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, September 10, 1995.

Our scripture reading this morning is Habakkuk chapter 3. Give your attention to the reading of God’s holy infallible word. I will be reading from the New American Standard Version this morning. a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigiona. Lord, I have heard the report about thee, and I fear, O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of years, in the midst of years make it known, in wrath remember mercy. God comes from Canaan, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.

His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise. His radiance is like the sunlight. He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power. Before Him goes pestilence, and plague comes after Him. He stood and surveyed the earth. He looked and startled the nations. Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered. The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Kushan under distress, the tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.

Did the Lord rage against the rivers? Or was thy anger against the rivers? Or was thy wrath against the seas, that thou didst ride on thy horses and on thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made bare, the rods of chastisement were sworn, thou didst cleave the earth with the mountains sobby and quaked, the downpour of water swept by, the deep uttered forth its voice, it lifted high its hands.

Sun and moon stood in their places, they went away at the light of thine arrows, at the radiance of thy gleaming spear. In indignation thou didst march through the earth, in anger thou didst trample the nations, thou didst go forth for the salvation of thy people, for the salvation of thine anointed.

Thou didst strike the head of the house of evil to lay him open from thigh to neck. Thou didst pierce with thine own spears the head of his throngs. They stormed in to scatter us. Their exultation was like those who devoured the oppressed in secret. Thou didst tread on the sea with thy horses on the surge of many waters.

I heard, and my inward parts trembled. At the sound my lips quivered, decay entered my bones, and in my place I trembled, because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, Though the flocks should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord.

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like pine’s feet, and make me to walk in my high places. And then just briefly from Romans chapter 3, verses 29 and 30. Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also, if indeed God is one. And he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Pray with me. Lord, we are likely to be swept away by your word, such is its power, its force. But by your grace we are enabled to stand, that we might profit from your word to the that it might be evident in earth and in heaven that we are the people of God. So then, Lord, may our congregating here be our standing for the reception of your word. And may each of us be prophet. For Jesus’ sake, amen.

Habakkuk chapter 2 begins with the prophet stationing himself in his watchtower, waiting for God. That’s the first verse of that second chapter. Habakkuk 2 ends with the Lord enthroned in His holy temple. The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.” Verse 20.

Habakkuk 2 begins with the prophet preparing his response to God for what he perceives are God’s injustices to Israel. Habakkuk 2 ends with the Lord silencing all the earth. with reverential awe of him and all of his ways. Habakkuk 2 begins with the Prophet anticipating God’s rebuke. Habakkuk 2 ends with the Lord having delivered that rebuke in such a way that it leaves the Prophet a changed man. Habakkuk 2 begins with the prophet poised for further wrangling and argumentation with God. Habakkuk 2 ends with the Lord having so dealt with the prophet that the prophet is now prepared to utter the only appropriate sounds in the midst of that commanded silence.

Praise filled prayer. Oh, you are set up for this third chapter. It is all so wonderfully deliberate. We are set up for those only appropriate sounds in the midst of the commanded silence before the Lord. Praise filled prayer. Are you ready? Are you ready?

It is now then, this praise-filled prayer that commands our And the first thing we realize about it is that it is a confession. Particularly now, at first, it is a confession of sin, an acknowledgement of the same. The spirit of this confession You will note, therefore, is quite different than the spirit we found in Habakkuk earlier. For here, now, is genuine humility, true and mature worship, proper submission before the Lord.

God is the edge in Habakkuk’s tone. No more postured assault upon God. for the injustices that Habakkuk judges God is guilty of. No more hint of a swagger in the man, of a self-righteousness in the prophet, for this man has been undone. He has been unraveled by God’s revelation to him. and most specifically by God’s gracious dealings with him.

He now knows that as those invading Chaldeans, they are the ones who are coming to overrun Judah, Now he knows that as those invading Chaldeans are vile and wretched sinners, he had no question about that, you may recall. Of course, Chaldeans are vile and wretched sinners.

They are so by definition. But as he knows that these invading Chaldeans are vile and wretched sinners, as he has also understood his fellow Jewish countrymen, some of them at least, are vile and wretched sinners, he now knows for certain that he is a vile and wretched sinner. before the Lord’s gracious dealings with him, Habakkuk held to a quantitative view of righteousness. I plead with you to understand this point.

In so many ways, Habakkuk is representative of Judaism. he holds to a quantitative view of righteousness. The Jews are quantitatively more righteous than the Chaldeans, and he, Habakkuk, is quantitatively more righteous than many of his unjust and bloodthirsty Jewish countrymen. Those less righteous than he were deserving of wrath. But surely he, Habakkuk, the priest and the prophet, was not deserving of wrath, because on the quantitative scale, he was more righteous than others. But the opening words now of Habakkuk’s prayer are testimony that he no longer believes in such a view of righteousness.

Lord, I have heard the report about thee, and I fear thy work. Lord, I have heard the report about thee, and I fear thy work. These words from the Prophet do not stand in isolation. They directly reflect upon the Lord’s opening words to the Prophet back in chapter 1 verse 5. You will recall what the Lord said as he made his opening remarks to Habakkuk. Chapter 1, verse 5, “…look among the nations, observe the astonished wonder, for I will work a work in your days that you will not believe, even if you are told about it.” Now that statement from the Lord, through the Prophet, was directed towards the Israelites, those inhabitants of Judah.

But why would these Jews not believe what the Lord has to say? Because the work God was about to work was the bringing on of the onslaught of the Babylonians or the Chaldeans, who would destroy everything in their path, including the Jews. But the Jews believed themselves to be invincible, because they were more righteous. because they were God’s covenant people. And thus, they had concluded in their own minds that God could not, not only would not, but could not destroy them. It was impossible for them to stand in jeopardy whatsoever.

About its initial response to this message from the Lord, It’s first one of cocky religious self-confidence. Note what he says in verse 12 of that first chapter. We will not die. We cannot die. Next he moves on to indignation. Verse 13 of that first chapter, why are you silenced, Lord, when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?

And finally, Habakkuk is defiant as he situates himself in his watchtower, preparing his next volley against the Lord. Chapter 2, verse 1. You see, by the time we’re done reviewing Habakkuk’s attitude, we conclude that he as well is numbered among those in Judea who do not believe truly what God has said, in the sense that he is not willing to accept it and entrust himself to the Lord in the midst of it.

But what do we find now at the opening of his prayer? we find, as I have indicated, a confession. A confession that is acknowledging his sin. He confesses now that he has heard the Lord’s awesome message. That is, he has truly heard it in and with faith. And now he no longer chafes or argues. Instead, as he confesses, He stands trembling in reverential awe and in fearful expectation of God’s coming righteous judgment.

He who once imagined himself immune and secure before the onslaught of God’s wrath, even presuming upon God’s covenant and the exclusive relationship the Lord had sustained with Israel, he who once imagined himself immune and secure has come to realize that he is anything but immune and secure. Where before he was as solid as his watchtower and as immovable, now he shakes in fear his self-confidence, his self-righteousness, and his presumption laid waste. that even more, Habakkuk trembles in fear because he knows himself now to be just as vile and wretched as any Chaldean and as any fellow Israelite. There is none righteous, no, not one, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But these opening words in Habakkuk’s prayer are not merely a confession of sin, and thus a repentance. They are also a confession of faith. Now just how powerful and satisfying a confession this is may be difficult for us to see from our available translations of this text. We would do better to translate this second verse this way, “‘Lord, I have heard the report about thee, and I fear thy work,’ that is, thy coming judgment.”

And now there follows, in succession, three parallel imperatives. In the midst of the years, make him live. In the midst of the years, make him understand. In wrath, remember mercy. Now what does Habakkuk mean by this very strange manner of expression? We are greatly helped in grasping his intention if we focus on the first of the imperatives. In the midst of the years, make him live. You see, Habakkuk now as he had originally played off of the Lord’s statement in chapter 1 verse 5, is playing off the two previous occasions in the prophecy where the notion of living is prominently displayed.

You will remember once more, take note of, again, chapter 1 verse 12, where the prophet confidently asserted, we will not die, in other words, we will live. That in his self-assurance. You will also remember chapter 2, verse 4, where the Lord says, the just shall live by his faith. But now in chapter 3, verse 2, the prophet acknowledges that life is wholly and completely in the Lord’s sovereign disposition, in his hands. Originally, chapter 1, verse 2, he in his self-righteousness says, we will not die, to which the Lord responds, oh yeah? Says who? Says you? Let me tell you who will live. He who is righteous by faith, he alone will live.

The prophet is now convinced that life is a matter holy in the Lord’s discretion, holy within the Lord’s sovereignty. And as a consequence now, he pleads for the life of Israel as if pleading for the life of a single man. In the midst of the years, make him rich. Who is the him? The him is Israel.

The king is the people of God who are standing in jeopardy under the threat of God’s wrath. So now the prophet is acknowledging that life, even eternal life if you will, is holy. Something that is in God’s control. Salvation and life belong to him. and believing that life is a matter grasped in and by faith, just as the Lord has said, Habakkuk now prays that Israel would understand. In the midst of the years, the next phrase says, make him understand, make him to understand. What is it specifically that Israel must now understand? They must understand that the just live by faith, and by faith alone. That is the central message.

They will not live by their pedigree. They will not live by their family tree. They will not live because they have a good lineage. They can boast about their church membership or their church association going back for generations. They cannot boast in their circumcision. Would you dare boast? in your religious associations and your family heritage. If you do, you are a fool. If Israel can’t make such a boast with all going for it, as is plain on the surface, then how might you make such an approach to God?

That is then opening for this prayer. Yes, a confession of his sin and unworthiness, but also a confession of his unfaithfulness, for he has been worked upon by the Lord. He has been brought to the point where he has understood and grasped. The just shall live by faith. those who are just by faith who shall live. Only that. Are your prayers informed by the same reality? Are you utterly casual in your prayers? Presuming upon the Lord Why, of course, Lord, you listen to me, that’s your business. That’s what you’re there for. The beginning of a Baptist prayer is model for the beginning of your own.

You must begin. with an acknowledgment of your unworthiness. And you must progress with a confession of your sure and certain faith in God and your trust in all of his doings. Now there’s one more aspect to this confession which we will briefly look at in conclusion. And that is, in addition to being a confession of sin and a confession of faith, this is a confession of solidarity. What do you think?

Habakkuk, the justified man, now satisfies himself that he is secured while the rest of the nation goes to hell. What move for man? For he is drawn to those with whom he has been placed in fellowship. He is constrained to consider the others who are in jeopardy. So it’s not merely a personal prayer in which the personal pronoun I dominates to the exclusion of all else. For the focus is going to be finally upon the full salvation of God’s people in their entirety.

He will not allow that to be removed from his view. He cannot allow that to happen. And do you see what is at work then in the prophet? It is nothing less than the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Why, Jesus has died, he’s gone to heaven, he’s secure up there. Why doesn’t he care about the rest of us? But you know that he now makes intercession without fail for you day by day. You have difficulty mustering a sentence for other people. But Jesus Christ has devoted himself to pray for you.

Enough of this personal salvation stuff that forgets about the company of God’s children throughout the world, and his elect who are being gathered to his throne. That vision will impress itself finally upon the mind of those who have a biblical faith, when in the midst of the years, God sends his own son. When in the midst of the years, in the midst of the certain and coming wrath, he remembers and performs his mercy. And in that day it will be apparent to Habakkuk that his prayers, yes, were not merely for the sake of himself or for the sake of those Jews with whom he was in close fellowship, but for the sake of Chaldeans and Babylonians who were his enemy. For that grouping, for God’s people, is one in which there are those gathered from out of all of the tribes of the earth, as all of the earth is assembled in silence before him in his holy temple.

And I will make my house a house of prayer for all people. And that’s how you got here. That’s how you got here. Let us pray. O Lord, even by the one who is at your right hand right now making intercession, teach us to pray. For we know, O God, that his spirit is at work even in Habakkuk, as Habakkuk prays. And Lord, as we would then look to Habakkuk’s prayer, we are taught, we are instructed. May we then, who are justified by faith, pray our prayers, acknowledging our sin, humbly declaring our faith, and recognizing fully, then, the solidarity that is ours with all others who are saved by you. Hear us, O God, yes, to the glory of your name and the good of the Church, We pray it through Christ. Amen.

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.