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ah

welcome welcome welcome once again to

book by book

and to the fourth in our series of

studies on the book of nahum

in the old testament i'm richard buse

joined here

by paul blackham my colleague and also

by our special guest

gordon bridger who is a preacher and a

writer

and a trainer of preachers and it's very

good to have you here today gordon thank

you

for joining us thank you for inviting me

and we see where we are we're right by

the

river thames once described by winston

churchill

not just as a river he said but as

liquid history

well it's history what they were doing

but with a vengeance it's interpreted

history here in the bible

as we come to the book of nahum and

chapter two today

and we're taking up the theme of the

lord will restore that's our theme today

let me read from chapter two verse one

an attacker advances against you nineveh

guard the fortress watch the road brace

yourselves

master all your strength verse 2 the

lord will restore the splendor of jacob

like the splendor of israel though

destroyers have laid them waste

and have ruined their vines verse 8

nineveh is like a pool and its water is

draining away

stop stop they cry but no one turns back

plunder the silver plunder the gold

the supply is endless the wealth from

all the treasures

she has pillaged plundered stripped

hearts melt knees

give way bodies tremble every face goes

pale verse 11

where now is the lion's den the place

where they fed their young

where the land and loudness went and the

cubs

with nothing to fear and so it goes on

here is a vivid description of the

restoration

of the splendor of jacob but also the

destruction

of nineveh and we must have noticed the

vividness the striking abruptness of

this description

as we get right here what can we learn

from all of this

well it's just the way that there's

nahum and the

he really addresses nineveh and i don't

know i like to imagine he went and

preached there like jonah did maybe

and the way the language is so sharp and

abrupt like

guard the fortress watch the road brace

yourselves

martial all your strength or a prophecy

isn't it it's all prophecy none of this

has happened yet but he's describing it

almost as if he can see it happening

around him

and i sort of imagine i wonder if he

stood in nineveh

a bit like jonah had done a hundred

years before but he

is announcing a judgment that cannot be

avoided and he's as if he's looking

around

like and he's seeing it almost the

colors the sights the sounds the vivid

you know the movement these these

shields are the soldiers red

the cladding scarlet chariots flashes

they're rushing about

it's as if it's all how it's so vivid in

the urgency of it and the

short sentences plunder the silver

plunder the gold supply is endless

people stop stop no one's paying

attention it's as if the film's

rolling and he can see it and he's

describing it

and it's like it's short sharp notes as

if it's happening and he's just

like a journalist trying to get it down

as it's happening around him

i think the the the power that those

words could have had if he'd really

preach that to an inner or they or

even if he sent it as a as a letter i

don't know but this

the power of it it's a bit like in

mark's gospel where he creates that

sense of urgency whether he's

just happened immediately

that's how it is and he gives that sense

and that you come away from chapter two

with just that sense of

wow it's so real and vivid and urgent

i know and then but it's it's it's

interesting verse two

it comes as a sort of strange maybe

interruption

about this restored splendor of jacob

uh in this description of all of the

ruin

why is this important gordon what do you

think well i think in the whole of the

bible

judgment and salvation go together and i

think we need to see that

that always god in his love is is

seeking

uh our salvation it's not his will the

deity should perish

but also come to knowledge of himself

and i think it's it's

fascinating to read these words in verse

two lord will restore the splendor of

jacob like the splendor of israel

and to wonder what dan had in mind

perhaps

he saw a time when the north and the

south will be united again

and that kind of restoration perhaps he

saw that one day

judgment will come not only to israel in

the north but to judah in the south

but god would do a restoring work for

those who put their trust in him

and found refuge in him and bring them

back to their own land

or perhaps there's an even deeper

spiritual truth here

that looks on to the new testament

because the old testament prophets are a

message for the church today

as well as for the church of its own day

and maybe

there's a hint here that the restoring

work of god

will be restoring those like jacob yes

with all their deceptiveness and the con

men that he was and

the weaknesses in his makeup turning

jacob

into israel a prince with god someone

god can

could properly use and that it's

referring to that which points us right

forward to the new testament and the way

in which the spirit

comes into our lives and can restore us

from glory to glory paul puts it

from one degree of likeness to jesus to

another

which goes right on until one day we'll

be in his presence

and and meet him face to face and be

like him without sin

so it's a glorious picture but nam seems

to point

in that direction yes indeed actually

that that description of

oncoming glory awaiting glory of the

resurrection

actually you picked that up in a

wonderful bit and i

found it here on page 144

in your in your wonderful commentary

um on nahum where you describe

something relates to the international

fellowship of

of evangelical students ifes actually of

which my mom

was the first ever treasurer hey maybe

before it's not got millions of members

but mom was the first treasurer way back

and she kept then all the

money for ifes in a biscuit in under her

bed

so it's grown fantastically but here's a

bit

where you describe from lindsey brown's

report he was then the chairman of the

secretary of it all for example he says

a young student in vietnam wrote in a

letter

now how did you put it this is probably

my last communication with ifes

pray for me and the students and the

church in vietnam

for wisdom to face the coming trial our

lord has risen

we are going to suffer to die and be

raised up with him

in glory that's from a student

who sees the coming glory himself in the

way that you've just described so

wonderfully for us

and we're stunned by that and also very

very

inspired indeed i mean actually

through these verses three to ten where

nineveh is pillaged and plundered and

stripped

can we find some clues here about

assyrian sin

in these vivid images i think so because

you think about how assyria had gone out

and re

and brought that sort of destruction and

all sorts of other cities

and empires now it's come home to then

what they've sown they're now

reaping but if we look carefully first

of all they had that enormous confidence

in their own military

and yet their own military fails them

here and so that's interesting

they trusted in something that couldn't

deliver them

and then there's though they're carried

away to exile there in verse

seven um which is interesting because

they

had in turn invaded and destroyed people

and carried them off to exile

and then it's like ah the all the things

that

they had done are done to them they're

carried off to exam and again in the

commentary there's that

gordon's coming about the female slaves

moan light doesn't beat on their breasts

why are they moaning

because the gods have failed them yes

you know they trusted in all these

rubbish assyrian gods who can't do

anything and just

promote cruelty and violence and then

when it came to it

they can't help them at all and there's

that sense of desperation

yes indeed and actually when you think

about how it finally happened

when you read about the archaeologists

and their discoveries of how

nineveh fell they say that the moats

were

successfully crossed after two and a

half months siege

then the triple walls were reduced and

then they also discovered

that entrance had been gained by

the eastern moat which had been filled

up with rubbish and that

made that they were able to affect a

great breach uh

in the north end of the of the wall so

yes as you say

the exile is decreed yeah exactly as

they had carried others into exile and

the females slaves

because their gods have failed them and

the river gates

had thrown out in the palace club so

literally that that very thing you're

saying

happened exactly as nahum describes that

the

the river defenses that they thought

they trusted in something

and then in the end that was the very

thing that destroyed them and then you

can see as well that they

plunder the silver plunder the gold the

supply is endless the wealth from all

its treasures

treasures she's pillaged plundered

stripped see how they they had

my masses of money and resources because

they'd stolen it

so all these sins of assyria they'd

stolen

plundered trusted in military those were

the very things that were at the heart

of the judgment that came against them

yes

so if assyria then is god's instrument

to you know fulfill his purposes then

why does god

um promise to destroy syria

i think it's clear from for instance

isaiah that the reason is that

syria went beyond the mandate she was

given

beyond the commissioning from the lord

there's a lovely bit in isaiah 10 verses

12

to 15. when the lord has finished all

his work against mount zion and

jerusalem

he will say i will punish the king of

assyria for the willful pride of his

heart

and the haughty look in his eyes

for he says maybe just read on this bit

by the strength of my hand

i've done this and by my wisdom because

i have understanding

i removed the boundaries of nations i

plundered their treasures

like a mighty one i subdued their kings

as one reaches into a nest so my hand

reached for the wealth of the nations

as men gather abandoned eggs so i

gathered all the countries

not one flapped a wing or opened its

mouth to chirp

but it's saying they went further than

yesterday's beyond

gods and boasted about it i thought that

was a striking thing they're like oh

we're so

strong we didn't need any help we was

our own in our own brilliance and power

the world's like no and you mentioned

that bit in your commentary as well

actually very helpful page 141

which i just was looking at a moment ago

here we are then in verse 11 and 12

friends with assyria referred to as the

lion

now is that how we should view the

nations of the world especially when

they seem to oppose the lord

well animals of some sort yeah i agree

it's like we've all thought about the

book of daniel and the book of

revelation

and in daniel and revelation the nations

sort of in their rebellion are like a

beast startling do you know in daniel he

has them like

like um there's a is there a cheater

and all those and all that this yeah

yeah the the symbolized is these vicious

animals of savagery and and that's the

way they are and they they seem

so and then in revelation you get that

and the the beast that's lots of it

different savage animals and it's all

the nations like

embodied in that one thing here it's a

savage lion

and it's like now where's the lion now

it's more like a little kitten really

it's got nothing it's harmless

it's been reduced right down to size and

i think that's fun about

how that happens with like the roman

empires if you were in the first century

and you'd said something like nero

you know everyone would equate in their

shoes or caesar

no it was frightening now of course what

is it

nero and people like that the that's

what people call the dogs and pets isn't

it

you know um i think caesar come here

i think it's a cat and there's a brand

of cat food or something you know with

these

and that's funny isn't it how that just

ended up being

nothing so all these beasts which seem

so savage and all-powerful and

terrible the lord brings them all down

to size

you know all these characters herod yeah

you know

gone furo heyman

you know and that's even in that one

story they're all brought down to

all of them and nowadays you know

whoever is the one now

they're all going to be brought down to

sight and you know the lord doesn't

forget the victims

he brings them down to size these

tyrants no and according to your

commentary actually gordon the lion

was an image often found on stone

reliefs

commissioned by the assyrian kings one

of them i got a little note sennacherib

boasted like a lion i raged

why is that imagery rather appropriate

for assyria

well i think because they're thinking of

terms of the land not only being a

strong

animal but they're thinking of the

beastial side

i think they rejoiced and boasted of the

cruelty in which they could treat their

enemies

absolutely yes yes i know

yes and yet again in daniel 6

in the story of daniel and the lamb's

den oh yeah there's a picture of god in

control of that situation

and the lamb is not able to

defeat daniel and kill him yeah

there's much to encourage and yet of

course the martyrs

yes they seem very close so that story

that you relate there

about the the student in vietnam or i

remember a martyr

archbishop giannanillo of uganda in the

mid 70s

i remember he's preached at our church

and i remember going to the great

uh conference of the lausanne congress

on evangelization

he was there speaking out and as i said

goodbye to him at the end of that i

shook his hand and i thought to myself

because he was under the regime of idi

amin the dictator in uganda

i thought i'm definitely going to see

you again i never did

because a little bit later we learned

that he'd been shot i think at the hands

of idi army

himself and i remember thinking about

his words that he once spoke at a great

conference when he said

it is through suffering that the seeds

of the gospel are sown

scattered abroad and nourished

people like him go on speaking to us

people like him and their witness that

goes on

forever we live under their shadow we

live under that inspiration

god bless you today god bless you as you

follow up

on the studies we've taken today and

we're going to meet you again

in another study before too long

you