Transcript Nahum and Habakkuk
“Your wounds cannot be healed” (3:19)
931 BC 900 BC 850 BC 800 BC 750 BC 722 BC Judah Rehoboam Abijah Asa* Jehoshaphat* Jehoram*, Ahaziah, Queen Athaliah, Joash* Amaziah Uzziah Ahaz Hezekiah* Prophets Israel Jeroboam Nadab Baasha Elijah Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram Elisha Jonah Amos Micah Isaiah Hosea Isaiah Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah Pekah, Hoshea
650 * 600 586 King Manasseh Amon Josiah Prophet Nahum Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel Joahaz Jehoiakim 605 – 1 st Jehoiachin 597 – 2 nd invasion (Daniel) invasion (Ezekiel) Zedekiah 586 – 3 rd invasion (Jeremiah)
“This is a message about Nineveh, the account of a vision seen by Nahum, who was from Elkosh.” (Nahum 1:1) [612 BC – Nineveh destroyed] “One day the LORD spoke to Jonah…He said, ‘Go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out against it; I am aware of how wicked its people are.’” (Jonah 1:1-2) [783-743 BC]
“Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, ‘God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness! So, God, if you won’t kill them, kill me! I’m better off dead!” (Jonah 4:1-3 – The Message)
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16) “My heart cries out for Moab!” (Isaiah 15:5) “The LORD says, ‘People of Israel, I think as much of the people of Ethiopia as I do of you. I brought the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians from Kir, just as I brought you from Egypt.’” (Amos 9:7) “Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world!” (Isaiah 45:22) Roman officer – “I tell you, I have never found faith like this, not even in Israel!” (Luke 7:9) Canaanite woman – “You are a woman of great faith!” (Matthew 15:28)
“Listen to me: it is true that there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah, when there was no rain for three and a half years and a severe famine spread throughout the whole land. Yet Elijah was not sent to anyone in Israel, but only to a widow living in Zarephath in the territory of Sidon. And there were many people suffering from a dreaded skin disease who lived in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha; yet not one of them was healed, but only Naaman the Syrian. When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were filled with anger. They rose up, dragged Jesus out of town, and took him to the top of the hill on which their town was built. They meant to throw him over the cliff…” (Luke 4:25-29)
“The LORD is good; he protects his people in times of trouble; he takes care of those who turn to him. Like a great rushing flood he completely destroys his enemies; he sends to their death those who oppose him.” (Nahum 1:7-8) “Nineveh was besieged, conquered, and sacked by the allied forces of Medes, Scythians, Babylonians, and Susianians. King Sin-shar-ishkun of Assyria was killed in the sack.”
“Nineveh, you are under attack! The power that will shatter you has come. Prepare the defenses! Guard the road! Prepare for battle!...The enemy soldiers carry red shields and wear uniforms of red. They are preparing to attack! Their chariots flash like fire! Their horses prance! Chariots dash wildly through the streets, rushing back and forth in the city squares. They flash like torches and dart about like lightning. The officers are summoned; they stumble as they press forward. The attackers rush to the wall and set up the shield for the battering ram.” (Nahum 2:1-5)
“I am your enemy!’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘I will burn up your chariots. Your soldiers will be killed in war, and I will take away everything that you took from others. The demands of your envoys will no longer be heard’…. The LORD Almighty says, ‘I will punish you, Nineveh! I will strip you naked and let the nations see you, see you in all your shame.’” (Nahum 2:13, 3:5)
“Jonah started through the city, and after walking a whole day, he proclaimed, ‘In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!’” (Jonah 3:4)
“Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep forever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again. (Nahum 3:18) There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?” (Nahum 3:19)
Israel:
“I wanted to heal Israel, but its sins were far too great. Samaria is filled with liars, thieves, and bandits!” (Hosea 7:1 – NLT)
931 BC 900 BC 850 BC 800 BC 750 BC 722 BC Judah Rehoboam Abijah Asa* Jehoshaphat* Jehoram*, Ahaziah, Queen Athaliah, Joash* Amaziah Uzziah Ahaz Hezekiah* Prophets Israel Jeroboam Nadab Baasha Elijah Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Joram Elisha Jonah Amos Micah Isaiah Hosea Isaiah Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah Pekah, Hoshea
Judah: “The LORD God of their ancestors repeatedly sent messages through his messengers because he wanted to spare his people and his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words, and made fun of his prophets until the LORD became angry with his people. He could no longer heal them” (2 Chronicles 36:15,16). “Is there no medicine in Gilead? Are there no doctors there? Why, then, have my people not been healed? (Jeremiah 8:22 – GN). “The Lord says to his people, ‘Your wounds are incurable, your injuries cannot be healed. There is no one to take care of you, no remedy for your sores, no hope of healing for you.’” (Jeremiah 30:12:13 – GN).
Babylon: “Babylon will suddenly fall and be shattered. Cry for it. Bring medicine for its pain. Maybe it can be healed. We wanted to heal Babylon, but it couldn’t be healed. Let’s abandon it and go to our own land. God has judged Babylon. Its judgment is complete.” (Jeremiah 51:8,9)
Egypt: “People of Egypt, go to Gilead and look for medicine! All your medicine has proved useless; nothing can heal you.” (Jeremiah 46:12)
“So the prophecy of Isaiah applies to them: ‘This people will listen and listen, but not understand; they will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes. Otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand, and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.’” (Matthew 13:14-15)
“She [Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save (sozo) his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) “salvation, heal/healing, wholeness, restore, deliver, recover, unbroken.”
The woman with a bleeding disorder for twelve years. "No one could heal (therapeuo) her." (Luke 8:43) "therapeutic" "In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed (iaomai)." (Luke 8:47) - to be cured of a physical illness "Daughter, your faith has healed (sozo) you. Go in peace." (Luke 8:48) - Not merely medically treated. Transformation, wholeness, unbroken, spiritual healing.
“For it is by God's grace that you have been saved (healed) through faith (trust).” (Ephesians 2:8)
“In Luke 5 a paralytic man is lowered through the roof into Jesus' presence. Jesus does not say: "Be healed," or "Get up and walk." Instead he points out the healing significance of salvation by saying "Friend, your sins are forgiven." (Luke 5:20 NIV). Salvation is the healing of the sin damage. But the Pharisees are incensed, and ask "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Luke 5:21 NIV). True enough. Only God can forgive sins. But as Jesus wanted to point out, their view was one of the need for legal forgiveness in order to receive God's blessings. An exterior kind of work, a ritualized concept of salvation.
But Jesus points them back to what salvation really is by saying to them: '"Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take up your mat and go home."' (Luke 5:22-24 NIV). In the Pharisees' minds which was easier? To heal or to forgive sins? Obviously they could handle Jesus as "just another miracle worker who heals" but not as someone who went around forgiving sins.
They, the Pharisees, had developed a very meticulous set of rules and regulations for achieving forgiveness. Their idea of salvation was of strict observance to the ceremonies and rituals. So when someone comes around saying he is able to forgive sins, that "blows their minds". For salvation as healing is not part of their concept of how God works to restore people to himself. Salvation, they think, has to come "through the proper channels". There are rigid requirements to achieve this salvation, and which, if legalistically obeyed, will ensure success. So how can this "faith healer" promise forgiveness of sins? How?
Because he is God, and because his salvation is healing, not rigid observance of outward requirements. An inherently non-legal process. Blasphemy to those who saw the achieving of legal forgiveness as the essential part of salvation! Which is what led to Jesus' death. He "bucked the system", he "blasphemed God", and it was "better that one man die for the sake of the people" (see John 11:49) than the whole national system of achieving salvation be destroyed.” Salvation as Healing, Jonathan Gallagher
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘How much longer will these people reject me? How much longer will they refuse to trust in me, even though I have performed so many miracles among them?’” (Numbers 14:11 – GN) “The Lord answered, ‘I will forgive them, as you have asked. But I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth, none of these people will live to enter that land. They have seen the dazzling light of my presence and the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but they have tried my patience over and over again and have refused to obey me. They will never enter the land which I promised to their ancestors. None of those who have rejected me will ever enter it’” (Numbers 14:20-23).
Jesus: “Forgive them, Father!” (Luke 23:34 GN). “When the captain there saw what happened, he honored God: ‘This man was innocent! A good man, and innocent!’ All who had come around as spectators to watch the show, when they saw what actually happened, were overcome with grief and headed home.” (Luke 23:47,48 – The Message)
“Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don't you realize that it is God's kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act?” (Romans 2:4 GW)
“So the prophecy of Isaiah applies to them: ‘This people will listen and listen, but not understand; they will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes. Otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand , and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.’” (Matthew 13:14-15)
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV)
“We know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.” (1 John 3:2)
“Yes, may you come to know his love – although it can never be fully known – and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.” (Ephesians 3:19)
“And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)
“Then some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man, so that he was able to talk and see. The crowds were all amazed at what Jesus had done. ‘Could he be the Son of David?’ they asked. When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, ‘He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so.’” (Matthew 12:22-24)
“No, it is not Beelzebul, but God's Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you…I tell you: people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven-- now or ever. (Matthew 12:28-32)
“Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them…On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations…The throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name (character) will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there and no need for lamps or sun for the Lord God will shine on them.” (Revelation 21:3; 22:2-5)
“They couldn't take their eyes off them--Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education. They recognized them as companions of Jesus” (Acts 4:13 MSG)
“It is growth in knowledge of the character of Christ that sanctifies the soul. To discern and appreciate the wonderful work of the atonement, transforms him who contemplates the plan of salvation. By beholding Christ, he becomes changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. The beholding of Jesus becomes an ennobling, refining process to the actual Christian. He sees the Pattern, and grows into its likeness, and then how easily are dissensions, emulations, and strife adjusted. The perfection of Christ’s character is the Christian’s inspiration. When we see him as he is, desire awakes to be like him, and this elevates the whole man...”
That I May Know Him pg. 166