Sermon Tone Analysis
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The Text
Habakkuk.
In-between Nahum and Zephaniah
What a beautiful expression of trust in God.
A dialogue between man and God.
Hab 1:2-
Questions: Why does God allow evil?
Does God not listen to our prayers?
Is God in control?
Does God cause events that we describe as “bad”.
These are important questions to ask.
Habakkuk’s questions:
“How long shall I cry for help and you will not listen?”
“Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?”
Habakkuk’s accusations:
Destruction, violence, strife, and conflict.
The law is paralyzed and there is no justice.
Excellent questions.
Habakkuk was distressed by two things.
Before this book was written, Josiah had been King of Judah.
Josiah had implemented widesweeping social and moral reforms, destroying strongholds of idol worship and child sacrifice that had existed for centuries.
Josiah’s reign was brought to an end when he marched his army against Pharoah Necho of Egypt.
Josiah was killed in the battle, and his brother Jehoahaz was named king in his place.
Now it was common practice for a victorious nation to disrupt the kingly line in order to have their own puppet in the throne.
So Pharoah Necho placed Josiah’s son Eliakim on the throne.
And changed his name to Jehoiakim.
Now Jehoiakim was a wicked man.
Weak leader who flip flopped allegiance back and forth between Egypt and the Chaldeans.
Facilitated the brutal taxation of the people.
Jehoiakim moved away from the reforms of his father and returned to the sins of Manasseh.
What a sad time for Israel.
Talk about Topheth.
The remnant would have always been distressed about this.
And when Josiah desecrated it the remnant would have rejoiced.
Instantly after his death, the nation returns to sin.
11 years of reign take place.
Israel in the north had been taken into captivity some hundred years before.
Judah has been plunged into sin, Judah is being taxed heavily by Egypt on one side, and on the other side the Chaldeans are rising in power and beginning repeated attacks on both Judah and Egypt.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Habakkuk and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Decade
Try to identify with how frustrating this must have been for someone who loved God and knew the blessing that Israel could be experiencing instead.
A Conversation Between Man and God
There are rich things to be gleaned from these pages.
God allows very difficult questions/accusations to be leveled at him.
God engages in real time conversation with men and women throughout history for His purposes.
Habakkuk was representing the cry of many.
So God’s purpose in conversational revelation was to disclose His nature and will to many, through one.
God’s Response
God responds to Habakkuk’s cry.
God says, “I do not pervert justice, indeed I have raised up a nation to enact my perfect justice on Judah.”
So here we are learning that God can and will use violence, evil, terror, and suffering for His purposes.
This is a difficult pill to swallow.
Habakkuk struggles with this.
Look at his next response!
“God you exist in eternity!
You’ve made these wicked men a judgement for Judah, but what about the righteous?”
This is similar to the conversation that Abraham had with a pre-incarnate Christ looking over Sodom.
A pleading for the righteous.
God said he would not destroy Sodom for the sake of even 10 righteous people.
Evidently there were not even 10 people who loved God in Sodom.
There were definitely more than 10 righteous people in Judah at this time.
And God says this barbaric nation is coming to destroy.
Habakkuk says, “God, this nation keeps plundering nation after nation and then worshipping false gods in thanks.
How can you let this happen?!”
Habakkuk describes himself then as a man standing in a watchtower waiting for a messenger.
What follows in Chapter 2 is a damning series of woes from God to the Chaldeans
This reveals another interesting feature of God’s justice.
God ordains that the Chaldeans will plunder Judah, and at the same time ordains that the Chaldeans will be punished for doing so.
Embedded in this terrifying rebuke of Judah’s enemies is a promise...
2 vs 4
Faith here is contrasted with pride.
Humility is an act of faith.
This was the ultimate demise of King Josiah!
He was possessed with this desire to enter the fray of battle.
A battle that wasn’t even his.
The Chaldeans were extremely prideful of their warfare abilities and wealth.
When Habakkuk points this out he is told by God.
YOU will live by faith.
What does this faith look like?
The book of Habakkuk is completed with a beautiful Psalm of trust and joy in the Lord.
Habakkuk acknowledges some things about God that are not things that we normally think about God.
Hab 3:2
God is depicted as the warrior king here.
The warrior king who comes to deliver His people.
Plague and pestilence are at his front and back and His lightning like arrows crush the heads of His enemies.
Habakkuk says:
Hab 3:
God’s wrath is terrifying.
However...
The Righteous Will Live By Faith.
Habakkuk 3:17-
Habakkuk is only able to reach this declaration of trust in God by faith.
But this faith is based on reality.
The reality that the righteous WILL live.
God ALWAYS redeems His people.
What Habakkuk came to understand was that God’s timeline and method for redemption was not the same as Habakkuk’s
At the beginning of this book Habakkuk is pleading for and solely focused on
At the beginning of this book Habakkuk is pleading for and solely focused on temporary needs and concerns.
Injustice.
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