Sunday, January 4, 2026

PT-4 “Judgment Affirms God’s Plan” (Nahum 1:9-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-04-2026

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  PT-4 “Judgment Affirms God’s Plan”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Nahum 1:9-13

            Message of the verses:  “9 ¶  What do you conspire against the LORD?  He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. 10  For while tangled like thorns,  And while drunken like drunkards,  They will be devoured like stubble fully dry. 11  Out of you comes  One who plots evil against the LORD,  A wicked counsellor.  12  Thus says the LORD:  “Though they are quiet and likewise many,  Yet they will be cut down when he will pass through.  Though I have afflicted you, I shall afflict you no more; 13  For now I shall break off his yoke from you,  And burst your bonds apart.”

            “Because Nineveh could not survive God’s assault, the Lord declared to His people Israel, ‘Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no longer.’” I think that for a moment that I want to say some things about Israel.  One does not have to go too far in the Word of God to see about Israel.  Now when God created the earth as seen in the first chapter of Genesis it was perfect, that means that for one thing there was no sin on the earth, it was just perfect.  One does not have to get too far in the Word of God to see that both Adam and Eve sinned and that was the beginning of spoiling this perfect earth that God created.  One can see that the earth was different then than it is today and people lived very long lives before they died.  God would change all of that, and perhaps it took about 2000 years before God told Noah that He was going to flood the earth, which He did.  Noah, his wife, three sons, three daughters-in-law were the only ones who made it through the flood, and now the earth was much different, as now the life span of people began to get lower and lower.  Now we move to the time when God called Abram and his wife to go to what would eventually be called Israel.  Abraham was Abram’s new name and he had two sons, but only one was the one that would continue in the path that would bring about the people of Israel.  Issac, then Jacob, and then Jabod’s twelve sons were the blood line that would bring about the Messiah.  It took 400 years for this family to become a nation and then Moses would bring this now nation out of Egypt after 400 years.  They finally settled in the land and what we can see is that Israel would always be sinful with a few revivals in their history.  When the Messiah was born Israel did not have possession of the land and would not get it again for another 2000 years, May 6, 1948 they again became a nation and they are still fighting against their enemies, and they are still not the nation that God has intended them to be.  Move to the book of Revelation and the last judgment will bring about salvation to all Israel, and then the Lord will again move them into their land with their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ will be the One who will rule the earth from Jerusalem for 1000 years.  Now as we go back to these words ‘Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no longer,’” this is talking about this certain time period that the Lord is talking about but I think that it would not be a stretch to say that this prophecy could be talking forward to when Israel will be saved and the Lord will rule from Jerusalem.  Ok this was something that I wanted to talk about, and I hope that it will be worth the read to those who read it, and now I will go back to where we began this SD.

“God recounted that in the past He had afflicted Israel, using Assyria to discipline His people (Isa. 5:13, 24-30; 10:5-6, 12, 15; cf. 2 Kings 16-17; 2 Chronicles 32-33; Jer. 27:6).”  Now I am going to copy and paste most of these verses, with the exceptions of the ones that have chapters in them.

(Isa. 5:13, 24-30; 10:5-6, 12, 15; cf. Jer. 27:6)

“13  Therefore my people have gone into captivity,  Because they have no knowledge,  And their honorable men are famished,  And their multitude dried up with thirst.”

“24  Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble,  And the flame consumes the chaff,  So their root will be as rottenness,  And their blossom will ascend like dust;  Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts,  And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25  Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against his people,  And he has stretched out his hand against them and struck them,  And the hills trembled.  And their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.  For all this, his anger is not turned away,  But his hand is stretched out still. 26  And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar,  And will whistle to them from the end of the earth,  And behold, they will come with speed, swiftly. 27  No one will be weary or stumble among them,  No one will slumber or sleep;  Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed,  Nor the strap of their sandals be broken; 28  Whose arrows are sharp,  And all their bows bent;  The hooves of their horses will seem like flint,  And their wheels like a whirlwind. 29  Their roaring will be like a lion,  They will roar like young lions;  Yes, they will roar and lay hold of their prey;  And they will carry it away safely, and no one will deliver it. 30  And on that day they will roar against them  Like the roaring of the sea.  And if one looks to the land,  Behold, darkness and sorrow,  And the light is darkened by its clouds.”

  5 ¶  “Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger  And the staff in whose hand is my indignation. 6  I shall send him against a hypocritical nation,  And against the people of my wrath, I shall give him a charge,  To take the plunder, and to take the prey,  And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”

“12  Therefore it will come to pass when the Lord performs all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that he will say, “I shall punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.’”

“15  Will the axe boast itself against him who chops with it  Or will the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?  As if the rod wields itself against those who lift it up,  Or as if the staff lifts itself up, as if it were not wood!”

“6  And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.”

“Assyria’s barbarism against nations, including Israel, was well known as the destroyed cities and enslaved or tortured their captives.  But the God who sovereignly used Assyria in His judgment of Israel (I have afflicted you) would also judge Assyria and show compassion to His people (I will afflict you no longer).  Thus, the Lord promised to Israel:  ‘So now, I will break his yoke bar from upon you, and I will break your bands apart.’  The yoke bar refers to the sturdy frame of a yoke and was often used to describe the unbreakable bond of foreign subjugation (cf. Lev. 26:13; Jer. 27:2, 6-11; 28:10, 12-13).”

(cf. Lev. 26:13; Jer. 27:2, 6-11; 28:10, 12-13)

“13  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves, and I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.”

“2  “Thus says the LORD to me, ‘Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck,”

“6  And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. 7  And all the nations will serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land comes, and many nations and great kings will serve him. 8  And it will come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I shall punish that nation with the sword and the famine and the pestilence,’ says the LORD, ‘until I consume them by his hand. 9  Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon.” 10  For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and I shall drive you out, and you will perish. 11  But the nation that brings their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I shall let them remain in their own land,’ says the LORD, ‘and they will till it and live in it.’"’”

“10 ¶  Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.”

“12  Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 13  “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, "You have broken yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.’”

            Ok I think that I will stop here and pick up the rest of this section on Monday morning, Lord willing.

Spiritual Meaning for My Life today:  It is so good to know that Jesus Christ is on His throne in heaven interceding for me as there are things going on in my life at this time that are disturbing to me, but because He is on the throne interceding for me, I know that He will work out these things for my good and His glory.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire for the Lord to continue to be gracious to my wife who is bravely dealing with her cancer, that He would, through His Spirit, give encouragement to her and also to me as I am a part of what is going on in her life for when we were married the Bible teaches us that the two shall be one.

1/4/2026 7:58 AM

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