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Introduction

God is good and God is sovereign, and in addition we must never forget that He is good all the time, and sovereign all the time. In our passage this morning, we begin with a staggering display of His sovereignty, and the passage ends with Habakkuk able to rest in His goodness.

The Text

“. . . Although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, And he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments” (Hab. 3:1–19).

Outline of the Book

Remember the overall structure. Habakkuk complains about injustice in Judah (1:2-4). God answers by promising the invading armies of Babylon (1:5-11). Habakkuk says that this is no improvement (1:12-17). God tells him to wait. Wait. The just shall live by faith (2:1-5). God then gives an answer to the second complaint (2:6-20). The great force of Jehovah’s army contrasts with the army of Babylon (3:1-15). Habakkuk finally resolves his dilemma (3:16-19).

Summary of the Text

The prayer of Habakkuk is offered up (v. 1). He prays that God would finish what He had begun (v. 2). Revive your work. In wrath remember mercy. Teman and Paran were near Mt. Sinai, and this appears to be the import here—God came from Teman, and His glory was great (v. 3). God manifested His power, and even while holding it back, brightness suffused all, and horns came out of His hand (v. 4). Calvin calls the pestilence and burning coals “God’s officers.” This is likely referring to the deliverance out of Egypt (v. 5). God measures the earth, divides the nations, scatters the mountains and the everlasting hills bow low (v. 6). His ways are everlasting. The Jews are to be encouraged by remembering the great victories over Cushan and Midian (v. 7).

When God dried up the Jordan so Israel could cross over, was He angry with the river? Or was He delivering His people (v. 8)? God pulls out His bow, and again, this is for the deliverance of His people (v. 9). Mountains are afraid of the armies of Jehovah (v. 10). When God’s glittering spears went by, the sun and moon stood still (v. 11). God went through the land, and He threshed the heathen in His anger (v. 12). God went out in His strength in order to save His people, and to do so with His Christ (v. 13). He captured all the regional towns, even though the unbelievers came out like a whirlwind (v. 14). God went through the Red Sea with His horses; the waters were gathered in a heap (v. 15). And the next phrase brings us to a strange fusion—the prophet is overwhelmed with an abject fear, and with the kind of fear which is the strongest possible foundation for a great hope (v. 16).

And so Habakkuk comes at the last to his hope. Even though everything seems lost and gone (v. 17), yet he will rejoice in the God of his salvation (v. 18). God the Lord is his strength, and He will make us walk in the high places (v. 19).

As Scriptures Describe It

As the just live by faith, they are called upon to wait. What are they to do while they wait? They are to see? And what should they see? They should see with their mind’s eye, with their imagination, the majesty of God as Scripture describes Him.

Picture the fist of God holding a bright fury that looks like lightning, and radiates everything. The ends of whatever it is come out and bend around like horns. The armies of Jehovah march by and the Grand Tetons flinch. The light glints off the tips of these millions of spears, and the sun and moon stand agape.

The right kind of poetic imagination is in fact the fear of God.

Our God is Able

When the three Israelite captives are threatened with the furnace in the book of Daniel, they reply that God is able to deliver them. But they also say, regardless of whether God delivers them, they are not going to bow down to the idol in any case (Dan. 3:17-18). God is able to deliver us, but we will serve Him whether He does or not. God is able to deliver us, and we will serve Him while we wait for that deliverance, even when it may appear to us that the deliverance got interrupted on the way.

And so this is the confidence that Habakkuk ends with. We are talking about a complete crop failure, which means that we would have no way to sustain ourselves. Though the fig does not blossom. Though the vines bear no fruit. Though the olive trees do not produce. Though the fields produce nothing. Though the flocks do not return to the fold. Though the stalls in the barns are clean and empty. Though we look around us, and see nothing but bare wasteland in every direction. What?

Habakkuk says that he will rejoice in the Lord. He says he will joy in the God of his salvation. Notice that he is not rejoicing in what his eyes can see because all he can see with his eyes is miserable ruin. He trusts in God and, more than this, he rejoices—not in what God has done, but in what God will do. And what will God—his strength—do? He will make the believer’s feet like a deer’s feet on high places.

The wasteland is below. Christ is our high place, and we have been set securely there. It doesn’t matter what failures are going on down below. What matters is what is happening where God has placed us. And God has placed us on Christ.

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Introduction

God governs the world with inscrutable and holy wisdom. We know that He is holy, but part of the reason why it is so inscrutable is because He uses so much unholiness to accomplish His holy ends. This was the central dilemma that Habakkuk faced. And the lesson he learns is that waiting for deliverance is one of God’s central instruments that He uses to prepare us for glory.

The Text

“The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.  O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you . . .” (Hab. 1:1-2:5).

Outline of the Book

The book of Habakkuk is structured in a seven-part chiasm. Although we won’t get to all of this today, you should have this map in your minds to keep you oriented. The text today will take us halfway through the book, and to the central hinge of the chiasm.

A Habakkuk’s first complaint has to do with how long he has to wait for the justice of God (1:2-4);
B When then have Jehovah’s first answer—He will bring in the great armies of Babylon to deal with the corruptions of Judah (1:5-11);
C Habakkuk says that this is even worse. The Babylonians are worse than Judah ever thought of being (1:12-17);
D Wait, God says. He will punish the wicked, and the just shall live by faith in the meantime (2:1-5);
C’ God answers the second complaint, and we read about the woes that befall the wicked (2:6-20);
B’ Jehovah’s army is the answer to the army of Babylon (3:1-15);
A’ Habakkuk finally resolves his dilemma, and determines to wait on the Lord regardless (3:16-19).

Summary of the Text

Prophecies are often called “burdens,” and this is certainly what Habakkuk had (v. 1). Why does God delay in hearing the prophet’s cry (v. 2)? Why does God show Habakkuk corruption if He is not going to do anything about it (v. 3)? Wrongdoers prevail (v. 4).

And so the answer comes. Jehovah will make a short and wondrous work of it (v. 5). He will raise up the Chaldeans, and they will sweep in as a judgment (v. 6). Their arrival will be dreadful (v. 7). Their armed might is terrible, and they bring in true fear (v. 8). They will come in violence and devour everything (v. 9). Kings and princes are nothing to them (v. 10). They attribute their prowess to their own false god (v. 11).

Habakkuk hates this. Is not God the God of true and holy judgment (v. 12)? God has holy hands, and so how can He pick up and use such a dirty stick as Babylon (v. 13)? The Babylonians just gather up men like fishermen with a dragnet (vv. 14-15). They worship their own prowess (v. 16), and are the very definition of fat and sassy. God, why do You let them get away with this (v. 17)?

We then come to the heart of the book, from which the apostle Paul takes the phrase the just shall live by faith as his thesis statement for the book of Romans. Habakkuk prepares him for the answer (2:1). The Lord says to him that he needs to make sure to get this down plainly (v. 2). Write it in big enough letters that someone just running by could still read it. Though the judgments of God tarry, wait for them because they will not tarry (v. 3). The haughty are bent, but the just shall live by faith (v. 4). The one under judgment, like Babylon, swells and is swollen (v. 5).

So Wait for It

The book begins with Habbakuk complaining about how long he must wait (1:1). But when God brings him to the point, He says to wait for it (2:3). The book ends with Habakkuk declaring that he will rejoice (as he waits) for God’s salvation (3:18). The book begins with the lament, how long must I wait for God’s salvation. The book ends with the resolve to wait for God’s salvation.

Both Sovereign and Holy

The delay that we chafe under is not because God is trying to gather up His resources. He doesn’t need time to get ready. He is sovereign. Neither is it because He is contemptuous of us—no, He is also holy.

God is always ready to deliver. We are not always ready to be delivered. The waiting is part of His preparation. It is something we need.

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever” (Exodus 14:13).

And so we see the great salvation of the Lord, the salvation that is the pinnacle of all His typical salvations (in the sense of typology). God loves to work using the same methods, over and over. God loves the cliffhanger. God loves to save His people at the very last moment. The nick of time is the place of His excellence. God is the one who developed “just in time” delivery.

“For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:27–28, ESV).

Christ, your Lord and your Savior, is never late.

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