How can we reconcile Nahum 1:2 with God's love in John 3:16? God’s Heart in Two Verses • Nahum 1:2 – “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance against His foes; He is furious with His enemies.” • John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Same God, Different Angles • Scripture never pits one attribute of God against another; it shows different sides of the same holy character. • Love without justice would be sentimental; justice without love would be crushing. Scripture presents both together, perfectly balanced in God’s nature (Psalm 85:10; Exodus 34:6-7). Why God’s Jealousy Is Loving • Biblical jealousy is covenant loyalty—the passion of a husband protecting his marriage (Isaiah 54:5). • God’s jealousy in Nahum rises against Assyria’s brutality toward Judah (Nahum 1:9, 12-13). His wrath defends the oppressed (Deuteronomy 32:43). • Therefore His “vengeance” flows from faithful love that refuses to let wickedness destroy His people. Love on Mission in John 3:16 • “God so loved the world”—the very people liable to His wrath—by sending His Son. • The offer is universal (“the world”) yet effective for “everyone who believes.” • John continues: “Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). Love provides a rescue; wrath remains only when that rescue is refused. The Cross: Convergence of Wrath and Love • Romans 3:25-26—God put Christ forward as “atonement, through faith in His blood… so that He might be just and the justifier.” • At Calvary, righteous wrath is satisfied (Nahum 1:2 honored) and lavish love is displayed (John 3:16 fulfilled). • 1 John 4:10—“In this is love… that He sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” What This Means for Us • God’s wrath shows the seriousness of sin; His love shows the lengths He has gone to save us. • Believers are “saved from wrath” (Romans 5:8-9) because Jesus absorbed it. • Rejecting Christ leaves a person under the very judgment Nahum describes. Putting It Together • Nahum 1:2 and John 3:16 are not opposites but two sides of one redemptive story. – Nahum: God must and will judge evil. – John: God Himself provides the escape from that judgment. • The harmony is in God’s unchanging character: holy love that acts justly and saves mercifully. |
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