MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2026
9:32 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT-3
“Inescapable Judgment”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Nahum
3:14-17
Message of the verses: “Draw for yourself water for the
siege! Strengthen your fortifications!
God into the clay and tread the mortar! Take hold of the brick
mold! There, fire will consume you; The
Sword will cut you down; It will consume you as the locust does.
Multiply yourself like the creeping locust, Multiply yourself like the swarming
locust. You have increased your traders
more than the stars of heaven—The creeping locust strips and flies away. Your guardsmen are like the swarming
locust. Your marshals are like a locust-swarm
Encamping in the stone walls on a cold day.
The sun rises, and they flee, And the place where they are is not
known.”
John MacArthur writes “Moving from
economic prosperity to military power Nahum observed that your [Nineveh’s]
guardsmen are like the swarming locust.
Guardsmen likely refers to the royal bodyguard swarming around
the king and other noblemen like the locust to shield them from
assault. In addition to Nineveh’s
guardsmen, Nahum also addressed your marshals who are like a locust
swarm. Marshals were field commanders
(cf. Jer. 51:27) who, like a locust-swarm, led their troops forward
into battle to overwhelm the enemy (cf. Amos 7:1).”
(cf. Jer. 51:27)
“27 "Set up a standard on the earth; blow
the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her; summon
against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal
against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts.”
(cf. Amos 7:1)
“1
¶ This is what the Lord GOD showed me:
behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to
sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings.”
“Whether
on defense or offense, Nineveh’s military forces were as dense and devastating
as hordes of locusts.
“Nonetheless, Assyria’s economic and
military might would be useless in protecting its empire from God’s
judgment. Nahum described that initially
Nineveh’s forces would seem ready for battle like the locust encamping in
the stone walls on a cold day. Like
those destructive insects, dormant and assembled in dense masses, the Assyrian
soldiers would camp inside the city’s fortification ready for battle (Nah.
2:3-5).”
(Nah. 2:3-5)
3 The shield of his mighty men is red; his
soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the
day he musters them; the cypress spears are brandished. 4 The chariots race madly through the streets;
they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart
like lightning. 5 He remembers his
officers; they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is
set up.”
“But once the
sun rises, the locusts flee; so also, at the dawn of the battle,
Ninevite readiness would dissipate. As
the locusts feel the heat of the sun and fly far away so the place where
they are is not known, so Ninevite’s soldiers would scatter and flee. Despite Assyria’s economic and military
dominance in prior centuries, its attempts to resist the judgment of God would
be ineffective (cf. Job. 18:5-10; 20:24; Isa. 24:17-18; Jer. 15:2-3; Amos
5:18-20).”
(cf. Job. 18:5-10; 20:24; Isa.
24:17-18; Jer. 15:2-3; Amos 5:18-20)
“5
¶ "Indeed, the light of the wicked
is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. 6 The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp
above him is put out. 7 His strong steps
are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down. 8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
and he walks on its mesh. 9 A trap
seizes him by the heel; a snare lays hold of him. 10 A rope is hidden for him in the ground, a
trap for him in the path.”
“24 He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze
arrow will strike him through.”
“17 Terror and the pit and the snare are upon
you, O inhabitant of the earth! 18 He
who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs
out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are
opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.”
“2 And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’
you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: "’Those who are for
pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those
who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’
3 I will appoint over them four kinds of
destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the
birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.”
“18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!
Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met
him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent
bit him. 20 Is not the day of the LORD
darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?”
“In employing locusts to illustrate the devastation of
war, Nahum alluded to the prophet Joel who vividly depicted a locust invasion (Joel
1) to describe God’s eschatological judgment on Israel (Joel 2). However, Joel also prophesied that God will
reverse that judgment so that those who afflict Israel will be afflicted in the
same way (Joel 2:25; 3:1-21).”
(Joel 2:25)
“25 I will restore to you the years that the
swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great
army, which I sent among you.”
“By using
such parallel imagery, Nahum indicated that his prediction concerning Nineveh
was the near prophecy that guaranteed the fulfillment of Joel’s end-time
prophecy. The image of Nineveh being
consumed by a locust-like army foreshadowed the comprehensive defeat of
Israel’s enemies at the end of the age (Nah. 3:15). In this way, Nahum, a prophet of comfort,
used the fall of Nineveh to comfort God’s people.”
(Nah. 3:15)
“15 There will the fire devour you; the sword
will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like
the locust; multiply like the grasshopper!”
Spiritual
Meaning for my Life Today: Just as God was faithful in
bringing about the prophecies that Nahum made against the Assyrian’s so He will
be faithful in fulfilling all of the end-time prophecies that are found in both
the Old and New Testament.
My
Steps of Faith for Today:
I continue to trust the Lord to guide my wife and me on the treatment that she
receiving for her cancer.
2/23/2026
9:53 AM
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