Classic Sermon Outlines (continued)
A Glorious Description of God
2. The nature of His fury. God is a revenger and He is furious; He has fury (so the word is), not as man has it, in whom it is an ungoverned passion, but He has it in such a way as becomes the righteous God. He has anger, but He has it at command and under government. He is always Lord of His anger.
B. He Reckons with the Men Who Insult Him.
1, The certainty of it. We are not only told that God is a Revenger, but that He will take vengeance. Whoever are His adversaries and enemies among men, He will make them feel His resentments; and though the sentence against His enemies is not executed speedily, yet He reserves wrath for them and reserves them for it in the day of wrath.
2. An illustration of it. This revelation of the wrath of God against His enemies is applied to Nineveh (verse 8). The army of the Chaldeans shall overrun the country of the Assyrians and lay it all to waste. "Darkness shall pursue His enemies," terror and trouble shall follow them whithersoever they go. If they think to flee from the darkness they will fall into that which is before them.
II. HE IS A GOD OF IRRESISTIBLE POWER.
A. The Power of God Asserted and Proved.
1. The testimony of the atmospheric heaven. If we look up into the regions of the air we shall find proofs of God's power. He has "His way in the whirlwind and in the storm" (verse 3). Wherever there is a whirlwind and a storm God has the command of it, the control of it, makes His way through it, goes His way in it, and serves His own purpose by it.
2. The testimony of the deep. If we cast our eye upon the great deeps we find that the sea is His; He made it and when He pleases He rebukes it and makes it dry. He gave proofs of His power when He divided the Red Sea and the Jordan River (Exodus 14:21—22; Joshua 3:13; 4:10, 11, 19).
3. The testimony of the earth. If we look around us on this earth we find proof of His power. His power is often seen in earthquakes which shake the mountains and melt the hills. When He pleases "the earth is burnt at His presence by the scorching heat of the sun" (verse 5).