Fear God and Rejoice (Habakkuk 3:1-19)

Introduction

When we are in the midst of feeling as if everything is crumbling around us, what is the one thing that we desire to make things better? Is it not that our circumstances would change so that joy may return in the moment of calm serenity? That’s what we all desire within, right? But what if that isn’t what we should seek in the midst of the crumbling of life. What if a change of circumstances is not the solution? What if there is something else that we are missing and need in the midst of the turmoil and crumbling of life, despite these circumstances? Namely God himself. That is what I want us to consider this morning as we come to the final week of our three week study through the book of Habakkuk.

This morning we will be looking at Habakkuk 3:1-19. Therefore I hope you have a Bible and will turn with me to Habakkuk 3:1-19, using the table of contents if necessary. Of if you do not have a Bible, please take the Red Bible in the seat in front of you and turn in it to page #….

While you are turning there, here is a quick recap of where we have been to get anyone who hasn’t been here or forgotten up to speed. Habakkuk was a contemporary prophet in the days of Jeremiah. Little is known about Habakkuk, outside of his name being given here in this short book of prophecy. It is estimated that this was written shortly after the death of King Josiah where the nation of Israel went quickly from reform to disobedience and then exile. For Habakkuk complains to the LORD about the amount of evil in his day, the perverting of injustice and lawlessness.

However, in the midst of his complaint, the LORD answers, telling Habakkuk that a work is being done in his day, a work that Habakkuk, nor the people, would believe if told. A work where YHWH is going to raise up the wicked nation of the Chaldeans in order to discipline his people. But this creates confusion and a problem for Habakkuk. Habakkuk in his zeal rebukes the LORD of being to just for this, to righteous for this, to use a nation more wicked than Israel to judge Israel. He wonders how can this be.

But then the LORD answers again, telling Habakkuk to record this vision, to make it plain for the peoples. A vision that will certainly come (2:3), while giving assurance and hope that the righteous will indeed live by faith (2:4). However the arrogant and puffed up, those who resist the LORD would not. They will be silenced before the LORD who sits in his holy temple and rules (2:20), for the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD (2:14).

This concludes the first part of the book of Habakkuk, a part that looks similar to most books of prophecy. But as we turn to the second part of this short prophecy this morning, it doesn’t resemble that of prophecy, in fact it looks more closely like that of the Psalms. For we see the heading like many of the Psalms in Habakkuk 3:1…

Therefore it has been debated whether Habakkuk 3 was originally part of this short prophecy. And yet, as we read it and think through it this morning, I hope we will see that it must be part of the original, because it is the only fitting response to have in the midst of the crumbling of our world. Therefore, let us then hear the word of the LORD from Habakkuk 3:1-19…

Main Idea: We can wait patiently and joyfully in the midst of trouble, because the Sovereign LORD is our strength and our redeemer. We are going to unfold this in three points that flow from the text: (1) Prayer, (2) Theophany, and (3) Response.

Point #1: Prayer (Habakkuk 3:1-2)

As stated, this part of Habakkuk starts like the Psalms with an intro heading in saying that it is a prayer of Habakkuk (3:1a). Now in the adding of Shigionoth, this phrase is not exactly clear or known precisely what is meant by it other than it is thought to be some kind of musical term in the day it was written. And it is a prayer that comes on the heels of Habakkuk’s two complaints and the LORD’s two answers. And this prayer is the response that Habakkuk takes up, a response of prayer. Now what exactly is this prayer? Verse 2…

Habakkuk has heard the report of YHWH, the great I AM and his mighty works. And upon hearing of these things, it strikes fear into the heart and soul of Habakkuk. It causes him to tremble no longer at violence, the paralyzing of the law, the perverted justice, but before God alone.

This fear not being a wrong or bad kind of fear, but the fear as one who is beginning to be truly wise as the book of Proverbs teaches where it says in Proverbs 1:7 “7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

For as the report of the LORD comes, it begins to change the perspective of Habakkuk, as it should for us here this morning as we behold the glory of the LORD. Habakkuk fears the LORD, but not in wishing his work to not come. In fact, just the opposite. His prayer is that in the midst of the years, in the present and future time, that the LORD would revive this work. That he would make this work alive. That this work would be made known before the people.

Yet, at the same time while wishing this great work to be made alive in the Habakkuk’s day and in the world around him, Habakkuk makes one plea of the LORD, that in the midst of this coming judgment, the pouring out of his wrath against the violence, the paralyzing of the law, the perverted justice, that the LORD would remember mercy in the midst of it. That he would be merciful essentially in his steadfast love for his people. That he would be gracious upon those who humble themselves before him. This is the prayer that Habakkuk makes here upon hearing the report of the LORD and his work. A prayer that we would do well to imitate and pray today and forevermore.

When things are pressing against us, when evil lurks, injustice reigns, when God’s law is set aside, we should not grumble and complain, but cry out to the LORD to reveal himself and take up his work of both judgment and salvation. Praying that his rule would advance, overturning wrongs, and restoring sinners by his mercy.

But what brings this prayer about to Habakkuk and to us will not happen naturally. For Habakkuk complained twice. For though he knew the LORD, loved the LORD, was zealous for the LORD, it was not until he heard the report of the LORD and his work, until he reflected on it that lead Habakkuk to this point. If we are to rightly respond in the midst of our troubles, we need to behold our God.

Point #2: Theophany (Habakkuk 3:3-15)

Now, my guess is that most are not familiar with this theological word, theophany. But it is an important word for us to understand, because it is a term to describe an important act and work of God throughout the pages of the Bible. For theophany means a visible appearance of the Triune God to his people. And that is exactly what the LORD has done here for Habakkuk, he has shown him this oracle that he is recording and making plain to us about the LORD and his mighty works. A showing that is described for us here in Habakkuk 3:3-15 as Habakkuk reflects on the previous works of God as one who is a mighty warrior, a conqueror of nations.

But this theophany starts by recalling how the LORD revealed himself to the people of Israel following the Exodus on Mount Sinai. For though that name is not given, the descriptions in verses 3-6 point us back to Exodus 19-24 and the imagery that is given throughout these chapters.

Just a side note here, these imagery connections will not become clear to us in our reading of the Bible unless we are regularly re-reading the whole of the Bible. For the more familiar we are with the whole, the more we will pick up on such connections that are made throughout the Bible.

(Verse 3), We have the placement of Mount Sinai in Teman, that is Edom, and Paran which is a mountainous area in Edom, just southwest of Judah in the Sinai Peninsula. It is the imagery of the fire on the mountain of Sinai that Habakkuk here is recalling and reflecting on. And it causes him to use the word Selah there, what is thought to be a musical note signaling a momentary pause. Therefore when we see this Selah, it should signal to us as readers, as students of the Bible to pause momentarily and ponder on what has been said. (Pause)…

This very God who has revealed himself to his people from of old, it is he whose splendor covers the heavens, it is his praise that fills the earth. Verses 4-5 only continue to unfold this splendor and praise by comparing the magnificent glory of the LORD to that of a storm. Just as the lightning flashes forth brightly in the midst of the dark storm clouds, shining its brightness, so does the LORD in the midst of the darkness of Habakkuk’s troubles. His power is revealed through the rumbling of thunder that comes in the midst of the storm.

Power, as described in verse 5, that comes forth in the form of pestilence and plague. This symbolizing in the word of one commentator, “Notching can resist him (YHWH) any more than Pharaoh and his forces could resist the plagues and pestilence preceding the exodus.” (1) The power of the LORD is so great, as shown there in verse 6, that the LORD is able to not only measure the entirety of the earth, but that he shakes the nations, scatters the mountains for his purposes. In other words, the LORD is able to clear the way, to make crooked paths straight for the purposes of his plans, just as he lead the people of Israel out in the Exodus, bringing affliction on those of Cushan and Midian, even making them tremble.

No wonder Habakkuk feared the LORD after dwelling on these truths about the LORD Almighty! For truly it is becoming clear to Habakkuk that the LORD is not an idle God who is inconsistent in his ways. He is a God who brings his enemies to their knees, making all who stand before him tremble with fear of him who stands with such power and glory.

The theophany has been generic so far though in reflection on the Exodus in verses 3-7, but it now increases in verses 8-15. We now begin to see YHWH as the Mighty Warrior who brings his bow to the fight.

For as God comes to shake the nations and scatter the eternal mountains, Habakkuk here asks a question of the LORD in verse 8, “Was your wrath against the rivers, O LORD? Was your anger against the rivers or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation?”

Of course Habakkuk in asking this question anticipates the answer being no, his anger wasn’t against the rivers, but against the nations, the peoples who stood against him. For here the purpose of the works of the LORD is first shown, that he is one coming on his chariot to fight for the purpose of bring salvation, deliverance.

Verses 9-11, paint the picture of the LORD coming with his mighty bow and arrows to split the enemy. That though the enemies stood as tall and strong as mountains, the enemy trembled before his coming. For the LORD came as a great warrior to unleash his wrath against these enemies, assaulting them so greatly with his many arrows that it was if the sun and the moon stood still with the intensity of God’s assault on the nations.

We begin to see in verses 12-13, how this assault is referring to the leading of Israel into the promised land of Israel. In how God gave them victory over Jericho and the peoples who had inhabited the land before them. For the LORD crushed their houses, he laid them bare to bring about the salvation, the deliverance of his people in giving that which he had promised to them.

In verses 14-15, the imagery is completed, as the LORD pierced those who sought to do harm to God’s people, he trampled them, for he truly is the LORD Almighty who stands above all the peoples of the earth, no matter how great they are.

What a theophany of who the LORD Almighty is! The one who cannot be resisted, the one who is all powerful. And all for the purpose of bringing salvation to his people, to his anointed. If this was true in the day of crossing the Jordan into the promised land, if this was true in the Exodus, how much more now is it true in the way that God has come to conquer our greatest enemy of sin and death through the sending of God’s own beloved Son to rescue us, to deliver us, to save us.

For all of these theophanies of old were but a glimpse of what the LORD was preparing to do, to come and crush the great enemy to fulfill the oldest promise, the oldest glimmer of hope found in the pages of the Bible from Genesis 3:15. For following the fall of Adam and Eve, in their having taken and eaten the forbidden fruit, God began to curse Adam, Eve, and the serpent. And all of us entered into that curse. For we were born in sin, rejecting God as our king. And yet, in the midst of the curse comes this great promise found in Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

God promised that a seed of the woman would crush the seed of the serpent, that is the way of sin and death. And that is exactly how the LORD Almighty went about to destroy the greatest of threats against his people. The LORD would come through the sending of his beloved Son, Jesus. He who was with God in the beginning and was fully God. For he was the eternal word. Yet he was also fully man, for he came and took on our human flesh as he was born by the virgin Mary who had conceived through the Holy Spirit. And this God Man, Jesus, lived a sinless and obedient life, submitting himself to the perfect rule of the Father until the appointed time to crush the enemy.

But to crush the enemy this time, it would not be through the use of bows and arrows. It would not be through the devouring and trampling of the enemy as the Warrior King. No, to save us from our greatest enemy, the Beloved Son of God would come as the Suffering King. He would come and be pierced for our transgressions, he would be slaughtered as the sacrificial lamb whose blood was shed to wash away our sins. For the sacrificial system could not save us, only the blood of the God Man, Jesus Christ, could remove our sin once and for all. That whoever would believe in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For indeed, as already taught in Habakkuk, the righteous shall live by faith. Faith not in anything, but in that of Jesus. That it is his righteousness alone that saves us, that his righteousness becomes ours through our faith in him. Friends, this is the great length the LORD Almighty has gone to to rescue us. His own Beloved Son becomes the Suffering King as his heel is stricken on the cross. And yet, this same Jesus who died and was buried did not remain dead. He rose on the third day from the grave, and in his rising he crushed the head of the seed of the serpent, the head of sin and death that we by faith may live. Oh what salvation that has come, what a glorious Warrior King who came to deliver us in such an unusual way.

But the question is, with such a display of the LORD and his work, how do we respond?

Point #3: Response (Habakkuk 3:16-19)

The proper response to a vision of the LORD and his work is to be silent. Verse 16…

Fear of God bookends the Theophany of God. Fear is the proper and right response to God. Tremble before him who is the Almighty and All Powerful. This vision of God and his plan, though wonderful strikes the heart of Habakkuk to tremble, his lips quiver in silence as he realizes he needs to wait for the day of trouble the LORD has foretold to come. To wait on the LORD’s plans and the coming of them.

When we rightly see God for who he is, we can rightly sit and wait quietly for the fulfillment of his plans and his purposes. But we wait not in angst or fear until the situation passes. We see this instruction in what comes in verses 17-18…

We are to be a people who rejoice, Christian, even if our circumstances remain troubling and bleak in the moment. Why, because we get the Almighty God with us. To quote Kenneth Turner from his Habakkuk Commentary, “…the great ‘I Am’ is ‘I am whoever I say I am’ and the one who promises, ‘I am with you, I really am.’” (2)

Christian, this means that for us, despite our present trials and troubles, because we have the Almighty God with us, because he is fighting for us, we can rejoice regardless of our circumstances. This is why the Apostle Paul in the midst of being imprisoned and facing either hunger or fullness, he is able to say he is content, because Christ strengthens him.

This too is true for us, Christ is our strength. This is too what Habakkuk is able to recognize in verse 19. The LORD is his strength and helps him to stand and rejoice in the midst of the troubled times at present and are yet to come. The LORD will help carry him through whatever situation. This is the hope that the gospel brings.

And friend, if you are here this morning, and you have yet to believe. Behold the glory of this God and the work of him. You can either resist God and be conquered or you can believe God and have hope in the midst of whatever lies before you. Hope because instead of standing opposed to the LORD Almighty you gain the LORD Almighty as your rescuer and defender. Will you not respond by believing this truth today? Will you not come and live by faith, faith that this news is true?

Let’s pray…

Endnotes:

Firth, David G. Expository Commentary Volume VII: Daniel-Malachi. (Crossway. Wheaton, IL, 2018.) 556.

Turner, Kenneth. Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament: Habakkuk. (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2023.) 250.