Nineveh to Fall
An attacker advances against you, Nineveh.
Guard the fortress,
watch the road,
brace yourselves,
marshal all your strength!
The LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob
like the splendor of Israel,
though destroyers have laid them waste
and have ruined their vines…
“I am against you,”
declares the LORD Almighty.
“I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers
will no longer be heard.”
My Understanding: Nineveh, as you might recall, is the city upon which God called Jonah to render a message of divine judgment. Jonah resisted this assignment, because he knew God was a loving, compassionate and merciful God who relents from bringing calamity, and Jonah wanted Nineveh to be destroyed, because Nineveh was an enemy of Israel. God convinced Jonah to take the assignment, so Jonah obeyed and gave the message.
The city of Nineveh believed God and they repented. Even the king repented and called upon the city to turn from its evil ways. When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, and how they had turned from their evil ways, God relented from sending the destruction upon the city which he had threatened. Yet, it in time, Nineveh returned to its evil ways, and once again God sent a message of divine judgment to the city, which he did carry out this time.
The purpose of the judgment was twofold: 1) To punish Assyria for her crimes against God’s people, and 2) To restore Israel, the people of God, to what they were before Assyria destroyed them and took them captive.
Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria and thus represented the entire Assyrian Empire, according to my research. They were a brutal and cruel people who inflicted horrific penalties on the people they conquered. Assyria had a long history of oppression against Israel, which is probably why Jonah wanted them destroyed. Yet, God used them as his divine instrument of judgment against his own people because of their idolatrous and adulterous ways in their relationship with God, i.e. because of their unfaithfulness.
Spiritual Parallels
Ephesians 6:10-12 says: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
God uses human instruments to demonstrate his love, mercy, forgiveness, compassion and grace to mankind. He also uses human vehicles (messengers; envoys) to get out his messages to the people of the world and to his church. As well, he uses human channels as his divine instruments of judgment on human beings. Satan does, as well. The Assyrians were messengers of Satan against God’s people, but God used them for his divine purposes in the lives of his children. Joseph told his brothers, “Satan meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” So, although we may have flesh and blood enemies in this life, our true enemy, and the one truly behind our physical enemies, is Satan. It is important that we understand this, because our true enemy is not fought on a human battlefield with physical weapons of warfare, but our true enemy is fought on a spiritual battle field with the armor of God.
James 4:7-8: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
1 Peter 5:8-9 says: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
The way in which we fight our enemy, Satan, is with the spiritual weapons of warfare Christ Jesus has provided for us: truth, righteousness, the true gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God and prayer. As well, we must first of all submit to God. We can’t fight our enemy if we have not first of all submitted ourselves to God in surrender to his will for our lives. This is a spiritual battle, and we can’t fight this battle in our own flesh. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord. We also cannot resist the devil if we are giving into him in any way, shape or form. For instance, I have heard many people talk of how they are resisting the devil but how they end up giving in any way. Many times over this is because they have already given the devil a foothold in their thought life, through what they take into their minds and view with their eyes, etc. via the internet, movies, TV, music, et al. We have to wash the sin out of our lives and purify our hearts by removing from our lives all things (idols of any kind) that lead us to sin, and that hinder our relationship with God. Then, in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit within us, we can resist the devil, because we are standing firm in the faith and are not giving way to the deceptions of the evil one.
Revelation 2:9-10: “I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Revelation 13:5-10: “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
He who has an ear, let him hear.
If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword he will be killed.
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.”
Satan will use human beings to fight against us. That is for sure! Jesus said that even members of our own families will be our enemies. He said that if they hated him, they will hate us. He promised us that we would be persecuted, treated unfairly, falsely accused, mocked, ridiculed, beaten, imprisoned and even killed for our testimony for Jesus Christ. As well, he promised that Satan would test some of us, and that we would suffer greatly for our faith and testimony for Jesus Christ and for the gospel. Jesus’ worst enemies were the religious leaders and the religious people who followed those evil rulers. And, our worst enemies may, as well, be inside the church or in our homes or in our own family units. Yet, we are not to fear what we will suffer for the sake of his name, but we must be faithful, even to the point of death, and he will give us the crown of life.
As well, God will use Satan and his “army” to fight against God’s people and the people of the world as a means of divine judgment against those who have forsaken their first love, who have become complacent and lukewarm in their relationship with Jesus Christ, who overlook and even tolerate sin and sinful leadership inside the church, who have the reputation of being alive but are dead (not alive for Christ), and/or who refuse God’s messages, and who refuse to repent of their sins (see Revelation 2-3, in particular). God’s purpose in judgment against his people is always to bring them back into a right relationship with him, and to restore them and renew them, as was his purpose with Israel.
So, whether we are facing a “mighty mountain” in our lives due to our sin and rebellion or because we are truly walking with the Lord in all faithfulness and surrender to his will for our lives, we must know and recognize that our true enemy is Satan, and the only way this battle can be won is by us first of all surrendering and submitting to God via turning from our sin, and turning to walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ and to his commands. We must rid ourselves of anything that hinders our walk of faith and/or that leads us into sin. And, we must daily die to sin and to our own selfish wills, and we must follow Jesus Christ wherever he leads us.
We need to daily put on our spiritual armor against our enemy, Satan, and we must resist his lies, his accusations, his temptations and his deceptions. And, we must walk about in faith and freedom! The way in which we do this is not in our own power and strength, but in the strength of the Lord. One of Satan’s biggest weapons against us is to lie to us to try to get us to doubt God and to give in to fear. If God has called us, he will make a way for us. Man has no power over us but what God allows and what God is able to handle. So, we just need to trust the Lord to work all things out in our lives for his purposes and for his glory, and to believe that he is absolutely in control of all things.
One day Jesus is going to return. When he does he will judge our enemies. The beast and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire. Satan will be bound for 1,000 years and later thrown into the lake of fire. God will judge our physical enemies, as well as he will judge those spiritual forces of evil who come against us on a regular basis. And, he will restore us fully in his millennial kingdom, because there we will no longer have to fear enemies coming against us, for our Lord Jesus will rule the earth. This is the ultimate fulfillment of the restoration of Israel, God’s people, the saints of God, i.e. true followers of Jesus Christ.
Not By Might / An Original Work / March 29, 2012
Based off Zechariah 4
“Not by might, and not by power,
But by My Spirit,” says our Lord, God.
“Mighty mountain, O what are you?
Before Christ you will become level ground.”
The hands of our Lord, Savior God,
Formed the foundation of His church.
He alone will complete the work
He began in His servants’ hearts and minds.
Who despises small beginnings?
Much can be done in Christ’s strength within.
Be of courage, and trust your Lord.
All sufficient He is for all your needs.
Opposition and apathy:
Holy Spirit will set us free!
We can be overcomers in our faith
In our Lord, and our Savior, King.
Don’t be troubled by God’s timing.
He has ev’rything in His command.
Hasten to obey His commands fully,
Trusting Him to work all for good.
Not by might nor by human strength,
But by God’s power; strength within;
My dependency now on His working
His will in me in righteousness.
http://youtu.be/bX2houWB_HE
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