We began looking at the prophet Habakkuk last week, a man whose heart was aching and whose mind was confused. His trouble centred on the fact that God’s people were living as anything but – the land was filled with violence and shame. What would God about it?
The answer was that he would judge his people by raising up the Babylonians to conquer them. But to Habakkuk that was simply making the matter worse; they were even more evil than the people of Judah. Where was the justice in that?
And, perhaps even more distressing, where would this leave God’s plans to save a fallen world through the nation of Israel, as he had promised to do? No wonder Habakkuk prayed with such feeling.
The answer in 2:1-5 was that God remains in control of the situation and, knowing that, the righteous must live by faith. Habakkuk and others must rest in the character of God and take the long view. What follows in 2:6-20 elaborates the point that the Lord will judge those he had sovereignly used to judge his people.
1. The Justice of God
The first substantial point made here is that the God of the Bible, the living and true God, is not indifferent to sin, whether committed by individuals or nations. Nothing goes unseen by him; he has no blind-eye to turn toward it but takes it all in hand to deal with one day.
And deal with it he will. Sometimes people say, “There’ll be hell to pay” when something’s gone wrong; in this case, it is literally true. Five times, woe is pronounced over those guilty of the crimes listed here. One writer has aptly said that “This series of woes is designed to show that ultimately sin, evil, crime, greed, oppression, debauchery and idolatry are doomed to destruction.”
The simple fact is, as God tells us over and again in the Bible, you reap what you sow. He may use Babylon for his own purposes but their own interest was in boosting their pride and lining their pockets. That kind of behaviour will inevitably have its consequences and so the woes are pronounced.
And so we see that, as each woe is elaborated, the justice in view is one of like-for-like – those who have killed will be killed; those who have plundered will be plundered; those who have ravaged and exposed others will themselves be ravaged.
This is a consistent biblical principle that God has built into the very fabric of creation – nature teaches us the point and time and again it is captured in the Bible for us to ponder. He stands up to the proud but gives grace to the humble.
The God revealed in the Bible is active in the affairs of nations. He cares what happens; although he can as Lord use wickedness to advance his own purposes, he never condones it; rather, as here, he condemns it.
But even as he condemns the evil, of individuals as well as nations, there is sadness in the tone of his voice. It has been noted by scholars that these woes are a parody of a funeral lament and could, therefore, be seen as a taunt. But there is also genuine sadness in the heart of God at the tragedy that befalls the impenitent.
Judgement is necessary and, because it sets things right, is a cause for joy. That is part of the biblical picture; but so too is the sight of the Saviour weeping over impenitent Jerusalem as he contemplates its fate at the hands of the Romans for its sin in rejecting him.
The situation may seem to be getting out of hand to Habakkuk but God remains in control, just as he was when Jesus was slaughtered, just as he is today when all seems so dark and distressing. His justice will prevail and his purposes will not be thwarted.
2. The Glory of God
And here we have, in a famous and thrilling verse, a description of what those purposes ultimately are. People can rage against God and commit the most awful crimes, filling the world with filth and seeming to destroy the last vestiges of its original goodness. Yet, in the face of that, we see asserted here that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Could there be any statement more daring or more encouraging against such a backdrop? The earth that is filled with violence and shame will one day be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God!
The term ‘knowledge’ speaks of an intimate and living relationship with God. Here the Lord says that the whole world will be bathed in the wonder of that relationship – to its fullest extent, “as the waters cover the sea”.
There was a time in the OT when the temple was completed and God’s glory filled that house. Here, we read of a time when his glory will fill the earth and his glory will be known and rejoiced in. Sin will not have the last word; God will be known. He will be all and in all.
And this promise and purpose were going to be accomplished through the one of whom it was said by those who knew him, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
God’s promises seemed to be hanging by a thread in the dark days of the OT as sin ran riot in Israel. But, in reality, the danger was only apparent – sin was never going to win; God would come in the person of his Son to deal with it through the unveiling of the truth and the grace of God.
God is involved in the affairs of nations, not simply to judge sin and then leave the field. He is involved in order to reclaim his world and to remake it in holiness and righteousness, having saved it through his own Son and his once-for-all death on the cross.
3. The Presence and the Reality of God
That statement was the first of two outstanding declarations about the living God contained in this passage. We close with the second in v.20: “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”
V.18f describe the utter futility, the nonsense, of idol worship. People make images, bow down to them, put their trust in them and hope to be taught by them.
We can laugh at such folly but it still happens today, as equally foolish and powerless gods are worshipped – gods of money and leisure, of pleasure and gain.
How sad and tragic to see people made in the image of God looking in every other direction for help and blessing. It won’t come; it can’t come. All other gods are idols – useless and lifeless.
But the LORD, the Almighty God, is in his holy temple. The one who made us and all things, the eternal God who existed before us and doesn’t in truth need us, this God is not under threat; he is in his holy temple. He is truly at the centre of the universe and all reality. This is the true picture.
And the call of this verse is for all the earth to be silent before him. The idols are silent because they’re dead and lifeless; this silence is of an altogether different kind – it’s the awe-filled worship of creatures standing before their Maker and gazing on his beauty and majesty, and gladly acknowledging his complete sovereignty and utter worthiness.
Do you stand with them today – in awe before the God who made you and all things, who is high over all, beyond the reach of sin and chaos, whose gracious and redeeming purposes are not under threat but are being steadily worked out?
This is why the righteous can – and must – live by faith.
