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Tag: The fiery God

Nahum 1:6 – Who can stand (before God)?

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On August 6, 2013

In Christian, Nahum, Through the Bible

Nahum 1:6 has two questions, which are Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? and it describes how God’s fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

Malachi 3:2 asks the same questions in the context of who can stand before God when he appears, and it goes on to tell us that he is a refiner’s fire. The indignation of the Lord is on sin and not the sinner and all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) and unless the sanctifying Holy Spirit is poured into us as a purifying (refining) fire, we cannot stand before the Holy God.

God’s fury is poured out like fire, implying that it is a consuming fire which will devour all those who are wicked. The Assyrians were a wicked and proud nation and God was not willing to be stand still when Judah (God’s people) was oppressed, for he is a jealous God (Hebrew 12:29; Deuteronomy 9:3; Deuteronomy 4:24). Prophet Nahum brings the word of the Lord that Nineveh (Assyria’s capital) will burn as fire devours the bars (of the gates) (Nahum 3:13) just as God’s fury was poured out, as fire, upon the two wicked cities, Sodom and Gommorah, that were wicked and evil (Genesis 19:24). The rocks are thrown down by God is also transliterated as the rocks rent asunder which is what happened when God passed by the mountain on which his prophet servant Elijah was asked to stand (1 Kings 19:11). At the presence of the Lord, mountains are rent asunder and his word is like a hammer that breaks forth the rocks (Jeremiah 23:29).

Points to ponder:
As God passes by our mountainous issues and problems of life, they simply are broken and rent asunder. When his word comes to us like a hammer, anything that is hard against us is broken down as rocks hit by a hammer. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, who purifies and refines us. Who can stand before God’s indignation? Who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? No one unless they have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit refining fire of God and made upright by believing in Jesus Christ. Can you stand before God?

Nahum 1:6 (KJV)
6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

Nahum 1:5 – The fiery God

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On August 5, 2013

In Christian, Nahum, Through the Bible

The latter part of Nahum 1:5 reads “and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.” The direct reference to the earth burning at the presence of the Lord is the reference to mount Sinai which was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly (Exodus 19:18).

Additionally, we can see in other parts of the scripture, that where God is, there is fire. God was present in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2). God was present in the pillar of fire (Exodus 14:19; Numbers 9:14-15), giving light in the darkness (Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16), and guiding his people by going in front of them (Numbers 9:17-23, Deuteronomy 9:3). The Bible teaches us that the Lord is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). He is a consuming fire in the context of his passionate jealousy that burns against those who follow after false and other gods (Deuteronomy 4:24). The LORD’s fire fell and consumed the acceptable sacrifice of his servant Elijah on mount Carmel, to show to all, that the LORD God was the living God (1 Kings 18:38). And when all the people saw this, they fell on their faces and proclaimed that the LORD God is God (1 Kings 18:39). Ezekiel in his vision see the fire infolding himself before God’s voice is heard (Ezekiel 1:4). The Son of God was seen in the midst of the fire when Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel3:25). John the Baptist said that Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11) and on the day of the Pentacost, before the Holy Spirit came in to dwell in the disciples, there was seen on the disciples cloven tongues like as of fire (Acts 2:3-4). The two men on the road to Emmaus felt the presence of God as a sensation of “burning hearts” within themselves (Luke 24:32).

The earth burned (Exodus 19:18) and the Bible teaches us that it will burn again in the day of the Lord when he comes like a thief (2 Peter 3:10) to steal those who believe in him from the clutches of the evil one and this world where he has dominion (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Points to ponder:
Where God is, there is fire. When we believe in Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit of God to indwell in us, he sanctifies us by purifying us by the blood of Jesus. As fire consumes the dross from the silver, refining it, God the Holy Spirit burns up any unrighteousness (Psalm 66:10; Proverbs 17:3) as He is the the agent of our sanctification. The Lord is a passionate and purifying fire. Before the world burns and all its elements are laid bare (2 Peter 3:10), let us believe in Jesus, the fiery God, so that we can have the fiery presence of the Holy Spirit in our life to purify and perfect us. The earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein and we shall be burned as well, unless we have the burning Holy Spirit within our heart for God is a fiery God! Do you have the fire of God in you?

Nahum 1:5 (KJV)
5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

2 Peter 3:10 (KJV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Matthew 3:11 (KJV)
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

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