We've come in our study through
the books of the Bible to the book of Nahum, the prophecy of
Nahum. And Nahum's name means comfort
or consolation. But what might seem like something
odd to us, this man whose name, who means comfort, has been given
a message to deliver that he calls a burden. Nahum has been
given the burden to tell Nineveh that God is coming to destroy
them. You know, we should never delight in telling an unbeliever
that God's going to send them to hell. We should not never
delight in the destruction, the damnation of men and women. Now
it's true that if they don't believe on Christ, they don't
come to him. God will send them to hell. That's
true. We've got to tell men the truth. We can't gloss over the
truth, but that's a burden. That's not a joy to tell people
that. That's a burden. And Nahum found this message
to be a burden. And his message is a message
of total, absolute destruction to Nineveh. Nineveh will be destroyed
and it will never be rebuilt, ever. Now it doesn't sound like
there's a lot of comfort or consolation there, does it? Well, there isn't
any comfort for Nineveh in that message. But there is comfort
for God's people in this message that Nahum calls a burden. While
Nineveh will be destroyed, Israel will not be destroyed. Israel
will remain safe when God's fury is poured out upon Nineveh. And
this is the character of God. We'll see more of this in the
message in just a little bit. But this is God's character.
He always deals with every man and woman in justice. When God
damns someone, it's done in justice. And when God saves someone, it's
done in justice. While there is destruction for
God's enemies, at the same time, there's freedom for God's people.
There's eternal death for His enemies. There's eternal life
for His people. That's the way God always works. God's going to destroy Nineveh.
That's the message He's given to them. God's going to destroy
Nineveh. Well, now, why is He going to
do that? Well, you remember when we looked at the book of Jonah,
about a hundred years before this time, a hundred years earlier,
Jonah came to Nineveh preaching and God spared the city. Remember
the story, the people of Nineveh repented of their evil ways.
They worshiped the Lord. They begged for mercy and God
spared the city. Well, now a hundred years later,
Nineveh has gone back to their idols. They have become a serious
enemy of Israel. They're seriously afflicting
Israel. And now God's going to destroy
him. God is slow to anger. It took
a hundred years. God's slow to anger, but his
anger will eventually consume the wicked. And when it does,
it's only right. Now Nahum's prophecy is, that
Nineveh will be destroyed so completely it will never be rebuilt. Now you remember in our study
in Jonah I told you that Nineveh was the downtown areas of the
city was 60 miles long. It would take a man three days
walking 20 miles a day to walk across that city, 60 miles. That's a huge area. Well it's
going to be a great destruction. To destroy such a large area
is massive destruction. It's going to be so frightening.
To destroy an area so large, it'll never be rebuilt. I read on how many years later,
Alexander the Great fought a battle on this site of Nineveh. He thought
it was just an area of rolling hills. He had no idea Nineveh,
or where he was standing where none of it used to stand. It
was destroyed completely. And that's going to look and
sound very frightening for an area that large to be so completely
destroyed. Now, God's going to send an army
of men to do the job, but I'm telling you, it will be God's
fury being poured out and it will be very frightening. So
this is the burden that Nahum has. a message of destruction. But in the midst of this burden
of destruction for Nineveh, Nahum has a message of comfort for
God's people. Look at verse 7 of chapter 1. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him.
Now there's comfort for God's people because God is good. He says the Lord is good. Now
we know God must be holy. He must be just. He must be sovereign
or else he's not God. That's the character of God.
Well, goodness is another attribute of God. Just like that. God is
good. And if he's not good, he's not
God. God is so good. There's nothing but goodness
in God. And only God is good. Our Lord
says there's none good, but one that's God. Look back at Psalm
76. God is good. He's sovereign over
this world. He created it. It's his. Yet
we know this. There's evil in this world. And
God's sovereign over it. God allows that evil and he overrules
it for good. Look at Psalm 76 verse 10. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee. The remainder of wrath
shalt thou restrain. Now there's evil in the world,
the wrath of man, but God overrules it. for good because everything
that God does is good. Everything. When God punishes
sin, He destroys like He promises to do for Nineveh, it's good. And when God saves His people,
it's good. When God sends trial to His people,
it's always good. Now the trial will be painful
for the believer. but I promise you it'll produce
good because no matter what God does, it's good. He's good to
his people and he's always doing good. I'll show you that. Look
here in verse three. He says, the Lord slow to anger
and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The
Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds
are the dust of his feet. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm. To us, trials are the whirlwind
and the storm, aren't they? They seem to us like whirlwinds. They seem just completely random
and out of control. But they're not. Not at all.
God has his way in the whirlwind. There are many examples of that
we could use. I chose Joseph. You know the
story of Joseph. He's born. He's Jacob, his father's
favorite son. Life was always good for the
boy Joseph. He's his father's favorite. One day Joseph, you know, obedience
to his father and care for his brothers. They don't love him,
but Joseph seems to care for him. He goes to check on his
brothers. They're out keeping the sheep.
He goes to check on them. They see him coming and they,
oh, they're filled with rage. They hate him. They stripped
his beautiful coat his father made off of him. They threw him
down in a pit where there's no water. Oh, there's Joseph. Everything's been good for the
boy. Now he's down at the bottom of a pit. His coat taken from
him. There's no water. What a miserable
place. To Joseph, this is a whirlwind. What's going on? This is miserable,
the bottom of this pit. This doesn't make any sense.
Then Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, and they took him
to a faraway land where he didn't know the language. He didn't
know anybody. He was sure he'd never see his
family again. He's just a young man, just a
boy. This is a whirlwind. What is
going on? I mean, can you imagine him being
dumped in this place? He doesn't know the language.
What's going on? This doesn't make sense. And
then the brothers went back and they told their father, is this
your son's coat? He must have been killed by an
animal. And they watched their father nearly mourn himself to
death and they never said a word. This is a whirlwind. What is
going on? This doesn't make sense. Then
Joseph, he worked his way up from being a slave, now he's
over all the house of an important man named Potiphar. And Potiphar's
wife falsely accused Joseph. They threw him down in a dungeon.
Oh, he's miserable down there. Locked up in that dungeon in
chains. And he thinks, this is a whirlwind. What on earth is
going on? This doesn't make any sense. And Joseph came to be in charge
of the prison. The man over the prison, the
warden, he put everything in this prisoner's hands, you know.
Everybody liked Joseph. And while he was there, Joseph
met Pharaoh's baker and butler and they had some dreams. He
interpreted the dreams for them and he told Pharaoh's butler,
he said, now you're going to be restored to your position.
And when you do, Would you tell Pharaoh that I'm here? Would
you tell Pharaoh about this whirlwind that I'm in? That I don't belong
here? And he said, Joseph, I absolutely will. You don't belong here.
I'm sorry. And as soon as I get restored, I'm going to tell Pharaoh
to get you set free. And for two full years, he forgot
all about Joseph. What's going on? What a whirlwind. Joseph's just miserable. Finally, one day, that butler
remembers old Joseph. He let out of prison, he interprets
Pharaoh's dream, and in one day, Joseph went from the prison to
the throne, second in command in all of Egypt, the most powerful
nation on earth. Now, that's a good outcome, but
that still doesn't make much sense, does it? The story just
doesn't make much sense, really. Until one day, there's a famine
in all the earth. Joseph's family don't have any
food, and his brothers show up looking for food. And Joseph
takes care of them. You know the story. He finally
reveals himself to his brothers. He says, my father's still alive.
He said, forget your stuff. I'll provide you go tell my father,
but all my glory in here in Egypt, he did that as a type of Christ.
And he brought his family to Egypt. He saw his father again.
He got to be with his family. He took care of, he gave his,
his family, the land of Goshen, a good place in Egypt. And he
took care of them and fed them and provided for him and loved
them. And then one day Jacob finally died. And those brothers
thought, Oh my goodness, He's just been acting like this for
our father's sake. Now he's gonna get us. Now he's
gonna level the score. We're gonna get what we got coming. Now the whirlwind makes sense.
Genesis chapter 50. Now, finally, the whirlwind makes
sense. Genesis chapter 50, verse 20. He tells his brothers, but as
for you, you thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good,
to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now I see. God's hand was in
the whirlwind all along, wasn't it? He was directing that whirlwind. This didn't happen by accident.
He directed every minute detail, every little scrap of paper blowing
around in that whirlwind. God was in control of it. And
he worked it out for good, because God is always good. And you know
what? This isn't just a Bible story
that we tell our children. That's the gospel. And God hadn't
changed. The same God who's in control
of the whirlwind in Joseph's day is controlling the whirlwind
today. God hadn't changed. What'd he
say? I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. I change not. So when everything
around you seems like a chaotic whirlwind and you don't know
what's going on, have you ever asked that? What's going on?
I've asked Janet, what's going on? I don't understand. When
life around you is a chaotic whirlwind, you remember this. God's in control of the whirlwind.
He's in control of it and everything's good. Everything's good. He's working it out for good
because God is good. Now that's comfort for God's
people. Secondly, there's comfort for God's people because God
is our stronghold. He says in verse seven, the Lord
is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. Now this great
judgment that God's going to send to Nineveh, God has a word
of comfort for his people. He said, this thing is going
to be, my fury is going to be poured out. It's going to be
a storm. But God himself will be the stronghold for his people.
God himself. He will be the safe hiding place
when God's wrath and fury is poured out upon sin. And that
stronghold, that sure safe stronghold is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
as sure as God because he is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is
God and he is our stronghold. Martin Luther said a mighty fortress
is our God. A board never failing. He's a
sure stronghold. Now God is good to sinners. He's good to sinners because
God's good. And that's why he sent his son
to be the savior of sinners because God's good. Christ our Savior
is the stronghold. The word stronghold means a safe
hiding place. Christ our Savior is the safe
hiding place from God's wrath against our sin. Now God is holy. He's just. God must punish sin. He must punish all sin with no
exception. God must punish the sin of His
enemies. And God must punish the sin of
his elect. He must punish sin. And when the sin of God's elect
is punished, we don't fear death because we're hiding in Christ
our stronghold. God's wrath will fall on our
sin, on the sin of God's elect. But brethren, it already fell.
It's already fallen upon Christ our substitute. God's wrath has
already fallen upon Christ our stronghold. He took it all. He bore it all and in Him, everyone
is safe who's hiding in Christ from God's wrath. They're going
to be safe and protected in Christ, our stronghold. Now again, we
have a picture of that in the Old Testament. Noah. Noah hid from God's wrath. He hid from that flood inside
the ark, didn't he? Now God's wrath fell, God's wrath
against sin fell on the entire earth. in the form of a flood. That flood brought death to everyone,
didn't it? Everyone outside of that ark
died in the flood. But do you know God's wrath fell
on Noah's sin too? It sure did. It fell. Noah's
sin, God's wrath was poured out upon him. Then why wasn't Noah killed?
Why did Noah live? because Noah was hiding in the
ark. That ark bore all the rain that fell from God. God's wrath
was poured out on Noah's sin in the form of rain. And that
ark took every drop of it. Noah stayed bone dry. Not one
drop fell upon Noah. The ark bore it all. And during
the time of that rain, that angry flood waves covered this earth. You know, if somebody could tread
water for a little while, those angry waves of God's wrath in
that flood are going to drown them. Well, those angry waves
of God's wrath against Noah's sin fell too, didn't they? Why
didn't Noah drown to death? Because Noah was hiding in the
ark. That ark bore Noah over the flood and kept him safe.
Noah was safe because he was hiding in the stronghold, in
the ark, which is a picture of Christ. Now in the same way,
God's wrath against the sin of his elect was fully poured out
upon the sin of his elect. Then why did the elect have such
a sure hope of eternal life? Why won't we be damned forever,
the eternal death? because Christ our substitute
took the sin of his people and his body on the tree and he bore
all of God's wrath for that sin. God the father, his own father
poured out his fury upon Christ our substitute and Christ died
so his people would live. Christ bore the wrath of God
for that sin until God's wrath is gone. There's no more left
for you if Christ died for you. and His people are safe in Him.
Look back in Isaiah chapter 28. Isaiah wrote about this, this
Christ being our stronghold, our safe, our place of safety
when God's wrath is poured out against our sin. And that hiding place is Christ.
Isaiah 28 verse 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Now, you know,
from reading the New Testament, that's speaking of no one but
Christ. And look what he says. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Whoever is believing in the Lord
Jesus Christ shall never be ashamed. They'll never be punished for
their sins. But look what will happen to
every other hiding place. Men make up other hiding places
other than Christ. Look what will happen to those
hiding places. Verse 17. Judgment also will
I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, and the hail
shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow
the hiding place, and your covenant with death shall be disannulled,
and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, You should be trodden down by it.
That's what will happen to everyone outside of Christ. But the believer
hiding in Christ will never be ashamed, will never be confounded.
A believer hides in Christ. He's our stronghold. And the
believer won't venture outside of Christ to walk one step on
our own either. We always hide in him. We need
Christ to be our hiding place, don't we? We need Him to be our
stronghold. Because this life is full of
whirlwinds. This life is a very turbulent
place. Far as I can tell, this life
is nothing more than a series of violent storms. So we need
a hiding place. And what good news? If you believe
Christ, Christ Himself is your hiding place. Christ himself
is your stronghold in times of trouble and trial. And Nahum
describes our times of trouble and trial as a day. It's a day of trouble. It's the
day that the Lord has made. It's the day the Lord's appointed.
So it's good. And second, it's only a day.
It's just a day. It won't last forever because
God is good. But the day is going to be painful.
The day will be painful or it wouldn't be a trial. See, our
God doesn't promise His people there won't be pain. No, He promises
there will be, doesn't He? He doesn't promise that there
won't be things that scare you to death. No, He promises you
that there will be. What He promises is when He sends
that day, you have a stronghold. When He sends that day, you're
not going to be swept away. Look at a couple of scriptures.
First, Psalm 27. God sends that day, that day
of trouble and trial. You have a stronghold. Christ
is your stronghold. You won't be swept away. Psalm
27 verse 3. Here's that day, David's talking
about it. Though a host shouldn't camp against me, my heart shall
not fear. Though war should rise against
me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble,
he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle
shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted
up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore, while I offer
in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy, I will sing, yea, I will
sing praises unto the Lord, because in the time of trouble, he hid
me in his pavilion, he hid me in a stronghold. Look over a
few pages of Psalm 37. Verse 35. I've seen the wicked in great
power and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed
away and lo, he was not. Yeah, I sought for him, but he
could not be found. Now you mark the perfect man
and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace, but
the transgressors shall be destroyed together. The end of the wicked
should be cut off, but the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength. in time
of trouble, and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He
shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust
in him. If you trust in him, you'll never
be ashamed. One more scripture, Psalm 46. This is our comfort. Christ is
our stronghold. He's our place of safety. Verse
one, God is our refuge and strength. of very present help and trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though
the mountains be carried in the midst of the sea, though the
waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with
the swelling thereof, we shall not fear." Why? That sounds pretty
frightening, doesn't it? That the earth be removed, the
mountains be carried in the midst of the sea, the waters roar and
be troubled, the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Why
won't you fear? Because God is our refuge. He's our stronghold. That's comfort
for God's people. Then third, there's comfort for
God's people. And this is prophecy. Because
God knows them that trust in Him. That's what He says at the
end of verse 7. He knoweth them that trust in
Him. Now there's nothing more comforting
than trusting Christ. Nothing more comforting. Trusting
Him to save. Trusting Him to be your righteousness.
There's nothing more comforting than trusting Christ to bring
you home safely. There's nothing more comforting
than trusting in Christ to feed you. Physically and spiritually,
trusting. There's nothing more comforting
than trusting in the Lord to provide. He'll provide. There's
nothing more comforting than trusting in the goodness of God.
There's nothing more comforting than knowing we rest safely,
securely, peacefully in Christ our stronghold. I don't care
how bad the storm is outside. It's comforting to trust in Christ.
That's why God says He'll never allow anyone who trusts in Him
to be disappointed. And there's comfort for the needy
sinner here. There's comfort for the believer.
Trust in Christ. You know that. There's nothing
more comforting than just trusting Christ. And for the needy sinner,
As of this moment, it feels like you have no hope. You have no
place to trust. You have no faith. There's good news. You don't
have to come up with this faith on your own. You don't have to
come up with this trust on your own. The prophet says the Lord
knoweth them that trust in him. The Lord knows his people. He's always known them. He put
them in Christ in eternity. He's always known his people.
The Lord knows his people because when he died, he died with your
name engraved on his heart. He knows his people. Christ knows
his people because he has union with them. He's in them and they're
in him and he won't let them go. He knows his people. Look
at second Timothy chapter two. Paul and Timothy lived in a day
much like ours where there's so much false religion which
seems to flourish. We see the enemies of God seemingly
to flourish for a time. Nothing's changed. So look what
Paul tells Timothy about that in verse 15. He said, You study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, but shun profane
and vain babblings. For they will increase unto more
ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom
is Hymenas and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred,
saying that the resurrection is already past, and they will
overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, nevertheless, despite
what these heretics are doing, despite the whirlwind that they
seem to create, God's purpose is sure. Not one of his sheep
will be lost. It seems like they've overthrown
the faith of some, but they're not gonna overthrow the faith
of God's elect. Verse 19, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. See, that's the believer's comfort.
The believer's comfort is not in how much I know God. Now,
by God's grace, I know God. I know that's a big statement. But by God's grace, I do know
God. To know God is to have eternal
life. I know Him. But my comfort is
not in how much I know God, because I don't know much about Him.
My comfort and my assurance is He knows me. That's my comfort. One day, in a day of trouble,
The apostle Peter claimed to not even know the Lord. But the Lord knew Peter and he
prayed for him. And after he arose, he didn't
let Peter go, did he? He said, go tell my disciples
and be sure to tell Peter I'm risen. And he came and prepared
lunch. Peter jumped out of the boat
and swam to him. And our Lord dealt with Peter so lovingly
and kindly. Peter, do you love me? Oh, Lord,
you know I love you. How he brought Peter back into
fellowship with him because he knows Peter. He knows he has
union with Peter. He knows him like a husband knows
his wife. And that's what he'll do for
every last one of his sheep. He won't let you go because he
knows then to trust in you. And he loves them. So that's
our comfort. Our comfort is the Lord is good.
He won't let his people go. Our comfort is that Christ is
our stronghold. We're safe in him. And the Lord
knows his people who trust in him. And he won't forget them. Now that's comfort. That's comfort
in this midst of this message that Nahum calls a burden. All
right, I hope the Lord bless that.