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the burden which the prophet 
Habakkuk saw. O Lord, how long shall I cry 
and you will not hear? Even cry out to you violence 
and you will not save. Why do you show me iniquity and 
cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are 
before me. There is strife and contention 
arises. Therefore, the law is powerless 
and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, perverse judgment 
proceeds. 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. 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. They are terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and 
their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter 
than leopards and more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers 
charge ahead. Their cavalry comes from afar. 
They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. They all come for violence. Their faces are set like the 
east wind. They gather captives like sand. 
They scoff at kings, and princes are scorned by them. They deride 
every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. Then his mind changes and he 
transgresses. He commits offense, ascribing 
this power to his God. Are you not from everlasting, 
O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You 
have appointed them for judgment. O Rock, You have marked them 
for correction. You are of purer eyes than to 
behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. Why do you look on 
those who deal treacherously and hold your tongue when the 
wicked devours a person more righteous than he? Why do you 
make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have 
no ruler over them? They take up all of them with 
a hook. They catch them in their net. 
and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore, they rejoice and are 
glad. Therefore, they sacrifice to 
their net and burn incense to their dragnet, because by them 
their share is sumptuous and their food plentiful. Shall they 
therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations without 
pity? I will stand my watch and set 
myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me. 
and what I will answer when I am corrected. Then the Lord answered 
me and said, Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, 
that he may run who reads it. 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. Behold the 
proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live 
by his faith. Indeed, because he transgresses 
by wine, he is a proud man. And he does not stay at home, 
because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death 
and cannot be satisfied. He gathers to himself all nations 
and heats up for himself all peoples. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, as we come to this 
book, we pray for guidance and wisdom by Your Spirit. We pray, 
Father, that You would just lead us into the themes of this book, 
lead us into the type of faith exhibited by the prophet. Help 
us to understand Your glory and Your majesty and Your sovereignty. 
For certainly these things are set forth in all of their beauty 
in this particular book. We just pray now, God, that You 
would help us, that You would lead us. For we acknowledge our 
utter dependence upon our great prophet, even Jesus Christ. And 
it's in his name that we pray. Amen. If Habakkuk lived in the 
21st century, he certainly would not be numbered among the health, 
wealth, and prosperity ilk. He does seem to have the disposition 
more akin, more alike, Asaph, the psalmist, who often took 
up the very dark themes and the very difficult and perplexing 
issues with reference to God's sovereignty and His ways among 
the sons of men. Basically, what Habakkuk does 
here in the section that we read is give two laments. He gives 
two complaints, basically, and the Lord answers him. And that's 
sort of the structure of the section that we read. There are 
three major sections in the book of Habakkuk. The first is the 
dialogue between Habakkuk and God, which we will take up this 
evening. The second are woes of judgment 
pronounced against Babylon. The remainder of chapter 2 from 
verse 6 on to verse 20, there is a series of five woes pronounced 
specifically against Babylon, the one who would invade and 
destroy Judah. And then the third chapter is 
taken up with the psalm of the prophet, or the prophet's prayer. We see how he resolves all things. It is ultimately at the throne 
of grace in a disposition and posture of worship before our 
great God. But before we look at the dialogue 
between Habakkuk and God, it is helpful for us to get some 
introductory things behind us. The first concerns the author. 
It is Habakkuk, but that's all we know about this man. There is nothing about who his 
parents are, nothing about his father, nothing about the city 
or the portion of Judah that he comes from. But when we study 
the book or we look into the book, we learn that he agonized 
over the prevalence of wickedness. In other words, he was a man 
with godly concerns. He also acknowledges the sovereignty 
of God and he acknowledges truth about God. So he was genuinely 
orthodox in his understanding of who God was. He was genuinely 
concerned about the situation facing him in his generation, 
which we'll look at in just a moment. And then he did what a godly 
man who is concerned ought to do. He went to the Lord in prayer. In many respects, Habakkuk was 
the first, or not the first, there are others in the Old Testament, 
but one of those who said, where is God when bad things happen? It's not always wrong to ask 
the question. It is wrong when you're a pagan 
and you're simply looking to blame God. But when you're actually 
a godly man and there is that righteousness in you where you 
cry out to the Lord on behalf of the situation in your world, 
God not only doesn't reprove him, but He actually answers 
him when He offers up His complaints to the Lord. Now, when we look 
to date the book, or to put it in a historical setting, verse 
6 is a tremendous help. The mention there of the Chaldeans. As used here, the word Chaldeans 
is practically synonymous with Babylonians. in that the last 
and greatest dynasty to rule in Babylon was of Chaldean origin. So the Chaldeans are the Babylonians. They came to power, or they began 
to emerge as a world power in 626 B.C. Babylon assisted the Medes in 
defeating the Assyrian Empire, which culminated in the destruction 
of Nineveh in 612 B.C., as we saw when we studied the prophet 
Nahum. Now, the situation that Habakkuk 
describes sounds like it was in a very spiritually and ethically 
dark time in Israel's history. I would locate the prophecy in 
about 608 to 605 under the reign of King Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was a son of Josiah. Josiah reigned from about 640 
to 609, and he was a good king. He ruled well. He reigned well. He did a lot of good reforms 
in Judah. Remember, the northern kingdom 
is gone now. We don't have the northern kingdom 
of Israel anymore. We're simply dealing with Judah, 
the southern kingdom. Well, after Josiah's reign, he 
tried to stop Pharaoh Necho and he was killed at Megiddo. And 
then the people took his son Jehoahaz and they put him on 
the throne. Well, Pharaoh Necho deposed him 
and put his brother Jehoiakim on the throne. And this was in 
609. Jehoiakim reigned until 597. The reason why I say between 
608-605 is because Pharaoh Necho and Egypt was ultimately devastated 
at the Battle of Carchemish in 605 by Babylon. So there's a 
bit of a window there where there's a wicked king, where the Babylonians 
are on their way up, and yet Egypt is still in the scene because 
they've gotten rid of Jehoahaz and they have put Jehoiakim on 
the throne. Now, Jehoiakim was not like his 
father Josiah. He was much more like his grandfather 
Manasseh. Manasseh sort of raised the bar 
for wickedness in Judah. Remember that Ahab was sort of 
the poster child for bad kings in Israel. Well, Manasseh sort 
of took that legacy for Judah. He was wicked. He had a long 
and very ungodly reign, about 55 years. So after him, Josiah 
reigns well, but then he dies, and then this Jehoiakim takes 
the throne. Jehoiakim was the man that burned 
the scroll that Jeremiah had written. Jehoiakim was a wretch. And so that helps us to understand 
the particular situation that Habakkuk is prophesying in. The certainty of Judah's impending 
destruction had already been told by God It had been promised 
way back in Deuteronomy, if the people of God were unfaithful, 
there would be cursings along with the covenant. If they did 
not fulfill their obligations, there would be curses that would 
be poured out by God. Well, now the guilt has been 
filled up, and this is the stage. It is just about the brink of 
Judah's fall, ultimately, to Babylon. So Habakkuk is living 
in very dark days. There's a bad king, there's lawlessness 
in the land, and so far as he can tell, God isn't doing anything 
about it. That's something of the historical 
context. Now, the theme. Here's what a 
couple of other men say with reference to this book. Martin 
Lloyd-Jones calls his book on Habakkuk, From Fear to Faith. Because in this dialogue, as 
Habakkuk pours out his complaints to the Lord, we will see he is 
afraid. He is perplexed. He is tried. But it ends with that solemn 
confidence and that resolution of Habakkuk 3.19, where he casts 
himself fully upon the Lord God Most High. He learned the very 
clear lesson that even though it may seem as if God is not 
active, God most certainly is active. God is in control. He has not left His people. He 
has not abandoned the world. He is not the God of deism. Warren Weirsbe entitled his study 
in Habakkuk, From Worry to Worship. You see a theme there. You start 
off, it looks pretty bleak, but it ends with worship. It ends 
in faith. Mark Dever comments, in short, 
Habakkuk is puzzled exactly because he knows and believes that God 
is both powerful and good. His prayer is not merely an example 
of cosmic whining that somehow made it into the Bible. It is 
an inquiring prayer of a believer in anguish who knows he can approach 
the good and sovereign God with honesty. You see, when God says, 
cast your soul or cast your anxieties upon Me, I care for you, it doesn't 
surprise Him and it doesn't anger Him when we actually do that. When we come before the Lord 
and we do what Habakkuk does. How long, O Lord? Why, O Lord? These are legitimate questions 
that faith will often have. As I cited this morning, O. Palmer 
Robertson says, Habakkuk's was not a weak faith, but a perplexed 
faith. That's what tormented Habakkuk. So Habakkuk asks the questions 
that perplex many believers. In fact, I'd rather hang with 
a Habakkuk than one of these health, wealth, and prosperity 
guys. These guys that think and say, everything is just great 
all the time. Well, that's not true. Everything 
isn't great all of the time. There are Christians suffering 
and being in prison and being executed for their faith right 
now. Go tell them everything is to 
be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. They need to hear that the prophet 
Habakkuk is in the Bible. They need to know that there 
are times when faith is perplexed, when faith is pressed, to the 
point of crying out. How can a righteous and holy 
God not vindicate His people immediately? That's the heartbeat 
of the prophet. And if we had to look at the 
first lament, it seems to have more of an ethical edge to it. Of course, there's theology involved, 
but it's an ethical question. There's lawlessness in the land. 
There's bad things going on. Ethics concerns the prophet. 
After God gives him the answer, the second lament is more directly 
theological in nature. Because after God answers, that 
creates an even bigger dilemma for the prophet that we'll see 
when we consider that second lament. Let's move on to the 
dialogue between Habakkuk and God. First of all, the prophet's 
first lament, the ethical issue. Notice in verses 2 and 3, he 
is distressed. He is in anguish. He is perplexed. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry 
and You will not hear? Even cry out to You violence 
and You will not save? Why do You show me iniquity and 
cause me to see trouble? You see the anguish of the prophet. 
He's not just supposed to go, everything's okay. No, he takes 
it to the Lord in prayer. He unburdens his heart in the 
presence of our great God. And the fact that he cries out 
how long implies that he had spent some time in this disposition. How long implies that he had 
been crying out for vindication, and that for a period, the Lord 
was not vindicating. The Lord was not visiting. We 
see these kinds of things again in the Psalms. We read Psalm 
13, which is a cry of, how long? We see the same thing in Psalm 
89. We see a very pointed why question offered up by Jeremiah 
in 12-1. Why do the wicked prosper? We see it in Asaph's psalms. Asaph, in Psalm 73, he looks 
around and he sees the godly suffering. And he sees the ungodly 
prospering. And he is perplexed about this. 
He is wondering why such is the case. When he goes into the sanctuary, 
everything is set in order, which again highlights the principle 
that prayer and worship are the best helps to an agonized soul. And so he cries out with this 
distress. And notice the specifics. There is the presence of evil. 
Verse 3, Why do you show me iniquity? Cause me to see trouble. For 
plundering and violence are before me. There is strife and contention 
arises. Sounds just like Amos and Micah 
before him. Amos and Micah targeted the northern 
kingdom. And they cried out about the 
same sort of thing. This is the covenant people. 
This is the covenant community. This is God's chosen nation. And yet, this is the kind of 
stuff that I see. I see iniquity. I see trouble. I see plundering. I see violence. 
I see strife and contention. The godly man is agonizing with 
the Lord, almost as if to say, God, it shouldn't be this way. It shouldn't be the case that 
people are a-whoring from you. It shouldn't be the case that 
people are following after Baal. It shouldn't be true that they're 
going after Asherah. It should not be the case, Lord, 
that when we come to walk down our streets, we're afraid to 
do so because we're going to get mugged or robbed or some 
other sort of injustice will be perpetrated against us. You see, a godly man cries out 
because of those types of things. And not only is there the presence 
of evil, but it's the absence of justice. You see, if these 
things were going on, but we had a magistrate that was taking 
vengeance upon them in the name of God and for the glory of God, 
well, then that's okay. It's not as if there'll be no 
wickedness, but the law is powerless. The law, NIV says, is paralyzed. One man says, the law is numbed. You see, when men don't do what 
the law says, it's as if the law is ineffective. They are 
not upholding it. They are not applying it. They 
are not penalizing those who break it. That's what he says. 
Therefore, the law is powerless and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous. 
Therefore, a perverse judgment proceeds. You see why I say these 
are relevant messages for us today? I mean, who of us could 
not bemoan and lament the same things here? Who of us, if we 
have just a little bit of perception, can't say, wow, that sounds exactly 
like what we're seeing? In essence, it's as if the prophet 
is saying the divine Word has exercised little effect upon 
its hearers. There is wickedness in Judah, 
God, and it seems as if you are not involved. There is unrighteousness 
rife in the community, and Lord, you are not dealing with it. 
That's his lament. That's his agony. That is not 
typical of the Trinity Broadcast Network. That is not typical 
of much Christian teaching on the higher happy life. You see, 
Christianity recognizes the presence of evil. I'm always amazed when 
people say, well, that's in the Bible. I thought the Bible was 
all about good and happy things. Who said that? Whoever said God 
took Clorox and washed the Scriptures, our only claim is that it's true. And true means it's filled with 
things that are oftentimes offensive to people. You see, the very 
complaint of the prophet in terms of the ethical issue ought to 
be our complaint in the 21st century in North America. Do we not see trouble? Do we 
not see iniquity? Do we not see plundering and 
violence? Do we not see strife and contention? Do we not see 
what appears to be a powerless law? And then we get into the 
church, and we even begin to insist on the place of the law, 
and we're looked at as if we're lunatics. What do you mean? We're 
not under law, we're under grace. Well, for as long as that message 
has predominated in the Christian church, she has lost something 
of an ethical edge in terms of her place in society. That's 
the prophet's lament. Notice the Lord's response. Verse 5, the astonishment associated 
with God's activity. 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. You know what we get from this? Well, that we should be astonished 
at what God's going to do. But do you realize the way the 
Lord answers God agrees with the prophet's complaint? God agrees with him, doesn't 
he? God knows that he's telling the 
truth. See, the prophet thought, or 
the prophet concluded, that the prevalence of evil meant that 
God might have been on holiday. I don't think he really thought 
that way in terms of his doctrine and his commitment to the orthodox 
confession of Israel, but it was a seeming disparity. Get 
all this stuff going on, Lord, and you're not doing anything. 
God, in His answer, agrees with the prophet. God in His answer 
sympathizes with the prophet because God's going to deal with 
the issue. And in fact, God's response tells 
us that He understood or perceived the problem even more deeply 
than Habakkuk himself. You see, Habakkuk looks around 
and he sees these things and he cries out to the Lord. The 
Lord's answer is, oh yes, I want you to be astonished, because 
I'm going to work in your days that you will be amazed by. In 
other words, I'm going to take care of the situation. And this 
is how I am going to take care of the situation. The identification 
of His instrument of judgment. Chapter 1, verse 6a. For indeed, I am raising up the 
Chaldeans. The Babylonians. Now, it's just 
amazing. The reason I want to spend a 
little time on this is because you need to know, as you read 
through your Bible and you see Babylonians, they were obviously 
an instrument in God's hand. In fact, in the prophet Jeremiah, 
the Lord calls Nebuchadnezzar, my servant. You have to understand 
something about the Babylonians. Robertson, in his commentary, 
said this. It's a great summary. It is rather remarkable to note 
the ascendancy to power of this nation, the extent of their domain, 
and their equally rapid decline in prominence. This whole international 
escapade underscores the prominence of the divine hand in raising 
them up and also bringing them down. Who would believe that 
a virtually non-existent entity could conquer the old capital 
of Assyria in 614, Nineveh in 612, Haran in 610, and rout the 
armies of Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish in 605? They became the world 
rulers over Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, 
when 20 years previously they were hardly known to exist. We look at things right now, 
and we've got such just a tiny perspective. In twenty years, 
God raised up the Chaldeans. They went through the whole Mesopotamian 
region, enslaving people, dominating people, and in less than a hundred 
years from their rise, they were obliterated. They were defeated by the Persians 
in 539. Let's go back. He says, yet their energy dissipated 
almost as rapidly so that they were easily overcome by Cyrus, 
king of Persia, in 539, just in time to fulfill the prophecy 
of Jeremiah concerning Israel's return in 70 years. Jeremiah 
29, 10. Astounding indeed are the ways 
of God among the nations. He quotes John Calvin here. Not 
by their own instinct, but by the hidden impulse of God do 
the nations rise and fall." Absolutely incredible. You see, Habakkuk 
looks around, he sees the problems, he sees the wickedness, he sees 
the evil. God says, I hear you. We might 
put it in the vernacular. I feel you. I know what you're 
going through. In fact, I perceive the problem 
at a level you haven't even begun to examine yet. You haven't even 
begun to think through all of the covenant implications. God 
says, I am raising up the Chaldeans. And then notice He describes 
this instrument of judgment. He says, they are a bitter and 
a hasty nation. They march through the breadth 
of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. What's 
this sound like? I hope it sounds like Deuteronomy. 
I hope it sounds like the first five books of Moses, because 
God sent Israel to Canaan to dispossess the land, to take 
things that were not theirs. God says, I'm giving you vineyards, 
which you didn't plant. I'm giving you cities, which 
you didn't build. I'm giving you wells, which you 
didn't dig out. I'm giving you all of this because 
I'm sovereign and I love you and I want you to have it. What 
do we have but a role reversal? What do we have but an eye for 
eye? What do we have but now the Babylonians 
coming in, dispossessing Israel of their land, casting them out 
and taking over? That, my friends, is the judgment 
of God Most High. Robertson again on this statement 
of them possessing dwelling places that are not theirs. He says 
in a very real sense, Israel is being placed in the role once 
occupied by the Canaanites before them. As those people once were 
driven away from their possessions because their iniquity was full, 
so now Israel must be driven away from its possessions because 
its iniquity is full. Their place of comfort, enjoyment, 
pleasures, relaxation, security, and refreshment shall be taken 
from them. You see, Habakkuk sees the problem. Habakkuk cries out to God, and 
God essentially says, oh yes, I've seen the problem. I understand 
the problem, and I'm going to deal with the problem. You see, 
there's a lesson for us there. We often get just a little bit, 
and we cry out to God, what are you doing? God has it all under 
control. We need to keep that in our minds 
firmly. We need to remember that. There 
may be perplexing, there may be trial, there may be difficulty, 
but if we keep that fundamental thought in our head, we're learning 
from the prophet of Achaic. Maybe we won't have to have that 
kind of a perplexed faith because the prophet has taken pen to 
paper on our behalf and has instructed us. He goes on to describe this 
nation. They are terrible, verse 7, and 
dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity 
proceed from themselves. Their horses, also, are swifter 
than leopards and more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers 
charge ahead. Their cavalry comes from afar. 
They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat. Deuteronomy 28, 49. So 
many of these things come from the curses of the covenant. So 
many of these things come right out of Deuteronomy. God, through 
Moses, told the nation that if you do this, this will be your 
reward. Notice, they all come for violence. Their faces are 
like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. Deuteronomy 28, 41. They gather 
captives like sand. What did they do? They took the 
people away from Judah and they led them into Babylon. They deported them. They exiled 
them. They confused them. They threw 
them off kilter. It was the way of the invading 
nation. Get them out of the place of 
comfort, happiness, and joy, and put them over here, and we'll 
use them as slaves. You see, this was the judgment 
of God. Verse 10, they scoff at kings, 
and princes are scorned by them. No buffer state is going to save 
Judah at this point. No buffer state is going to be 
able to send off Babylon when they come for Judah. You can't 
rest on Egypt. You can't rest on Assyria. There's 
no more northern kingdom, Judah. There is none to save you. There is none to help you. There 
is none to protect you. In fact, these guys are so brazen, 
they scoff at kings, and princes are sworn by them. They deride 
every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. 
Their military conquests are amazing. This is what they live for. This 
is what they're about. This is what makes them tick. 
I don't understand verse 11. Then his mind changes and he 
transgresses. He commits offense ascribing 
this power to his God. Various views in the commentaries. 
I don't know that I understand what he means by this particular 
statement, but the rest of it is crystal clear. The prophet 
agonizes. The prophet laments. The prophet 
cries out to the Lord. And in the Lord's response, he 
highlights the fact that he agrees with the prophet, he sympathizes 
with the prophet, and that he perceives the problem more deeply 
than the prophet himself. And that brings us to the second 
lament. This one is even more difficult. Are you not from everlasting, 
O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you 
have appointed them for judgment. O Rock, you have marked them 
for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and 
cannot look on wickedness. Why do you look on those who 
deal treacherously and hold your tongue when the wicked devours 
a person more righteous than he? God is from everlasting. God is the Holy One. Because 
of that truth, He says, we shall not die. God appoints men for 
judgment. God is the rock. Oftentimes, 
God is called rock in the Scripture. Stability and immutability. Stability 
and unchangingness. God is the rock. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 4. God is of purer eyes than to 
behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. You see, this is 
Habakkuk's confession. which becomes the source of Habakkuk's 
problem. That's what he says. God's holiness. God, if you're this pure, how 
could you use something so impure to bring judgment on someone 
that's not as impure? You see, he's moved from just 
the ethical confusion in Judah to this problem that God is going 
to take a wickeder than Judah and judge them. Now Habakkuk 
says, Lord, wait a minute. It's almost as if he's saying 
that the cure here is worse than the disease. You ever heard one 
of those commercials that says, here's a nice medication for 
the flu. Take this and it will deal with 
your flu symptoms. Be advised there are some side 
effects. You may get diarrhea, dizziness, 
Shortness of breath, heart failure, and death. What's the answer? I'd rather 
have the flu, thank you. You see what this has done to 
Habakkuk? God, I agree. Judah needs to 
be, the herd needs to be thin. Some corrective discipline is 
fit, is worthy, is meat. In fact, that's what Habakkuk 
is crying out for. But utter devastation, utter 
dispossession, utter dissolution of the Jewish 
state by the Babylonian hordes. The prophet sees the holiness 
of God and he says, how can you, Lord, as the Holy One of Israel, 
do this? If your eyes, or if you are of 
purer eyes than to behold evil, and you cannot look on wickedness, 
why do you look on those who deal treacherously and hold your 
tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than 
he?" Do you see it? Do you feel it there, brethren? 
Do you see what he's doing? He's starting to think theologically. 
What began as a simple complaint to God, there's a lot of problems 
in Judah. God's saying, oh yeah, I know. And I'm going to raise 
up the Chaldeans, and I'm going to dispatch them. And I'm going 
to call Nebuchadnezzar my servant. And I'm going to take every curse 
of the covenant, and I'm going to inflict it on those people. 
For I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. So now Habakkuk with 
this new information says, wait a minute, you're holy. How can 
you take something that's so wicked and use it to chastise 
and devastate and destroy something that's wicked but not as bad? 
So the holiness of God presents for Habakkuk a real issue here. Corrective justice indeed the 
prophet desired for Israel, says Robertson. But utter destruction 
at the hands of the Chaldeans seemed to be Far too much. Notice not only God's holiness, 
but God's sovereignty. That's fleshed out there in verse 
14. Notice, why do you make men like fish of the sea, like creeping 
things that have no ruler over them? For the outdoorsman finds 
a comfort in the God of heaven and earth in chapter 1 of Habakkuk. 
The imagery of hunting in God's first response and the imagery 
of fishing. in Habakkuk's second lament. You ever heard that old phrase? 
It's like shooting fish in a barrel. They've got no control. They've 
got no protection. They've got no fortification. 
They've got no help. He says to God, why do you make 
men like fish of the sea? He's no Arminian. He's no open 
theist. He's no Mormon. He understands 
God is absolutely sovereign. And he's connecting the dots. 
And he says, why do you make men like fish of the sea? Like 
creeping things that have no ruler over them. He's not living 
in a chance universe. He's not living in a universe 
driven by fate. He's living in a universe that 
he knows all too well is governed by a sovereign God. And so he 
asks God very specifically, why do you make men like fish of 
the sea? He highlights the intensification of the problem in verses 15 to 
17. What is he doing here? He says, 
they're brutal, God. He's afraid for his people now. They're brutal. They take up 
all of them with a hook. They catch them in their net 
and gather them in their dragnet. That's literal. The Assyrians 
did it and the Babylonians followed suit. When they would go in to 
take the exiles away, they'd put a hook through their lip 
or a hook through their nose and they'd put them on a piece 
of line and they would lead them that way. They're brutal. God 
Himself has said they're a bitter and a hasty nation. Notice He 
says they're sensual. They are sensual, therefore they 
sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their dragnet, because 
by them their share is sumptuous and their food plentiful. These 
are a pagan people. These are a godless people. These are a people that worship 
the net. These are a people that are oblivious 
to the reality that God has raised them up for this hour and is 
using them. Very similar to what we find 
in Isaiah 10. God uses Assyria. And He uses 
them to chase in Israel. And then He turns in judgment 
against Assyria. The prophet here is genuinely 
perplexed. And then he highlights their 
relentlessness in verse 17. Shall they therefore empty their 
net and continue to slay nations without pity? I hope you're appreciating. I 
really do. My prayer and my intent was for you to see what's going 
on in this passage. This is where we're at, man. 
Especially as Calvinists. Especially as Reformed Christians. 
When we understand God's comprehensive and absolute sovereignty. We 
know men don't get into the White House because they're better. We know men don't get into Ottawa 
because they're wiser. God raises men up, God puts them 
down. God has His purposes. God ordains 
all things for His glory and for the good of His elect. God 
may at times chasten His elect. God may at times reprove. God 
may at times discipline. God may at times scourge. And this is what the prophet 
is having to encounter. And this is what the prophet 
is crying out to the Lord about. These are genuine, real, live, 
ethical, and theological issues which, no doubt, if you're honest 
with yourself, have perplexed you in the past as well. I know 
we all like to stick our chests out. We all like to think of 
ourselves like we're the big, strong Calvinist that has all 
the answers and has everything down. But you know, in your heart 
of hearts, there are certain things that take place that make 
you want to cry like a bat that can say why. Why? And then God gives the answer, 
and then you say, why? Even more. Lord, your holiness. Lord, your sovereignty. Lord, 
what's going on here? To be a Calvinist doesn't mean 
you're to neuter your emotions. You're to worship, you're to 
praise, you're to adore. And from this book of Habakkuk, 
you're to learn that God has everything under control. Habakkuk 
didn't have Habakkuk to turn to. Job didn't have Job to turn to. Do you realize that, right? Job, when he was tried to the 
very core of his being, didn't have friends that say, you need 
to read the book of Job, and you need to be encouraged. You 
need to understand. You need to learn. He didn't 
have it. God used Job for us. I mean, 
for other things to be sure, but one of the reasons God used 
Job was so we can turn there. One of the reasons Habakkuk, 
this we know nothing about prophet, was raised up and sent to Judah 
in the late 7th century B.C. was so that you and I will know 
that God has everything under control. Even if it doesn't look 
like it, as far as we are concerned. Notice in chapter two, verse 
one, I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and 
watch to see what he will say to me and what I will answer 
when I am corrected. I'm going to stop our exposition 
there and, God willing, pick up the Lord's response next week 
because it is a multifaceted response, a glorious response, 
where he highlights the place of faith, the disposition necessary. Notice in chapter two, verse 
four, A text that hopefully is very familiar to you as New Testament 
students, the just shall live by his faith. Romans 1.17, Galatians 
3.11, Hebrews 10.38 and 39. S. Lewis Johnson said this concerning 
this wonderful text, the just shall live by faith. It is without 
question near the soul of Pauline theology. Habakkuk's great text, 
with his son Paul's comments and additions, became the banner 
of the Protestant Reformation in the hands of Habakkuk's grandson, 
Martin Luther. So we want to spend a bit of 
time on that section there. But I just want to draw out a 
few lessons at this point, and then we'll close. The first is 
this. We do see here that a mark of 
a godly man is that he is concerned. I know that seems to be quite 
elementary. I know that seems to be quite 
basic. But it is something that we need 
to be reminded of. It is no mark of piety. It is 
no mark of godliness for us to walk around oblivious to the 
evils of society. In fact, it betrays godliness 
and righteousness and piety when we are not concerned. The psalmist 
said, rivers of waters run down from my eyes because men do not 
heed your law. Jesus Christ taught us to pray 
first and foremost for the glory of God. He said, pray, hallowed 
be thy name. Pray for the glory of God's name. And then pray for the coming 
of God's kingdom. And then pray for the doing of 
God's will on earth as it is in heaven. When we walk day to 
day in Chilliwack or in Abbotsford or in Surrey or in Vancouver 
or in Timbuktu and we as Christians see iniquity and trouble and 
plundering and violence and strife and contention, I hope and I 
pray that we are concerned. It's not godly to be oblivious 
to these things. It's godly to be concerned. It's 
godly to be informed. It's godly to be prayerful. It's 
godly to go to the throne of grace and pray that the Lord 
would stop the abominations that fill our land. That's the essence 
of the petition, that the will of the Lord be done on earth 
as it is in heaven. Revelation 20-22 does not describe 
a city wherein there are abortion clinics, or where they have gay 
marriages, or where drive-by shootings occur all the time. 
or where there is theft and robbery and all those things that continue 
on. No. God's will is righteousness. We say, well, it's impossible 
to ever have that on earth. Well then, pray more fervently. The concern of a godly man. Secondly, the legitimate expression 
of that concern. is a place to cast your burden 
upon God. There are other legitimate expressions, 
living in a situation where you're free to write to your congressmen 
or your members of parliament. Those are all legitimate expressions 
of that concern. But you know, the primary place 
is at the throne of grace. We go to the Lord God Most High. We call upon Him. We ask Him 
as the psalmists do, as the prophets do, as our apostles do. Lord God, intervene for Your 
great name. A third observation that comes 
from the passage is, of course, the sovereignty of God. He appeared 
to be inactive. He appeared to be indifferent. 
But when he answers Habakkuk, we find out he's not indifferent, 
he's not inactive, and he actually is more concerned about the lawlessness 
that is rampant in the earth than Habakkuk was. We are not 
holier than God. We are not more concerned than 
God. We are not somehow better than 
God. God knows everything, and God 
will tend to it. We need to understand something 
too. While God doesn't answer his question, it's interesting 
in the second response. He doesn't say, well, I'm not 
sovereign. I really don't do all those things. He doesn't 
do that. God's not an Arminian or an open 
theist either. God is every much a Calvinist 
is the best of Calvinists. He affirms His absolute sovereignty. He affirms the fact that He is 
in charge of these things. He doesn't directly answer the 
prophet and say, well, my holiness is protected because of this, 
that, and the other. My sovereignty is protected because of this, 
that, and the other. He gets to the heart of the issue. Habakkuk, 
you need faith. There's some troubling times 
coming, and the way that you're going to live is by faith. That's 
what you need. But you know, from outside the 
context of Habakkuk 1, we learn from other places a couple of 
things about God using certain means. Sometimes He uses very 
strange means, doesn't He? I mean, would you have thought 
of the Chaldeans to be the instrument of judgment against Judah? A surgeon uses means, doesn't 
he? I hope he does. If you ever go in for surgery, 
make sure you glance and see a table full of tools. I don't 
want a surgeon with his bare hands going in there, rip, rip, 
take, take, fetch, fetch. He's using instruments, right? God uses instruments. The only 
thing different is that the instruments God uses aren't sterile, because 
there is none righteous, no, not one. Not as if God just creates a 
holy and spotless people to be the scourge upon His wicked ones, 
and then puts them back. You see, judgment can oftentimes 
be a nasty affair. When God goes to accomplish His 
means, He'll raise up the Chaldeans. He'll dispatch them to Judah. 
He will use them to do His bidding. He will bring them back and then 
cause them to fall to the Persians and be wiped off of the historical 
map in 539 B.C. And you know, the second thing 
we need to remember about judgment and about God's sovereignty involved 
in judgment? Judgment is not supposed to be 
pleasant, is it? We don't get to say, well, Lord, 
we'd rather have a very kind and gracious people come in and 
make our beds and tell us stories and urge us on to better morals. That doesn't work. You see, Habakkuk's issue is 
a reality, but the Bible provides answers for it. God uses instruments. has never promised that judgment 
will be a happy affair. And then the fourth thing that 
we need to learn is from Habakkuk 1.12, that doctrine, that solid 
theology. There is some question as to 
a statement there, we shall not die. Some translate it because 
of a variant reading, you shall not die. God is from everlasting. God is the Holy One. You shall 
not die. I don't think that's what He's 
affirming. I think He is taking the doctrine, the orthodoxy, 
the truth that He has, and He is resolving, and this is an 
expression of His faith, we shall not die. Oh, there will be judgment. There will be purging. There 
will be destruction. There will be a surgery that 
is very bloody. But we, the remnant, We, the 
covenant people, we, the faithful, we shall not die. God will not 
obliterate His church. God will not take them from the 
face of the earth. God will not. dispossess His 
people. We need to have that kind of 
theology, that in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death, 
we will be able to comfort ourselves with that reality, with that 
truth. We need to see God as the rock. Because that's the kind of stuff, 
brethren, that will get you through your Habakkuk experiences. It's that kind of stuff that 
will take you through the trials and the perplexities that your 
faith will eventually meet in a sinful world where God doesn't 
always immediately make everything better. It is sound theology. It is trust in the living and 
true God. The just shall live by His faith. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank 
you for this prophet and for the teaching of your Holy Word. 
And God, we pray that we would learn from this prophet that 
prayer and worship and being in the presence of God is the 
best help for our perplexity. We pray, Lord God Most High, 
that you would help us to comfort ourselves with the truth of the 
Scripture, that you are from everlasting, that you are the 
Holy One. that you are our rock. And God, I pray that you would 
comfort each of my brothers and sisters here, and that you would 
indeed teach us from these books of the Old Testament. God, we 
pray as well for our nation. We pray that you would have mercy 
here. We pray that judgment would begin in the house of God, that 
you would revive your people, that you would conform us more 
and more to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Make us a 
people committed to the truth of God, for certainly that is 
the best, best service we can offer our generation, is to point 
clearly the way of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. 
We pray that you'd go with each one of us now, Lord, that you 
would watch over us and protect us. Thank you for bringing Fran 
Frew home safely. We just pray for her and all 
of her difficulties with family being ill and the various trials 
that she is facing. We pray that you would sustain 
her and bless her and comfort her. And we ask through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen.