This is a passage that I am going to bring, and I pray about what God will have me, and I ask God what He wants me to preach. I don't preach what I want to preach. I pray and I ask God, God, what do you want me to preach? And this is a passage that God laid upon my heart, and the message that I'm going to bring today is the goodness of God in the midst of judgment. If you'll turn with me to the book of Nahum, chapter one, it's this three chapters in the Old Testament, and he's not a well-known prophet, he's one of the minor prophets, and this book is a book of judgment. And this little-known prophet is writing a book of judgment upon the city of Nineveh, And the city of Nineveh was an ancient city and it had a long history. And Nineveh was also the city where Sennacherib lived when the ten tribes went into judgment. He was the king and that was where he ruled and he had his palace there. And so there's a connection to Nineveh. God's people in that respect and there was times where it would go back and forth between Assyria and Israel and the battles that had raged. And what it pictures is a picture of the world against God's people. And so Here we have this little prophet, he writes the book, not this little prophet, but the prophet of God and he writes this short book on the judgment of God against Nineveh. And we're going to look at the goodness of God in the midst of judgment. And even though there's judgment coming upon Nineveh, there's still a message of hope and encouragement in this because when he starts writing, he starts writing it and the first thing he does is he begins to address God's people in this message of judgment. In chapter 1, beginning in verse 1, let's read this here. Verses 1 through 8 says, the burden of Nineveh The book of the vision of Nahum, the Elkishite. 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. 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. He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry, and dryeth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence. Yea, the world and all that dwell therein Who can stand before His indignation? Who can abide in the fierceness of His fury, of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. But with an overrunning flood, He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies. Let us pray. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for your goodness and the privilege to be in your house today to worship you and to gather around and sing songs of praise to you and to hear the Word of God. And I do pray, God, today that you'll help me to bring forth that which you've put upon my heart, and that you'll help me to bring it forth clearly. And I pray, God, that you'll be glorified in it, and I pray that you'll use it to your ends. And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. And I just, as I read this and we think about the city of Nineveh, and here we are, the timing of this message is, there's a little bit of question mark on it, but I think it probably was most likely somewhere between the time of Israel's captivity and that, I forget his name, where he went and he was taunting Rabshakeh, he was taunting Hezekiah, the king. And I think it was written somewhere between that timeframe there. because Israel had gone into captivity and the likelihood is that Nahum was possibly either taken into captivity or he was a godly remnant that was left behind by spared by God from the judgment that came upon the ten tribes and then like many people he moved down to Jerusalem and became a part of Judah, because he was a true worshiper of God. God used him to write this letter, which is a demonstration of that, that in the midst of all the people of God going towards worldliness and carnality, like the Ten Tribes did, and they had corrupted the worship of God, this man here that God chose to write this letter maintained a purity and a walk with God because God used him. And it just points to the fact that God doesn't use a Christian or somebody that is going to compromise or change and corrupt the worship of God. God's not pleased with that. and God doesn't use vessels like that. Now men will rise themselves up and put themselves into positions and act as though they are the vessels and the chosen ones of God, but the Word of God will shed light upon them and expose them for what they are and in time it always happens and it brings itself forth. But Nahum here, the first thing we'll look at is the messenger of God. God doesn't tell us a lot about him, but if we look at the history surrounding this, we can kind of speculate a couple of things that I've already referred to, is that Nahum was a godly man, and that God chose him for a specific purpose, to bring this message forth. And the message that he comes forth, when we think about this message, it's a burden upon his heart. Many times, there's 27 times in the Old Testament where it talks about the burden of the Word, the burden of the Word. The message that God gives the man, it weighs upon his heart, it sits upon his heart and he dwells upon it, he meditates upon it and God gives him, it's the book of the vision. God gives him through whether it's a special vision, think about like we have today the technology, virtual reality. Think about what God did. God would give these men, and I don't know exactly how or exactly how or clearly it was, but God gave them the ability to see to some degree what was gonna happen. and what God was going to do. It's a vision that God gives. And then he commanded him to write it down. God has given us a record of what he showed Nahum. And these are the words, and he uses Nahum's personality to write these things down like he did with all of the Word of God. consistent with the nature of God. He chooses a messenger to bring forth a message that he has for his people. And we need to just think about these things. And it's a message of judgment. Judgment is coming. It's not always a pleasant message that when we talk about judgment. A lot of times the world likes to throw it out, you're judging me, you're judging me. Well, if it's in the light of God's Word that we're speaking for truth, that's most of the time when you'll hear them say, you're judging me, isn't it? Many times when you just stand on the Word of God and you say, this is right, this is what God says, they'll tell you that you're judging them. But the judgment is God's. And so it's not always pleasant. Many times people like to get out from underneath of that. But God has given us a detailed account of what he's gonna do, not just like he did for Nahum, pointing towards Nineveh. God has given us the record from the beginning of time to the end of time, and he closes it out in the book of Revelation, giving us an idea of these are things to come. Matthew chapter 24, the apostles asked him, what are the signs? What are the things that are gonna characterize it? And God has given us this account that we can look into the word of God. We can be a people that are in the know of what's happening. We can be a people that have an understanding of what God is doing and stand firm in the Word of God. even in the midst of judgment as it's going on all around us. Churches are failing and falling. There's a church that I know of and I used to go to the guy's meetings when I lived in Missouri. I'd stop in and I'd visit his meetings and we read in there, the Southern Baptist Convention is on a slide. This man, he was an independent Baptist preacher and now he went and joined the Southern Baptist Church. Within a year's time, there's been this, a year to a year and a half time, there's been this twist and this turning that's taken place. They're singing the contemporary music songs in their services now and his wife is posting them on Facebook and I was friends with them. I had a lot of respect for him. These are times of change and turning and corrupting the things that are happening. God tells us it's perilous times. The Word of God gives us an account of all these things. According to the book of Revelation, we know there's basically three judgments that are coming, that are still to come. There's the judgment seat of Christ. There's the great white throne judgment and the judgment of nations. And here we are. We know that these things have been determined by God. He's told us that these things are on the way. And where do we stand in light of these things? We have to ask ourselves. Nahum was just a man that God had called. His name means consolation, comforter. And it doesn't tell us a lot about him, but I think part of the reason that he chose him, and he just tells us that little snippet about him, is that in the midst of judgment, there is a place of comfort. There is a consolation. And we as born again Christians know that that comfort is in Christ because it's a safe place. We've been forgiven of our sins. And there is a consolation because the judgment of God against sin is coming. And who are we to think that we can avoid it? But Nahum was also, he was just a man that was chosen by God. to deliver a message in his humanity. God chooses human instruments. And we're living in a world that basically the whole world lieth in wickedness. I was thinking about when I, as I come across, come through the airport in Chicago, I mean, the O'Hare airport, that place is huge. I've never been in it. I've never, I've been to the LAX a couple of times, but I don't, I think O'Hare is bigger than that. And it's, and whenever I'm in a huge airport, all these people going to and fro. And you wonder the question, Who knows the Lord? How many of them know the Lord? God, is there anything? What can be done? What can be done? Those are the thoughts that many times go through my mind in these things. Here Nahum was, he was a man with a message from God, chosen vessel. In Acts chapter 9 verse 15, this is what Ananias said this about the Apostle Paul, or was told this about the Apostle Paul when shortly after Paul's conversion, God said this, unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel." Paul had a specific purpose and it was to bear the name of Christ to a lost and dying world. The judgment was upon the world. It was just a matter of time until God brings it to pass. But here's the thing, as Christians, as Bible-believing, born-again Christians, we have the same calling, do we not? To be a missionary, to be one that bears forth that which God has given us. Listen to 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, it says, are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." We have that same calling to show forth the praises of God, to show forth light in darkness, in a world that's condemned because of sin, because they haven't believed on the name of Jesus Christ. We have the same calling, in a sense, that Nahum had, and that's to bring forth. Is it a burden upon our heart? Do we see, do we understand that there's a judgment upon the world? Just like Nahum saw from the Word of God that God had shown him, there was a judgment upon Nineveh. Can we take hold of that? Can we just simply be like Nahum was, a messenger of God? Today as I stand here, you know what, that's all I'm doing. I'm just simply a messenger. I prayed and I asked God, what's the message? And this is the message, that God is good in the midst of judgment. And he's good in the midst of judgment because the offer of the gospel goes forth. The offer of the gospel goes forth to a lost and dying world, and I think that that's what's pictured here in this little prophet, the book of Nahum, the message of judgment, and it contains the gospel in it. But as we see the messenger of God, the second thing we see in verses two through five, we see the majesty of God. One of the things that helped Nahum, I believe, was he saw God. Isaiah had a vision of God and God was high and lifted up. And then God called Isaiah into the ministry through that special circumstance. But here we have a man that's already serving and living and doing. And then what God does is God gives him a vision and then has him write it down. But here's one of the things that, one of the first things that God showed him before the rest of the message of judgment comes forth is God gives him a view of himself, the majesty of God, the greatness of God. Do we not have a great God? Is not his name to be high and lifted up above all names? Isn't that our God? The dignity and the grandeur of a holy God, a thrice holy God who occupies his habitation is holiness. That's what it tells us in the book of Isaiah chapter 63. It should, when we see God as he is in the scripture, as he reveals himself to us, should it not inspire a sense of awe in us, a sense of reverence in us, a sense of, woe am I, like Job said, when he saw God, woe is me, woe am I. When we see the majesty of God, and now this here, here's a picture of God, this here, God in judgment, like I said, this is not always the most pleasant picture, but in these verses here, the majesty of God is described, because there's a revelation of him, and any time you go to a portion of scripture that reveals God, This is a precious passage of scripture because it reveals his character. It reveals his attributes. It reveals a lot about God that unless you, and if you sit and meditate upon this passage of scripture, you'll get a little bit of a sense of who God is and what he's really about. Because my opinion of God really, unless it's based upon this, doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. We have a lot of people out there today that have a misguided conception of who God is. And I believe a picture like this would give a better understanding to a lot of these people of who he really is. Now, they don't want God is a righteous judge. They don't want to consider that. They want to have the idea that he's my big buddy in the sky. God is my friend. You know what? God is your friend if you're walking by faith. But if you're living in the world and of the world, the Bible says the carnal mind is enmity against God. And if you don't think like this word describes, then your thinking is against God. And you're at enmity with him. There's a revelation of God in this passage here. It shows us his feelings. It shows us his passion. He's jealous. He's angry. This is not the most pleasant picture of who God is. But you have to ask why? Why is God jealous? Why is He angry? In this particular portion of scripture, I believe there's a couple things that underlie it. And it underlies the context and the history. God is seeing, God sees what they did when they took the ten tribes of Israel and they mistreated them. God's people had gotten away from Him and God used Assyria as a means of judgment, as a rod of discipline on His own children, but they carried it beyond measure. and that angered God. Then there's also, he sees coming up Rabshakeh, coming and going and taunting again the people of God. And this, again, angers God. And that's why I think this is in the middle of, the historical timeline of this book is right in that time frame, just before Hezekiah. And that's what gives me that sense of why that happened there. But it angers God and God reveals himself to Nahum because here's the thing, even though these things are gonna happen, God tells him, the verses after our text, God tells him, he points towards this Rabshakeh character. And he tells him because in the midst of judgment, God wants his people to have their faith and their security and their trust in him. He doesn't want us to be moved by these things, even though the devil throws and rages and does all of these things. He throws everything at churches that he can. He throws the trials. He throws the temptations. He throws the nasty things of the world at us. He throws the pressures to compromise. And he causes just the storms, financial, physical, whatever he can do. God wants us in the midst of these things to have our trust and our confidence in him. And the only way that that's going to happen is that if we see God for who he is. In this passage, it gives us his posture. Even though the devil attacks us, and even though the devil, you think about the people that suffer persecution, that are giving their lives for the cause of Christ. Not in America, but in foreign lands where people are being beheaded because they're a Christian, just simply because they named the name of Christ. How do these people do that? I think it's because they have a good view of who God is. A view that will cause them to stand firm in the midst of death threats. They're not afraid of death because they know who they have believed. They know whom they've trusted. and they know that God is going to bring judgment against them that are persecuting them. The devil is behind it all and they know and they realize that God is going to bring judgment upon them. Look at this, it says God is jealous. And the Lord revengeth, the Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance. He tells us what he's going to do. God is going to revenge against his adversaries. And he's angry against them for their actions. His posture, he's ready to do this. It's like God is standing in position to bring the judgment upon the heathen. for their sin, for what they've done. But at the same time that he's standing ready and there's wrath that is building up, verse 3 says, the Lord is slow to anger. He's slow to anger and great in power. The longsuffering of God, the attribute of God, was God longsuffering with you? How long did it take you to come to Christ? And then after you came to Christ, how long did it take you to get things right with God where your Christian walk was steadfast and ordered and disciplined in a holy lifestyle? How long did it take? God's long suffering. Even though Nineveh and the King of Assyria has done all these things, God's revealing himself. Judgment's coming, but this is who I am. In the midst of judgment, God is good. He's long-suffering. He's patient. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 18 and read this verse with me. Isaiah chapter 30 verse 18, it says, and therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you And therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait for him." The Lord is waiting. He's holding back. There's a restraint of God here. Even though the judgment is fitting and it's deserving, God is restraining himself. And he's great in power. He's omnipotent. and he restrains himself. He's long-suffering. 2 Peter 3, verse 9 says, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's our God. He's long-suffering. And he reveals himself like this. You know, the interesting thing here, there's also three times in this verse, well, the Hebrew names here, the word God, the beginning of verse two is the word El, and that just means strength. It's just a revelation of God's strength and his power. It's just like he's saying, I'm able, I am able. I have the strength and the power To do what I say, I'm going to do. And he's jealous is the feeling behind that strength. And then he says three times, it says, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, three times. That's the word Jehovah. Three times is always the significance of that. It's like there's a picture of the Trinity here and they're all in agreement. The unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in what's taking place here. Isn't that a beautiful thing to know and understand that our God, when he does something, That it's between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, that unity that takes place, they're all in agreement. But it also, it brings us to the, it gives us an understanding. God is a person. He's a person. He has feelings. And we can know him. And he's revealed himself to us in his majesty. He's revealed Himself to us. And as we think about these things, look at verse, in verse 3 it says, He's slow to anger, great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The things that this points to in my, as I think about this, there's a couple things that it points to as far as the attributes of God. It points to His holiness. He's not going to acquit the wicked. because he can't apart from Christ. And so it points us back to his holiness, and it points us also to his justness, but it also points us to his love, that God is love, and he has this restraint, and he has all things in control. And as we move on, he exercises his sovereignty over all things. If you look at the last part of verse 3, the Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet. God is omnipotent. God is sovereign and he reigns over all. His sovereignty is exercised over the heavens here. And this is a picture of our God that Nahum has. God is, he's sovereign over the heavens. How many, I mean like, remember when the disciples were out on the boat and the storm came upon? And the boat picture, the ship picture is the church going through the storms of life, and yet Jesus rebuked the storm, the wind and the waves, and then they obeyed him, and they were astonished. God exercises His sovereignty over the heavens. Verse 4, He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and dryeth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. God is sovereign over the earth also and he's exercising his sovereignty over it, over the rivers and the seas, the ecology, the way everything evaporates and goes up and God controls all of these things, Bashan and Carmel and Lebanon, these three regions are some of the most fertile regions upon the planet. This is the land of milk and honey that when the spies went into, this is what they went and explored and this is what they came back with those giant clusters of grapes and God says all this is languishing. He's exercising His sovereignty and He's revealing it to Nahum and this is our God, the majesty of God. He exercises his sovereignty over all of these things. The mountains quake at him and the hills melt. The earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein. The mountains are a symbol of strength and beauty, yet they're burned and they quake in his presence. Ought not the people of God to have a little trembling at the presence of God? Ought not we, when we sense God's presence, to have a desire to bow the knee in humility to a holy God? That ought to be the sense that comes upon us. Because our God is a holy God. And he's worthy of our praise. He's worthy of our worship. He's worthy of all glory and power. Our God is. And he's giving us a picture of who he is before he begins the description of judgment that's coming in the later chapters of this little book. God reveals who he is. And as he reveals who he is, he reveals why it's his right to judge. It is his right to judge his creation. This is our God. Proverbs 9, verse 10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. That's where it begins to come together. As we understand God in his righteousness, in his holiness, in his justness, the attributes that God reveals himself as, as we understand these things, our understanding of the rightness of his actions comes into place. And our love for him will grow. As we see God, his majesty, And then as we move through our passage here, verse six and through verse eight, we see the mercy of God. This is where the mercy of God begins to take shape. Because here's the thing, even though the judgment of God was going to be pronounced upon Nineveh, you know what was happening here? God was again sending a man with a message. When God is sending a man with a message to a people, guess what there's an opportunity for? Nineveh had had the prophet Jonah about 100 to 150 years prior to this. The whole city repented and God was pleased. But here we are sometime later and they've gone back to their worldly ungodly pagan ways, just rejecting God altogether again. But here again, the love of God, the mercy of God, He asked questions. He's sending a man with a message again because this message was not just going to be published to Judah. I believe that this message was gonna go back to Nineveh. And I think that in eternity, we'll probably see, there may have been some people in Nineveh that took the message. They may have had some grandparents that were a part of the remnant that got saved under Jonah's ministry, that told them how Jonah came through, that told them how the whole city repented. They may have heard the stories of revival. And how God moved in times past. And they were stirred. And when they heard the message again, conviction came upon them. Because when God does things like this, it's His mercy going forth. His mercy endureth forever. And this is our God. This is the one that is sovereign over all the universe. Acts chapter 10 verse 43 says, to him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Isaiah chapter 45 verse 22 says, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none else. There's no other God like our God. There's none else that can compare. And he asks these questions. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? Before you got saved, did you have a sense that God was unhappy with you? That God was not pleased with your sin? That God was not in your favor, that you were not right with him? Did you have a sense of that before you got saved? And that's why God is asking questions. Who can abide? Who can stand? Every person on the planet, unless they've come to the place where they say, I'm an atheist. Every person on the planet has a sense of, from the time they're born, that we're going to die and we're going to meet God. I believe that every person born has that sense. And what they do with that sense comes under these questions. Who can stand before God? Because every person also has an understanding. You have a realization. You're human. I'm not perfect. I make so many mistakes. How can I stand? before God. How can I stand? And in Hebrews 9, verse 27, it says, It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment. And I believe that God has put these things in our hearts, so when God asks questions like this, He's doing it because He wants us to think about it, He wants us to seek Him out. And He wants us to ask the question, like Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 says, Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. God is asking questions because He's a merciful God. He's not sending His judgment upon us as we deserve. He's giving us mercy. And even we as Christians, when we stumble and we do things wrong, God is still merciful to us. What does He do? He tries to bring us back to the place where we understand that we need to confess our sins and forsake them and ask Him to just cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God wants us to understand that, but he wants us to understand that, but in that understanding, he also gives us, his fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him. I think this is a reference back to Sodom and Gomorrah, because some people think in this life that they're going to escape judgment. And that maybe there were some people in Nineveh that thought they were going to escape judgment. Or maybe some people in Judah that thought somehow they could slip through the cracks. They had a little religion. They had some self-righteousness, some morality, and they thought they were going to squeak by. But that's not the case. Because who can stand? None of us can. None of us has the ability to stand before God on our own merit. And that's why verse 7, it gives us this. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. And he knoweth them that trust in him. That's a picture of Christ. Here in the Old Testament, it gives us a picture of Christ. The Lord is good. It's a place of refuge. When I understood that I wasn't right with God, I needed a savior. I needed a place of refuge. When they came out of Egypt and they went into the promised land, there was six cities of refuge. Every one of them is like a picture of Christ. Six is the number that represents man. Man needs a place of refuge because of our sinfulness. And here God says, He's good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. That word stronghold, it's also translated the word strength. But literally, figuratively, what it means is a fortified place, a defense, a rock. This is Christ here in the Old Testament. God is picturing Christ and the salvation that we have in Him. God is good. When judgment was upon me, that condemnation that was coming down upon me because I was a sinner, my just due, as a sinner. He says, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. Acts chapter 4 verse 12 says, there is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. Romans 10, 13 says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. This is our God. God is good in the midst of judgment, is he not? In the midst of judgment upon mankind, he provided a place of refuge. He provided his son to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. We have a place of refuge and we have, in the last part of verse seven says, and he knoweth them that trust in him. in the day of trouble, he knoweth them that trust in him. This is pointing towards the end. I mean, this is pointing towards, many times in the Old Testament it talks about the day of Jacob's trouble, the day of trouble, the day of the Lord. It's pointing towards not just the judgment coming upon Nineveh, but it's pointing toward a greater judgment, a greater time. We know it as the great tribulation. And that's what's, I mean, and so, It's upon all mankind. It's not just Nineveh. a picture of the world, it's all mankind. God expands, it's not just, sometimes when we study passages of scripture, we put things into a little box, and we need to do that, keeping it in context, but the application of God's word is greater than just that point in time. It's an eternal word that God has given that applies to all mankind, just like the promises of God throughout the scripture. Even though we see a promise in the Old Testament, We can claim, there's claims that we can make upon it and calling upon God, trusting in Him because He is a stronghold in the day of trouble. When the winds of whatever trial in your life you're going through, the Lord is a stronghold. He's the strength. He's what we need to hold on to when we go through life. Because trials come. I've gone through some trials in the last year and a half. I've gone through some challenges. I have only made it through those challenges because of God. I could not have gone through them by myself. There's been times where the thought has crossed my mind. Why do you continue? Why bother? But I continue because God is good and He is a stronghold in the day of trouble. And because what He's done in my heart, I know His Word is true. And I know at some point in time, I don't know when, I don't know how, but God is going to turn things around and use those things for His good and His glory. And I'm just the recipient of those benefits. And I just have to walk through those things. One of the things that God showed me recently was, and I've tried to do this, is thanking Him. Thanking Him for those trials that I've gone through. And I've begun to do that. And I'm telling you, it helps. It helps. Doesn't make it go away, but it helps me see Him. as good in the midst of judgment. It helps me to see God as he is. Because here's the thing. Here's the hard part about it. Judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. God gives a place for reflection. He gives us a place of refuge. And then in verse 8, there is a place of retribution. For those that will not receive the message of the gospel, there's a place of retribution. The people of Nineveh, Nineveh was destroyed. Nineveh, about 612 BC, was destroyed. This was the city that had the walls that stood so tall. that nobody could ever conquer it because you couldn't penetrate the city. It was indefensible. You could not break down the walls. God did. Just like Jericho, the city of Nineveh fell because God's judgment fell upon it. And those people, between the time that the Book of Nahum was written and the time that the judgment of God fell upon Nineveh, Those people had a warning. They had opportunity to repent. God always gives us space for repentance. And those that didn't want to receive the opportunity to turn back to him or turn to him, he brought judgment upon them, a place of retribution. It's a place of darkness. He says here, darkness shall pursue his enemies. Hell is a place of darkness. Hell is not a pleasant thought. Those that will reject the gospel will have their final place in a lake of fire. A place where the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever because God's judgment is coming upon this world. That's what this whole book pictures. But in the midst of that picture of judgment coming, we have truth. We have a picture of the gospel. We have a picture of Christ and what he'll do. In closing, We think about these things. God's judgment on Nineveh was determined. The warning was sent. If there was one person in Nineveh that heard the message and repented, God would save them. God's judgment is sent upon this world. When one sinner hears the message and repents, God saves them. What a beautiful picture. of the goodness of God in the midst of judgment. That's our God and He revealed to us in His Word. Aren't you grateful today? Aren't you thankful? Let's close in prayer and then if you have an invitation, we'll give some time and a closing hymn to let God do what He wants in your heart today. Father,