The Judgment of God

Habakkuk’s conversation with God is recorded. First, a complaint, “How Long?” He is tired of seeing iniquity, destruction, violence, strife and contention. He feels God is letting things slide, that he is allowing His people to sin without consequences. Habakkuk wants to see God deal with the sin of his people. And certainly we can identify with this. Perhaps even you have seen sin in God’s church, and wondered how he lets it go like that. Or maybe in your own family, you see family members sinning, and even seeming to flout it, and you wonder how they have the nerve, and how they are not struck down immediately by a holy God.

Well, this is how Habakkuk felt. He saw people all around him sinning, and he was indignant. How long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?

So God give to him an answer. God’s answer is, just wait and see. You are going to be astounded at what I am about to do. I am going to raise up the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and as you know, Habakkuk, they are vicious. They have no mercy. They drag people away from their homes, and enslave them. They treat people like property, like animals. They are proud, they laugh at kings, they think they can conquer any people. These Chaldeans, these brutal ones, Habakkuk, are going to be my instrument of judgment on Israel for all the sin you are complaining about!

To which Habakkuk replies, “Now wait just one stinking minute!” That’s not right, how could you use an evil people like the Chaldeans to punish Israel. “why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

These are the worst kind of pagans! They drag people like they are fish, and rejoice in the capture of people as a hunter or fisherman rejoices in his catch! Are you going ot let these people continue they way they have? I know I complained about Israel, but this is way worse, I mean, come on!

And the Lord answers Habakkuk a second time and says, to Habakkuk, but my justice will come to the Chaldeans as well. And I want you to write this down: My judgment is surely coming to Babylon, the Chaldeans. My justice may seem delayed by you, but its timing will be perfect. The Chaldeans live according to their arrogance, trusting in their own strength, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Now we get to todays reading, where we see the woes. We don’t hear the word woe all that much, it isn’t Whoa, like you tell a horse when it is supposed to stop, it isnt Whoa, like wow, that’s really cool!. No, this is woe, like woe is me. A biblical woe is a warning, a punishment. So let us look at the Woes that the Lord tells Habakkuk to record about the Chaldeans:

Habakkuk 2:6–20 ESV

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!” Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. “Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. “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! 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. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Habakkuk 2:6 ESV

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!”

Who is all these? The nations. They will take up a taunt song against him. Him is the Chaldeans, or Bablylonians.

And what is a taunt song? Well, just what it sounds like. It is a mocking. It is sneering, in a sense, a song that is intended to insult and cause the one it is aimed at to get rattled, to feel offended. You know, like sports team rivals will often do. If your team wins, you don’t just say we won, “we destroyed them! We kicked them up and down the field. Where’s that fancy quarterback you were bragging about? Huh? He could hardly throw? Where’s that unbeatable defense that no one could get through? A bunch of sixth graders could have done better!” Imagine though, the taunt song at a school yard, when a guy who had been an undefeated bully, ruining the days for students, and no one ever dared challenge them, but suddenly a new kid comes, and he isn’t putting up with the bully. So after school, it is arranged, and the new kid goes out and beats the bully, and the bully slinks away, and now all those who had been bullied by that guy are so relieved. And the relief comes on two fronts. There is the relief of not having to be bullied anymore, but also the relief of knowing that there was justice in store for that bully. Even though for a time it seemed nothing would ever happen to hi, now you can see that in the end, all was made right. Now imagine the taunts the entire schoolyard makes towards the bully: “Who’s the big man on campus now? Oh, is that tears we see in your eyes? How sad!”.

The Taunt song. And the Lord is telling Habakkuk that the nations shall take up a taunt against the Chaldeans, and here is what they will say:

Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own - This refers to the Chaldeans plundering, stealing what they did not earn.

And for how long? and loads himself with pledges. This means they would get pledges from other nations, basically a pay-off to leave them alone. Protection money. The Chaldeans would say to other nations, “Nice place you got there. Would be a shame if something happened to it” and out of fear, other nations would pay them off.

Habakkuk 2:7 ESV

Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them.

So the tables are going to turn. You made all these nations your debtors, but they will rise up and come against you.

Habakkuk 2:8 ESV

Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

There is always a point where people finally get tired of being mistreated by a tyrant. Sometimes they have to go through a lot of pain to get to this point, but usually there is a breaking point. When the people realize they have the numbers and power to overthrow the bully, they will organize and even shed blood to see that the bully can harm no one else.

When this happens to Babylon, it will be a result of, and a punishment for, what they have been doing.

Habakkuk 2:9 ESV

“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!

Those who gain money and power through illegitimate means always find a need to protect themselves. They set their house on a high hill, and they are constantly worried about someone coming to steal what they stole. Many novels and movies have a plot that involves some master villain who has amassed a great wealth, and all they can think about is how their cohorts are going to try and take it.

Habakkuk 2:10–11 ESV

You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.

This is interesting. I’m reminded of the Edgar Allen Poe story, the telltale heart. It is the story of a man guilty of murder, and he has buried his victim beneath the floor, but he continues to hear the heartbeat, or at least he imagines this. He is tormented, and as he is interrogated about the missing person, he hears the heart beating again, and he imagines it getting louder, and he thinks the policemen must hear it too, and finally, the pressure of it all causes him to confess. The story ends like this: “They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror! --this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! --and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! -- "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! --here, here! --it is the beating of his hideous heart!"”

You see, evil cannot be hidden, the evil one may be able to pretend for a time that they are really good. In the palace of the tyrant, he may for a time convince himself that he has built it with good acts, even with kindness. He may think that as cruel as he is, the people would be worse off without him. But even the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. In the end, when all the veneer is removed, the tyrant is revealed to be nothing more than a loathsome creature.

Habakkuk 2:12–14 ESV

“Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

You did all this work to build up for yourselves a great empire, yet you built it on blood, and on iniquity. Really in the end, you labored for fire, because everything you built will be burned in the end. And what will be left? Only the righteous. The nations weary themselves for nothing.

Habakkuk 2:15–17 ESV

“Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

Now this is very interesting, and very true, that when people do excessive drinking, they tend towards other sins as well.

Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah: An Introduction and Commentary iv. The Debaucher (2:15–17)

The purpose of leading others into drunkenness is pruriently to catch sight of ‘their nakedness’ (AV, JB). Exhibiting someone in this state was a form of punishment (cf. the commentary on Nah. 3:5, p. 37, and the references there). Inadvertant observation of nakedness and the lack of a respectful response to it were strongly dealt with in the case of Noah and his son Ham (Gen. 9:22–27), where inebriation also played a part (Gen. 9:21). The Babylonians’ condemnation is greater since their action was deliberate rather than inadvertent.

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 23: Micah / Nahum / Habakkuk / Zephaniah / Haggai / Zechariah / Malachi The Contrast to This Principle

To fully appreciate the deceptive powers of wine, one need only recall that drunkenness was responsible for the downfall of the Babylonian empire. Daniel 5 records how, on the night the empire fell, King Belshazzer sent for the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem and offered toasts to the gods of Babylon from these sacred goblets. It was then that the handwriting appeared on the wall and the sudden end to the Babylonian’s arrogance came.

So this woe is to him who makes his neighbors drink, and it is actually wrath that makes them drink to drunkeness, dor the purpose of gazing at their nakedness. Now, in the bible, nakedness means nakedness, as we understand it, but it is also a euphemism for other debauchery. We know that excessive drinking often causes people to lose self-control, to be more open to sins they otherwise would not have done. So often tyrants would bring esteemed people in for a party and demand they drink. They would have lavish parties, and the more drunk people got, then they would bring out other temptations. And after a night of this, the tyrant now had even more power over the elite, because now he had seem them acting shamefully. This still happens today, by the way. There is a reason why you don’t usually see presidents and diplomats getting drunk at parties. A wise person avoids that sort of thing. And a more respectable ruler will not demands that others drink. We see this in Esther:

Esther 1:8 ESV

And drinking was according to this edict: “There is no compulsion.” For the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired.

So this woe is to him who makes his neighbors drink, in order to embarrass them. But in the end, they will have their fill of shame instead of glory. You forced people to drink from a cup, now a cup of God’s wrath is going to be poured out on you! And just as you served cups that made people drunk to uncover their nakedness, so will God uncover you, and reveal the ugliness of your sin. The violence you have done to Lebanon (and in those days Lebanon was a region, not a country, so Israel is included in this), the violence done in Lebanon will overwhelm you, the weapons of war (beasts) that terrified them, will be destroyed. Because you spilled the blood of man and did violence to the earth, this is going to happen.

I want to spend a moment on the violence to the earth phrase. We have a responsibility to take care, as best as we are able, of the earth. God gave mankind dominion over the earth, in Genesis, and we have a responsibility to take care of it. This doesn’t mean we worship the earth, or put nature on a higher level than the needs of people, but we ought to take care of it as well as we can. What always happens in war? The earth is damaged. War is devastating to the environment. In many parts of the world, the effects of war are seen in the environment for generations. So along with the violence towards men, God is angry with the Chaldeans for violence to the earth, as well as to cities.

Habakkuk 2:18–20 ESV

“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! 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. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Finally, the Chaldeans are going to be judged for idol worship. This is the ultimate arrogance. Not only do they deny the real God, they make themselves greater than their own gods, because these gods are created by them, shaped in metal, or carved in wood. So the one who makes an idol trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. So woe to him. Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, awake, to a silent stone, arise! Can this teach?

No, it can’t teach you anything. But the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.

This is the end of the woes, Ha 2:6-20, You see now that God has made it clear to Habakkuk that he is going to deal with the sin of His own people first, and then the sin of the Babylonians, or Chaldeans.

1 Peter 4:17–19 ESV

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Habakkuk wanted Judgment to begin in Israel, but the judgment was more than he could handle, he couldn’t see how God could use a far worse people to judge Israel. Perhaps we will see in our time, where God purifies the church by using vicious, evil, people from outside the church. I think a fair argument could be made that this is already happening in parts of the world. God is judging the church. He is purifying it. Why? The church is the bride of Christ,

Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

How are we sanctified? Well, we are sanctified through his Word.

John 17:17 ESV

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

But what if even the saved are resistant to being sanctified by His word? well, then perhaps he will purify the church in other ways. You see, Israel had God’s commands, but they didn't keep them. God sent prophets, but they didn’t listen. So he allowed violence to come upon them, using the Chaldeans as his instrument of destruction. What will we learn from this? Are we willing to be sanctified by the truth?

Finally, let me mention that as many prophecies in scripture can have fulfillment in more than one way, these things did happen to Babylon. It must have, you don’t hear about the king of Babylon today, do you? Are they part of the UN? No. They were destroyed. And there also is a passage in Revelation, where we see a glimpse of the final judgment of Babylon.

And what does Babylon represent in Revelation? The epitome of decadence. A society obsessed with luxury and leisure, obsessed with idol worship, obsessed with sexual immorality. And it represents a nation that is the envy of the world, where all the merchandise is sent, where every leader of every country is willing to debase themselves in order to do business with the great Babylon. And what is to become of the great Babylon?

Revelation 18 ESV

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!” The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud, “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?” And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

The people of God are called out of Babylon before the destruction. Come out lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues. And the kings of the earth will weep and wail. Imagine what would happen if the ports of a great country were closed to business to the world? This happened after 9/11. The worldwide economy nearly collapsed. Imagine a nation so great that if it stopped buying, the entire world would tremble.

And in the entire chapter of Rev 18 that I just read, there is only one imperative, or command. Do you know what it is? It is the word rejoice in verse 20. Heaven, saints, apostles, and prophets, are commanded to rejoice at the judgment of Babylon. and indeed this command is obeyed in Rev19.1-3

Revelation 19:1–3 ESV

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

Why is there rejoicing over this sort of destruction, over this sort of punishment, over this sort of judgment? Because finally by then, we will have a better understanding of the holiness of God. In the end, when we realize that every sin is cosmic treason, that every sin against a holy God is worthy of his wrath, we will rejoice when we see the wicked punished.

Perhaps this worries you. Perhaps this is scary news to you. Perhaps you are thinking to yourself even now, “but I am a sinner, I am guilty of disobedience, of rebellion, of treason against the Holy God.” You should be worried. It should bother you to hear of God’s judgments. Because his sword is poised above your head, ready to drop. His hell is prepared for those who sin against him. His judgment will surely come towards all the wicked. And all are wicked. None is righteous, not one.

This fear of a holy God, this realization that your sin is healing up his wrath upon you, ought to make you squirm, it ought to worry you. You ought to be concerned. There is only one way to avoid the wrath of God. Put your faith in Christ. You see Babylon in the end will find itself at war with God. And that is not a war they will win. But we do not need ot be at war with God. We can be at peace with him

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This peace is because Jesus took upon himself the wrath of God for all those who would put faith in him:

Romans 3:21–26 ESV

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Wouldn’t you like to have peace with God? Wouldn’t you like to know that in the end, instead of being one of those on whom God’s wrath is poured out, are one of those at the table, one of those shouting Hallelujah?

May God grant salvation to someone listening today. May God’s Word, and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, bring the dead in sin to life in Christ this morning. May He transform a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. May He get all the glory and the honor, for the sake of His Son, in whom our salvation is sure, Jesus Christ.

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