Nahum 1:15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off
Ahh, how refreshing to come to the book of Nahum! When you read through the prophets, there are many pictures of God’s judgment upon evil. Then you come to the book of Nahum. We know little about the man, but we know much about God’s message because He gave it to this man whose name means comfort or consolation. How do you suppose a book named Comfort must read. Well, the first verse says, “The burden…” Alright, we’re two words into the book and already it doesn’t look too good. How can there be any burden in a book named Comfort?
Verse 2 begins even worse. It says, “God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth…and he reserveth wrath for His enemies.” Like the book of Jonah, this book addresses the people of Nineveh, the precursor and later capital of the mighty, brutal, and ruthless Assyrian Empire. God was going to judge Nineveh one hundred years before Nahum when He sent another prophet, Jonah, to proclaim judgment. The judgment had been postponed because the people repented. They turned to God, and God gave them mercy.
Now, we don’t receive mercy by being good or innocent. We receive mercy by being humble, and honestly agreeing with God about ourselves. One hundred years after God gave that mercy to Nineveh, they were right back where they had been before. Once again, Nineveh became wicked, godless, oppressing, and cruel to the peoples, like Israel, they had subjugated. But God will not let the wicked go without justice. Nahum 1:8 says, “He will make an utter end… and darkness shall pursue his enemies.”
So this book called Consolation is just as much about judgment as it is about mercy. There’s no such thing as mercy if there is no such thing as judgment. Mercy is God’s withholding of His righteous judgment. If the book of Nahum is largely about God’s judgment on Assyria and Nineveh, then why would it be called by the name consolation? Who received consolation in this book? Did anyone? The answer is—Yes! God’s judgment was consolation. His judgment on these remorseless Ninevites was God’s mercy on the people they were afflicting. Nineveh’s judgment was Israel’s consolation.
Here’s the point: you don’t ever want to put yourself in a position where God must judge you in order to console someone else. God gives mercy to the merciful. It would be wise of me today to look at my life and think about how I stand before God because of how I’m treating other people. God is a God of mercy. He gives mercy to us when we humble ourselves and when we display that mercy to others.