We’ve all heard news that was too good to be true. Statements on the radio or YouTube tell us: “You’ll never have to pay an energy bill again after you put solar panels on your house,” or “Drinking a glass of water before bed will cause you to lose 30lbs in a month,” and my personal favorite, “This kind of chocolate is healthy and good for you.”
While those statements are too good to be true, the people living in Judah in 606 BC were about to receive news that was too bad to be true. When they heard it they might have said, Could you repeat that? or I heard what you said, but it was so odd, I must have misunderstood you.
Habakkuk 1:1-4 recorded Habakkuk’s complaints and cry out to God. Habakkuk pleaded with God to do something about the evil, wickedness, and violence that Habakkuk saw occurring in the nation of Judah. In Habakkuk 1:5-11 we read God’s response to Habakkuk.
GOD’S INTENTION OF DISCIPLINE
Habakkuk 1:5 serves as an introduction to this oracle of judgement. “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if you were told.”[i] God breaks the silence Habakkuk endured as Habakkuk shared, “How long O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear?” (v. 2). That question is answered now. God has been doing something. When the text says “Look” and “Observe” and “Be Astonished!” and “Wonder!” those are all plural imperatives[ii] in the Hebrew text that emphasize two things. First, there is an urgency of what is commanded that they look and take note. Second, as plurals these words are addressed to the nation of Judah, not only to the prophet Habakkuk.
Habakkuk is learning God has not been idle while Habakkuk asked his question. Habakkuk is learning God’s silence does not equal indifference, that God is already working on specific plans, and that God’s answers are not what Habakkuk wanted. Habakkuk had thought God would turn the people from wickedness to righteousness. He thought God would turn the people to the temple and away from pagan gods. He thought God would turn the king to God and way from idolatry.
God is sovereign in how He deals with all people.
God surprises them in what He does and what God does reminds them about God’s sovereignty. The late Warren Wiersbe explained, “God gave Habakkuk a revelation, not an explanation, for what we always need in times of doubt is a new view of God. The Lord doesn’t owe us any explanations, but He does graciously reveal Himself and His work to those who seek Him.”[iii] This new view is that God is sovereign.
Theologian John Fienberg defines sovereignty this way, “God’s power of absolute self-determination … God’s choices are determined only by his own nature and purposes…. God’s sovereign will is also free, for nobody forces him to do anything, and whatever he does is in accord with his own purposes and wishes.”[iv]
We know God is sovereign from different areas. We know God is sovereign from Scripture. Psalm 103:19 tells us, “The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.” And 1 Chronicles 29:11 reveals, “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.” We also know God is sovereign from His names in Scripture, “God Most High” (Genesis 14:18–20), “God Almighty” (Genesis 17:1), “Master & Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). And we know God is sovereign from world history, “you O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all” (Daniel 2:37–38).
Scripture makes it clear that God is sovereign in how He deals with all people. Bible teacher Kenneth Barker comments on Habakkuk 1:5,
The Lord’s answer indicates his sovereignty. He is not bound by the listener’s whims or by their standards of “fairness.” He responds according to his sovereign will. He is the Lord of history who works in history to accomplish his purpose. Habakkuk’s questions reflect the questions of many people. Especially when we deal with personal affronts, difficulties, and disappointment, we desire to know where God is and what he is doing. Habakkuk reminds us that God is at work even if it appears He is not. He is the Lord of the universe who works to accomplish his purposes in his world and in our lives.[v]
So Habakkuk learns God is sovereign in what God does, next Habakkuk learns God is sovereign in who God chooses.
GOD’S INSTRUMENT OF DISCIPLINE[vi]
Habakkuk 1:5 is an introduction to the oracle of judgement and Habakkuk 1:6-11 is the explanation.
The Destruction by the Babylonians
“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans” (Habakkuk 1:6a). The Hebrew word, kasdim, is translated as “Chaldeans”[vii] in the NASB but this group of people is better known by another name: Babylonians (see NIV and NLT). The Babylonians were a tribe within the Assyrian Empire that rose up and overtook the Assyrian Empire. Nabopolassar rose up into power in 625 BC and Nebuchadnezzar inherited the powerful kingdom in 605 BC.[viii]
This was surprising for two reasons. One, that a small group within the nation of Assyria could rise up and overtake Assyria. Two, that God would allow a foreign wicked evil nation to punish the nation of Judah.
In the book of Habakkuk we see God using ungodly people and ungodly forces to punish and purify His people in Judah who were acting ungodly.
The Description of the Babylonians
Their size is described, “That fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs” (Habakkuk 1:6).The word “That” begins a list of twenty different features of the Babylonians.
Their status is described, “They are dreaded and feared; their justice and authority originate with themselves” (Habakkuk 1:7). They do whatever they wanted. There was no judge but themselves, and no law but themselves.
Their speed is described, “Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour” (Habakkuk 1:8). We want to take Scripture in a simple straightforward literal way except in some cases when that seems impossible. For example, “horses are swifter than leopards” is hyperbole (an exaggeration that’s used to say more than is literally meant.)[ix] Babylon was 600 miles east of Judah. The essence here is that distance will not make a difference.
Their success is described, “All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand” (Habakkuk 1:9). Whatever they look at they take for themselves.
Their scoffing is described, “They mock at kings and rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress and heap up rubble to capture it” (Habakkuk 1:10). An example of the Babylonians’ brutality was seen when they captured king Zedekiah, killed his sons in front of him, then they gouged out his eyes (2 Kings 25:7). The phrase, “heap up rubble to capture it” refers to piling up dirt to a wall so they could capture it. Nothing could stop the Babylonians. The lesson is this: everyone should fear the nation that has no fear.
God is just in how He deals with Israel in a specific way.
God had a unique relationship with Israel. He made a promise with Abraham marking out one family and one nation (see Genesis 11:10-Exodus 18:27).[x] God also gave the Mosaic Law which was 613 laws for a life of obedience following God (see Exodus 19:1-Acts 1:26).[xi] The people were responsible to keep the law (James 2:10) but they failed (Romans 10:1-3).
The goal of the promise with Abraham and the Law with Israel was to make Israel a kingdom of priests as described in Exodus 19:6 when God said to Israel, “and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”[xii] Before Moses died he gave two promises to Israel. The first promise was for blessings on the nation of Israel if they followed God’s laws faithfully (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). The second promise was of curses that would come upon Israel if they disobeyed God and His word (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).[xiii]
I say all of this because we—as Americans—shouldn’t insert ourselves into these prophecies in Habakkuk because God hasn’t made a promise with America like He did Israel.
Israel’s prophets warned them that God would allow Gentiles to overrun Judah because of their disobedience to God (Deuteronomy 28:49-50; 1 Kings 11:14, 23; Jeremiah 4; 5:14-17; 6:22-30; Amos 6:14), but the people did not believe this would happen (Jeremiah 5:12; 6:14; 7:1-34; 8:11; Lamentations 4:12; Amos 6). Therefore God allowed Gentile nations to conquer them. God was doing to Israel what He told Israel He would do if they refused to return to Him. God was dealing with them because God had warned them.
While we’ve seen God reveal to Habakkuk who this nation is (Babylon) and what they are like (powerful and wicked). Next God reveals what Babylon will do.
GOD’S IMPLEMENTATION OF DISCIPLINE
While Habakkuk 1:5 was the introduction and Habakkuk 1:6-10 was the explanation, now we see Habakkuk 1:11 is the climax: “Then they [Babylonians] will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god.”
We see that the Babylonians will reign and nothing will stop them. (Only God is going to be able to stop them). As one Bible teacher has said, “God may seem to be strangely silent and inactive in threatening circumstances. He sometimes gives unexpected answers to our prayers. And He sometimes uses unlikely instruments to correct His people.”[xiv] That unlikely instrument is the nation of Babylon.
But we also see that the Babylonians source of their reign will be temporary. The phrase, “whose strength is their god” indicates that their strength will be their demise. Their might will cause their downfall.
God is gracious in how he deals with us in a different way.
Let’s look at Acts 13:39-41 to see how God interacts with us differently now than He did with Israel then:
And through Him [Jesus] everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: “Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.”
Let me explain the significance of these three verses. There are different ways to outline the book of Acts. There’s a geography outline focusing on what occurs in Jerusalem (chapters 1-7), Judea (chapter 8), and Samaria (chapters 9-28). There’s also a ministry outline profiling the ministry of Peter (chapters 1-12) and Paul (chapters 13-28). The outline I want to emphasize is the Gospel outline in which the Gospel is directed toward the Jews (chapters 1-10) and then to the Gentiles (chapters 11-28). God makes it clear in the book of Acts that God is no longer using one nation—Israel—to display glory. No longer is Israel the mediator. Now all people have access to God through one man: Jesus Christ.
There are some important meanings for us to understand. We are part of that offer to the Gentiles. When Christ died on the Cross He fulfilled the Law (Acts 13:39). The end of that Law is why we don’t sacrifice a lamb at the end of our church services, why we worship on Sunday(the day of the resurrection) not Saturday(the day of the Sabbath), and why we don’t practice the feasts of the Old Testament. We are living in the time of grace. We interact with God because of the grace offered to us. We are not interacting with God based on the Law that was given to Israel. We don’t have the same obligations as Israel under the Law because we are Gentiles living in the age of grace.
There are some implications for us because of that grace. If you forgot to pray this morning or didn’t read your Bible yesterday you don’t have to worry about God sending lightening to strike you and correct you. God is not going to give you all red lights on your way to work on Monday to punish you for forgetting to put your tithe check in the offering plate on Sunday. We don’t worship a fickle god that has petty disagreements with us. We worship a God that gave His Son to die for us and His desire is that we place our faith in His son and obediently follow Him.
CONCLUSION
Christ coming displayed God’s grace of salvation. Under grace the responsibility of man is to accept the gift of righteousness offered freely through Jesus Christ to all people (Romans 5:15-18). There are two important elements of the time of grace. One is that we get blessed through grace. Another is that grace is offered to all. God no longer is dealing with one people—Israel—now He is interacting with all mankind (as seen from Acts 2:1 through Revelation 19:21).[xv]
And that’s the news that is too good to be true. That God loved the world so much that He gave His Son—through the nation of Israel—to offer salvation to all the world. That faith in His Son gives eternal life. That’s news that is good and true.
[i] Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.
[ii] An imperative in Hebrew is “urgent or demanding immediate, specific action on the part of the addressee” (Bruce Waltke and M O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax [Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990], 571).
[iii] Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2012, 2nd edition), 136-137.
[iv] John Feinberg, No One Like Him (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2006), 294.
[v] Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20. The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 302.
[vi] Outline for this section is slightly adapted from J. Ron Blue, “Habakkuk” in Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, edited by John Walvoord and Roy Zuck (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1985), 1510.
[vii] In Hebrew, כַּשְׂדִּים
[viii] B. T. Arnold, “Babylon” (pp. 53-60) edited by Mark J. Boda and Gordon J. McConville, Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets (Downers Grove, IL; Inter-Varsity Press, 2012), 59.
[ix] Thomas Constable, Notes on Habakkuk, 2023 edition, p. 19, footnote 3, accessed November 23, 2023, https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/habakkuk.pdf.
[x] Charles Ryrie, Dispensationalism (Chicago, IL: Moody, 2007), 61-63.
[xi] Ibid., 63-64.
[xii] “Their role thenceforth would be to mediate or intercede as priests between the holy God and the wayward nations of the world, with the end in view not only of declaring his salvation but also of providing the human channel in and through whom this salvation would be effected.” (Eugene H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 2nd ed. [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008], 98.
[xiii] There are four times as many curses as there are blessings, either to follow Ancient Near East (ANE) treaties or to foreshadow the future failure of Israel to keep the covenant.
[xiv] Constable, Notes on Habakkuk, p. 21.
[xv] Ryrie, Dispensationalism, 64.