GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
NAHUM 3:19b
Everyone who hears the news about you
claps their hands over you,
for who has not felt your endless cruelty?
Most everyone knows the scene: the girl Dorothy reaches for a bucket of water to put out a fire-- a fire that will be the death of her friend the Scarecrow, who was set on fire by the Wicked Witch of the West. But (we discover) when the girl throws the water on her friend to put out the fire, it also splashes the Witch, and apparently witches dissolve into nothingness when struck by water (does it never rain in Oz?). But that’s when everyone rejoices and sings, “Ding Dong, the Witch is dead!” This is the emotion our prophet is expressing. There is no people, no nation on earth to feel sorry for Nineveh. Even God himself had said, “Its wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). There were many nations that had been threatened or tyrannized by the Assyrians, and there was no one that was sad to see them go. “Ding Dong, the Witch is dead!”
The prophet finishes his prophecy about Nineveh by expressing the moral question that remains: “Who has not felt your endless cruelty?” Nahum is not only concerned about Assyria’s threat to Judah, but with any and all nations. Walter Meier, the host of “The Lutheran Hour” during the Second World War and for a while after, quietly wrote a professional commentary on Nahum in his free time. The very last footnote in the commentary is about this point: “A tabulation of the conquests by Assyrian kings embraces all the adjacent and much of the known distant country. No nation within reach of Nineveh had permanently peaceful relations with her” (p. 363).
Here we must consider one final thing from this prophet. For Nahum has proclaimed judgment and judgment again for Nineveh and for Assyria, and we see in this final verse that there is even rejoicing-- righteous rejoicing-- over the downfall, condemnation, and eternal damnation of this city, nation, and most of its people (for there were, we pray, at least a few who were rescued by their faith in the promises of God that Jonah or that Isaiah had preached and that had reached their ears so that they were snatched from the fire ). So is there, in the doctrine of hell and eternal death, anything to be gained to benefit the Christian?
The answer is yes, and in more than one way: 1, First, hell is the ultimate manifestation of God’s holy and righteous justice. Isaiah says, “The LORD is a consuming fire…. the voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down” (Isaiah 30:30-31). The Lord does this in order to bear witness to his justice toward the ungodly and his mercy toward the godly. He also says, “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you” (2 Thessalonians 1:6).
2, Second, hell as the punishment of the ungodly displays God’s justice in giving eternal joy and glory to the godly. For why are the devil and his angels thrown into the lake of fire? It is this: The devil turned away from God and has deceived as many people as he could and led them away from God. And in the same way that an earthly judge reveals his love for justice by throwing criminals into prison, so also Christ will show his judgment and justice when he delivers condemned demons and men to their eternal prison, but also rescues the godly believers simply because we have put our faith in him.
Gregory (in the sixth century) said, “God, who is kind, does not enjoy the torment of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23), but because he is just, he never ceases carrying out vengeance against the wicked. Instead, all the wicked are punished with eternal punishments and, in fact, with their wickedness, and nevertheless the fire burns them for a reason, namely, that all the righteous may see in God the joys which they are feeling and see in the wicked the punishments they have escaped so that they may recognize all the more that they are forever debtors to God’s grace as they see evils being punished eternally.” 3, Third, the knowledge of hell and its punishments is a real, immediate and profound teaching of Scripture that is useful for training and rebuking the sinner. For when we remember the darkness, the extremes of heat and cold and of the loneliness of hell, we are brought to fear those punishments, and such terror is the first step of repentance. As long as such a fear is followed by faith in Christ that leads us to be turned away from our sin and toward godly faith and obedience and not despair, then it is good and useful and for our eternal good.
4, Fourth, the knowledge of the terrors of hell consoles us to be patient in the midst of the many adversities and persecutions that come our way on account of the devil’s hatred toward us, and also to help us carry the crosses of our lives that our good and loving God permits us to carry since our dear Jesus has won for us the rescue from hell.
To this end, we will conclude our study of this prophet with seven prayers from the Psalms:“Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit.” (Psalm 143:7)
“O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.” (Psalm 30:3)
“Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” (Psalm 86:4)
“For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths.” (Psalm 86:13)
“For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave.” (Psalm 88:3)
“Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits– who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.” (Psalm 103:2-4)
“But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you.” (Psalm 55:23)
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Listen or watch Bible classes online. https://splnewulm.org/invisible-church/
Archives at St Paul’s Lutheran Church https://splnewulm.org/daily-devotions/ and Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2026
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Nahum 3:19b The doctrine of hell