then shall he cleanse and replenish the land. Judah shall dwell with the Lord in command. Someone has well said, Joel is vivid like Nahum, tender like Jeremiah, sublime like Isaiah, strong like Micah, and men and crops and fields mourned together in this elegy over sin. The book of Joel tells us that we do not offer the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul. We do not tear our garments, but our heart as we turn to God. The book of Joel then is a prediction of Pentecost. The book of Amos, the fiery preacher, the preacher of repentance, said that you people try to flee from the Lord, and yet you’re going to reap what you sow.

It’s like a man who flees from a lion and a bear meets him. He runs into the house to escape the bear, leans his hand against the wall, and a snake bites him. There’s just no way to escape the wrath of God. And you’ve turned your back on him, and you have time for one thing: prepare to meet your God. You’re at ease in Zion, you offer only noise instead of worship. You really have declined spiritually and do not care for the refinement of heaven. And as a result, you become like a basket of summer fruit, overripe, stinking. There’s a famine in the land, not of bread and water, but of the word of God, and there’s no hope for you. The book of Amos is a very powerful book that asks the haunting question.

Can two walk together except to be agreed? He’s simply saying, since Israel will not agree with God, they no longer walk with him. They’re no longer known as his companions on the road of life. He said, You need to hate the evil and love the good. Amos 5:15. The book of Obadiah, the one-chapter book of the Old Testament in the prophets, tells us of the overthrow of the descendants of Esau who uh heckled the people of God and who cheered for the Babylonians when they destroyed the city. Read Psalm 136 and 137, where they said, Erase it, erase the city to the ground. And as God’s people were fleeing from the city of God, these evil men, these half-breeds, these who should have, as descendants of Esau, been friendly to God’s eternal purpose, would catch the people of God and throw them back into the mainstream of the enemy.

3. Four Great Lessons in the Book of Jonah

They wouldn’t even let them escape. They stood by on the other side aloof, uncaring about the plight of God’s people, Abraham’s seed. And for this, the pride of their heart had deceived them, and though they lived in a natural rock ribbed fortress known as Mount Seir, God said, You may soar as eagle’s wings, I’ll cast you down. The book of Obadiah teaches we reap what we sow. The book of Jonah is one of the most unusual books in all the Bible. It tells not the words of a prophet, but the life and actions of a prophet, and a reluctant, rebellious, disobedient prophet at that. The impartiality of the Bible is one of the landmarks of its inspiration. Though Jonah is one of the great characters of the Old Testament, he certainly is depicted honestly, with all his fobles and frailties and misconceptions.

Jonah means dove. The book is not like most of the prophets’ books, for it contains not the words of the prophet, but as we said, his actions, a prophet at work, in other words. Perhaps his association with Jeroboam II and with idolatry caused him to lack trust in Jehovah. Some legends say he was the son of the widow of Zarephath, whom Elijah raised from the dead. Others that he was the husband of the Shunamite woman who extended hospitality to Elisha. Even though some would downgrade the book of Jonah as the biggest fish story ever told. Notice this. First of all, Jonah was the only Old Testament prophet Jesus directly compared himself to. Secondly, he was from Galilee, Gath Heper, three miles from Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus.

Third, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is likened unto his sojourn in the belly of the great fish God provided. Read Matthew 12 and Matthew 16, verse 4. We learn also that there were mistakes made concerning Jonah and the prophets. For in John chapter 7, the Pharisees said no prophet would come out of Galilee, but a prophet centuries earlier, Jonah had. They also failed to recognize one greater than Jonah, Jesus the Christ. This book foreshadowed the entrance of the Gentiles into covenant relationship with the Lord. Notice Acts 11 18 in the New Testament. Then to the Gentiles hath God granted repentance unto life. God was concerned with non-Israel in Old Testament days, and those who teach otherwise run into conflict with their theory when they read the book of Jonah.

For the greatest case of conversion on foreign soil in Old Testament took place at Nineveh, according to the book of Jonah. Just one lesson brought them, the Gentiles to their knees, but Israel did not hearken to thousands of lessons. The time and the setting of the book of Jonah is seven hundred and forty years before Christ. Nineveh was the Corinth of its day, six hundred thousand population. Their wickedness has come up before me. Jonah 1, verse 2. It was 60 miles around the city of Nineveh, three days’ journey through it. Walls 60 feet high, 1,500 towers, 200 feet high, three chariots abreast could go around the wall. It was a famous, huge city, metropolitan area of that day and time. The people of Assyria worshiped the fish god.

Twenty years later, God used these penitent people to subdue his own impenetent nation, Israel. But 135 years after the book of Jonah, Nineveh fell because of sin. The book of Nahum is the sequel of the book of Jonah. And in Nahum 3:1, woe to the inhabitants of the bloody city of Nineveh. Jonah did not think like God thought. You remember he was told to go to Nineveh and preach, but at Joppa he board the ship and headed for Tarshus in Spain, as far west as he could go, a place noted for tremendous wealth and sin. When men run away from God, they usually go to the other extreme. He didn’t want to go to Nineveh. Why? Well, they were his enemy. He hated them. Victory in battle was more important to him than saving souls.

They might kill him because they were his enemies. If preaching took, then God would bless. And in the complaint of Psalm 86 concerning the graciousness of a benevolent God, Jonah is echoed. And also, Nineveh was a strange place. He’d rather preach at home. His patriotism exceeded his spirituality. And I believe I’ve met brethren like that today. They’re more interested in being a super patriot than they are in being a servant of the Lord. I’ve talked to some who act like they don’t, the Russians and the Chinese, saved, because they’re our enemies patriotically. That’s just like Jonah of the Old Testament. Jonah was like the Pharisees of the first century who could not and would not rejoice in the salvation of the Gentiles. There are four great lessons in the book of Jonah that we need to learn.

First, Jonah’s flight from duty. Secondly, his preaching at Nineveh, even though he reluctantly preached. Third, his anger at the reception of the gospel by the people. And fourth, the mercy of God. Did you know there’s one key word in the book of Jonah? It’s the word repentance. Jonah repented, the people repented, and it even says God repented, meaning he changed his mind. He spared Nineveh instead of wiping them off the face of the earth. But repentance is not just a one-time step, as Jonah and the people of Nineveh would learn. Some people have said there’s just too many miracles in this book for me. There’s that great fish, but it says God prepared it. Jesus calls it a whale in Matthew chapter 12. And there are several kinds of whales that are able to swallow a man.

But you know, for the one who believes that God made the world and all things therein and uh stopped up the Red Sea and Jesus was born of a virgin and rose from the dead. Uh there’s no problem in the book of Jonah. It’s just a matter of faith in God. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11 1. And without faith, it’s impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11 6. We walk by faith and not by sight, 2 Corinthians 5 7. The points we need to stress in the book of Jonah are these. One, God means what he says.

Jonah had to do God’s will, even though he did it reluctantly. Secondly, God knows where we are, down in the belly of that great fish. Jonah couldn’t hide from God. We also learn from this book that God cares for all mankind, and that God is affected by our actions. We also learn that God uses men and nations to the accomplishment of his will. An object lesson for us is how soon we forget. The tragedy of Nineveh’s later fall, proves we must indoctrinate each succeeding generation, or we’ll lose them to the devil. In conclusion, in the book of Jonah, we learn of the power of preaching God’s message, the power of repentance, God’s concern for all mankind. And we learn the lesson of the gourd. Jonah was more concerned for it and the shade it gave him from the hot sun from the east off the desert than he was concerned for the lost souls of 120,000 people in the city of Nineveh.

4. Micah: What Doth the Lord Require of Thee

How we need to appreciate and appropriate the blessings and teachings found in this wonderful book. And then we come to the book of Micah. Many people say that this is the sweetest book of the prophets. We find that Micah worked in the year 740 to 700 BC. And in the seven chapters of this book, perhaps the outstanding statement is the familiar question, he has showed thee, O man what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. Remember that Israel was subdued by the Assyrians in 722 BC and went into captivity. 2 Kings 17 tells us of that. This forty years of Micah’s prophesying was during a most significant era of time.

Due to the stirring work of the prophets and the better rule of Judah’s kings, Judah existed as a kingdom until 586 BC, when Babylon took them completely into captivity. Read 2 Chronicles 36. Micah was a contemporary with Isaiah. His work was deemed even more important than it would otherwise be, and that Micah taught and exhorted during the sinful, degenerate reign of Ahaz, one of Judah’s few really evil kings. Idolatry was rampant in Judah at this time. An indifference toward divine matters was characteristic during the reign of Ahaz. So in our common speech, Micah had his work cut out for him. Perhaps the best known and most often referred to text in Micah sent around chapter 5, verse 2, where he predicted the virgin birth would be in Bethlehem of Judea, and in Micah chapter 6, verse 8, where he tells us in a threefold answer what the Lord requires of us.

Micah was from a little town in the western part of Judah called Moorshef. This area had previously been under the rule of Gath, one of the five great Philistine cities of paganism. During the reign of Uzziah, some fifty years prior to Micah’s time, it was brought into Judah’s domain. Most writers agree that Micah follows Hosea in chronological order as a prophet. Following the evil rule of Ahaz, there ensued in Judah a partial reformation under Hezekiah. No doubt the prophet Micah had something to do with this revival of spirituality. Some have thought that the latter portion of the book deals with the start of Manasseh’s wicked reign. Chapter 7 would coincide with such a theory as it tells of the corruption of God’s people. Manasseh’s fifty-five years over Judah was the period of idolatry and priestly impurities.

One of the main rebukes in this book deals with the terrible influence of the leaders of the people of God who had embraced the sins of the day and thus led the common man astray. Micah hesitates not to speak against the capital, as well as those in the country regions about Jerusalem. Along with Amos, Micah condemned the rich for oppressing the poor and practicing cruelty to get the job done. Like Hosea, Micah became indignant at the disloyalty of Jehovah’s Bride, Israel. Similar to Malachi, Micah sternly denounced the empty formalism of the priestly system, and the matter of fact, take it for granted, worship and ceremonial duties. In fact, most scholars agree that Micah was the most forceful and effective prophet in denouncing such practices which aid as a cankerworm into the life of Judah.

5. Five Outstanding Points in the Book of Nahum

Read Micah 6:1 through 8. In the midst of the sinfulness of the people and the impending doom, a bright promise of hope is pictured in Micah chapter 5. One day the Messiah will come, being born in Bethlehem, and all of Israel’s troubles will be over. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, Genesis 49:10, will bring peace and joy and love to the sin-cursed earth. Micah emphasizes that Messiah is the hope of the world. And the shifting of foundations, the breaking up of the moral, religious, and social orders, the hope of the world is the Christ whose kingdom of grace and redeeming power shall extend from pole to pole. One of the most forgotten sections of the Bible is the small Old Testament book of Nahum. Several truly outstanding points grace his pages, and we would be wise to peruse the verses of the little book which gives us the sequel to Jonah.

Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, had repented a century earlier under Jonah’s reluctant preaching. God had spared the nation on that occasion, but due to a hardened condition of sin, that bloody city, Nahum 3:1, would be severely chastened. Jehovah even stated that such wickedness caused the Assyrians to be scattered upon the mountains, for thy wound is grievous. The Assyrians were atrociously cruel. Vile treatment of captive nations was their landmark in that day. Nations must be concerned with their own sins, would be one of the main theses of this book. One ruler said, one ruler of Assyria, and I’m quoting, I hung high their heads in the trees of the city. Their boys and girls are buried in the flames. I devastated the city, dug it up in fire, I burned it, I annihilated it.

Nineveh, the capital of the most powerful, sensual, ferocious, and diabolically atrocious race of men that perhaps ever existed in all the world. G. L. Robinson wrote in his famous book on the minor prophets concerning Nineveh. He said, When Nineveh died, it was of the saddest type funeral, because there were no mourners. No one wept when Nineveh died. No one cared. 2 Chronicles 21 20. And so this book tells us of the overthrow of a wicked nation. Some Bible students believe Capernaum received its name from city of Nahum. The prophet’s name means comforter, but there is not much comfort in his message, especially for the rebellious city of Nineveh. Let us notice five outstanding points in this rich but overlooked section of the prophets, the book of Nahum.

First, God is a jealous God. In the prologue of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, Jehovah made it very clear that he could have no rival for Israel’s affection. Paul reminded the Corinthians in the exclusive claim God had upon the church, 2 Corinthians 11 2, that Christ must be Lord of all, or he will not be Lord at all. When we appear before the judgment, we will learn that our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12 29. The book of Nahum also shows us there is a limit to God’s patience and long suffering. When our heart is like an adamant stone, Zechariah 7, because we’re past feeling, Ephesians 4, due to a seared conscience, 1 Timothy 4.2. Our Father makes known that we’re not even to be prayed for.

Jeremiah 14 11. Nineveh, once delivered, has now come to the heartless state of mocking God. Even though Jehovah has infinite compassion, he also has comparable vengeance. Vengeance belongs to him, Deuteronomy 32, 35. And upon the sacrilege and blasphemy of nations and individuals who are indifferent or arrogant in the face of clear warning, he will pour out his wrath. Third, we learn that sinners cannot withstand his indignation. Chapter 1, verse 6 of Nahum tells us essentially the same message of the brilliantly worded stanza in Isaiah 10 3. And what will you do in the day of visitation and in the desolation that shall come from far? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your glory? And evil men or nations profane the holy name.

There is nothing left but indignation and wrath, Romans 2. And who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6 17. The people of Nahum’s day learned too late the unwavering nature of the wages of sin, Romans 6.23. The sovereignty of God blends beautifully with personal purity. Nahum teaches us in the fourth place we must keep our promises to God. Nineveh, under the preaching of Jonah, had promised to leave iniquity and to serve God. But this relationship needed to be maintained. It is not enough to once have been faithful. This agreement must be continued. The penitence of Assyria previously was all a thing of the past, and the justice of God demanded present punishment. This brings to mind a pertinent little poem. If you’re told to do a thing and mean to do it really, never let it be by halves, do it fully, freely.

Actually, that rhyme sums up the gist of Nahum, as he warns the Israel of God not to follow the trail of tears. Nineveh is walking on her own way to doom. And fifth, the book of Nahum teaches us, every generation needs to be thoroughly converted. This is the urgent reminder of Nahum. If there is a message of consolation in this unusual book, it is the intriguing suggestion that Nineveh need never have fallen, but for our own failure to indoctrinate the inhabitants of a city once cleansed by God in the precepts of heaven. It is so abundantly true today that the church is only one generation from apostasy. Our failure to inculcate within our children the treasures of Christianity will lead ultimately to a departure from New Testament ideals.

It is later than we think when we say that rallies and entertainment and compromise will produce conviction, dedication, and discernment in our youth. As Nahum closes this grand study, he reminds us all that Jehovah’s sovereign ruler as well as our deliverer in time of trouble. We can count on the benevolent hand of God in our greatest hour of distress. The one thing that wars against such rich provisions was the self-sufficiency of Nineveh, reflected also in Jerusalem. And a similar reminder to Laodicea in Revelation 3. Our Lord told that cultured city of the first century that she was poor, miserable, wretched, blind, and naked. That pretty well sums up the emptiness and vanity of an existence that fails to give God first place. May we never forget the piercing language of Nahum 1 verse 3.

6. Habakkuk: God’s Use of the Nations

Jehovah is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty. The book of Habakkuk, which follows, is one of the grandest books for to be so short in all the Bible. There is a little book in the Old Testament that is quite unique in pace, content, and richness. The powerful theme of God’s use of the nations is the heartbeat of its pages. One of the great theses of the entire Bible is found among its verses. Habakkuk 2, 4-6. The just shall live by faith. The powerful song, The Lord is in his holy temple, is based on a graphic section within its hallowed words. The sadness of Babylonian captivity is the setting, and its writer had Jeremiah and Zephaniah as contemporaries.

We speak, of course, of the dynamic but often overlooked Habakkuk. May we together peruse the pages of this valuable and exceedingly practical book of the prophets. In Jeremiah 25, 9, we learn that Nebuchadnezzar was the servant of the Lord. In Daniel’s masterful treatise, we read of Jehovah ruling the kingdoms of men. Habakkuk is that section of holy writ that poignantly illustrates those truths. God, the maker of men, can use his creation to glorify the heavenly purpose. Babylon was committed to evil and would reap the just punishment for her sins. But in the interim, the army of Chaldea would serve a noble purpose. God would use them to subdue his own wayward people and humble them for seven decades of bondage in Babylon. A fine commentary upon this theme is found in Romans 9, when the sovereignty of Jehovah is discussed fully.

The entire book of Habakkuk emphasizes that the creator has oversight in the affairs of men. The key to the anguish cry of Christ on Calvary is found in Habakkuk 113. Since God is a purer eyes than to look upon sin, he had to momentarily look away from the one who bore our sins in his own body upon the tree. 1 Peter 2:24. Jesus was not a sinner, but was made to be sin offering for us all. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Sin separates men from God, Isaiah 59:1 and 2. Therefore Jesus cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Taking our place, the Lord Jesus Christ felt the pangs of loneliness and sorrow we learn when we err, though he never erred. Truly he gave himself for our sins, 1 John 2 2, as the one who died for all, 2 Corinthians 5 14, because Jehovah placed on him the iniquity of us all.

This wondrous little book of Habakkuk speaks of the virtue of plain preaching. We are urged to make it so clear that he who runs may read it. In an age that boasts of telling it like it is, we dare not muzzle the preacher or muffle the clarion call of the message of the gospel of grace, Acts 20, verse 24. When we do, we truly sin against our own soul. Habakkuk 2.10. The powerful announcement that informs us of a divine mandate, the just by his face shall live, makes Habakkuk memorable to the student of the New Testament. In Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10, we see the application of this truism. Actually, that great verse simply states a fact. Children of God are sustained by their constant fidelity to the Creator.

But we must continue steadfastly, Acts 2.42, and always abound in the work of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15 58. If we would be considered a faithful participant in the system of faith, Romans 3 27, Galatians 6, verse 9. The most brilliant section of Habakkuk is the last chapter that forms a beautiful acrostic poem in the Hebrew text. Many scholars refer to this part of the book as the purest language of the Old Testament. The mercy and justice of Jehovah find perfect blending therein. But the practical and dramatic urgency of Habakkuk’s contribution to the Bible finds its climactic scene in chapter 2, verses 14 to 20. The battle lines are drawn tightly. Will Judah continue to seek aid from idols and pagan deities? Or will they learn once and forevermore to seek the Almighty?

As long as the people sought counsel and military strength from the nations and spiritual comfort from dumb idols fashioned by their own hands, they would be in bondage to sin. The prophet taunts them by inquiring as to the depth of understanding they could ever receive from images of gold or wood or stone. He tells them bluntly that they ought to hush and let God talk to them through his word, instead of them bowing down and crying out to representations of man’s wicked imagination. Elijah fought the very same battle on Mount Carmel and handled the prophets of Baal in similar fashion. He even suggested to the devotees of idolatry that their God was asleep or off on a journey. Centuries later, Habakkuk echoed the sentiment of the vanity of a life bereft of Jehovah’s guidance.

In 1 John 5 21, Christians are taught to keep themselves from idols. Covetousness, which is idolatry, Colossians 3:5, is the shrine of materialism that beckons us today. Such emptiness as the worship of possessions keeps us from taking the gospel of the whole world. Altars in the groves may have been the problem in Habakkuk’s days, but Cadillacs in the garage can be just as deadly in our own era. The poet perceptively stated: The dearest idol I’ve known, whatever that idol be. Help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee. Some brethren are obsessed with physical fitness, others with electronic gadgetry or political conservatism and racial problems. But in the hour of calamity, we shall not be delivered by our gym instructor, a psychiatrist, the science professor, or a rabid politician.

Our place in the social register and our balance at the bank will pale into nothingness when we stand before the judge of all the earth. You have not given me what you promised. And until you bring the money and the goods into the storehouse, not until then will I open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing to you. He said, I’m keeping a book of remembrance, and all my jewels will be recorded there. And if you’re not one of them, you’ll be lost. Malachi 3 16. He said, God hates divorce. God never changes. And then he says, one in the spirit and power of Elijah will come to pave the way for the Lord, and then suddenly the Lord will come to his temple.

Conclusion

This was fulfilled. Luke 1 17, in the coming of John the Baptizer, and in the coming of Jesus Christ. John said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So the message of the prophets Isaiah through Malachi was this Christ is coming. And Malachi closes by saying, Suddenly the Lord will come to his temple. And as we open the New Testament, we find that the Lord Jesus Christ had come, as the prophet said. What a marvelous teaching, the book of the prophets.