“Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard” (Nahum 2:13).
I neglected to mention yesterday that this book is about Nineveh, the Assyrian city that Jonah was told to evangelize. On that occasion, which was 100-125 years before Nahum’s story, we see God’s offer of salvation to those who repent.
In Nahum, again, 100-125 years later, we see God’s response to a false or lack of repentance. In our verse, notice the Lord says, “I am against you!” No one wants to be in that spot, regardless of how much they may want to ignore God. After describing a variety of negative outcomes, he says, “the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard.”
Reading this reminded me of an archaeology article I read over the weekend, which described the destruction of Nineveh both in its ancient fall to Babylon and when ISIS destroyed much of the Assyrian artifacts that remained into the 20th century.
The point that stands out to me today is that God graciously offers salvation to those who repent, and He stands on business with those who don’t repent.
Father, thank you for offering this sinner the chance to repent. Please help me to have a consistently repentant heart. Amen.
