We are studying the attributes of God. As we have seen already, God's attributes are those characteristics of his Being which are essential to him, without which he would not be God. Nahum began his prophecy with a declaration of God's attributes. He does not declare all the attributes of God's Being. No man could do that. But he does give us six distinct attributes of Deity, six things which are essential to and descriptive of God's holy character. Who is God? What is he like? Nahum tells us that...
1. "God is jealous." With God jealousy is not a fault, but an attribute. It is right for God to be jealous because he is perfect. Any assault upon his person, resistance to his will, rebellion against his rule, or objection to his work is evil. It is right for God to be jealous. God is jealous for his Son - Ask those who crucified him! God is jealous for his own honor and glory - Ask Moses! God is jealous for his worship and ordinances - Ask Uzza! God is jealous for his people - Ask Pharaoh! God will avenge his own elect. He will avenge the honor of his name. He will avenge himself upon his enemies. Read verse two again. "God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath1 for his enemies."
Today men talk about God's love as though his love is a fluctuating passion, like ours, and altogether isolated from his other glorious attributes. The fact that "God is love" does not in anyway diminish the fact that "God is jealous." In fact, it is God's love that makes him jealous, so jealous that he is "furious" and "reserveth wrath for his enemies."1
2. "The Lord is slow to anger." In other words, this great and terrible God, whose jealousy makes him furious, is also patient, forgiving and longsuffering with sinners. God is not in a hurry to punish sinners and execute judgment upon his enemies. Judgment is his strange work. And he always defers it, giving sinners space for repentance. This is mercy. God is willing to be gracious. God now affords his enemies opportunity to repent and commands them to do so (Acts 17:30; II Pet. 3:9).
3. "The Lord is great in power." He is the omnipotent, almighty God. He has all power, and can do all that he is pleased to do. Our God is a great God, because he is "great in power." A weak, frustrated, defeated God is as useless as a bucket without a bottom, or a well without water. What is omnipotence? It is the ability and power of God to do all his pleasure (Isa. 46:9-13), to perform all his Word (Isa. 55:11), to accomplish all his purpose (Rom. 8:28-30), and to save all his people (Rom. 9:13-18). A weak god is a frustration to those who worship him, because a weak god is always frustrated. The almighty, omnipotent Jehovah is the comfort and stay of those who trust him.
4. "The Lord will not at all acquit the wicked." That is to say, God is just. Justice and truth are the habitation of his throne. Though he is longsuffering and patient, he will punish every transgressor. God's forbearance is not an indication that he lacks either the will or the ability to punish his enemies. He is great in power. And he is just. Therefore, "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." God will not clear the guilty. A just God cannot clear the guilty.
If God is just and must punish sin, how can any sinner ever be saved? Will God lay aside his justice that he might be merciful? No. He cannot. Justice is essential to his character. How then can he save us? There is only one way - Substitution (Job 33:24; Prov. 16;6; Rom. 3:24-26). If God almighty saves a guilty sinner and forgives his sins, three things must be done. First, the sinner must be punished to the full satisfaction of justice. Second, his sins and guilt must be totally removed. Third, he must become perfectly righteous. And these three things can be done only by the substitutionary work of Christ. God punished our sins to the full satisfaction of his justice when Christ died as our Substitute (Gal. 3:13). He removed them from us altogether and put them away by the sacrifice of his dear Son (Heb. 9:26). And he has imputed to us Christ's perfect righteousness in exactly the same way and to the same degree as he imputed our sins to Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
5. "The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm." What do those words mean? They mean that the Lord our God, who is jealous, longsuffering, omnipotent, and just, is also totally sovereign. He rules all things. "And the clouds are the dust of his feet!" (Read Psa. 115:3; 135:6). In all things, at all times, with all creatures, and in all places, "The Lord hath his way!" In creation, in providence, and in grace, "The Lord hath his way!" We rejoice in the glorious sovereignty of our great God, knowing that God always exercises his sovereignty over all things for the redemption and salvation of his people (vv. 4-6; Isa. 45:7, 22; 50:2; 51:10-12). Even as the prophet describes the judgment of God, the fierce anger of his wrath, he raises a question which, when answered, carries a message of hope for sinners - "Who can stand before his indignation? And who can abide the fierceness of his anger?" Not me! Not you! God's wrath would consume us like a snowflake in a blast furnace! But the Lord Jesus Christ, our great Substitute, stood before the indignation of almighty God and consumed his wrath for us! Do you see these attributes of God? The Lord is jealous. The Lord is longsuffering. The Lord is omnipotent. The Lord is just. The Lord is sovereign. Now read verse 7. "The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him."
6. "The Lord is good!" Our great God is good! Goodness is as essential to God's Being as sovereignty, justice, truth, and holiness. In fact, the very name "God" is an abbreviation of the word "good." Goodness is the character of our God; and the goodness of God gives us hope, comfort, and strength in the midst of our trials and sorrows in this world. Look at what the Holy Spirit here tells us by his servant Nahum about the goodness of our God.
"THE LORD IS GOOD!" Nahum has been talking about the storm of God's wrath, the terror of his justice, the greatness of his anger, whirlwinds, shaking mountains, melting hills, and burning earth. Then, he comes to a blessed, calm, serene island of rest - "The Lord is good." I can no more explain the goodness of God than a thimble could contain the ocean. But I can tell you some of the things I know about God's goodness. God is essentially good. Goodness is essential to God. Without it, he would not be God. Goodness is so essentially the character of God that, as John Gill has observed, "There is nothing but goodness in God, and nothing but goodness comes from him" (James 1:13-14). He. permits evil, but overrules it for good (Psa. 76:10). He afflicts his children and brings many evil things upon us, but he makes the evil work for good (Rom. 8:28: Prov. 12:21; Gen. 50:20). God punishes sin with vengeance, but even that punishment of sin is good, as a vindication of justice and the protection of his kingdom. God is singularly good. He is the only good One in the universe (Matt. 19:17). "God's goodness is the root of all goodness. Our goodness, if we have any, springs out of his goodness" (William Tyndale). God is eternally and immutably good (Mal. 3:6). The goodness of God never varies, changes, or alters. He is good, always good, good in each of his glorious Persons. God. the Father is good. God the Son is good. God the Holy Spirit is good. God is good in all his acts of grace (Eph. 1:3-14). God is good in all his works of providence (Rom. 8:28). In all that he has done, is doing, and shall hereafter do God is good. God is infinitely, incomparably, immeasurably good. Who can measure the goodness of God? To what shall his goodness be compared? He is good beyond our highest estimation of what good is. God is good to his own elect (Psa. 23:6). "The Lord is good!" That is a sentence worthy of constant meditation. Eternity itself will not tell out the fullness of God's goodness. And all his goodness is directed toward us at all times!
"THE LORD IS A STRONGHOLD IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE." The only place of safety in this world is the place we find beneath the shadow of his wings (Prov. 18:10). The Lord who is good is our stronghold, our place of refuge. He is our refuge in the day of trouble (Heb. 6:18; 4:16). We have our days of trouble as long as we live in this world, but notice how Nahum describes them. Everyday of trouble is "the" day of God's appointment. Every day of trouble is temporary - only the "day" of trouble (II Cor. 4:17-18). Whatever the trouble may be, the Lord is our stronghold in the midst of the "trouble," every kind of trouble (Heb. 4:16). A stronghold is a mighty fortress for the protection of citizens against the aggressions of enemies. It is a place of safety, of peace, of residence, and of provision.
"THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT TRUST IN HIM." Do you trust in him? Do you trust his Son, his finished work, his abundant grace, his many promises, his providential rule, his unerring wisdom? Do you trust this great, mighty, good God? If you do, hear this and be of good comfort - "The Lord knoweth them that trust in him." That word "knoweth" is overflowing with consolation. It means that the Lord has foreordained and predestinated them that trust in him (Rom. 8:29). He everlastingly loves them that trust in him (Jer. 31:3). He loves us without cause, without condition, without beginning, without change, and without end. The Lord is intimately acquainted with them that trust in him (Matt. 10:30). He knows who they are, where they are, and what they need. The Lord graciously approves of and accepts them that trust in him (Eph. 1:6 ). The Lord holds loving communion with them that trust in him (John 15:15). The Lord tenderly cares for them that trust in him (Isa. 43:1-5). He is with you. He will protect you. He will provide for you. He will help you. He will keep you.
Tamar may disguise herself so that Judah does not know her. Isaac, through dimness of sight, may pass over Esau and bless Jacob. Joseph may forget, or be forgotten by, his brethren. Solomon may not be able to tell who the child belongs to. And Christ may come to his own and not be received. But "the Lord knoweth them that trust in him." He knows Daniel in the lion's den. He knows Job on the dunghill. He knows Peter in prison. He knows Lazarus at the rich man's gate. He knows Abel falling to the ground by his brother's wrath. He knows me. And he know you (2 Tim. 2:19).
And the Lord will publicly own them that trust him (Rev. 3:5). He owns us now. He owns us before the throne (1 John 2:1-2). He will own us before all worlds in the last day. Let us ever trust the goodness of God, even when we cannot see his goodness. Let us flee to and abide in our mighty Stronghold. Let us ever trust our Savior's loving care. If the Lord who is good knows us, we want nothing else to satisfy us. He knows us eternally. He knows us perfectly. He knows us universally (Psa. 107:8, 15, 21, 31). If he who is good knows us, all is well!
1The word "wrath" is not in the original text. It was added by our translators. What God reserves for his enemies is inconceivably and inexpressibly horrifying! "God is jealous" (Nah. 1:2).