Especially following on the heels of the Christmas season, studying about the judgment of God is not the easiest of assignments. There are many reasons for this.
In the belief of some, Christ has suffered the judgment of God on our behalf. Therefore, the judgment of God is a past tense event we study only as history. In Christ’s suffering and death, God’s judgment forever has been accomplished and our responsibility is to share that good news with the world, pleading with people to place their faith in our loving God. Others counter, of course, that the judgment of God Nahum proclaimed is a prediction of what God is yet to do, in the future.
For some, the judgment of God and the grace of God seem to be mutually exclusive. How could a loving God bring judgment (read: punishment) on any people, they might ask.
For others, the judgment of God is a mysterious thing. How is it that some leaders or even nations exercise unspeakable evil in the name of national policy, seemingly untouched by the hand of God?
Finally, we are being asked to study the judgment of God, in the case of the prophet Nahum, from such a distance historically. How do we, or can we, reconcile all these differing views of God’s judgment? However we approach this subject, it is vital we do so while keeping in mind we are being asked to reach across cultures, continents and centuries of time.
Perhaps we will not be able to reach across all of those differences of opinion and find a common conclusion. Perhaps our task simply is to study what Nahum teaches and let the Holy Spirit apply its truth to our lives in the way the Spirit best sees fit.
We know we worship a holy God, the holiest of holies, and that evil will answer to God. How God will go about dealing with and ultimately destroying evil is a mystery as well. It would appear one of the things Nahum is trying to convey to us is that evil has consequences, not just in eternity-future, but in the present.
We ignore or run afoul of the will of God at great risk. Nahum demands we ask what those consequences might be. We should answer those questions without presuming to know for ourselves who stands in threat of God’s judgment more than others.
In these lessons on Old Testament judgment, we will discover many of our modern questions have ancient origins. Why does God appear to be silent when evil has a free hand? We won’t have to search beyond last week’s headlines to find that question presenting itself in living color for us to ponder.
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How does God judge nations? Does God judge nations at all? To some, these questions may seem simplistic, perhaps even silly. Yet, in every nation, there are holy people. Does God spare the holy in an evil nation? Can nations, whole groups of people, be collectively evil? Can entire nations be brought to their knees because the percentage of evil people is greater than the percentage of good people?
What is the purpose of God’s judgment? It would appear that purpose would be not so much to inflict pain and suffering but as a tool to lead us back to faith and trust in God. In other words, the judgment of God is not an end in itself but a means to a holy end, a genuine relationship with God.
You may notice the author of this lesson guide has asked more questions than provided answers. That is because such is the nature of Nahum’s teaching, even the teachings of all the prophets. What the Old Testament prophets teach and what Jesus teaches at times appear to be in conflict with one another.
However, that is only the case if we fail to appreciate, again, that what the Old Testament teaches, and what the prophets teach in particular, are not meant to be ends in and of themselves. They are spiritual compasses, meant to lead us to Christ. The Old Testament always must be interpreted in light of the New. The New Testament, especially the life and teachings of Jesus, must be the prism through which we view all of the teachings of the Old Testament.
The danger otherwise is we will give a depth of credence to the Old Testament not deserved on its own. There is nothing more misleading than an Old Testament Christian. We are people of the New Testament, informed and guided to it by the Old Testament.
A good teaching of the book of Nahum will lead each of us to take another look at Jesus and what God has done in Christ. Only then will the judgment of God come into clearer focus and lead us to a faith in Christ that judgment was meant to accomplish.
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