Why Correct Us Like This? Part 1 (Hab. 1:12-13a)

Are You Not?

1. “from everlasting” v.12a

Psalm 90:2 NASB95

2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Habakkuk has established in his mind and establishes for us the eternal nature of God the Creator. In this poetic language it is not so much a question as it is an affirmation of what Habakkuk believes to be true.

ILLUST This understanding ensures that whatever we go through life is not the end. Our God knows it from before the mountains were born and life will be after the last mountain crumbles.

Evolutionist will say there was nothing and then out of nothing we came into being. Ancient astraonaut theory is that some life form created us but has not idea where the life form came from. Ever biblical writer agrees with this one fact. He is EVERLASTING!

2. “Oh Lord, My God, My Holy One?” v.12b

ILLUST: April, My beautiful, My Wife

a. (yhwh) The proper name of the God of Israel, referring to the “absolute and unchangeable one, . . . ever-living, as self-consistent . .”

b. (eloha) rulers, judges, referring to gods and can be plural or singular.

c. (qados) “sacred, holy”; “separate from human infirmity, impurity and sin.”

NOTE: A lesson in Theology 101, Habakkuk reasons that if what he believes to be true, That God is “from everlasting”, then He is surly the one and only “yhwh”, who is “eloha” (spirit), and yet He is unique, set a part from any other spirit being because He is absolute and exists because of Himself.

3. “You, O Lord . . . You Oh Rock” V.12c

a. as “yhwh” the absolute and unchangeable Creator of all things has made this decision to use these fierce Chaldeans.

ILLUST: When I wreck my bike and I come in with gravel in my knee and dad says come in here, I’ll grab the peroxide. As you scream in pain he washes the gravel out and then pours peroxide over the raw skin and as it bubbles it burns. But Dad knows that this pain is important to keep your knee from getting infected and eventually after scrapped elbows and cut hands, you know that Dad has appointed peroxide applied to your knee for its ultimate healing.

b. “sur” is rock and is a rare Aramaic word and means “confine, secure.” God is stable, a foundation and has not changed. If you wonder through the history of Judah and Israel, this Rock, would raise up evil nations to judge them as a regular act to “judge” and “correct”.

TRANS: “Are You Not” Everlasting, Yhwh, the unique and set apart Creator Spirit, who has the wisdom and knowledge and who is secure in His judgments to appoint and establish these fierce Chaldeans. This fierce Disease, financial disaster, etc. What could God do to correct me that I would still acknowledge God with such respect, honor and truthfulness?

4. “too pure” v.13

Psalm 11:4–6 NASB95

4 The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. 5 The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates. 6 Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.

Psalm 34:15–16 NASB95

15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers, To cut off the memory of them from the earth.

NOTE: ESV “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?” KJV “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And canst not look on iniquity: Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, And holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”

You have probably heard this thought that God the Father can not look upon anything evil because he is too pure and it is partially based on this text right here. Then scholars have imposed this thought on different texts to prove that this Holy, YHWH, cannot be in the presence of sin. This text does not teach this and this theory is not true. This is why people try and say that The Father turned his face from Jesus on the cross because The Father couldn’t see the sin. These views are “Gnostic”. I believe the NASB translates this best;

“Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?”

ILLUST: Habakukk is not trying to prove that God is in a bubble of Holy and nothing evil can come near Him. If this were the case than a huge percent of scripture would go against this theory. For instance:

If Jesus is God and can’t be around evil then how did he put on flesh and be around us? How did he take the penalty of death on our behalf? Some might say well thats Jesus the Son not the Father?

In the Garden after Adam and Eve sinned it says that God came looking for them and spoke with them and showed grace to them. Some may say well this is the pre incarnation of Jesus?

Jesus says “My God My God why have you forsaken Me?” This is a direct quote from Psalm 22:1 which is the beginning of a cry of David. Yet David closes this cry with a praise v.24 “For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him.” This is proof positive that Jesus was feeling abandoned in paying the penalty of sin for all of us but He was never abandoned. Not to mention Jesus was talking with the Father the whole time on the cross.

Okay then go to Job where satan himself goes into the heavens and addresses God. I think a thorough look at scripture reveals that God will not participate in and He himself is above evil and sin but He truly is a God who comes to us in the midst of our sin, even taken the penalty so that His people might be corrected and ultimately saved.

NOTE: Habakkuk just can’t understand how a God how is so pure and Holy could allow such evil and specifically use such evil to judge Judah.

CLOSE: In the midst of such an unbelievable and ugly judgment. In a time where even those of faith wonder what God is doing allowing such evil to continue. Is our belief, not just our understanding but our belief, our belief continue to hang on the person of who God is? Can we say with Habakkuk and the Psalmist 118:17-18 “I will not die, but live, And tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, But He has not given me over to death.” Habakkuk describes God with words that define who he believes He truly is.

Habakkuk makes this small comment and don’t miss it, “We will not die.” No matter what, God is our life and we will not die. Jesus said this when he met Martha outside the funeral of Lasarus. So it would do Christians well to know God as

LORD “YHWH”, God the Creator set apart and like no other, who is ultimate ruler and is secure in what He does so we can trust Him even when we cannot see. This brings us back to this key text in

Habakkuk 2:4 NASB95

4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.