NINEWĚH REVISITED
Vision of Naḥum
Shalom family, we lift up and continue to give praise to
our Mighty Elohim, יהוה of Hosts,
aměn!
Tehillim/Psalm
34:8 “Oh, taste and see that יהוה is good; blessed is the man that takes
refuge in Him!”
Have you been eating
your lawful bread? Have you been looking intently into the mirror of His Word?
Taste and see how good He is – we are blessed in taking refuge in Him! In a
world which places emphasis on success being gained by being ruthless,
conniving, and deceitful, with a win at all costs and the ends-justify-the
means mentality, it is often hard to stay afloat as we who follow the Word will
typically go against this corrupted standard of promotion and temporary
success. Without יהוה as our
Refuge we would never be able to survive the onslaught of the world’s ways
pressing down on us to be conformed to its standards of corruption and sin. But
praise be unto יהוה, our
Elohim, who is our refuge and strength, our help in times of distress and our
Deliverer, aměn! We simply have a choice
– choose יהוה, or
choose the world – and as we know our choices have consequences. In a message
tonight where I would like us to be strengthened in our Refuge, יהוה of Hosts, I would also like us to be
warned against the temptations of following after the world’s ways to which
there will be devastating consequences and to do this we will look at the book
of Naḥum as we overview the vision he saw and the message he gave to a
backslidden city. In a message tonight called, “Ninewěh Revisited”, please turn with me to the book of Naḥum the
prophet. (Read).
Such a power packed book that carries great significance
and lessons for us today in terms of what lies ahead with the pressing urgency
to ensure that we place our Trust in The Name that Saves, taking refuge in Him,
or else we will face the consequences of His wrath.
The setting for this vision is as follows:
Ninewěh was the capital of the once Assyrian Empire and this
message of Naḥum to Ninewěh came at least 100 years after Yonah had delivered
his ‘turn or burn’ message of
repentance where the entire city repented and turned to follow יהוה. So Naḥum was sent back as a prophet
to Ninewěh after the initial repentance wore off in as little as 100 years or
so – that is how quick a nation can fall back into lies and hypocrisy – it just
takes one generation! Now think how vital and alive this message is today that
we, as His remnant, must declare to a people who have been under lies for many
centuries!
The location of
ancient Ninewěh was situated in current day Northern Iraq, east of the Tigris,
and remnants of this ancient city can be found in modern day Mosul. It was one
of the most populated cities of ancient times with fertile lands that were good
for both agriculture and pasturing of animals. The ruins of the palace of King
Sennacherib were found in 1847, and according to various resources, it was
regarded as the main city of the worship of Ishtar as far back as 1800 B.C.E!
‘Easter’ was been worshipped at least 1800 years before Messiah came to give
His live as a ransom!
Ninewěh means “house of Ninus” who according to historical
writings founded Ninewěh and his wife was Semiramis (Ishtar). Ninus is none
other than Nimrod and so Ninewěh means ‘house of
Nimrod’, who built the tower of Baḇel and after which we can clearly see the context of the
corrupted system of worship of Baḇel that can be attributed to this wicked man who, as
an agent of our adversary, has too tried to build a house for himself.
Naḥum means ‘comfort’
and comes from the root word ‘naḥam’
which means ‘to sigh or breath strongly, and by
implication to be sorry, console, comfort or avenge’. This
message was a comforting one to some while a vengeful breath of wrath to
others.
The entire theme of
this message given by Naḥum is basically this: “The fall of Ninewěh”, or better put for us today – the fall of the
House of Nimrod and as we see the picture or foreshadow of things to come of
what was decreed in this message and also accomplished in part as a direct
foreshadow of the fall of Baḇel which we read of as being declared by the messenger
in Ḥazon/Revelation 18:2: “Baḇel
the great is fallen”. And the reason
for my message called, “Ninewěh
Revisited” is exactly what is coming. Here is a city that was as corrupt
and violent as can be, and repented after a reluctant Yonah did what he was
told, only to find that 100 years later they had gone back to being a wicked
nation.
יהוה had
certainly used the Assyrian Empire to discipline Yehuḏah, yet Assyria took it
one step further and ravaged them and grew wicked against them to which יהוה came to pronounce great judgement and
wrath upon them.
I find a great picture being given us here between the message of
Yonah and this message given by Naḥum, picturing for us the 2 comings of
Messiah! Why do I say that – well Yonah for me is a picture of Messiah’s 1st
coming to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins – Yonah means ‘dove’ and
when יהושע was
immersed Yoḥanan said he saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and
remain on יהושע. We know He
came first as a suffering servant and now with His second coming He is coming
as a conquering King who will execute wrath upon His enemies from which a
double edged sword will come from His mouth, and the oracle or message of Nahum
declares just that; while in the midst of it all there is a promise of
protection to those who take refuge in יהוה.
The message of Naḥum is one of comfort and console to a set-apart
called out people, while to a rebellious and stiff-necked people it is one of
great destruction and despair for which no one is able to stand before the rage
of יהוה!
In these 3 short chapters we see in essence a 3-fold message being
given to a corrupt and unrepentant people who had caused the Torah to cease and
grew more wicked and perverse than before.
In Chapter 1 we
see DOOM DECLARED, in Chapter 2 we
see the DOOM DESCRIBED and in
Chapter 3 we see DOOM is DESERVED! Doom declared, described and
deserved – a summed up message of the righteousness and justice that are the
foundations of the Throne of יהוה. יהוה does not just do things unannounced
as He reveals it through His prophets – He had declared, described and given
reasons why!
In a nutshell – you receive, accept and continue to be steadfast
in living in the first message of His coming that will protect you at His
second, or else. He came so that we could be saved from destruction and He came
to remove the veil from our eyes that the House of Nimrod, through its twisted
teachings, has cleverly weaved over so many and those who refuse to repent and
have the veil removed and see the Truth and walk clearly in it have the
imminent and real threat of these words of wrath.
Yoḥanan/John
3:17-18 “For Elohim did not send His Son into the world
to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not
judged, but he who does not believe is judged already, because he has not
believed in the Name of the only brought-forth Son of Elohim.”
Yoḥanan/John
3:36 “He who believes in the Son possesses everlasting
life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
Elohim remains on him.”
Here we see once
again belief and obedience go hand in hand – the disobedient will not see life
but rather the wrath of Elohim remains on Him! He who does not ‘obey’ shall not
see life and wrath remains of him! Sadly so many miss that critical point of
obedience!
Let us briefly
run through some key points in these 3 chapters:
CHAPTER 1 – DOOM DECLARED
In verse 2 there
is no beating around the bush – straight up we are reminded that יהוה is a jealous Ěl; He is a revenging Ěl
and a possessor of wrath who will take vengeance on His enemies. Straight up we
see Naḥum announcing the character of יהוה and His unrivalled
power. All too often the twisted teaching of the House of Nimrod, portrays
Elohim as this meek and mild father who will not really punish – and that is a
lie that even form the 1st century a man named Marcion began to
teach that the Elohim of the so-called ‘O.T.’ was not the real Elohim as He was
too cruel and he rejected the Hebrew Scriptures and יהוה as Elohim and believed that the wrathful Hebrew Elohim was a separate and lower entity
than the all-forgiving
Elohim of the N.T. Sadly the
root of this erroneous teaching has produced so much wicked fruit that we see
almost 2000 years later being widely accepted at large by those who have
rejected the necessity and validity of the Torah as being applicable today! And
those who fall into this trap need to heed the words of a jealous and consuming
Ěl.
Praise יהוה that He
is patient – for if He was not where would any of us be today? He is great in
power – but He does not leave unpunished!!! If He did then why would He come
and die for us – there would be no need! Oh, but He does not leave unpunished –
the difference is simply this – we who call upon Him and continue to stay in Him escape His punishment of
death for He Himself took our punishment – punishment was not set aside
completely – He took it upon Himself and all who do not believe and obey will
certainly receive the right and just punishment! He turned aside our judgement
by taking the punishment for us who call upon Him and take Refuge in Him. There
is only One Elohim and He does not change or lie – so Marcion’s pitiful
theories are lies, lies that still cause so many to stumble today as they grope
around in the dark, ignorant of the Truth veiled through deceit and lies taught
by a wicked house of Nimrod!
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every Word of Eloah is tried; He is a shield to those taking
refuge in Him. 6 Do not add to His Words,
Lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.”
Sha’ul tells us
in his introduction to his 2nd letter to Timotiyos that Elohim does
not lie and Shemuʼĕl said to king Sha’ul
when he tore the garment of Shemuʼĕl that the reign of Yisra’ĕl had been torn
form Him by יהוה, who does
not lie. He does not change:
Mal’aḵi/Malachi
3:6 “For I am יהוה, I shall not
change, and you, O sons of Yaʽaqoḇ, shall not come to an end.”
This is a
wonderful verse – because יהוה does not
change we have a secure hope and future. Think about it – if He did change we
would be in a spot of bother for this verse tells us clearly that because He
does not change, the sons of Ya’aqoḇ – that is the Tribes of Yisra’ĕl – that is
you and we as we have been grafted in – shall not come to an end – we have a
promised and sure hope of eternal life – because His Word is sure and does not
change!!!
Ya’aqoḇ/James
(1:17) quotes a portion of this verse declaring that every good and perfect
gift come from above from the Father of lights who does not change!
יהוה does not
fail to accomplish what He has declared! Some may understand it as slowness,
yet it is His favour, desiring that all repent and turn form their wickedness:
Kěpha
Bet/2 Peter 3:9 “יהוה
is not slow in regard to the
promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
His fierceness
and anger is described here in chapter 1 and even the best and most flourishing
places will wither and languish – Bashan and Karmel are the most fruitful
places in Yisra’ĕl and Leḇanon
was known for its huge trees yet had now withered and when יהוה speaks in rage who can stand or rise
on the heat of His displeasure? The answer is simply – no one! Amidst this
declaration of doom, wrath and fire we are comforted by the Truth that יהוה is good and a refuge to all who call
upon His Name and those who call upon His Name and find their refuge in Him and
walk in His ways are safe for they turn away from unrighteousness; for which
there is great punishment coming upon those who persist in unrighteousness,
which is lawlessness!
Timotiyos
Bet/2 Timothy 2:19 “However, the solid foundation of
Elohim stands firm, having this seal, “יהוה knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the Name
of Messiah turn away from unrighteous-ness.”
We all here name the
Name of Messiah – have you turned away from unrighteousness – for if not you
have taken His Name in vain!
He declared that Ninewěh
would be destroyed and flooded and the counselor of Beliya’al will be cut off
and the name of the wicked house of Nimrod will no longer be sown and Yehuḏah
would once again keep the Sabbaths and Feasts of יהוה and able to perform their vows of obedience unhindered. This we
have in Messiah who has cut off the name of Ba’al from us – and this we are to
proclaim, aměn!
CHAPTER 2 – DOOM DESCRIBED
In verses 1-7 we see
how the siege and capture is described and the furious preparation for battle
that takes place and how resistance to the coming onslaught is futile! יהוה would turn back the splendour of
Ya’aqoḇ, which is not a wonderful thought, because due to sin and lawlessness
and ruin bringing about a great emptiness through worthlessness the splendour would
be turned back from a people who were to be robed in His splendour. We do know
that for those who take refuge in Him has the assurance that He will fill us
once again – He will fill us who have been emptied of Truth by the emptiers!
The emptiers have emptied and ruined the vine branches!
In Yoḥanan/John 15 יהושע tells us that He is the Vine and we
are the branches and we who do not bear fruit are cut off and thrown into the
fire. The branches here in verse 2 of this second chapter of Naḥum describes
how the enemy has ruined the branches to a point of being empty and unable to
bear fruit – leaving them as prey for destruction and fire.
The house of Nimrod and the counsellors of Beliya’al – that is the
House of Nimrod’s false teachers and preachers are emptying and ruining many
branches through their twisted prosperity and false grace messages as they are
simply draining so many from the True sap of the Vine and cause ruin and
destruction to set in. For those who take refuge in יהושע, The True Vine, will have His
splendour restored but those who fall prey to worthless teachings will have the
splendour of Ya’aqoḇ turned back! Beliya’al means ‘worthlessness’ and so those
who have been emptied out of the Truth by the worthlessness of a Baḇel system of falsified worship will
have the splendour removed, but we who call upon and take refuge in Him will be
filled and splendour restored.
יהוה is
against the wickedness and empty vain teachings and all those who follow after
it and He will cut off the voice of worthlessness.
CHAPTER 3
– DOOM DESERVED
The very stern woe given in verse 1 is due to sin. The wrath of יהוה and His declared Doom upon His
enemies is not without just cause.
Mattithyahu/Matthew
12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who
does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”
We are either with Him
or against Him and to be with Him means we agree and walk in Him and His ways,
any other way contrary to His Truth is simply against Him and is one who
scatters and does not gather. Those who are against Him will be put to shame
and exposed before all and all of the worthless teachings that were held so
fast onto will be revealed for its fruitlessness and it shall be declared, “Ninewěh is laid
waste”, with no one to mourn for her and more specifically no one to
comfort and would be destroyed just as No-Amon in Mitsrayim was destroyed.
Amon means ‘to nourish
or be faithful’ and ‘No’ means’ disrupting – No-Amon was the ancient capital of
upper Mitsrayim, built as a center of worship to Thebes their pagan deity,
which fell to the Assyrian onslaught and were unable to stand. Ninewěh were no
better than No-Amon – a city who simply disrupts the ability to flourish and be
fruitful through worthlessness and idolatry! And they shall be laid waste! It
is declared here that all the wealth and strength would not be able to save
Ninewěh from that which was declared! The House of Nimrod would be destroyed
and the peoples rejoice at her destruction! The Assyrian Empire was destroyed
by the Babylonian Empire and in fact Ninewěh was not only destroyed but flooded
and laid waste, so much so that for centuries many walked and passed over land
that had covered her without realizing it as ruins of Ninewěh were first
discovered in 1847. The Assyrians had done wrong to so many people that when
she was destroyed people ‘high fived’ each other and rejoiced.
In Ḥazon/Revelation 18 as I mentioned
earlier we see again the similar language of destruction being decreed, yet we
see that the fall of Baḇel will be
mourned!
Baḇel would not directly conquer and displace
peoples like the Assyrians did; she would allow other nations to surrender,
then make up with those they had conquered by respecting their finest men and
giving them high positions in the Baḇel government, treating them very well and
making them wealthy, which is one reason most Yehuḏim did not return from there
when they were permitted. Baḇel would wound then heal, like a counterfeit
shepherd, making it indispensable to everyone, and this we are to be warned
against as we call out for many to “Come out of her!”
Sadly the reality is that instead of
rejoicing her downfall, many will mourn and I believe that there is a lesson
here for us – we who have come out must not look back and mourn and so in some
subtle ways try to hold on to past theologies and try to justify them as well meaning
and partially correct – partially correct is still wrong – we must rebuke Baḇel as we see in Hoshěa/Hosea and not
mourn the loss of her influence – but rejoice and be glad that we take refuge
in יהוה and that
He repays!
Tehillim/Psalm
137:8 “O daughter of Baḇel,
who are to be destroyed, blessed is He who repays you your deed, what you did
to us!”
What we can take from
this powerful message of Naḥum is that we are to understand the sovereignty of יהוה, understand His goodness, favour and
the hope we have in Him; and this we do as we walk in His Word for
understanding comes in the doing and we “do”
that which we hear and guard, aměn!
We must be careful to
not be stiff-necked in any way and not be closed to correction as this
stubbornness will only lead to destruction:
Mishlĕ/Proverbs 29:1 “One
often reproved, hardening his neck, Is suddenly broken, and there is no
healing.”
How often have you been reproved yet continue to harden your neck
and refuse to bow in humble obedience? Be warned by this book that destruction
is coming swift upon those who forsake His Torah and are busy building in vain
the House of Nimrod that will fall when the storm of יהוה’s wrath upon the wicked comes.
Sha’ul summarizes it
all for us in this statement:
Romiyim/Romans 11:22 “See
then the kindness and sharpness of Elohim: on those who fell sharpness, but
toward you kindness, if you continue in His kindness, otherwise you also
shall be cut off.”
This he said in
speaking of us who are wild branches that were grafted in and how the natural
branches were cut off due to unbelief and worthlessness – It is His Kindness
that leads us to repentance and we must continue in His kindness to remain in
the Vine and bear much fruit of righteousness, which is to guard to do His
commands, and allow the words of Naḥum be a comfort to us who take refuge in יהוה, as opposed to the sound of righteous
judgement of wrath upon the lawless!
This is a message that is very much alive today – one we must
declare and in so doing we too must be sure that we have come out of the House
of Nimrod and all her worthless teachings as teachings the commands of men,
only to be found clinging to the Torah and being steadfast to remain in Him;
for keeping the Torah is the refuge in which we will hide under the shadow of
His wings, as we walk in His Torah out of a loving obedience with great joy and
great delight, ready to confidently call many out of the soon to be destroyed
house of the enemy into the House of the Living Elohim of which יהושע is our King, our Redeemer, our
Wonderful Counsellor, our Strong Ěl, our
Father of Continuity and our Prince of Peace!
Ninewěh revisited – יהושע is coming
again in vengeance for His set-apart Bride – many who have heard the 1st
message and repented have not stayed in the kindness of Elohim and so strayed
and will be revisited. Perhaps you too have found yourself having slipped into
worthlessness and deceit under the influence of the teachings and ways of the
House of Nimrod – then may this Word tonight revisit you where you are at and
set your feet back upon the straight and narrow path of obedience in Messiah –
the Living Word that when He revisits Ninewěh you will be found in Him as a
refuge and shelter from the storm. This is the comfort and assurance we have in
Him and we have to bring this message of Ninewěh to an ignorant people who are
being emptied by the emptiers and headed for destruction, while there is still
the time of the kindness and patience of יהוה.
Ninewěh Revisited – where will you be found – be found in Him who
is our Refuge, aměn!
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