Habakkuk 2:1-5
Notes
Transcript
The answer?
The answer?
I will take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
Here we get Habakkuk's position. He sees himself in military fashion as a scout to warn the people of dangers to come. He is positioned in the right place. He is also a messenger waiting the answer to the complaint from Chapter 1 that we ended with. What will be the reply? He will be patient and stand waiting for the answer.
The Lord answers with a preface about his answer in 2-3
And the Lord answered me:
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
Here we get commands to start the response. Write the vision and Make it plain on tablets. The make it plain portion is explained by the following statement which makes clear God wants the person who is running to deliver the message to be able to read it. This is the make it a bilboard not a yard sign explanation. There is assurance from God the message will last to the end, it is true. There is care to set expectations that it might seem like God is taking his time but his promises will be fulfilled. Be patient. It will happen. So often we are impatient. God when will you return? When will your people be restored to glory? In some ways they understand this as the restoration to the land after captivity by Babylon. It also looks to Christ though modern descendants of Isreal do not recognize it. We'll get to that in a second though.
The message itself is in this verse.
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
We get two parts. The wicked of concern from chapter 1 are acknowled but as a contrast to the concern the people have about the righteous. The wicked will die but the righteous will live.