Habakkuk (Week 2) | Adult Sunday School

Space history. This is the day that the Lord has made and so we just thank you for that opportunity that we have. We pray father that as we study your word this morning you would be our teacher through your spirit that you would accomplish every purpose that you have for it that you would use it to edify us to challenge us and to change us that we might become more like our Lord and Jesus Christ through it.

And we just praise you in his mighty name man. Well I thought since it's been a couple weeks since we were in Habakkuk we might just take a minute or two to do a little bit of a review and just remind ourselves of what we looked at last time in the first 11 verses of this prophecy of Habakkuk and we saw in the very first verse that it is called the oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw an oracle also in some translations it's called a burden because it is a heavy message that's what an oracle is.

It's a heavy message and he is called the prophet the prophet Habakkuk and he he is somewhat of a different prophet or prophecy than others. For example if you look at Isaiah Jeremiah and some of the other prophets what you find is that God is is through them issuing a message for the people.

In other words they have a message to proclaim. Habakkuk has a problem to solve and what he does is carry on this dialogue with God or a series of questions and answers. As we saw last time we looked at the first question last time and so he is a believer in Yahweh that's part of what creates his problem because he knows what God is like and as he looks around him in the southern kingdom of Judah and at Jerusalem he sees the degradation of their relationship with Yahweh because they had abandoned the Word of God and as we're going to see this is always where it starts it starts with a marginalization or an abandonment of the Word of God.

This is what caused the fall in the garden. Did it not. God had said you know warned them about what they could eat and couldn't eat and they disregarded and abandoned and disobeyed the Word of God. So he's prophesying to the southern kingdom.

The northern kingdom had been taken captive by the Assyrians in 722 BC. And here we are in Jerusalem and the southern kingdom of Judah under some evil kings particularly Manasseh and some others had just abandoned God's Word and so that worship of Yahweh had degraded and that of course led to the worship of the degradation of the culture and everything associated with it.

And it's during the latter part of the reign of King Josiah and he was a relatively good king who tried to bring about some reforms in Jerusalem. They were temporary and sort of superficial so they really didn't last as we're going to see.

But it was a time where the it was a time of relative prosperity in Jerusalem but at the same time a period of degradation morally spiritually and culturally as well. And it would probably be a good idea if you were to spend a little time there we go and you want to learn some more of the background of Habakkuk to look at these passages.

2nd Kings chapters 21 through 25 give you quite a bit of detail about what's going on here and also 2nd Chronicles 33 through 36 do the same thing 2nd Kings being the pre-exilic history of what was going on there and then of course the post-exilic history of Chronicles 1st and 2nd Chronicles and so you're going to see some parallels there but they're going to give you a lot of detail as to what's going on at the time Habakkuk prophesied and of course also the prophecy of Jeremiah is a great place to go look because he's a contemporary with Habakkuk while Habakkuk is looking at what's going on and questioning God and dialoguing with God Jeremiah is in Jerusalem and he's just hammering away with the prophecies that God is giving him to tell the people to confront them in their sin to call them to repentance but also to prophesy the impending judgment that's going to come through like Habakkuk says the Chaldeans or the Babylonians and he even prophesies as you well know the length of the captivity that's going to happen the 70-year captivity and all of this of course is predicated on the Torah the Old Testament the first five books and so Deuteronomy chapter 28 through 30 is also an excellent place to look for the underlying law that is being violated and remember that Habakkuk mentioned the Torah in the first several verses there the Torah is being violated and so he was a man who understood what the law was all about and so all of that is predicated on Deuteronomy 28 through 30 which is predicated on Leviticus chapter 26.

Leviticus at Sinai is where God gave the law detail the law and of course 40 years later when they're right on the edge of the promised land getting ready to go in Moses repeats the law of Deuteronomy so the second law is given so that's given 40 years later and so chapter 28 of Deuteronomy is actually a commentary on Leviticus chapter 26.

And Leviticus chapter 26 is that chapter where God promises the the Israelites after and during the course of giving the law that they will have blessing for obedience but cursing for their disobedience.

But that is also predicated on Genesis 12 1 through 3 which is where God gave the covenant to Abraham the unconditional unilateral trans generational covenant that all the rest of this is is predicated on and it's in that that very covenant that he promises them that they will not be annihilated as a people even though the law is going to require that if they violate the law they're going to be chastened and we're going to be looking at that a little bit but this is just a critical background for what Habakkuk is going to be dealing with and so that would be well worth your time to read through this and get some background for what we're talking about here but what we saw last time and we're going to see this time that he's got a problem with what he's seeing he sees the degradation of Jerusalem and he he keeps looking at it.

And since he knows the law and he knows Yahweh and Yahweh's righteousness and holiness he asked that question oh Lord how long will I cry for help. And you will not hear or cry to you violence. Okay we mentioned last time this occurs six times in Habakkuk's prophecy.

So violence is a very important part of this. It's a it's a sub theme of what he's going to see. And so three times in this first section he he talks about the violence and we said the Hebrew word Hamas is the word for violence here we're going to see the next three times he mentions it are going to come in chapter 2 but he's concerned about what he's seeing and so he questions God about how can this go on how can you being a holy omnipotent God allow this kind of violence and degradation.

And he details some of the sins that he sees in these first four verses the violence. And then he talks about the wickedness that's there the trouble that he sees. And each one of these words is kind of an aspect of the sin that these people are committing in Jerusalem.

And then the strife and he uses this Hebrew word read in English it looks like rib rib but it's actually read. It's a it's a forensics the forensic or a legal term that pictures legal strife like lawsuits back and forth and that type of thing.

And then conflict he says. And the conclusion that he comes to the conclusion that he comes to in verse 4 so the law is paralyzed the law is frozen the law is not being applied properly. And he uses the word Torah the Torah that back at Leviticus at the Mount Sinai God had given to them and who had promised I will give you blessing if you obey it but there will be cursing if you disobey it.

And he says Torah is paralyzed. And justice is a call. The Hebrew word it means bent or twisted or out of shape or crooked. Okay crooked justice. And so the background of what he's seeing here and he's probably writing toward the end of King Josiah's reign and Josiah was trying to institute the reforms to what had happened before.

And so here we have an artist rendition of Josiah being presented with the Torah or the law that was found at in the temple. And in fact 2nd Kings 22 records this event. It's very interesting. 2nd Kings 22 8 through 13 says.

Then he'll kaya the high priest said to chef and the scribe and this is the scribe here with presenting the scrolls. I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh and he'll kaya gave the book to chef and and he read it.

Then she fan the scribe came to the king and responded to the king with a word and said your servants have poured out the money that was found in the house and have given it into the hand of those who do the work who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh.

They were going to clean out the temple and rebuild the temple and Josiah ordered that the money be taken from the people in the temple and given to the craftsmen because they were reliable he says. And so he's getting these reforms started and they happen to find the the Word of God there in verse 10.

Moreover chef and the scribe told the king saying he'll kaya the priest has given me a book and chef and read it in the presence of the king. Now it happened that when the king heard the words of the book of the law he tore his clothes.

Then the king commanded he'll kaya the priest a Hakim the son of chef and Akbar the son of Micaiah. Chef and the scribe and a sigh of the king's servant saying go inquire of Yahweh for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found for great is the wrath of Yahweh which has set aflame against us because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us.

When he probably was hearing Leviticus 26 and maybe even Deuteronomy 28 the promise of blessing for obedience but cursing for disobedience he was really really disturbed. And so he began to implement all of the the reforms and to clean up the worship and clean up the temple and so on.

Those things are recorded in those passages. And it would be good to take a look at those but just to sort of summarize what some of the reforms were after the reign of Manasseh which is recorded in Second Chronicles 33.

The reforms of Josiah are recorded in Second Kings 23. Now this is just a just a synopsis just a basic of what he found. And you'll see the details of these. He cleansed the temple of idols. They had taken idols and brought him into the temple of Yahweh which was reserved for the worship of Yahweh alone.

Remember God had instituted the worship and made a provision for the worship of him at Sinai. Right. And during the law when he established the tabernacle in the wilderness that was the place where sinful man could meet with the Holy God under those conditions of the sacrifice and the shed blood and all that and have a means to commune with and worship a holy God.

He did that by his grace and that temp that tent was then portable and they were able to move that along as they moved through the wilderness. And then the establishment of the temple in Jerusalem made a permanent place that was the specific place that God had ordained for them to worship him to come into his presence and worship him.

No other place. But what did they do. They defiled it by bringing in idols into the temple and not only that what else was in the temple. And we know that because he cleansed the temple of male prostitutes imagine that male prostitutes within the temple as an object of worship within the temple of God.

Can you imagine that elevating sexual perversion. Not just tolerating it but actually promoting it and elevating it to a place of worship in a culture. That's amazing. But that's what they did. And he cleansed it.

And then he cleansed the high places. They not only perverted the worship of God in the temple they went outside the temple which was the specific place to worship God. And they created other places of worship high places where they set up idols.

And not only did they set up idols to worship he stopped the burning of their infants to Moloch they were murdering their own children as a form of worship. So these are the details that you're going to get when you see in these other other works.

And then he restored the Passover he cleansed the temple and he restored the Passover of God the right kosher way to worship God. Now we know that we're going to see that when we get to the end of chapter 3 because chapter 3 is actually a prayer or a psalm that is used in the worship of Yahweh in the temple.

So we know that it had been established at that point in time. Well the paganism that was in the temple and in the community and all that went along with it was what Habakkuk was looking at that grieved him so much and led him to ask that first question how long.

Oh Lord. And it's almost as if he's asking God don't you see this. Why are you delaying. Why don't you react against this sin. And then he gets that first answer that God is going to judge the sin of Judah he is going to and he's going to use the Chaldeans to do it.

Now I looked around to try to find a an example in ancient artwork and stuff of pagan worship you know where people are actually worshipping false gods and false idols and so forth. And I found a few things.

But I wasn't really too happy with it. So I I had to settle on a more contemporary example of godless people in pagan worship. Ok and there's an example right there these people are worshipping they're on their knees publicly worshipping a dead man.

Ok a man who died with enough fentanyl and narcotics in his bloodstream to kill a horse. And they're on their knees worshipping that man. This is an example of contemporary pagan godless worship. God calls the worship of dead people necromancy.

And it's a violation of his law. And he condemns it and will judge it as he did in the past. Well the sins of Judah. So if you look at that first that whole section of those passages it talks about Manasseh and then it talks about in chapter 23 the reforms that Josiah tried to implement but then later on in chapter in 1st Kings in 2nd Kings 21 it says or 24 it says this this is after the the description of Josiah and the reforms surely at the command of Yahweh it came upon Judah to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh according to all that he had done and also for the innocent blood which he shed.

For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and Yahweh was not willing to pardon. This is what Habakkuk was looking at filled it with innocent blood. That certainly that would have included just routine murders and that type of thing in the violence but also the slaughter of innocent children as a form of worship.

That's what he was looking at. That's what he saw. And that's what led him to that first question that he asked how long O Lord. And he got the answer from God wasn't an answer that he expected. But what we saw last time God is going to judge the sins of Judah.

And he's going to use an unexpected means to do it. He's going to use the Chaldeans. And that was week one and page one in those notes. And he describes the Chaldeans. Remember at this point in time Assyria had taken over that whole area of the world and in the process they had defeated the early Chaldean or Babylonian Empire.

In order to do that they are not in the picture right now. They are not even a power. And so it's shocking to Habakkuk that God is going to use them and God says yes. And when they are raised back up to power they are going to be self-ruled.

Okay. In other words they're going to not have any authority other than their own authority. They're going to be autonomous self-lawed. Okay. And they are swift in battle. Verse 9 of chapter 1. They are going to be very successful.

And they're also going to be scoffers. They're gonna laugh at any defenses. You know people are gonna come to a city and that that city has some walls or something. They're just gonna laugh at it. They're gonna build siege mounds up against it and swarm over and take them over.

And they're going to be also sacrilegious. This is important. We're going to see this throughout our study. They are going to be idolatrous people. And as we came to the end of that section last time and we looked at verse 11 of chapter 1 of Habakkuk they will sweep through like the wind and pass on.

But they will be held guilty. They whose power is their God they did not worship anything but their own power. And they turned their own military ability into an idol. Remember last time I gave you a quote from dr. Charles Feinberg that was written in 1951 in that same commentary he has another little short statement that I really like it's so pertinent for one to make his own strength his God is to commit suicide of the soul.

This is what the Chaldeans did. One of their great downfalls was that they worship their own military ability. By the way again that was written in 1951. So before we move on into this next section do you have any questions or thoughts or comments about what we saw last time in these first 11 verses.

Pretty grim picture isn't it. Well let's look this morning at verse 12 of chapter 1 we're going to be looking at this whole section. And this is the second question that he asks. And what he first does is to focus his heart and mind on Yahweh who he is and what he is like to answer this second question.

How can God use the wicked Chaldeans. We're going to see you know he's troubled by the fact that God a holy God is going to use an unholy people to judge the Israelites. But he is so in this first part he says are you not from everlasting Oh Yahweh my God my holy one.

When you have a question about what's going on in your culture with with the degradation that you see. Or even another question a question about a problem that you're having personally first thing we should do we should look to our God.

We should go back to meditate on who he is and what he is like. That's exactly what Habakkuk does here to first thing he says is is that you are the eternal one. Are you not from everlasting. Answer. Of course he is.

And then he refers to him Oh Yahweh. That is the covenant name of God the name that God gave at the burning bush. Moses said who shall I say is sending me. And God said from the burning bush I am that I am.

This is the one who is the eternal the eternal one. This is a statement of the technical jargon term a say it he of God he is the everlasting one who has no cause. He is the one who is not reliant or dependent on anything or anyone for his existence because he's the eternal one.

He's the self existing God. And then he uses the word to describe God that is a description of his power. It's a word is used in the first verse of the Bible in the beginning God created. This is the creator God who is so powerful he can create the whole universe from nothing.

He is Yahweh he is God. And he's also the holy one. This is from a Hebrew word which means separated. God is separated. And this also is a very important theological concept probably one of the foundational understandings of scripture right out of the starting blocks in Genesis 1 1 the separation between the creator and his creation the creator creation separation.

That is such a critical concept. And it's also constantly under attack. Pagan religious systems and all kinds of false teachings want to diminish that distance between God the creator and his creation.

And they do that through a variety of means. They often even in Eastern mysticism you hear a lot about oneness. You know all is one. Well if all is one off of that monism you get pantheism. If all is one then all is God.

And if all is God then I'm God. So from that you get the deification of man. And so the creation creature creator separation is a critical concept in scripture. And this is one thing he goes back to recite and notice also the personal aspect of this Oh Yahweh my God my holy one.

He's in a personal faith relationship with Yahweh just like Abraham was Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And so he says then are you not from everlasting. Yes. Oh Yahweh my God my holy one we will not die.

And he understands that because he understands the Abrahamic Covenant the Abrahamic Covenant which unilaterally promised the descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the perpetuity of their of their lives.

And he then he affirms that to Isaac and then to Jacob and then now through the rest of the scripture to you and your descendants forever he said. And so this is an ongoing relationship that cannot be broken because it was unilateral and it's unconditional.

Oh yes God is going to judge the Jews for their disobedience. He always has going clear back in history and he is even today. But they will survive as a people. And one of the reasons they survive is because there's always a believing remnant within that group.

It may be a small remnant or maybe fairly large. There's always a remnant of believers within that group of people. So he goes back to who God is and what he is. Like his conclusion number one we shall not die because of his eternal promises that he made to them chastened but not annihilated.

And then conclusion number two Yahweh is in control. You Oh Yahweh have placed them to judge. You're going to do this. You're sovereign over even a godless pagan nation to use them to judge us. And you Oh rock.

There's another name for God have established them to reprove. They're not going to annihilate the Jewish people. But they will you be used by God to reprove them. So the sovereignty of God is in view here.

Yahweh placed ordained put appointed the Chaldeans to judge the Jews. It's an amazing thing to think that God ordains people and to use against other people. Go back and read background again. Isaiah 44 28 through 45 170 years before he is born.

Isaiah actually actually names Cyrus the Great of Persia who will be used by God to with along with the the Medo-Persian coalition to judge the Babylonians after they come to power. He names him by name and he calls him my servant.

But you do not know me. That's amazing to me. Way before he's born fulfilled prophecy is a powerful powerful potent apologetic for the veracity of the Word of God. And then he says Yahweh the rock established destined and appointed them.

Yahweh the rock a reference to God's solid person and character. The hiding place the rock we can hide behind. And then again verse 13 your eyes are too pure to see evil or iniquity. And you cannot look on trouble.

Why do you look on those who deal treacherously. Why are you silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they. Yes the Jews in Jerusalem were horrific in their sin but the Chaldeans were worse he says.

Now when he says that do you detect maybe a little bit of a flaw in this theological understanding. There is understanding of let's say is anthropology. Or as simple as a man see there might be something there that he's misunderstanding a little bit.

Anybody have any thoughts on that. They're more simple than we are. Do we do that. Sometimes sin is sin and God can use whoever he wants. And clearly he's using simple people to judge his own people in that way.

Well since Yahweh is holy and omniscient and knows who the most wicked are how can he not react against them. Verse 13 he's going to. And the Chaldeans he says are like fishermen who capture nations like fish.

Verse 14. And you have made men like the fish of the sea like creeping things without a ruler over them again their self-rule. They have no authority other than themselves. The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook drag them away with their net and gather them together in their fishing net.

Probably the best way to see that in the Hebrew text is a drag net. So individually with a hook with a smaller net like a throw net you know. And then with a massive drag net they just capture people in nations like that.

Therefore they are glad and rejoice. Probably a metaphorical way of looking at the way the Chaldeans just swarm over nations and capture people by the thousands like a fisherman hauling in a drag net full of fish.

But also in the ancient historians tell us that the Chaldeans and others is particularly the Chaldeans were known for when they captured people put a hook in their jaw and lead them off into captivity.

So there is some historic reality behind this. But they are cruel. They are massively successful in what they do. And he's seeing all of this and one of the things also that they do they're glad and rejoice.

And in verse 16 therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net because through these things their portion is rich and their food is fat. Again they're idolatrous. They not only worship and make an idol of their own power they they worship their own tools of destruction.

Even ancient historians have written about how these pagan nations and it wasn't just the Chaldeans when they were victorious in battle they would off also they would take their their their bows and their spears and the tools that they used and they would make sacrifices to them.

And they would worship the tools that they used to take these captives. And this is what the Chaldeans do. They are idolatrous and they are people who then will be judged by God. And it seems like they're gonna be undefeated.

It seems like you're gonna go on and on forever. Verse 17. Will they therefore empty their net and continually kill nations without sparing. Certainly it looks like it looks like they're so successful and they're so powerful and they're so massively successful in what they do.

Will this ever end. Well he's at a place where he needs to just stop and think about this a little bit. And so chapter 2 verse 1. It forms a little bit of a hinge point in the text but also it's kind of an interval.

And what does he say there in verse 2. Verse. Chapter 2 verse 1. I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the fortification and I will keep watch to see what he will speak to me and how I may respond when I am reproved.

This is probably not a reference to a wall where a watchman would sit watching for foreign troops on a on a guard wall that type of thing but what they had in the Middle East and they still have them today.

When the harvest would stand in the fields they would oftentimes go out and set up a little stand out in the middle of their field. And it's very simple structure maybe three legs maybe four with a little platform on top.

And they would climb up on there and watch the crop while the harvest stood. And that somebody would not come in and steal part of the crop. They would be out there alone. It still goes on today. You can see fields in the Middle East that still do this.

This is what Habakkuk says. I'm going to do. I'm gonna get alone. I'm gonna watch and I'm gonna wait to see what God's answer is. Sometimes this is what we have to do. We don't get an immediate answer not like we would want.

We think maybe God is delaying answering us. Maybe even we think well maybe you don't even realize what's going on down here. Oh no he knows he sees he sees sin before we do. He is more sensitive to sin than we ever will be okay.

And so it there are times when we just need to wait watch and pray when we turn it over to God like he did. We just need to watch and wait. And then we come to the second answer verse 2. Then Yahweh answered me and said write down the vision and write it on tablets distinctly that the one who reads it may run.

He wants him to put it on tablets. So there's an objective verifiable repeatable statement of this prophecy that one who would read it would then run and tell other people about it. That's what the intent of that is.

In fact this is exactly what the Apostle Paul does in Acts chapter 13 verse 41. Paul would be very familiar with Habakkuk and he would have been able and willing to use the Old Testament in his ministry.

He's in Antioch and he's Antioch in Pisidia the other Antioch up to the north and he's in the synagogue and he's preaching Christ to the Jews. And he uses Acts Habakkuk 1 5 that says see among the nations and look be also astonished be astounded because I am doing something in your days.

He was sensing that the Jews were resisting him and so he refers them back to Habakkuk. That is a prophecy about God judging the Jews for their disobedience and their sin by raising up another nation to come in and to take them over.

So this is exactly how Paul uses this in Antioch centuries later. And he says write it down write it on tablets that the one who reads it may run and it's for future generations to do that Yahweh's judgment.

And it will happen. It's going to happen. There's no question about whether or not it's going to happen but it will happen in his time. Verse 3. For the vision is yet for the appointed time it pants towards its end and it will not lie though it tarries.

Wait for it or it will certainly come it will not delay. From our perspective maybe the judgment of God is slow ponderous. We can't see what's going on but it will happen. And here we arrive at verse 4.

Verse 4 is the theme of this prophecy. It's one of the most important statements in the entire Bible. He says behold as for the proud one his soul is not right within him but the righteous will live by his faith.

This is the theme of a back X prophecy. This little verse is so important it's really kind of ironic. It's sort of nestled in this little prophecy here. This is used by the Apostle Paul again in the New Testament twice he quotes it.

It's also used by the writer of Habakkuk. I mean the to the Hebrews. And Habakkuk did not get this on his own. This is his understanding through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of again the Abrahamic Covenant and the covenant that God made with Abraham and that he is righteous.

The righteous will live by his faith because you remember in Genesis 15 verse 6 after God had made the covenant which promised the land to Abraham and his descendants Abraham asked that question another question.

How will I know. How will I know I'm going to get it. Because he had no descendant at that point in time. And God then made that covenant and he put him in a trance. And he did not actually participate in that covenant which involved the cutting of the animals.

And so it was a unilateral covenant that was made. And Abraham it says believe God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And so Habakkuk here is just picking up on that same thing. This is the answer to what he's seeing.

The answer to both of these questions. The righteous or the just will live by his faith. The Chaldeans will. Chaldeans will be judged because of their unbelief. Those are the ones who are the proud ones that he says.