You probably know the popular song that has this title. The first verse goes like this:
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of Him,
Who brings good news, good news.
Announcing peace, proclaiming news of happiness.
Our God reigns; our God reigns!
It’s a beautiful song with uplifting, scriptural words and a cheerful tune. It’s interesting, however, to examine the words in their original context. They come from Nahum 1:15. Perhaps you haven’t committed yourself to a thorough study of Nahum lately, but it is set during the time of exile of the northern kingdom of Israel. Assyria had taken God’s people captive and their capital city, Nineveh, was renowned for its wickedness and merciless military cruelty. To that end, Nahum 3:3 describes the city as having “hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over the bodies!”
Nineveh is further described in the opening verses of Jonah,
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me” (Jonah 1:1-2).
The collective wickedness of this city had grown so great that it drew God’s attention in a noticeable way. God took offense at the degree of depravity exercised by this regime, prompting Him to send His prophets to declare judgment against them. In the Bible, an “oracle” is God’s declaration of a sentence on a guilty people. In this case Nahum records “An oracle concerning Nineveh” which immediately transitions to the following incriminating pronouncement.
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:2–3)
This is not the kind of God we frequently hear about in our culture (or even our churches). It is unsettling, to say the least, and some Christians may scramble to cover for God and somehow get him off the hook from that kind of harsh characterization—jealous, avenging, wrathful. Surely that is the Old Testament God and not the New Testament one. Jesus came to clear all of that up, right? Except Malachi 3:6 says, “For I, the Lord, do not change.” Oh, and in the New Testament the Holy Spirit inspired the words, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5).
In both Nahum and Romans we see that God is not an impersonal force that is cheering for the side of good and hoping for the best. On the contrary, He is an intimately invested God that takes the neglect of His perfect law as a personal affront. He is a God that will by no means clear the guilty. As a just God He can do no other.
God’s wrath is exercised where His holiness and His justice meet. For God’s children His wrath is satisfied because our guilt has been covered by the sacrifice of the Son. Jesus bore that wrath on our behalf. God will by no means clear the guilty, but Jesus took away the guilt! THAT is the good news that needs to be broadcasted from the mountaintops! Blessed are those that announce that peace and proclaim that news of happiness.
As you meditate on the grace and mercy of God, reflect on the cost of the gift that you have received through Jesus Christ and from what you have been spared in His mercy. In so doing, you will be able to passionately affirm, “Our God reigns!”