Armed and Dangerous
BY DAVID FEDDES
Nahum 1:2-8
THE LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunishedÖThe earth trembles at his presence, the world and all who live in it. Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him. The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, but Öhe will pursue his foes into darkness.
If you wonder why Iíve started out with such fierce words about God, you should know that these are some of the beginning verses of the Book of Nahum.These days the wrath of God isnít a popular subject. People donít like to think about it; preachers donít like to talk about it. So, God is portrayed as a soothing, grandfather type who can help when youíve got a problem. Heís anything but the ferocious God of Nahum.
But, like it or not, the Lord isnít tame. He isnít safe. Heís armed and dangerous. Heís slow to anger, says Nahum, but heís also great in power, and He wonít let the guilty go unpunished. Heís good, He cares for those who trust Him, but He will pursue His enemies into utter darkness.
Nineveh destroyed. When he first spoke these words, Nahum was declaring Godís judgment on the City of Nineveh. Nineveh was then the most powerful city in the world. It was the capital of the great Assyrian Empire. The heart of the city was surrounded by a wall a hundred feet high. It was so thick that chariots could ride three abreast along the top. Then there was the army of Nineveh. It was strong and utterly ruthless, having conquered one nation after another.
It thus seemed silly to prophesy against Nineveh. Yet Nahum declared Godís wrath against it. Within a few years, Assyria was defeated, the walls of Nineveh destroyed, and the people of Nineveh massacred. Nothing remained of that great city but rubble, and it was never rebuilt. Godís wrath had swallowed up an entire civilization.
When people donít take God seriously, thereís a price to pay. The Old Testament is filled with accounts of Godís wrath. In the days of Noah, God sent a great flood that wiped everybody except Noah and his family from the face of the earth. The Lord destroyed the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with an inferno of blazing sulfur.
Even Godís chosen people Israel werenít exempt from Godís wrath. When they fell into sin, He punished them severely, sometimes with terrible diseases, sometimes with famine, sometimes by allowing them to be crushed by their enemies.
New Testament accounts. Maybe youíve heard someone say: ìThe God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath, but the God of the New Testament is a God of love.î Thatís a false contrast. God doesnít change. His love is just as real in the Old Testament as in the New, and His wrath is just as real in the New as in the Old.
In Acts 5 thereís the story of Ananias and Sapphira, a husband and wife who tried to trick the church into thinking they were generous. Peter rebuked each of them for lying to God, and both Ananias and Sapphira fell down and died. God had struck them dead.
Or consider what happened in the church at Corinth. Some people began misusing the sacraments of the Lordís Supper. They gave no thought to what they were doing, and thus they were sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. What happened? Many of them became sick, and some even died. The Lord was judging them (I Corinthians 11:17-34).
Then thereís the story of what happened to King Herod in Acts 12. Herod had already angered God by the way he persecuted the Christians, not to mention all his other sins. Then one day Herod gave a speech to a crowd of people, and the people shouted, ìThis is the voice of a god, not of a man.î And we read in verse 23, ìImmediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.î
Plain teaching. Beyond these particular New Testament examples of Godís wrath, thereís also the plain teaching about Godís final judgment. Again and again, the New Testament warns that every sinner who rejects Christ will suffer Godís wrath and punishment forever in hell.
But, you say, what about Godís love? Well, the Bible certainly declares the good news of Godís love, but that doesnít mean for a moment that Godís wrath isnít real. In fact, the more we know of Godís love and goodness, the greater His wrath will be if we reject Him. Hebrews 10:26-31 says:
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ìIt is mine to avenge; I will repay,î and again, ìThe Lord will judge his people.î It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The God of the New Testament is just as armed and dangerous as the God of the Old Testament. Heís the same Lord. He doesnít change.
Warnings from Jesus. But what about Jesus? Itís been said, ìWhatever the prophets and apostles said, Jesus Himself came to bring only a message of tolerance and love.î Once again, the only way to say this is to invent oneís own version of Jesus and ignore what the real Jesus actually said.
The truth is, no one spoke more plainly about the terrors of hell than Jesus. He said in Matthew 13:41,42, for instance:
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.So, Iím talking about Godís wrath not because I enjoy it, but because itís real. Iíve heard it said that we need love-based religion, not fear-based religion. But what we really need is reality-based religion. And the reality is that Godís love and Godís wrath are both real.
You canít deny Godís wrath without denying the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. You canít deny that sinners spend eternity in hell without denying what Jesus himself taught. You might wish that God simply tolerated sin or overlooked it, but He doesnít. Wishful thinking wonít change the character of God. God doesnít say, ìI am whoever you think I amî or ìI am whatever you want me to be.î He says, ìI AM WHO I AMî (Exodus 3:14).
Weíre not going to change God, so our only hope is for God to change us. The living God will either purify us from our sin, or He will punish us with the everlasting torment of hell.
Blind guides. And yet youíll hear some preachers who are embarrassed to talk about Godís wrath or call for repentance. Theyíre more offended by divine wrath than by the human evil that provokes it. Theyíd rather change God than change sinners. They ignore the Bible, they ignore the plain words of Jesus Christ. Instead they make sweet sounds about a God who is too nice ever to become angry.
Weíre flooded with books and programs that offer a harmless, domesticated version of God. Maybe youíve come across some of them. They sound very attractive. Instead of calling for repentance, they call you to more self-esteem or to embrace your higher self. They pretend thereís nothing wrong with you that a more positive attitude or a little therapy cannot fix. Itís like God says in Jeremiah 6:14-15:
ìThey dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ëPeace, peace,í they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,î says the Lord .
Itís the same today. Religious leaders treat the problem of sin superficially as though it isnít serious, and the people blush at nothing. I canít help thinking about some of the entertainmentóthe films and radio shows and musicóthat many of us enjoy these days. The foul language, the crude jokes, the nudity and immorality, the mockery of Godówho blushes any more?
Too far gone. But we canít measure the seriousness of our sin by how we happen to feel about it. If you donít feel any guilt or shame or fear, it doesnít mean everything is fine. It may simply mean youíre so far gone that youíve forgotten how to blush. As the Bible puts it, ìAlthough they know Godís righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice themî (Romans 1:32).
We may get used to all sorts of filth and perversion, but God is as angry and offended as ever. In Ephesians 5:3-6 the Bible says,
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for Godís holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy personósuch a man is an idolateróhas any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things Godís wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
I know itís tempting to dismiss all this talk about Godís wrath. And you wonít have any problem finding a preacher who will tell you what you want to hear. The only problem is that youíre not hearing the truth. That kind of religion sells, but it doesnít save.When Jeremiah preached Godís wrath and judgment on the sin of Jerusalem, very few people listened. They liked the religious leaders that preached that all was well with them. They didnít want to hear Jeremiahís message, but it was the truth. And, finally, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people were executed or exiled.
Beginning of wisdom. Strange as it may seem, we need to know the fierceness of Godís wrath against sin in order to grasp the wonder of His love and to appreciate the sacrifice of Christ. God didnít come to earth in the person of Jesus just to make a courtesy visit. He didnít die on a cross to show us what fine people we are. If you and I were not under the wrath of God, then Christ died for nothing!
We canít deny the reality of Godís wrath without making a mockery of the cross, where Christ absorbed the hell of Godís fury against our sin. The apostle John writes, ìWhoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for Godís wrath remains on himî (John 3:36). God doesnít tell you this to scare you but to save you. He wants you to know the danger youíre in before itís too late.
To be truly saved, you must admit that youíve sinned against God and deserve His wrath. Confess that youíre a sinner by nature and by choice. Admit that you deserve to be condemned to hell. Then believe that the Lord Jesus died on the cross, bearing the terrible guilt and shame of your sin. Believe that His blood cleanses you, that He shelters you from Godís wrath and embraces you with Godís love.
God's wrath is great, but His love in Christ is greater still. Trust Him! Cry out for His mercy! And thank Him for His love and forgiveness. o
Rev. David Feddes is radio minister on The Back to God Hour, a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church, 6555 W. College Drive, Palos Heights, IL 60463.