Habakkuk 2:14 (2023) ~

(Updated)

Greetings:

Sending Joel.

Denomination Connection. Joy.

Please turn with me in your Bible to Habakkuk chapter 2. We’ll look at verses 12-14 together this morning, emphasizing verses 14.

› READ:

“Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:12-14

› EXPLINATION/ILLUSTRATION:

The prophet Habakkuk wrote these words amidst confusing, discouraging, and troubling times. The Lord had revealed to him that Babylon, a hostile and ruthless foreign nation, would invade his country, Judah. What a terrifying thought.

Habakkuk describes for us how he felt in chapter 3, verse 16, when he says,

I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Habakkuk 3:16

Then, as the reality sank in further, Habakkuk’s quivering lips turned into questioning lips, and he looked towards heaven and, out of confusion and frustration, said to the Lord,

“Why do you look idly?”

And

“Why do you remain silent?”

These questions, though asked by Habakkuk 2,600 years ago, feel all too relevant to us in our own sorrowful, confusing, and frustrating times. We look around us and see wars, divisions, and corruption. We are far more aware of hate, hurt, and pain than peace and love. We all have far more questions than answers.

While we don’t face a literal Babylon in our day, as we continue to read our Bibles, we find the New Testament authors will use ancient Babylon as a picture of worldliness, of those who, like Babylon, labor for their own glory in this world and not for the glory of Christ.

And this striving for human glory and fame is something God hates with all his being. He will not allow those who seek to make a name for themselves on this earth to stand. This is why chapter 2 is filled with judgment oracles against wicked, proud Babylon. Because God alone is worthy of glory, honor, and praise, he will allow no rival.

› BRIDGE THE GAP:

These judgments were intended to comfort Habakkuk, and they serve to comfort us by extension. Because, in his mercy, the Lord hasn’t remained silent, as Habakkuk accused him of being. He doesn’t ignore the suffering of his people or the wickedness of those who oppress them. Even amid our suffering and opposition, he is still the God who shows steadfast love to his people and never lets the guilty go unpunished. He knows the Kingdom of Christ is constantly under assault by the Kingdom of Man. He sees it. He hears us. And he will act to bring an end to sin and injustice that stands against him and his kingdom.

Why will he do this? Because, in verse 14, God is determined that his glory, not man's glory, will fill his earth.

Do you see the connection? The enemies of God may rage, but his people need not fear. Why? Because God’s kingdom will win.

Given our specific emphasis on missions this morning, we could say it like this: God comforts his people in the midst of severe opposition with the promise of the success of international missions.

God comforts his people in the midst of severe opposition with the promise of the success of international missions.

“Don’t fear Babylon because the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

And when God comforts and encourages Habakkuk, he gives him a glorious picture of the future, and that picture gives Habakkuk profound hope for the present. This hope has sustained Christians in the darkest and most discouraging times throughout church history.

The kings and kingdoms of this earth rise and fall, political parties come and go, economic hardship ebbs and flows, all the while God and his purposes stand unfazed. His kingdom will win, and so we need not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be thrown into the heart of the sea.

That is how God encouraged Habakkuk, and that is how God encourages us today. In these ancient, but all too relevant words recorded by Habakkuk, our compassionate Father draws near us in our suffering, confusion, and hurt. We cannot always understand the sovereign purposes of God in history, but we can always be confident of this -- no matter how dark the night, our God rules over the nations of men, and he is working in all things to build his eternal kingdom for his glory and our good.

Babylon will fall. The Kingdom of Man will fall. And the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

So as we consider this text together, we’ll consider both of these kingdoms — the Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of Christ. And after we’ve finished our exposition of verses 12-14, we’ll look back toward the beginning of chapter 2 to explore how we can make these truths practical in our lives. And as we do, it is my prayer that God would encourage our hearts with this truth — the Kingdom of Man may rage intensely against us, but God, his ways, and his purposes will win.

› TRANSITION:

Let’s look at verses 12-13 and consider the description of the Kingdom of Man.

› MAIN POINT 1:

› READ:

“Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?” Habakkuk 2:12-13

› EXPOSITION:

Do you see how Babylon is described here? They build their nation on the blood and the backs of others. They use others to their advantage and to accomplish their own selfish ends, with no regard for their safety or well-being. They are violent and oppressive.

The Kingdom of Man builds in this world in a way that is foundationally selfish. Their motto is “my kingdom come; my will be done, and if you stand in my way, you will be crushed.”

We see this clearly in our text, but it’s made even more explicit If we look back in chapter 1, verses 15-16

“He drags them out with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; he so rejoices and is glad. for by them he lives in luxury and his food is made rich.” Habakkuk 1:15–16

To show their dominance over the nations they conquered, Babylon would put hooks through the mouths and out the noses of their defeated enemies, then pull them together in a line back to their kingdom. And what kind of life awaited these conquered nations? They would be used to build more Babylonian homes and cities — an empire built on blood and iniquity.

› TRANSITION:

And as they did this with one nation after another, Babylon’s true intention was revealed: they had their eyes set on world domination.

Consider Habakkuk 2:5,

› READ:

“His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he never has enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.” Habakkuk 2:5

› EXPOSITION:

Like death that swallows up all people until all feel his power, so wicked Babylon seeks to extend its kingdom across the earth, extending to all people, conquering every nation — the greed of the Kingdom of Man cannot be satisfied until his glory covers the earth.

› TRANSITION:

But Ironically, while they seek to establish for themselves peace and security by extending their rule, we find in chapter 2, verse 13 that their labors are ultimately futile because the Lord is not in them.

› READ:

“Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?” Habakkuk 2:13

› EXPOSITION:

From Babylon’s perspective, their glory is increasing, their security is being established, and an impressive nation is being built. But from God’s perspective, he looks down from his throne in heaven and is not impressed. He saw not a glorious nation but bloodshed and iniquity.

Ultimately the efforts of the Kingdom of Man to make a name for themselves in this world will come to an abrupt and sudden end. All the selfish, self-promoting, self-advancing, self-glorifying works done in this world will be for nothing.

So it is all labor done for the glory of man — it comes to nothing and ends in nothing.

› TRANSITION:

Why is this? Because the Lord is jealous of his glory, he will not share it with another.

Let’s look at verse 14 as we consider the Kingdom of Christ.

› MAIN POINT 2:

› READ:

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14)

› TRANSITION:

Those who rage against the Kingdom of Christ will not stand because the Lord will ensure that his kingdom and his glory will fill his earth.

Let’s consider further the description of this kingdom.

› SUB-POINT 1:

First, let’s consider the nature of this kingdom.

› EXPOSITION:

This kingdom is characterized by the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. That is, the Lord will not only be known about but he will be known for who he truly is; he will be known in his glory.

The word used here for “know” speaks of intimate, close knowledge. Of covenant knowledge. Of the nearness of the most immediate of companions. This is the knowledge of God; he will fill his earth.

But what is it about the Lord that is predicted will be known? It’s not just abstract knowledge; it’s particular knowledge. It’s the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

Surely in Habakkuk’s mind, as he wrote, this was the awesome spender of the glory of the Lord which filled the tabernacle and the temple under the Old Covenant. When the priests entered the Holy of Holies or Israel saw the pillar of fire dwelling in their midst, there was no doubt that God was present and with them.

That’s what’s described here. Direct contact with the very presence of God. The knowledge of the Lord that only being in the very presence of his splendor and majesty can bring. Close and intimate companionship with him, his ways, his character. This is what will fill the earth.

› GOSPEL / CHRIST-CONNECTION:

This intimate knowledge of God, where is it known and felt for us today? Not in a temple in Jerusalem, but in the One who has revealed to us God himself.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6

Do you hear that? What has been revealed to us? The knowledge of the glory of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ.

Where do we find this knowledge of God? In Christ himself. The fullness of God’s person and glory is seen, not in a temple in the middle east, but in the true and better temple Jesus Christ, who came as “God With Us” so that we might know the true goodness of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord in his person and through his gospel.

The gospel which proclaims to us the good news is that, although we once also labored for our glory in this world — although we were like Babylon and deserving of the same judgment — Jesus Christ came to earth to take that judgment for us.

The good news is that although we also are guilty of using others for our benefit and for accomplishing our selfish ends — Jesus, Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve — he gave his life as a ransom for many.

It’s the good news that God has mercifully and graciously rescued us from the Kingdom of Man and placed us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. And he changed us from people who seek our glory in this world into people who love to say,

“Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but to your name give glory.” Psalm 115:1

So reading this text with our New Testament glasses on, we can’t help but see that Habakkuk, in this passage, predicts a day when the gospel of Jesus Christ is known and believed throughout the world.

› TRANSITION:

But that’s not all that’s said here. Not only are we given a description of the Kingdom of Christ, but, second, we are also told of the extent of the Kingdom of Christ.

› SUB-POINT 2: The Extent of the Kingdom

Do you see that?

“the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.”

› EXPOSITION:

What is the extent of this kingdom? It’s throughout the earth. And not just here and there throughout the earth, the earth will be filled with this knowledge. Not partially, but fully. Every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

And as if this language were not explicit enough, the Lord etches it into our minds for us with a picture. It’s just like the waters cover the sea, so the earth in its entirety will be covered, filled, and submerged in the knowledge of Christ.

The God of Israel would not only be known in Israel, is what this prophecy means. That glory of the Lord which Moses saw and experienced on top of Mt. Sinai, will be felt and known on every mountain top on earth as men and women are brought face-to-face with the glory of God through the gospel of Christ.

Babylon tried to do this, but Christ will do this. In fact, when we take a step back and evaluate further these two kingdoms, we can see the Babylon, which was here today and gone tomorrow, served as nothing more than a foil for Christ and his kingdom. A cruel and twisted parody, and so do all of the kingdoms of men.

So much of the language here in this text is turned on its head when we consider its fulfillment in Christ and his church.

In a complete reversal of Babylon’s cruelty, Christ too called us to be fishers of men, but in a radically different sense than Babylon was — we bring men and women away from their striving and slavery to the one who says to them,

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

The Kingdom of Man may pull in men like a dragnet, but the Kingdom of Christ

it is like a dragnet that was throne into the sea and gathered fish of every kind until it was full. (Matthew 13:47)

As Christ brings into his kingdom a vast multitude that no man can count, and no person can number, we see that that terrifying description of Babylon is gloriously true of Jesus Christ,

“He gathers to himself all nations, and collects for himself all people.”

The knowledge of the glory of the Lord that was felt and known in Israel will not just be felt and known in Israel but in Moscow, Beijing, Berlin, Washington D.C., New Delhi, Istanbul, Bangkok, Havana, Warsaw, and Addis Ababa. Do you believe it?

What is our confidence that this will happen? This kingdom will fill the earth because it’s built not upon the blood of slaves and iniquity but upon the blood of Christ and his righteousness. That blood of Christ, which purchased men and women from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, is so precious in the sight of God the Father that victory is certain.

The Kingdom of Man may rage and plot against the Kingdom of Christ, but it will not win because the battle between these two kingdoms is not between equals.

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Psalm 115:2

And what is it that our God pleases? The Lamb who was slain would receive the full reward of his suffering — a blood-bought bride made up of men and women from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

So let us say with the psalmist,

“Blessed be his glorious name forever; and may the whole earth be filled with his glory!” Psalm 72:19

› ILLUSTRATION/APPLICATION:

Oh, this vision, it encourages us, but it also confronts us. Because we feel as keenly as Habakkuk did that this vision hasn’t been realized yet. As many of us know, it’s all too common in the US for people to know of God but not to know God himself, and the same is true in the international church as well.

› ILLUSTRATION

A recent study found that Ethiopia is the most religious nation on earth. There are churches everywhere.

But another recent study suggested that only 3% of people in Addis Ababa truly understand and believe in the gospel. Let that sink in. In the capital city of the most religious nation on earth, 97% of the people here are headed towards a Christless eternity.

The Ethiopian Orthodox church is present throughout this city—where, much like Catholics here, the name of Jesus is known but the gospel of Jesus is not.

As for the protestant churches, they are more than not enslaved to the false teaching of the prosperity gospel.

One evening while I was teaching at a local Bible college in Addis Ababa, one of my students began having a seizure as I was finishing up a class. Another student was able to help him as I finished teaching. After the class, I approached him and asked if he was OK and if there was anything I could do to help him. He told me he had had epileptic seizures since birth. He told me terrible stories of him waking up at the bottom of a flight of stairs, having fallen on them during a seizure. Of him waking up with his face in a puddle, having almost drowned. Of him waking up with his head in the middle of a busy road with cars rushing by. Then he looked up at me and said, “I hate God because he hasn’t kept his promises to me.” This man had been promised that if only he gave his life to Jesus, his sickness would be gone, he would have all the money he needed, and he would have all the children he wanted. And he had bought into the lies of the prosperity gospel.

I spoke with a man recently who told false apostle came to him and said God told him to sell all his belongings, give the apostle the money, and go and live in the mountains alone. And this man did just that. He told me he lived alone for three years before returning to Addis. And he said he only came back because he was starving to death.

Even in the most religious nation on earth, there are people like Paul described in Romans 9, “they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”

The Lord says this isn’t enough. He will not only be heard of but he must also be known. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, but we’re not there yet. So may all of Ethiopia, and all of the world, know the true gospel, and may they join in with Job and say,

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” Job 42:5

› TRANSITION:

So what do we do? How do we live now? How do we live as those who desire and pray for Christ’s kingdom to come but, like Habakkuk, are aware of the many ways in which it hasn’t yet?

For the answer to that question, let’s look back further in chapter 2, verses 2 through 4.

› READ:

“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. “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:2-4

› EXPOSITION/APPLICATION:

The simple answer is this: we live by faith. We live a life of undisturbed confidence in the God who always accomplishes his will. It’s a life lived in faithful trust, steady confidence, and sure conviction that the Lord, his purposes, and his kingdom will win, no matter how strongly the enemy may rage. It’s a life of inner stability amid outer chaos.

Part of faith is believing that the Lord is accomplishing his purpose in the world, even when current events seem to deny that. Even when it seems impossible, and it feels like the enemy is winning, the life of faith stands unmoved. Because

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

But what does that look like? In the day-to-day? What does it look like to live this life of faith? This verse gives us two principles that will help us.

The life of faith works faithfully for the kingdom's progress and waits patiently for the fullness of the kingdom.

The life of faith works faithfully for the kingdom's progress and waits patiently for the fullness of the kingdom.

Or, put simply, we work faithfully and wait patiently.

› SUB-POINT 1:

First, we work faithfully.

› READ:

“And the Lord answered me: ‘write the vision’ make it plain to tablets, so that he may run who reads it.” Habakkuk 2:2

› EXPOSITION:

When the Lord gave this vision to the prophet Habakkuk, he wanted him to make the message clear, easy to remember and repeat. Why? Because he wanted the person who read it to be able to run with it. The Lord wanted this message to spread from person to person, from house to house, city to city, and nation to nation. How? Through people who heard it and ran with it. People like you and me. People who hear the Lord’s message and who share it. People who sit down with those they love and say, “I’ve got something I need to tell you: Jesus Christ died for sinners.”

This might be the closest verse we get in the Old Testament to what will later become,

Matthew 28:19-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.

Run with it!

So we must labor. We must get our hands dirty. We must be at work spreading the kingdom in this world with confident assurance and unshakeable faith that the Lord will be victorious.

› ILLUSTRATION:

When the missionary William Carey argued in the late 1700s for the importance of for international missions, he was told by an older member present, "Young man, sit down! You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he'll do it without consulting you or me."

› ILLUSTRATION/APPLICATION:

Of course, we hear that and find it hard to believe that anyone would say that, but do we live our lives as if this is true? Do we pray for the conversion of our neighbors and family members without actually sharing the good news with our neighbors and family members?

The Lord will make his kingdom come, but he uses means. He uses people like you and like me. He uses conversations over coffee and at the dinner table. He uses invitations to church. He uses bible studies. He uses moments where we say, “can I pray for you?”

Brothers and sisters, we are members of a kingdom that cannot be shaken; let us labor for it with unshakable faith. It is the Kingdom of Man that is laboring for nothing. Not us.

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be stedfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

When true confidence in the success of the kingdom of Christ sinks in, the result is always faith in the face of impossible circumstances.

John Knox records this in his journal when he came to preach the gospel in Newcastle:

I was surprised; so much drunkenness, cursing and swearing (even from the mouths of little children) do I never remember to have seen and heard before in so small a compass of time. Surely this place is ripe for Him who came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance

He records later in that same journal,

God did so multiply our number that it appeared as if men had rained from the clouds.

My Friends, God the Father said to his Son:

Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession, and God the Son did not forget to ask. No, he asked and the Father has given him the world. And that promise must drive us to evangelism. Because no matter what we may hear, Christ’s church is not on the wrong side of history, and our message of Christ and him crucified is the final word this world will hear. So let us share that message with certain confidence that Christ will win.

Joel remember me last night of a conversation we had when he first arrived in Addis Ababa. He heard me talking like this about the success of the gospel in the world and said that I sound like an optimist in my eschatology. And I said to him in response, “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”

And so, after about a decade of preparing to move to the mission field, we were sent out from Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We sold nearly everything we owned, packed our lives down to seven 50-pound bags, and flew across the world to start new lives in a new country. With two goals in mind.

To help plant a church right in the capital city of Ethiopia.

To establish a Pastors College to train the next generation of Ethiopian pastors to lead future church plants out of trinity fellowship.

Or, to put it simply, we moved to Ethiopia to plant churches and train pastors.

But, thanks be to God, when we were sent out from our church, we weren’t sent out alone. We were sent out with two other families from our church in Louisville.

We started with just 15 people meeting in the Granger’s living room on Sunday mornings. We began a short sermon series on Romans 3, asking the question, “what is the gospel?” This question, though simple, was radical in our context. And as we were preaching this simple gospel message, the church continued to grow. We soon outgrew the Granger’s living room and moved into a local movie theater large enough to seat approx. 75 people.

Philippians series, continued to explore the wonders of the gospel together. People kept coming.

The Church continued to grow and need for a new building. Just before our first anniversary, we had our first membership Sunday, and 70 people joined the church. And while we’re meeting here today, Trinity Fellowship is preparing for its second membership Sunday, where we plan to add another 50 members to the church, just in time for our second anniversary.

Membership Interviews … approx. 90% converted in the last year by hearing the gospel preached.

“I’ve never heard before that Jesus died for my sins.”

As the church continued to grow, we noticed that God was bringing us an unusual number of young men who desired to pastor. And on September 2021, we had our first official pastors college class.

My friends, Aslan is on the move. His kingdom is coming, and it’s worth giving our lives for.

› TRANSITION:

But that’s not all this passage leaves us with. It comforts us with promises of victory and consoles us when victory seems so far off.

We not only work faithfully but...

› SUB-POINT 2:

Second, we wait patiently.

› READ:

“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.” Habakkuk 2:3

› Exposition/Application:

The Lord knows our impatience and tendencies towards discouragement when things don’t work out like we had hoped, in the way we had hoped, or in the timeline we had hoped. And the longer we live, the slower it seems.

But this verse gives us confidence that, though the spread of Christ’s kingdom in this world may be slow, it won’t be late.

Like Gandalf, it arrives precisely when it means to.

› Exposition/Illustration:

When it says that it hastens to the end, we’re meant to feel a sense of urgency here, that the prophecy will be fulfilled. And it’s even more explicitly urgent in the original. This could be translated as “pants” for the end or “breathes” for the end. There’s a sense of longing for the fulfillment of this prophecy, intending to show us God’s certain desire for his kingdom to come. He shares that with us, and God desires his kingdom to come more than we do.

› Exposition/Application:

Christ’s kingdom will surely come, and as Calvin says in his commentary on this text, “God will not disappoint you.”

If it seems slow, wait for it. Don’t lose heart.

When you see one wave of economic trouble after another.

Endless streams of corrupt politicians and policies.

More COVID variants than I can count.

One war after another.

And once again our expectations crumble beneath us. Don’t become discouraged. Keep laboring. Keep waiting. In our zeal for the kingdom to come, let us not forget the words of our Lord,

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32

It grows like a tree, and that takes time and patience. But it does grow, and it will come. Despite humble beginnings and despite human estimations, the kingdom of God will grow, and grow, and grow until the truth becomes clear: the Kingdom of God is the most significant reality in all the world, and it will become the dominating force in human history.

› Exposition/Application:

Oh, weary Christian, let this truth sink deep into your soul; the Lord in his ways will win.

› Application/Summary:

The life of faith both works faithfully and waits patiently.

Holding these two realities in check protects us from the duel traps of naïve optimism and nihilistic pessimism because it’s easy to fall into one extreme or the other.

› Illustration

After working and waiting in India for five and a half years, the missionary William Carey finally saw his first conversion. On the evening of his baptism, he wrote,

“He was only one, but a continent was coming behind him. The divine grace which changed one Indian’s heart could obviously change a hundred thousand. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord – that is enough. We can afford to work in faith, for Omnipotence is pledged to fulfill the promise...The seed being sown, the least of all seeds now, but it will grow a mighty tree. It is as it were a small stone cut out of a mountain, but it will fill the whole earth.”

That is the model of working faithfully and waiting patiently.

Last year on October 31st, Trinity Fellowship celebrated our one-year anniversary. It was our largest Sunday. Our pastors college had just started, and it seemed like we were in the middle of an unstoppable gospel-movement.

The next morning we woke up to very different news. A small town less than 100 miles outside of Addis had been captured by rebel forces in Ethiopians’s long-lasting civil war. We were told to brace of invasion. And the next Sunday our numbers were cut in half, and the next Sunday they were cut in half again.

In all this, my family had visa difficulties that didn’t allow us to be in Addis Ababa. One of our pastors college students said during this time, “it really felt like God was doing something here, but now it seems like he’s working to undo everything he’s built.”

These were dark days and dark times, and what kept us through those dark nights were these truths from Habakkuk, and even when we don’t see it, the kingdom of Christ is moving forward. The headlines of earth may tempt us to consider our efforts as worthless, but the headlines of heaven are always the same: “The nations rage, but he who sits enthroned in heaven laughs…and...he must rain until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.” And part of faith is trusting that this is always true, even when all our circumstances seem to deny it.

By God’s mercy, he preserved our young church, and we heard just last week that the war is now over and a peace agreement has been signed.

But this experience, it taught us something: we are frail, and we are weak. Our efforts for Christ kingdom will only be successful if God would be so kind as to prosper them. But our present experiences don’t dictate the success of Christ’s kingdom in the world. So often we tend to just look at what’s directly in front of us, and we’re tempted to judge God’s ultimate purposes by our present circumstances.

My friends, our names and works will soon fade into history and be forgotten, but the name of Christ will stand. Difficulties will come, but Christ will keep us through them all, because we are that precious church for whom he shed his blood.

Part of faith is looking to the promises of God and trusting that God is working to make good on those promises even when all the evidence seems to deny it.

› Application

And so, what do we do? We look beyond our circumstances to the promises of God, and as we do, we work faithfully and we wait patiently.

And as you look to your own lives and families here in Bozman, let me encourage you to look, not at the headlines of earth, but the headlines of heaven. And as you do, to keep working faithfully and keep waiting patiently. And let me encourage you to start right here in this church. When God moves in this world, he moves through his church. If you want to know where God is at work to bring in his kingdom, look no further than the brothers and sisters sitting next to you. This church is worth investing in and giving your lives to.

And after you’ve invested here in this church with your time and energy and finances, let me ask, would you labor alongside us in Addis Ababa through your finances?

When William Carey first shared reports of the fruit he was experiencing in…hold the rope

As you work faithfully and wait patiently here in Bozeman, would you in Addis Ababa, hold the rope…

Pray. we’re praying the God would do these four things in the next decade. Would you join us in praying for them?

1) To see Trinity Fellowship pastored by an all-Ethiopian elder team.

2) To see The Trinity Fellowship Pastors College run completely by Ethiopians.

3) To see 100 pastors college graduates

4) To send out 10 church plants from Trinity Fellowship.

God is doing something unique here in Addis Ababa, and it’s incredible to see him so clearly at work. We’re already looking forward to the 2023-2024 TFPC class, and I pray that we will still be sending out pastors to plant and strengthen churches hundreds of years from now.

› Conclusion

Because one day, our prayers, “your kingdom come,” will turn into a joyful celebration, “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” Let us work, knowing that one day we will no longer be working; we will be resting. And let us wait, knowing that one day we wait, but we will see face-to-face.

Because one day, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, the city not built upon blood and iniquity, but built upon the blood and righteousness of Christ, one day it will descend on this earth, all will be made right, our striving will be over, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.