Habakkuk 3

This final chapter of Habakkuk is like a psalm to be sung. 

Habakkuk told the Lord that he has heard His plans to judge Judah and the Chaldeans, and he was afeared! Now Habakkuk asked God to remember to show mercy. He asked that He remind Israel of His saving works, as if Israel has not had opportunity before. 

Next Habakkuk recounted God's mercy towards Israel when they were rescued from Egypt. He talked about God's glory, His power, and His creation. He also foreshadowed God's future deliverance of Israel from all her enemies in the Tribulation period. 

You marched through the land in indignation. You trampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of Your people. For salvation with Your Anointed.  

When Habakkuk heard this future scene, he "trembled..."

But the good news, for Habakkuk, was that his prayer was answered. God will "vindicate His righteousness and ultimately restore a repentant people." Habakkuk could rest assured because God will always judge righteously. No matter how bad it gets for Habakkuk, he proclaims:

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

COMMENTARY

Habakkuk is a short book with only three chapters. It opened with anxiety, but it ended in assurance. Habakkuk questioned God in the beginning, and he praised him at the end.

The prophet heard what God planned to do to Judah and the Chaldeans, and Habakkuk was terrified. He was so afraid, he even asked God to show mercy to the Chaldeans.

Habakkuk then reviewed what God had done in past history with Israel, and that He was going to do it again in the future. He praised God for His salvation: "He delivered Israel out of Egypt under Moses and He brought them into the land through Joshua."

Then the prophet admitted how weak he became at the thought of God's judgment and he knew times were going to get rough. BUT...

Nonetheless, God is his joy, and he will rejoice in the God of his salvation. 

We are in the same place as Habakkuk. We know what God is going to do; we know His judgment is coming. It's going to get rough(er). BUT...like Habakkuk, we can trust Him. 

Habakkuk 2

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. 

Habakkuk 1

QUESTION #1

The prophet Habakkuk asked God how long He will ignore his complaints against Judah, which was practicing iniquity. He pointed out to God that the law was "powerless, justice never goes forth, the wicked surround the powerless; therefore, perverse judgment proceeds."

GOD'S ANSWER

God replied: Watch, because I am raising up the Chaldeans (Babylonians), a "bitter and hasty nation," who take what is not theirs. They are self-righteous, prideful, and violent; and they think their might comes from their god. 

In other words, God is telling Habakkuk that He is raising up this ungodly nation to punish Judah and Jerusalem. 

QUESTION #2

Habakkuk has to reassure himself that God will appoint the Chaldeans for judgment for their wickedness, right? I mean, God isn't going to permit this evil nation to continue gaining in power and abusing other more-godly nations (like Judah), right?

Right??

COMMENTARY:

Habakkuk was asking God how long He would permit His people to commit evil. Why did God not punish them for turning away from Him? Why did He allow them to get away with sin? It appeared that God was doing nothing about it. 

Why doesn't God judge the wicked? Why does God permit evil men and women to prosper?

Then God answered Habakkuk: When I tell you what I am doing, it will be difficult for you to believe. 

McGee said that (like Habakkuk) people today want to know why God doesn't do something about sin, but God has already done something: He sent His son Jesus to die in our place for the remission of sin. "He intruded into the affairs of the world, and He is going to intrude again in the affairs of the world." In fact, daily He is intruding into the affairs of men, but people are just not paying attention.  

ABOUT BABYLON

Babylon was the first major world power, and they were coming up in the world. They were ruthless and barbaric and sought to take as many lands and people as they could capture. One day they would take the land of Judah. 

God told Habakkuk He was "preparing a nation down yonder on the banks of the Euphrates River, and if [His] people did not repent," God would use the Babylonians to judge their disobedience.

BUT...BUT

This brought Habakkuk to a different question: if the Chaldeans (Babylonians) were even more wicked than the people of Judah, why would you use them to punish a nation which was "less wicked?" But God already demonstrated how He used Assyria to chasten the Northern Kingdom of Israel; and then He "judged Assyria for her own sins," and wiped them out. He will do the same to the Babylonians. 

Why does a holy God use a sinful nation for His purposes? Did Habakkuk forget that he asked God when He would punish the wickedness of His people? He accused God of doing nothing. But as was said, God is doing something, and He "can use a godless nation to chasten another nation."

WHY DOES GOD PERMIT EVIL?

...because He is long-suffering. He is not willing that any should perish, and He has provided a cross, a crucified Savior, so that no one needs to perish. This He did at the first coming of Christ.

So, Habakkuk wanted to know why God did not (seemingly) judge sin, and God will answer this question when Christ comes to set up His kingdom on earth. You'll see.