THE BLOODY CITY
Suggested Reading: Nahum 3
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
The Karnak Temple ruins can be seen along the Nile River. A Statue to Ramses II still stands tall in the Egyptian sun. Nahum prophesied that Assyria would receive the same treatment that they had given the ancient Egyptian capital city of No Amon (Thebes). According to Egyptian records, the destruction of Thebes by Assyria took place in 664 B.C. The destruction of Nineveh, Assyria, is dated in 612 B.C. The decision to include Nahum in the Bible, made by the council of Rabbis, was based on the fact of his accurate prediction of future events. It has been calculated that Nahum probably wrote the book named after him in the year 654 B.C., at least 42 years before predicted events took place.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Nahum 3:18
“Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them.”
It is certain that Nahum knew all about the repentance before God of the king, the nobles and the people of Nineveh approximately 65 years before the writing of this book, as a result of the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:1-10). Nineveh, over the space of two generations, had degenerated from a God-fearing people to the people Nahum describes, a “bloody city,” “full of lies and robbery,” violence, and sexual seduction. (Nahum 3:1-4). There is sadness in Nahum’s words at the decline of the moral standards of a once upright people. In our key verse, Nahum puts the blame for this turning away from doing what is right in God’s sight directly on the business community (“merchants”), the government (“commanders”, “captains”) and religious leaders (“shepherds”), the leaders of Assyria.
We who live in the developed world have seen a huge change in moral standards over the past 65 years. From the end of the second world war until now, there has been a steady rise in violence on our streets, in our schools and in our homes. The greatest change morally has been the destruction of millions of little lives in what should be the safest place on earth, the wombs of their mothers. This holocaust against these defenceless lives must call out to God for judgment, as did the holocaust against the Jews by the Nazis. Today’s reading should teach us the terrible results when leaders abdicate their responsibility. Eventually “people are scattered”… “injury has no healing”… and the “wound is severe.”
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I repent for not doing all I might have done to help prevent the moral decline that is obvious to anyone who studies the statistics on violence, family breakdown, sexual promiscuity, etc. I pray for grace to take a stand daily for what is right in Your eyes, holding the truth in love, and living my life with integrity. Keep me faithful to You, O Lord, in reading and making part of myself Your Holy Word every day. May I do as the Psalmist wrote, “Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You!” (Psalm 119:11). May my reading today be not just in my head, but may it penetrate my innermost being. In the Name of the only sinless human Person, Your divine Son, Jesus, I pray. Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
Some scholars believe that Elkosh (Nahum 1:1), the hometown of Nahum, is Capernaum (“Kafer Nahum” – village of Nahum). After Nahum’s accurate prophesies, some say the name of his village was changed to honour him. Capernaum was the town to which Jesus moved after His rejection in Nazareth. It was the home of Matthew, Peter, Andrew, James and John. A New Testament reading today might be Matthew 4:12-17. Here “Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent.'” I think that Nahum would’ve supported Jesus’ message! I’ll try to put below some pictures of the ruins of Capernaum from the time of Jesus.
I have called myself on several occasions “a champion of loosing causes.” The latest being my attempts to influence a majority of Canada’s political leaders to support the traditional and Biblical meaning of the word “Marriage.” I first met the Hon. Jim Flaherty, minister of Finance at both the provincial and federal levels, at one of my speaking engagements for this cause in the city of Oshawa. He assured me of his support. He was given a state funeral in Toronto this past Wednesday, a well-deserved tribute. We do have leaders in government who do not “slumber”, as Nahum said of the Assyrian shepherds. But there are not enough leaders who are wide awake and who stand up for just causes. While I believe the marriage issue is important, I also believe that the “slaughter of the innocents” in the abortion industry is the greatest evil in our land. We are in this respect a “bloody city” (Nahum 3:1a). Canada has absolutely no protection in law for the little ones in the womb. The final prophesy given by Jesus is worth reading again in this context (read Luke 23:28-31). May God have mercy on us!
Yours for remembering that on Good Friday, Jesus took into Himself the judgement deserved by all the sin mentioned in today’s reading, all the sins mentioned in the entire Bible, and all the sins of the human race, past, present and future. On that day, Jerusalem was truly “The bloody city.”
David
P.S. Jesus prophesied about the town of Nahum, Capernaum, as recorded in Matthew 11:23-30. Capernaum is only a tourist destination today. This once bustling commercial centre is uninhabited today. Here are some pictures which would seem to support Jesus’ prophecy.
The tourist entrance to the ancient ruins of Capernaum ("Kafer Nahum" - village of Nahum).
An ancient millstone among the ruins of Capernaum.
Happy Good Friday, David Mainse, Eliza-Jane, Ron, Ann, Reynold, Kathy and family, 100 Crossroads Ministry, and fellow saints.
Good Friday commemorates the day, in 33AD, that Jesus died on the cross, as a sacrifice for us, so that our sins would be forgiven. The shedding of His blood means our salvation. When we claim Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour, we have everything. We are nothing without Him.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV): “Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Thank You, Jesus, for dying for us, so that we might be saved! The song Hosanna has been playing in my head, this morning.
Hosanna by Hillsong
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
I see His love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing
The people sing
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith
And I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We’re on our knees
We’re on our knees
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart from what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna, Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna in the highest
Songwriters
FRANKLIN, KIRK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoM0AT8fBvs
Amen!
Amen!
Amen to my typo! Sorry Norma-Jean! I was thinking of Eliza Jane James, wife of Reverend Reynolds H. James in Kingston, here! 🙂
thank you so much for the link, Beverlee Kay! Beautiful! Blessings to everyone!!!
I wrote this some years ago.
Jesus
Jesus, His love is so pure,
The sins of the world did endure.
On the cross He was nailed,
Before the crowd was empaled
His love so unselfish and sure.
Jesus, His mercy has shown,
There on the cross did atone,
His sinless life He gave,
My sinful soul to save,
His mercy no limit has known.
Jesus, His grace is so free,
Went to the cross just for me,
All my sins on Him laid,
All my debt there He paid,
His grace unmerited and free.
Jesus, His resurrection gives life,
Calms all my turmoil and strife,
When to Him all I yield,
He’s my Rock and my shield,
And
He has given me eternal life.
I am going to church with our son and family in K.W. This morning.
Please continue to pray for them all, I am taking the book on offer at Crossroads for them, the Words of Jesus.
May we all has a special encounter with our Saviour today, and more fully appreciate ALL He has done for us, We are so blessed.
Mary.
A beautiful poem Mary. Blessings to you and your family…
Very inspired, from your heart. Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful prose, Mary–thank you!!
God bless your family, in every way.
Happy Good Friday to one and all. Have a meaningful and joyful long weekend.
Thank you DM for your teachings today and always.
Shalom.
Beautifull song to brighten your day:-) Go to YouTube and do a search for Sam Santiago, How Great Thou Art. Blessings.
Good morning all. This is a thought provolking day. Many good services on tv in our area (great for those who can’t get get out). 100 Huntley, the best of course! Have a WONDERFUL day, all.
Some may wonder why God allow His Son to suffer such a brutal death? Yet at the same time some wonder why God allows evil to go unpunished. They say if there is a God why didn’t He do something about a Hilter or someone who molested a child. And who among us have not had someone inflict harm on us in some way and imagine them suffering the worse things possible. We might have even asked God to strike them dead.
And that is why God allowed His Son to suffer? Imagine the evildoer whoever they may be and see them going through everything Jesus did. See the rapist get whipped, beaten and tortured; see that bully being mocked, cursed with every filthy cursed word you can think of; see that murderer die a long, painful death — and remember that the next time you call to God for justice and realize, justice was done on the cross–
Jesus did not just die for us so called “good people” who have what the world considers minor sins– He die for all sin; He took all it– the most horrendous evil act ever conceived by man all on Himself– in God’s eye it has all been dealt with. There is nothing you can do to the one who wrong you that wasn’t already done to Jesus, who stood that person’s place.
So this Good Friday if you are nursing a grudge, or harboring bitterness unable to forgive because think the person got away with it– you’re wrong God dealt with that person on the Cross, so you there is nothing left to be done– let that person go– whether that person will accept the substitution Christ made for them, or reject it will be settle on Judgement Day, but for now, find peace just as Christ made peace for us with God.
Let us weep today not from sorrow, but from the sheer beauty of the love expressed by Jesus, taking it on onto Himself. Amen.
I love the song Hosana in the Highest thank you for adding their
song to our blog Beverlee and yours to Mary
God Bless you all
Lianne Hogg
A Blessed Good Friday to all. So true, David M. Beautiful messages, songs and poem. Wrote down the words of Hosanna, Beverlee as good one to sing Easter Sunday. You are a champion of the faith David M. even though we loose the battle for righteousness, you are standing up for right. Just feel a desire to wait on the Lord today rather than go out to a service. “Lord, what would you have us to do and what do you want to do in our midst?” God bless all on this special day as we remember His death and resurrection.
continued, Our Lord Jesus Christ!
Nailed to the cross, You have paid the price
Confined and tortured, You have endured
Limitless love, You have extended
Our sins forgiven, You have redeemed
Remembered, You are present
Within our eternal soul, You
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Dear Rev. David M.
Happy Good Friday to you and, Norma -Jean, Ron and Reynlod and all your precious Huntley street extended family.
Thank you beverlee for your wonderful Hossanah that I am sharing on my face book .
Thank you Lord and thank you Jesus for the ultime gift on calvary , Hossanah is the highest, blessed thee your name Hossnah.
Happy Good Friday fellow saints.
xxxx Carole.
Here in America I pray for the death of abortion in our nation. I did not know it was as bad in Canada, so will pray that for both our nations. Please God hear our prayer and send revival, too, in Jesus matchless name I pray.
AMEN