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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
Then the Lord replied:
“Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so
that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it
speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it
will certainly come and will not delay.”
“See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not
upright—but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—indeed, wine
betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the
grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and
takes captive all the peoples.”
“Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn,
saying, ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by
extortion! How long must this go on?’ Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will
they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey. Because
you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For
you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in
them.”
“Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting
his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of
many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of
the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.”
“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and
establishes a town by injustice! Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the
people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves
for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of
the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it
from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked
bodies! You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn!
Drink and let your nakedness be exposed! The cup from the Lord’s right hand is
coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. The violence you have
done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will
terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities
and everyone in them.”
“Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an
image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he
makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or
to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and
silver; there is no breath in it.”
The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be
silent before Him.
Habakkuk 2:2-20
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks
be to God.
Habakkuk wasn’t happy with what he was seeing within the
Israelite community. People were committing a litany of social injustices
against one another and worship had turned into a travesty as false gods and
idols had supplanted showing full devotion to the one true God, the God of
Israel. Fed up with the sinful behavior of his peers, the prophet called out to
God asking why He wasn’t taking action to stop the wickedness. In return, God
assured Habakkuk that judgment was coming at the hands of the Babylonian empire
who would bring their fighting forces against Judah and facilitate God’s
judgment.
As we saw in yesterday’s message, Habakkuk wasn’t happy
with that solution either. We found him asking God why He would even consider
sending the Babylonians to carry out His punishment when they were even more
evil than the Israelites. It just didn’t make sense to the prophet.
Today, in the last in this series on the exchanges between
Habakkuk and God, we find the Lord responding and making sense of His plan.
Look again at these words here:
Then the Lord
replied:
“Write down the
revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For
the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove
false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not
delay.”
“See, the enemy is
puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous person will live by
his faithfulness—indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because
he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to
himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.”
“Will not all of
them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen
goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ Will
not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then
you will become their prey. Because you have plundered many nations, the
peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed human blood; you have
destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.”
“Woe to him who
builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the
clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own
house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the
beams of the woodwork will echo it.”
“Woe to him who
builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! Has not the Lord
Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the
nations exhaust themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
“Woe to him who
gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk,
so that he can gaze on their naked bodies! You will be filled with shame
instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed!
The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will
cover your glory. The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and
your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you
have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.”
“Of what value is
an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who
makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to
him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give
guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.”
The Lord is in His
holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him. Habakkuk 2:2-20
As we see here, God had plenty to say to Habakkuk in His
reply but here’s one thing He didn’t say:
He didn’t say He was changing His mind when it came to
the Babylonians being the instruments of His judgment. That plan was still in
force and would happen. It was what would happen after that is revealed within
the Lord’s response, a revelation that the Lord commanded His prophet to “write
down” and make “plain on tablets”, a revelation that would come to be at “an
appointed time” in the future.
As we see, the revelation God is speaking about centers
on the Babylonians after they carry out His judgment on Israel. Babylon,
described as the enemy, would be “puffed up” and “arrogant” as a result of
their many conquests from which nations were consumed before the people of
those nations was taken captive or killed.
But note that a day was coming for the Babylonians, a day
when they would experience their own judgment at the hands of the Lord with
that judgment being carried out by the nations who were left unplundered. God
would punish Babylon for the ways the empire stole from others and accumulated “unjust
gain”, “shed human blood”, and ruined so many lives. He would also bring
consequences for the worshiping of useless idols made of metal, wood, or “lifeless
stone”.
God promised that it was now Babylon’s turn. It was their
turn to be assailed and humiliated, destroyed and exposed, disgraced after
drinking from the Lord’s cup of judgment. Babylon’s glory days were going to
come to an end and they would be punished for their transgressions, just as
Judah would be.
So God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question regarding why an
evil empire like Babylon would be used to judge the sinfulness of Israel was
simple:
Wait and see.
Wait and see how Babylon gets punished as well.
Wait and see their downfall for the evil they have
committed.
Wait and see how I will once again show that I am God, in
charge and in control.
For as we see God ultimately summing up His world status,
we hear Him reminding Habakkuk (and us as well) that He (the Lord) is “in His
holy temple” and as a result, “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of
the glory of the Lord” and “all the earth” should “be silent before Him.”
It’s easy for us to sit back and question God, asking “Why
God? Why?” What’s takes more discipline is to remain quiet, trusting the Lord in
faith while waiting to see how He will act in any and all of life’s
circumstances.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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