{"id":9247,"date":"2020-05-15T20:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T03:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=9247"},"modified":"2020-05-10T18:17:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T01:17:05","slug":"nahum_2_1-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/nahum_2_1-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus, Your Lion of Judah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nahum 2:1-13 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\u00a0\"\"<\/div>\n
Hi GAMErs,<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Today\u2019s passage is Nahum 2:1-13.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Nahum 2:1-2 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0An attacker advances against you, [Nineveh]. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 1-2:\u00a0 In these two verses, Nahum envisions two things going on.\u00a0 First, Nahum sees a siege attack against the powerful city of Nineveh, once known as the most powerful city in the world (v1).\u00a0 Second, Nahum sees God restoring \u201cthe splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste\u201d (v2).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. God can bring down one kingdom and raise up another.\u00a0\u00a0God is sovereign.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0As Psalm 75:7 says, \u201c\u2026it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. When Nahum says that God is restoring \u201cthe splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel\u201d (v2), what does that mean?\u00a0 Some scholars think that here \u201cJacob\u201d refers to the southern kingdom of Judah and \u201cIsrael\u201d refers to the northern kingdom of Israel.\u00a0 Another way to look at it is that Jacob is the old, not so glorious version of God\u2019s people; Israel is the redeemed, powerful and glorious version of God\u2019s people.\u00a0\u00a0God wants to restore His people to a greater, more powerful, redeemed version of themselves.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Nahum 2:3-10 (NIV)<\/strong>
      \n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The shields of his 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 pine are brandished.
      \n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning.
      \n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He summons his picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place.
      \n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses.
      \n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It is decreed that [the city] be exiled and carried away. Its slave girls moan like doves and beat upon their breasts.
      \n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back.
      \n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures!
      \n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale.<\/em><\/p>\n

      On verses 3-10:\u00a0 Nahum sees a picture of the group that will be attacking Nineveh.\u00a0 They appear to be clad in red and rushing through the city squares (v3-4).\u00a0 The leader of the Assyrian army summons his troops to try to protect the city (v5), but they are unable to defend it (v6).\u00a0 The people of Nineveh are carried off to exile (v7).\u00a0 Like a pool with its contents draining away, so Nineveh will be drained of its residents (v8) and plundered (v9-10).<\/p>\n

      Nahum\u2019s prophecies about the destruction of Nineveh would be fulfilled in approximately 612 B.C., when an alliance of Chaldeans and Medes, wearing red, would attack the city of Nineveh and carry the Ninevites into exile.\u00a0 This would eventually lead to the fall of the entire Assyrian empire over the next three years.\u00a0 Nineveh would never be rebuilt again.<\/p>\n

      What can we learn from this? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What God says will happen will indeed happen.\u00a0 You can count on God\u2019s Word to come true.<\/strong>\u00a0 Just as God keeps His Word, may we keep our word too.<\/p>\n

      Nahum 2:11-13 (NIV)<\/strong>
      \n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Where 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?
      \n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The 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.
      \n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I am against you,” declares the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty. “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.”
      \n<\/em>
      \nOn verses 11-13:\u00a0 In Assyrian culture, lions were an important symbol and were found in much of Assyrian art.\u00a0 Here Nahum describes Nineveh as a lions\u2019 den for viscous lions who have done plenty of hunting and killing in their lifetime.\u00a0 Now it was time for those lions and their den to be devoured by Someone Greater (v12-13).<\/p>\n

      What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Jesus Himself is described as the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5) \u2013 powerful, brave, standing triumphant over everything else.\u00a0No matter what kind of lion may be breathing down your neck, know that you have the greatest lion of all on your side \u2013 Jesus Christ.<\/strong>\u00a0 This lion of Judah is committed to protecting you and keeping you from harm.<\/p>\n

      Lord Jesus, thank You for being my Lion of Judah, my Restorer, the One who is completely faithful and true to Your Word.\u00a0 No one can compare to you. In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

      Today\u2019s passage is Nahum 2:1-13.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!
      \n\u00a0
      \nNahum 2:1-2 (NIV)\u00a0
      \n1\u00a0\u00a0An attacker advances against you, [Nineveh]. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength!\u00a0
      \n2\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines.
      \n\u00a0
      \nOn verses 1-2:\u00a0 In these two verses, Nahum envisions two things going on.\u00a0 First, Nahum sees a siege attack against the powerful city of Nineveh, once known as the most powerful city in the world (v1).\u00a0 Second, Nahum sees God restoring \u201cthe splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste\u201d (v2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9247"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9329,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9247\/revisions\/9329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}