I came across this in my Bible reading today:
The scatterer has come up against you.
Man the ramparts;
watch the road;
dress for battle;
collect all your strength.- -Nahum 2:1
Nahum’s prophecies come about 100 years after the time when Jonah was asked to go to Nineveh and demand their repentance; but Nahum prophesies to the same place, now announcing their sure destruction because of their waywardness again. Nineveh would fall finally in 612 BC, and these words of prophecy come about 50 years before that. Notice the very modern and brusk way of speaking here. The Lord uses his prophets as his mouthpiece at this time, these are indeed the very words of the Lord. And he’s telling them that they will go to battle, and they will be destroyed. Because we are made in the image of God – we know these poetic and creative instincts when it comes to true judgment that is coming. Watch the road, he says, in a way, mocking the rebellious sinners.
There is one true chief end of man: to glorify God and enjoy him forever; it means acknowledging him, giving the king his due – it’s the most important thing a human being could ever do. Anyone who rejects God will face him and they should be ready for that – now, our God is so gracious and so loving and wants nothing more than to turn that relationship into deep reconciliation through Jesus Christ – that’s the goal. Turn to him and not just when it’s convenient – but really acknowledge there is one true God in all the earth. He is fierce; he is serious when it comes to sin, and he’s also infinitely merciful.