I have heard it said that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are two different gods. I don't see it that way. For much of the Old Testament God is dealing with the nation of Israel and is involved in administration of a country. In the New Testament, His involvement in a nation is replaced by His reign over His kingdom. In the Old Testament, His discipline was directed at nations; in the New he disciplines us individually. The difference isn't in God, but rather in His administration. In the Old Testament the focus was national; in the New it is individual. Same God, different administration.
In the book of Nahum, we get to see how God deals with a nation that once repented and was saved, but then turned her back on God. The nation in question is Nineveh. Jonah delivered God's message to the people of Nineveh and they responded by repenting and turning to God, so the nation was spared. (Again, the difference between Old and New is nations vs. individuals)
1 A prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
The LORD’s Anger Against Nineveh
2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The LORD takes vengeance on his foes
and vents his wrath against his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger but great in power;
the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
(Nahum 1:1-3)
the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The LORD takes vengeance on his foes
and vents his wrath against his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger but great in power;
the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
(Nahum 1:1-3)
These verses give us great insight into God and His expectations of us. He is a "jealous" God, He expects us to be faithful to Him. I understand that completely, as a human, I experience jealousy when those I love and have been faithful to demonstrate that they have loyalty to someone else. I cannot imagine a husband that doesn't care if his wife is off with another man. God is like that! He is faithful to us and loves us and in return, He expects faithful love.
He is an avenging God. He hands out justice! Whether to nations or individuals, God is a god of justice. He is the rewarder of those that are faithful and the punisher of those that are not. "The LORD takes vengeance on His foes". That is a scary verse to me! Who wants to be a foe of the almighty God? Given the choice, who would choose foe over friend?
Thankfully, the next verse gives us hope. "The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished." He is slow to anger, giving us time to learn from our mistakes and make changes in our lives. This is a great picture of parenting. A child makes mistakes; the parent responds appropriately, without anger and administers the proper punishment. If the child continues in improper conduct, the parent’s anger is seen by the child and the conduct changes or the punishment becomes more severe. He is slow to anger, but He will become angry if we continue in our rebellious conduct. That is proper discipline from a loving Father.
God finishes these verses with the assurance that the guilty will be punished. Sometimes it seems that the guilty are rewarded and that can test our faith. We see child killers set free and given interviews on television and book deals. We see wife killers declared "not guilty" and then live out their lives as celebrities. But we can rest assured that God will punish the guilty. They might get away with it here, but they will ultimately face a judge and jury that cannot be fooled. He "will not leave the guilty unpunished!"
For Christians, the good news is that through the sacrifice of our savior, Jesus we stand before the judge innocent of all charges. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Jesus is the one and only that can take care of our guilt problem. He is the only one that has taken our punishment for us. Good news? Good News!
