God gets the last word

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?
Nahum 3:19

This verse is addressed to the King of Assyria. He is the chief resident of Ninevah and as the capital of his empire fell, he witnessed the reality of the end of an era. God would bring the devastation in response to the wickedness of Ninevah. And there was no way out. God always has the last word.

When the might and the wisdom of this world confronts the finality of God's authority, deep pains will result. That is what happened in this situation. Although Nahum was written before these events took place and is hence prophetic, my perspective is that Ninevah is just a heap of ruins in modern Iraq that was only recently uncovered by archeologists within the last century. The empire fell at the crushing judgment of God. That is fact.

God decrees what will occur. That is a scriptural reality. We may feel uncomfortable with our lack of human autonomy, but nothing stops what God is doing. No force of human power on this planet will prevail against His will. God is in control. I worship the God Who always has the last word. The end of Ninevah is a stark reminder of just Who my God is, and why I ought to understand what He says.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

God against you

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

Grace in Christ Jesus means that God is for me (Romans 8:31). It is a good thing to be forgiven in Christ, especially when I read a passage like this one where God is setting judgment against a people who have rejected Him. In the case of the prophet Nahum, it is the pagan city of Ninevah. This is the same city that had repented under the barely perceptible ministry of the reluctant Jonah. But now they have hardened against God as a society. And God is preparing to judge them in unique and sovereign ways.

God is against Ninevah. He would burn up their war chariots. This was the battle technology that had given them the edge all though out the ancient middle east. But this was not going to be the case any more. God was destroying their military power. He went after their symbols. The lion was a motif the Assyrians used in battle and in national monuments. But their "young lions" (warriors) were about to be devoured by the avenging justice of a holy God. They would prey on other nations no more.

God was also going to cut off the Assyrian communication network. With it they managed a far-flung empire. But no longer would the messengers bring reports to Ninevah. The Assyrian empire would go the way of the dust of ruin. They would torment Israel no more. And it was because God was for Israel, even as He judged a people that had rejected Him in Ninevah.

These are terrible words to read..."I am against you". And when scripture shows us this side of God, we should learn and respect His mercy in Christ even more!


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

God is good

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.
Nahum 1:7

This is an interesting statement to have in the midst of an oracle of judgment against a pagan nation. The book of Nahum opens with a clear statement of God's judgment prepared against Ninevah. Nahum is a bookend to the book of Jonah. In Jonah, God is gracious to a pagan nation and sent a prophet to preach a message that would result in repentance. In Nahum, Ninevah is no longer inclined to turn to God and God is warning them of the impending justice about to destroy them. Yet even in that warning, there is a message of grace that could remind them of previous repentance.

The focus of this grace is the goodness of God. He does nothing wrong or vindictive. He does everything out of perfect justice and goodness. It is who God is. He is good. God is a stronghold for those in trouble. We can run to Him and find in our relationship with Him all that we need to survive the worst that life can throw at us. He is our castle... our strength... our security.

God is also complete in His knowledge. When the text says that He "knows" those who take refuge in Him, it means that He is in relationship intimately with them. He loves them. He wants to cultivate true spiritual intimacy with them in the time of trouble when they find themselves hiding in Him. The stronghold is a place of care, growth, and maturity for those who find themselves there. It is a place not to survive, but to thrive.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

God's gracious love

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter 3:9

It is God's desire that the world turn to Him. He gives gracious opportunity. That is His nature. He loves us... a fact forever demonstrated in the death of Christ for us. He patiently offers time for humanity to come to Him.

The image of God as a mean-spirited and capricious judge is one that comes not from the scriptures, but from those who oppose the scriptures. The fact remains that God does judge sin. In fact, the very next verse (2 Peter 3:10) informs us that a day will come swiftly when the entire universe will be remade and purged of the effects of sin. God is just patient, on our time scale, until then.

This explains why sin can seem so rampant. It is not the sin that God is allowing as much as it is the TIME to repent from that sin. He is giving this world the grace of the gospel and has commanded His church to reach it. He is sovereignly calling people and sovereignly positioning Christians to reach them because He desires that people come to Him. And He is giving us His patience, seen over time, so that people may come to Him. That is a gracious, patient, and holy love.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

"falsiness"

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
2 Peter 2:1

Since sin entered the world, lies have marked the experience of the human life. It was believing a lie against the Word of God that contributed to original sin all along. And this has been humanity's spiritual struggle ever since that day. We have believed a lie, and we have perpetuated lies of our own device.

Nowhere is this more destructive than from within the church. False teaching is rampant. It has marred church history and hindered the testimony of the church throughout the ages. Part of the reason that skeptics and enemies of the faith can attack Christianity is that false teaching has led to inconsistencies and false practices in the church. It has led to greater sin. It is not just about a stack of doctrines on paper. Teaching always leads to practice. And that is what the world sees in the church.

Peter knew that false teachers would arise among the people. He warned the Christians he wrote to be seriously discerning people. Fortunately there is an accurate way to gauge the teaching of anyone who claims to be speaking for God. The words have to match the firm standard of scripture. Anything less is not the truth.

Peter warns that heresy (deviation from the scriptural standard) is destructive. He warns that it leads to a denial of Christ, and thus of the truth. He warns that it brings about the judgment of God on the false teacher and on those who will follow his instruction. The entire second chapter of 2 Peter can be outlined from this first verse. That is how serious this problem was for Peter and still is today.

Part of the reason I am committed to discipleship through the teaching of the scriptures and the training of a biblical method of interpretation of God's Word is to prevent and strengthen the church from false teaching. There is much out there today that is sloppy at best, heresy at its worst. And discernment must be taught and practices within strict biblical frameworks. We can't just believe something because we "feel" something about it. We must know it, we must understand it, and we must measure it by the clear teaching of the Word of God.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

the Word of God & moral transformation

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
2 Peter 1:3-4

I believe that this text is a key to the process of individual holiness and discipleship. It shows us just what every Christian is supposed to do. And it was penned by one of the most impetuous, and serious, followers of Jesus... the apostle Peter. In his journey from fumbling disciple to articulate preacher and church leader, Peter learned what he taught in this letter. And this is not just some theological discourse. This is the process of personal and practical spiritual maturity described from God's gracious point of view.

First, anything I can become is rooted and grounded in God's power, not my own. I lack sufficient ability to morally mature. God's power must grant me what I need. Thankfully, in Christ, God holds nothing back. The text says that He gives us "all things that pertain to life and godliness". There is sufficient information and abundant strength to become holy in Christ's power to transform my life. I have no excuse.

Secondly, there is a specific and exclusive means to this transformation. Peter does not believe nor does he teach that everything is right or that any path to God is acceptable. It only comes through "the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence". I can only be transformed by the knowledge of God in Christ. Jesus claimed to be the exclusive person through Whom the world must come to God (John 14:6). The scriptures constantly affirm this, and logically, there cannot be many ways to God when those ways contradict one another.

Thirdly, there is a clear means to know God. It comes through the Word of God, what Peter calls "his precious and very great promises". God has granted us by His grace all the instruction and examples we need to please Him in the Bible. It is a vast and complex book that I have committed my lifetime to understanding. And I am blessed by doing so. But it is the primary and exclusive way in which I can know God's thoughts, because they have been written down and preserved through the ages. This is a indeed a precious book.

Fourthly, there is a clear goal to holiness. It is nothing short of being holy as God is holy. That is what "partaking in the divine nature" is all about. Peter is not teaching some sort of "oneness" with a conglomerate God. Rather, he is teaching that God is the standard of holiness for which we must aspire, and that when we do receive that holiness in Christ and apply it in our lives, we share in his nature as we act amazingly like Him. This is transformation into the image of Christ... what a "Christian" (little Christ) is supposed to be.

Finally, there is a clear focus of this transformation into a partaker of God's nature. It is clearly a moral transformation, one that escapes "the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire". Christians are remarkably different, not so that we can play the "holier than thou" game. We are different because all people have one very deep root problem: we are sinful. And when Christians are transformed into people who truly live holy lives like God lives in the world, it will stand out in a society of sin. We swim in a less polluted stream by the grace of God. And that is a joyful gift of the transformation the Son of God and the Word of God have brought to us.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

discerning innocence

For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.
Romans 16:19

Paul concludes the epistle to the Roman church with some simple final instructions that affirm the gospel he has just presented and defended. He warns against those who would distort the gospel and cause divisions in the church (Romans 16:17-20). He reminds them of the beautiful power of the gospel in a magnificent doxology that fittingly sums up the entire book (Romans 16:25-27). This charge in verse 19 carries with it Paul's ongoing prayer for these believers.

The Roman church had a stellar reputation as a solid church (Romans 1:8) and Paul reminds them of this at the end of the book. It is a cause for his personal rejoicing. But Paul also knows that the enemy would love to subvert this testimony to his purposes. And the quickest means to do so would be through heresy and false practice to creep into the church. That is why this prayer request is so important. Discernment and wisdom to "what is good" would help them weather doctrinal controversies. And Paul's words in this book have been used by the broader church now for millennia to settle the important doctrinal issues concerning the gospel. Paul had given them a handbook on doctrinal discernment and the core of the Christian faith essentials. The book of Romans continues in that vital role even now.

The second half of this prayer request is also important. He wanted them to be innocent (not naive) about what is evil. This innocence meant that a charge of sin could not be laid against them. Again, the book of Romans serves as a great means of understanding how to live this way. The salient chapters of Romans 6-8 and Romans 12 are high points in the Christian experience. Even as they detail the struggle with sin that still continues in the life of a forgiven believer committed to the gospel.

I believe that this prayer request at the end of the book of Romans serves as the heart of any true believer for the church. It defines what I should want from myself in my walk with God. It defines what I should want from my church. It defines what others will hopefully see in me. And it is what the gospel produces in us: discerning faith that makes us wise to what is good, and innocent of what is evil.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13