The Glory of God will Prevail (Habakkuk 2:6-20)

Introduction

There is an older saying out there, that we live in a dog eat dog world. Meaning that we live in ruthless society where people will do anything to get ahead. This isn’t just a today problem though, it has always been true. And for the Chaldeans, they were willing to plunder the nations to get ahead and be the top nation of the world. But the question is, how do we as Christians respond to such a dog eat dog world? Do we try and be one jump ahead? Or is there something different we need to see? That is what I want us to consider this morning as we continue our study through the short book of Habakkuk.

This morning we are in Habakkuk 2:6-20. I invite you to turn their now in your Bibles, using the table of contents if needed. Or if you are using one of the Red Pew Bibles, you can find our passage on page #934.

Last week, we saw Habakkuk’s two complaints to the LORD, first dealing with the cry for how long would violence and injustice go on, then when the LORD answered that he was doing a work through the nation of Chaldea, Habakkuk began a second complaint of confusion of how the LORD would allow a nation more evil than Israel to be the tool to punish Israel who was more righteous than they. And with both of these complaints, Habakkuk questioned God because of his zeal for the LORD and his glory.

And because of this, the LORD answers Habakkuk, telling him that he is doing a work that he would not believe and that he could trust that in the appointed time, the righteous would indeed live by faith, but not so the arrogant and wicked.

This morning we pick up here and are shown with certainty the judgments that await the wicked, the arrogant.

But before we read this passage, we would be helped in our reading to first know the tone of the woes is rooted in the second Psalm as the nations attempt to rage against God. We read in Psalm 2:4 “4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”

It is with this laughing and mocking tone that the 5 woes in Habakkuk 2:6-20 are given. A laughing and mocking at the Chaldeans at what awaits them, despite their arrogance and pursuit of their glory.

Main idea:

All who humble themselves before the glory of the LORD will live by their faithfulness to God, but woe to the arrogant and proud as the weight of their sin will crush them.

Points:

Woe #1: The Plundering of Plunderers (2:6-8)

Woe #2: The House of Shame (2:9-11)

Woe #3: The Town of Torture (2:12-14)

Woe #4: The Exposure of Intoxication (2:15-17)

Woe #5: The Folly of Idolatry (2:18-20)

Woe #1: The Plundering of the Plunderers (2:6-8)

Look with me there at the start of verse 6, before the first woe. We read here…

To understand the these, let us glance back up to verses 4-5 above, we read here…

The these to take up their taunt are the righteous, those who were gathered up and collected by the arrogant and the wicked previously. The arrogant and the wicked will soon be taunted against as a great reversal comes forth. This is the continued vision in which Habakkuk is to make plain. A vision of woes that await for the once proud and arrogant in the world. Five woes are given which make up our five points this morning. But here as we examine this first woe, let us consider who these arrogant people are. In the original context, the woes are coming upon the Chaldeans who the LORD was going to use to humble Israel. But after their humbling of Israel, they too would be humbled by these coming woes.

But it is important for us to understand that these same woes will come for the arrogant of our own day, for though they think they stand, the will fall under the weight of their sin, of their wickedness in walking in opposition to the LORD.

Yet there is a grave danger here as listeners to this vision. We can mistake these scoffs as thinking we have a moral high ground and are to mock others as they fall. Scripture elsewhere warns us against such mentality. We read in Proverbs 24:17 “17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,”

Therefore we should take great comfort in the vanity of such wicked living here in Habakkuk 2:6-20. But at the same time, it must not make us proud and arrogant in thinking we have the moral high ground. The woes should further humble us to always be examining our own path to ensure we are living as those humbled before the LORD Almighty.

Now to the first woe, continuing there in verse 6…

Yes, the Chaldeans and the Israelites have heaped up things not their own by plundering the nations. They have slaughtered the peoples with the shedding of blood, they have taken what once belonged to the innocent as they would through the spoils of war.

And now this woe comes to these. A woe of what now awaits them for such a path. A woe that their sin will soon crush them. A woe that what they have heaped up will now be owed. Verses 7-8…

Those who thought they were gathering the nations and putting them in debt are actually the ones in debt. The plunderers will now become the plundered. For what they took that was not theirs is owed back. For though they killed the many, there is a remanent that has remained, that is a small remaining people left, and they will rise up against the arrogant and plunder them in return for their evil.

Woe to these who have stored up the debt of blood for themselves. The arrogant will be humbled as their spoil is taken from them and much more. The arrogant should tremble at what awaits them in such a woe.

Friends, the arrogant may thrive for a short time. They may plunder the vulnerable for a time, but they will soon find themselves plundered in judgment by the weight of their sin.

Woe #2: The House of Shame (2:9-11)

The first woe dealt with debt imagery, the second woe turns to imagery of building a house. Verse 9…

The Chaldeans in their assault on Israel and the other nations was an attempt to build their house for generations, to build a house for their children and grandchildren to stand wealthy and mighty over all the other nations. This is what is meant that they set their nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm. The woe comes because this has not come as an honorable means of laboring for future generations, it is evil gain because it is by plundering and gathering what was not theirs.

Therefore instead of the Chaldeans building a mighty and high house that would not be touched, this second woe promises that their house will come crashing down. Verses 10-11…

Instead of the glory of a lofty house, they have devised shame for their house. Many cultures around the world are honor and shame cultures, especially those nations in the Middle East. In these cultures, every member of the family is to work to ensure that the family is seen as honorable in society. For to bring shame on the family, on the house is a disgraceful act. Therefore in the plundering and taking of the nations, the Chaldeans think that they have honored their house, they have established glory. Yet, that is not the case, they have brought shame to it.

This shame comes, because they have gained in the evil of cutting off these peoples, these nations. And instead of gaining life, they have instead forfeited their lives with the judgment that awaits them. The very homes they have attempted to build will be witnesses against them in this judgment.

Woe to those who seek to build their houses by cutting off others, while they may get away with it for a period of time, the weight of their sin will crush them at the appointed time of judgment.

Woe #3: The Town of Torture (2:12-14)

We now move from a house to a town. Verse 12…

The Chaldeans sought to build their town on the blood of the peoples they plundered, they founded their cities on the iniquity of taking all in their path by their great evil. But the weight of their sin will crush them. For the blood of those killed by the Chaldeans will cry out against the Chaldeans. Curse and judgment will come against them. All that the Chaldeans have built will go up in flames at the hand of the LORD. Verse 13…

With the call to behold, we must pay the most careful attention to the words written here. For where the first two woes that are given imply the LORD, what comes now is a clear statement that this is from YHWH, the great I AM. YHWH who is over all the hosts of heaven and earth, or as one modern translation puts it, over all the armies.

This reference to the LORD of hosts is not new to Habakkuk. In fact, it fills the Old Testament. By the time David comes onto the scene in 1 Samuel 17, this title had already been used 3 times, and is used a fourth by David as he faces Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:45 “45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

YHWH alone is over all the peoples and nations. And he ensures that those who have shed blood and live in iniquity, all their labors are for nothing. They are burned up through fire. They weary themselves in their efforts. All their efforts and plans will fail. But not the plans of the LORD of hosts. He and he alone will succeed in his plans. Verse 14…

This phrase, “for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD is essential! It is essential, because this was the mission given in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve. It was the mission from the beginning. Therefore please hold your place here in Habakkuk 2:14 and turn with me to the very start of the Bible there in Genesis 1:26-28. We read in Genesis 1:26-28…

God created man in his image with a mission. A mission to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. In other words, the mission was to procreate and fill the earth with the image of God, for God’s rule and glory to fill the earth.

But what happened? This mission was rejected in the fall as Adam and Eve rebelled against God, took of the forbidden fruit to seek to be equal with God instead of under him as King. And because of this, the mission of God was threatened with the fall. Because with the fall came the curse of sin and death. Everyone was from then on born in sin, born in rebellion to God. This included each and everyone here this morning. We are a people born in sin. And because of that sin, we have been working against the mission of God to fill the earth with his glory, for instead, we like the Chaldeans, like the wicked in Israel have pursue wickedness and perverted justice. We have sought our own ways.

But here, here in Habakkuk 2:14, we are told the mission that was almost lost in the fall, it will still happen. For God will carry this plan out! He himself will ensure the earth will be filled with the knowledge of his glory! The very glory that Israel was to shine, but had failed.

Israel was to be a light to the nations, by being a people set apart and following God’s ways and his rule. But they rejected it over and over again. They rejected it to the point here in Habakkuk where Habakkuk is saying that Israel has perverted justice and is so consumed with violence, that Habakkuk has cried out, how long will this last? How long until they are stopped from their evil ways.

Despite this all, despite the Chaldeans plundering of the nations, despite their evil gain, despite their merciless killing, despite their mocking and laughing at kings and fortresses, God’s glory will go forth to the ends of the earth, the knowledge of YHWH will fill the earth.

This is the mission of God from Genesis to Revelation and at the center of it lies the sending of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus. For this glory will come through Jesus. Jesus will bring it about as he comes not to condemn the world, but to save sinners. To make righteous those who will repent of sin and place their faith, their trust in this Jesus! That he alone is righteous and that salvation comes through him and him alone!

It is then this mission that we as the church are given in the great commission given in Matthew 28:18-20…

The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. It is God’s glory that will prevail over the earth!

Woe #4: The Exposure of Intoxication (2:15-17)

The glory that the Chaldeans that they thought they were fulfilling will be overturned in this fourth woe. Verse 15…

The Chaldeans had made their neighbors drink the cup of their wrath, and exposed the shame of the peoples of the nations they plundered. They exposed them as one drunk and naked is exposed. The Chaldeans and those like them are the very opposite of YHWH. Back in Habakkuk 1:13, we read…

But the Chaldeans, they look at their evil work, at their shaming of the nations, of their violence and plundering to them. But woe to them, for the weight of their sin will crush them. Verse 16…

To quote one commentator, “his whole pursuit of glory is turned on its head.” That is what is stated with this fourth woe. The Chaldeans in Habakkuk’s day thought that they were building glory for themselves, but this supposed glory will be turned on its head into shame as they are brought to shame for their evil actions. The Chaldeans themselves will be the ones who are put in a drunken stupor and exposed in their folly and sin before the nations. They themselves will be the ones mocked.

But there is an intensifying of the shame that will be had in this woe. For not only will they be exposed in their drunken stupor, they too will be called the uncircumcised. Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with his covenant people. It was a symbol that was to be given to all baby boy’s at 8 days old. A sign in which the removing of the foreskin would take place to symbol that they were cut off as the people of God.

Therefore in saying these Chaldeans were uncircumcised, it is being brought that though they think they were glorious, they are not part of God’s covenant people. The God whose glory will fill the earth. Therefore they stand opposite of the LORD and because of this, the cup of the LORD’s wrath will come against them. It will bring them to shame. And all of this because of the violence they have done. Verse 17…

Justice will come upon the Chaldeans for their evil. The weight of their sin will crush them.

Woe #5: The Folly of Idolatry (2:18-20)

This last woe covers verses 18-20, but unlike the first four woes, the woe comes in the middle of the woe. At first, there is the rhetorical question with the implied answer of there is no profit. Verse 18…

But what is an idol? Per John Stott, “An idol is a god-substitute.” That mean it could be a carved out statue of a god or a golden calf made to be the image of God. An idol can also be anything that takes the place of God in our hearts. This is why idolatry is such a problem.

The human mind is, so to speak, a perpetual forge of idols.

John Calvin

But as stated in verse 18, what profit is an idol? An idol that has been shaped and made by man. An idol that cannot teach or teaches wrong things. An idol that cannot speak. Again, there is no profit with such an idol. Verse 19…

Woe to those who put their trust in such an idol. An idol made of wood. An idol made of gold. An idol that one calls out to to awake and speak. An idol that one puts their trust in, though it is not living, for there is no breath within it.

Idols are a foolish thing to trust in, and woe will come upon all who place their trust in such foolish things.

And yet there is one of the most glorious words found following these lifeless idols, but. That is but, and what a glorious but it is. There is no breath at all in these idols, verse 20…

YHWH is in his holy temple, and he does speak. And all therefore should keep silence before him. All should humble themselves before him. For it is his glory that will fill the earth. He is the one who has spoken all things into existence. He is the one alone worthy of such glory and worship. No wonder we are told to keep silent before him, before the LORD of glory on his throne.

Application

But now, in hearing these 5 woes, what do we do with all of this? How does this apply to us here today, in the year 2024 in Land O’ Lakes, WI?

Application #1: Live by Faith

The five woes here are woes of coming judgment, coming judgment against the arrogant and the proud in their pursuit of violence and evil as they stand opposed to YHWH, the one on his throne. And yet in these woes is an encouragement for the one who lives by faith, faith in the LORD of hosts. That he will bring about these woes, plundering the evil and that the righteous indeed will live. As evil continues, as injustice continues, we must live by faith that God’s glory and his kingdom will prevail in the end. But as we wait, we must live by faith in the very good promises of the very good God. Let us take him at his word and trust.

But maybe you are here this morning and you have never come to the place of faith. Maybe you have continued to be one that has failed to hear God. Maybe in part because you have failed to be silent and allow him to speak. Friend, the LORD is speaking now through his messenger for you to hear his call. His call that all who fail to live by faith will come under his judgment, that these very woes will come upon all who continue to resist and stand against him. For these woes aren’t just for the Chaldeans, it is for all outside of God’s covenant people, those who have looked to God’s redeemer, the LORD Jesus Christ. Friend, make today the day you learn to be silent and listen and believe.

Application #2: Live in Humility

Again, the woes come against the arrogant and the proud, those trusting in their own devices. Therefore if we are to live, we must live in humility. We must seek to humble ourselves before the glory of the LORD who sits in his holy temple and upon his throne. We must seek to be silent before him, hearing his marching orders and then following them.

Christian, we do this by coming under the authority of the Bible, the whole Bible which we believe to be God’s spoken and authoritative word to us as his people. We are then to see that all of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation is profitable to us for our teaching, reproof, and correction. And that it is all pointing us to Christ. Therefore we are to regularly sit under the preached word of God in the gathering of ourselves as the body of Christ. And we are to also then regularly be coming to the Bible on a daily basis so that God can speak to us through the pages of Scripture. And we are to listen attentively.

Application #3: Live for the glory of God

The Chaldeans sought to live for their own glory, and yet their glory was turned to shame. Therefore, we must not seek our own glory or it too will become our shame. Instead, we must seek to live to the glory of God who has created us in his image. But even more so, for those of us who have been saved by faith in Jesus, God has rescued from the transgressions of our sins, he has brought us from death to life, therefore we should seek to live for his glory, the glory of him who will fill the earth.

For we were told this in verse 14, we were told the knowledge of the glory of God will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. But the instruments that God has chosen to fill the earth is through his covenant people. Israel was intended to be a light to the nations, that all who heard of their blessings would come to trust YHWH. But they failed.

Then a New Covenant came through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It was sealed by his blood. And in that New Covenant, the mission of God to fill the earth with his glory continues. It continues through the establishment of the Great Commission. The call for the people of God to make disciples. The people going, baptizing, and teaching others all that Christ commanded.

God’s mission will be completed, we can be certain about that. But we must understand that we, Land O’ Lakes Bible Church are being invited into that mission. We are invited to be part of filling the earth with the glory of the LORD. And we do this in a number of ways:

We fill the earth with God’s glory as we are a light to the nations in being a people set apart. Set apart in how we love God and love one another. Christian, we cannot fill the earth with the glory of God if we fail to love God and love one another. Loving not as the world loves, but as God has instructed us to love one another, even that of our enemy, of those different from us, and even that brother or sister who drives you crazy. For this is the call to holy living and to be set apart as God’s people.

We fill the earth with God’s glory as we proclaim the excellencies of Christ. Our lives must be holy in how we live, but it is through the telling of the gospel that God has always used to advance his kingdom. We must preach the gospel wherever we go, telling others the story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Response to articulate the message of the gospel.

We fill the earth with God’s glory as we commit to the labor of global missions, of taking the gospel to the peoples of the earth by crossing cultural boundaries to establish a faithful gospel witness through the establishing of healthy churches.

Let’s pray…