Habakkuk 3:12-The Lord Jesus Christ Will March Against His Enemies and Thresh Them at His Second Advent

Habakkuk 3:12 You will march against the inhabitants of the earth in a state of righteous indignation. You will thresh the citizens of the nations in a state of anger. (My translation)

As we noted in our study of Habakkuk 3:3-11, Habakkuk 3:3-19 is a prayer which the prophet Habakkuk offered up to the God of Israel, which he directed to be sung in the temple as part of the worship of the God of Israel.

We also noted in verses 3-11 that Habakkuk 3:3-15 is not only poetic but also prophetic referring to the events of the seventieth week and Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

They are also alluding to the mighty acts of God which He performed on behalf of the nation of Israel in past history such as during Israel’s exodus from Egypt under Moses.

As we also noted in detail in our study of Habakkuk 3:3, I adhere to the eschatological interpretation of Habakkuk 3:3-15 in the sense that I interpret these verses as being fulfilled in the future during the seventieth week of Daniel and the Second Advent of Christ.

Habakkuk 3:12 contains two more poetic prophetic statements, which parallel each other because both speak of the Lord Jesus Christ in a state of righteous indignation at His Second Advent and both speak of the human race on planet earth being the objects of this righteous indignation.

The purpose of His Second Advent is to imprison Satan and the fallen angels for a thousand years, to kill Antichrist and the false prophet and kill every unrepentant human being on earth.

The Lord Jesus Christ will also exercise His righteous indignation during the seventieth week of Daniel through the seven seal, trumpet and bowl judgments recorded in Revelation 6-18.

However, at His Second Advent, He will bodily exercise His righteous indignation at His Second Advent.

Ultimately, the purpose of the Second Advent is to deliver His people, both regenerate Jews and Gentiles from Satan and the fallen angels, the Antichrist and the false prophet as well as the armies of the Gentile armies of the tribulation.

The first prophetic statement is figurative language and asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ will march against the inhabitants of planet earth in a state of wrath which speaks of His righteous indignation.

Specifically, He will march against every unrepentant, unregenerate sinner on planet earth at His Second Advent in order to take military action against them so as to kill them.

This first prophetic statement will be fulfilled at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ and not during the seventieth week of Daniel.

This is indicated by the fact that it asserts the Lord will be marching against His enemies and Isaiah 63:1-3, which describes the Second Advent, describes Him marching against His enemies.

His marching implies that He will bodily and personally exercise His righteous indignation against the unregenerate unrepentant sinners on planet earth.

Isaiah 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah? Who is this one wearing royal attire, who marches confidently because of his great strength? “It is I, the one who announces vindication, and who is able to deliver!” 63:2 Why are your clothes red? Why do you look like someone who has stomped on grapes in a vat? 63:3 “I have stomped grapes in the winepress all by myself; no one from the nations joined me. I stomped on them in my anger; I trampled them down in my rage. Their juice splashed on my garments and stained all my clothes. 63:4 For I looked forward to the day of vengeance, and then payback time arrived. 63:5 I looked, but there was no one to help; I was shocked because there was no one offering support. So my right arm accomplished deliverance; my raging anger drove me on. 63:6 I trampled nations in my anger, I made them drunk in my rage, I splashed their blood on the ground.” (NET Bible)

Not only is the first prophetic statement recorded in Habakkuk 3:12 prophetic of the Second Advent of Jesus Christ but it is also alluding to the preincarnate Christ leading the Exodus generation.

This is indicated by the fact that Psalm 68:7-8, which alludes to the Lord delivering the Exodus generation from Egypt, speaks of the Lord leading Israel by marching ahead of them into battle.

Psalm 68:7 O God, when you lead your people into battle, when you march through the desert, (Selah) 68:8 the earth shakes, yes, the heavens pour down rain before God, the God of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. (NET)

The second prophetic statement recorded in Habakkuk 3:12 is also figurative language and asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ will thresh the citizens of the nations in a state of anger at His Second Advent.

This anger also speaks of His righteous indignation since it is a synonym for His wrath or righteous indignation.

The Lord will thresh the citizens of the nations at His Second Advent in the sense that the breaking action of the threshing of grain speaks of the total and complete defeat of His enemies.

This second prophetic statement recorded in Habakkuk 3:12 will also be fulfilled at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ and not during the seventieth week of Daniel.

This is indicated by its connection with the first prophetic statement.

They are connected because both prophetic statements mentioned the Lord exercising His righteous indignation against the unrepentant, unregenerate sinners on planet earth.

Secondly, both mention human beings on earth but from different perspectives.

The first prophetic statement mentions them from the perspective that they inhabit the earth while on the other hand, the second one mentions them from the perspective that they are citizens of the nations.

The Lord’s “anger” and “wrath” both refer to His righteous indignation, which refers to His legitimate anger towards evil and sin since both are contrary to His holiness or perfect character and nature.

In fact, God’s righteous indignation expresses His holiness, which pertains to the absolute perfection of God’s character.

The Lord Jesus Christ will express His righteous indignation against every unregenerate unrepentant human being on earth at His Second Advent (cf. Rev. 19:11-20-6).

He will also express His righteous indignation against Satan and the fallen angels by imprisoning them for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3).

He will also express His righteous indignation against the Antichrist and the false prophet by killing them and throwing them into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20-21).

The expression of His righteous indignation will be a manifestation of His holiness.

God’s holiness is expressing the purity of His character or moral perfection and excellence and means that God can have nothing to do with sin or sinners.

He is totally separate from sin and sinners unless a way can be found to constitute them holy and that way has been provided based upon the merits of the impeccable Person and Finished Work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The presence of evil, sin and injustice is totally absent in the character of God, thus God does not tolerate evil or sin because it is contrary to His character, i.e. His inherent moral qualities, ethical standards and principles.

Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines “holiness” as “the quality or state of being holy; sanctity” and they define “sanctity” as, “sacred or hallowed character.”

One of the definitions that Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary gives for the adjective “holy” is, “entitled to worship or profound religious reverence because of divine character or origin or connection with God or divinity.”

One of the definitions for the noun “character” that Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary provides that applies to the context of our passage is the following: “the aggregate of features and traits that form the apparent individual nature of some person or thing.”

If we paraphrase these definitions, we would say that the God’s holiness refers to “the aggregate (i.e. sum total) of perfect features and traits that form the divine nature of God.”

Therefore, God’s holiness refers to the absolute perfection of His character, expressing His purity of His character or moral perfection and excellence and intolerance and opposition and rejection of sin and evil, thus God is totally separate from sin and sinners.

Thus, God’s holiness is related to all of His divine attributes or in other words, it is simply the harmony of all His perfections or attributes.

Therefore, God’s wrath, which is in reality, righteous indignation is an expression of His holiness, righteousness and love in opposition to sin and evil.

God’s wrath or righteous indignation is used of God’s settled opposition to and displeasure against sin meaning that God’s holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form whatsoever.

It is not the momentary, emotional, and often uncontrolled anger to which human beings are prone and does not refer to an explosive outburst but rather it refers to an inner, deep resentment that seethes and smolders, often unnoticed by others as in the case of God’s wrath.

God hates sin so much and loves the sinner so much that He judged His Son Jesus Christ for every sin in human history-past, present and future and provided deliverance from sin through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

The only way to avoid God’s righteous indignation is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. John 3:36).