Bad News for One is Good News for Another

Order of Service

• Hymn — Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul
• Call to Worship — Psalm 146:1-2, 10
• Hymn — Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — 1 Timothy 3:16
• Scripture Reading — Joshua 24:1-15
• Hymn — A Christian Home
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — Spirit of the Living God
• Sermon
• Hymn — How Deep the Father's Love for Us
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Bad News for One is Good News for Another

Scripture: Nahum 1:12–2:2

I. The Bad News for Assyria

A. God pronounces the erasure of Assyria's name and legacy (Nahum 1:14)

1. Ancient kings feared dying without an heir to carry on their name; Assyrian noblemen's names were eventually erased from their monuments
2. God declares He will cut off the carved and metal images from the house of their gods — their temples will be destroyed
3. Fulfilled in 612 BC when Babylon, the Medes, and the Scythians crushed Nineveh; the gods Ashur, Nabu, Nergal, and Ishtar disappeared from history

B. Assyria itself had desecrated the temples of conquered nations (2 Kings 18:33-35)

1. The Rabshakeh taunted Hezekiah: no god of any nation had delivered it from Assyria
2. God now turns the same fate upon Assyria's own temples and gods

C. God declares, "I will make your grave, for you are vile" (Nahum 1:14)

1. German archaeologists found the coffins of Assyrian kings smashed and empty
2. Nabopolassar, the Babylonian king, unwittingly echoed Nahum's prophecy when he recorded throwing off Assyria's heavy yoke

D. The deeper significance: God wipes out the memory of the enemy of His covenant people

1. For centuries critical scholars doubted Nineveh even existed — until excavations near Mosul, Iraq in the 1840s confirmed its existence and grandeur
2. This confirms (a) the Bible's historical reliability, and (b) God's promise to erase the enemy from memory
3. Looks forward to Revelation 21:4 — the former things, sin, death, and sorrow, will pass away entirely

II. The Good News for Judah

A. God's affliction of Judah through Assyria was purposeful, but temporary (Nahum 1:12)

1. Judah's bondage was God's own judgment for their wickedness, including the sin of King Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:11)
2. God is sovereign over all affliction — He allowed Satan to afflict Job and Paul (2 Corinthians 12)
3. Yet God grows impatient with the misery of His people (Judges 10:16)
4. His anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a lifetime (Psalm 30:5)

B. The announcement of peace restores a festive, worshiping spirit (Nahum 1:15)

1. Under the Assyrian yoke, Israel could not celebrate her festivals with a free and joyful spirit
2. Bondage to a foreign enemy silences the mouths of God's people — cf. Psalm 137:1-4: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?"
3. When God breaks the yoke, His people can once again sing and keep their feasts

C. This points to the freedom Christ brings (Galatians 5:1)

1. Christ has burst open the bonds of the law that condemned us because of sin
2. Christians are commanded to rejoice (Philippians 4:4)
3. No one should have a more festive, joyful spirit than the believer set free in Christ

III. The Good News of Jesus Christ

A. The historical relief from Assyria proved short-lived

1. Babylon destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC and broke Assyria's yoke
2. Only 25 years later, Babylon came and annihilated Judah and the temple
3. The ultimate problem for Israel was never Assyria or Babylon — it was their sin (2 Kings 23:26)

B. Nahum 1:15 echoes Isaiah 52:7, which leads directly into the Suffering Servant passage

1. Isaiah 53:4-6: He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him
2. Only the vicarious, substitutionary atonement of Christ brings truly lasting good news
3. Political and military deliverance can only produce a fleeting, festive spirit; if sin's chains remain, we remain in bondage regardless of outward freedom

C. Paul applies Nahum 1:15 and Isaiah 52:7 to gospel proclamation in Romans 10:15

1. "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news"
2. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ
3. Believers are called to get on the rooftop and proclaim the risen, sinless, covenant-keeping King
4. In Christ, the year of the Lord's favor (Luke 4:18-21) has been proclaimed and fulfilled — rejoice forevermore