Human Free Will in a Fore-Ordained Future

What if the experience of knowing the future changed a person?  What if it evoked a sense of urgency, a sense of obligation to act precisely as he knew he would?

If you knew the course of your life and how it would turn out, would you change things?

Very few of us would change the happy times, the triumphant moments; but many more of us would consider changing those painful experiences, altering the path to avoid heartache.  But I wonder if we could look into our own future lives, as witnesses to those as yet unencountered tragedies, and embrace them.  Could we walk into them with a sense of resolve?  If we could see the end before we got there, how would that change us?

Or better still, if we knew that our future was ordained by One with infinite wisdom, infinite love, and an infinitely gracious disposition toward us, how might that change us?

If an infinitely wise mind determined a plan, it would have to be most excellent.  No lesser wisdom could question it.  If an infinitely loving heart chartered a course, it would surely be most admirable.  No lesser love could challenge it.  If an infinitely gracious individual ordained an outcome, it would undoubtedly be most noble.  No lesser benevolence could protest it.  The specific events of the future would no longer matter, for the One planning them would be fully trustworthy, completely honorable, and immeasurably upright.  Nor would the objection of fatalism, for who would want to alter such a blessed destiny?

To suggest that self-determination is freedom is to suggest that the creature exerts authority over the Creator.  Free will is an illusion, a deception to keep the creature thinking that he determines, that he charters, and that he ordains - in short, to keep him thinking that he is god-like.  It is the set of shackles that keeps him enslaved.

Human freedom, the ability of the individual to truly choose and exert some kind of control over the course of life, is only important for those who remain alienated from that infinitely wise, loving, and gracious Being.  The desire to strive after an end that we have created only entered the human soul after we ate the fruit of estrangement.  But before that fatal choice - perhaps the only choice that has ever been truly free - when man knew the Divine, there was nothing but rest, repose, and delightful submission to our pre-ordained future.  For the determined end, much more the path leading to it, was perfect goodness and boundless joy; it was a rapturous corollary we could never have chosen for ourselves.

What could be more free than this: to resolutely embrace, with an urgent sense of obligation, a path that another has determined, if it should lead to glory beyond our conceiving?... to be sure that, with every step, we were moving toward the intended end?  We would be free from worrying that our random and uninformed choices might end in ruin.  We would be free in knowing what actions we needed to take, what answers we needed to give, and what attitudes we needed to manifest.  Thus, our freedom must be found in the loss of self-determination, in the abandoning of ourselves, in the casting of our bread upon the waters.  It must be found in the submission of quiet, yet profound, trust in the One who does all things well.  All.  Things.  Well.

What if the experience of knowing the future changed a person?  What if it evoked a sense of urgency, a sense of obligation to act precisely as he knew he would?

The Righteous will Live by Faith: A Demonstration (Habakkuk 2-3)

This Sermon was preached at Saint Matthew's Anglican Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (23 July 2017)... see below for the first message in this two-part series.

My children are very good children.  I want to make that point abundantly clear.  But, as with all children, they need to be tuned up from time-to-time.  Just like vehicles that start sputtering and leaking oil need a tune up, children who fall into the same sputtering and begin leaking disobedience need a little tune up.  They occasionally get a spanking; that’s the kind of tune up I mean.  It’s a very powerful tool, you know.  Because it not only corrects the bad behavior in the present, it actually helps to create good behavior in the future.  How does that work? 

The next time they approach me or my wife, instead of speaking impatiently – or the next time they interact with their siblings, instead of pushing and shoving and shouting and screaming (!) – they consider the previous consequences and they make better decisions.  They remember the tune up and choose to avoid another one by behaving nicely.  They reflect on the past in order to establish solid convictions in the present.

The same could be said of you and me, of adults of any age.  We make decisions about what kind of life we will lead, what kind of convictions we will formulate, what kind of character we will develop, and so on… often based on observations of the past.  What were our parents like?  What joys and triumphs did they experience… and why?  What hardship and defeats did they experience?  We often look at the examples of our own parents and think, “What of their lives would I like to emulate, and what of their lives would I seek to change in myself?”  Some things were admirable; we strive to keep them.  Other things were less worthy; we seek to amend them.  Regardless, we reflect on the past in order to establish solid convictions in the present.

This principle is found repeatedly throughout the Bible.  In the Old Testament, the people of Israel are almost constantly reminded to remember the goodness of God, the salvation of God, the mercy of God, the compassion of God, the character of God, and so on… as they live their daily lives.  The foundation of their current conviction is solidified in their reflection on the faithfulness of God throughout previous generations.  Perhaps one event more than any other defines this principle of reflection leading to solid conviction: the Exodus from Egypt.  As the people receive the Ten Commandments at the foot of Mount Sinai, they are reminded of the Exodus.  As the people wait on the plains of Moab, before entering the Promised Land, they are reminded of the Exodus.  As the people face challenges in their new home, they call on the faithful God who delivered them from Egyptian oppression to come and save them once more.  There is a crimson strand, stained red by the blood of the Passover Lamb, running through the Old Testament narrative.  The Law and the Prophets bear witness to the faithfulness of God by reflecting on the Exodus from Egypt.  And the same is true for Habakkuk.

-----

Remember that last week we were focused on the invitation of Habakkuk – that, in the midst of overwhelming doubt, he invited us to rekindle the flames of faith.  His message to us was this:

Endure Worldly Hardship by Fully Trusting God’s Promises, for His Faithfulness is the Only Hope of His People.

We tasked ourselves with knowing what it meant that the righteous should live by the faithfulness of God.  It was the question: “What does it mean?”  This morning, we will keep our focus on that all-important concept, but with a slightly different emphasis.  This morning, we will ask the question: “What does it look like?”  How is the concept – the Righteous will Live by the Faithfulness of God – demonstrated in daily life?  What does it look like? 

To answer that question, we will examine three areas of Scripture.

1.      First, we will attempt to discern what “the righteous will live by God’s faithfulness” looks like in the three New Testament passages where the Habakkuk text is quoted.

2.      Second, we will see in the negative example of the Babylonians (Habakkuk 2:6-20) the contrast of what it looks like for “the righteous to live by the faithfulness of God.”

3.      And finally, we will see an intimate portrait of living by God’s faithfulness in the prophet’s own life.

So with that threefold objective as our roadmap, let’s begin our journey through Scripture.

The first passage on our map is Hebrews 10:38-39.  A brief word about the purpose and overarching context of Hebrews will help us.  The author is concerned about endurance, about perseverance.  He is concerned that new believers, new Christians, will resist the temptation to return to Judaism because their lives have become difficult.  Perhaps this is an understatement – to say their lives were merely difficult – we will come to see what their lives were like in the text before us.  In encouraging such endurance, Hebrews presents Jesus Christ as being more faithful, more worthy, and far superior to the prophets before him, the Law that preceded his coming, the sacrificial system that foreshadowed his ministry as priest and sacrifice, and superior in the Kingdom he would establish.  In chapter 10, we’re toward the end of the book and some of those details have already been covered.

Nevertheless, the author commends reflection (on the superiority of the sacrifice of Christ) in order to establish conviction (hold fast the confession of our hope) on the basis that God is faithful (10:23).  All this is done within the community while enduring worldly hardship (10:32-39).  Let’s see how the text brings this out.  In verse 19 (Hebrews 10:19 and following), we have two key words: therefore and since.  The word therefore draws our attention to the superiority of Christ that has just been presented.  And the word since makes it clear that some action is necessary based on that information.  Let’s continue.  As we approach verse 23, we see the conviction that is called for, and indeed the foundation upon which it is to be built.  We see here that the author commends reflection (on the superiority of the sacrifice of Christ) in order to establish conviction (hold fast the confession of our hope) on the basis that God is faithful (10:23).  All this is done within the community while enduring worldly hardship (10:32-39).  Let’s just confirm that last point by reading the text.  Hebrews 10:32-39.

In this section we see our Habakkuk 2:4 verse.  “My righteous one shall live by faith.”  The writer of Hebrews makes this seem almost Messianic, doesn’t he?  That’s a sermon for another day, but it’s a very interesting little nuance in the interpretation of the Habakkuk passage.

In Hebrews, it is clear that “the righteous shall live by faith” looks like this: reflection, leading to conviction, based on God’s faithfulness, in the midst of worldly hardship.

The next destination on our map will have to be Galatians 3:11 and the larger context surrounding it.  It’s a shame, too, because we could have stayed all morning in reflection upon the book of Hebrews.  But there is more glory up ahead!  So again, we are turning to Galatians 3. 

Paul is concerned with the same thing as the writer of Hebrews: endurance.  He had preached the Gospel to them and yet they had been challenged with a false gospel and were, in some cases, turning to it in rejection of what Paul had preached.  And the same pattern is evident here as was in Hebrews.  Saint Paul urges the Galatians toward reflection (on the past life of slavery in animism and the first days of salvation in following the Spirit of God – 3:1 & 4:8), in order to establish conviction (stand firm in the freedom of Christ – 5:1) on the basis of Christ’s faithfulness in redemption (3:11-14).  All this was to be done in spite of “suffering many things” (3:4) in regard to worldly hardship.  It is also clear in the Galatians context that the meaning – the righteous shall live by Christ’s faithfulness – more than likely suggests a subjective or possessive genitive, as opposed to an objective genitive.

In Galatians, it is clear that “the righteous shall live by faith” looks like this: reflection, leading to conviction, based on God’s faithfulness, in the midst of worldly hardship.

The final stop in our journey through the New Testament quotations of Habakkuk 2:4 is Rome.  Or, more specifically, it is in Paul’s letter to the saints in Rome.  So we turn in our Bibles to Romans 1:17.  And we find great significance in the way he uses and interprets “the righteous will live by his faith.”

In the capital of the Empire, one would have found all the newest ideas, all the latest philosophies, and the most intriguing debates.  They all centered on intellectual sophistication – ideas were meant to interpret the meaning of life in an intellectually sophisticated way; philosophical developments were presented in the same intellectually sophisticated way.  And the debates were to determine which new ideas and which new philosophies were the most intellectually sophisticated.  Then, in the Gospel, we are told that the wisdom of men is foolishness to God; one must become a fool to receive that which is spiritually discerned (see 1^st Corinthians 2:1-16).  But the wisdom of the Gospel is nothing less than the power of God; thus, Paul is not ashamed by it, for he knows that he proclaims true wisdom even though it is not – in human terms – intellectually sophisticated. 

So, in Romans 1:17, Paul talks about the Gospel as the power of God.  It is for salvation.  It is given unto a select few who believe; they are from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.  Now, here is where it gets really interesting. 

In the Gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed.  It is God’s own righteousness.  When we see it, we realize that we are not righteous.  Indeed, we are those who deserve the wrath of God for our unrighteousness.  And Paul tells us that this righteousness is revealed from faith, for faith.  I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the week.  And the best I can do to explain what I think he means is to say that faith moves from origin – or source, which is God Himself – to object – or recipient, which is mankind. 

Last week, I mentioned that the Bible speaks most clearly, consistently, and powerfully about God putting his faith in us.  And I realize I could have been easily misunderstood.  I did not mean that God believes in us.  It is not as if God sits on the heavenly throne like a divine cheerleader, saying, “I know you can do it; I believe in you.”  Instead, what I meant – and what I believe the Bible is teaching – is that God is the only source of faith in the entire universe.  He is the faithful one.  And that is what Paul is teaching here in Romans; God is the origin of faith and he must give us his faithfulness in order to make us righteous.  We are unfaithful to the covenant, but God is eternally faithful to the covenant [2].  God is the author; He is the source.  We are the recipients; we are those who respond. 

God gives us the gift of faith because of his own faithfulness.  This is the meaning of “from faith” in Romans 1:17.  We are the recipients of that gift of faith.  When we exercise faith, we are responding in trust to the faithfulness of God.  He is the one who decisively acts in saving us from first to last [3].  He creates our faith in the New Birth and sustains our faith by his faithfulness in bringing us to final salvation.  He creates; He sustains.  And now Paul says that this concept has already been written… it is found in Habakkuk 2:4.  The literal Greek here is “the one who by faith is righteous shall live.”  And we already know that this is the faithfulness of Christ, so we can rightly read this passage as “the one who by the faithfulness of Christ is [made] righteous shall live.”  Do you see what this does for the Christian life?  Instead of worrying about condemnation, instead of struggling to produce enough faith from ourselves – which we cannot do – instead of feeling the weight of guilt over sin, we trust not our own efforts, but rather the faithfulness of God who said, “YOU WILL HAVE LIFE!”  The spiritual highs and lows do not challenge our salvation, for the origin and source of faith is God.  The faith we have is one of response only.  We respond to God by trusting his faithfulness to carry out his will in our lives.

Faith is first received and then exercised.  Thus, faith is initially given as the gift of God (it is from God to man); then it is exercised as man endures in Christ.  The redeemed first receives the faith of Christ, then uses the faith of Christ in standing firm.  He becomes Christ-like; he puts on the clothes of Christ, to use a Pauline metaphor.

In Romans, it is clear that “the righteous shall live by faith” looks like this: God, the source of faith, gives the gift of saving faith and sustaining faith to his people, who respond by resting and trusting in His faithfulness and not trusting in their efforts.

Now, we return briefly to the Habakkuk text to see what this looks like.  The first vision is one of contrast.  We know what living by faith means by the negative example of the Babylonians who are condemned in Habakkuk 2:6-20.

Here we find that the Babylonians are…

1.      Greedy in their plunder (6-8),

2.      Excessive in their violence (12-17), and

3.      Idolatrous (18-20) in their self-reliance (9-11).

The Babylonian king has relied on himself for the victories in battle that he has experienced; self-reliance for personal advancement.  The righteous, however, will not depend on themselves, but on the Rock of their Salvation.  It is clear from Habakkuk that “the righteous will live by faith

1.      They do not have to gather riches or hoard wealth, for the God of Heaven feeds them (as he does the sparrows) and clothes them (as he does the lilies of the field), according to Matthew 6:25-33). 

2.      They do not have to assert their rights or their authority; indeed, they can forfeit their rights in genuine humility and meekness, for in so doing they inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).

3.      They do not make idols of their possessions or personal success; they refrain from worshipping money or material goods either overtly or in subtlety. 

Instead, they will depend on God for the life that only He can provide.  Note that God will cover the earth with his renown and is working from his holy temple to accomplish all his sovereign purposes (2:14, 20).  Thus, life and salvation and redemption – as well as earthly and temporal care – these do not depend on man’s effort, but on God’s faithfulness.

The second vision is of the prophet’s personal experience in Habakkuk 3.  He begins with a psalm of remembrance.  Note the use of “Selah” which is a musical term.  This was probably meant to be sung in the assembly of the righteous.  We pause here to recognize the importance of singing and, more specifically, of singing correct theology.  Maybe you’ve wondered from time-to-time why we sing so often in church.  Now you have part of the answer; it should aid us in our reflection upon God’s faithfulness in order to fuel our convictions in standing firm.  We do not have time to unpack all of the specifics, but the larger picture of Habakkuk 3 shows us that the prophet is reflecting on the mighty deeds of God in redemption.  There are elements from the Egyptian Exodus present here; there are general and mythological pictures of God the Divine Warrior redeeming his people. 

And then he moves from reflection to conviction.  In verses 16-19, the prophet affirms that patience, quietness, trust, and submission are all part of the active life of faith believers experience.  They are not spared from the stress, trials, and tribulations of the present age, but are given strength to endure in spite of these hardships (see vs. 16 here).  He describes the conditions of siege warfare; this is the kind of warfare that the Babylonians and Assyrians before them had used in defeating the people of the ancient Near East.  They would have cut down the fig trees surrounding Jerusalem.  They would have chopped and burned the grape vines, destroying vineyards wherever they went.  The olive trees that grew across the Kidron Valley on the Mount of Olives were visible to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so would have been the smoke of their destruction rising to the sky as the Babylonians approached.  Fields were trampled, flocks grazing in the nearby pastures were confiscated, and herds became food for the enemy army.  The city would be totally cut off from sustenance, supplies, and help.  

The typical and expected response to siege warfare would have been panic at first, and then desperation as those inside the walls turned to cannibalism and other unspeakable horrors.  This is not the response of the righteous prophet.  He will rejoice in the Lord!  Perhaps it is impossible for us to feel the weight of this unexpected praise until we have been in similar situations of desperation.  The Lord would be the strength that his weak body and spirit desperately needed!  Salvation would come, for it had been promised with all certainty.  The righteous would live by the faithfulness of God.

In Habakkuk, it is clear that “the righteous shall live by faith” looks like this: reflection, leading to conviction, based on God’s faithfulness, in the midst of worldly hardship.

So we have been invited by the prophet to live a life founded on the faithfulness of God, full of reflection and conviction.  We have been instructed to…

Endure Worldly Hardship by Fully Trusting God’s Promises, for His Faithfulness is the Only Hope of His People.

My children are very good children!  They are rewarded for good behavior and are given little “tune-ups” for bad behavior.  But it is intended for their purification and the development of righteous convictions as they lead their lives into adulthood.

---

[2] What I mean here is primarily the New Covenant, though the entire range of Old Testament covenants, taken together, could be correctly understood.  God is faithful to provide salvation, to write his law on our hearts by His Spirit, even though we have broken the covenant in sinful disobedience.

[3] The saving faith God gives is found throughout Scripture.  The sustaining faith God gives is a bit more obscure, but is evident in 2^nd Thessalonians 1:11, 1^st Corinthians 15:10, and Philippians 2:12-13.

The Righteous will Live by Faith: A Definition (Habakkuk 1-2)

This sermon was preached at Saint Matthew's Anglican Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (16 July 2017).

Two young girls move into the same neighborhood.  They are the same age and they quickly become best friends.  They sit one lovely afternoon and make plans together about how they will always be best friends.  They will even live next door to each other when they’re older and have families of their own.  Six months later, one of their dads is moved to another country because of his work.  He takes the whole family along; they never return.  It’s no one’s fault, but the girls both find that the promise of life-long friendship was fleeting.

A British aid worker in Kenya works with orphans in the Kibera slum.  He rescues them from a certain future of abject poverty takes them to his home, where he promises them food, shelter, education, and safety.  He lures them only to isolate, imprison, and abuse them.  Each one of those young boys learns that the promise of relational stability was empty.

A man excitedly boards a plane.  He’s returning home from a business trip to Western Europe.  He blushes at the possibility of surprising his wife and spending extra time with her now that the conference has ended early.  He arrives and takes a taxi home, and enters to find his wife in bed with another man.  This young husband comes to discover that the promise of marital fidelity was meaningless.

Older generations of people, many of them Grandparents, have worked hard for many years in order to earn and save enough money for retirement.  They are counting on the government to assist them, since they put four kids through college on a Middle Class income.  Then one day they listen as the newly elected president (or prime minister) says on TV that he plans to cut spending on social security.  Panic rises in their hearts; they become aware that the promise of financial security was hollow.

Politicians break promises.  It is relatively impersonal in nature, but has become so common that we expect it to happen.  Husbands, Wives, Parents, Children, Siblings, and Friends... we all break promises; and we all learn from very early ages to be wary of those who make promises… the bigger the promise, the more cautious we are in trusting its fulfillment.  And so we wonder: Can we trust any promises to be kept?  And then, we are confronted by the God of the Bible who demands our full and unwavering trust.

-----

A faithful servant of God ministers during the latter 7^th Century BC.  He is a Hebrew living in the most ancient part of Jerusalem, in the city of David.  The man of God recalls the promise to King David every time he walks past the temple; that an everlasting descendant would sit on the throne; one who would rule in righteousness.  But the kings of Judah had become increasingly wicked.  The spiritual condition of the people was deplorable.  A succession of prophetic voices called for repentance, only to be disregarded.  There is not just a passive ignorance of justice within the community; there is an active denial of it.  God’s people had neglected the Law; they had broken the Sinai Covenant; they had rejected King Yahweh; they had committed spiritual apostasy.  With all the corruption and injustice around him, the faithful servant wonders, “Does God allow evil?”  Or had He turned away from his people?  Would God rise up to defend the remaining remnant of the faithful?

Then, out of heaven comes an oracle from the Lord.  This man of God is also a prophet.  The oracle indicates that Yahweh would bring judgment upon his people.  The prophet has seen enough violence – enough perversion of justice – that he has cried out to the Lord, and now his answer had come.  But it was an unexpected answer, for the punishment of God would come in the invading armies of Babylon.  Certainly this would mean the death or exile of all citizens of Judah, both the righteous and wicked within her borders.

Suddenly a new vision – one of glory – is revealed to revive the weary prophet’s soul.  The righteous remnant will live!  The faithfulness of God would be their hope in an uncertain world!  He is overjoyed.  For the first few months, he waits with eager expectancy.  He heralds the news far and wide.  Years pass.  The time between promise and fulfillment grows long.  The Babylonian invasion moves steadily toward Jerusalem’s walls.  The storm clouds of doubt gather on the prophet’s mental horizon.  Did he hear the word of the Lord correctly?  Was there something he didn’t understand?

Judgment is coming.  Darkness advances.  Evil approaches.  Would God allow his people to be destroyed?  Could God really be trusted?  Would he keep His promise?

In the midst of overwhelming doubt, Habakkuk invites the people to rekindle the flames of faith.  His message was this:

Endure Worldly Hardship by Fully Trusting God’s Promises, for His Faithfulness is the Only Hope of His People.

And with that exhortation, we turn to the text of Habakkuk.

Chapter 1:1-4: It is an oracle, which in biblical terms is usually bad news.  It is also a conversation, unique in that it is not delivered from God to prophet and then to the community.  Rather, it is a running dialogue between God and prophet, a conversation that Judah is invited to listen in on.  The issue is salvation for the righteous.  Notice how the parallelism draws our attention to it.  First the question: How long shall I cry?  There is worldly oppression.  And then the assumption: And you will not hear; and you will not save?  Hearing and saving are placed in parallel lines.  Very interesting, because there was a great distress in the times of Israel’s past; a time of slavery in Egypt.  Hearing and saving went hand-in-hand.  Recall the scene at the burning bush?

1.      Exodus 3:7-8 says, “Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (ESV).

2.      And the parallel in Exodus 6:5-8 reads, “Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians

The prophet calls for the same help, the same deliverance… the same salvation.  Note that the same name is used here: Yahweh.  And the same pattern of crying out because of oppression, injustice, and violence.  But now the oppression is not at the hands of the Egyptians, but from the very hand of the people of God, those descendants of the ones rescued from Egypt.  They had been given the Promised Land as an inheritance, but they have become slave masters themselves.  Centuries later, would God remember his promises, answer the prayers of the faithful, and deliver them from oppression once more?  The questions of the prophet, followed by the answers of God, highlight the content of chapter one. 

Since wickedness continues, it is apparent that the prophet’s cries for deliverance have not been heard.  He wonders if God has accepted the wickedness of his people.  It was the Sinai Covenant that made them His people, but it is the very same covenant that they have broken.  Justice is one of the main concerns of the prophet; indeed, it is one of the main concerns of the Law.  It goes far beyond the legal sense in which we understand it today.  When we see justice and righteousness in prophetic literature, we are seeing the prayer of Jesus: “Let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as in heaven.”  When we see justice, we are witnesses of the quality of the Kingdom that makes it God’s own.  Righteousness is the outworking of justice within society.  It is the action motivated by the quality of justice.

Chapter 1:5-11: The Lord answers.  He has not forgotten or neglected justice, nor has he been indifferent toward the people’s sinfulness.  He will raise up the Babylonians to punish Judah.  A lengthy description of the pride and wickedness of the Babylonians follows.

Chapter 1:12-17: The prophet is astounded.  How can God use a nation more wicked than Judah as his rod of correction?  The medicine is worse than the disease!  But he recognizes that God has ordained this form of punishment.  He has a high view of the sovereignty of God. 

Verse 12:  We shall not die.  There are two ways to take this.

1.      First, it might be that Habakkuk is saying that the righteous remnant will not die.  Thus, the “we” is the group of those who still follow the Lord as “my God” and “my Holy One.”  The judgment coming is a fire of purification (of “reproof”), not one of annihilation.  This suggests that the prophet remains steadfast in faith.

2.      Or second, it might be that he has misunderstood the covenant.  In this sense, the “we” would be the larger community.  Since we are your people, you will not surely bring this calamity upon us.  He has misunderstood God before (verses 1-11), and seems to do so again.  He says, “Why do you remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”  He has misunderstood righteousness.  In contact with the fire of divine holiness, degrees of human righteousness melt away.  There is no greater or lesser degree of righteousness in the human heart before regeneration.  The mistake here is assuming that the external signs of the covenant (circumcision, the Temple, the Torah) are indicators of true righteousness.

{Side note: We are constantly being tempted to think that what happens outside is a true reflection of the internal reality.  Ceremony – particularly corporate ceremony – leads to the danger of believing that uniformity in practice indicates uniformity in motive.  The same ritual practice must indicate the same heart of worship within all who perform it.  The community of Israel continued the sacrificial system, the ceremonial feasts, the ordained days of fasting and prayer, but they had been largely empty because of the lack of heartfelt obedience and worship; they had become meaningless, heartless.}

But he cannot be so deluded as to think the community of Judah is righteous.  He has just called them violent and contentious sinners, perverters of justice.  So I think both factors are in play here.  The prophet does not understand God’s ways fully, yet he still trusts God’s heart.  He does not waver during confusing circumstances, relying on the faithfulness of God.  Though a tornado of doubt encircles him, he stands firm on the Rock of his salvation.

Chapter 2:1-5: Thus, he takes his post on the wall of the city.  He awaits the invasion of the Babylonians, but also awaits the word of the Lord.  So chapter one tells us that Habakkuk receives an oracle.  But now, in chapter 2, he also sees a vision.  In the greater context of the book, it seems plausible to consider this vision to be personal revelation.  As with the vision that Isaiah saw in chapter 6 of his prophecy, God seems to be the object of the vision.  The personal interaction revealed in the dialogue suggests this possibility.  The language of the Hebrew text also points us in this direction.

It is this section – verses 1-4 – that I am actually going to preach about.

So let’s start by getting the flow of thought. 

Chapter 2:1: I will guard my post until I receive an answer.

The Communication of the Vision (Verse 2)

The answer is a vision; it is to be written on tablets.  I’m not sure of this, but I suggest that the tablets here are a veiled reference to the Ten Commandments, which were written on stone tablets, as the same Hebrew root is used in Exodus 31:18 as here in Habakkuk 2:2.  Whenever the Jewish community saw tablets of stone with Hebrew writing on them, they would know that the judgment was incurred because of covenant unfaithfulness.  It was also to be written because the judgment, much more, the salvation, was going to be a relatively long time in coming.  If the communication came around 620 BC, then the destruction of Jerusalem occurred in 587 BC – and then the fall of Babylon in 539 BC – we have a window of about sixty years opened here.

There would be a herald running around the Judean countryside and throughout the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the content of the vision.  There would be urgency in communicating the vision to his kin.  Likewise, the tablets would be a permanent record of the vision to be passed down to other heralds.

The Certainty of the Vision (Verse 3)

The vision will be delayed; it is going to take time in coming to fulfillment.  Now, at this point, we are still unsure about the actual message being heralded.  But we know that God has appointed the time of its coming.  Thus, it is certain.  And, in one sense, it is coming quickly.  Regardless, God will bring about his plans in perfect timing.  The vision will not lie; it will not fail to come to fulfillment.  The promises of God can be fully trusted, because God Himself is coming to ensure their reliability.  Note here that the English rendering “If it seems slow” and the subsequent uses of “it” can be translated as “he.”  I favor this for a few reasons.  First, the Hebrew allows it.  Second, as I’ve already said, the content of Habakkuk seems to be very personal.  The translation that makes the vision highly personal seems to fit well within the overall context.  Third, God is active throughout the book; he is not passive, as the prophet accuses him of being.  God is working (1:5), raising up (1:6), answering (2:2), pouring out wrath (2:16), and so on.  There is active, personal interaction and active, personal judgment; and, as we will see momentarily, active, personal redemption.  And finally, the nature of the vision and the interpretation of verse four suggest a personal “he” instead of “it.”  So we should probably read the latter part of verse 3 as, “If he seems slow, wait for him; he will surely come; he will not delay.”

The Content of the Vision (Verse 4)

Finally the content of the vision is revealed.  Salvation is promised!  But first, let’s deal with the textual issues.  As with many Old Testament prophecies, judgment and salvation walk hand-in-hand.  To see one without the other is very rare.  Verse four is no exception.  The first phrase is about the coming judgment; it is divine judgment and personal intervention.  God will bring the proud low.  The existence of pride here is a general pronouncement of judgment whose specifics will be outlined throughout the rest of the chapter.  There is a series of five “woe oracles” that fills out the content of chapter two, which makes the sin of Babylon and the punishment meted out by the Lord explicit.

But here we see that God focuses on the heart of the issue.  Two kinds of people are evaluated in verse four – first, the proud.  The Hebrew is almost literally translated: “He is lifted up (arrogant, self-deification); his soul is not pleasing / right / straight.”  It is as if God says, “I see the proud and their souls are not pleasing to me.”  The subject here is singular, probably to refer to the king of Babylon as the representative symbol of his people.  God would use the Babylonians to punish his people, but he would also turn and punish them.  What would be judgment unto purification for some would be judgment unto annihilation for others.  But it could also refer to the proud in Judah, those who had rejected the Lord and relied on themselves.  This same “Spirit of Babel” exists in every heart that says, “I will be like the Most High; I will establish my throne in the heavens.”  It was the condition in which Satan fell and it was the temptation by which Adam and Eve fell into sin.

The contrast is now made.  The second kind of person is evaluated.  The righteous shall live!  This is the promise of salvation; the righteous in Judah shall have life, redemption, deliverance.  The judgment of God would not be the fire of destruction, but the flame of purification.  We must not misunderstand this deliverance as being from judgment (as in, out of judgment), but a deliverance through judgment.  The righteous will not escape, but will survive the wrath of God. 

This is the Gospel present within the 7^th Century prophecy.  But there’s something here that we’re not supposed to miss.  The question might come to our minds: “How – or, by what means – are the righteous to live?”  On what basis can this salvation be expected?  It is by faith, but to whom does the faithfulness belong?  The Bible speaks more frequently and powerfully about God placing His faith in us and not so much about us putting our faith in Him.  Thus, we really only have one option.  It cannot refer to the Babylonians.  It cannot refer to the wicked within the Jewish community.  It probably does not even refer to the righteous.  It refers to God Himself.  God’s faithfulness is the basis for the life of the righteous.  So we might properly read the second half of verse 4, “The righteous will be saved by God’s faithfulness." [1]  This will become clearer next week as we examine the New Testament usage and interpretation of Habakkuk 2:4.

For now, it is the contrast that makes this clear.  The Babylonian king has relied on himself for the victories in battle that he has experienced; self-reliance for personal advancement.  But his victories are short-lived.  God will overwhelm him by using the Persian monarch, Cyrus, to destroy Babylon in 539 BC.  The righteous, however, will not depend on themselves, but on the Rock of their Salvation.  They will depend on God for the life that only He can provide.  Thus, life and salvation and redemption – these do not depend on man’s effort, but on God’s mercy.

So the communication of the vision is by a herald who proclaims that which was written plainly on stone tablets.

And the certainty of the vision is due to the fact that God is the one coming; he is the one who is bringing the vision of judgment and salvation to pass.

And finally, the content of the vision is judgment – unto destruction – for the pride of self-reliance and judgment for purification – unto salvation – for the righteous who rely on the faithfulness of God.

Endure Worldly Hardship by Fully Trusting God’s Promises, for His Faithfulness is the Only Hope of His People.

Two young girls move into the same neighborhood.  They find that promises of life-long friendship are often fleeting.  But, in Christ, they find a friend who faithfully remains closer than a brother.

Adolescent Kenyan boys learn that promises of relational stability are frequently empty.  But as they come to know God through Jesus Christ, they find a faithful Father who loves them in perfect purity. 

Husbands and wives discover that promises of marital fidelity are many times meaningless.  But in Christ, they learn of a faithful Groom who redeems his Bride, making her beautiful in the security of his love.

Older generations become aware that promises of financial security are regularly hollow.  But as they come to know Christ more fully, they realize that in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom. 

Politicians break promises.  We all break promises; and we all learn from very early ages to be wary of those who make promises.  But there is one, who because of his superlative faithfulness can be trusted… always and forever.  We can endure worldly hardship by fully trusting God’s promises, for his faithfulness is our only hope.

---

[1] The biblical languages give us two helps here.  (1) There is no subject in the sentence.  We have an adjective (the righteous), a verb (shall live), a possessive pronoun (his), and a noun (faith).  Normally, the possessive pronoun would modify a pronoun, or the subject of the sentence.  But it is absent from this sentence.  Who does the “his” refer to?  It cannot refer to the soul of the proud (whether Hebrew or Babylonian).  It cannot refer to the Jewish community.  And, because of the missing pronoun, it is unlikely that it refers to the righteous.  In fact, the nearest pronoun is found at the end of verse 3, the “He” who will come and not delay.  It is this person, God Himself, to whom the faith belongs; and (2) the phrase “his faith,” should probably be translated “his faithfulness.”  This must be understood within the larger biblical context.  Scholars have noted that the understanding of the Habakkuk passage depends on the hermeneutics of the reader in some ways.  If the NT is allowed to interpret the OT, then we have the basis for understanding Hab. 2:4 in light of Galatians 2:15-16 and Galatians 3:11 (as well as the usage of 2:4 in Romans 1:17 and Hebrews 10:38-39).  pistewV Ihsou Cristou “[by] the faith/faithfulness of Jesus Christ” is taken to mean through [by means of] the faith of Jesus Christ. The noun “faith” is usually understood as “committal of oneself to Christ on the basis of the acceptance of the message concerning him.”  Some would say that “faith in Christ is the sole and sufficient means of justification.”  The trouble is that pistiV in 1^st Century Greek and in the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) didn’t mean “faith / trust” directed toward someone, but rather the “reliability / fidelity / firmness / faithfulness / trustworthiness” of someone.  This sense seems also to dominate the NT, including Paul’s letters. Although not widely accepted, it is more than likely that the “faith” here is actually generated by Christ (subjective genitive), or belongs to Christ (possessive genitive), or generally describes Christ’s character (adjectival, descriptive genitive). Thus, our right-standing before God rests on Christ’s “faith / faithfulness” to the will of God expressed in his obedience to the way of the cross on our behalf; “Christ’s trustful obedience to God in the giving up of his own life for us.”  See also Galatians 2:20. “I live in faith, that is to say, in the faith of the Son of God.”  It has been argued that the faithfulness is actually God’s and is realized in Christ, “God’s faithfulness revealed in Christ,” but it seems more likely that here at least Paul is speaking of Christ’s own faith/faithfulness.  So, the genitive “of Jesus Christ” is most likely subjective, or possessive, “through the faith/faithfulness of Christ,” rather than the more widely accepted objective genitive, “faith in Jesus Christ,” where Christ is the object of the faith, as in the NIV and elsewhere.  Christ’s faithfulness, evident in the cross, rests of the Father’s faithfulness to his promises, the appropriation of which (the promises of God worked out in the cross) is to we who (episteusamen) believe, cf. Rom.3:22, Gal.2:22.  Therefore, “a person is ... justified ...... by means of the faith / faithfulness of Christ Jesus.”  Richard Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ: An Investigation of the Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:1-4:11, published in the Society of Biblical Literature Sources for Biblical Study, edition #56 1983, and republished as The Faith of Christ, Eerdmans, 2002.