Many moderns have never considered the idea that there comes a time when God’s patience is exhausted. Perhaps this thought has never occurred to you.  It may be because when we hear of the mercy of God, His kindness, His forgiveness, His grace, we assume that these are God’s attributes at the expense of all others.  But God is righteous and demands that His righteous requirements are kept.  For this reason, the book of Nahum may shock you.

So why read and study this small minor prophet from the Old Testament? Because it is part 2 of the story we find in Jonah.  So many of us love Jonah because it announces that even the most wicked among us can find the mercy and kindness of God.

Jonah wanted God to condemn Nineveh and Assyria, but instead, He looked for a way to extend mercy to people who don’t deserve it.  That is the gospel!  God has found a way, in Jesus, to extend mercy to those who don’t deserve it. Rather than us receiving the wrath of God, it fell onto His Son, and we are the objects of His love and grace. That’s the wonder of the gospel.

But Nahum is part 2.  What happens if we presume on this grace?  In the New Testament book that most clearly shows us the heart of the Gospel, we find these words:

 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:4–5, ESV)

How do we “presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience”?  We do it by simply assuming that God’s kindness and patience will never run out.  We sin against God and find that nothing has happened to us.  Or we sin, thinking that there will always be time to repent tomorrow.  But Romans and Nahum testify that there is a time when the patience of God runs out.  The book of Hebrews also has this warning:

“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26–27)

The Assyrian empire, after they had repented of their sins, then purposefully kept on sinning.  In the time of Nahum, about 100 years have passed since the prophet Jonah prophesied to Nineveh, and he is forgotten. The kingdom of Assyria has grown to a massive power, conquering and destroying many nations, including Israel (the northern kingdom). The Assyrians are threatening to conquer Jerusalem and do to Judah what they did to Israel.

Enter the 2^nd Jonah — or perhaps the anti-Jonah — Nahum of Elkosh.  His name means comfort. He gives no comfort to Assyria, but he does give comfort to Judah, because in a short period of time Assyria collapsed, fulfilling the prophecy of Nahum.  Nineveh fell to the combined armies of the Medes and the Babylonians.  Nahum spoke God’s revelation: Nineveh, the great destroyer, was about to be destroyed.

So Nahum is the story of what happens — in this case to an entire nation — when they presume upon the kindness, forbearance, and patience of God.  This book is a study of what happens when God’s patience is exhausted.  So don’t neglect it!  Read Nahum, and study it with us this coming week in a new series called “God’s Patience Exhausted”.