The prophet Nahum’s ministry occurred somewhere approximately 50-100 years after the fall of Israel in 722 B.C.[1] and his address is, like Jonah, to the city of Nineveh. By Nahum’s time, Nineveh had become the capital of the Assyrian empire, and the nation had conquered Israel. In Jonah’s day, Nineveh repented of their wicked ways, and they were spared from God’s judgment; however, their repentance wasn’t lasting. In this, Nahum’s prophecy is essentially a follow-up to Jonah’s.
Nahum pronounces the judgment of a just God who will come against Nineveh for their sins. While it is true that, “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,” we also see the picture that, “the LORD will by no means clear the guilty” (Nah. 1:3). This is essentially the summary statement of Nahum’s ministry. God might be patient and gracious, but God is also just and there is a day when people will have to answer for their sins. Just because God is slow to anger doesn’t mean He won’t eventually get angry! It just means it takes a while to get there! For Nineveh, the day had come that they would have to answer to their Creator for their sins. He was patient, He had sent Jonah, they had repented of their sins, but now they had remained in transgression and judgment was sure to come. The book concludes on the surety of judgment with the pronouncement, “There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?” (Nah. 3:19, ESV). Essentially, judgment was coming, and all would celebrate it because Assyria’s “unceasing evil” had affected all around them.
The unrelenting justice of God is truly a fearful thing. We’re thankful that God is a God of love, and we like to hear this. We love to hear of His grace and mercy. All these things are true and are parts of God’s nature. But God is also holy, just, and wrathful towards sin. All these components are shared within the nature of God.
The justice of God isn’t a popular topic. I recently heard a video criticizing God for being a hateful being, because of things like Noah’s flood. So much so, that one woman said she’d rather be in hell than be with this God who claimed to be loving while bringing about such judgment. What people miss is that God isn’t just love, but He is just. He will by no means clear the guilty. The story of the flood is hard to hear, but it’s the story of a just God who was finally fed up with sin and determined to bring judgment. He didn’t strike everyone down the moment they first sinned, He is gracious and patient, but that day does come. Only those in the ark were spared.
What’s more, this isn’t just a past thing. Presently we see that all have sinned (Rom. 3:23) and therefore all people, past, present, and future, stand condemned under God’s justice because of their sins. But all people can likewise be justified by God’s grace, because He put forth His Son as the propitiation for our sins (see Rom. 3:25). A propitiatory sacrifice is one that bears wrath. Jesus Christ bore the righteous wrath and just judgment of God on our behalf. The unrelenting justice of God was laid upon His Son who died in our place, so that we might be saved.
The unrelenting justice of God was laid upon His Son who died in our place, so that we might be saved.
In this, He displayed His righteousness and justice, because sin was punished, but in this He also justifies (declares righteous) the one who has faith in Christ (see Rom. 3:25-26). Only those who are in Christ will be spared.
We all should thank God today, that He is just and that He doesn’t let sinners off the hook. But we should be even more thankful that when we stood condemned, when we were the target of His justice, that He made a way for us. He didn’t let us off the hook, but instead transferred the guilty sentence to another who would bear the consequence of our sins.
No one has said it better than Paul when he wrote, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21, ESV).
[1] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1709.
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