God Loves Nations

This post is from my notes during our Bible Study Sunday Morning at Church.

 

The Assyrians were a Feared Nation because of their cruelty
and Jonah did not want to preach to them.

 

 

God Loves Nations

 

We have national pride as we honor our flag and sing our patriotic songs.  We study through history the different cultures.  America has sent more missionaries than any other nation to bring the Good News of Salvation.

 

As we study the history of Assyria a particular nation.  We discover the structure of this story is Anti-Christ.  Some believe their destruction was prophesied by Nahum, as Assyria was guilty of war and its cruelties.  They captured and tortured prisoners, and made slaves of others cruelly mistreating them.

 

God desires to loose those who are blended into our society, but are captured by Satan.

Let us do some positive loosening; loose your Identity in Christ; loose honor as you bind shame.  Loose your ability to move forward.  Many need to return to the cross and allow the blood of Jesus to remove our shame and restore them to the family.  God brings us into sanctuary regardless of our circumstances.

 

Leaders and Generals take charge and qualify others and delegate responsibility.

 

Jonah knew the wicked history of Assyria and he ran from the command of the Lord to go and preach to them.  Asher was their main god, but there were also other gods they worshipped and not the true God.

 

Assyria captured 46 cities of the Jews and tortured prisoners in various terrible ways.  Manasseh was taken captive, and Nineveh was the capital of their nation.

 

Jonah said, “No way will I go and preach to them, because I want them all dead.”

He knew their slave labor built huge roads with way stations for travelers to rest.

 

The Prophet Nahum prophesied that God loved Assyria, but because of their evil and rebellion they would be completely destroyed.

 

In the book of Genesis, Noah was blessed and told to be fruitful and multiply.  Living creatures will fear you, and creatures were given for food, but don’t eat the blood.  Do not kill your brethren, and God promised to establish his covenant with a rainbow signifying that he would not destroy the world by water again.

 

Noah drank wine from his vineyard and in a drunken slumber, removed his clothes.  His son Ham looking in the tent, told his brothers what their dad had done.  One son, took a blanket and backing in quietly covered the nakedness of his father.

 

When Noah woke and realized what had happened, he cursed Ham to be a servant for the rest of his days.

 

Don’t shrug off sin and joke about it.  Know that God will cover sin with his blanket of mercy and grace. 

 

The people began to worship gods of wood and stone, and there followed generational curses.

 

We as Christians can make a decree and declare that any curse stops here and goes no further.