“Then the Lord answered me and said,
‘ Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets,that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time;It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it;For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
Behold, as for the proud one,His soul is not right within him;But the righteous will live by his faith..
Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man,So that he does not stay at home.He enlarges his appetite like Sheol,And he is like death, never satisfied.He also gathers to himself all nations and collects to himself all peoples.
Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him,Even mockery and insinuations against him And say,
‘Woe to him who increases what is not his—For how long—And makes himself rich with loans? Will not your creditors rise up suddenly,And those who collect from you awaken ?’ ”
Habakkuk 2:2–7 (NASB95)
HABBAKUKK - III
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Last week, we got to the top of a roller coaster, and this week marks the beginning of our plunge down some tremendous vistas, and we will also celebrate the day of Pentecost this Sunday!!
Resurrection Day, and the day of Pentecost parallel the Waving of the sheaf, and the Feast of weeks or firstfruits for the people of Israel.
It is noteworthy, that the result of our labors are presented as two loaves of bread which MUST (!) have leaven/yeast( or chametz) in them —- a complete 180 degree turn from the commandment to have no leaven at all in the house during Passover!
Leviticus 23:17 “You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, —-baked —-with —-leaven as first fruits to the Lord.”
What a picture of our efforts for the kingdom, accepted, though stained with ourselves !!
And it is a pulling back of the curtains from the beginning of time that is laid before the eyes of dear Habbakuk…
The vision is laid out in the response of the LORD to Habbakuk, in Chapter 2, and we are given ( like the flashes of lightning from a departing storm ) further insight in Habbakuks prayer in Chapter 3, an inspired liturgy !
We are given, first of all, instructions for the the vision.
A. It is to be recorded, and inscribed on tablets —- two separate words are used … at this time in history, words or pictures could be written on paper or leather, or engraved onto stone or metal. This is very important material given to ensure that it would endure as it has….so that…
B. The one who reads it, may “run”. This word first appears in Genesis 18:2, when Abraham runs to meet 3 ‘men’ who appear to him in the plains of Mamre. In all 103 occurrences in the KJV cases it is used to denote the ordinary act of running. Plain enough… but what does it mean?
Run the race of life till the end, run to the LORD for safety, run from calamity when you see it coming ….
C. Because the vision is for an appointed time. We are moving inexorably towards it, but Habbakuk, what you are going to see now is for an appointed time.
Though it may not occur immediately, it WILL come ( it was locally fulfilled by the Chaldeans , but we are looking further ahead also … ) , and it will not be LATE! It will arrive at the EXACT TIME IT IS SUPPOSED TO AND NOT ONE SECOND EARLIER OR LATER!! Hallelujah!
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Now to rhe vision itself and the picture it paints of a proud, haughty, DRUNK person…. but before we get to that observe that the Righteous are mentioned only ONCE, almost in passing(!) …..
“ The Just shall live by faith “ - Habbakuk 2:4.
This text is referenced in the New Testament by the apostle Paul in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38, ——- and this was the cry of the Reformation ( Sola Fide ! ) that brought down the corruption of the established church at that time !
(Like the Words of our Lord to our enemy, just a few words shall FELL HIM !!) ……
the rest of the vision is focused on the charges leveled against this person in the form of a “taunt”.
In the book of Nahum, and Revelation, we see the picture of nations being being “drunk” with the doctrine of power, and riches, immorality and fame… and the root of this drunkenness corrupted one that was close to the LORD Himself!
“ Behold, as for the —proud one,His soul is not right within him; ……Furthermore, —-wine betrays the —-haughty man,So that he does not stay at home.He enlarges his appetite like Sheol,And he is like death, ———never satisfied———.He also gathers to himself —-all nations and collects to himself —-all peoples. “
Who do you think that is?
He is piling up judgment against himself, and his bills are going to come due —- and the irony is , that in his fight against the Almighty, he is “increasing that which is not his” ( this planet and all in it ) and living on borrowed time. Talk about a debt ceiling !!!!!
Christians, and we ourselves are often taunted by those posting memes of poverty and suffering to say there is no God,
on the contrary….
THE POOR AND SUFFERING ARE THERE SO THAT WE HUMANS CAN LEARN TO EXERCISE COMPASSION ….
Deu 15:11 “For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.”
Matthew 26:11 “For ye have the poor always with you; but Me ye have not always.”
they are suffering for —our— sake, and we are FAILING as a species to learn these basics! We have the means to not let people go hungry or children not be abused. Why are we failing? What’s broken? WHERE IS MAN?
You know the answer. The wicked don’t care, but the righteous have the same heart for those in need that our Lord has for us.
His directives to remember the poor are unchanged from the beginning of the Word more than 3000 years ago, and all the artificial intelligence in the world hasn’t been able to do it yet…
The taunt itself (verses 2:6 - 2:19) is actually a formal —-indictment—- listing the charges against this person ( a person building himself up with clay(!)? Theft, violence, covetousness, leading people away from God via idolatry ….
For one that pridefully seeks his own glory, the judgment is written —— “the cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.” Habbakuk 2:16
The loans will come due, and those who you have wronged ( including the poor and suffering ) will clamor for justice …. and your glory will be covered with shame ….what will you do then?
What a wonder of revelation we have here!!
“But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. “ - Habbakuk 2:20
May the Spirit of God fall fresh upon His people we pray, and let them run the race of faith without fainting, helping those in need!
Hallelujah !