Nahum 2:1-13 Our Responsibility Toward Evil

We live in a world not that much different from Judah. We have encountered in recent history a set of attacks that were different than we have had in our past. Our world is full of evil.

Now as you look at this text, it seems to just a recitation of a battle. Within this battle scene, God is seen as a victorious warrior. Some have criticized the book of Nahum as recording history after the fact. But in reality, this is predictive prophecy.

Since this is predictive prophecy – telling the end result before it happens, we can gain an understanding of how to deal with evil when it occurs in our lives. So today, we want to learn about “Our Responsibility Toward Evil.”

How do you deal with evil?

Do you withdraw? Do you tell yourself that this is not happening to you. Do you stick your head in the sand and hope it goes away?

Do you fight against the evil? Do you try to tell yourself that in order to overcome evil, you must fight?

Do you stand against evil? Do you learn not to succumb to its desires and intentions?

There are FOUR principles in this passage about how to deal with evil in our world:

Recognize that God has overcome all evil. (v.1-2)

Look at 2:1-2. Here God describes the fact that the Lord will restore Judah and Israel. He will bring them into harmony. In fact, this prophecy is like the passage in Ezekiel 37, where the dry bones come together. This prophecy has come to pass. They are together as one.

The evil still exists, but God’s people have overcome the evil that has happened to them.

We can learn from this prophecy this principle: We can overcome evil in our lives.

The second principle is just as important:

Realize that evil will reap condemnation upon itself. (v.3-10)

This passage looks at the battle scene and describes what will happen.
In 612 BC the Medes and Babylonians allied to attack Nineveh. The Khoser River flowed through the city, so the invaders damned it up. Historians also recount unusually heavy rainfall during this siege. The damned water was released so that it destroyed part of the wall around Nineveh. The Medes and Babylonians entered the city and took control – plundering, pillaging, looting, burning, killing.
The Assyrians were conquered by a very unique war tactic. The river was damned, then released, to make a breech in the walls. Many attempted to flee; most were killed or captured. The city was looted.
(2:4) – They broke the walls and the chariots came in.
(2:5) – The Assyrians military leaders fell in their march and stumbled.
(2:6) – The palace flooded.
(2:7) – The Assyrians are running away like doves who try to escape the shot of a hunter.
(2:8) – They were told to hold their ground, but none did.
(2:9) – The Medes and the Babylonians looted the flooded palace.
(2:10) – Fear and emptiness came to all the Assyrians.

The Assyrians were defeated by the Medes and the Babylonians. The same techniques against Assyria, that had been used to defeat Israel.

The principle is taught in Scripture: “What a man sows, that he shall reap.” (Galatians 6:7). This is shown here as well. All the Assyrians knew was full of evil. Therefore evil repaid itself with evil.

A point of prophecy that may humor you:
Nahum 2:4 – is sometimes used by prophecy pundits to depict the automobile. In reality, when the dam broke, a hole was breached for chariots to come in and destroy the city.
The principle is this: We have a responsibility to not get involved in evil.

Remember that evil does not have real power in our lives. (v.11-12).

Here we see a picture of a powerful beast. Assyria used the lion as their symbol. This could be referring to actual lions that Assyria kept, or their strong young men. Lions were a symbol of strength.

The point is that their strength has been destroyed. Evil does not have real power anymore.
In this descriptive passage, the power of the lion is taken away. God did this to the Assyrians, and He does that to evil in our lives.

He not only conquered evil through the cross, but He stripped it of its power.
Jesus prayed for this when He said: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” In this passage, He prayed that evil would not take a hold of our lives.
Evil may surround us, and it may try to hurt us. But it has no real strength.
Satan has no power, his demons have no power, and their influence have no power.
The principle is: Evil has no power over you in your life.

Relate our responsibility to the gospel to others who may have turned to evil. (v.11).
This draws out the principle again that those who have heard the gospel have greater responsibility to it.

This last verse is a warning – a strong warning to those who have heard of the gospel. The verse uses this phrase: “Behold, I am against you.”

The only other time God uses this phrase is in Ezekiel 38 and 39 against Gog and Magog. In that reference, God is addressing present-day Russia. As you very well know, Communism fell in the 1990s and religion was opened up to the people of Russia. The Gospel was brought in and many people were saved.

I was e-mailing to a person with the European Baptist Convention, a group of people who were on our prayer list for Heike. He told me they have a church in Moscow. The church is doing well. They are being responsible with the gospel that has been given to them. They are relating that responsibility to people who have been in darkness for so long.

But someday, the nation of Russia will abandon the God that saved their nation from destruction. One day, they will turn to a world leader instead of God.

You and I have a responsibility to the gospel. We must share it with others. We must savor it, and grow in it. In this particular case, we must make every effort to not let evil run our lives. “Make every thought captive to Christ” as Paul would say.