Chapter two began with Habakkuk saying he will wait to see what God will answer to his previous question in chapter one: how can a holy God use a godless nation for judgment over His people, a more godly people?
God responded to Habakkuk to write this down because there is an "appointed time" when He will act; He does not tarry.
Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
Then God described the ungodly Babylonians: drunk, proud, always seeking ways to spread chaos, never satisfied, conquering nations and people wherever they please. Woe to him who continues on in this way because his victims will eventually rise up against him. Woe to him who covets evil gain and uses violence for increase. Woe to him who forces others to participate in debauchery; and woe to him who makes carved idols for worship.
COMMENTARY
THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH
Chapter 2 highlights two kinds of people: the vain man and the one who lives by faith, or the lost and the saved.
"The soul which is lifted up is not upright in him." That is a proud man, one who thinks he can earn his own salvation, or lives for today. "There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
"The just shall live by his faith" are those headed towards full knowledge of God. Right now, believers do not know answers to all of their questions, but one day, in God's presence, they will.
Back to Habakkuk's question, "Why God?" The answer: "God sent His people into captivity because it served the purpose of chastisement for their sins. And it enabled Him to bring the Savior into the world - in the fullness of time."
What does that mean for us today in the Twentieth-first Century? We need to receive Christ as our Savior, trusting in Him alone and walking by faith alone.
Back to the two kinds of people - the proud and those who walk by faith: this lines up with the two ways available to mankind:
Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
McGee describes the broad way like a funnel - very wide at the place where you enter, but narrows down so that the follower ends up in one place: destruction. That is the path of an unbeliever.
The strait gate, or narrow gate, is a narrow entrance because Jesus is the only way. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." The gate is narrow, but it widens out. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Jesus offers abundant life to those who will follow Him.
Next there are five woes directed towards Babylon. God charged Babylon with drunkenness, which has led to their arrogance and desire to create chaos and take everything that does not belong to them. The second woe is for covetousness and self-aggrandizement. The third woe was for their violence and murder. The fourth woe is for causing others to sin. And the greatest charge and final woe is for idolatry. The downfall of a nation begins with idolatry, or a turning away from the Creator.
Man has a big problem -- that is he is not right with God, and there is only one way out: to repent and follow Christ.
