Habakkuk 1:1-11

July 2, 2023

Mountain View Evangelical Missionary Church

God’s Divine Judgment

This morning, I wanted to continue with a theme I started in my last message here at Mountain View EMC. In my message from Father’s Day, we examined a bit of the life of Job and how he handled the suffering that he experienced in his life. We also discussed that Job was never told the reason behind the suffering that he had to endure. In life, we will have to endure suffering, and at times, in His Wisdom, God may choose to withhold the reasons for the suffering from us. At other times, God does make clear the reasons for calamity in our lives.

Today, we will be looking at just such an example in the scripture that we will be looking at together.

 When we read the newspapers or watch the news, it may seem like a very tumultuous time we are living in. It may seem like the world is spinning out of control. We had a tornado south of town yesterday. We have a war in Ukraine… this past week we saw riots in France, Belgium, and now Switzerland…and we are continually reading about shootings and other violence happening in schools, malls, and gas stations.

We have just finished an entire month dedicated to celebrating what the Bible declares to be a sexual sin. This has become the new secular religion. Laws have been passed to silence our criticism of their perverted ways. If you dare to publicly speak against the symbol of this new religion, the rainbow flag, you will be punished.

I was just reading this week about a minister in Yorkshire, England who committed this cultural error. The minister’s bank sent him a questionnaire requesting some feedback regarding their services. He simply asked, “Why are all the branches festooned with Pride Flags? Why doesn’t the bank stick to its knitting and leave politics out of the branches?” For his honest feedback, four days later Reverend Fothergill had his bank account closed and now the Yorkshire Building Society refuses to do business with him.

 This is the new secular religion. When do we celebrate a month dedicated to adultery? Or which month celebrates thievery? Which is the Gluttony Pride month? Is May, or March Murder Month, I get those two confused. This is why I speak out against it so much, to emphasize the fact that one particular sin is being promoted so strongly by government, education, business, and other institutions. We need to be aware of the direction that our society is being guided towards.

 For the record, I do not hate homosexuals or people struggling with gender identity issues. I am a Christian, and Jesus forbids me to hate anyone. I am told to love and pray for my enemies. I am held to a higher standard than those who do not know Jesus.

But, at the same time, I cannot accept their sin and their blatant rebellion against God. I cannot “affirm” their sinful behavior and tell them that God is OK with their actions. Their sin is no greater than any other sin. Their sin is no worse than the sin that I have in my life but telling them that it is OK is not the loving thing to do. I refuse to “affirm” any sinning individual on their way to Hell. They need Jesus not affirmation. They need Jesus just like I needed Jesus when I was living a sin-filled life apart from God.

I want all sinners to know the peace and the love that a Heavenly Father has to offer them when they submit their lives to His Rule. Telling this to all sinners is the loving thing to do. Mankind does not get to set the boundaries of acceptance in this relationship. The sinner does not get to tell the Sovereign God what is and is not acceptable sin.

It is not my job to convict them of their wicked ways. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is my job, it is the work of all Christians, to introduce people to Jesus Christ, and the Lord and the Spirit will do the rest. Only the Holy Spirit can change a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 is this very famous saying, so famous that even those who do not know the bible often quote it as a piece of secular wisdom. It says, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

Everything in my introduction has pointed to the simple fact that as a Nation, we have walked away from God. These sins are so appealing because we are now able to set ourselves up as our own Gods. When we reject God and His teachings in the Bible, we then step into that void and become the rulers and diviners of what is and isn’t acceptable.

 To quote the words of Solomon once more, “What has been done will be done again”. This morning, we will look at a time when God’s chosen people did the very same thing that we are doing today. We seem to be living in a time of injustice just as Habakkuk did in his time. Yahweh brought a time of suffering on His people as a correction, and as a means to bring them back to Himself.

 The Book of Habakkuk, chapter one, verse one. Habakkuk is what they call, one of the minor prophets, not because what he wrote was not as important as other prophets, but rather it refers to the length of the book that was recorded.

 READ HABAKKUK 1:1-11

 I wish we had several consecutive weeks to carefully go through this book. There is so much relevant information in this book that is directly applicable to the events of our time. This is why the Bible is referred to as, “The Living Word of God”. Habakkuk was written over 2600 years ago, yet the lessons are just as true today as they were six centuries before the birth of Jesus.

 Habakkuk lived during the reign of the interloper King Jehoiakim in the southern Kingdom of Judah. This is after the reign of King David and the reign of his son, King Solomon. After Solomon’s death, the promised land separated into two kingdoms about the year 930 BC: the northern kingdom known as Israel, and the southern kingdom known as Judah. After the death of Solomon, the successive kings in both kingdoms swung back and forth between pagan worship and the worship of the one true God, Yahweh.

In 722 BC the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians. and in 605 BC the Babylonians invaded Judah and took it captive. The Babylonians took nobles captive such as Daniel back with them to assimilate them away from their Jewish culture and to become more like the Babylonians.

Habakkuk takes place in the years between 640 and 605 BC. The prophecy that God gives to Habakkuk in answer to his questions, happens in 586 BC when Judah falls, and Jerusalem is destroyed.

Habakkuk sees violence and injustice happening around him, and he cries out to God in prayer respectfully seeking answers for the issues that he was seeing in his time.

Look with me at Habakkuk, chapter one, verse one. “The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.” The ESV translation uses the word “oracle” instead of prophecy. The book opens with a declaration that this is a prophecy or an oracle that the prophet Habakkuk received from God. After the initial statement, however, the next few stanzas are a series of statements and questions being posed by Habakkuk regarding the situation that the people of Judah were finding themselves in the middle of.

Habakkuk wrote in a time of international crisis and national corruption. Babylonia had just emerged as a world power. When the Babylonians rebelled against Assyria, Judah found a brief period of relief reflected in the reforms initiated by the Israeli King Josiah.

The Assyrians were forced to devote their energies to stopping the Babylonian rebellion. The Babylonians finally crushed the Assyrian Empire and quickly proceeded to defeat the once-powerful Egyptians. A new empire was stretching across the world.  There was a brief respite for the people of Judah as the bigger boys on the continent worked things out amongst themselves. Soon, the Babylonians would overtake Judah and carry its inhabitants away into captivity. On the eve of this pending destruction, a period of uncertainty and fear arose, and it was at this time that Habakkuk wrote his message. 

The crisis internationally was serious. But of even greater concern was the national corruption. Great unrest stirred within Judah. Josiah had been a good king. When he died, Josiah’s son Jehoahaz rose to the throne. After only three months, the king of Egypt invaded Judah, deposed Jehoahaz, and placed his brother Jehoiakim on the throne. Jehoiakim was evil, ungodly, and rebellious. His exploits are recounted in 2 Kings 23:36–24:7. We do not have time to turn there today, but the passage is in your notes if you wish to do some further reading. Shortly after Jehoiakim ascended to power, Habakkuk wrote his lament over the decay, violence, greed, fighting, and perverted justice that surrounded him.  2 Kings specifically mentions the shedding of innocent blood done by these kings, and God taking offense to this. Sound familiar?

 In our time we see similar things. Russia invading Ukraine. Progressive judges are undermining the justice system by refusing to impose the proper level of sentencing on criminals in the name of social justice. Unchecked and unvetted immigration is causing problems from housing shortages to an increase in criminal and gang activities. I am old enough to remember when Canada only accepted the best and the brightest from other countries, but until recently, anyone who could buy a plane ticket to the U.S. and cross a dead-end road in upstate New York was welcomed into the country without any qualifications being imposed on them.

We have seen moral decay in Western society since we have removed prayer from school and the discussion of God from the public square. Elected officials lie with impunity to get elected, lie even more while they are in office to maintain their power, and seem to be punished when they speak the truth against the radical ideologies that the lobbyists push to enact. In the ESV translation, Proverbs 12:22 puts it this way, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” The Lord hates lying lips. Do you find that convicting? What a change we could affect in our country, if we first stopped lying, and then we expected the same from our political leaders. If we rewarded honesty instead of trying to cancel those who tell us uncomfortable truths. What a difference that could make!

When we remove any discussion of or recognition of God from public discourse, we fail to understand the moral component of the legal system. We tend to concentrate on just the punishment aspect of the courts, and we fail to understand the connection between moral training or retraining and the prison system. Moral guidance and shaping are among the reasons that God gave us the law. Sure, from a personal and individual perspective, if we find ourselves standing in front of a judge, it is natural to wish for leniency for our crimes, but, prolonged minimum sentencing undermines the whole justice system and our societal values.

 I am going to wade into some controversial waters now. I am going to say some things that may make some of you upset. I will say that I am not judging anyone here, or any family members who may have had to make difficult decisions in the past. But I must address some things that… just because they are legal, does not mean they are morally right, or that God approves of them. Several times in the Old Testament, God makes it clear that he hates the shedding of innocent blood. In ancient times, there was the worship of Molech. Children, usually first-born males were sacrificed to win favor from this pagan and false deity. Leviticus 18:21 makes it clear that God detests and forbids this behavior. It is written in Leviticus, “Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”

Today, we continue to sacrifice children, but we use euphemisms such as “health care” and “reproductive rights”. But, in reality, aren’t we just sacrificing our unborn on the altars of selfishness and convenience? And now in Canada, we have Medical Assistance in Death, or MAID. What a more palatable name for suicide. Actually, we are acting like God in determining the time of our death. Several times in the Old Testament, the Bible makes it clear that God knows the length of our lifetime. Psalm 139, verses 13 to 16 really tie these two thoughts together well. 

      "13 For you created my inmost being; 

         you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

      14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

         your works are wonderful, 

         I know that full well. 

      15 My frame was not hidden from you 

         when I was made in the secret place, 

         when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 

      16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; 

         all the days ordained for me were written in your book 

         before one of them came to be."

This passage gives me such comfort because it reminds me that I serve an all-knowing and all-powerful eternal God. He knit me together in my mother’s womb. Not some random process like evolution. I am fearfully and wonderfully made! As are you! We are image-bearers of God, fearfully and wonderfully made in His image, by Him. This is not some distant and cold deity that we worship on Sunday mornings. The Bible does not describe some watch-maker type of God, who creates the Universe and winds it up, and then sets it loose to go on ticking without Him.

 God desires a personal relationship with each and every one of us. The Good News is that in addition to creating each of us, He has constructed a way for each sinner to return to Him and be cleansed. Those who have sexual sin in our lives or our past, those who have committed sins of theft, those who have told lies, and even those who are in prison and have committed murder can find refuge in Jesus Christ and a restored relationship with God the Father.

That is the power of Grace. That is the power of the redemptive work that Jesus did on the cross nearly two thousand years ago. Our sinful nature draws us to the darkness rather than the light.

John 3:16 states, "16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The familiar passage in John chapter three starting in verse sixteen summarizes this amazing truth for us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Even atheists know this passage. “For God so loved the world”, but many make the mistake of thinking that God is only Love.

It is true that God loves us, He loves us so much that He has determined a way, for us to be in a right relationship with Him based solely on His actions. God loved the world so much, that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice to appease His wrath.

 But the Good News doesn’t end at verse sixteen. John goes on to proclaim in verse seventeen, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus did not come to condemn. Jesus had no need to condemn us, we, have condemned ourselves! Our sinful nature is all the condemnation that we need when we stand before a Holy and Just God. I will get to that part in a bit. Jesus does not condemn us, and that is why I cannot and do not condemn anyone who is repentant and in need of forgiveness from God.

 It is not loving to tell someone it is OK to remain in their sin, and that God loves them and it’s all going to work out in the end. That’s not loving! It is much more comfortable for me and much easier for me to ignore their disobedience to God’s teaching and do a little “wink, wink, nod, nod” and tell them that they are not a bad person and God loves them and that there is no day of judgment coming when they will have to give an account for their actions.

The verses 18 to 21 in John chapter three, really drop the hammer on us, which is probably why these verses are not quoted as much. John 3:18 states, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” This is the part that makes the “God is Love” people so uncomfortable. But let me tell you the truth, they are not worshipping the true God of the Bible. They are worshipping a false God of their own making. A limited God! A one-dimensional “God-is-Love” idol of their own making.

 John continues in verse 19, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” Scripture tells us that our deeds are evil. Not our neighbors’ deeds, but our deeds are evil. Verse 20, “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” Verse 21, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

 That’s the God that we worship! Our sinful nature causes us to stay in the dark, where we think that our sins will remain hidden from a God who judges. But verse 21 tells us that He already has seen what our sins are, and He still chooses to love us and forgive us when we accept the completed work of His Son on the cross.

When we abuse the gift of Grace by trying to add our works to it or worse when we try to rely on our own righteousness to pay our own way back to the Father, that sacrifice… that sin offering… is rejected because it falls so short of what is needed. Keep in mind the warning from verse 18, “but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

 I have said all of that so far this morning for two reasons: First, to show that in our modern arrogance, we tend to think that we are so sophisticated, and our society is so advanced that we are above the sins of the primitive people of Bible times. We are exactly like the people of Judah in the time of Habakkuk. Second, to show you that despite our wicked and sinful nature, Jesus has provided a way back into a right relationship with God. Our hope for this lies in Jesus Christ alone.

 OK, let’s turn back to today’s passage in the Book of Habakkuk and look at the rest of the text in some greater detail. I chose this text as the other side of the coin to our Father’s Day sermon. Job did not receive an answer from God for the reason for his suffering. But here, in the Book of Habakkuk, we will see that God does inform Habakkuk that the suffering that God is about to bring onto the Kingdom of Judah is a form of judgment on them and it is being done in the hopes of them coming back to Yahweh and back into obedience to Him.

READ HABAKKUK 1:2-4

Initially, Habakkuk takes His concerns directly to God. He cries out to God in the form of questions, respectfully waiting for an answer from God. Not in such a manner that God owes Habakkuk an explanation, but rather as one who has a faith-filled relationship with a close and personal God.

 In these verses we see Habakkuk taking his concerns about the violence and injustice that I was speaking about earlier, to God and asking for help in understanding why these problems were not being addressed. Notice, that it never occurs to Habakkuk that God is powerless to do anything, he just wants to know when God is going to interrupt this cycle and bring balance and order back to His people.

We can do the same today. As Believers in Jesus, we have something that not even Habakkuk had as a prophet of God, we have both Jesus and the Holy Spirit acting as intercessors for us with God the Father taking our prayers and concerns to Him and interceding on our behalf. Jesus and the Spirit take our needs to the Father on our behalf and advocate for them for us. We should follow the example of Habakkuk and prayerfully take our concerns to God and ask for relief, help, and even for divine intercession into our world once again.

Let me ask you a question: When you are finished praying, do you sit quietly waiting for an answer? Do you make a point to be deliberate in searching for answers, or are you simply venting to God? Are you spending time in God’s Word and giving the Lord an opportunity to answer you?

I find most of my answers in the Scriptures. I find when I read the Bible, it is like God is speaking to me. We see from Habakkuk’s example here, that prayer is actually a two-way conversation with the Lord.

This brings us to the LORD’s response. Look back with me at verse 5.

READ HABAKKUK 1:5

Stop right there for a moment. I would like to point out a couple of things. God answers Habakkuk and lets him know that He, God, is about to do something. God alone is responsible for the coming judgment on Judah.

I want to make something clear here, God does not cause someone to sin. What we know about God’s character is that He is Holy and Just and verse 13 explains, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.” If God does not tolerate wrongdoing, He certainly cannot be the author of wrongdoing. So how do we square this in our minds?

In Habakkuk’s day, God had been restraining the Babylonians, holding them back, curbing their natural evil tendencies, and now He was ready to let them loose on Judah. Mankind does not need God’s help to sin. As we read earlier from John’s Gospel, “People loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” That is our natural state, left unchecked by the Holy Spirit, we are drawn to the darkness.

I am not trying to make anyone feel guilty or bad here. I really am not. What I am trying to do is to hold a mirror up to ourselves and have each one of us take a good long look in the mirror and make an honest assessment of who we are and why we need Jesus. Believe me, I am preaching to myself here every bit as I am preaching to you. Being aware of our sins brings God that much more Glory for saving us from that life.

The second thing I want to point out is that in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul quotes this verse from Habakkuk when he is preaching in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. You don’t have to turn there but let me read four verses from Acts chapter 13.

Paul has just finished explaining the history of the relationship between the Israelites and their God, from the exodus out of Egypt to the establishment of the Mosaic Law, through to King David and Paul shows that Jesus is the Messiah because he comes from David’s line. Then Paul shows how all have fallen short in their own righteousness and then he delivers the Good News. He doesn’t do it in the way that so many present-day preachers do in that God is all love. Paul shows that God does love and has provided a way to reconcile with God and that it comes with a warning about refusing the offer. Acts 13: 38-41 reads, “³⁸Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ³⁹ Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.” There was the Good News, the Gospel, and next comes the warning. “⁴⁰ Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:⁴¹ “‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’” The warning comes straight out of today’s passage.

Let’s look at the next few verses in Habakkuk.

READ HABAKKUK 1:6-11

God says that He is “raising up the Babylonians” or some of your Bibles may use the name “Chaldeans”, the names are interchangeable and refer to the same people. God is “raising them up” by removing His restraining hand.

Gosh, I wish we had more time to spend on this book. The parallels between Judah and our time are so striking. Are you starting to understand what is happening in our society today? When we, as a nation, turn away from God, He begins to remove His restraining hand from our culture, and because of mankind’s sinful nature, we are drawn to the darkness of sin and debauchery.

We don’t want to shine the light on the sin of others because we worry that some of the light might expose our own sins. We hope that by staying in the dark, God will not see our sins. John 3:21 blows up that argument, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” God has already seen what you have done and what you are going to do, and He still loves you enough to choose you and to draw you to Himself.

 So, what, now what? You might be asking yourself. Let me give you some advice and some hope. We should handle ourselves just as Habakkuk handled himself. This leads us to sermon point number three:

 As I said, I wish we had more time to spend with Habakkuk, but for the final point, turn with me to the third chapter of the book. We are only going to look at a few verses, but I think that we will draw some comfort from the attitude and example that the prophet displays for us. Turn with me to Habakkuk 3 verse 2.

READ HABAKKUK 3:2

 We see from verse one, just above that Habakkuk is praying again to God. But now Habakkuk is no longer questioning God but rather praising Him and taking comfort in the knowledge of God’s unchanging character. Habakkuk lets God know that he does know who God is and what He has done in the past and Habakkuk finds comfort in that knowledge.

 Jump down to verse 17 and the next few verses.

 READ HABAKKUK 3:17-18

 Verse seventeen describes the conditions of famine which often accompany war. Food shortages are often the first felt effects of war. Supply chains are disrupted, stores fail to be restocked, invading armies pillage locally found food to feed their war machine, and civilians suffer.

 Look at verse eighteen and Habakkuk states how he will handle such adversity, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” How is this possible? What kind of lunatic will “rejoice” during these times of suffering?

It is possible if you have placed your faith in your God and Savior. If you recognize that He finished His work on the cross, that He repaired the relationship between God and Mankind, when we accept the gift of Grace and stop trying to earn God’s favor, then we have the assurance of eternal life with God in His Kingdom. Compared to eternity, the years of suffering we may have to endure here on Earth will be but a blink of an eye.

The present reward for Habakkuk for his faith?

READ HABAKKUK 3:19

The sovereign LORD was his strength. That strength made Habakkuk able to move through the difficult times of war.

One commentator put it this way, “The Sovereign Lord gives triumph over circumstances to those who trust Him. The way to get out from under the load is to get right under the Lord. To be under the Lord is to be over the circumstances.”

I want to give you a bit more insight into the account from the Book of Acts in chapter 13 when Paul and Barnabas were in Pisidian Antioch. After the first sermon, Paul and Barnabas were invited back to the synagogue to share more teachings. On the second day, the Jews began to reject Paul’s teaching, so they went outside and began to preach to the assembled Gentile crowd. Acts 13:48 records their response, this time from the ESV, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

Rejoicing should be our response.