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The Joy of Christmas
Habakkuk wrote during the reign of King Jehoiakim, a puppet king of Pharoah who encouraged oppression, false worship, and drafted slaves from his people.
Habakkuk was written during a time when Jehoiakim led the people back into idolatry.
As a result, God is preparing to judge the nation.
Habakkuk is having trouble understanding why God would use a heathen nation like Babylon to punish His people.
Habakkuk is having trouble understanding why God would use a heathen nation like Babylon to punish His people.
Habakkuk lamented the corruption of Judah and responded with a prayer conversation that he wrote for us.
It includes a revelation from God that he was bringing the long-foretold captivity by the Babylonians.
After receiving a vision of how to survive and a woe song reminding that God will still bring justice, Habakkuk wrote his own song that models the central vision of the book—how to live by faith.
Habakkuk realizes that God is not to be worshiped merely because of the temporal, material and physical blessings of life, but for simply Who He is.
In chapter 3, Habakkuk’s song is for the community as they wait to be conquered.
Their circumstances will go from bad to worse, and yet, together they sing a song of thanksgiving and of trust for who God is and for the unchanging benefits that belong to those who know Him!
Habakkuk had reason to fret, but HE CHOSE TO BE THANKFUL INSTEAD!
He focuses on the God who saves, who opposes the enemies of his people, and who will ultimately deliver through his anointed one (3:13).
It’s a liturgy of faith while they wait for God to work.
The final verses are famous ones that we’ve quoted but perhaps not taught in the context of the entire chapter.
In the loss that rises to the level of famine conditions, the prophet leads God’s people into words of intentional faith.
“I will rejoice in the Lord” is a choice (and emphasized in the cohortative).
How does one choose joy when losses have piled high?
Or
When things have spiraled out of control to the depths?
How do we celebrate Christmas when we’ve had years of loss?
Habakkuk says you can have joy when one knows the God of their salvation.
Just like David knew the God who would deliver him from Saul, for he quotes David next (Ps.
18:33; 2 Sam.
22:34).
The prophet instructs through his lyrics that joy mingles with the grief, for in the loss of every physical comfort, we do not lose the God who saves.
The song has already painted vivid pictures of God’s power to save, and today we know that the God of salvation entered human history in the womb of Mary.
We read Mary’s song and see her use similar words.
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:26-47).
Mary sings as if the salvation that God’s people had been looking for had come in the Baby about to be born.
Today, we know it’s true.
We can rejoice in the God of our salvation when life has lost an unimaginable amount, because of the coming of Christ.
There are people before you whose losses have mounted beyond words in the last couple of years.
Finances have run out when they never expected to lose stability.
Loved ones have died.
Mental health for them and their family members has felt out of grasp.
Is it possible to celebrate with joy at Christmas when grief looms large?
Habakkuk never denies the traumatic impact of loss; he shakes with emotion, what some would describe as panic (3:16).
Yet, he’d still say that because of the God of salvation, there’s room for joy even in the loss.
Christmas is about God’s Sovereignty
Habakkuk 3:17–18 (KJV 1900)
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labour of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no meat;
The flock shall be cut off from the fold,
And there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Notice the words, “Although” and “Yet I”
Circumstances change, God never Changes.
Think about Egypt where God promised 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine.
I cannot always rejoice in my situation, but I can always rejoice in my Sovereign!
Habakkuk is staring at a poor future, but he chooses to look to a God Who is always the same!
God said He is the I AM, the Lord, Jehovah, the Self-Existent, eternal, changeless, covenant keeping God.
He is the One we can DEPEND on in desperate times, troublesome times.
We can BELIEVE Him during the unbelievable times.
We can LEAN on Him at all times.!
If we can grasp the Sovereignty of God this Christmas Season, then we can find the possibility of fulfillment of
But Habakkuk doesn’t stop there, he continues,
Christmas is about God’s Salvation
Habakkuk 3:18 (KJV 1900)
18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Just like God’s Sovereignty never Changes, God’s Salvation never Ceases.
Things might get bad in this life, but things do not affect my salvation!
Salvation does not depend on things going well.
Salvation rests solely on the grace and power of God!
Life is uncertain at best, (Ill.
One phone call or doctor’s visit can change everything), salvation is eternal in nature.
The word “salvation” applies to more than just the soul.
The word also means “deliverance and rescue”.
That reminds me that this world is not my home.
He is coming to rescue and deliver His children on that day!
Things may get bad here, but this world is not our home, Phil.
3:20!
We are headed to a better land, Rev. 21–22!
Praise God, the Lord has been good here, but the best is yet to come, 1 Pet.
1:3–4!
Things may get bad here, but things cannot take away my salvation—John 10:28; Heb.
13:5.
God’s children are saved “to the uttermost”, Heb.
7:25.
—That is as saved as you can get!
Ill.
God’s salvation ever ceases; therefore we can be thankful anyhow!
Christmas is about God’s Strength
Habakkuk 3:19 (KJV 1900)
19 The Lord God is my strength,
And he will make my feet like hinds’ feet,
And he will make me to walk upon mine high places.
To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
“strength” = “ability”—Our strength does not lie within us.
The Lord is our strength—Psa.
27:1; Isa.
40:31; Phil.
4:13.
When we are unable to stand, He enables us.
When we can’t go on, He helps us.
When we are in the deep valley; He leads us to higher ground.
“Hind’s feet”—speaks of grace, agility and swiftness.
“High places” speaks of the mountain tops where the deer is free from the dangers found below.
Habakkuk is telling us that God enables him to rise above his circumstances and that God gives him the strength to stand above the battle and to enjoy precious freedom in the Lord!
In other words, he is saying, “God turns my doubts to shouts!
And He gives me peace in midst of my problems!”
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