In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia continues a mini-series on Habakkuk, the prophet who asked the same question that Christians often ask during ongoing trials: “God, What Are You Doing?” Part 2 sees Pastor Dave examine the second step of rightly dealing with God’s difficult providence: Listening. In Habakkuk 2:1-20, Habakkuk gives three reasons for you, amid ongoing trials, to listen humbly to God and to wait faith-fully for his word’s fulfillment:
1. Yahweh’s Word Has Answers and Will Come to Pass (v. 1-3)
2. The Humble Righteous Will Live, But the Proud Wicked Will Die (v. 4-5)
3. The Proud Wicked Will Be Mocked in Perfect Justice (v. 6-20)
Full Transcript:
Let’s pray together. Great God in Heaven, You are the God who is alive, even the God who speaks and reveals Himself to us. Speak to us now from Your Word. Transform us by it. Encourage us by it. In Jesus’ name, amen.
One of the more memorable experiences of my life is when I first visited a Russian sauna—they call it the banya. Some of you may know my wife is part Russian, and her family enjoys going to the Russian sauna now and then. There are some in America, even in New Jersey. To picture this sauna, think of a large complex with various rooms, each featuring different temperatures and water experiences. In the sauna I visited, there was a room filled with warm steam, a room that was extremely hot, a room with a tepid pool, and even a space for plunging into an ice bath.
Apparently, the traditional Russian routine is to sit and sweat for about ten minutes in one of the really hot rooms, then jump immediately into the icy water bath for about ten seconds, and then relax in a lukewarm space until you’re ready to do it all again. Many people find this temperature-shocking experience enjoyable and therapeutic. I’ve even been told there are many health benefits. But since I had never experienced anything like that growing up, in my first visit I wanted to play it pretty conservative—maybe a little time in a not-so-hot room, and then the pool.
Well, one of my companions had different plans for me. I was in my swim clothes, not really sure what to do, so I followed his lead. He brought me into one of the hot rooms, then adjusted the stove to make it even hotter. This dimly lit room had tiered benches at different heights. He told me to lie down on one of the highest benches in the room, and remember, hot air rises. After I laid down, he brought out branches of oak leaves to massage my back. This is apparently another traditional part of the Russian experience, and while it was kind of him to volunteer to massage me. I don’t know if I’d call it a massage—it wasn’t quite a beating, but it was somewhere in between.
So there I was, in this stifling hot, dark room, on one of the highest levels, being semi-beaten with tree branches, and finding it a little difficult to breathe the scorching air. Two thoughts quickly came to mind. The first: “I think I’m going to die.” The second: “Just ten minutes. Just hold out for ten minutes.” As you can see, because I’m standing here, I did somehow make it through those ten minutes without dying. Then I was very grateful to go into one of the cooler rooms, and later, the pool. I have to admit, in the end it did feel pretty good. I felt refreshed—cleansed, even. But during those ten brutal minutes in that hot room, I wasn’t sure if I would make it or how I would go on.
All of this serves, I think, as an appropriate analogy for what we’ve been talking about lately. Life can sometimes feel like stepping into a super-hot sauna room. And like my guiding friend, God, according to the Scriptures, sometimes leads us into trials that are just like these rooms, as if we’re stepping into a stifling, dark place where we can barely breathe, and it seems like we’re just being beaten continually. But unlike my sauna experience, God does not specifically tell us why He’s brought us into the trial or how long it will last.
As Greg was saying, many of us have experienced, or are experiencing, painful long-term trials—very difficult providences of God—and our hearts are moved to ask the question: “God, what are You doing?” This is the question we’ve been looking at from the Book of Habakkuk. So please open your Bibles, and let’s hear more of the words of this prophet of God. Turn to Habakkuk, just a few books before Malachi at the end of the Old Testament.
Let me review some information we learned last time about the situation of Habakkuk the prophet. When Habakkuk writes, he’s most likely living in Judah around 608 B.C. Good King Josiah is dead, evil Jehoiakim is on the throne, and he’s leading Judah—God’s chosen people, the only remnant left at this point—into more and more corruption, violence, and sin. Habakkuk sees the situation and cries out to God, essentially asking, “God, what are You doing?” Habakkuk’s subsequent conversation with God constitutes the prophecy of this book and provides us with a holy model for dealing with that very question.
As I said last time, each chapter in the Book of Habakkuk represents a step in properly dealing with the mysterious and painful providence of God. We saw the first step in Habakkuk Chapter 1, and that step is questioning. It is natural to question—even to complain to God—when we encounter circumstances that seem to contradict His character and promises. We are to bring these questions and complaints to God, but in faith. This is what Habakkuk did.
In Habakkuk 1:2-4, Habakkuk presented God with the situation in Judah: the righteous are being oppressed, and the wicked are getting away with it. Habakkuk asks God why He isn’t doing anything. God graciously answers in Habakkuk 1:5-11, saying, “I am doing something you don’t expect. Though it may look like I don’t care and I’m not doing anything, I tell you I am working. I am raising up the wicked Babylonians to come and suddenly devastate the people of Judah.”
This answer from God only raises more questions for Habakkuk, who then asks, in Habakkuk 1:12-17, “God, how is what You are doing right? The Babylonians are more wicked and violent than we are. How can a holy and good God cause them to prosper and use them to chasten His own people? And God, will You really let them get away with all their brutality, their sin, their violence, their idolatry, their greed—if You won’t let us get away with it?” This is the first step of properly dealing with the painful providence of God: questioning God in faith.
But the second step is what we’ll look at today in Habakkuk chapter 2. You see that step in today’s message. The title of the message is, “God, What Are You Doing? Part 2.”
Listening. When you and I encounter hard circumstances that make no sense to us, we must not only bring our questions to God but also listen to Him via His sure Word. We can state the main idea of this next chapter in this way: In Habakkuk 2, verses 1 to 20, Habakkuk gives three reasons for you, amid ongoing trials, to listen humbly to God and to wait faithfully for His Word’s fulfillment. Notice “faithfully” is spelled a little differently there—you’ll see why later on. Now, like we did last time, we will examine these points as we read through different parts of the passage. This segment is even longer than last time, and we will begin with the first reason—to listen to and wait on God’s Word in verses 1 to 3. Look at Habakkuk chapter 2, verses 1 to 3:
I will stand at my guard post
And station myself on the watchtower;
And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me,
And how I may reply when I am reprimanded.
Then the LORD answered me and said,
“Write down the vision
And inscribe it clearly on tablets,
So that one who reads it may run.
“For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hurries toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it delays, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
The first reason for you, amid ongoing trials, to listen to God humbly and wait faithfully for His Word’s fulfillment is this: Yahweh’s Word has answers, and it will come to pass.
Notice in verse 1 that we get something like an interlude between chapters 1 and 2: A description of what Habakkuk does as he waits for God’s answer. Habakkuk determined, after apparently not receiving a response at the end of chapter 1, that he would station himself like a watchman on a high place, looking out to see when and how God’s next answer would arrive.
This description of Habakkuk as a watchman is surely metaphorical rather than literal. In fact, the picture of God’s prophets as lookouts or watchmen appears multiple times in the Bible. We see it in Isaiah 21 and, more famously, in Ezekiel 33. “Watchman” is an appropriate picture of a prophet of God, for a watchman looks out for the Word of God and, when that Word arrives, declares it to the people so that they may be encouraged, warned, helped, and saved. In a way, we Christians are like watchmen as well.
Notice in verse 1 that Habakkuk declares three times in those first three lines that he will keep watch for God. He expresses it in a few different ways, and the repetition shows not only his drive to receive an answer from God but also his confidence that God will indeed answer. Habakkuk knows—as we ought to know—that the answers to our most grievous and perplexing questions do exist. But where are those answers?
They are found in God. He is the one who knows. He is the one who has the answers. Many of those answers come to us directly via God’s revealed Word. He wrote the answers in the Bible. Habakkuk didn’t have all the Scriptures; he was looking for new prophecy. But for us, the prophecy is inscripturated in the words of this book. So if you crave answers—even to the most difficult questions of life—you must know that those answers are not ultimately found in the world or in the ideas of man. God has those answers, and He put them in His Word. Maybe not all the answers you want, perhaps not the answer to everything, but all the answers you need—sufficient answers. Whatever is not found in this book will be answered by God one day in another way, either in the unfolding of further providence in His actions in the world, or when you see Him face to face.
Notice the last line of verse 1 in this chapter. Habakkuk not only watches for God’s answer but also for His reproof. He says, “I want to see how I may reply when I am reproved.” What is Habakkuk acknowledging about himself with this statement? He recognizes that his thinking must be off in some way. Even as he complains to God, he understands that his understanding is incomplete. He doesn’t fully know the circumstances or the reasons; he needs God to show him where he is wrong.
This last line of Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 1 helps inform how we are to understand Habakkuk’s questions from chapter 1—his complaints to God. If you think about the term complaint, we normally consider complaining as sinful. Habakkuk’s complaints to God may have seemed out of line, rude, or impudent—how dare you say that to a holy God? Yet, as we see here in chapter 2, his questions were spoken in humility. There was boldness, but also humility and confidence that God does have the answer for even what seems impossible to explain.
We need this same attitude when we come to question or bring our complaints to God. We must say, “God, I don’t understand. It really looks like You are violating Your own character, breaking Your promises with what I see happening in my life and in the world, but I know that cannot be true. There must be something wrong in my thinking. So show me, God, please, where I am wrong. Teach me from Your sufficient Word so that I may get back on track with my thinking and properly continue in fellowship with You.”
Now, we don’t know how long Habakkuk waited for a new word from God, but he was right—God would, and did, answer him. Looking at verse 2, we encounter a formulaic phrase that we didn’t see in chapter 1. Habakkuk’s viewpoint becomes more ordered now that he turns purposefully to listen to God. Notice verse 2: God’s answer is introduced with the phrase, “the Lord answered me and said.” As a reminder, when you see “the LORD” in capital letters in your Bible, it communicates the name Yahweh—the covenant name of God in Hebrew. It sounds like the Hebrew for “He is.” This intimate name emphasizes God’s self-sufficiency, eternality, and faithfulness to Israel. This covenant-keeping God was not going to leave His prophet derelict. Yahweh gave Habakkuk an answer, and that answer was not only for Habakkuk.
In verse 2, God commands Habakkuk to record the vision on tablets for others, so that the one who reads it—or, as some translate it, the one who proclaims it—may run. These are interesting words. First, note the plural “tablets.” That seems odd since Habakkuk’s revelation is not very long. Do you really need multiple tablets to write this all down? And what is meant by “reading” and “running”?
The traditional explanation is that God wanted Habakkuk to write the vision on multiple tablets in big Hebrew letters so that Habakkuk could post these tablets like a billboard in Judah, and those running by could read it and know the Word of Yahweh. That’s a possible explanation. Another explanation is more likely. The reference to tablets alludes to the famous tablets of Moses—the Law and the Ten Commandments. It is not that Habakkuk’s prophecy requires all the space of multiple tablets, but rather that his message is as important as that original message given on tablets. God is essentially saying, “Break out a new set of tablets, Habakkuk, because My answer is so important for You and for all My people to know.” As for “running,” it may not be literal running at all but rather an allusion to the proclamation ministry of the prophets. There are at least two other places in the Old Testament where God describes those receiving and proclaiming new revelation from Him as “running” (see Jeremiah 23:21 and Zechariah 2:4). Prophets run—that is, they proclaim. God’s messengers run and proclaim. In summary, God would be saying to Habbakuk to write down a message that others will be able to read and proclaim. And what do you know, that’s what we are doing today, is it not?
Now, in verse 3 God supplies a reason why His message to Habakkuk must be proclaimed. It reveals the fulfillment of certain promises at an appointed time—not too early, not too late, but exactly when God deems it should happen. In fact, God says the vision “hastens toward the goal.” It is eager to be fulfilled. It pants like a runner straining toward the finish line. God says this revelation about the future will not fail, literally it will not lie. You can trust this vision. It is real, despite whatever you eyes see in the world. Even if the vision seems to tarry or delay, God commands His people to wait for it. Don’t give up, don’t despair. Wait for my declared vision. Why? The last line of verse 3, very emphatic in the Hebrew: It will certainly come. It will not delay, God says. Wait, didn’t God just say it might tarry. Isn’t God contradicting Himself? Not at all. From our perspective, it might look as if the vision is tarrying, but from God’s perspective, never. His Word will be fulfilled at just the right time. In a sense, God is eager for it to be fulfilled, but only at the right time, for His glory and for the good of His people.
Thus, we must listen to and wait upon God amid our trials, because His Word has answers and will come to pass. This is a great principle for heeding the Bible in general. But what is the specific vision that God declares to Habakkuk in this chapter—a vision that will surely arrive at the appointed time? We find out when we read verses 4 and 5, the central component of God’s new revelation to Habakkuk. Let’s read verse 4 first:
“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith.”
Verse 4 may sound very familiar because it is quoted three times in the New Testament. The verse does not declare something unknown before in the Old Testament; rather, it succinctly summarizes Old Testament teaching on righteousness and faith, applying those truths powerfully to Habakkuk’s day and to all days since. This revelation in verses 4 and 5 is our second reason, amid trial, to listen humbly to God and wait faithfully for His Word’s fulfillment: the humble righteous will live, but the proud wicked will die.
Notice the beginning of verse 4. God begins the vision appropriately with the word “Behold.” It is a vision after all—behold, look, see it yourself. Look at what? Behold whom? Behold the proud one, God says: literally the bloated one, puffed-up one, one who is full of himself and his achievements. What should we notice about this one? God says his soul is not right within him. His soul is neither straight nor upright, and it does not please God. It doesn’t matter what he has accomplished on the outside. God does not approve of him on the inside. A proud soul is never right before God.
By contrast, God commands us to behold someone else—the righteous one (or the just, or even the justified one). In Hebrew, to be righteous means to be recognized as approved according to some standard. On one hand, it has the nuance of practical goodness and justice—you do what God prescribes (as seen in the Psalms). The Psalmist says, I am righteous because I do what God says. On the other hand, it carries the nuance of approved status regardless of what you have actually done, being legally pronounced in the right or blameless. We see this usage, for example, in the book of Job. Job wants to prove he was not guilty. Both nuances of righteous are emphasized in the Old Testament in different places, but what is the emphasis of the righteous here? In what sense are we to behold this righteous person? Is it legal righteousness, declared righteousness, or is it practical righteousness – what you’ve actually done? There is some connection between legal and practical righteousness.
The context here indicates that the emphasis is on legal righteousness, the declared approval of God. After all, the beginning of verse 4 clearly moves us away from any idea of performance, because the proud one is the one who thinks he can perform and achieve on his own. Moreover, the judgement of God about this proud one’s soul is that it is not right within him. That is a statement of divine disapproval. Then we have this contrast set up in verse four. If God is disapproving this proud one, then it makes sense that when he talks about this other one it is the one who is approved, the one who is righteous, the one who is justified.
Now if we are to behold the disapproved one characterized by pride, by what is the approved one characterized? God goes on to say, the righteous one will live by his faith. Now let’s talk about that term translated faith for a second. It might get a little technical, but follow me. The Hebrew word for faith here is “emuna”. Actually the root letters are the same as in English where we get the root word “amen”. The primary sense of emuna is trustworthiness, steadfastness, reliability, which is why your Bible might have a note that an alternate translation of the word here could be faithfulness. The righteous will live by his faithfulness. This sense of faithfulness is actually used all over the Bible, even that famous line from Lamentations – the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness – it’s this word, emuna.
Perhaps you are wondering why is emuna translated faith here in Habbakuk 2:4 if the primary meaning of the word is faithfulness? This is because emuna, when applied to man, can also carry with it the idea of belief. This is where an important parallel passage will help us – Genesis 15:6. I’d like you to turn there. The context is actually very similar to Habbakuk 2:4. If you remember the context of this verse, in Genesis 15, God has just promised again to bless Abram and to make Abram’s name great. Yet Abram protests[20:15] that God has not given Abram an heir. There’s no child, so how can God’s promises about a great and lasting name for Abram come to pass? How can I be blessed if I don’t have an heir?
God then tells Abram to go outside and count the stars if he can, saying, “So shall your descendants be.” With no change of circumstances and only the Word of God to go on, Genesis 15:6 records,
“Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
This passage is famous and beloved among many of us because it clearly presents justification by faith alone. God reckons or account Abram righteous apart from any good works. Abram simply believed God, and that simple belief resulted in God’s full approval—he was counted righteous.
You might ask, what does this have to do with faithfulness? The term “faithfulness” is linked to the Hebrew verb “aman”—Abram aman’d (or believed, trusted, had faith in) God, and God reckoned that faith as righteousness. But aman is a verb, what would the noun form of that Hebrew verb be that would logically stand in for the “it” in this verse? What is the Hebrew noun form of the verb aman that would be translated faith, the thing accounted to Abram as righteousness? It’s the word “emuna”, the same word from our passage in Habakkuk 2:4. The word “emunah” is the noun form of the Hebrew verb aman, meaning here to believe.
So what does all this mean? Just as the word faith is in the word faithfulness, so the idea of faith is implicit in the Hebrew word for faithfulness. Hebrew doesn’t actually have a word for faith like Greek does. Therefore, in Habbakuk 2:4, it uses the word emuna. Emuna contains the word faith as a proper translation. But it does also contain the idea of faithfulness, and this give a nuance to faith as translated in Habbakuk 2:4. This kind of faith is a perseverance faith. One does not have emuna one day and no emuna the next. As one commentator puts it, emuna is steadfast trust. It is a faith that lasts. It is a faith that perseveres.
So let’s go back to Habakkuk 2:4 now. We can complete the idea of this verse. God wants Habakkuk, and you, and me, to behold two very different kind of people in the world. We have the proud one, whose soul is not right, and is rejected by God as disapproved. And then we have the righteous one, who is approved by God. What characterizes the approved one, the justified one? The answer is faithful faith, perseverant faith, steadfast trust. And what will be the outcome for this faith-filled person? God says here in Habakkuk 2:4, he will live. That one will live. Live how? In what sense will he live? When we talk about life and guarantees of life in the Old Testament, certainly there is temporal life in view. God will spare this approved one when his judgment comes, even the judgment of Babylon. And there’s also spiritual life. The one who is approved by God in this way is a person who gets to experience fellowship with God, experience deliverance from sin’s grip, and knows the joy of walking with the Lord. And then there is eternal life. The one approved by God is the one who experiences joyous life beyond this one, in the world to come, in the Lord’s new kingdom, which is only righteous, and which will never end. The Old Testament often leaves open-ended the life promised to the righteous, but it surely contains each of these aspects, as the New Testament also affirms. You’ll find life now, and you will find life forever.
This is really the core truth that God gives to Habakkuk, the core aspect of the new vision. God says the righteous one, the approved one before me, is the one who will truly live. He is the one with perseverant faith. And can you see how such a message would have been so relevant for Habakkuk, and for the godly ones who are suffering during his day, and really for all believers since. God essentially declares to them and to us, I know you have many questions about your hard circumstances, circumstances which I acknowledge are from me. I brought these things about. And I do answer some of your questions in my Word. Listen to my word, but for those other questions, the things I do not specifically answer, you must remember this fundamental truth as the ultimate answer. That is, the righteous will live by perseverant faith.
Therefore, humble yourself, God says. Trust me. Keep seeking me amid the difficulties and unanswered questions of life, and I promise you, you will experience life. You will experience true life both now and forever, if you will live by perseverant faith. And brethren, isn’t this the essence of the gospel, the good news from the apostles and from our Lord. It is no wonder then that Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 in his teaching about the gospel in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. You want to hear the gospel summarized? It’s already been summarized here in Habakkuk 2:4. And it’s also no wonder then that the writer of Hebrews quotes Habakkuk 2:3-4 when exhorting first century believers who were going through very hard circumstances to persevere in faith and to wait for Christ’s reward. Habakkuk already declared the truth that they needed and that we need.
So what about us this morning, brothers and sisters, when it comes to applying this truth? What have you been crying out to God for so long without seeing Him answer? Some good thing, some right thing, even something He’s promised but you don’t see an answer. Do you still wonder, even the answers you do see, how God can use those as answers and still be right? Though God does provide some specific explanations in His Word about why He gives us hard circumstances, we know it’s for our good, we know it’s for our sanctification, we know He’s building us endurance, the ultimate answer for you and for me, for all of those things, is the same as we just read. The righteous will live by faith. So are you willing to embrace and embody that truth? Are you willing to humble yourself before the Lord, listen to Him, obey Him, and wait for the fulfillment of His Word? His sure Word, it will be fulfilled, but you must wait.
This is the only way to life. There is no other answer ultimately besides this one. And if you will not accept this answer, if you say, that’s not good enough, if you instead puff yourself up in pride and even resent God, well then you must know that you are under God’s disapproval, and the end of that way is death. God has already stated as much implicitly in the beginning of verse 4, but we can now go to the next verse in verse 5, look at Habakkuk 2:5:
“Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man so that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations and collects to himself all peoples.”
This is interesting. What is God declaring here? That for the proud person, even the proud ruler or the proud nation, all of their efforts to find life will be in vain. Instead, their lives will be characterized by death. They may succeed for a while, though even a nation like Babylon might seem to collect all nations. The party will not last, and it will not satisfy. Wine and sensual indulgence, they will never fulfill. The proud will never find the peace that just lets them rest at home. Like death in the grave, they will have appetites with no bottom, so that even when from others’ perspectives they have everything one could ever want, they will still feel like it’s not enough.
I mean, after all, think of the great dictator conquerors of history. For a moment, they seemed unstoppable, like they had it all. But it was never enough, and it didn’t last. Their lives were characterized by death, and then they died. This was no accident. This was the hand of God. This was the word of God finding its fulfillment. Just as he promises that the righteous will see life, God promises that the proud wicked will see death in all its forms – temporal, spiritual, eternal. Certainly, then, we have all the more reason, amid ongoing trials, to listen humbly to God and wait faithfully for his word’s fulfillment. The humble righteous will live, but the proud wicked will die.
However, even though we’ve already seen the core and most important part of God’s revelation to Habakkuk, God adds another part, a series of woes on the proud that serves to underscore the truth that God has just declared. Look at the beginning part of verse 6, first half of it:
“Will all of these not take up a song of ridicule against him,
Even a mockery and insinuations against him…”
I’ll just stop there. Who are the these here in verse 6? Well, they are the peoples and the nations that the wicked and proud oppress. God says that these, understand, be sure, these will raise taunts, mockery, and insinuations. They will quote proverbs. They will propound riddles against the proud wicked ones. You’ve heard of the song, We Will Rock You? Well, God says the victims of the wicked can confidently sing to their oppressors, we will mock you. The third and last reason in our passage for us to listen humbly to God and to wait faithfully for his word’s fulfillment is here, number 3, the proud wicked will be mocked in perfect justice. The proud wicked will be mocked in perfect justice.
I think we might think of mocking as an unholy activity, and certainly in most cases it is, but even God mocks the wicked. And there will be a sense that God’s people will righteously mock the wicked one day as well. What follows in the rest of our chapter is a series of these mockings, five woes, pronouncements of mocking doom. Most of these woes all begin with the same word, woe, which can also be translated ah, or aha, or even ha. And I think it’s that sense of ha that is most appropriate here because, again, the context is mocking. God is going to bring about justice in such an appropriate and perfect way that the former victims will laugh in mockery. That is exactly what you deserve.
Now, at whom specifically will these mocking words of woe be directed? Well, certainly because of what we’ve already seen in Habakkuk chapter 1, we know that Babylon is in view. They are the proud wicked about whom Habakkuk was particularly concerned. God, how is it right that you’re using Babylon? Are you really going to let them get away with it? God says, look at what I’m declaring. Babylon will not get away with it. Yet notice, if you just glance down in the rest of chapter 2, you don’t see the terms Chaldea or Babylon anywhere mentioned. This is not to say that Judah’s soon-to-be conquerors are not in view, but that they are not the only ones in view. This is an appropriate place for us to quote that common saying – if the shoe fits, wear it. These words of woe, they will come upon all to whom they appropriately describe, whether it’s Babylon or Greece or Rome or every ancient and modern state that uses violence and evil against others for its own profit. And not just nations, but also rulers and even individuals who fit what these woes describe.
The woes of this passage, of course, culminate on the final human kingdom that will dominate this world before Christ’s return. The final Babylon, the kingdom of Antichrist. There is an eschatological aspect to these words. God promises, as an assurance to Habakkuk and to all those who continually witness the powerful wicked oppressing the powerless righteous, that perfect justice is coming. God will make things right. Meanwhile, though, God’s people must wait and persevere in faith.
Now, for the sake of time, we will only briefly consider these woes. We’ll read each one, I’ll summarize it, and then make a few comments. The first woe appears in verses 6 to 8, starting in the second half of verse 6. God says,
“And say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his—
For how long—
And makes himself rich with loans!’
Will not your creditors rise up suddenly,
And those who collect from you awaken?
Indeed, you will become plunder for them.
Because you have looted many nations,
All the rest of the peoples will loot you—
Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land,
To the town and all its inhabitants.”
This is the first woe. I’ll list it as a sub-point for our sermon outline. Point 3a, the plunderers will be plundered. Notice the metaphor God uses here. God says, The wicked’s plundering is like taking loans out from people. They’re really borrowing what doesn’t belong to them. And eventually, God will make sure that those loans come due, and that those borrowed from get paid back with interest. The wicked may live a high life for a moment, but one of the last lines of verse 6 asks tauntingly – for how long? Oh, yeah, you’re doing well now, but for how long? God will not forget the bloody pillaging of Babylon or any other power, any other wicked person. The debt will come due.
The second woe appears in verses 9 to 11:
“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house
To put his nest on high,
To be delivered from the hand of calamity!
You have devised a shameful thing for your house
By cutting off many peoples;
So you are sinning against yourself.
Surely the stone will cry out from the wall,
And the rafter will answer it from the framework.”
Here’s the second woe, point 3b – the ransacked built house will fall. Notice how God describes here, the wicked taking from others to build for themselves exalted and protected houses like a nest built on high. And there probably is a double meaning of the term house here. You know, throughout the Old Testament, house can mean both a building and a dynasty, a family. Rulers are very concerned about their house. But God points out the irony of the activity of these proud wicked ones in building their houses and shoring up, lifting up their houses this way. They actually sin against themselves and bring shame upon themselves. For the very stones and beams of their houses will cry out against the wicked ones when those houses start to collapse. In stealing from others to build a protected house, they guaranteed their house’s destruction. For God will see to it.
The third woe appears in verses 12 to 14:
“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
and founds a town with violence.
Is it not indeed from Yahweh of hosts
that peoples toil for fire,
and the nations grow weary for nothing?
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,
as the waters cover the sea.”
Here’s the third woe, 3C, the blood-built city will burn. There’s perhaps an illusion here to the city and tower of Babel, the original Babylon. Remember, according to Genesis, those people were working hard to build a great city for themselves, to exalt their own name, perhaps even resorting to bloodshed and violence to do so. Yet God promises that the wicked ones who look to build a city in this way, they toil in vain. They work for fire. Their cities will burn and come to nothing. They will have nothing to show for it in the end. Despite man’s great efforts to establish his own glory, it is only Yahweh’s works that will be established forever, and He has determined the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh. Now that is a beautiful promise. We don’t have full time to explore it, but that’s certainly a promise that has not yet been fulfilled. We do not yet see the world deluged with the knowledge of the glory of God. But you know what? One day we will. God says, wait for it.
The fourth woe appears in verses 15 to 17:
“Woe to you who make your neighbors drink,
who mix in your venom even to make them drunk
so as to look on their nakedness!
You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor.
Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness.
The cup in Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you,
and utter disgrace will come upon your glory.
For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
and the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them,
because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land,
to the town and all its inhabitants.”
The fourth woe is 3D – the shameless will be shamed. The metaphor in this woe is one of debasement through drunkenness. The wicked are like those slipping something secretly into a drink so that they can intoxicate, humiliate, and abuse others. But God says, I see what you’re doing, and you know what? Your turn is coming. The cup will come back around to you, and you will be the one who is humiliated and abused. And this woe appears to specifically call out Babylon for the violence that it would do to the land, the people, and even the animals of Lebanon. Now, Lebanon is spoken throughout the Bible as a place of lushness, of beauty, of great and majestic trees, but Lebanon is not like that today. Most of the trees of Lebanon are long gone. God declares that he would remember those who shamefully devastated others, and He would recompense them accordingly.
The final woe appears in verses 18 to 20, and it opens a little bit differently. Look there:
“What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it,
or an image, a teacher of falsehood?
For its maker trusts in his own handiwork
when he fashions speechless idols.
Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’
To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’
And that is your teacher?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all inside it.
But Yahweh is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before Him.”
This last woe is 3E – The idol worshipers will prove powerless. This woe’s final position in the list and its atypical opening give it extra emphasis, perhaps because idolatry is the root of all wickedness, even the great wickedness of the powerful nations of the earth. And ironically so, that idolatry should be so central, because as these verses point out, the wicked trust in what they worship, whether it’s a physical idol or it’s an idol of their own imagination and heart. The wicked trust in what they worship to help them, to save them, to teach them, to satisfy them, when the idols actually have no breath and can say and do nothing. People rely on their idols so much, but they’re just empty statues. They may look impressive with adornments, but they are empty inside. How silly to call on it to awake and teach you.
In contrast, we see verse 20. Yahweh, the true God, the living God, He is in His temple. And though the wicked beg idols to speak, but the false gods cannot, the true God does speak. And He speaks through His prophet, even Habakkuk here, and He demands that the earth hush and listen. That’s what the term here actually literally means when it says, let it be silent, hush. It’s a command. Hush and listen to the God who speaks. Thus we see the chapter ends like it began, with a call to listen and wait humbly in faith on the Lord and His word.
So the question now is, is that what you will do? Is that what we will do as a church? God did give an answer to Habakkuk’s painful second question, but notice it wasn’t exactly an answer that matched Habakkuk’s question. Habakkuk asks at the end of chapter one, God, how is what You are doing right? And God did not exactly explain. He didn’t say, oh, listen Habakkuk, this is why I can use Babylon. This is how it all works. No, God’s response, it was an answer, but not the exact one that Habakkuk was looking for. God’s answer was essentially, trust My word, trust My perfect justice, and live by faith. God doesn’t have to justify or explain all His ways to us. He is God and we are not. The way to life is to trust Him. So are we willing to do that? Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to humble yourself before the Lord, position yourself like a watchman who is just waiting for His word, and then persevere by faith and obedience with the word that He’s given you?
God has given us via His prophet Habakkuk three reasons to do all of this. We saw them today. Number one, Yahweh’s word has answers and they will come to pass. Number two, the humble righteous will live, but the proud wicked will die. Number three, the proud wicked will be mocked in perfect justice. So you must choose today. Will you be humble or proud before the Lord? Do you want life or do you want death? Isn’t that just like the original tablets? Moses said the same thing to Israel and he also exhorted, as I do today, choose life. Why will you die?
This passage is another presentation in celebration of the gospel. If you will humble yourself before the Lord, then you will not die. You will escape the judgment of God that is due you for your sin. So as Jesus says in the New Testament, even if you die in this world, you will live because, when you have the Lord Jesus as your saving substitute and you believe in Him by faith, you are pronounced approved. You can escape death. You can escape the judgment of God if you will humble yourself before the Lord and live in persevering faith. So do that and let’s do that together. Let’s encourage one another to do that together. Listen, wait, and trust.
The ultimate outcome of all this is not merely obedience. It’s actually worship. When we do all this, it will lead to our worship. And that’s exactly what it leads Habakkuk to do. We’ll see that next time we’re in Habakkuk in chapter three.
Let’s close in prayer. Lord God, it’s interesting to consider this word with the background of Ecclesiastes that we studied recently. The message is really the same. God, we will not understand the answers to so many things in life, but we will understand this, that You are a righteous and good God and You will judge justly in the end. You don’t have to give us all the answers now. In fact, You’ve designed that we will not have all the answers so that we will be humbled before you and learn to fear You with that holy, righteous fear and affection which we ought to have. And Lord, You have shown in the scriptures again and again that You are a God who proves Himself righteous when Your answers are revealed. People of Israel, they wandered through the wilderness. They said, God, how is this going to work? How is this going to work? God, how is this right what You’re doing? You said, just wait for it. I’m going to provide. And You proved it. And Lord, of course, the greatest question that so many in the Old Testament had was, God, how can You, a just God, justify the wicked, even Your people in Israel? We aren’t good. How can You pronounce us good? How can a just God do that? You said, wait for it. My answer is coming. And then, Lord, You gave us the answer, which is Your Son coming into the world. And the just dying in the place of the unjust so that, Lord Jesus, You could give us Your righteousness and pay once and for all our sin. Lord, no one could have expected that answer, even though You were foreshadowing it again and again. And what a beautiful, what a glorious answer it was and is. And there are yet, Lord, questions that we know will have an answer like that when we consider the injustice in the world today or the difficulties of our lives. And we say, God, how long? God, how is this right? God, what are You doing? We know because of what You revealed in Jesus Christ and because of what You revealed throughout the scriptures that the answer in the end will be glorious. So help us to wait in faith. Help us to encourage one another during those times in the darkness and in the heat and in the pain. You are doing something good, God. We can persevere by faith. By Your spirit, we will do this. In Jesus’ name, amen.