This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Habakkuk” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 19, 1995.

This morning we are beginning our reading in 1 Samuel chapter 4 and we begin our reading at verse 10. Let us give our attention to the reading of God’s holy and infallible words. And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten. And they fled every man into his tent, and there was a great, very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. And there ran a man of Benjamin, out of the army and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head.

And when he came low, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? The man came in hastily and told Eli. Now, Eli was ninety and eight years old, and his eyes were dim that he could not see. The man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines.

And there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and by two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas are dead, and the ark of God is taken.” And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died. for he was an old man and heavy, and he had judged Israel forty years. And his daughter-in-law, Phineas’s wife, was with child near to be delivered, and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and prevailed, for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death, the women that stood by said unto her, Fear not, for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel because the ark of God was taken, and because her father-in-law and her husband. She said, The glory is departed from Israel for the ark of God is taken.

Turning over to John’s Gospel, chapter six. We are at verse sixty-six. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have I not Chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil. He speak of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.

For he, it was that should betray him being one of the twelve. And finally, Habakkuk chapter one, I’m sorry, chapter two, verse one. Back in chapter two, verse one, I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he, the Lord, will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”

Grant us, O God, the ministry of your Spirit with the Word, that we, by this root, may be built up in our most holy faith. Grant mercy to this Church because of your Gospel. Preserve it, O Lord, and use it according to your plan and purpose. Even be pleased, O God, to use it for ministry to those who would come to know you and your son whom you sent to this world. We ask these things for Jesus’ sake. Amen. Now we are moving toward our consideration of the Lord’s second response to Habakkuk. But yet short of that, what do you make of Habakkuk on his watchtower? What do you make of Habakkuk on his watchtower. Verse one, chapter two.

What is the state of this man as he mentally mounts the steps of his metaphorical rampart? Let me suggest to you that this man is a composite. This man is a composite of religious response, one in whom we find the widest range of spiritual emotion. Some good, some not so good. Let me also say that this man is a composite of religious development, not simply in an individual sense, as if we are interested in him merely because of the religious psychology in view, but a composite of religious development in a salvation history sense.

By this I mean Habakkuk is a man in whom we are privileged to view a portrayal of the story of salvation as it moves from the Old Testament to the New Testament glory. There is, therefore, that which is magnificent about this book. And truly, I would judge that that person who is spiritually alert is drawn by and to this book, and even to the individual Habakkuk who is portrayed in this book for us. But it may well be that even those who are religiously and spiritually alert for reasons they can’t quite put their finger on, aren’t able to grasp the full significance of what is taking place here in this man and with regard to this book. It is my task as a preacher to be of help to you in order to make the excellence of this book more clear.

So once more, I put the question, what do you make of Habakkuk on his watchtower? To begin with, and for this morning to end with, Habakkuk truly is a man who has within him a heart for God. Habakkuk has within him a heart for God. And there is something quite determined and remarkable about Habakkuk in this regard. His heart for God is expressing itself, yes, even from the beginning of the prophecy. And I make this assertion even in light of what I have said about this prophet to this point. With a heart for God, Habakkuk has boldly raised his voice to the Lord about the horrid conditions within Judah, and particularly within Jerusalem, within the people of God of his day, within the church of his time.

Here, in this circumstance, hardly what he would have expected, here in this world of environment for him, it’s a society that is overrun with violence. It is a world in which the righteous, yes, even Habakkuk, are compelled to witness an unrelenting onslaught of evil. It is a world in which special interests, especially money, the special interests, control the courts and pervert justice.

Verses two through four of that first chapter. In the midst of this unrelenting wickedness, Habakkuk has turned to the Lord for help. But the Lord has responded with a crushing announcement. The Chaldeans are coming, and that for the purpose of exacting judgment. Verses 5 through 11 of that first chapter. But there is nothing, and yes, as we are aware of this in reading what the Lord said, so also is Habakkuk in receiving the revelation from the Lord.

There is nothing in the Lord’s announcement suggesting anything less than total devastation. This judgment, it seems, comes upon Israel, comes upon these people in what seems to be indiscriminate fashion. All will suffer. In fact, the impartial and universal sweep of the Chaldean horde communicates something of a finality, something that smacks of conclusiveness and irremediable judgment.

In other words, heard in God’s announcement to Habakkuk is the unmistakable note of final judgment and of the end of the world. Habakkuk is overwhelmed by what the Lord has said. but he is bold to speak to God again in verses 12 through 17, this time wondering very overtly at a judgment that lays low the righteous with the wicked. In fact, it appears to Habakkuk that all of Judah will be subjected to this impending devastation that comes from the hand of God. And the recognition of this fact is working in Habakkuk to completely unsettle man. Yet, I assert again, Habakkuk has within him a heart for God. He has indeed been truly crushed by God’s revelation to him, but he still has a heart for God.”

Now, you will take note of Eli in this regard, Eli the priest from 1 Samuel 4. He also was crushed when confronted with the sure and certain judgment, not just what had overtaken Israel presently, but that to which Israel was destined. 1 Samuel 4 tells us the story. As we have read it this morning, Eli had set himself in his watchtower of sorts. Awaiting word from the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines. Word came that Israel had suffered grievous defeat. Israel’s ranks had broken. Many were killed, including Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

But most grievous to Eli The Ark of the Covenant, which the Israelites had foolishly taken into battle, imagining it to be some sort of magic box, the Ark of the Covenant had been captured by the Philistines. But why this news, this news about the Ark? Why was this most grievous to Elot, even more grievous than the news concerning the death of his sons?

Because with the departure of the Ark, Eli saw the departure of God’s glory, and yes, God’s abandonment of Israel. And that that abandonment was inevitable, and it was a judgment that was coming upon Israel before her history was complete. It was as if Eli was seeing the future, the coming judgment to Israel, and the certainty that God’s presence was going to be removed from that people.

When the veil of the temple is rinsed in the account of the crucifixion of Christ, there is not only no ark, There is no God. This vision was more than Eli could bear. He fell over backward, broke his neck in his fall, and died. But even though Habakkuk is similarly crushed by the revelation that God has sent, he will do more, he will do better than Eli did when a similar vision was set before him.

Habakkuk clings to the Lord in the extremity of his distress, in his faith, He perceives that in God there is, yes, a resolution to the distress and the calamity that is coming most assuredly upon Israel. Eli, in his death, is a symbol of complete despair. Habakkuk, in his watchtower, becomes a symbol of determined confidence in the face of complete despair. For Habakkuk perceives by the grace of God that God himself is the one who is able to achieve the impossible and to overcome all forces that seem so insurmountable. There is something of the remarkable steadfastness of Job in Habakkuk at this point. You will remember Job’s matchless response to Zophar in Job 13, verse 15. Job says, though he, the Lord, though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

Or bringing things into a New Testament context. There is something of the better side of Simon Peter, the disciple of Christ, expressing itself in Habakkuk, as Habakkuk mounts the steps of his watchtower. In a text that equals the accounts of Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, John, in his sixth chapter, tells us about Jesus and the Twelve, as they witnessed the departure of a great host of people who have described themselves as being disciples, yet in their departure, never to return to walk with Jesus again. Now, in order to understand this passage at the end of John chapter 6, you must appreciate the mindset of the twelve disciples.

You see, they fully expected Israel to respond uniformly. or nearly so, to the Messiah’s ministry. Here, indeed, was Israel’s glory. A nation, almost to a man, gathered around the Christ, as it were, unanimously consenting to Christ’s rule. Imagine, then, the great inner struggle that comes upon the disciples as they watch these multitudes recede Israel seems to be rejected.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.