Habakkuk Goes to the Rock

Time to get humble and pray!

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Transcript

Title: Habakkuk Goes to the Rock

Subtitle: Time to get humble and pray!

#GospelAccordingToTheRock

Habakkuk Goes to the Rock

by Eric Engelmann

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WHEN ARE WE?

About 625 BC. Roughly 350 years after the death of King David. Roughly 100 years after Israel was taken captive leaving only Judah as an active remnant of David's kingdom.

WHERE ARE WE?

Somewhere in Judah. Possibly in Jerusalem – he says in the book he will wait for God’s answer on the rampart – basically a defensive wall.

WHY IS HABAKKUK ABOUT TO CALL ON GOD AS A ROCK?

I think it will be an appeal to God's everlasting love.

The Most High is about to say He’s going to do something mind blowing. He is going to take the nastiest, most ruthless people around and bless them with a great empire. These nasties will overrun Judah.

Here's the Scripture Passage:

By the way, the "Chaldeans" in this passage refer to the "Babylonians".

Habakkuk 1

Verse 5 “Look among the nations and watch—

Be utterly astounded!

For I will work a work *in your days*

Which you would not believe, though it were told you.

6 For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans,

A bitter and hasty nation

Which marches through the breadth of the earth,

To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

NOTE: In the following verses the Most High talks about how nasty they will be -- their thought processes, their horses, their plans, their disregard for the rule of law.

HOW DID Habakkuk GO TO THE ROCK?

Habakkuk spoke toward the Most High in prayer. A wise thing to do after you hear the world's nastiest armies are coming your way "in your days".

When Habakkuk prays, he calls the nation of Judah "we" and the nation of the Chaldeans "them".

Here's the Scripture:

Chapter 1 Verse 12 

Are You not from everlasting,

O Lord my God, my Holy One?

NOTE the personal pronoun: My God. Maybe because Habakkuk knows that his own life is in danger.

We shall not die.

O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment;

O Rock, You have marked them for correction.

Note: Habakkuk hung in there. He could have heard bad news and quit. Habakkuk called God the Rock implying that God is still the place to go when things are bad. I'm glad he did it.

WHAT DID THE MOST HIGH ROCK SAY TO THE PRAYER?

Part of the Most High's response to the prayer is famous in a lot of churches. Here are the first few verses:

Chapter 2 Verse 2

Then the Lord answered me and said:

“Write the vision

And make it plain on tablets,

That he may run who reads it.

NOTE: I think when He says "The Vision" He's talking about the vision He's about to describe:

Verse 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time;

But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it;

Because it will surely come,

It will not tarry.

NOTE: Unlike the promise of the Chaldeans coming to wipe out Judah, I think this vision's fulfillment will be delayed. It has to be written down.

Verse 4 “Behold the proud,

His soul is not upright in him;

But the just shall live by his faith.

The following verses follow the theme of Verse 8:

Because you have plundered many nations,

All the remnant of the people shall plunder you,

NOTE: The vision goes on. I think it ends later in Chapter 2

Verse 18 “What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it,

The molded image, a teacher of lies,

That the maker of its mold should trust in it,

To make mute idols?

19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’

To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

Yet in it there is no breath at all.

20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple.

Let all the earth keep … silence … before Him.”

That's the end of the passage.

In the Future

About (604 BC, about) 20 years after Habakkuk's vision was written down, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream where a rock destroyed a statue. The head of that statue looked something like KIng Nebuchadnezzar himself. The interpretation of the dream implied that people would have to wait for the rock of God's Kingdom to appear. There were going to be some major empires rise and fall in the meantime.

Further In the Future

About 16 years later (588 BC), the Babylonian Emperor King Nebuchadnezzar did come and destroy Jerusalem. His Kingdom was eventually inherited by someone who loved idols, wine and mockery. Babylon then lost to another empire. I think substantial parts of Habakkuk's vision came to pass.

Further in the Future

More than 600 years later, Jesus came and proclaimed "The Kingdom of God is here." (27 AD)  And while Nebuchadnezzar's dream will visibly make progress, it won't be over.

About 30 years after that, the Apostle Paul will quote Habakkuk to the church at Rome: "The just shall live by faith."

May we continue to trust God our Rock through Jesus Christ.

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