Slices
Prepare
You may be feeling drained after this week of evil versus good! The books of Jonah and Nahum are uncomfortable reading, and there’s more to come today. Praise God that he has the ultimate victory, and the power and the glory are his.
Bible passage
Nineveh to fall
2 An attacker advances against you, Nineveh.
Guard the fortress,
watch the road,
brace yourselves,
marshal all your strength!
2 The Lord will restore the splendour of Jacob
like the splendour of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste
and have ruined their vines.
3 The shields of the soldiers are red;
the warriors are clad in scarlet.
The metal on the chariots flashes
on the day they are made ready;
the spears of juniper are brandished.
4 The chariots storm through the streets,
rushing back and forth through the squares.
They look like flaming torches;
they dart about like lightning.
5 Nineveh summons her picked troops,
yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
the protective shield is put in place.
6 The river gates are thrown open
and the palace collapses.
7 It is decreed that Nineveh
be exiled and carried away.
Her female slaves moan like doves
and beat on their breasts.
8 Nineveh is like a pool
whose water is draining away.
‘Stop! Stop!’ they cry,
but no one turns back.
9 Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
The supply is endless,
the wealth from all its treasures!
10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!
Hearts melt, knees give way,
bodies tremble, every face grows pale.
11 Where now is the lions’ den,
the place where they fed their young,
where the lion and lioness went,
and the cubs, with nothing to fear?
12 The lion killed enough for his cubs
and strangled the prey for his mate,
filling his lairs with the kill
and his dens with the prey.
13 ‘I am against you,’
declares the Lord Almighty.
‘I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers
will no longer be heard.’
Explore
God’s message is for his people, the Israelites, but it’s about their enemies, the Assyrians. Nineveh was at the heart of the Assyrian Empire. Through Jonah, God had graciously given the Ninevites a chance to repent, and they had responded.
However, it didn’t last, and they returned to their evil ways. The subsequent years expose their shallow repentance – it’s as though they had never turned to God. Now it’s too late – they have sealed their own fate (3:19). There’s no escape from God’s judgement and their supposedly all-powerful regime is at an end, probably about 150 years after Jonah’s original prophecy. The consequences of their actions are described in graphic detail. God’s wrath, provoked by wickedness, is terrible (1:2,6).
Through these events, the two sides of God’s nature are revealed – his care and compassion for his people (1:7; 2:2) and his hatred of evil and the subsequent consequences of wicked behaviour (1:2,3). Like Jonah, we cannot escape God, who will ultimately punish all evil (Revelation 11:18). But the good news in all this is that those of us who have responded to God’s saving grace through Jesus (John 3:16) can look forward to his return one day. Come, Lord Jesus!
Respond
Thank God for his ultimate victory over sin through Jesus and the promise he gives of eternal life with him for ever (Revelation 21:3–5)!
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Samuel 13,14; 1 Corinthians 6
Pray for Scripture Union
Praise God that faith can be simple and as small as a mustard seed – and simple enough for even young children to grasp! (This week's prayers relate to two stories about Faith Guides Tina (read her story here), and Huw (read his story here).
