HABAKKUK

ALTHOUGH

Habakkuk 1:2 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.

Habakkuk was praying to the Lord about the evils he was beholding in the midst of God's people who were called by His Name. He wanted to know how long God was going to put up with it, ahd what He was going to do about it when He did take action.

The Lord assured the prophet that He had the situation under control-- it was all in His hands.

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for [I] will work a work in your days, [which] ye will not believe, though it be told [you].

What the Lord showed him surprised and scared the prophet. God said, "I'm going to send the Chaldeans." That spelled bad news, for the Chaldeans were a very cruel people. They are the ancestors of the present Iraqi people. A treacherous people.

But, the Lord also put within the prophet an assurance that He would set a limit to what the invading armies could do. Complete destruction was not in the picture. But a severe whipping of God's people was in order-- a cruel whipping. God was setting the time, and also the extent of the punishment.

Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make [it] plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

God assured the prophet that when the dust had settled, His people would be in better shape than they presently were. Isn't that just like the Lord? He also promised that He would never abdicate His position of total control.

Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD [is] in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

He then gave Habakkuk a song of victory and confidence to proclaim to all the world.

Habakkuk 3:17 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.

Friends, the picture of Israel of old, portrayed by Habakkuk, very closely parallels what exists in the Churches of today. Is there punishment scheduled for the churches, and if so, when and how shall it come?

I am convinced that if God should need another Chaldean to punish His flock-- He can raise up one.

If God needs another antichrist for today, He can certainly raise one up.

But my vision of Jesus is such that I am expecting Him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Jesus came in the first place to accomplish what we could not do. Every awakening the Church and humanity in general has ever had has been the moving of God's hand over His people whom He purchased on Calvary.

The blueprint of the building of the Church of the Living God is the seven feasts of the old Levitical year. Passover is past-- Jesus became our Passover at Calvary. Firstfruits and Unleavened Bread are past-- Jesus became them to us after Calvary.

We are now (for 2000 years) in Pentecost. It was Jesus who gave us the Firstfruits Of the Spirit. It was only an Earnest deposit-- until the remainder should be delivered.

The fulness of the Spirit will arrive when it is time for the Day of Atonement. The year of release, and the Jubile always began on the Day of Atonement.

We can, like the prophet, sing our song of confidence in our God, for He will not fail us.