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CHURCH LETTER
'The burden that Habakkuk the Prophet did see '
Many turn to the Book of Habakkuk the Prophet for reasons such as the great statement of `the just shall live by (His) faith', or with the certainty that no matter what may be the existing circumstances, `the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the LORD'. And in chapter 3 there is also `a prayer of Habakkuk' where others gain inspiration for intercessory prayer - and we know of many who in the midst of personal distress draw strength in knowing, `the LORD God is my strength and He will make my feet like hind's feet . . '. All these are found within the pages of the Book of Habakkuk and can be used properly and correctly for personal meditation and prayer. However in this Letter we are considering the Book of Habakkuk within the whole content of what is recorded so as to point forward to the prophetic conclusions that are revealed within its pages.
Little is known of this prophet whose ministry lasted less than one year. Neither does his name give any real indication of his calling. Apart from being called as a prophet the only personal knowledge of him may be gleaned from the closing line of chapter 3: `To the Chief Singer on my stringed instrument'. The Hebrew word for stringed instruments here is `Neginoth' meaning `to strike on my stringed instrument', with the inference that he was able to take part in the liturgical music in the Temple and was therefore of a family of Levites. Apart from that little is known of this faithful messenger of the LORD. Although Habakkuk's ministry is undated it is understood by many Bible scholars that the commencement of his short ministry began in BC 518, at the same time as two other Jewish prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah, who began their ministries in the same year and were called to speak of God's coming judgement. Jeremiah was called to witness for over fourty years and up to the judgement and destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple and the exile of its people into Babylon. Zephaniah also spoke of judgement coming to Judah and the surrounding nations, including Assyria and Nineveh. However both prophets also spoke of the LORD's Covenanted Promise of the Restoration of his people back into the Land of Promise - and although Habakkuk spoke of the eternal righteousness of God, in that `the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the LORD', his `burden' was still one of judgement.
This, then, is the historical background of Habakkuk and his ministry. However the setting of what follows gives us deeper understanding of `the burden that Habakkuk the prophet did see'. This will take us into the Babylonian captivity and on into the prophetic timescale of contemporary times. The setting of Habakkuk's short ministry is that of a judicial court room, and not only a judicial legislative court room - that is, a court in which judgement has already been given - but that the Judge is consulting with the court's Councillor concerning His Judgement becoming the Law which would bring His Judgement into force against the Law Breakers. These following conversations are familiar for they are weighing up a judgement which is to become law and to be outworked if that law is broken. Therefore the opening words which Habakkuk `saw' were not concerned with vision but were for understanding or `seeing' what was being said, the emphasis being on the act of giving judgement on a chosen people by their Holy Righteous God. Habakkuk was therefore the earthly `Court Councillor' conferring with the Judge in the Heavenly Court Room.
In Scriptural terms what was Habukkuk's `burden that he did see'? The opening words of the Book of Habukkuk tells of the `burden' which permeates the whole of his ministry. For those of an academic background the burden is called `a theodicy', a word first used by a German philosopher with a meaning of `a defence of God's goodness and power in view of the existence of evil'. Although the word was first used in the early 18th century its origins lay in the Garden in Eden and `the fall of Adam' - which leads us to Habukkuk's burden, which is two-fold. Firstly: Why did God permit the increase of evil in the Kingdom of Judah to go unpunished? Secondly: How could a Holy God justify using the Babylonians, a people more wicked than Judah, to punish them? Habukkuk was a man who trusted God implicitly, and yet he was perplexed and as an earthly Court Councillor asked questions of a Heavenly Judge who is Righteous and Holy, not only in His Judgements but also in the timing of them. In the first chapter the Righteous Judge gives His answer (v 5-11). In short, the Judge is saying, `This is My Judgement and therefore consider more carefully what I am doing in My Judgement:
" Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going
to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. "
This answer quickly leads to the second of Habukkuk's perplexities, `but why bring judgement through a people more wicked than Your chosen people Judah'? (Chapter 2:1)
" I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts. I will look to
see what He will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. "
The response of the Righteous Judge came swiftly following Habukkuk's complaint in the opening words of chapter 2: (v 2-3)
" Then the LORD replied: `Write down the revelation and make it plain on
tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed
time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait
for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. "
There now follows what has become the great Doctrinal Declaration of countless numbers of Believers concerning salvation by Grace alone, `the just shall live by faith'. However, be that as it may we need to look at that verse in context to Habakkuk's `complaint'. What is this `revelation (that) awaits an appointed time'? In the context of Habukkuk's questioning he knew that judgement must come but questioned the means by which that judgement would come. The revelation was that judgement would certainly come and that he should write it down clearly, deliberately and firmly, so that whoever read it would be under no illusions as to what was written of a coming judgement and would run, not in fear but as a messenger to those who would heed the revelation which would occur at `the appointed time'. And as is the case in all prophetic writings, the revelation has occurred before and will occur again at God's appointed time `for it will certainly come and will not delay', but in that `appointed time' of judgement `the just shall live by his faith'. The Hebraic emphasis in this verse contrasts the fate of the unrighteous in a future life and the certainty for those who live and who will continue to live by faith in God. The emphasis is on `shall live' and not on `the just by his faith' - that is, `the just one, by his faith, shall live'. Verse 4 therefore makes a contrast not between faith and unbelief but between the fate of each one! This verse is in reply to Habakkuk's first complaint, `Why does wickedness go unpunished'.
The LORD gives understanding to Habakkuk's complaint in verse 14: `For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea'. This is the fifth time this wonderful prophecy has been spoken, for it speaks of the fulness of the Grace of a Righteous God for those who live in His certainty. Numbers 14:21;
Psalm 72:19; Isaiah 6:3 and 11:9 all join with Habukkuk 2:14 to give witness to those made righteous through trust in God alone, and together these Scriptures point forward to the Revelation given through the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos: (Revelation 19:5-7 in part)
" And I heard a voice from the Throne . . . . as the voice of many waters . . . . Hallelujah for the LORD God Omnipotent reigns . . . . let us rejoice and be glad and give Him Glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready. "
Now to return to Habukkuk: The second chapter records a quiet reprimand to the prophet and to those who would follow in Habukkuk's footsteps: (2:20)
" But the LORD is in His Holy Temple;
let all the earth be silent before Him. "
In the concluding chapter 3 Habukkuk is led into quiet acceptance of `the burden which Habukkuk the prophet did see'. It opens as `A prayer of Habukkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth', which has a meaning of `a crying aloud'. It is not an `intercessory prayer' as we understand it today, as can be seen in verse 2: `O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid'. The Hebraic meaning here is: `I have heard Your hearing' - a repetitive use of a word to emphasise that Habukkuk has heard what is to happen and accepts that the judgement which is coming is righteous, and that he trusts that in that judgement - `You will remember Your Mercy for those just ones who will live in that Mercy'. Habakkuk now completely understands the way of God which is outside of man's undertanding, and in accepting what is to come he heeds the earlier words of the LORD: `Though it tarries, wait for it, for it will surely come, it will not tarry':
" Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in God my Saviour. The LORD
God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hind's feet . . . "
Finally all is given `to the Chief Singer on my stringed instruments', that is, on Neginoth, a striking of the chords of an instrument - pointing to the LORD striking the enemies of Israel, those He used in Israel's judgement, thus answering Habakkuk's second complaint!
What we have written so far concerns the people of Israel, but we can now extend that principle to the LORD's redeemed people, the Church, We therefore now turn our thoughts to the present time as this is an on-going message from the ministry of Habukkuk, for his two complaints are with us still. First: Why does God allow wickedness to continue in His Covenanted people, and second: How can a Righteous God use an ungodly people to bring `judgement' on His Godly people? We saw earlier that the revelation `written on tablets' was given to messengers who would run, flee, from the coming judgement on an ungodly people of God, and as they fled they would speak, reveal what was written. Here in this Letter we would focus on the ungodly people in the West and then narrow it down even further to Great Britain and the Lord's people living in these Isles. Although the world is undergoing enormous painful changes, the `cockpit of Europe' has always been in the past, and will be again, the starting point of the coming even greater changes which in the Lord's appointed time will engulf the world.
We have written many times of the great world-wide move of the Holy Spirit in 1967 which was centred on the freeing of East Jerusalem from the hands of its oppressors and culminating in the Declaration that Jerusalem is the Eternal and Undivided Capital of Israel. At that time there was a revival of God's people, bringing a freedom of worship and opening up His Word with a wealth of true spiritual teaching. In the West it was labelled as `the Charismatic Renewal or Movement', but over a period of fourty years we have seen the slow but steady decline of spiritual life in the Western Churches gathering apace. First, at its best the `Church' has become the moral arm of the State, and at its worst there is outright apostacy as the `Church' aligns itself with State policy. In Western nations there has been a corresponding massive deterioration in cultural and social standards, with many `Christian Minstries' stating that Great Britain is no longer to be considered a Christian nation - not that it ever was such a nation, although its unique cultural and judicial systems are loosely based on Judaic-Christian principles.
Many have seen the 2016 Referendum on Gt Britain's EU status as a key to restoring the nation to its Judaic-Christian heritage. Others are trusting in intercessory prayer groups gathering to pray for revival through unity, entreating God for a revival such as was last seen in the outpouring of 1967. Writing over the 2017 Easter period a journalist audaciously argued that Great Britian `must take our inspiration for Brexit from the first Passover, or `Jexit'! The writer had little knowledge of Scripture, for those in the first Passover (apart from a remnant) died in the Wilderness through unbelief and never entered the Land of Promise! Nevertheless the journalist unwittingly wrote that article as a `prophet'. Many political commentators, economic forecasters and others of their ilk have long given warnings that `Brexit' will not be the panacea for Great Britain's problems, although they have been put to scorn by a seemingly burgeoning economy. Those with `Brexit fever' refuse to look beyond the surface of this Brexit chimera, for once the `fever' has passed the reality will be seen as a `judgement' on the land and God's people within it.
The Western world's great experiment of the globalisation of the world - which has enveloped every nation's economic, commercial, political and social life - has begun to collapse. Already this is being seen and talked about by commentators, and therefore a scapegoat will be looked for, and found, in Brexit. It will lead to great economic distress in these Isles, involving all areas of its national consumer society which has largely spawned our hedonistist lifestyle. Within these Isles lives the community of God's `people of faith' which has walked into its own `consumer lifestyle' with a slow decline of spiritual life whilst becoming the moral arm of the nation.
Thus will Habakkuk's second complaint be seen prophetically in our time as World Globalisation approaches breaking point. His question `how can an ungodly nation be used to judge a nation in which a ` Godly people' lives?' brought forth the LORD's response:
" Look at the nations and watch - and be amazed. For I am going to do
something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. "
Those who have that same `burden' of the prophet Habakkuk that `he saw' will understand this coming judgement as a two-fold sifting: Firstly, as a sifting of these Isles in preparation for use in God's purpose, an island nation separated for His purpose for Israel and His Jewish people. Secondly, a sifting of His Godly people living in this separated nation for them to outwork their calling as messengers of the revelation, proclaiming and working for His coming Kingdom - not as a moral arm of an earthly State system but as the spiritual arm of the Eternal Kingdom of God, called through the true prophetic word that Habakkuk `did see and wrote down (this revelation) making it plain on tablets'. Then as heralds they will run with it to encourage those who are His and who will `wait patiently for the day of calamity'. Those who have `heard Your hearing' will be waiting, not for a revival as in the past, but for a restoration of the Lord's people for His purpose at His appointed time'.
` The Sovereign LORD is my strength . . . '
Selah
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