Habakkuk 3:3b-The Lord Jesus Christ’s Majesty Will Cover the Heavens and His Praise Will Fill the Earth at His Second Advent
Bill Wenstrom
Habakkuk Chapter Three • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:03:58
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Habakkuk 3:3 God will travel form Teman. Then, the Holy One will travel from Mount Paran. Selah. His majesty will cover the heavens so that His praise will certainly fill the earth. (My translation)
As we have noted, Habakkuk 3:3-19 is a prayer which the prophet Habakkuk offered up to the God of Israel, which he directed to be sung in the temple as part of the worship of the God of Israel.
We also noted that Habakkuk 3:3-15 is prophetic referring to the events of the seventieth week and Second Advent of Jesus Christ but alluding to the might acts of God which He performed on behalf of the nation of Israel.
Habakkuk 3:3 contains four prophetic statements with an interjection placed after the second.
The first prophetic statement asserts that God will travel from Teman and the second asserts that the Holy One will travel from Mount Paran and both of these prophetic statements refer to the actions of the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Advent.
A comparison of these first two prophetic statements recorded in Habakkuk 3:3 indicate that at His Second Advent, the Lord Jesus Christ will travel from Teman, and then to Mount Paran.
As we noted earlier, these first two prophetic statements in Habakkuk 3:3 echo Isaiah 63:1-3 since it asserts that the Lord comes from Edom with His garments covered in the blood of His enemies, which will take place at His Second Advent.
As we can see, this passage records God coming from Edom with blood on His garments which has never happened in history but will at the Lord Jesus Christ’s Second Advent according to Revelation 19:13 and 15.
Though these first two statements in Habakkuk 3:3 are prophetic describing two events connected to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, they would remind Habakkuk and the faithful remnant of Judah at the end of the seventh century B.C. the Lord God of Israel making Himself known to Israel in the giving of the Law.
The third prophetic statement recorded in Habakkuk 3:3 asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ’s majesty will cover the heavens.
The noun hôḏ (הוֹד), “majesty” speaks of the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s sovereign authority over both the human and angelic races as well as over all of creation at His Second Advent.
The noun šāmayim (שְׁמַיִן), “the heavens” refers to the earth’s atmosphere and the stellar universe.
Therefore, this third prophetic statement in Habakkuk 3:3 is asserting that the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s sovereign authority over every creature and all creation, will cover the earth’s atmosphere as well as the stellar universe at His Second Advent.
This is similar to the prophetic statement recorded in Habakkuk 2:14.
Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with knowing the Lord’s glory experientially just as the waters fill the sea.” (My translation)
This statement in Habakkuk 2:14 speaks of the future millennial bodily reign of Jesus Christ on planet earth since it has never been fulfilled in history that the earth was filled with people knowing the Lord’s glory experientially as the waters cover the sea.
However, both the Old and New Testament prophecy that He will reign in Jerusalem bodily for a thousand years as king of not only Israel but also the king over all the nations on planet earth.
The Lord’s First Advent did not fill this prophecy in Habakkuk 2:14 since only a small remnant of those who believed in Him possessed a personal experiential knowledge of Him.
The majority in Israel rejected and the rest of the inhabitants of the world did not know about Him until His apostles and disciples spread the message about Him in the gospel regarding the significance of His death, resurrection, ascension and session at the right hand of the Father.
The reference “glory” here in Habakkuk 2:14, which we noted translates the Hebrew noun kā·ḇôḏ (כָּבוֹד), which refers to the manifestation of the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ to the inhabitants of planet earth during His millennial reign.
Now, the fourth and final prophetic statement in Habakkuk 3:3 asserts that praise of the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Advent will certainly fill the earth.
This statement presents the result of the third and thus, a comparison of the two indicates that praise from both men and angels will fill the earth as a result of the Lord Jesus Christ’s majesty covering the heavens at His Second Advent.
This praise will come from both human beings and angels, which is indicated by the fact that the Scriptures teach that every church age believer in a resurrection body will take part in the Second Advent (cf. Rev. 19-20) as well as every Old Testament saint in resurrection body will do so as well.
Every regenerate human being that survived the prophetic events of the seventieth week and Second Advent will take part in it as well.
Lastly, the elect angels will take part in the Second Advent as well (cf. Rev. 19-20).
This praise of our Lord at His Second Advent speaks of praise as an expression of worshipping the Lord in the sense of offering words of homage to Him as an act of worshiping Him.
There are four English words, “reverence,” “respect,” “awe,” and “wonder,” which express the concept of worshipping God.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “reverence”: “A feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.”
Therefore, paraphrasing this definition and applying it to the unique person of Christ, we would say that the Christian’s response to a study of the unique person of Jesus Christ is to possess an attitude of deep respect and awe for Him.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “respect”: “esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or trait, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or trait.”
Thus, the Christian should esteem the excellence of His unique Person as manifested through His personal qualities or attributes such as love, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, justice, righteousness, truth, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, immutability, and sovereignty.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “awe”: “an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc. produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful or the like.”
Thus, the Christian should possess an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration for the Lord.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “wonder”: “to be filled with admiration, amazement or awe; marvel.”
The Christian’s should be filled with admiration, amazement and awe in response to who the Lord is as the God-Man.
The Spirit’s revelation in the Scriptures concerning the person of Jesus Christ should reach right into the Christian’s heart and shake them up and enrich their lives and should overwhelm them with an emotion that is a mixture of gratitude, adoration, reverence, fear and love for the Lord.
The Christian shouldn’t be looking for explanations but rather they should be lost in the wonder of the person of Christ.
Therefore, the Christian should approach the Lord Jesus Christ to Him by manifesting an attitude of deep reverence, respect and awe for Him for who and what He is and what He has done for them as their Creator-Redeemer.
The Christian should respond in their mind, emotion, and body to the Spirit’s revelation in the Word of God concerning the unique person of Jesus Christ.
Worship is the act of paying honor and reverence to Him and affection for Him and flows from love and where there is little love, there is little worship and is the loving ascription of praise to the Lord in gratitude and appreciation for who and what He is, both in Himself and in His ways and in His work on the Cross for us.
It is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and reverence before the Lord.
Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in holy array.” (NASB95)
The Church’s destiny is to worship the Lord, as revealed in Revelation 4-5.
Revelation 4:8, “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, ‘HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.’ 9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 ‘Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.’” (NASB95)
Revelation 5:11, “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.’ 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. 14 And the four living creatures kept saying, ‘Amen.’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.” (NASB95)