GN-Day349 Nahum 1-2; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Revelation 6

Daily GNT Bible Reading Podcast

NAHUM 1-2:Micah certainly poured out his heart in chapter 7. Micah 7:7-9 matches the verse I highlighted in Isaiah 50:10. Those are verses that give comfort to people dealing with long-term suffering.

Now turning to Nahum: Nahum’s name means ‘compassion’, ‘consolation’, or ‘comfort’. Nothing is known about Nahum except for what we can glean from his book. He must have written between the fall of the Egyptian city of Thebes in 663 B.C. and the fall of the Assyrian city of Nineveh in 612. Nineveh fell to a combined force of Medes, Babylonians, and Scythians.

This book is a vivid prediction of the fall of Nineveh— which is the same city that Jonah preached against 150 years earlier. Assyria was an extremely violent and cruel oppressor.

Rereading ISAIAH 52:13—53:Note the contrast between verses 8 and 10:

Is. 53:8 NLT Unjustly condemned,he was led away.No one cared that he died without descendants,that his life was cut short in midstream.

But just two verses later, we read:

10 But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush himand cause him grief.Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,he will have many descendants.He will enjoy a long life,and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.

So we have the word ‘died’ (past tense) in verse 9, ‘buried like a criminal’ and ‘no descendants’ in 8, but the words ‘long life’ and ‘many descendants’ in verse 10. Looking back at Jesus, this makes perfect sense. In a similar way, mysteries in Revelation will one day be perfectly clear.

REVELATION 6:In Revelation 5 we heard that only One was worthy to take the scroll that was in God’s hand. The scroll had seven seals, and it is the first of three big series of seven in this book. Christ is introduced as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But when John sees him, he appears as a lamb that has been slain. (Remember quotes about the Lamb spoken by Isaiah, Micah, and John the Baptist!) The Lamb had seven horns. Horns are used in Scripture to portray kingly power to rule, so with 7, he is the perfect and divine King. And the Lamb had 7 eyes, which again, we are told, stand for the sevenfold Spirit of God. Through the Holy Spirit Christ has perfect eyesight— seeing in all places and in all hearts.