A Prophet Sings

Intro

Summarize what has taken place

Chapter 1- Habakkuk complaining to God about the state of affairs in Judah (HOW LONG)

The Lord’s answer came as a surprise to Habakkuk: He was raising up the wicked nation of Babylon as a judgement upon Judah- his own people.

Habakkuk can’t believe what he has heard and he questions God and his ways and ends by saying in Hab 2:1

Chapter 2- The Lord answered Habakkuk a second time: He doesn’t tell him that judgement will be removed from Judah but that there is judgement that will fall on babylon in the future.

He tells Habakkuk- Hab 2:4

Pronounces 5 woes upon the Chaldeans and ends the section by assuring Habakkuk that there is no one on earth who merits a word that is above His. He says Hab. 2:20

Then we arrive at our text today which is a prayer psalm of Habakkuk as he responds to all that God has revealed to him in both prayer and in psalm as he ultimately will declare his faith in Yahweh and his Joy in Him alone no matter what may come!

Read Hab 3

1. Habakkuk’s Plea (Hab 3:1-2)

A.) Rooted in God’s Work (Hab 3:2)

He has heard the report of all that God has done

He had heard of the majestic work of God on behalf of his people

How he had delivered them from their bondage in Egypt by his hand

How he had revealed himself to them through Moses on Mt Sinai.

How he had provided for their every need and protected them as they journeyed toward the promised land

How he gave them victory after victory over their enemies

He says that he “fears” his work

This is a testament to Habakkuk’s faith

It says, “Lord this report that I have heard about you and all your work on behalf of your people- I believe it is true! I know that you have done these things and because of this, I am in awe- I fear you O God!

Not only this: Habakkuk had just heard from God about His coming judgement upon Judah for their lawlessness.

B.) Requesting Revival (Hab. 3:2b)

After hearing of God’s mighty acts of deliverance, he pleads with God to DO IT AGAIN!

Do it in our day! I don’t want to just hear about what you did in our people’s history- I want to experience it firsthand.

C.) Remember Mercy (Hab 3:2c)

Habakkuk pleads for God to remember mercy in His wrath

He knows that God’s wrath is warranted for the lawlessness in Judah

A plea for mercy is an admission of guilt; Psalm 51

Habakkuk recognizes that their is no merit in himself or in the people of Judah.

They DESERVE judgment- they deserve God’s wrath and God has already said he was going to judge them so that is sure.

Yet he knows that his God is a God “merciful and gracious, SLOW to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

2. God’s Greatness(Hab.3:3-15)

*In this part of Habakkuk’s oracle, God reveals himself in a powerful way. This is a theophany where God appears before him in a powerful way.

*Much discussion is made over the timeline and the exact meaning of these words. Are they speaking of an event in the past or what’s to come in the future or a mixture of both?

A.) God came in splendor (Hab 3:3-5)

v.3 - Teman and Mt Paran - scholars believe Habakkuk is retracing the march of Israel from Sinai to the promised land.

He is recounting God’s coming or perhaps being granted to see it in his inner eye.

God’s coming is impossible to miss

What a God! He shows up in all His radiance and splendor and the entire heavens and earth take notice!

v.4- His brightness- greater than the sunrise

Think about how you have a “sun visor and sunglasses” to shield you from the brightness of the sun… The one who made that bright sun appeared and no sun visor or sunglasses could stop his radiant brilliance!

He “veiled” His power: In all of this magnificence, God is still veiling himself

v.5- “Pestilence and plague- Habakkuk speaks of the plagues in Egypt where God revealed his power and glory over Pharoah and the Egyptians as well as the Israelites. But also perhaps of the various judgements that God sent to Israel when they disobeyed Him in the wilderness.

This is how God would reveal his glory in those days. When the people were struck with plagues, then they would turn to God for relief and be confronted with their limited abilities.

B.) God stood in power (Hab 3:6-7)

God’s power is further on display here in the fact that he stood over the earth, measuring it. (Hab. 3:6a)

To measure something is an indication that it’s yours and you can do with it what you please!

His look shook the nations (Hab. 3:6b)

This is what happens when the judge of all the earth looks at the nations.

The nation’s proper and only response to God’s examining gaze is shock and terror

Eternal mountains; everlasting hills- scattered and sank low- again a picture of his great power and majesty

The ancient mountains are some of the most firm and durable parts of creation but when the Lord is present they quake and tremble.

His were the everlasting ways

Everything in creation is subject to changing; to rising and falling; to non- existence.

God’s ways are eternal; everlasting- without end and never- changing!

This means they can be relied upon. We watch nature change, we see humans change, nations change, literally all that we exist in changes but God never does.

God has come before in the history of His people and he can be confidently expected to do so again!

C.) God marched in victory (Hab 3:8-15)

*In these verses we make the turn from God who comes in splendor and holiness to God, the victorious warrior who will march in victory over his enemies and will secure salvation for his anointed.

Very clearly God’s wrath toward his enemies permeates this section

Hab. 3:8 - wrath; anger; indignation

haB. 3:9- here is a picture of God the warrior who is on a mission

Hunters- you don’t strip the cover from your bow if you have no intentions to kill that deer. You don’t call for arrows if there is no battle before you.

Hab. 3:10 - Mountains writhed- this means that they turned and twisted because they were terrified.

Hab 3:11 - Sun and Moon stood still— The sun and moon are the symbols of the permanence of the created order yet even they withdrew from their usual course.

Some commentators note… This standing still of these two glorious stars means that they were awestruck by the brilliance of the divine glory so that they froze in their place.

Others say this picture may be one of refusal to compete. They just forfeited their light when God came for there was no need.

Either way, we see very clearly God’s power and sovereignty over the created order as we see all over the scriptures.

You may be wondering.. why does that matter?

If God is not all powerful and sovereign over nature, over all of creation, then we have no assurance that He is God. If he cannot stop the wind and the waves or command them at his beckoning call, who’s to say he can stop your soul from going to hell?

Hab. 3:12-13 — Here Habakkuk sees how God marched through the earth as a warrior king in judicious wrath against his enemies.

reminded the people of a common, everyday occurrence. Oxen moved around a circular pit filled with wheat or barley to separate the ears of grain from the stalk by trampling on the grain. Sometimes the farmer attached a sledge behind the animal to speed up the threshing

The Bible often used threshing as a symbol of judgment (Isa 41:15; Mic 4:13).

The lord would come in judgement against his enemies but comes for the salvation of his own.

Again, this whole vision seems to be God showing Habakkuk what He has done in the past (delivering Israel from the Egyptians) but there is more to it than that.

God doesn’t tell us about his past acts of deliverance so we can say we heard a good story. No, he has a great purpose behind it- he wants to show us what has been true of Him will be true of him!!

3. Habakkuk’s Final Response (Hab 3:16-19)

*Some have called this section of Habakkuk one of the greatest expressions of faith in the Bible.

Hab. 3:16 — “I hear” - what has he heard?

First he has just heard this vision from God where he is assured of God’s judgement upon the babylonians. (back at Hab 3:2)

He also knows that what is coming for his nation when the Babylonians invade them.

His body is shaking as he stands in fear of his enemies but more so in fear of the god who just revealed himself to Him.

This is the response of all those who encounter even a hint of the presence of God in the scriptures. They are in awe and fear of such a Holy God. They cannot stand- they can only tremble.

They are made aware of their sinfulness- “rottenness enters my bones.”

YET… There are two “yets” in this passage and they are the Hinges on which the prophets swings.

Here- although I am scared, I am undone of what is going to happen.

I look around and I see all of this is going to be destroyed very soon

I see people who will be taken into exile and some who will be destroyed

When I look within, I am trembling with fear

Yet when I look to God in faith, I remember what he said (Hab 2:4) I can resolve to wait quietly for God to act against our enemies.

Hab 3:17

What was before him was economic disaster like no other. Loss of those things that give life and joy to him and to his nation.

This is a stripping away of those integral provisions that sustain life and all that Habakkuk saw was those things being destroyed.

Hab 3:18-19

He said in verse 17- THOUGH

in verse 18- YET

No matter what happens… even though these would be lost, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord!

He settles in his heart that his joy is not found in his nation’s strength or in his economic welfare, but it is in God! The God of his salvation!

The source of His strength and his joy was not the good gifts of God but rather the God who gives the gifts. He knew that even if all the gifts were stripped away, he still would have his heart’s greatest treasure- His God!

So through this book, we have seen Habakkuk go from complaining to God about the state of affairs in his life to rejoicing in God no matter what those affairs are!

He literally begins in the valley of despair as he looked at his circumstances but he ends on the high places because he looked in faith to His God!

Themes and Applications for Us

*So what? How does all this affect us today?

Prayer and Singing

Note again how this is a prayer psalm and what can we learn from it?

We learn that when we sing the faith, we need to sing the whole range of it. We should sing the great truths of God and of what what he has done in times past.

We should sing about his wrath and his mercy; we need the entire Bible to inform our hymns and songs!

We need to sing songs rooted in the gospel- this psalm ends with Habakkuk rejoicing in God because he has looked to him in faith

2. Hearing from God (v.2- “I have heard the report of you”)

Habakkuk had heard God’s report

Have you heard from God? You may say I am not a prophet and God doesn’t speak to me.

Habakkuk heard God’s report and he recorded such an awesome picture of God that it ended with him trembling yet rejoicing in the Lord

Can you say that? If I asked you to write me a report of what you’ve heard from God’s word, would the page be full or would you be able to write much at all?

What if I asked you to write me a facebook report or a news report? Or a netflix report?

Oh that we would be more eager to hear from God and gain life than a thousand other things we typically hear that deaden our affections for God.

This is why we soak in the scriptures- so our hearts will burn with affection for God so much that we have little left for the trivial things of this world that are fleeting.

3. Do it Again Lord “In the midst of the years, revive it, in the midst of the years make it known” (v.2b)

Habakkuk teaches us that we ought to yearn for God to do in our day what he has done in power in prior days.

When you read of the mighty works that God has done in the scriptures and in church history, are you only amazed because he has done it or are you pleading with him to do it again!!

What is it in your personal life or in this church have you sinfully resolved that God will not do? We are of so little faith.

Brothers and sisters- God can save that one you’ve almost stopped praying for and sharing the gospel with

This God, who causes the sun and moon to stand still and the mountains to tremble before him CAN save that one whom you think is unsavable.

He can sweep this community, this region, this nation or the entire world with his gospel in power and save millions from their current hell bound path!

4. The God who came and will come again (v.3- God came from Teman”)

We easily may overlook this- God showed up!

He showed up in salvation through judgement! He unveiled his great power and majesty.

Who did he come for? He came for his people!

We are entering week 1 of advent- we are reminded that our God came! He came to His people Israel- He came for his bride in Christ and He is coming again!!

We CAN REJOICE for he is coming! just as his people could rejoice because of his coming, we too have hope and final rest in his coming.

There is coming a day soon when Christ will come- He will come as God came here- as a warrior king who will judge his enemies in wrath.

Yet he will go out for the salvation of his anointed!

For his people- This is not just hope for advent, this is hope for the doctor’s office when you’ve gotten a horrible report.

This is hope for you when you are burdened down by the family conflict that is raging around you. How can you continue on? How can you get up tomorrow? BECAUSE GOD IS COMING FOR US!! And even if he delays, he will give us strength to persevere until he does!

5. Rely on His everlasting ways (Hab. 3:6b)

Habakkuk points us to the ancient ways of our Lord

Be reminded church- Our God has a track record to prove his ways are sure.

If you are relying on anything in this world to give you life and peace, you are relying on that which will be here today and gone tomorrow.

But if you set your hope in God, you can have assurance that your hope is secure because He is sure and so are his ways

6. God’s active work in the World and in Us

A.) On a national stage (verses 3-15)

look around and know God is not sitting in heaven with folded hands but is working all things out for his glory and for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his great purpose!

B.) In our personal lives (Hab 3:16-19)

He is working around us but he is working in us and through us.

We read of the work he did in Habakkuk as a testimony that he does this work in us as well. In his work of sanctification, he takes us from those who can’t fathom his ways, who complain to him about what we see but y His grace he is working in us to cause us to rejoice in him no matter what comes.

You may say now, I could never have that kind of faith like Habakkuk but let me remind you, the same Spirit of God who worked in Habakkuk’s heart is at work in your heart conforming you into the image of Christ and giving you a faith that you previously could not fathom!

7. To understand his mercy, we must understand his wrath (verse2c)

D.A. Carson- “The price if diluting God’s wrath is diminishing God’s holiness,

It is only against the backdrop of divine wrath that mercy means anything to us.

When we speak of salvation, we see clearly in this passage we are speaking of being saved from God! From his judicial wrath and due punishment for our sin.

Conclusion: Want to end where Habakkuk ends…

Where is your joy this morning? What is the source of it?

Is it God or his good gifts

We just exited thanksgiving- did we thank God more for his gifts than we thanked him for himself?

All our jpu is bound up not in his gifts but in him

*Joy in God is Joy from God and that Joy is for God and His glory!

Your ultimate happiness is found in God

What are you trusting in?

Yourself?

your circumstances?

the economy?

your comfort?

All these will prove insufficient for you now or one day— can you say though all these things are gone, yet i will REJOICE IN GOD