THE MESSAGE OF
HABAKKUK FOR OUR DAY
D.P. Weary
May 2010
Habakkuk was a prophet in Israel in the days of Jehoiakim
just before the Babylonian captivity in 605 B.C. Judah had fallen into great
evil and idolatry.
Habakkuk was given the task by God of announcing the Lord’s
intention of punishing Judah by the coming captivity in Babylon.
As we study these scriptures we will want to see the obvious
literal truths that relate to Judah and Habakkuk in his day. We will also want
to see the greater picture related in the story of God’s righteousness and
judgment of evil. Then we will want to discover the “hints” about the
scriptures related to future events. Finally we will want to seek revelation as
to the mysteries contained in these scriptures.
Hab 1:1 NASB - The oracle which
Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk
was a prophet and we will see in verse 2:1 that he considered himself a
“watchman on the wall” for Israel. This study will show us what being a
watchman means and what he is supposed to do. Ezek. 33 also gives us a clear
picture of the role and function of “watchman”.
Hab 1:2 NASB - How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And
You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save.
Hab 1:3 NASB - Why do You make me
see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence
are before me; Strife exists and contention arises.
Hab 1:4 NASB - Therefore the law is ignored And justice is
never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes
out perverted.
In
these verses we see Habakkuk crying out to God about the violence, destruction,
iniquity, wickedness, strife, and contention in Judah. The laws of God are not
upheld and justice is perverted. Habakkuk complains to God about this evil and
why God does not “save”. Part of his complaint is why God permits this
increasing evil and also why God lets this evil go unpunished.
What a
picture of the true Church (the righteous) in our world today. We watch a see
evil increasing at all levels in the world today. We even see it in the church.
Why God we ask? Will you not bring correction and will you let it go
unpunished?
Hab 1:5 NASB - "Look among the
nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your
days You would not believe if you were told.
Hab 1:6 NASB - "For behold, I
am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march
throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.
Hab 1:7 NASB - "They are
dreaded and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves.
Hab 1:8 NASB - "Their horses
are swifter than leopards And keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen
come galloping, Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping
down to devour.
Hab 1:9 NASB - "All of them
come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives
like sand.
Hab 1:10 NASB - "They mock at
kings And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress
And heap up rubble to capture it.
Hab 1:11 NASB - "Then they
will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty,
They whose strength is their god."
The
Lord answers by informing Habakkuk that something astonishing is about to
happen. God tells Habakkuk that He is sending an evil and ungodly people, the
Chaldeans, to bring correction and punishment to Judah. Note that their
strength is their god.
As we look
at the world today and study the prophetic scriptures we see that in the last
days evil will “wax worse and worse”, men calling evil good and good evil.
Lawlessness even increasing, terrible moral conditions, and God’s laws being
mocked and justice perverted. We are seeing the same conditions in our world as
Habakkuk saw in his world. We also see in the scriptures that God has a plan
for such days as these. He is raising up an “evil people” with an evil leader
called the Antichrist whose god is strength to bring punishment to the people
of the earth.
It is
interesting to note that the Chaldeans were the Babylonians. In other studies
we have identified these peoples today as the Islamic nations just north of
Israel. Israel today is facing just such a threat. But how could this threat be
a threat to the whole world? Daniel teaches us that this threat is a ten king
conglomerate of nations lead by the Antichrist. Other studies have indicated
that this conglomerate could very well be a coalition of Islamic nations that
once were called the Islamic Empire.
Hab 1:12 NASB - Are You not from
everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have
appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct.
Hab 1:13 NASB - Your eyes are too
pure to approve evil, And You can not 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?
Hab 1:14 NASB - Why have You made men like the fish of the
sea, Like creeping things without a ruler over them?
Hab 1:15 NASB - The Chaldeans bring
all of them up with a hook, Drag them away with their net, And gather them
together in their fishing net. Therefore they rejoice and are glad.
Hab 1:16 NASB - Therefore they
offer a sacrifice to their net And burn incense to their fishing net; Because
through these things their catch is large, And their food is plentiful.
Hab 1:17 NASB - Will they therefore
empty their net And continually slay nations without sparing?
In
these verses Habakkuk is asking how a Holy God could use a people more evil
that the Jews to punish Judah?
Hab 2:1 NASB - I will stand on my guard post And station
myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me,
And how I may reply when I am reproved.
This is a key verse of this study. Habakkuk takes his
stand as a watchman on the wall or rampart. He waits, watches and listens for
God to speak to him. He expects to be informed and corrected concerning his
questions and concerns about the evil in Judah and why God is using evil people
to bring judgment to Judah. He waits for God to speak to formulate his reply.
Habakkuk is deeply troubled about the evil in Judah. What
he does is to go to God in prayer. He honestly expresses his concerns then
waits for God to reply. Habakkuk expects an answer. He expects his prayers to
be answered. He expects God to deal with the situation and he waits for God to
direct him as what he is to do.
Here is the key for us today as we, like Habakkuk, see
all the evil around us and many are deeply troubled. What are we to do? We are
to go to prayer! We are to take our burden to God and wait to see what He will
say to us. We are to trust God to righteously deal with the world today
according to His will and His plan.
Hab 2:2 NASB - Then the LORD answered me and said,
"Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it
may run.
Hab 2:3 NASB - "For the vision is yet for the
appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it
tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
Here
the Lord answers Habakkuk. As He answers Habakkuk, He also answers us today.
God gives Habakkuk a vision and tells him to write it down that the one who
reads it may take action accordingly (run with it). Note that the Lord clearly
says that the vision is yet to come. It is an appointed time. It will come to
pass. He tells Habakkuk, and us, to wait for it! The vision has been written.
We call it the Bible. We need to read it, believe it, and take action according
to what it says.
Hab 2:4 NASB - "Behold, as for
the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by
his faith.
Hab 2:5 NASB - "Furthermore,
wine betrays the haughty man, So that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his
appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to
himself all nations And collects to himself all peoples.
Hab 2:6 NASB - "Will not all
of these take up a taunt-song against him, Even mockery and insinuations
against him And say, 'Woe to him who increases what is not his For how long—
And makes himself rich with loans?'
Hab 2:7 NASB - "Will not your
creditors rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you
will become plunder for them.
Hab 2:8 NASB - "Because you
have looted many nations, All the remainder of the peoples will loot you
Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all
its inhabitants.
Hab 2:9 NASB - "Woe to him who
gets evil gain for his house To put his nest on high, To be delivered from the
hand of calamity!
Hab 2:10 NASB - "You have devised
a shameful thing for your house By cutting off many peoples; So you are sinning
against yourself.
Hab 2:11 NASB - "Surely the
stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the
framework.
Hab 2:12 NASB - "Woe to him
who builds a city with bloodshed And founds a town with violence!
Hab 2:13 NASB - "Is it not
indeed from the LORD of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow
weary for nothing?
Hab 2:14 NASB - "For the earth
will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover
the sea.
Hab 2:15 NASB - "Woe to you
who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk So
as to look on their nakedness!
Hab 2:16 NASB - "You will be
filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your
own nakedness. The cup in the LORD'S right hand will come around to you, And
utter disgrace will come upon your glory.
Hab 2:17 NASB - "For the
violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, And the devastation of its beasts
by which you terrified them, Because of human bloodshed and violence done to
the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.
Hab 2:18 NASB - "What profit
is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood?
For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.
Hab 2:19 NASB - "Woe to him
who says to a piece of wood, 'Awake!' To a mute stone, 'Arise!' And that is
your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no
breath at all inside it.
Hab 2:20 NASB - "But the LORD
is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him."
In
these verses we see the evil and sin in the Babylonians and the results of such
sin. He assures Habakkuk that although He will use an evil people to deal with
the evil in Judah, He will deal in judgment with the evil people also. We also
see that this applies to all unregenerate mankind. Then there are hints about a
future evil people that God will use to bring judgment upon the sin and evil in
the world and about the leader of this people, the Antichrist. It is made clear
that evil will be dealt with and that in the end, the Glory of the Lord will
fill the whole earth. God answers Habakkuk by assuring him that He will deal
with all sin, unrighteousness, and evil and that eventually His Glory will
cover the earth. He reassures us that He is always in control, that His ways
are not always our ways, but that He will establish His Kingdom on earth, and
that His will, will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
As a prophet
and a watchman, Habakkuk felt God’s burden and grief over the evil and sin in
Judah. He took this burden to God in prayer expecting God to respond to his
prayer. God did respond as assured Habakkuk that He would take care of the sin
and evil in His way and time. Habakkuk was to rest in this revelation and write
the vision down for others to see. Like Habakkuk, we must also rest in the Lord
and proclaim the vision for others to see.
Habakkuk now formulates his reply
to God.
Hab 3:1 NASB - A prayer of Habakkuk
the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
Hab 3:2 NASB - LORD, I have heard the report about You and
I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the
years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
The
result of God’s reply to Habakkuk is that he has a deep and reverent fear of
the Lord. As a result he dares to pray for God to move according to His plan.
He knows that this plan involves the release of God’s wrath upon the earth but
Habakkuk also asks that God remember mercy in the midst of His wrath.
In the last
days, the Bible clearly tells us that God will deal with the evil and sin in
the world by pouring out His wrath. Do we have the confidence and trust in the
Lord to pray Habakkuk’s prayer? Do we have this kind of the fear of the Lord,
and a trust in His mercy towards those that belong to Him?
What was
the result of Habakkuk’s prayer? What will be the result of our prayers if we
dare to pray them?
Hab 3:3 NASB - God comes from
Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the
heavens, And the earth is full of His praise.
Hab 3:4 NASB - His radiance is like
the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of
His power.
Hab 3:5 NASB - Before Him goes
pestilence, And plague comes after Him.
Hab 3:6 NASB - He stood and
surveyed the earth; He looked and startled the nations. Yes, the perpetual
mountains were shattered, The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are
everlasting.
Hab 3:7 NASB - I saw the tents of
Cushan under distress, The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.
Hab 3:8 NASB - Did the LORD rage
against the rivers, Or was Your anger against the rivers, Or was Your wrath
against the sea, That You rode on Your horses, On Your chariots of salvation?
Hab 3:9 NASB - Your bow was made
bare, The rods of chastisement were sworn. Selah. You cleaved the earth with
rivers.
Hab 3:10 NASB - The mountains saw
You and quaked; The downpour of waters swept by. The deep uttered forth its
voice, It lifted high its hands.
Hab 3:11 NASB - Sun and moon stood
in their places; They went away at the light of Your arrows, At the radiance of
Your gleaming spear.
Hab 3:12 NASB - In indignation You
marched through the earth; In anger You trampled the nations.
In
His timing, God did punish the Babylonians and return the Jews to Israel. But
these scriptures hint at and reveal much deeper truths. These scriptures are
also dealing with the events of Jesus’ second coming and the wrath of God that
will be poured out in the last days as God deals with the sin and evil that is
present in our day. Jesus will come in splendor and radiance. Before Him goes
pestilence, plague and earthquakes. There will be destruction in the rivers and
the sea. There will be war and destruction. The nations will be trampled down
in His anger. These are all the events of the book of the Revelation. God’s
plan for dealing with the evil and sin in the world has indeed been written
down in the prophecies of the Bible both in the Old Testament and New
Testament. Have we read them? Do we teach them? Do we dare pray according to
them? Where are the present day watchmen? Where are those that feel God’s
burden and pray accordingly? Where are those that have the courage to be the
present day watchmen, the “Habakkuk’s of our day?
Here is the
good news.
Hab 3:13 NASB - You went forth for
the salvation of Your people, For the salvation of Your anointed. You struck
the head of the house of the evil To lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah.
Hab 3:14 NASB - You pierced with his
own spears The head of his throngs. They stormed in to scatter us; Their
exultation was like those Who devour the oppressed in secret.
Hab 3:15 NASB - You trampled on the
sea with Your horses, On the surge of many waters.
Hab 3:16 NASB - I heard and my inward
parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my
place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the
people to arise who will invade us.
Hab 3:17 NASB - Though the fig tree
should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the
olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be
cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Hab 3:18 NASB - Yet I will exult in
the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
Hab 3:19 NASB - The Lord GOD is my
strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my
high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.
The
wrath of God is poured out for the salvation of His people! Though we tremble
in this day of distress, and great turmoil, we are to wait quietly for the day
of distress, confident in our Lord and His plan. Though in the natural things
look bad, in our faith in God, His goodness, His mercy, and His love for those
that belong to Him thought faith in Jesus, we are to exult in the Lord and
rejoice in the God of our salvation. He is our strength; He is our hiding
place, our place of safely. He makes us to walk in high places.
Consider these scriptures:
Zep
2:3 Seek the
LORD, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek
righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In the day of the
LORD'S anger.
The righteous will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.
Isa
26:20 Come,
my people, enter into your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a
little while Until indignation runs {its} course.
Isa
26:21 For
behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed And
will no longer cover her slain.
God’s people will be hidden until the indignation
(or judgment) runs its course.
Psa
17:8 Keep me
as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings
The righteous are hidden in the shadow of His wings.
Psa
27:5 For in
the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of
His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.
The righteous are to be concealed in the secret
place of His tent (tabernacle) in the day of trouble.
Psa
31:20 You
hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
Hidden in the secret place of His presence from the
conspiracies of man.
Psa
57:1 Be
gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And
in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by.
The righteous are hidden in the shadow of His wings until the
destruction passes by.
Psa
91:8 You
will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked.
The righteous will not be a part of the judgment of the wicked.
Psa
91:9 For you
have made the LORD, my refuge, {Even} the Most High, your dwelling place.
The Lord is our refuge and dwelling place.
1Th
1:10 and to
wait for His Son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead, {that is} Jesus,
who rescues us from the wrath to come
We the true Church are now waiting for Jesus to come
and rescue us from the wrath to come.
1Th
5:9 For God
has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord
Jesus Christ,
Why does Jesus come and catch us up to meet Him in
the air? Because His wrath is about to be poured out upon the earth and we are
not destined to experience His wrath.
An important implication is that this event will happen before God’s
wrath is poured out upon the earth.
Rev
3:10
'Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from
the hour of testing, that {hour} which is about to come upon the whole world,
to test those who dwell on the earth.
This word was given to the Church at Philadelphia. For those that
persevere (a characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate
purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and
sufferings) Jesus promises to keep them from the hour of testing that is coming
upon the whole world. This hour of testing (or judgment) is the Day of the
Lord, the Days of the Wrath of God.
