reading this morning is from
2nd Peter chapter 3. 2nd Peter chapter 3 and we will
read the whole chapter together. The second epistle of Peter and
chapter 3 starting at verse 1. This second epistle beloved I
now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by
way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the words which
were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment
of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour. Knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water. whereby the world
that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the
heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness? looking for and hastening unto
the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in
peace without spot and blameless. And account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written
unto you. as also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard
to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable
rest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
ye know these things before, Beware, lest ye also, being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory,
both now and for ever. Amen. Amen, and may God bless
to us this reading from his precious word. The Lord Jesus Christ told his
disciples that all the scriptures speak of him. In Luke chapter
24 and verse 27, We're told there that the Lord
is speaking and he says to his disciples, beginning at Moses and all the
prophets. He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures. Now the Lord was speaking of
the Old Testament scriptures at that time. The New Testament
had not yet been begun. It had not been written. The
apostles had not put pen to paper on these matters. He is speaking
about the Old Testament prophecies. and from Moses to Malachi, all
the prophets spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that verse
in Luke 24, 27. I love the fact that the Lord
Jesus Christ stated this truth because I believe it is the key
to open the whole of the Bible to the Lord's people. The whole
of scripture speaks of him, speaks concerning the things of Christ. It opens the Bible to the eye
that sees and the ear that hears. It's the key to that secret garden
where all the beautiful flowers grow that speak of Christ. It is a key to reveal and to
unleash the fragrances of Christ that may be detected on the breeze
in that garden. There in the shades of the trees,
the anointed one is discovered. There the sweet waters drawn
from deep, deep wells of love speak to us of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is a key indeed that opens
the secrets of Christ to those who are his people. And it is a walled garden Solomon tells us in his canticles,
in the Song of Solomon, it is an enclosed garden. It is a garden
that is both hidden and protected. The world does not see Christ
in the Old Testament scriptures. The world cannot walk in this
garden. The world has not this key. It does not catch the scent of
Christ in these Old Testament prophecies or see him revealed
and typified in them. nor indeed can the world enter
into this garden. They do not see Christ in the
ark. or in the tabernacle. They do
not see him upon the altar or in the candlesticks or in the
mercy seat. They do not see him as the sacrificial
lamb. They do not see him as that one
who is revealed in the Old Testament sacrificial system as the only
way the scapegoat It is a garden where no enemy
enters, where no thieves break in or steal. It is a garden enclosed
where Christ walks alone in the cool of the evening with his
church and with his bride, where he courts his true love. The Bible speaks of a garden
of herbs and a garden of cucumbers where the people of God taste
and see that the Lord is good, where they are refreshed at the
wonder of his person and the majesty of his purpose. where the pictures of Old Testament
incidents and experiences and personalities are revealed as
typifying the messianic purpose of God in sending Christ into
the world and show us gospel truth. When we turn to the Old
Testament, let us not look at it as a law book, let us not
look at it as a history book, let us not look at it as the
chronicles of the kings of Israel, one small nation and the ebbs
and flows of its experiences in the world. These things are
there, certainly, it is true. but they are the manifestation
of the fullness of God's way of salvation, of the coming Messiah,
of the person of Christ, and the Old Testament scriptures,
and all of the prophets speak of Christ. And are the Lord's people not
refreshed by every new discovery of Christ in these scriptures? Do we not rejoice when we encounter
the truth of God and the love of God and the continuity of
the purpose of God in these scriptures? Do we not see his grace and his
mercy manifested in the way in which he deals with his people? He makes promises to them and
he fulfills those promises. He takes a line and directs his
people, though they be wayward and sinful and awkward and stiff-necked,
yet he redeems and he recovers and he forgives. And we see grace
writ large in the pages of the Old Testament as we look and
understand the ways of Christ. Each time the Old Testament scriptures
open up to us with the key of the Lord's presence, we see our
Saviour clearly revealed and they are typified, symbolised,
revealed in these prophetic words. And Nahum, the prophet Nahum,
he is no less an authority on the Lord Jesus Christ than any
other. He is no less a witness. In the little book of Nahum,
we discover that the prophet there is speaking about Nineveh. He speaks the burden of Nineveh. the book of the vision of Nahum
the Elkoshite. God is jealous and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. People
might think, here is a man and he is speaking many, many years
ago about the city of Nineveh. but true it is that he also speaks
of Christ. Here is a prophet and he speaks
of judgment and yet he speaks too of deliverance that is found
in God's way of salvation. He is speaking about God's dealings
with the Old Testament people. But he speaks too of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He speaks of Christ's gospel
ways. And if we do not see Christ in
this prophecy of Nahum, the fault is ours, no one else's. Because Christ himself says that
he is present there. Someone will say, Nahum speaks
of jealousy and fury and revenge. Where is the gospel in these
sentiments? Where is good news in that? He speaks of wrath reserved for
enemies. True it is. God is holy. God is just and God will most
certainly judge the wicked. Let no one ever doubt this. Judgment
is surely and certainly promised and surely it is certainly due. God, we're told in Acts chapter
17 and verse 31, God hath appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. There the apostle is very clearly
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ and he speaks in the New Testament
about exactly that judgment, that jealousy, that fury, that
revenge, that storing up of anger and wrath that the prophets of
the Old Testament speak about. A day is appointed, says the
Apostle Paul. He's speaking there in Athens,
he's speaking to the Athenians. A day is appointed, says Paul,
in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained. He goes on in that verse, listen
to this because I think it's interesting. Whereof he hath
given assurance unto all men, that he hath raised him from
the dead. Do you see what Paul is saying
here? He is saying as surely as Christ
rose from the dead, he will judge this world. He is linking together
the resurrection and judgment. Now Paul has previously spoken
He writes to the Romans that our justification is based upon
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope as believers
of eternal life is based upon the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ evidences
all of the blessings and the promises It is our earnest that
these great promises of God's, of his deliverance, of redemption,
of new life, of eternal life, are ours because Christ is the
first fruits and he has risen from the dead. That death could
not hold him, that Satan could not hold him, that he has defeated
our last enemy. And yet Paul also to the Athenians
here is saying that there is an assurance given to all men
that there is a day appointed for judgment and that assurance
is the fact that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The world
celebrates Easter. It celebrates new life. It sees in Easter new beginnings. It sees in Easter a picture of
redemption. But Paul tells the unbelievers
of this world that it rather assures of judgment to come. And it is a preacher's job to
comfort the saints, but also to warn the wicked. Be not deceived,
the apostle writes. Wrath is reserved for the enemies
of God, and it is coming soon. John the Baptist could say, who
warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? We read the first few verses
of the book of the prophecy of Nahum there, and I want to turn
with you and look at the third verse of Nahum chapter one as
well. I want to dwell for a little
while today on some of the sentiments, some of the lessons that are
found in this third verse of the book of Nahum. We read it
like this. The Lord is 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. Nahum speaks of the Lord Jesus
Christ just as certainly and as clearly as all the prophets
of the Old Testament. Nahum speaks of judgment and
wrath. It speaks of God being jealous
and revenging. It speaks of his fury and it
says that there is the reservation of the enemies of God to the
anger of God. Let us not imagine that because
judgment does not follow immediately upon every act of rebellion that
God does not hold sinners accountable. Do not think that because we
have not seen the outpouring of the fullness of the wrath
of God that it in some way mitigates against that wrath ever coming
upon us. Nahum says the Lord is slow to
anger. Nevertheless, that anger is reserved
against the day of judgment that is to come. Do not think that
because God does not immediately punish the wicked for their crimes
and for their rebellion and for their opposition and hatred of
him, that that judgment is in any way less severe because it
is delayed. This is the purposes of God.
This is the way in which he has arranged and ordained things.
The Lord is slow to anger. and great in power, and he 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. That was the error in the Apostle
Peter's day. We read together 2 Peter 3, and
we saw there that there was a people, there were those wicked people
who warned his own age, as I warn here today, that the Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. People say, well, where is the
judgment of God? This is the way that the world
has always been. This is the way that life has
always been. Where are the judgments of God
against the wicked? What about all these terrible
things that happen? What about all these reasons
for doubt and worry that we see and we have when we look around
in the world today. Where is the Lord's judgment?
When is he coming back? When is he going to deal with
all of these issues? Peter says, the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. But rather
there is a long-suffering with the Lord. He is long-suffering
to usward. not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance. There are those who say of this
verse that it is a verse that teaches that God desires the
salvation of everyone. And they use it to speak of common
grace and they use it to speak of a free offer of salvation
to everyone because God does not desire the death of any. But that's not what the verse
is saying. The verse does not speak about
God desiring the salvation of everyone. and then going on to
say that he nevertheless will be disappointed because that
desire that he has will be frustrated. We have no God, the Lord, the
Lord is powerful. That is what Nahum says. The Lord is slow to anger and
great in power. We don't regard our God as being
a powerless God. to accomplish the desires of
his heart. God does not desire the salvation
of the reprobate. He has a chosen people and he
is long-suffering to usward and it is to us. Peter speaks much
about us in these two books that he has written. This is not a
verse that speaks about a free offer, as some men count free
offer. It is clear that Christ's long-suffering
is to us-ward. and it addresses the elect of
God. Those who are elect according
to the foreknowledge of God, those who are beloved, as Peter
writes in his first epistle, chapter one, verse one, and here
in this epistle, chapter three, verse one, he is using us to
describe his elect, and he does so repeatedly. The Lord, the
Lord who is powerful, the Lord who has declared himself, who
has revealed his purposes, waits to judge. He is slow to anger. He is long-suffering as he sees
the wickedness of this world unfolding, as the wickedness
of men continues to grow and to abound. He waits to judge
because that time of waiting allows a window of opportunity
for his elect to repent. He is going to recover all for
whom Christ died and as yet he has not gathered in all his elect. There are still those out there
who will hear the gospel and come through repentance and faith
to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their saviour. That is the
plan and the purpose and the pattern of our God. He sends
his spirit to call in the elect from the four corners of the
earth. He will gather them from the north and from the south,
from the east and from the west. And the Lord is long-suffering
until all his people are gathered in. Once all the children are
called home he will inflict such wrath upon men as will befit
their wicked rebellious words and works and ways. Nahum says the Lord is great
in power and he will not at all acquit the wicked. Do you know
this Lord who is great in power? Do you know the greatness of
his power? We think of the powerful men
of this world. We think of the mighty in this
world. Perhaps the rich and the famous
and the influential. They are grasshoppers in a jam
jar. They are merely ants at the top
of an anthill. They are no more than dry leaves
that blow around on a windy day. And if the wind takes one leaf
higher than another, as it blows and it gusts, does that say that
that leaf is any greater than another? The power is in the
wind. The power is in God. It is the
Lord who is great in power and he lifts up and he casts down. He allows kings to rise and he
destroys kingdoms at his own will and purpose. Nahum is telling us that the
Lord is great in power. The Lord is answerable too. It is the Lord who will have
an account of the words and the ways of all men. Nothing eludes
him. No one evades him. He searches the hearts of all
men and women. Let us not worry. Brothers and
sisters, let us not be anxious about the things that we see
going on around about us. Let us not be perplexed about
these things, about the wickedness that is in the world, about the
way in which men endeavour to frustrate the ways of God and
the goodness of God and the glory of God. that they deny him, that
they rebel against him, that they willfully oppose themselves
to all that is good and holy and gracious and merciful. Let
us not be concerned about these things. This is the Lord's doing. It is the Lord who holds the
power. It is the Lord who commands authority. and he will not at all acquit
the wicked. He will not at all acquit the
wicked. The heart of man is deceitful
and desperately wicked. There is none righteous, no not
one. All we like sheep have gone astray. If ever a verse in scripture
cried out to men and women to beware, it is this verse in Nahum
chapter 1 verse 3. The Lord is slow to anger and
great in power and will not at all equip the wicked. The Lord
hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds
are the dust of his feet. Does it not prove the absolute
holiness and purity and justice of God? Does it not leave us
all without excuse? Does it not render every child
of this world, every son and daughter of Adam under condemnation? We have all gone astray. and
God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. There is a universality
about sin and there is a universality about condemnation. Job says
in chapter 10 verse 14, if I sin, Then thou markest me, and thou
wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. God sees, God knows,
God searches the hearts and he will not at all acquit the wicked. And the psalmist says in Psalm
130 verse 3, If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? If there is to be any way of
deliverance, if there is to be any salvation in the Lord, then
it must come from His mercy and grace. It must come from the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nahum says in chapter 1 verse
3, What a powerful image that is. What a powerful image we
have in those words. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind. I don't plan to leave you today with
the thought that this is merely a meteorological picture. This is not about weather. It is speaking about whirlwinds
and storms and clouds But remember, we are seeking Christ in these
verses. Christ is present in this passage. Nahum talked of Christ. The Lord
hath his way in the whirlwind. Yes, there is judgment. God is
just, God is holy, God is perfect. And God must judge the wicked. but God hath his way in the whirlwind. Did not the Lord Jesus Christ
describe himself as the way? Did not the Lord say that he
was God's way of salvation for his people? Yes, God will have
his way in judgment. He will have his way in wrath
and he will have his way in vengeance but his way is also a picture
of salvation for we see in his way a substitute against whom
the anger of God is unleashed. We see in his way a guardian
a shield above whom the storm of divine wrath breaks. We see in his way a deliverer
who soaks up the judgment and the vengeance and the wrath of
God in order to set his people free. There is a way, a way in
the whirlwind, and it is a way of salvation in the midst of
the storm. There is a place of peace in
this whirlwind. There is a cleft in the rock.
In this storm there is a protecting hand in the day of vengeance. Nahum chapter 1 verse 6 says,
who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness
of his wrath, of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire
and the rocks are thrown down by him. O Beloved, the Lord Jesus
Christ has bared his back to the smiter. The indignation of
God has furrowed his blessed body. The fierceness and the
fury of God's wrath against the sin of his chosen people is poured
in upon the soul of our precious Jesus, like a draft from a cup
of suffering, poured and poured and poured until he drank every
drop. God had his way in the whirlwind
and in the storm, and is not this an amazing picture of the
plan of salvation Here, anger meets mercy. Here, in the way,
amid the force of the whirlwind, anger meets mercy. Holiness meets grace. Justice meets love. And as the whirlwind of fury
rages in the soul of our Saviour, so he endured to the end and
became our stronghold in the day of our trouble. Brothers
and sisters in Christ, well we speak of atonement and redemption,
because it is by the Lord Jesus Christ's interposing of himself
between God's wrath and our just desserts that we have been delivered
from divine fury and divine judgment. It is not that God is in any
way unjust, indeed his justice is demonstrated wholly and completely
because he found a substitute, because he came and became our
substitute, because God himself became a man, and in that capacity,
as our mediator, the God, man, Christ, Jesus became the substitute
of his people, and he bore the righteous fury of God against
our sin. We who trust in him, we who believe
in him, we who are his people, sanctified and set apart in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The church has been reconciled
to God through the death of his son. We have been made at one
with him. redeemed from the law's curse,
redeemed from that just punishment, and the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for our sin. Christ gave his
life that we might live. In Isaiah chapter 53 in verse
10 we read, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him
to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. There we see very clearly in
this Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah, the Lord Jesus Christ
being made an offering for sin. But it is an amazing aspect of
this plan of salvation that the prophet is able to tell us that
it pleased the Lord to bruise his own dearly beloved son. Remember this, while Christ was
taken, the apostle says in the book of Acts, and was by wicked
hands those wicked hands of the Jewish leaders, those wicked
hands of the Roman soldiers, that wicked Pontius Pilate who
sent the Lord Jesus Christ to be crucified. Though he was crucified
by these wicked hands and slain, yet it is in the eternal covenant
purpose of God that he was delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. Upon the cross the Lord Jesus
Christ endured the whirlwind of God's wrath. Upon the cross
the Lord Jesus Christ endured the storm of God's fury. And there it was that all of
the jealousy, all of the revenge, all of that vengeance that was
reserved for his enemies through the fall of Adam was placed to
the account of his son who took both the sin of his people and
called it his own. and bore the punishment for that
sin. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Because the Son of God willingly
laid down his life for those he loved, though they were enemies,
the Father loved him for it. this is the exclusive, the only
way of salvation that is revealed to us in the holy scriptures
of life. John 14 verse 6 says, I am the
way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Let me conclude with a word about
the dust clouds that are thrown up by the footsteps of our God. Nahum 1 verse 3 says, The Lord
hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds
are the dust of his feet. Again, it is quite a picture
that is painted for us here by Nahum the prophet. What do you think those dust
clouds that are thrown up by the footsteps of God are intended
to show to us. I asked a little girl what she
thought these words meant. The clouds are the dust of his
feet. And her reply was, God must have
very big feet. Well, God does not have feet that make
dust. God is a spirit. God is a spirit
and he is infinite and he is eternal and he is holy and he
is all-powerful. And yet, in order for us to understand,
in order for us to grasp something about the glory and the majesty
and the size, the greatness, the immensity of our God, Nahum
gives us this picture of the clouds being the dust of his
feet. It is a picture designed to convey
size, power and awesome glory. The wind throws up the dust.
The dust billows like great clouds. Like a sandstorm. Like a dust
storm. The whirlwind picks up the dust
of the ground and it billows in great sheets in the air in
clouds. What caused the wind to blow
the dust that seeds the great clouds? What caused the wind
but the passing by of the power of God? The Lord passes by in
the power of his Spirit. The Lord seeks out his elect
in this world by God the Holy Ghost. The Lord Jesus Christ
told Nicodemus, The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit goes up and
down in the earth where he will, gathering his elect. He gathers from every family.
He gathers from every tribe and nation. He gathers wherever they
may be. Now Christ told Nicodemus, the
wind blows where it will, where it listeth. So too, the Spirit
is sovereign. in quickening, whomsoever he
will, wheresoever he will, whensoever he will. And yet these people,
these chosen, this remnant, These little ones that are gathered
up in this powerful manifestation of the power of God, these are
not a random people. They are known of God. He knoweth them that trust in
him. They are known of God. They are
foreknown of God. They are loved from eternity.
They are sanctified in Christ. They are redeemed through grace. They are made alive in time. They are prepared for eternity
with God. The Lord, the Spirit, will find
everyone whom God chose in eternity, everyone whom the Lord Jesus
Christ redeemed at the cross, and the Spirit will gather them
home. Not one of God's elect people
will be lost. How do we take this? Let us take
it at face value. When you see a storm brewing,
when you see the clouds building, when you see them being driven
along in the wind, Remember, God is accomplishing his purposes
of grace. Let us not worry about what powerful
men are doing. Let us not be concerned about
the decisions of government. Let us not be anxious about the
ebbs and flows of population movement or religion rising and
falling. Our God is in control. He is
causing all of these things to come to pass. He is working these
things out, not so that we will be concerned by them, but so
that we will see the manifestation of his glory in them. He is saving
his people. The Spirit is powerful, the Word
is powerful, the Gospel is powerful, and Christ is gathering in his
redeemed. Isaiah 51 verse 11 says, Therefore
the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing
unto Zion. that Zion is the church and the
redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing into the
church. The praising of God, the honour
of his name will be made loud amongst his people. Everlasting
joy shall be upon their head they shall obtain gladness and
joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Lord God, grant
us to see Christ under the rod of thy justice. Grant us the
joy of seeing and knowing that the payment of our debt of sin
has been paid by the precious blood of our Saviour. And grant
that we might witness the gathering in of thy people in these last
days through the preaching of the Gospel, and may everlasting
joy be our portion and upon our head as we seek to worship thee
in the midst of the great congregation. Amen.