Transcript Lesson 8 for May 25, 2013 The book of Habakkuk is not about any prophecy God gave Habakkuk.

Lesson 8 for May 25, 2013
The book of Habakkuk is not about any prophecy God gave
Habakkuk. It is actually about the complaint of the prophet
and God’s answer to that complaint.
Habakkuk is unique among prophets because he does not
speak for God to the people but rather he speaks to God
about the people.
1. Habakkuk complains about God’s passiveness before
the sin of Judah (1:1-4)
2. Divine answer: Babylon will punish Judah (1:5-11)
3. Habakkuk complains again: Will we be punished by
someone worse than us? (1:12-2:1)
4. Divine answer:
a. Patience for the wait (2:2-3)
b. Living by faith (2:4)
c. Babylon’s final punishment (2:5-20)
5. The psalm of Habakkuk:
a. God, the Savior of His people (3:1-16)
b. Trusting God completely (3:17-19)
The prophetic ministry of Habakkuk took place during the
reigns of Manasseh and Amon. That was before Josiah’s
religious reformation.
The moral depravity of Manasseh and Amon affected the
people. Habakkuk was indignant at the moral situation of
Judah and he was surprised at God remaining silent before
that situation.
“Why do You show me
iniquity, and cause me to see
trouble? For plundering and
violence are before me;
there is strife, and
contention arises” (Habakkuk 1:3)
God does not remain impassive
before the sin of His people. He
decided to punish them by using
Babylon, a cruel people.
“For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches
through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs”
(Habakkuk 1:6)
Babylon is compared with three fast predators:
The leopard, the wolf and the eagle.
“Their horses also are swifter
than leopards, and more fierce
than evening wolves. Their
chargers charge ahead; their
cavalry comes from afar; they
fly as the eagle that hastens
to eat” (Habakkuk 1:8)
“You are of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and cannot look on wickedness.
Why do You look on those who deal
treacherously, and hold Your tongue
when the wicked devours a person
more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:13)
The prophet is astonished at the divine
solution for Judah: God uses the wicked to
punish those who are more righteous than
him.
Will Babylon praise God for their victory?
Will they admit that they are the hand of
God which is punishing Judah?
Quite the opposite, the Chaldeans are a
proud people who will praise their own
strength and will worship their own gods.
How could God or His people benefit from
that solution?
God requests patience from the
prophet before answering his second
complain. He must wait for the
prophecies to be fulfilled, for they
will surely be fulfilled.
That also applies to the prophecies
about the End Time (Hebrews 10:3537), especially to the certain promise
of the Second Coming: “He who is
coming will come and will not tarry”
“Behold the proud, his soul is not
upright in him; but the just shall
live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4)
That sentence is quoted and explained by Paul
(Ro. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). It was the key
to the protestant reformation Martin Luther:
“The just shall live by faith”
Through faith in Jesus Christ we receive God’s
righteousness; we are credited with the
righteousness of God Himself. His righteousness
becomes ours.
“True faith lays hold of and claims
the promised blessing before it is
realized and felt. We must send up
our petitions in faith within the
second vail, and let our faith take
hold of the promised blessing, and
claim it as ours”
E.G.W. (God’s Amazing Grace, July 18)
BABYLON’S FINAL PUNISHMENT (2:5-20)
God used the 5 Babylon’s woes to
show Habakkuk that the Chaldean
people will be justly punished by their
acts.
God’s ultimate answer to Habakkuk’s
questions was the affirmation of His
abiding presence. Trust in God’s
presence and have confidence in His
judgment in spite of the appearances
to the contrary; that is the message of
Habakkuk’s book.
“But the Lord is in His
holy temple. Let all
the earth keep silence
before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20)
“O Lord, I have heard Your speech
and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst
of the years!
In the midst of the years make it
known;
In wrath remember mercy”
(Habakkuk 3:2)
This hymn reminds us the way God
acted in the past.
God saved His people in the past, so
He will also establish His justice on
Earth and will fill the world with His
glory.
The example of Habakkuk encourages
us to take heart “in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord”
(Eph. 5:19), to remember God’s past
acts and His future salvation.
“Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from
the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation”
(Habakkuk 3:17-18)
Although I may lose my job, or may
have no food or house, or may not be
able to find a solution to my serious
problems… I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF
MY SALVATION.