Godchaser Podcast
Join Evan Evans on The God Chaser Podcast, a weekly exploration of faith, spirituality, and personal growth centered on Jesus Christ. Evan, a devoted believer and captivating host guides listeners through engaging conversations and thought-provoking discussions that deepen their understanding of Christ and His teachings.
We delve into topics such as Christ's teachings, the power of prayer, the role of the Holy Spirit, and the importance of community in spiritual growth. The God Chaser Podcast aims to inspire and challenge listeners, equipping them with the tools and insights needed to live a more fulfilling, Christ-centered life.
Whether you're a seasoned believer or just beginning your faith journey, The God Chaser Podcast with Evan Evans supports and nourishes your spiritual growth. Subscribe to Apple Podcasts and join us each week as we chase after the heart of Jesus, embracing the transformative power of His love and grace.
Godchaser Podcast
The Comfort in Nahum's Prophecy: Justice for an Unjust World
Nahum reveals God's character through prophecy against Nineveh, showing His patience that eventually ends, His justice that ultimately comes, and His goodness that protects those who trust Him.
• Nahum ironically means "comfort" despite his message focused on divine judgment
• Nineveh had previously repented under Jonah but returned to brutal oppression
• God's anger isn't impulsive rage but the necessary reaction of perfect goodness to evil
• The prophecy provides remarkably specific details about Nineveh's fall that history confirmed
• Jesus perfectly embodies the balance of patience and judgment seen in Nahum
• Divine jealousy reflects God's passionate commitment to His glory and people's welfare
• Nahum reminds us that God sees oppression and will ultimately bring justice
• True repentance produces lasting change, not temporary behavioral modification
• We are called to work for justice now while recognizing perfect justice awaits Christ's return
If you feel overwhelmed by evil in our world, remember that God sees, cares, and will ultimately bring justice. And if you recognize areas in your life needing repentance, Jesus still invites you to find refuge in Him.
Keep chasing after God
I'm your host, evan Evans. Welcome to the God Chaser podcast, where we find Jesus in every story of the Bible. I'm your host, evan Evans. Have you ever looked at the world around you the injustice, the oppression, the seemingly unchecked evil, and wondered God how long will you let this continue? If so, you're not alone. That question has echoed through human hearts for thousands of years.
Speaker 1:Today's episode explores the prophet Nahum, whose name ironically means comfort. Despite his message focused on divine judgment, nahum prophesied about the destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the brutal Assyrian empire, the same city that had repented generations earlier. When Jonah reluctantly preached there, what changed? Why would God destroy a city he once spared, and what does this ancient prophecy about a long-gone empire have to do with Jesus Christ and our lives today? In this episode, we'll discover how Nahum reveals crucial aspects of God's character His patience that eventually ends, his justice that ultimately comes and His goodness that protects those who trust Him. We'll see how Jesus perfectly embodies these same attributes, bringing both justice and mercy in perfect balance. Whether you're someone crying out for justice in an unjust world or someone needing to examine your own heart for areas requiring repentance, nahum's message speaks powerfully today.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the God Chaser podcast, the ultimate destination for those yearning to cultivate a passionate, intimate relationship with God. Join your host, Evan Evans, as he explores the depths of scripture, shares inspiring testimonies and provides practical guidance to help you become a true God chaser, Discover the transformative power of pursuing God's presence and be inspired to reignite your spiritual journey. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts and get ready to embark on an adventure that will change your life forever. Welcome to the God Chaser podcast. Let the chase begin.
Speaker 1:Welcome back, god Chasers, I'm your host. Evan Evans, if you've never read Nahum, you're not alone. Many Christians skip over this short book because its focus on God's judgment against Nineveh feels harsh to our modern ears. But, as we'll discover, even in this announcement of judgment we find important revelations about God's character and see shadows of Jesus Christ. The book begins A Prophecy Concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. Concerning Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite Nahum, chapter 1, verse 1. That's all we know about Nahum himself. His name means comfort or consolation, which seems ironic given his message of judgment, but for God's oppressed people, the downfall of their tormentors would indeed bring comfort. What's fascinating is the historical context. Remember Jonah. About 150 years earlier, god sent Jonah to warn Nineveh of coming judgment. The people repented and God relented, but their repentance didn't last.
Speaker 1:By Nahum's time, around 620 BC, nineveh had returned to its cruel ways. As capital of the Assyrian Empire, assyria was notorious for its brutality. In their military campaigns, they skinned enemies alive, cut off hands and feet, built pyramids of human heads outside conquered cities, impaled people on stakes and deported entire populations. They were the terrorists of the ancient world, using fear as a weapon. For decades, assyria had oppressed God's people. They had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and nearly conquered Jerusalem during King Hezekiah's reign. Every nation lived in fear of Assyrian armies appearing on the horizon. This is crucial background for understanding Nahum's prophecy. This isn't God capriciously deciding to destroy a city. This is God finally bringing justice after extended patience with a regime that specialized in cruelty and oppression. Chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, describes Nineveh as the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims. The passage continues with graphic imagery of war, depicting piles of dead bodies without number people stumbling over the corpses. This was both what Assyria had done to others and what would happen to them. In our comfortable modern lives, such language seems extreme, but for people living under the shadow of Assyrian terror, these words offered hope that injustice would not continue forever.
Speaker 1:Nahum opens with what scholars call a theophany, a powerful description of God revealing himself. Chapter 1, verses 2 to 8, provides one of scripture's most vivid pictures of God's jealousy and judgment. 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 vents his wrath against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, but great in power. The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. The passage continues with dramatic imagery God's path in whirlwind and storm, mountains quaking before him, hills melting away, the earth trembling at his presence.
Speaker 1:Some people struggle with this portrayal of God, preferring to focus only on his love and mercy. But Nahum presents a crucial aspect of God's character his passion for justice and opposition to evil. God's jealousy isn't like human jealousy based in insecurity. It's his appropriate response when his rightful place in our lives is usurped or when those he loves are harmed. His anger isn't impulsive rage but the necessary reaction of perfect goodness to evil. Notice the balance in verse 3. The Lord is slow to anger, but great in power. God's patience isn't weakness, it's restraint. He could judge immediately, but chooses to extend opportunity for repentance, as 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 9, explains. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. This balance perfectly describes Jesus. He demonstrated tremendous patience with people's failings, yet he didn't hesitate to pronounce judgment on hypocrisy and exploitation. He wept over Jerusalem, wanting to gather its people as a hen gathers her chicks. Yet he also cleared the temple with a whip when its purposes were corrupted.
Speaker 1:The descriptions in Nahum anticipate Jesus' second coming Revelation. Chapter 19 portrays Christ returning as the righteous judge with justice. He judges and wages war. Verse 11, the Jesus who first came as the suffering servant will return as the conquering king who establishes justice. Chapter 1, verse 7 declares this verse doesn't contradict the surrounding declarations of judgment. It complements them. God's goodness isn't compromised by his judgment. Rather, his judgment flows from his goodness. A good God cannot be indifferent to evil, especially when it harms the vulnerable.
Speaker 1:Nahum, chapter 1, verse 15, shifts to a message of hope for Judah. Look there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace. Celebrate your festivals, judah, and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you. They will be completely destroyed. The phrase feet of one who brings good news foreshadows Isaiah 52.7. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion your God reigns. Paul applies this very passage to those who preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in Romans 10.15. The ultimate good news is found in Jesus who proclaims peace between God and humanity through his sacrificial death and resurrection. For Judah, the fall of Nineveh meant peace from oppression. For us, the gospel of Christ means peace with God and eventual freedom from all evil and suffering. Both messages provide hope that wrongs will be made right, that evil will not have the final word.
Speaker 1:Nahum provides remarkably specific details about how Nineveh would fall. Chapter 2, verses 6 to 8, predicts the river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses. Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away. Stop, stop. They cry, but no one turns back. Historians now confirm that in 612 BC the Babylonians and Medes besieged Nineveh. After heavy rains, the Koza River that ran through the city flooded, breaching part of the wall. Exactly as Nahum predicted, the river gates being thrown open allowed enemy forces to enter and conquer the supposedly impregnable city. Chapter 3, verse 13, says that the gates of your land are wide open to your enemies. Fire has consumed the bars of your gates. Archaeological excavations have confirmed evidence of widespread fire in Nineveh's destruction. Chapter 3, verse 10, foretells that Nineveh's infants were dashed to pieces at every street corner. Lots were cast for her nobles and all her great men were put in chains. This graphically describes the ancient practice of conquerors killing children of the defeated people to prevent future rebellion, the very practice Assyria had used against others.
Speaker 1:The specificity of these fulfilled prophecies strengthens our confidence in God's Word. Jesus himself used fulfilled prophecy to validate his identity. Of these fulfilled prophecies strengthens our confidence in God's Word. Jesus Himself used fulfilled prophecy to validate His identity, telling His disciples in Luke 24, verse 44, this is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms. Just as Nahum's prophecies about Nineveh came true in precise detail, we can trust that prophecies about Christ's return and the ultimate establishment of justice will also be fulfilled.
Speaker 1:Nahum 1.9 contains a sobering declaration Whatever they plot against the Lord, he will bring to an end. Trouble will not come a second time. This verse suggests two important truths. First, god ultimately defeats all opposition to His purposes. Second, his judgment, when it finally comes, is decisive. Trouble will not come a second time because it will be conclusive. This points forward to Jesus' teaching about final judgment.
Speaker 1:In Matthew, chapter 25, verses 31 to 46, jesus describes separating the sheep from the goats a final, decisive judgment with eternal consequences. Chapter 3, verse 19, concludes the book with a stark finality Nothing can heal you. Your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall. For who has not felt your endless cruelty? The totality of Nineveh's judgment foreshadows Jesus' warnings about the seriousness of sin and judgment. In Mark, chapter 9, verse 48, he describes hell as a place where the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched. Such passages are uncomfortable, but they reveal the true severity of sin and the need for repentance. Jesus spoke more about judgment than anyone else in scripture, precisely because he came to provide the way of escape. This leads us to a crucial distinction. Nineveh's judgment was final because their opportunity for repentance had passed, but for us living before Christ's return, the invitation to repentance remains open. Hebrews, chapter 3, verse 15, urges Beyond the general themes we've already discussed.
Speaker 1:There are several specific ways Nahum points to Jesus. First, through the theme of divine jealousy. Nahum opens describing God as jealous. Nahum 1.2. This divine jealousy is God's passionate commitment to His own glory and His people's welfare glory and his people's welfare. Jesus demonstrated this same holy jealousy when he cleared the temple, declaring my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 21, verse 13. Second, through the contrast of God's patience and judgment. Chapter 1, verse 3, says God is slow to anger, yet will not leave the guilty unpunished. Jesus perfectly embodied this balance, showing tremendous patience with sinners who sought Him, while pronouncing judgment on those who repeatedly rejected truth.
Speaker 1:Third, through the concept of refuge. Chapter 1, verse 7 calls the Lord a refuge in times of trouble. Jesus invited come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew, chapter 11, verse 28. He is our ultimate refuge from both life storms and God's judgment. Fourth, through the promise of peace. Nahum, chapter 1, verse 15, mentions one who brings good news, who proclaims peace. Jesus is the ultimate fulfiller of this declaring peace. I leave with you my peace I give you. John, chapter 14, verse 27. Fifth, through the imagery of light dispelling darkness. Chapter 1, verse 8, says God will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness. Jesus declared I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John, chapter 8, verse 12.
Speaker 1:How does this ancient prophecy about a long-gone city speak to our lives today. First, it reminds us that God sees oppression and will ultimately bring justice. When we witness injustice, whether human trafficking, genocide, war crimes or systematic exploitation, nahum assures us God is not indifferent. His apparent delay is patience, not apathy. Jesus demonstrated this same concern for justice, especially for the vulnerable. He consistently confronted religious leaders who devour widows' houses Mark 12, verse 40, and promised that whatever was done to the least of these was done to him Matthew 25, verse 40.
Speaker 1:For those suffering injustice, nahum offers hope that God sees and will act. For those participating in injustice, it offers a solemn warning to repent before judgment comes. Second, it cautions us about national pride and military arrogance. Chapter 3, verse 8, reminds Nineveh that other invincible cities had fallen. Are you better than Thebes, whose rampart was the sea? No nation, no matter how powerful, is beyond God's reach. Jesus echoed this warning about national hubris when asked about a tower that had fallen and killed 18 people, he said unless you repent, you too will all perish.
Speaker 1:Luke, chapter 13, verse 5. He wept over Jerusalem for seeing its destruction because it rejected God's messengers. Luke, chapter 19, verses 41 to 44. This calls us to maintain a humble perspective on our own nation's power and to place our ultimate trust in God's kingdom rather than earthly empires. Third, it teaches us the proper response to evil. When faced with evil, systems like Assyria represented, god's people were called neither to passive acceptance nor vengeful retaliation, but to trust God to bring justice. In his time, jesus taught this same balanced response to evil. He told his followers to turn the other cheek in personal offenses.
Speaker 1:Matthew chapter 5, verse 39,. Yet to pray your kingdom come, a prayer for God's just rule to be established. Matthew, chapter 6, verse 10. This doesn't mean inactive resignation in the face of evil. We work for justice now, but we recognize that perfect justice awaits Christ's return. We neither despair at evil's apparent triumph nor take vengeance into our own hands. Fourth, it shows us the importance of complete repentance.
Speaker 1:Nineveh repented under Jonah's preaching but eventually returned to its evil ways. Under Jonah's preaching, but eventually returned to its evil ways. Their temporary reform wasn't sufficient to prevent eventual judgment. Jesus warned against superficial repentance in the parable of the sower, where seed that sprouts quickly but lacks deep roots withers when difficulties come. Mark 4, verses 16 to 17. He called for repentance that produces lasting fruit. Matthew chapter 3, verse 8. This challenges us to examine our own repentance. Have we truly turned from sin or merely adjusted our behavior temporarily, while our hearts remain unchanged. While our hearts remain unchanged.
Speaker 1:Friends, nahum's message isn't comfortable, but it's necessary. A God who never judges evil would not be good or loving. The same Jesus who died for our sins will return to judge the living and the dead. What makes Nahum's message good news is that judgment against evil means eventual peace for the oppressed. The destruction of what destroys is itself a form of creation making space for what gives life.
Speaker 1:If you feel overwhelmed by evil in our world, whether systemic injustice, religious persecution, human trafficking or other forms of cruelty, nahum reminds you that God sees, god cares, and God will ultimately bring justice, as Psalm chapter 37, verse 10, promises. A little while and the wicked will be no more. Though you look for them, they will not be found. At the same time, if you recognize areas in your own life where you've participated in injustice or oppression, nahum calls you to genuine repentance. Unlike Nineveh, in Nahum's day, your opportunity hasn't passed. Jesus still invites you to find refuge in him. Next week, we'll explore the prophet Habakkuk and his wrestling with difficult questions about God's justice. Until then, this is Evan Evans, reminding you to keep chasing God's heart In a world where evil often seems to win, remember that Jesus has overcome the world. This has been the God Chaser podcast. Join us next week as we continue finding Jesus in every story of the Bible. This episode of the God Chaser podcast is proudly sponsored by God Chaser Apparel, the clothing line designed to empower and inspire your spiritual journey.
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Speaker 1:May you not just chase God but find him in the blessings, big and small, that he has in store for you. And there we have it, folks. Another episode of God Chaser wrapped up. We hope you've been blessed by today's discussion and we look forward to diving into more life-transforming topics with you in the future. Stay blessed and keep chasing after God. You.