The Expectations of the Righteous

Introduction

Let’s pray.

This morning marks our second of three planned weeks in the book of Habakkuk.

I’d ask you to turn there with me. If you’re lost, start at Matthew and go back five books. Or find Jonah and go forward three.

Again, as a refresher, Habakkuk was probably written around 600 BC. When you hear Chaldeans, they’re the Babylonians from Daniel. This book tells of the coming captivity in Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego have not yet been thrown into the fiery furnace by king Nebuchadnezzar.

Last week, we saw the perplexity of the righteous as we looked at chapter one.

We saw a perplexing silence: God seems to do nothing while the wicked swallow up the righteous.

We saw a perplexing answer: Instead of using a righteous king to bring judgment to the wicked, God is raising up the Chaldeans to come judge the wicked in Israel.

Chapter one ends with the question it starts with: Why are the righteous always losing to the wicked?

The prophet Habakkuk ends chapter one with the same basic question he has at the beginning: will the wicked just keep swallowing up those more righteous than they are forever?

And that brings us to today. Habakkuk is waiting to see if God will answer his question. So let’s read Habakkuk chapter 2. This is the word of the Lord.

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Today we are going to look at the expectations of the righteous, the expectations of the righteous.

We’re going to do this under three main points:

The Righteous Wait for Judgment (Hab 2:1-3)

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith (Hab 2:4)

The Judgment the Righteous Wait For (Hab 2:5-20)

1. The Righteous Wait for Judgment (Hab 2:1-3)

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Illustration

In the beginning of The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian lives in the city of Destruction. He’s a mess, because he has been reading Scripture and has realized that judgment is coming. So the preacher Evangelist comes to him, and Christian tells Evangelist, “Sir, I perceive by the book in my hand that I am condemned to die, and after that to come to Judgment; and I find that I am not willing to do the first, nor able to do the second.”

I don’t want to die, and I am not able after death to stand in the judgment. I am condemned to death, and then to punishment for my wickedness.

Evangelist asks him back, “Well, If this is true, why are you just standing there?”

Christian says, “Because I don’t know where to go.”

Evangelist gives him a paper that has written on it, “Fly from the wrath to come.” Then Evangelist points him the way.

And so Christian runs. His wife and children beg him to come back, but they won’t come with him. So he doesn’t stop running. He puts his fingers in his ears to blot out their pleas and as he runs he cries out, “Life! Life! Eternal life!”

God’s Answer

Fly from the wrath to come.

This is the beginning of God’s answer to Habakkuk. In verse 1, Habakkuk is still perplexed by the problem he sees: the wicked just keep swallowing up the righteous. And so we see the prophet waiting for God’s response.

And God answers him, in verses 2-3. Let’s read:

Habakkuk 2:2–3 “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.”

The Lord begins by telling Habakkuk to write the vision and make it plain on tablets. Print it on a big sign. Put it on a billboard.

It’s both a warning and a sure promise. Habakkuk, judgment might not come today. It might not come tomorrow. It might seem like it’s never going to come. But it will surely come. It’s a sure promise.

And the appropriate response to this warning and promise of coming judgment is to run. Run to safety! Fly from the wrath to come! You don’t know how long before it gets here, or when it’s coming, and it might come like a thief in the night, but it’s coming. It will not delay—it will come precisely when God intends for it to.

This prophecy is specifically made about the Chaldeans. Judgment is coming for them. We’re going to look more at what that judgment looks like later, but for now, we see that judgment is coming. And the righteous are to expect it.

Application

So what do we do with this?

Well, this prophecy was made about a specific historical event that happened. But just as judgment came to the Chaldeans, judgment will come to all of us. The judgment on the wicked in Israel? It’s a judgment that reflects the final judgment. The judgment on the wicked Chaldeans? It’s a judgment that reflects the final judgment.

Rest assured, there is still a judgment to come. Notice that for the second time, God doesn’t answer Habakkuk’s question: why do the wicked keep swallowing up the righteous? He instead says that judgment is coming on the wicked. The expectation of the righteous is that judgment is coming. We are to delight in the fact that God will make all things right. The fact that judgment is coming is meant to be a comfort to Christians, even as we fly from the wrath to come. And this brings us to our second point, which speaks directly to this.

2. The Righteous Shall Live by Faith (Hab 2:4)

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

Contrasting Righteous and Unrighteous

This verse contrasts the unrighteous with the righteous. The unrighteous are puffed up. It’s a great phrase. It’s kind of like they have invisible lat syndrome, only with ungodliness. You swagger around proudly, but there’s nothing to be proud of! It’s just invisible lats. It’s insane, really, when you consider that all that’s coming is judgment, and instead of running from it you’re just swaggering around with your invisible lats of righteousness.

This is self-deceit. It’s what the text means when it says his soul is not upright within him. They’re not upright—the way they should be; they’re crooked, deceitful, and self-deceived. They suppress the truth that the judgment is coming. Remember Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

And the thing is, such were some of you. Such were all of us. But now we live—by faith.

Life and Righteousness by Faith

Now, there’s a very good discussion about whether Habakkuk is telling us here that the righteous are to live faithfully, or whether the righteousness and life the righteous possess comes from faith. We’re going to look at both in this point, because they’re not necessarily in opposition to each other.

So first, the righteousness and life the righteous possess comes from faith. The righteousness and life the righteous possess comes from faith.

If we are to flee from the wrath to come, this is how we do it. This is what Evangelist was really pointing Christian to in Pilgrim’s Progress as he told him to run the wicket-gate and travel the King’s road to the Celestial City.

Habakkuk looked to the Messiah to come. But we look to the Messiah who has come. He waited for the fulfillment of the promise. We have seen the promise fulfilled. We have heard the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 twice in the New Testament:

Romans 1:16–17 “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. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.””

And again, Galatians 3:11 “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.””

Brothers and sisters, our only escape from the wrath that is to come is by fleeing to Jesus Christ for salvation! He is willing and able to save to the uttermost all who come to him. He will cast your sins as far from you as east is from the west. Turn your back on the world and fix your eyes on Jesus and run with endurance the race that is set before you by living faithfully.

Application: Living Faithfully Means Witnessing

And that’s our second subpoint here. The righteous shall live faithfully. The righteous shall live faithfully.

This consideration will be our application for this point. We’ve looked a lot as a church at what faithful living in the light of what Jesus has done for us looks like. But what should our attitude be toward the ungodly be as we think of the wrath that is coming be? What does faithful living towards the ungodly look like?

Well, if the ungodly are puffed up, that can’t be the right response. So pride at being better than the men and women who are perishing isn’t the right answer. God is not willing that any should perish—it means he doesn’t take delight in any who perish. If that’s God’s attitude towards things, we should take note. God is the judge; we are not. What God calls us to is to earnestly pray and work for the salvation and good of even our enemies. They are just as lost as we were before God reached down and drew us to safety and salvation in Jesus Christ.

Nothing in my hands I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling.

Naked come to thee for dress

Helpless look to thee for grace

Foul I to the fountain fly—wash me Savior, or I die.

If this is who you are, it’s who you’re to want them to be too. We are to delight in the fact that God will judge all things justly, and at the same time, we are to pray and work for the salvation of all.

The righteous will life by faith.

3. The Judgment the Righteous Wait For (Hab 2:5-20)

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Illustration: Reaping what You Sow

When Richard Waldron went to sleep one night in 1689 in his house in Dover, New Hampshire, he never expected that he wouldn’t survive the night. You see, right at midnight, a war party of Indian braves raided the settlement, and his house was one of the first they went to.

Richard Waldron was the chief justice of New Hampshire, and he was eighty years old. And the braves of the war party tied him up in a chair and each brave took a turn and cut him with his knife. As each man slashed him with his knife, he said, “I cross out my account.”

Then, one by one, they cut his fingers off, asking him each time if his fist would still weigh a pound. Then they killed him.

You see, Richard Waldron always put his fist on the scale when doing business with them. He’d make the pelts and goods they brought to sell to the settlements seem lighter than they were, so he wouldn’t have to pay what they were worth. And they knew it, but couldn’t do anything about it. Where do you go for justice when the chief justice is the one who is stealing from you?

And it didn’t help matters any that thirteen years earlier, Richard Waldron had betrayed and butchered this same tribe and sold many of them into slavery.

Now, you might think that as an eighty-year old man who was the chief justice of New Hampshire that you were beyond the reach of the people whose blood you’d unjustly spilled, whose families you’d broken apart, and whose money you’d stolen!

But no, Richard Waldron paid his debt in blood. Because he plundered them with his fists, they took his fists from him. Because he killed them, they killed him.

The Connection

The text this morning tells us that the Chaldeans were a nation of Richard Waldrons. And what they did to others, others would do to them in return.

This is the judgment the righteous wait for. The answer to Habakkuk’s question in chapter one is that the judgment the wicked are judged with will be perfectly just. Everything the Chaldeans have done to others? It will be done to them in equal measure.

The Five Woes

Now, God pronounces five woes here.

Look at the second half of verse six. Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own. Stealing and plundering is in mind here. Putting your fist on the scales to change the weight and cheat others out of what is rightfully theirs, for example.

Verse 9, woe to him who gets evil gain for his house. Gaining standing and power by oppressing others.

Verse 12, the third woe. Woe to him who builds a town with blood. Woe to the Chaldeans. Their empire is founded on the blood of the people they’ve conquered. They’ve built Babylon up on a foundation of the wickedness condemned in these five woes.

Verse 15, Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink to take advantage of them. Incapacitating others for the purpose of using them. Now, it’s important to note that alcohol isn’t being condemned here. It’s what they’re using it for. And while we’re on this topic, it’s not condemned in verse 5, either. Look back at verse five with me if you will. The ESV renders it Habakkuk 2:5 ““Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest.” You may have a little note at the bottom that says “The meaning of the Hebrew in these two lines is uncertain.” Most other translations render it something like “wine betrays an arrogant man.” The Chaldeans were known for drinking A LOT of wine. You can see this in Daniel too.

This translation question isn’t something we should get too wrapped around the axle about. It doesn’t change the meaning of this passage in any substantial way. Wine will betray all who trust in it, verse five, and woe comes upon all who use wine to take advantage of others, verse 15.

And on to the last woe, in verse 19. Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, “Awake.” Woe to the men and women who become fools, exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. You might be thinking, “How quaint, worshiping a statue. We are so much smarter now than they are. We have the scientific method, after all.” But not so fast—anything you set in your heart above God is an idol. Do you want to walk your own path more than the path of righteousness? Your own path is speechless. It is silent. It can do nothing for you.

All Will Know God

Remember how last week we talked about building little mountains in Hebrew poetry? Five woes: First woe, second woe, the third woe is the top of the mountain, and four five back down the other side. Note that here, still at the top of the mountain, in Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” The knowledge of the glory of the Lord is set in contrast to the wickedness being condemned in these woes. Even as the wicked are swallowed up in judgment, knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as water covers the seas.

Woe came to the unrighteous Chaldeans. Woe is coming upon all who practice such things.

There are five woes pronounced upon them in this passage. Five isn’t a perfect number to the Hebrews. Three is. Seven is. Five is incomplete. It suggests that more is coming. That this is only the beginning.

Perfect justice. This is the judgment the righteous wait for.

Conclusion

In conclusion, let’s wrap things up.

After all that, what are the expectations of the righteous?

The expectations of the righteous can be summed up simply: God will make all things right. Judgment is coming—so flee to the Savior from the wrath to come.

For the unrighteous, he will make all things right to the praise of his glorious justice. They will receive perfect justice. They will get exactly what they deserve. No more, no less. This should comfort us, and humble us, and simultaneously, we should eagerly desire the salvation of all who are lost.

For the righteous, he will make all things right to the praise of his glory and grace. You too will receive perfect justice. Jesus got exactly what you deserved. And you will live by faith.

So flee to him and find your refuge in him, and you will have life everlasting. You can expect it.