God's Answer to Evil is a Promise
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Habkkuk chapter 1.
We will begin reading in verse 12 and we will read all the way through verse 4 of chapter 2.
We began our study of Habakkuk last week with Habakkuk’s first complaint to the Lord.
Habakkuk found himself prophesying in the land of Judah, but no one was listening.
In fact, the whole nation of Judah was disregarding God’s word.
It was as if the law was paralyzed, rendered ineffective.
The people that were supposed to represent God’s justice in the land, were oppressing the weak, the fatherless, the widow and the sojourner.
The land was full of violence, contention, and strife.
Thus, Habakkuk raised his complaint to the Lord.
From Habakkuk’s perspective: God wasn’t listening
From Habakkuk’s perspective: God wasn’t timely
From Habakkuk’s perspective: God’s decisions didn’t make sense.
He wanted God to do something about it, to exert justice, to restore his people in his land.
But then God adjusted Habakkuk’s perspective.
God explained that he was doing something that Habakkuk couldn’t see and that the people wouldn’t believe…
God was raising up the enemy nation of Babylon, who would inflict a devestating judgment upon Judah for their rebellion.
and for Habakkuk, God’s answer was worse than God’s silence.
We turn now to Habakkuk’s response…
12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?
1 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.
2 And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.
3 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.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Lets Pray
Listen to how one commentator describes whats happening in this passage.
“The answer to Habakkuk’s complaint had opened up a far more frightening scenario than the one he had brought to God in agony of heart... The cure of Babylonian invasion is worse than the ‘illness’ of Judean sin.” - David Prior, The Bible Speaks Today, 354.
God’s plan absolutely blows Habakkuk’s mind.
God was going to use a wicked nation to bring judgment upon God’s covenant people.
So I want us to follow how Habakkuk processes all this.
12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
#1 Habakkuk Considers What He Knows About God
#1 Habakkuk Considers What He Knows About God
In the form of a rhetorical question Habakkuk asks, “Are you not from everlasting?”
Habakkuk is not seeking an answer here. He knows the answer.
He is saying you are from everlasting!
He is affirming something about God which feels out of step with what God is actually doing.
God is Eternal
Habakkuk acknowledges that God is not like any other being.
He doesn’t make decisions like any other being.
He doesn’t respond to time and space and circumstances like any other being.
He is the one and only being whom is from everlasting.
Its almost as if Habakkuk is wracking his brain about all this.
God from eternity past, could you not arrange a better plan than this?
You who see all things, and know all things past present and future, couldn’t write up a different script than this?
Are you not from everlasting?
Hebrews 1:12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One?
God is Holy
The word Holy carries with it two senses.
Firstly, that God is perfect in all that he does.
Every thought, every action, and every attitude of God is pure perfection.
God does not make mistakes.
God does not sin.
God does not have an evil motive.
He is holy.
Secondly, the word “holy” means “set apart”?
He is not like the other false gods of the land.
He is set apart as different from his creatures,
different from his creation,
and different from the gods of their imagination.
God is totally other than anything we know or experience so to say that he is holy is to say he is unlike anything we could compare him to.
“We cannot grasp the true meaning of divine holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable.” - A.W. Tozer
God is as the angels proclaim day and night, “Holy, Holy, Holy”
he is perfect, perfect perfect.
He is sinless, sinless, sinless,
And, again, Habakkuk is wrestling.
“I know that you are from everlasting, and I know that you are HOLY.”
Notice how Habakkuk utilizes the personal pronouns and then he declares with confidence “We Shall not die.”
Habakkuk 1:12 “Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die.
Not only is God Holy and eternal, He has made particular promises to Habakkuk and to the Israelite people.
God is in covenant relationship with Habakkuk and his people.
God is Faithful to His Covenant Promises
God was not just some distant, eternal, and holy God out there that Habakkuk was speaking with.
He was Habakkuk’s God.
He was in relationship with him on the basis of a promise.
Habakkuk knew the Scriptures.
God had promised to bless all the families of the Earth through the offspring of Abraham in Genesis 12.
God had promised to establish his kingdom on earth through the offspring of David in 2 Samuel 7.
Israel was God’s special people through whom God was going to bring about a great salvation.
Now we know, Jesus brought fulfillment of these promises, but from Habakkuk’s perspective, the blessing had not yet come, the king had not yet come.
so Habakkuk can say confidently, “We shall not die.”
It is impossible.
God cannot totally and entirely annihialate the whole nation.
For him to do that, he would break his own promise, and thus he would not truly be God.
for God to be God he must be unchanging,
He must be like a rock which does not break or bend.
His promises must be sure places to stand, even if the fulfillment looks different then what is expected.
Thus Habakkuk affirms, that maybe God is ordaining Babylon as judgment,
and maybe he is establishing them for reproof,
but surely, God cannot be bringing his people to total ruin through this wicked nation.
12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
#1 Habakkuk Considers What He Knows About God
And now he transitions to what seems like a contradiction.
#2 Habakkuk Confronts God with Questions: Why does Evil Prevail?
#2 Habakkuk Confronts God with Questions: Why does Evil Prevail?
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
Habakkuk knows that God is Holy.
He knows that God’s eyes are pure and that he cannot tolerate wickedness.
Thats why he wanted God to rebuke and correct Judah in the first place.
But, God is now going to send a far more evil nation to prevail over Judah.
Habakkuk asks how this can be that God would “idly look” at traitors and “remain silent” as the wicked swallows up the righteous.
This was a major issue in Habakkuk’s mind.
This was a matter of the character of God...
The Babylonians were not just a pagan nation caught up in a little sin.
The suffering they inflicted on their enemies is really unimaginable for us.
Consider your own view of Nazi Germany.
Consider how you naturally recoil at the thought of the swatiga symbol on a red flag.
Now consider the Babylonians with that same natural reaction.
The cruelties that characterized the Babylonians would have simiarly caused people to shutter in Habakkuk’s day.
Listen to Habakkuk’s description.
14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.
This verse may seem odd at first, but it is significant.
Habakkuk is challenging God because the nation he is raising up to inflict judgment upon Judah, is a nation that treats humans as less than human.
They are known for treating humans as if they were fish of the sea, or crawling things of the earth.
They are known for dehumanizing their victims.
The very first commands of God reveal that Humanity is different than the rest of creation.
We are made in God’s image.
We are to rule over creation, birds, animals, and creeping things.
But these Babylonians undo God’s most basic design.
They degrade the very humanity of their enemies.
I took Owen fishing on Friday and we stopped at Norco bait and tackle where I paid like $3 for a bucket of minnows.
We used those living minnows as bait. We stuck hooks through them and tossed them n the water to catch bigger fish for our own recreation.
Now imagine taking that same cavalier sort of attitude and treatment toward other human beings.
Habakkuk goes on to provide examples.
15 He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.
Keeping with the fish imagery, Habakkuk describes the Babylonians as gathering up their enemies with hooks and nets…
but this is not just figurative language. This refers to a historical chaldean tradition.
They would drive hooks through the sensitive lower lip of their captives and string them single file.
If not led with a hook, they would literally drag their captives in a net from behind their horses or chariots.
If these practices were not sick enough… Habakkuk comments on their demeanor in the midst of it.
The Babylonian rejoices and is glad.
He treats people as less than human, and he enjoys it.
In fact, he worships it.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.
The Babylonians worship their nets, because it is by their cruelty that they live in luxury and their food is rich.
They exalt in their sin, because it is their sin that enables them to enjoy prosperity.
Their wickedness does not seem to be leading to consequences, rather it seems to be purchasing for themselves a pretty nice life.
Habakkuk looks at all of this ramped evil.
And he sanwhiches this description between two questions.
verse 13 which we have read already and verse 17
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
God, how can you allow this?
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?
In other words,
Is this going to keep going on forever?
It seems like the evil God is allowing in the world is contadictory to what Habakkuk knows about God’s character.
And all of us have had or will have in our lives similar moments.
When we witness or experience the depths of the evil of this world, we find ourselves turning to God and asking, “how could you allow this?”
If you are eternal, if you are holy, if you are a personal God who makes promises, how could you have allowed this?
this divorce
this miscarriage
this diagnosis
this car accident
this murder
this betrayal
this sin
So Habakkuk raises his question to God… how could you?
and now Habakkuk has an option… as do all of us.
He can reject God because he is angry about the evil that prevails in the world.
Or he can set his hope more fully on God,
because God is the only answer to the evil in the world.
And praise God… Habakkuk’s response is the latter, not the former.
Listen to what he does.
1 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.
#3 Habakkuk Resolves to Wait on God for Answers
#3 Habakkuk Resolves to Wait on God for Answers
In Habakkuk’s day, cities employed watchmen to stand post for hours watching the horizon so that they might warn the city of impending attack.
It was a lonely and wearisom job consisting of hours upon hours of waiting and watching.
And thus, Habakkuk resolves to take this kind of posture before God.
He resolves to wait.
He resolves to wait on the Lord to bring clarity to his complaint, to resolve his dillema, to answer his questions.
Habakkuk does not expect immediate response, nor does he demand it.
He simply resolves to wait, because for Habakkuk there is no where else to turn, and he knows there is nothing that can be done.
His resolve to wait is a symbol of his persevering faith.
He knows from his ministry as a prophet that God is from everlasting, he is holy, he is the rock, he is the covenant God of Israel.
He knows that God will be faithful to his promises, he just doesn’t know how in this moment.
Habakkuk does what God commands his people to do throughout the Bible - he waits.
And in Habakkuk’s waiting, God Answers.
2 And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.
3 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.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
God answers Habakkuk with a vision and a command to write it down
The moment is reminiscent of God’s giving the law to Moses on tablets of stone.
Habakkuk is to write this down on tablets and he is to do so in a way that makes it plain.
This vision is not just for Habakkuk it is for everyone who reads the vision after Habakkuk.
In fact this vision from the Lord is to be proclaimed by others.
When God says, “so he may run who reads it,” he is likely referring to the practice of messengers who would run through the city proclaiming news.
The message was to be plain so that others could run with it and proclaim it.
Think about Isaiah’s description of this proces.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
This vision to be written down and proclaimed, however, is not one that will happen quickly.
He is writing it down, not only for his own generation, but for generations of prophets after him who will run with the same message.
3 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.
God emphasizes the certainty of the prophecy even if from Habakkuk’s perspective he cannot see its coming fulfillment.
This is a future reality at an appointed time that Habakkuk must direct his eyes toward.
It may seem slow, but just wait for it, it will surely come, it will not delay...
And here is the summary of the visionary future.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
This is God’s answer.
#4 God's Answer to Evil is a Promise: The Righteous Shall Live By Faith
#4 God's Answer to Evil is a Promise: The Righteous Shall Live By Faith
God urges Habakkuk to Behold!!!
And then he gives Habakkuk two categories of people in the world.
The first category is one whose soul is “puffed up”
This is the proud person…
Both the Babylonians and the Israelites embodied this description.
The Israelites, had cast aside God’s law as unnecessary.
Rather than serve one another, they were taking advantage of one another,
Rather than protecting one another they were doing violence to one another.
The Babylonians were a people whose “justice and dignity” came from themselves.
In other words, they were their own authority.
They made up the rules.
They worshipped their own wickedness and sought only to live in luxury.
and God summarizes their plight as being a puffed up people.
They had no need for God and certainly no need for his law, or his rule in their lives.
But this is the promise… “the righteous shall live by his faith.”
now there is some debate as to whether God is referring to his own faithfulness or to the faith of the people.
But the point is clear by contrast.
The Judeans and the Babylonians were both pridefully self-reliant....,
but in the end it will be those who trust God in humility that live and are considered righteous.
This is the vision that awaits its appointed time!
This is God’s answer to Habbakkuk’s complaint!
This is what he will have to wait for!
God will save the righteous by their faith!!!
On the last day… only those who forsook the pride of their heart
and cast themselves on the Lord as the only means of salvation will be the ones who have life.
Everyone else will be given over to death.
Habakkuk is asking God why evil seems to prevail!
And God’s answer is to trust him… evil will not ultimately win.
In the end only those made rightoeus through faith in the Lord will live.
This all should sound very familiar to you.
Habakkuk 2:4 is the first Old Testament text that Paul quotes when he begins to describe what the good news of Jesus really is in the book of Romans.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Paul looks back at this promise to Habakkuk and he sees its fulfillment in Jesus.
Like Habakkuk we live in a world where evil seems to prevail.
Like Habakkuk we find ourselves waiting and watching for God to answer our most difficult questions about pain and suffering.
Like Habakkuk we often find ourselves crying out “how long?” and “why?”
Like Habakkuk we are given a promise to sustain us, “the righteous shall live by faith”
But unlike, Habakkuk, we understand exactly how God was going to accomplish this.
God sent his only Son, Jesus of Nazareth, in the most ultimate step of humility in the history of the universe.
Jesus was righteous in every way.
His soul was not puffed up.
He was the eternal Son of God who humbled himself to humanity.
And as a human, he endured the evil of this world.
As a human, he allowed evil to prevail over him on the mount of crucifixion.
The unrighteousness of the world and all of its consequences came crashing down on him.
All the wrath of God, including the fullness of the curse of death came down upon Jesus Christ.
And for three days, his body laid in the tomb so that it appeared that the wicked had swallowed up the righteous.
But on the third day.... the righteous triumphed.
He overcame the grave, he reversed the curse, he defeated death…
and the greatest act of humility became the doorway to the highest place of exaltation.
Jesus made eternal life possible.
Jesus made righteousness receivable.
And we receive those gifts now, through faith!!
No matter the depths of our sin
No matter the intensity of our suffering.
We have a promise that has been validated by a resurrected man.
We shall not die.
We shall live eternally by FAITH.
That is, if we stop trusting ourselves and our own righteousnes, but we turn to trust the righteousness of Jesus Christ on our behalf.
This is what it means to be justified.
This is what it means to be right in the eyes of God.
This is how we survive the suffering of this present life.
We know what awaits us and w believe.
As Paul says,
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
We live in the already, but not yet tension of the Bible.
Already, Jesus has come, lived, died, and rose again to seal the promise.
Not yet, do we see him face to face in the abundance of our eternal blessings.
But God’s words to Habbakkuk reign true for us as well.
3 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.
Recap of Habakkuk’s process:
#1 Habakkuk Considers What He Knows About God
#2 Habakkuk Confronts God with Questions: Why Does Evil Prevail?
#3 Habakkuk Resolves to Wait on God for Answers
#4 God’s Answer to Evil is a Promise: The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
Now, allow me to close with a few takeaways:
Takeaways:
Takeaway #1- Regularly Rehearse What You Know to Be True About God
Takeaway #1- Regularly Rehearse What You Know to Be True About God
The Biblical authors are regularly rehearsing what they know to be true about God in moments when they don’t understand why he is doing what he is doing.
Read through the Psalms and you will findregular rehersals of what must be true about God.
Sometimes the most important thing we can do is to pause and consider unchanging attributes of God.
We should be striving to do this on the daily through our Bible reading.
We should read while asking the question, “What does this passage teach me about the God I worship?”
Takeaway #2 - Go to God With Your Struggles
Takeaway #2 - Go to God With Your Struggles
Notice that God does not rebuke Habakkuk in all of this.
God seems to invite the conversation.
He welcomes Habakkuk’s wrestling and struggling.
God is not afraid of your questions, nor is he offended by your seeking answers.
Too many times, we go to everyone else in the world for advice in the face of a situation.
Too many times, we talk and we talk and we talk, and we even talk about praying for something… but in all of our talking we do very little praying.
In fact, I think we often find ourselves talking about praying, more than we pray.
I like what one commentator said,
“Yahweh’s response to those who enquire of him is never automatic. We have been imperceptibly influenced by our pushbutton world. We can easily regard prayer as a way to get what we want, rather than the way in which our covenant relationship is expressed in watching and waiting.” - David Prior
this leads me to takeaway #3
Takeaway #3 Pray for Patience
Takeaway #3 Pray for Patience
like Habakkuk, we must resolve to take our post as watchmen in this world.
We are waiting an appointed time.
Peter’s words are so applicable here.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
Takeaway #4 Embrace Faith as the Way of Life
Takeaway #4 Embrace Faith as the Way of Life
I mean this in two senses.
Firstly, if you are not a Christian here this morning… there is only one way to escape the judgment of God.
Stop trusting yourself. Stop writing your own rules. Stop trying to earn your own salvation by being good enough. You will fail.
Turn to the Lord Jesus and trust him to be your savior and Lord… there only will you receive eternal life.
Some of you continue in disobedience because you are too prideful to let go of the control you think you have…
or because you are too prideful to humble yourself under particular commands like baptism, or church membership.
Some of you are too prideful to have any relationships with anyone that might force you to confess sin, or to be uncomfortable in any way so you avoid scenarios like prayer meeting, or small group, or fill in the blank....
You think to yourself, I don’t need the kind of accountability and community that God says that I need.
I urge you to repent this morning of your puffed up soul.
But secondly, faith is not only the way we are saved… it is the way of life.
It is how we make it through this life and into the next.... we grow day by day in our humble believing.
We grow day by day, rejecting our own self-reliance, and fully trusting the Lord Jesus with our lives, our situations, our suffering, our futures, and our ministry....
especially when it seems like God is moving too slowly, or in ways that we don’t understand.
Takeaway #1 - Regularly Rehearse What You Know to Be True About God
Takeaway #2 - Go to God With Your Struggles and Sorrows
Takeaway #3 - Pray for Patience
Takeaway #4 - Embrace Faith as the Way of Life
Pray.
Lord we need you
We confess that you are our righteousness.
We confess that you are our defense against the evils of this world and the evils of our own heart.
Help us to trust you.