Losing is never pleasant in competitive sports. But the agony can be magnified when it occurs on the field or court of an opposing team, far from your home. As the game ends, your defeat is not mourned, but celebrated. Fans actually stand up to cheer and applaud, happy to have witnessed your demise! Something similar happens in the book of Revelation, when the great city of Babylon (representing all human opposition to God) finally falls. While the kings of earth, merchants, and sailors sing a mournful dirge, the people of God are singing His praises in heaven. “Hallelujah!” they shout. “Salvation and glory and power belong to our God!” What is mourned on earth is applauded in heaven. On earth the fall of Babylon is seen as an unmitigated tragedy, but in heaven it’s the cause of a great celebration. In Nahum 3 we find the same heavenly perspective of the fall of Nineveh. Like Revelation 18, it begins with a cry of woe for the city. It will become a spectacle of desolation. Yet no one will shed a tear. By the end of the chapter, those who hear of it are applauding Nineveh’s destruction, clapping their hands to celebrate God’s victory over those who had done such evil (v 19). Up to this point, the sins of Nineveh have not been spelled out, but at the beginning of chapter 3, the prophet cites some of their most well-known crimes: violence, deception, plunder, and witchcraft. They were “the bloody city,” guilty of cruel atrocities against other nations. With little regard for human dignity, they punished their victims without mercy. But now their enemies will punish them with the same barbarities they had inflicted (v 1-4). Again, God claims responsibility for their humiliating defeat, saying, “Behold, I am against you.” In His justice, the LORD will expose the Ninevites to the contempt of the very nations they have plundered. Their former glory will be exchanged for mockery and scorn. In vivid imagery, God says He will pelt them with disgusting garbage, making them a spectacle of shame. Yet they will receive no sympathy from onlookers. “Who will grieve for her?” someone wonders. “Where shall I find comforters for you?” (v 5-7). And God has another question for them. The Egyptian city of Thebes had fallen to the Assyrians, despite a secure location and loyal support from allies. “Are you better than Thebes?” God asks. Its ruins should serve as a warning to Nineveh that it too is vulnerable to attack. Today’s cities and nations are no different. We are part of the same world ruled by the same unchanging God, subject to the same moral laws. Unless we repent, we will not last (v 8-19). For further meditation: