May 6, 2018 PM Habakkuk Waits by Pastor Josh Sheldon

We'll turn if you would please once again to Habakkuk and we'll just look at the first four verses of chapter 2 this afternoon

Habakkuk Chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 Just to remind you the context here is now our fourth message in this

So -called minor prophet though Lord willing you're seeing that there's nothing minor or insignificant about his

Prophecy and its application to us today so many thousand years later

But he has gone to the Lord in the first four verses and received an answer then

In the next Verses number 5 through 11 and then in 12 to 17 in the first chapter he

Answers back to the Lord about his answer as it were and now He is going to again wait and see what the

Lord will say So that's just the context that just to remind you what brought us to this point so chapter 2 beginning at verse 1

I Will take my stand at the why am I watch post and Station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what

I will answer concerning my complaint and the Lord answered me Write the vision make it plain on tablets so that so he may run who reads it

For still the vision awaits its appointed time it hastens to the end it will not lie

If it seems slow wait for it, it will surely come it will not delay Behold his soul is puffed up.

It is not upright within him But the righteous shall live by his faith

The very first verse of this entire prophecy in the first chapter it tells us

That what we have here in this entire prophecy is the Oracle that he saw

Very important to remember that it's something an oracle is an utterance an oracle is a word sometimes translated a burden and It's something not just a word.

He heard, but it's an oracle that he saw It's a prophecy and while prophecy includes the direct

Word of God to him verse 1 through 5 1 5

Though it does not have thus sayeth the Lord it is clearly God's word answer In the opening that we have a word answer something he saw and yet a word from God so we don't have thus says the

Lord and Yet the Lord said this to him and along with that Habakkuk saw the answer

Saw what God was giving him In this afternoon's text our prophet says he's going to look out and see what

God will say He's gonna look and see what God says Followed by his anticipation that he will have opportunity to answer back to God once again

Which is essentially the substance of the third chapter I look and see what he will say to me and what

I will answer Concerning my complaint and when we get to chapter 3, that's the answer that he anticipates

When he calls himself a watchman, he says I will take my stand at my watch post that seems to anticipate

Ezekiel the prophet Ezekiel and his watchman status when he takes his stand at the watch post

Seems to anticipate that from Ezekiel In verses chapter 1 verses 1 through 4.

He asked the Lord how it is that so much evil Because he's speaking then of Judah of God's people how how so much evil is seemingly unnoticed much less ever punished

And the next seven verses Produce a sort of horror in Habakkuk a people even more wicked than Judah the ones

He's complaining about are on their way to bring about divine punishment Then the six verses after that have an answering back to the

Lord that this just cannot be surely God Who is holy and pure surely?

He would not sully himself with so cruel and so idolatrous a nation as the one he is sending which of course is

Babylon the Chaldeans So, how can you do this?

Lord how can you who have two pure eyes than they behold evil sin cannot dwell with you and Yet to punish evil you're gonna use a people more evil than the ones who are doing the evil that you're punishing

How can you do this and a little less than a century after this prophecy

Ezra and we're familiar with his book Ezra would not allow Israel's enemies to help build the temple

He said to them you have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God But we alone will build to the

Lord the God of Israel. So how much more should God Avoid the use of wicked men for his purposes

If a man a sinful man like Ezra a man with a spirit like ours

Wouldn't allow wicked men to help in the building of the temple. How much more should God? The Lord himself avoid the use of wicked men

So verses 2 through 5 in this chapter are the beginning of God's reply to him

And the next time we come to this we'll look at the rest of the chapter and just to give you a little preview It's five pronouncements of woe five woes of condemnation

Against this very nation that caused such hot horror in Habakkuk the Babylonians And part of the answer that we can anticipate even now

To give ourselves a trailer of sorts is God is aware. God does not have evil dwelling with them

He does not ignore it and he will punish it all today

We find that the answer To the Prophet the answer that God gives is to be made plain and it is to be published to all people.

That's verse 2 and Second in verse 3 the vision is reliable wait patiently for it.

It will come to pass and again anticipating the next the rest of this chapter

Babylon's victory and Babylon's eventually eventual defeat it will happen

Third verse 4 one of the better -known prophetic passages by faithful endurance comes life

The righteous one shall live by his faith. I will talk a little bit more about that verse or that part of a verse later

And fourth and finally the the ways of the wicked bring only temporary success. They will eventually collapse under their own weight the vision

Is to be reduced to words and to be inscribed on tablets He says write the vision make it plain on tablets.

So he who run he so he may run who reads it Now tablets as you'd expect denotes to us permanency reliability

The tablets of the law the Ten Commandments is the most most obvious example Isaiah and Jeremiah were both told to put some of their prophecy on Tablets twice in the book of Proverbs the heart is likened to a tablet as the place where Solomon's wisdom should reside

So what's our prophet Habakkuk to do? He is to make a written record of the vision this word this

Oracle that he's seeing By inscribing it on a tablet.

It might be a stone like the Ten Commandments It might be hard black hard baked clay as the

Babylonians in that time practiced But the idea is the same the

Lord has decided and There will be no change That you write down this vision that you are seeing this word this utterance this burden that you are actually

Seeing you write it down in the plain language that you're receiving it So that those who hear it or read it or have it proclaimed to them can understand it

Do not subtract from it tell it like it is or tell it like it will be it's really the message there

You see the Word of God is given to us to be understood Not all of it as is as plain as other parts of it

Often we need to roll up our sleeves and work hard to ferret out the meaning The most modern scripture we have is some 2 ,000 years old and the oldest quite a bit older than that Some figures of speech and things that were once commonly known have been as obscured by the passage of time

So it does sometimes take a lot of work to get out the meaning of God's Word exegete is what we call it

X to draw out meaning If the people who first received the word understood the metaphors and the figures more quickly than we do

The meaning is still accessible to us We just have to dig a bit more as they would if they had to read our literature today

The Lord got word of God's made plain it's not meant to confuse people It's not to be meant to be something where you hear that danger is coming as was clear in Habakkuk's prophecy and Then God complicates the what do

I then do? How do I save myself? What am I supposed to do about this? No, it's plain as given to be is given to us to be understood

God has protected this word in the many languages It's been translated into and so we have a reliable word we can write it on tablets

It can be made plain and understand and understood But he says

So he may run who reads it and this running man is a bit controversial

I mean is it the Israelite running from the coming danger who can only stop for a second?

Or is it the Herald who has a lot of stops to make and so he doesn't have much time But has to make his point quickly

But in either case it's really the same make the vision plain make it easy to understand today.

We might say accessible and the running aspect of it whether it's the

Herald who has to run from place to place because they have so many or It's the people running from danger and so they don't have time much to stop and read it

But the idea does remain the same It's dangerous coming

And you need to get moving here because this reliable word to be plainly understood has been declared to you.

I Would say the Herald is the one running with it. That's just my take on it The other if you think it's the people running away from danger who have only that moment to read it

It doesn't change it that much because there's immediacy to it. Why does he run? The vision is hastening on to his divinely determined appointment.

We consider the situation here Babylon's incursions are becoming more and more menacing

They've defeated a Syria They've defeated Egypt in Something less than 20 years

They'll be at the gates of Jerusalem scoffing at Kings and rulers and laughing at walls meant to keep them out

Just as it said in chapter 1 that they laugh at all these things You're a king.

You're a ruler. You're a prince. You're a general of a great army. You built a wall against us They hold them in derision.

Nothing will keep them away so there's not a lot of time for discussion if You sit and ponder it if you stroke your chin and consider alternatives

If you saunter on home to consult with your wife and your kids No, they had no such luxury of time

What is being prophesied here? What is being told here warned of here? It's just too quickly around the corner

You know in Peter's day Much long before us but long after Habakkuk in Peter's day.

It was the same men scoffed at the prophecies of doom It says knowing this first of all the scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing

Following their own sinful desires They will say where is the promise of his coming for ever since the father's fell asleep all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation for they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the

Word of God and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished

But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire

Being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly in other words

God did exactly as he warns When he warns of these things he can point back to history and say this will happen in and the word is reliable and your history your past tells us

Or tells you that the future That I've declared to you is just as certain so do not let a few days or a few years or even a few decades or even a few centuries make you lackadaisical about this

Don't mistake God's patience for amnesia or worse for practical atheism

It might seem slow, but it only seems to be that in fact

The Word of God unfolds neither slowly nor quickly It is neither fast or slow paced.

What is the speed of the Word of God? What is its timing?

What is its pace? It comes about in exact accordance with his goodwill and pleasure

His good and perfect will is exactly how History unfolds according to his decree according to his word according to his timing therefore the church can say perfectly without error without mistake without a hitch

That said for them that time was near The people of Judah are being told that Babylon will be at their gates, and they're right around the corner

Now verse 4 here makes a contrast between two receptions of God's Word Behold his soul is puffed up.

It is not upright within him and then but the righteous shall live by his faith So the first half is obviously the

Babylonian horde that is coming God knows their soul is puffed up.

God knows what Habakkuk is saying that yes, though they seem on the outward side Anyway to be more wicked more evil

Further from you than the ones you're using them to punish The original language there when it says the soul is puffed up says that he's heedless

He gives no concern for anything except for his own desires his soul is puffed up And it is not straight in its paths

Yes verse 1 9 says their faces are all forward as they go straight to the prize

This is his soul is not upright or straight his desires are wrong.

He goes straight for it But for the wrong things he has no humanity has no regard for common decency much less

God And we will see when we get to the five woes which are the rest of chapter 1

Now we can see from chapter 1 That he Being Babylon is responsible for his choices.

God will judge Babylon once they've served his purposes Why did they even exist though?

Why is there Babylon? We can look further back in biblical history and say well why

Why did Pharaoh exist? Well God takes full credit God does not, for a moment, have to be abashed about his absolute sovereignty over all affairs.

What did he say to Pharaoh? What could he just as easily say to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon?

Or to any leader today? Any leader in the future?

Any leader in the past? For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, that I may be glorified in all the earth.

It was one of the great antinomies of our faith. You remember an antinomy is simply a contradiction or a seeming contradiction between two true and valid statements.

And here it's God's sovereign design of all things not taking away from human responsibility.

So truth number one, God has foreordained all things whatsoever might come to pass.

Truth number two, borrowing from Romans, therefore you have no excuse, oh man.

You can't reconcile these two truths, but I can tell you that they're both equally true because God's word equally affirms them.

He says, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Now this half of the verse is quoted in some of the most significant passages of our

New Testament. To the people then it was a promise. He who heeds the warnings as the very word of God and submits himself to the coming chastisement, that one, that righteous one, by that faith, by his faith, will live.

Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah, tried to make this point over and over. He told Judah that the disaster was certain, but if they submit to Babylon as God's instrument, they would live.

For Martin Luther, it pricked his soul and it ignited the entire

Reformation. A man is not justified by his works, but by faith in Christ. He found this in his study of Romans 117 where Paul quotes it.

And the emphasis there is on the result of faith. Another significant passage is

Galatians 3 .11. The righteous shall live by faith and contrasts with true gospel obedience to legalistic requirements.

The rules of the law justified no one for by grace you've been saved through faith.

Hebrews 10 .38 quotes this passage. Hebrews 10 .38 is a call to persevere in faithful obedience to God's will in times of personal trial.

Hebrews 10 .38 is an interesting one. From the Masoretic text, the righteous shall live by his faith is a good translation of that.

When the author of the Hebrew cites it, he follows the ancient Greek translation of that Old Testament text.

He says, yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. So what's the idea there?

Do not shrink back from believing the Babylonians will come and prevail according to the word of God.

Do not shrink back from believing that your justification by faith in Christ is yours according to the word of God.

Do not shrink back to obsolete regulations that never justified a single soul, but by faith believe

God by his son's atoning sacrifice has justified you once for all.

So what is this faith? When Habakkuk read the vision from the tablet, some might have looked and said, who did you say is coming?

I mean, look out over the rampart. There's no one there. You say Babylon's coming?

They're too busy with Egypt to have time for us. He says you just shall live by his faith.

The righteous shall live by their faith. Faith believes what the eye cannot behold.

Faith trusts the word of God despite the physical evidence that you might be able to take in. And if Habakkuk is saying the

Chaldeans are coming and you look out and you say there's no one there, therefore I'm safe, that's the opposite of faith.

Faith believes the word despite the physical evidence because the word of God is better than anything we could see or taste or touch.

Judah's righteous and faithful one would believe in Babylon's success and also by the same word their own survival.

That is to say their faith looked forward. They could look out and see the dust being raised by Babylon's army even before that army wheeled away from Egypt.

There they are, says the trusting child of God. What are you seeing, asks the doubter.

All I see is clear skies. The answer is that he knows they're coming because the vision made it plain and his reliance is in the vision, in the word of God and not the sight of the eyes.

So what do we have here? But that faith comes before seeing. Faith comes without seeing at all.

It is trust in the unseen God who tells of events as yet unknown. Our faith today looks two ways.

We look back to a cross that we cannot see, but we know by faith it existed because God's word on which we rely is a plain tablet that tells us so.

We see our Savior physically visible for only a few decades, so long ago, and now in heaven where we cannot see him, where those who actually did see him could no longer see him.

And what do we see? By faith. We see him on a cross.

We see him bearing in his own body our sins as he hung on the tree. Do you believe this?

Because there's no one in this room who would say, Amen, I believe this.

That is the content of my faith, that Christ died for my sins, that he went to Golgotha. Do you believe this?

Because no one in this room who believes that can see it. Not with these eyes, but with the eye of faith.

With the eye of Habakkuk 2 .4, the righteous shall live by his faith. The apostle writes,

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Can you see justification?

Can you handle it? Can you taste it? Can you touch it? What do you do with this peace?

Well, faith, this righteous man's faith, looks two ways at once. Back to the moment when

God by his Spirit gave you faith to believe, and forward to the day when our faith shall be sight.

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. All of that is faith. All of that is

Habakkuk 2 .4, living by faith, trusting this word. Relying on this tablet that made it plain to you.

So that as the herald run by and could only tell you a few things, this saying is true, and worthy of all faith.

Christ Jesus came to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. It's all you have time for. Believe that.

Put your trust in that. Put your hope there. Because he's got to get on and tell somebody else, quickly.

I think, as I look at this verse, and I think of this back and forth between the prophet and God, and God answering plainly to the prophets and saying, make it plain, and the prophet answering back to God saying, that can't be what you mean.

I had to have gotten that wrong. You couldn't use them. And God's going to say as we go through the rest of chapter 2, oh yes

I am. And you need to make this just as plain. This table that we come to this afternoon is one of these affirmations of our faith.

The apostle's instruction does just what I was saying a moment ago about faith looking two ways. We look back to the cross as we come to the table.

We have the broken bread, which is his body broken for us.

We have the wine before us, his blood poured out, his life poured out for us.

What does faith say? What is this faithful declaration we're making as we come to this table?

It says that that which I cannot see, I believe. And why do

I believe this? Because of the God who declares it. Because of the God who declares it.

And so we look back upon this sacrifice of Jesus Christ and know that he died for me.

That's faith. That's a visible representation of the gospel.

And it's faith that what these elements represent, what they bring back to mind and spirit is in fact true.

It really did occur in time and history. Jesus who loved me, gave himself up for me. And we look ahead.

At this same table we look ahead to a day unseen and a place that's still invisible to the eye.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Back to the cross and forward to our final salvation. Back 2 ,000 years when our salvation was won by Jesus Christ on the cross and forward to whenever he returns.

And our salvation shall be made final and complete. Faith says these things are true.

When we come to this table, we are something more than just a liturgy, just a habit.

When we come to this table we are proclaiming our faith that the Lord who is suffering substitute for our own will come back and bring us to himself.

Most people look up in the sky and see clouds, stars, that sort of thing.

As the righteous of Judah in Habakkuk's day saw the army's dust long before they came, so we, when we turn our eyes upwards, what do we see?

Maybe we're looking at the cloud upon which Jesus Christ will stand when he returns and all eyes will see him.

We look up in the sky and say, that's the sky that will one day present to my eye if I should be alive when he returns.

Jesus Christ coming back in glory. Jesus Christ said,

I go to prepare a room for you. If it were not so, would I not have told you? Where's heaven?

Look up. Why do we look up? It's just sort of what we do. And when we look up, because that's where heaven is, wherever up is, we know that it really is there even though we can't see it.

We don't even know if looking up is the right thing to do, but it's up, it's there. Faith says yes it is, and faith said there's a savior there in the flesh who ascended from this earth having justified us by his sacrifice on the cross, and he will welcome us home.

We look both ways, back to what we did, what he did, and forward to what he will do.