Habakkuk
Minor Prophets • Sermon • Submitted
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Galatians 3:10-14
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Prayer
Introduction
This morning we are continuing our march through the Minor Prophets with a look at Habakkuk. As I have been studying these books, I have been amazed at how relevant they are to the Church today. I mean, it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it is a nice reminder.
Scripture
Our passage this morning will be Habakkuk 3:17-19. If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition that these are among the most important Words we can hope to hear today. Habakkuk 3:17-19 says,
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
Thank you, you may be seated.
Sermon
As we have become accustomed to, let’s begin by considering the setting of the book of Habakkuk. To begin with, we don’t really know much about the prophet himself other than the fact that he is upset by the injustice and unrighteousness that seems to surround him. But that is okay that we don’t know much about Habakkuk, since he is the messenger and the One who we should be hearing speak is actually the Lord.
Habakkuk prophesied in a turbulent time period in the Ancient Near East. By way of reminder, at the end of King Solomon’s reign, the united nation of Israel split into two nations. The Northern Kingdom known as Israel was often more prone to idolatry and wickedness – at least they tended that direction a little more quickly. Eventually, after much patience on God’s part, they were wiped out and taken into exile by the Assyrian empire.
The Southern Kingdom known as Judah was not really that much better off. They also tended towards idolatry and disobedience to the covenant of the Lord. When Assyria gobbled up the land, most of Judah was captured except for Jerusalem itself. So this is approximately where we find ourselves in Habakkuk. Israel is no more and hasn’t been for about 100 years. Judah has been under the shadow of the evil Assyrians for a while, but is still holding on.
That means that Habakkuk is roughly in the same time period as Nahum and some of these other prophets we have looked at already. The prophecy of Habakkuk tells of the destruction of the Assyrians by another power – the Chaldeans or Babylonians. That means that the date for this book and Habakkuk’s ministry would be sometime before the fall if the Assyrian capitol city of Nineveh in 612 BC. The prophecy of Habakkuk was probably written or proclaimed sometime between 650 and 612 BC.
The next point in you outline says “Echoes of Job”, and I want to park here for a minute and explain why it is called that and unpack some of the main themes of Habakkuk. Reading through Habakkuk you might notice that Habakkuk has a complaint, then the Lord answers, then the prophet has a second complaint, then the Lord answers again, then Habakkuk responds in worship.
That is why it reminds me of Job. In addition to that, the big picture question in each book is basically, “God, how can You allow this if You are really just and righteous?” Obviously the details of the specific details and problems in each book is different, and Job has additional complexities with his supposed friends who are quick to give an answer for the Lord, but the big issue is God’s justice and righteousness in light of the evil in this world. So, let’s walk through Habakkuk and see how these complaints and answers play out.
Let’s start at Habakkuk 1:2-4 which says,
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
This is Habakkuk’s first complaint. “God, I am surrounded by wickedness and you are doing nothing about it! How long until you hear me?” Now, the wicked here is not a foreign army. Habakkuk is bothered by the wickedness and injustice happening in Judah by people who are supposed to know the Lord. That’s why he complains about the inability of the law to help. There is no justice in the land where the Law of God is supposed to rule. How long, oh Lord until you right the wrongs?
Amazingly, the Lord answers Habakkuk in chapter 1 verses 5-11. The Lord tells him that He is raising up a nation - the Chaldeans which we usually call Babylonians - who will sweep through the land. They scoff at kings and laugh at fortresses. But they aren’t righteous either. They are violent and idolatrous, not unlike the Assyrians who they are destroying. And worse yet, they aren’t going to stop at Assyria – they are also coming for Judah. God is sending – God will use and is using the wicked Babylonians to destroy the wicked Assyrians and Judeans.
But this raises a new problem for Habakkuk. It is one thing for God to not punish the wicked in Judah and to allow it to continue. That’s the first problem Habakkuk had. But God’s response raises a much bigger dilemma for Habakkuk. If God is going to use the Babylonians against Judah, how can God rightly be called just? That’s the essential problem of Habakkuk 1:13
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
Yes, there is evil in Judah, but they aren’t as bad as the Babylonians! Why would you use a more wicked people to punish Judah? Isn’t that a case of the cure being worse than the disease itself? Habakkuk goes on to point out that Babylon is going to draw everyone out of the sea with their dragnet – both clean and unclean alike – and scatter them. The righteous and the wicked alike will be under these wicked people. So, Habakkuk awaits God’s answer to this bigger problem. And amazingly, God answers again – a longer and final answer.
Basically God says, here is what I am going to do. It will happen, but it is not yet the appointed time. The righteous will have to live by faith, trusting in the deliverance of the Lord, but the Babylonians aren’t going to go on forever. God is going to do the same to the Babylonians that he did to the Assyrians. God is going to raise up another people to destroy the wicked Babylonians. God uses the wicked Assyrians to punish Israel. He uses the Babylonians to punish the wicked Assyrians and Judah, and God will eventually use another nation to accomplish His will to punish the Babylonians. We know from Scripture that it is the Medes and Persians who eventually take over.
Look at Habakkuk 2:18-20.
18 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!
19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
God is saying, “I am the true and Living God. I do with my creation what I will and the no one can say a word against it.” Idols are nothing. They do not speak or give knowledge, but one day the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.
One day all the wrongs will be made right. It is sure. It is coming. At the appointed time, not only will God judge Babylon, but all the earth will know the Lord. Every idol will be smashed. What should you do in the meantime, Habakkuk? Trust the Lord. Look at Habakkuk 2:3-4 with me,
3 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.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Verse 4 there is quoted in our Scripture reading from Galatians 3 this morning. It is also quoted in Romans and in Hebrews, and each of those times, the argument being made is that faith is what is prescribed. Survival, spiritual survival comes not from keeping the Law, and not from militarily holding off the invading evil hoards. The righteous live by faith. Trusting the Lord to deliver them. One commentator put it this way, “Habakkuk teaches that salvation is by faith—faith in the promise of divine deliverance.”[1]
So, what do we do with all this? What does faith in divine deliverance look like? As we are surrounded by wickedness, injustice, lawlessness, dishonesty, murder of the unborn, perversions, and every other imaginable evil. As we cry out, how long oh Lord until you hear us!?
Habakkuk serves as an important reminder that our timeline and God’s are not the same. God has set an appointed time. 2 Peter 3:9-10 says,
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Faith in divine deliverance looks like Habakkuk’s closing song of praise. We read the end of it together, and I want to look at it again. Habakkuk 3:17-19 says,
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
Faith looks around and says, even though the judgment of God has fallen, even though destruction seems to come upon the wicked and the righteous alike, even if there is no food in the land, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
See, God’s goodness, and righteousness, and justice, and holiness is not dependent on our circumstances. God is just as good when His saints have freedom as He is when His saints are being tortured and martyred. God is just as righteous when His saints are wealthy as when His saints are destitute and hungry. God is just as holy when His saints are slowly and painfully dying from cancer as when they are healthy and in the prime of life.
This is why Habakkuk is so important for us today. It reminds us that the promises of God are sure and trustworthy because they are based in the nature of God Himself. We can look back and see that God did fulfill His promises to Habakkuk – the Babylonians did destroy Judah and the rest of the known world, and God was just in using them to do that, but as God promised, the Babylonians themselves were destroyed.
The righteous live by faith – faith in God’s promise to deliver and restore. Faith that the promised Seed would (and did) crush the head of the Serpent. Faith that the knowledge of the Lord will cover the entire earth. Faith that one day all the wrongs will be made right. Faith that when it seems like the world is getting darker and more wicked, faith that when we feel crushed by sin on every side, faith that the Lord is moving and will move. Faith that the Lord will restore the fortunes of His people – even if we can’t fathom how and don’t know when.
Just a couple closing points and we will be done. Our ultimate vindication is not our own but comes through Christ and His vindication. That is to say, we might get caught up in the net. In fact, we will and have. We all have experienced the effects of sin in our lives. We all get sick and we will all die. Faith is not believing that nothing bad will happen to you. Faith is trusting the Lord in the midst of bad things happening to you – even recognizing that the Lord has sovereignly ordained it to happen – and more than that, knowing that the Lord will sovereignly, ultimately rescue and restore His people. True, ultimate salvation by grace through faith in God’s deliverance – which comes only through Christ.
In a moment we will transition to a time of worship through response. We believe that any time a person hears the Word of God they respond either in rebellion or in worship. I will be on the front row worshipping with you, so if you need to talk to someone or need someone to pray with, feel free to come up and talk to me. Our song of worship through response is probably not one you know, but if you do, please sing it, and definitely, whether you know it or not, meditate on the message. Don’t rebel against the Lord! I hope that you will respond in worship this morning. I hope your worship looks like Habakkuk’s where he praises the Lord in the midst of trials and sorrow and bad news. Not because he is an optimist, but because He has faith in the deliverance of the Lord based in the nature of the Lord.
If you have been placing your faith in anything other than or in addition to Christ, I want you to know that only the promises of the Lord will stand. Military might cannot stem God’s wrath, and neither can religion that is faithless. Only by faith in Christ can we be accounted righteous and be delivered from the sins which surround and indwell us. Let us all look to Christ in faith.
Let’s pray.
[1] E. Ray Clendenen, “Salvation by Faith or by Faithfulness in the Book of Habakkuk?,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 24, no. 4 (2014): 506.
