Habakkuk 1 vv 5 11
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Here are the slides to accompany the sermon on Habakkuk 1:5-11. The video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F4DIcAWQ5o
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Habakkuk 1 vv 5 11
- 1. Welcome to Grace! “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” Habakkuk 2:4
- 3. Habakkuk • 1:1-4 Habakkuk’s 1st. complaint • 1:12-2:1 Habakkuk’s 2nd. complaint • 3:1-19 Transformed Habakkuk worships in awe and wonder • 1:5-11 God’s response • 2:2-20 God’s (longer) response
- 4. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11
- 5. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians …” • Four ‘wake up’ words • God purposefully at work • Swiftly • Unexpected source
- 6. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6
- 7. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11
- 8. 1. A nation bitter and impetuous 2. Taking possession of dwellings not theirs 3. Autonomous 4. Swift 5. Violent 6. Irresistible 7. Self-deifying
- 9. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us
- 10. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us • His ‘inaction’
- 11. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us • His ‘inaction’ • His unexpected responses to prayer
- 12. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us • His ‘inaction’ • His unexpected responses to prayer • His unusual agents
- 13. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us • His ‘inaction’ • His unexpected responses to prayer • His unusual agents – God’s ways are often misunderstood
- 14. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us – God’s ways are often misunderstood – History is under God’s control
- 15. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us – God’s ways are often misunderstood – History is under God’s control – History follows God’s plan
- 16. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us – God’s ways are often misunderstood – History is under God’s control – History follows God’s plan – History follows God’s timetable
- 17. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 – Warning, v. 5 – The unexpected instrument, v. 6a – Here’s what you’ve got coming, vv. 7-11 • Lessons to learn – God’s ways are often obscure to us – God’s ways are often misunderstood – History is under God’s control – History follows God’s plan – History follows God’s timetable – History leads to God’s Kingdom coming
- 18. Habakkuk 1:5-11 • Habakkuk’s complaint, vv. 1-4 • God’s response, vv. 5-11 • Conclusion
Editor's Notes
- 1:1-4 Habakkuk’s first complaint1:5-11 God’s response1:12-2:1 Habakkuk’s second complaint2:2-20 God’s (lengthier) response3:1-19 Transformed, Habakkuk worships in awe and wonderHabakkuk’s first complaint was of the lawlessness of his times, the violence in his society and the effects of the absence of the fear of God.His two big cries to God were: ‘Why?’ and ‘How long?’We know what that’s like, don’t we?So where are we going this week?
- Habakkuk has taken his hurt and his pain to God for some time, apparently.Today we get to grips with God’s response …
- Preparatory to unveiling His response to all this injustice the Lord warns ominously the extent of the trouble of judgement that His people will now see, v. 5Now, God is no alarmist or sensationalist.This is all for real.The situation is ACTUALLY serious … and that’s what God’s word to Habakkuk is stressing here …Four ‘wake up’ words come piling in to alert these people:Look!Watch!Be utterly amazed!Wonder! (Not in NIV … can’t see why unless the translators were just getting embarrassed by the frequency of ‘wow!’ – words by this point.)There is no preamble to this announcement of coming calamity.No formula like ‘the Lord answered me saying, …’The speaker just changes and the switch is made from singular to plural … God is directly addressing the people AND their prophet.Now, what’s happening here is that the prophet and people are being called upon – during a time of violence, slaughter and suffering right up close and personal in their very own experience – to consider what is going on not just in their own street but on the world scene, at a cosmic level.The prophet and the people must open up their perspective on events to consider the Divine purpose in it all.‘Look at the nations … for I am going to do something’If you were a secularist, the forthcoming Assyrian invasion was just going to be an example of outstanding human brutality.It would make no sense.It would be purposeless, meaningless, pointless brutality.But the prophet is being called upon to understand that Israel’s God is the Sovereign Lord of His people AND of the heathen and to grasp the extent and the intent of the sovereignty of God.A TERRIBLE judgement is coming on the remnant of God’s own people … and GOD is the One Who is bringing it.I (says God) am the One doing this.WHEN is God doing this?Really very, very swiftly.‘In your days’.The way people work is that they live expecting everything to go on pretty much the same regardless of how they misbehave, regardless of the extent to which they rebel against God.The way God works is that He takes complacency like that by surprise.When I was a lad the old people used to say: ‘we’ll never see it happen’ or ‘never in OUR day’ ... Stuff like that.And Habakkuk’s being told … ‘Y’know – you WILL.’Not only would the timing cause surprise, but the source of this calamity is going to be really surprising too.V. 6a ‘I am raising up the Babylonians’And when they see it they will have terrible trouble believing it … believing that God would ever DO that!Now, how often do we hear that?!‘I’d like to think that God wouldn’t …’‘MY God wouldn’t do anything like that …’And that’s going to be exactly the situation with the Jews and the Assyrians … ‘something … that you would not believe even if you were told.’
- Next God identifies to Habakkuk the surprising instrument He’s raising up to bring about this judgement.Slide is Assurbanipal riding and hunting (relief carving from the north palace of Nineveh, ca. 640 BC, now at the British Museum - London)The really astonishing thing, the immensely hard thing to accept, is that God’s people are going to be over-run for their wickedness by a pagan people far more wicked than they.It’s almost as if God were saying ‘you want it wicked? Here’s wicked for you – taste THIS!’O. Palmer Robertson: “The prophet Habakkuk had prayed, hoping for some form of purging of the wicked element of the nation. But the Divine response speaks of such an utter devastation that even greater puzzlement will grip the mind of the pious prophet.”The rapid and unexpected rise to power of the Babylonians is quite remarkable.In twenty years they conquered the old capital of Assyria in 614 BC, Nineveh in 612, Harran in 610 and rout the armies of Pharaoh Neco King of Egypt in 605.Robertson: “They became the rulers over Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, Palestine and Egypt, when twenty years previously they hardly were known to exist. Yet their energy disipated almost as rapidly, so that they were easily overcome by Cyrus King of Persia in 539, just in time to fulfil the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning Israel’s return in seventy years (Jeremiah 29:10).”The Lord’s control of the nations of this world is so great that He orders their rise and fall according to, and as the means by which, His plans and purposes are fulfilled.
- Finally God characterises with as many as twenty explicit details the coming force of Divine judgement and retribution for the sin Habakkuk has cried out about.I asked you last week to notice this: God is not EVER doing nothing.He may be doing something we can aspire and look forward to.He may be doing something He should but we hoped he never would.He may be doing something we don’t want to hear about because knowing about it too far in advance is frankly going to scare the pants off us!But He is never doing nothing, He is always doing something, and whatever it is that He’s doing the just shall ALWAYS live through it by faith.It is NOT what we’d want, but it is by the sort of means that surprise human beings the most, the sort of thing we simply cannot understand or make sense of, the sort of thing we LEAST expect from our God, that He exceeds our wildest dreams.And in the terrifying circumstances that are about to be unleashed upon the wayward rebellious people of Judah and her kings … God is doing something that moves history forward along its course, preparing the people and the landscape for the coming of the authentic Saviour King.Here’s what it most surprisingly looks like …
- 1. Robertson: “Because of a spirit of bitterness over life, its inhabitants act with irrational cruelty and disruptiveness.”And they are impetuous … acting on impulse and without taking time to sort out the facts … so all the people they conquer suffer injustices.2. Deut. 6:10-11 promised exactly this to Israel … could it be that the Babylonians were about to step straight in and take over the role once occupied by God’s people?!3. v. 7 “They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.”Here’s a paradox!The Almighty God, Who is adamant that He will not share His Glory with another, raises up a nation whose basic policy is that it stands on its own and that it is totally self-determining without reference to the Almighty in any matter of faith or conduct.They will NOT look to God for any external criterion of righteousness but will determine what is right and wrong ‘for themselves’!It’s honour it will attribute to itself and its own efforts.This great memorial to self will declare indebtedness for its military achievements to no-one but itself.4. Alacrity: v. 8It’s not that there will be a second chance, or a phasing in period, or anything of the sort.God’s justice (once declared) is not only a big surprise to sinners, but swift.5. Violent, v. 9Godlessness often accuses God and His people of scandalous violence.Habakkuk had already (1:2) complained against his own people for violence, but now he was about to witness them getting to feel what it’s like to be subject to unrestrained violence unleashed.6. Irresistible, v. 10 “They mock kings and scoff at rulers.(U)They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps(V) they capture them.”The powerful kings leading the buffer states around Israel that usually soaked up invaders’ aggression before they reached Israel and Judah were NOTHING to these invaders.The fortifications and earthworks like Ahab’s fortifications to his chariot city at Megiddo were of no use: ‘They capture them’ … leaving Israel’s former strengths in the hand of the enemy to become a thorn in Israel’s side.7. Self-deifying, v. 11“Then they sweep past like the wind(W) and go on— guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”This people that God has raised up to punish and correct Israel’s idolatries DEIFIES itself!“ … whose own strength is their God.”Now, if that sense of self-sufficiency doesn’t characterise our age, our culture, our government … I don’t know what does.
- We sit here thinking that things are pretty bad and wishing God would step in and sort things out.We can easily find ourselves fretting and binding about His apparent inactivity … we just don’t see what is going on behind the scenes.God doesn’t need our help – I know that sometimes seems strange to us – and He certainly (as the fount of ALL wisdom) isn’t going to be needing our advice.In fact, I rather suspect that having things cleared up for him and made plain in the way they are in this passage highlights to Habakkuk the blessing of God leaving a LOT of things obscured from us.Particularly difficult for us is the idea that then forms …
- … of God’s inaction.But God is NEVER doing nothing.Heaven is busy.Earth is busy in sin, violence and self-destruction.The Creator and Sustainer of the universe is busy, not just in holding back the forces of chaotic destruction, but also in steering the whole of history to its resolution, redemption and restoration in Christ.He may look inactive.He is busy!(And THAT … resolving, redeeming and restoring … is what He is doing)
- And then we have problems with the obscurity of His answers to our prayers.Oh boy!Habakkuk hadn’t been praying for the Babylonians to be raised up.Perhaps he’d thought God might send another good King to reform the way Josiah had, or lead Judah to recover fallen Israel and restore a revitaliised united monarchy.God is NOT our servant.We are HIS servants.He lives in the highest place, sits on the highest throne, sees everything clearly and rules accordingly.Faith is called for from us … not least in the light of some of His MOST unexpected answers to prayer.
- And then there are the people He uses …
- Little wonder, given the way His was are so far above our ways that His ways are so little understood.In fact, because He is active and is not understood, He is very often MISunderstood.
- The fact remains that – despite our misunderstanding – history is under God’s control, and because of that it always … surprising though it is … follows God’s plan
- Here is the answer to Habakkuk’s ‘why?’
- And here is the answer to Habakkuk’s ‘How long?’!History ALWAYS follows God’s timetable and God’s land and God is STEERING it for a particular purpose …
- What’s happened here is that Habakkuk has poured out a bitter complaint to God about the duration and the apparent lack of purpose that underlies the awful effects of the sinful rebelliousness of God’s people in his time.GOD’s people, you understand, not the nations … not the nations but God’s people who have simply adopted the ways of the Nations in place of the ways of God taught in His Word.Habakkuk has set out on his journey with God over this vexed issue of why God allows departure from His truth, injustice and violence to prevail.But God’s response hasn’t been what Habakkuk anticipated.God simply agrees and reveals that JUDGEMENT not mercy is coming.It’s going to be harder to take than the nation’s excesses.It’s going to call for far more investment in faith.An awesome Divine response to the trouble Habakkuk sees hovers on the horizon of history … as God sees the problem even more profoundly, even more seriously than this highly perplexed prophet.God’s resolution of the problem and answer to Habakkuk’s prayers naturally, then, seems overwhelming.In effect, the underlying message of the book is going to turn out to be that a maturing faith trusts perseveringly in God’s ways of establishing justice and righteousness on earth … and that His ways are not our ways.Habakkuk WRESTLES with the burden of submitting to an utterly new concept of the Lord’s purposes among Israel and the nations.God is interacting with His people and leading them forwards in ways that are utterly contrary to anything they’ve come previously to expect … and the challenge is for the ‘righteous’ to continue to live by faith through that.Tell me that’s not a challenge that we are not also facing, and then I might accept this ancient prophecy is irrelevant to 21st century Western Christian experience … but somehow I think I’m going to be safe coming back to Habakkuk next week!