The prophet, Habakkuk, wrote his book just before
Nebuchadnezzar first invaded Judah in 605 B.C.
As we have studied in the other prophetic books, God’s people had turned
from worshiping Him, neglected His laws, and had adopted a lifestyle of idolatry
and complacency. Habakkuk’s
contemporaries, Isaiah and Jeremiah, described the king of Judah, Jehoiakim,
and his kingdom’s people in the following verses:
This faithful town has become a prostitute!
She was full of justice; righteousness
lived in her—but now murderers. Your princes are rebels,
companions of thieves. Everyone loves
a bribe and pursues gifts. They don’t defend the orphan
and the widow’s cause never reaches them. (Isaiah 1:21, 23)
But you set your eyes and heart
on nothing but unjust gain; you spill
the blood of the innocent; you practice cruelty; you oppress your
subjects. (Jeremiah 22:17)
In the first chapter of his book, Habakkuk questions
God. He cries out to God, pleading with
Him to end the wickedness, violence, and injustice that surrounds him. And immediately, God answers him:
“Look among the nations and watch—be
utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not
believe, though it were told you. For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans,
a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to
possess dwelling places that are not theirs.” (Habakkuk 1:5-6)
But Habakkuk didn’t like the answer God
gave. The Chaldeans (Babylonians) were
even more evil than the Judeans!
Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,
and You cannot look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on
those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those
more righteous than they? (Habakkuk 1:13, New American Standard)
I love this section of the book of
Habakkuk. It shows us that Habakkuk was
just like us! Even though he loved God
and he knew that God is holy and righteous, he also knew that God was patient
and kind. He was not afraid to question
God in reverence and in complete faith.
We see in the first verse of chapter two how the prophet waited in eager
anticipation for God’s answer and instruction.
This verse should be a verse we all remember every day as we look for God’s
answers to all our questions and as we seek to follow him in every step we take
every day of our lives:
I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to
see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when
I am corrected. (Habakkuk 2:1)
Immediately, we read God’s answer to
Habakkuk’s questions. First of all, God
tells Habakkuk to write down His answer.
He wanted all the people who were about to suffer under His judgment to
understand why they were being judged and to understand what He requires of His
people. Next we read God’s two-fold
answer.
First, God’s timing is not necessarily OUR
timing, but His timing is perfect:
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for
it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Habakkuk 2:3)
And second, the overarching theme of
Habakkuk’s prophecy, God expects His people to live by faith:
Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just
shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)
These two themes, repeated over and over in
this book, point to the coming of Christ, who is our ultimate Judge, but also
who is our Salvation. All the sacrifices
and traditions of the Jewish people were only tools which pointed to the coming
Christ, right on schedule with God’s perfect timetable:
But when the fullness of the time had come,
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those
who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians
4:4-5)
And God is still working according to His
own timetable. As we anticipate the
second coming of Jesus Christ, we often wonder, “How much violence, injustice, and
evil can God stand? Why is God allowing
His people to be marginalized, persecuted, and even beheaded by an evil, terrorist
faction? When will You send Your Son to
save us and rule on earth?” His answer
is found, not only in Habakkuk, but also in the words of Peter.
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but
is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all
should come to repentance. (1 Peter 3:8-9)
And God still expects His people to be a
people of faith – not a blind faith, but a faith in Him, knowing all His attributes:
knowing that He is righteous and just, and that He cannot tolerate evil;
knowing that He loves all his creation, and that He does not want any man to
perish in his sin; knowing that He sent His son to die for us, even for those
who hate us and would do us harm; knowing that He is patient and longsuffering,
but that His patience will someday end; knowing that He is jealous and is not
tolerant of our indifference to Him; knowing that He Is Who He Is, not some god
we might create in our imagination to be the kind of god we want Him to be:
For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
(Romans 1:17)
But that no one is justified by the law in
the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” (Galatians
3:11)
But without faith it is impossible to
please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a
rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than
your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
“For I am the Lord, I do not change.”
Malachi 3:6a
Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I
come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has
sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to
them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you
shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus
3:13-14)
The book of Habakkuk ends with chapter
three, in which the prophet praises God with a psalm. Even in his psalm, Habakkuk looks forward to
the coming God of Salvation:
You went forth for the salvation of Your
people, for salvation with Your Anointed. You
struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying
bare from foundation to neck. Selah. You thrust through with his own arrows… (Habakkuk 3:13-14a)
The word, “Selah,” might be translated, “Stop
and think about that!” So, let’s stop
and think about what that verse says!
God, Himself, provided for the salvation of His people. He did not leave it to us to do enough good
works or to offer enough sacrifices. HE
provided for our salvation with His Anointed, Jesus Christ. When Christ was crucified, He conquered Satan
who is the chief, the head of the house of the wicked. And how did Christ achieve our
salvation? He used the cross, Satan’s
own device, his own arrows, meant for Christ's death, to bring us life! Stop and think about that!
This week, I hope you will join me in
praying, just as Habakkuk did, for God to make Himself known to the nations of
our world, in anger, but showing mercy:
Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2, New International Version)
Unless otherwise indicated, scripture is
from New King James Version
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