December: Day 1: Teaching 3:
Holy Prophet Nahum
(God, Although Long-suffering, Is Also Just)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Holy Prophet Nahum
(God, Although Long-suffering, Is Also Just)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. The Holy Church now remembers the Holy Prophet of God Nahum, who lived about 700 years before the birth of the Savior. Two hundred years before Nahum, the prophet Jonah, by command of God, threatened the Ninevites with the destruction of Nineveh for the great iniquities of its inhabitants. The Ninevites repented and the All-Good Lord canceled the strict sentence. But after some time the Ninevites again became corrupt; and then the Lord, through the mouth of the Prophet Nahum, revealed to them the terrible disasters that would befall them. The prophecy was fulfilled exactly. Nineveh, one of the most significant and richest cities of the ancient world, was completely destroyed and plundered by enemies; the flooding of the Tigris River completed the devastation; and now one can hardly even recognize the place where this huge city stood.
II. What lesson can be drawn from this? That, brethren, God, although long-suffering toward sinners, is at the same time just and severely punishes those who are hardened in lawlessness.
We could cite thousands of examples from sacred history alone that show how God rewards people according to their deeds. God's reward begins from the beginning of the world and extends to the end of days, to eternity itself.
a) Thus God gave Adam a commandment not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and threatened death for breaking it. Meanwhile, Adam transgressed God's commandment and sinned. And what happened? For this, God punished him and expelled him from Paradise. In Adam, therefore, we see the first example of how God, in His justice, punishes those who break His commandments.
b) About Noah it is then said in the Holy Scripture that God found him righteous and blameless in his generation, for he acted piously before God, while the rest of the people, contemporary with him, acted wickedly and were great sinners. And what then? God's justice was shown in relation to Noah and his contemporaries. God had mercy on Noah, but destroyed all his contemporaries with a worldwide flood.
In His justice, God also had mercy on the pious Lot, but destroyed the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
c) The most unjust trial in the history of the world, permitted by people, was the condemnation of the all-just Son of God. Even the pagan Pilate felt the full weight of this crime and refused to take part in the terrible crime of the elders of Israel. Pilate expressed his refusal by a public act, when he washed his hands before the people and said: "I am innocent of the blood of this Just One." The people, as is well known, answered: "His blood be on us and on our children." The Jews, therefore, wished to take all the guilt of this crime upon themselves: God had to avenge Him on them and their children. This was a contempt of divine justice, against which crime the word of God says: "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked." Meanwhile, the merciful God was still patient with the Jews and awaited their conversion. But since they did not correct themselves and remained in their bitterness, God finally visited them with His justice for the murder of His Son. A terrible fate befell them and Jerusalem 70 years after the birth of Jesus Christ. The Jews rebelled against the Romans, and the Roman commander Titus besieged Jerusalem with a huge army. Seeing no submission on the part of the Jews, he began to treat them with terrible cruelty. By his command, 500 captive Jews were crucified on crosses every day around Jerusalem. Shouldn't these crosses have reminded the Jews then of Jesus Christ, whom they innocently crucified? Finally, Titus completely destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews throughout the earth. Now the innocent blood of Jesus Christ came upon them, not for justification, but for condemnation. And if we open the pages of history in addition to this, we will find countless examples of the wondrous manifestation of divine justice, often very noticeable. We repeat once again: the destruction of the Jews cries out loudly to the whole world: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked!”
d) Although it is not always noticeable, the judgment of God overtakes every sinner, sometimes, however, late, even at the very hour of death, as was the case with the foolish rich man mentioned in the Gospel. But one day there will also come the day of the general judgment, in which God will judge the whole universe according to His truth and all people according to His truth. Solomon has this day in mind when he says: “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” It will be the day of retribution for sinful people – a day of wrath and punishment, and for those who have striven in faith and good works – a day of joy and blessedness. This general judgment of God and the above examples clearly show us the essence and manifestation of divine justice.
III. Brethren, great is God in His power, great is He also “in the works of His justice!” Amen.
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
