Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: Habakkuk

  • Wrestling Until the Dawn

    Wrestling Until the Dawn

    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 12, 1995.

    About this sermon

    Jacob wrestles at Peniel with a man who proves to be God himself, and he receives a new name only after the struggle nearly breaks him. God perfects faith in the night, for Jacob as for Habakkuk. Christ is both the perfect object of that faith and the one who perfects it in us.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are beginning our scripture reading in Genesis. In the book of Genesis we are at chapter 32. I will begin reading at verse 13. And Jacob lodged there that same night, and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother, two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels and their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals.

    And he delivered them into the hand of his servants. every drove by themselves, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s. It is a present sent unto my Lord Esau, and behold also, he is behind us.’ And so commanded he the second and the third, and all that followed, that drove, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him. And saying, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present. that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face.

    Peradventure he will accept of me.’ So it went to the present over before him, and himself watched that night in the company, and he arose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants and his eleven sons and passed over the fort Jabbok. and he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. The man said, Let me go, for the day breaketh.

    And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place to Nile.

    For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. As he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.” Then turning over to Habakkuk, Chapter 2, the first four verses.

    I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what the Lord will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am approved. And the Lord answered me. and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. His soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith.

    Pray together now. Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest us laboring under so much weakness, yea, with our minds so blinded that our faith falters at the smallest perplexities and almost fails altogether, O Grant that by the power of Thy Spirit we may be raised up above this world and learn more and more to renounce our own counsels, and so to come to Thee that we may stand fixed in our watchtower, ever hoping through Thy power for whatever Thou hast promised to us, though Thou shouldst not immediately make it manifest to us. And may we thus give full proof of our faith and patience and proceed in the course of our warfare until at length we ascend above all watchtowers into that blessed rest where we shall no more watch with an attentive mind but see face to face in thine image whatever can be wished and whatever is needful for our perfect happiness. through Christ our Lord. Amen.

    Jacob faced death in his return to Canaan and to his brother Esau, who had promised to kill him. But on the night before that meeting, before the meeting of these estranged brothers, after Jacob had sent ahead all that he had, and even separated himself from his family, thus placing all that he had in Esau’s power He remained alone in the camp.

    He was visited that night by a nameless stranger, and before the night closed, he was engaged, he was entangled in the most incredible wrestling match. Jacob wrestled with this stranger until the break of day. He wrestled, as it were, through the hours of the night watch. There is something of a watchtower for Jacob.

    Jacob, who undoubtedly intended to devote his full attention to God that night, sensed, we are not told how, that this stranger who came upon him, who now commended his full attention, signaled for him the presence of the divine, even of God himself. This being the case, Jacob had then within his grasp the one who so many years before had made promise to him. That promise, as Jacob reviewed it in his mind and soul, regarded the land, the land of Canaan. to which now Jacob was returning, and that with the encouragements of the Lord himself, even because of the directives that the Lord had given him. But now Jacob stands at the border of that land. He stands on the Jordan’s east side.

    His heart still fixed upon the fulfillment of that promise, but at the same time overwhelmed with a desperate anxiety and saw-stopping fear that he saw would kill him. But if Esau kills me, then what about that upon which I have set my heart? If I die, what about the promised land?” He had separated himself from his family that night. He had sent all his wealth ahead of him, and that for the sake of bribing Esau, hopefully guaranteeing, securing his life, and thus still being in a position, in his own estimation, to take possession of land.

    So, as Jacob recognized in this nameless stranger the presence of God himself, he fought with the stranger as if wrestling with God himself. In part, he fought with the stranger. because of his deep and fearful anxiety. Death itself terrified the man. And as he struggles with this stranger, you can almost hear him crying out from the struggle, You can’t let me die, God! Fighting as it were for his life, In part, also, Jacob fights out of severe frustration, and not a little bit of outrage and anger.

    You promised me the land. What about the land? You must give it to me. And in part, Jacob wrestled for reasons that he didn’t understand, that were beyond him as yet. So he battles tenaciously and he holds on for dear life, and I mean that literally. He will not, in this struggle, let God go. But note the stranger. The stranger does not get free of Jacob. The stranger, although standing, as it were, for God and in the place of God does not prevail over Jacob.

    It is as if God is caught by His own design in keeping with His own plan. God is caught, and caught because He wishes to be caught, giving Himself over into the power of the man. It will be in the manifestation of weakness which God takes to himself that he communicates his most profound message.

    Still even here, the Lord in the stranger demonstrates his sovereignty and in the struggle dislocates Jacob’s hip. Later on, Jews would strike the hip as a sign of repentance. Here, God strikes Jacob’s hip as if inflicting a repentance upon the man, an assigned repentance. Indeed, a very painful reminder of the man’s frailty and his moral weakness, his sinfulness.

    But a wound as well that would test Jacob’s perseverance. Will he persevere through this reminder of repentance? Will he persevere through this reminder of his own frailty and sin? Will he persevere past the handicap and its testimony to him about the condition of his flesh?

    So, the struggle, the fight goes on. Jacob does prevail, it seems, and as the end comes, that is, the rising of the sun. The stranger asks to be released from Jacob’s grip, as if the goal of the struggle had now been reached. Jacob, however, refuses even here. He holds on. He refuses to let go, holding out for the certainty of the blessing. I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The stranger then asks, as if he didn’t know, what is your name?

    He is no more ignorant of Jacob’s name than he is powerless in Jacob’s drip. But here is one more obstacle in Jacob that must be circumvented, overcome. For Jacob must now acknowledge who he is. By asking for the name, the stranger has now compelled Jacob to confess it. The assigned repentance is going on to a material repentance. And as Jacob pronounces his name, he is reminded of its meaning. He is the usurper. He is the trickster. He is the shyster. He is the flimflammer. He is the crook. Or better, he is the one who is endeavored to prevail through deceit and by way of his own machinations.

    The stranger now, upon hearing the confession of the man’s name, confers upon Jacob a new name, and as the darkness ends and the light breaks, Jacob receives a new name for life in a new world. Revelation tells us that in glory we will all receive a new name. So here, as the darkness ends, as the light breaks, Jacob receives a new name for life in a new world. But what stands at the center of this new world? the stranger doesn’t even mention the land. Jacob has asked for a blessing, and the stranger says nothing about the land.

    Jacob’s new name is Israel, which means, he who strives with God. For Jacob, as the stranger says, has striven with God and prevailed. The notion is not that Jacob is more powerful than God, that he is able to best God in a fair fight. Rather, the stranger means that Jacob has persevered with God even beyond the anxiety, even beyond the fear and the frustration, even beyond the outrage and anger. even beyond the wound, reminding Jacob of his weakness and his sin, even through the climactic confession of his own name and its shameful, sinful significance.

    Through all of this, Jacob has clung to God. That’s the point. He has clung to God, and as the day dawns, even as the end comes, It is becoming clear that it is God and only God to whom Jacob can cling. Not the land, not the wealth, not the manna of the creation, not even his own family. Jacob has clung to God and to Him alone, and he has done so for God’s own sake.

    He is forced to do so. That’s the nature of the struggle. He is forced to do so. It is not a mistake that the stranger comes. The whole affair is by design. Jacob has clung to God. In the end, to him alone. And it is being made clear to Japheth that he has done this for God’s sake alone. And now in this struggle through the night, the man knows and understands this.

    But one more test remains. The whole affair has been shaded in mystery. It has taken place in the wee hours. In fact, it can only take place while it is dark. It is only in the night that faith is perfected. It is only in the night that faith here in our circumstance functions. It is only in the awesome mystery of the shadows and darkness that faith reveals its magnificent tenacity. It is only in the shadows of uncertainty that the brilliant beam of faith shines with its own form of certainty and absolute trust. So, when Jacob asks the stranger’s name, having come so far in the progress of his he at this point is wandering very close to the overthrow of his faith. Not that God has not delighted in revealing his name to his people, or even giving his name to them, that he might be known by his name and called upon by his name.

    But Jacob’s request at this point challenges the faith that is taking shape in his own soul, and attempts to replace the certainty of that faith with a certainty that is coming from a different order. You see, Jacob presently believes that the stranger is divine. He presently believes that the stranger is God. If the stranger tells him he is God, where is the faith? Jesus will come and clothe his identity for a purpose. He will even make a secret of his identity. If he comes right out and states the case, I ask you, where is the faith? So rather than telling Jacob his name, the stranger makes Jacob consider the reason why he is asking for the name. Why do you ask my name? Do you not by faith already know it?

    It is at this point that Jacob is now satisfied in his faith. There is not going to be any hesitation in him once the day dawns, that he must cross that river and meet his brother. Why? He has God. Jacob is now satisfied in his faith. In fact, he is now in this satisfaction of faith that Jacob touches the heart of what true faith does.

    You see, true faith justifies by laying hold of God himself, resting in him and in him alone. True faith believes that by grace it has beheld the face of God and survived. lived to tell about it. Faith, therefore, moves one beyond condemnation. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. True faith moves one beyond condemnation and pass God’s wrath into the glorious certainty of His blessing. And nothing, not even the land, compares in magnitude with such a blessing. And it is here that true faith even clarifies its goal. that upon which it is set, not the land, not the earth, but God himself. He is our exceeding great reward.”

    Some 1,200 years after Jacob wrestled with the stranger at Peniel, Habakkuk would be engaged in his own wrestling match. And compelled, maybe even more strikingly and frighteningly, to stare into the horrible prospect of the Babylonian invasion. Destruction in the land of promise, exiled from it, led away into captivity under God’s wrath and judgment.

    Habakkuk would embody as Jacob before him Israel’s struggle. You see, Jacob is Israel. The life of the nation is in the man. So Habakkuk appears now in his own particular context, he embodying as Jacob before him true Israel’s struggle. He would be shaken to the very root of his existence as he saw not only the promise of But the assurances, the very assurances of the law brought into question. The law guarantees me that the righteous prosper and the wicked don’t. So to him, Habakkuk, in more explicit form and in sharper definition, than possibly Jacob himself perceived.

    Faith, true faith, is coming to expression. As Habakkuk is compelled to watch his world, his very Jewish world, crumble, he is driven to question God’s wisdom and righteousness. Habakkuk, in the night of his soul, as if A watchman waiting for the dawn, struggling through the night, will learn, because of God’s grace to him, that the just shall live by faith. Not by the land, not by the law, but by faith. Such faith that, first of all, justifies God, vindicates Him, His wisdom and His righteousness, becoming the believer’s chief delight and true and only heaven. The Lord is not only my portion, my inheritance, he is my dwelling place.

    But even though Jacob, and yes, later Habakkuk, are those in whom true faith asserts itself so remarkably and powerfully, their faith yet stands short, in some fashion, stands short of the goal. For a true and perfect faith will be revealed, will appear, in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him alone. We should remember that not only is the Lord Jesus Christ the only perfect object of faith, we believe in Him, so that He being God, is the one to whom we look, that he might be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” says the Apostle Paul. But while the Lord Jesus is the only perfect object of faith, he is also the only perfect believer who, being justified by his faith, now sees God and lives eternally to communicate life by faith to everyone who believes in his justification through his death and resurrection. And even now, the Lord Jesus Christ wrestles with his elect by the Spirit that they might have the perfect work of faith in them.

    Has he wrestled with you? Is he wrestling with you right now? It is a severe struggle for God. We know. That one of your design. The struggle that we see perfected in Jesus Christ himself. We would be found in him. And as you bring us to a mature faith, oh God, we would be partakers of a perfect faith in Christ. and rejoice in the sufficiency of our Savior. O God, it is by his faithfulness that we are justified, even as now we by faith lay hold of him. We rejoice, O God, that you have blessed us with this one who is the righteous man. prevailing in and by his faith. But Lord, we ask that we would not falter, knowing that our Savior is truly God, as well as man, and that he is the object of our faith, and that he bestows upon us marvelous And as we have grabbed hold of him now, not willing to let go, we are brought, O God, into the eternal inheritance. And, Lord, the day dawns when we shall see you, even face to face. Bless us, O God, with a faith that perseveres to the glory of your name.

    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.

  • Faith Has Come

    Faith Has Come

    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 5, 1995.

    About this sermon

    Habakkuk begins with a faith marked by pride and vanity, still measuring God by what God owes him. By chapter 3 he has moved from something like a Jew under the law to something like a Christian under grace. Paul’s declaration in Galatians, ‘faith has come,’ names exactly that transition.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are reading this morning from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 3, and we are beginning at verse 11. Pay attention now to the reading of God’s holy words. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them.

    Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak at the manner of men, though it be but a man’s covenant, yet, if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereunto.” Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

    Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law, then, against the promises of God?

    God forbid, for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily, righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, We were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

    But after that faith is come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye all are one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

    And then turning back to Habakkuk, Habakkuk chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what the Lord will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” And the Lord answered me and said, “‘Write the vision and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it, for the vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

    Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Let’s pray together. Grant, almighty God, that as it cannot be but that, owing to the infirmity of our flesh, we must be shaken and tossed here and there by the many turbulent commotions of this world. O Grant, that our faith may be sustained by this support, that thou art the governor of the world, and that men were not only once created by thee, but are also preserved by thy hand, and that thou art also a just judge, so that we may duly restrain our stones. And though we must often have to bear many insults Let us yet never fail until our faith shall become victorious over all trials, and until we, having passed through continued succession of contests, shall at length reach that celestial rest which Christ Thy Son has attained for us. Amen.

    Is there such a thing as a proud faith? Is there such a thing as a vain and arrogant faith? Such a faith rising from a soul that simply is not right before God. If there is such a faith, then we, in thinking about it, may well be shaken to the very ground of our religious existence, stricken at the heart of our confidence and certainty about things. we have been taught that faith is essential for a proper relationship with God.

    We are convinced that it is indispensable to a proper religious life. And being Protestant, children of the Reformation, we have embraced, we say we have, We have confessed as much. We have embraced the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone, thus underscoring the indispensability, the essential character of faith to a proper confession. It may well be our habit of mind to think of faith even as something that is inherently good, faith commending itself, faith being its own virtue. But I ask you once again, is there such a thing as a vain faith, a proud faith, an elegant A faith that, far from helping us, actually proves to be our undoing.

    Now, as we look at Scripture, at the very least, we know, do we not, that all faith is not good faith. The most extreme example is found in James 2, verse 19, where James tells us that even the demons believe and shudder. In that regard, it may well be that the demons are doing better in their faith than many are doing in theirs. Or at least the demons shudder. But yes, there is this testimony from Scripture that all faith is not good faith.

    From the Old Testament there is abundant evidence of this very thing. Time and again we are told about the heathens and their faith. We are told also about apostates within Israel who have a faith of sorts, a faith that has been misdirected, a faith that has even been directed towards idols. And in that, the apostates of Israel keep company with the heathen. There is an example given of this misdirection with regard to the heathen in Habakkuk. Later on, in chapter 2, verse 18, the Lord denounces through his prophet the heathen idol-maker, the one who trusts in the works of his own hand. expressing a faith, but a faith that is wrong.

    But what if you imagine yourself to be a faithful servant of the Lord? looking over and surveying your life, you are conscious of only naming the name of the Lord in your religious devotion and in your worship. What if you are one who has never taken a drink from the cups offered to idols? What if you are someone who has never taken the names of a false god upon your lips? Could your faith prove itself proud and vain, and when examined, reveal an unrighteous soul? a soul that yet stands short of where God would wish it to be, where even He has determined to bring it in the history of His dealings with His people.

    But what if you were a priest, like Habakkuk? What if you are a prophet, like Habakkuk? What if you understand all of the ritual for the sanctuary? What if you know the Levitical code backwards and forwards? What if you know the covenant, its terms, and its historical expression?

    And even in your faith, claim all of these things. What if in your office and in your doctrine, what if in your piety, you stand apart from the rabble, expressing an Orthodox faith, a faith from all accounts or external assessments, that appears to be flawless? Is it possible that you are possessed of a vain faith, of a proud and arrogant faith? A faith that is faulty, that is infected? A faith that falls short of genuine fullness? But not only that. A faith that is incapable of going on to fullness, to completeness, and to perfection, that is incapable even of welcoming that fullness when it is manifested and revealed from God.

    Habakkuk. believe. But Habakkuk’s faith is vain. It is proud. There is even the streak of arrogance in it. But because of the Lord’s dealings with this man, that will change. Just as the dealings of the Lord with Israel and its vain and proud faith will bring about change for many, blessing them in the gospel of Jesus Christ with a pure justification through a faith that is true, mature, humble, and genuine.

    And as I said, here at the beginning of Habakkuk’s prophecy, the Prophet’s faith is vain, it is Despite its appearances, it is flawed. There is even a streak of presumption in it, and it is tending towards self-righteousness. If it is allowed to stand in the final analysis, it will stand short of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It will be incapable of pleasing God.

    Habakkuk has Jewish faith. At best, Habakkuk has Jewish faith. But God who loves this Jew, God who loves the Jewish people, will lead neither him nor them at the level of this Jewish faith, for God is determined to bring them beyond the limitations of such faith as is expressed by even the best of Judaism. And God is determined to do that because He knows that such faith as is expressed here by Habakkuk and others within Israel, through its limitations, will finally fail, breeding in those who possess it and express it that which is spiritually unattractive and even repulsive, no, even more deadly.

    This kind of faith, left to itself, is lethal. Fatal. So God, in his infinite wisdom and in his profound love, will intrude upon good, faithful Jewish Habakkuk in order to deliver him from his goodness from his faith, from his Jewishness, and ultimately from himself.

    And that in order that he might bestow upon this man a full and blessed faith and bring him into the kingdom of his beloved son. What we observe God doing in Habakkuk then touches the wide range of God’s redemptive purposes and intentions. For it not only supplies us with a supreme lesson, if not the supreme lesson, with regard to the nature of faith from the Old Testament, but it provides us with a summary of what God is doing in the history of salvation as He would move His people to the arrival of that final faith in the appearance of Jesus Christ, His Son, setting before His people the accomplishments of His Son in the gospel.

    Have you ever been struck by the way the Apostle Paul expressed it to himself in Galatians 3, verse 23, and again in verse 25? In verse twenty-three, the Apostle says, but before faith came. And then in verse twenty-five, he says, but now that faith has come. Have you ever puzzled over those statements from Paul? What could Paul possibly mean by these phrases? Is he talking about his own personal experience when he came to faith? Is he speaking about the Damascus Road experience, which he underwent?

    Is this to be linked up with other experiences that people have in coming to Christ, their own personal beliefs, the interior workings of God as those individuals are brought to faith? even touching upon the psychological inner state of those individuals as they are brought along this line? Before faith came, verse 23, but now that faith has come, verse 25. here is not speaking about his personal experience.

    He’s not talking here about the Damascus Road. He’s not talking about something that is interior to him at all. He’s talking about history. He’s talking about an event that has taken place. He’s speaking about the historical revelation of faith, or as he speaks of it at the end of verse 23, the faith which was later to be revealed. That is, after the administration of the law and in the administration of the gospel, the coming of Christ and all that that means.

    But note the extremities of Paul’s language in this regard. Let it sink in. Paul speaks of the era prior to the coming of the gospel as if it were an era, an epoch, devoid of faith. as if it had no faith at all. Faith then coming on in the gospel is a deluge of blessing so great is it, so pure is it, that it makes everyone under the law seem as if they had no faith whatsoever. We have moved into the era of faith. Faith has come now. And it makes everything that appeared previously appear to be as if it were no faith at all.

    But it is precisely this transformation of the ages that God previews for us in the coming of faith. accomplished in the prophet Habakkuk. The early Habakkuk, at the beginning of the prophecy, presents to us a faith prior to its perfection in the gospel. The later Habakkuk, that we will see expressing himself in chapter 3 in Habakkuk, Sets before us faith drinking deeply from the well of its glorious end in Jesus Christ. The early Habakkuk is Judaism. Old Testament faith, under the tutelage of the law, which is described and categorized by the Apostle Paul as no faith at all. later Habakkuk, is Christianity. New Testament faith found in the gracious faith of Christ Jesus. Habakkuk’s move then from his earlier faulty faith to his later glorious faith is prophecy itself.

    Therefore, the prophecy is not merely the words, the prophecy is the man. You look at the man and he becomes a prophecy of that which is going to come about. We see in the man here, set out in front of us, in Habakkuk, the movement from one age to another, from the old to the new. You’re going to see it worked out before your very eyes, and that before it happens. But just how does the limitation of the old And even more to the point, how does the vanity, how does the pride of Habakkuk’s faith under the old order show itself?

    You must understand, as you read early Habakkuk, that the center of this man’s world is the land and the law. The center of this man’s world is the land and the law. But both the land and the law introduce a fatal pride into Habakkuk’s faith. they will bring it down. Regarding the land, as Habakkuk would express Judaism and its expectation and hope, Habakkuk cannot, at the outset of his prophecy, envision any future without that land. Regarding the law, Habakkuk is convinced that the law guarantees the judgment of the wicked, thus their removal from the land, and the prosperity of the wicked, therefore his enrichment in the land. And that prosperity that comes to him as righteous sets God’s seal upon him and his estimations of God’s covenant and design. The law and the land are linked in the mind of the prophet. The reward of God is the land and prosperity in it, mandated for the righteous by the law. faith for Habakkuk at this point in his life is the certainty of this arrangement, the guarantee of this arrangement.

    He, in his confidence, is so exalted in his estimations and assessment of these things that he blurts out in the middle of the twelfth verse of the first chapter, we will not die. God has pronounced judgment, it’s coming. But the prophet now responds in that twelfth verse, we will not die.

    That is, we, the righteous. I am included among the righteous. We of Judah, we who belong to this nation, we who have our center in the capital of Jerusalem, who perform the sacrifices in the temple, we will not die. Such as have faith like me, we will not die. His vain and proud faith goes on. in that verse.

    Thou, O Lord, hast established these Chaldeans, these Babylonians, who are going to overrun Judah, merely to discipline us. They can’t destroy us, they will not kill us. Their intent Your intent with regard to them is merely that they would discipline us. Thou, O Rock, hast established them merely to correct us, for thine eyes are too pure to look at evil, and thou canst not look on wickedness with favour.”

    This is the ingeniousness of a proud and vain saint, for you see It will take even the misconstruence of God’s covenant and His law, and it will lock God up in His own covenant, and lock Him up in His own law, and declare to the Lord that He is absolutely powerless to touch those who have now assessed themselves to be righteous. You cannot touch me, God, and I call upon your law and your covenant as testimony to that fact. You cannot touch me. You must reward me. You must preserve me. And more particularly, you must reward and preserve me in the land and in this world. I am righteous. Therefore, God, you must, you have no choice, you can do no other, you must maintain me.

    But for me to say this, I have nearly opened up. the fatal flaw of this flawed faith. For if what Habakkuk is saying is true, then the law itself rises above God, and God himself must submit to it. He has no choice. He has no option. from the integrity of God in keeping his promise, in being faithful to his covenant, and set this in the context of the misconstruence of that covenant and that law. But how much faith is flawed How much faith is misdirected? How much faith misses the mark along these precise lines?

    No, not just in Jewish circles, but in Christian circles. This attitude of mine then looks at God and sees beyond God even principles, laws, and rules that are exalted above God. principles and laws being inviolable. Not even God can change them. They are true eternally for all people in all circumstances. And the invoking of these laws, these inviolable laws, even the faithful implementation of these laws and principles, guarantees prosperity. It has to come, and not even God can hold it back. You do this, you will prosper. Automatic. In the judgment of these who have a faulty faith, it is not otherwise. But the judgment comes on in full force, and prosperity in this world is removed. What then of your faith? Notice how frail and how faulty this faith is in Habakkuk’s case.

    Verse 13 of that first chapter. The first part of it finds the prophet expressing his bold confidence. God cannot look on wickedness with favor, he asserts. Here is his compliments, but note how quickly the collapse comes in the prophet. The verse doesn’t even end before the prophet himself has collapsed, and his faith has collapsed with him.

    The last part of that thirteenth verse finds the prophet using nearly the same words that he used at the opening of the thirteenth verse, but now he’s asking, why dost thou look with favor on the wicked? He is saying, thou canst not look on the wicked with favor. He ends up by saying, why dost thou look with favor on the wicked? Habakkuk’s collapse, and this is evidence of God’s grace in him, the mercy is beginning to work, he’s being drawn on. Habakkuk’s collapse is abrupt and sudden, and he collapses, he caves in before the terror of God’s onslaught and judgment. His faith to this point has proved itself not only vain, but weak, petulant, frantic, and even incensed.

    For you see, he can’t even count on the law anymore. The law will not guarantee to him his rightful place within the land. It will not even guarantee his rights. I can’t even get a fair shake. The Babylonians are coming. They’re going to rob me of everything that is my right by law. Prosperity and security have been guaranteed to me under the covenant and by the law. And I am incensed at this injustice.

    Habakkuk’s collapse, then, is tied to the land and the law. Because Habakkuk is outraged when it appears the land will be taken and the law will stand idly by and do nothing to prevent it. Habakkuk, in his faulty face, got it wrong, as Judaism tended to do under the law.

    The land is gift, but it is provisional and temporary gift. You are meant to look beyond that temporary provision to that which is eternal and everlasting. And the law, although good and righteous, is set to convert the soul. Psalm 19. That is, to effect transformation, serviceable to the transition of the ages itself. The law was never intended to be an object of faith, or to provide that guaranteed shelter for all self-righteous protestations, much less be catapulted into the category of being eternal in the sense of being enthroned above God himself.

    So Habakkuk, now at the beginning of chapter 2, climbs the steps, spiritually, metaphorically, of his watchtower. Can you see him? He’s dragging himself up those steps. He is a broken man, he has been utterly devastated, and he climbs those steps he knows, because in reaching the top of those stairs, he will receive, as he states, the rebuke and the reproof of the Lord.

    I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the ramparts, and I will keep watch to see what he will speak to me, and consider how I might apply when I am reproved. His world, his Jewish world, has been shattered. It lies in ruins. And you may even hear the echo of Paul in the prophet.

    O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Even the faith, such faith as I have had, does not justify me. But by the grace of God, he will be brought to that greater faith, beyond his vain faith, and even beyond the faith of shuddering demons. that that is another story to express.

    Help us, O God, look upon us in your mercy for the sake of your lest there be discovered in us a vanity, and surely, Lord, we are without excuse. If we could generate an excuse for Habakkuk, standing short of the gospel as he does, what excuse is there for us? Lord, may our faith be sincere and genuine, free of self-righteousness and hypocrisy. Deliver us, Lord, from vanity and pride, from willful arrogance, and an attitude of mind, O Lord, whereby we would exalt even your law above you, and demand that you submit to it, you having no choice at all but to reward us. May we live by faith, and thus, Lord, hear your righteous and glorious commendations that we are just. We pray for Jesus’ sake. 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.

  • From Pagan Faith to Christian

    From Pagan Faith to Christian

    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, February 19, 1995.

    About this sermon

    Habakkuk’s doubts about God’s sovereignty, justice, and righteousness are not disguised; he says plainly that something looks wrong. His faith at this point still looks like the world’s own form of faith, trapped inside the law’s terms. What God does across the rest of the book is remake that pagan-shaped faith into something genuinely Christian.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are reading again from Habakkuk, and we are reading chapter 1 in its entirety this morning. Give your attention to the reading of God’s holy words. the burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?

    Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the laws slack. and judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Behold ye among the heathen, and regard and wonder marvelously, for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs.

    They are terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far, They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to ease. They shall come all for violence. Their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them. They shall deride every stronghold, for they shall heap dust and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over. and offend, imputing this his power unto his God.

    Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment, and O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.

    Wherefore, lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue, when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he. And breakest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler over them. They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net. and gather them in their drag, therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag, because by them their portion is that, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not aspire continually to slay the nations?

    We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin?

    God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead and vain.

    Pray with me now. Grant, Almighty God, that as our sins cry continually to heaven, each of us may turn to repentance, and by condemning ourselves of our own accord, may anticipate thy judgment, and thus stir up ourselves to repentance that being received into favor, we may find thee whom we have provoked to take vengeance, to be indeed our Father. And may we be so preserved by thee in this world, that having at length put off all our vices, we may attain to that perfection of purity to which thou invitest us. and thus lead us more and more to thyself by thy spirit, and separate us from the corruptions of this world, that we may glorify thee before men, and be at last made partakers of that celestial glory which has been purchased for us by the blood of thine only begotten Son. Amen.

    Habakkuk’s prophecy, before it concludes, will set before us true biblical faith. But Habakkuk himself as he is set before us at the beginning of his prophecy, is a man in whom this faith must be brought to light. A man in whom this genuine biblical faith must be developed. We may even say that he is a man in whom this faith must be created. And that is the value, is it not, of this book. For before our very eyes, as the course of this book progresses, we will see this faith take shape.

    This means then that Habakkuk will end better than he began. But this also means that we need not feel compelled to defend Habakkuk and his attitudes as we find him and them in the early moments of this prophecy. In other words, there is much in Habakkuk the man, there is much about his attitudes that simply misses the mark. The very best we can say about him is that he is as yet immature, that he stands short of a fullness to which now God will press him.

    He has already questioned, has he not, the Lord’s sovereignty. lies beneath the surface of his first complaint, verses 2 through 4. And now, as he comes to God once more in verses 12 through 17, we will discover there that there is, lying beneath the surface of his prayer, a complaint against God’s sense of justice and righteousness. But as you are considering these things, the complaining prayers of the Baptist, you must not miss the fact that there is a form of faith expressing itself in the man.

    It is a form of faith beyond which, by God’s grace, he will be moved. But it is a form of faith nonetheless. What form does this faith take? Well, sadly, as we look at it, we may be led to the conclusion that this faith of Habakkuk does not stand all that far removed from the popular forms of faith expressed in the world about him. Pagans believe too, you know. They have a form of faith. There is a popular variety of faith that finds itself expressed, yes, almost universally. It even communicates its message in the most innocent way. presenting itself most attractively. In our own time, there is the popular form of faith that asserts itself in our culture. Please, never get your theology from Hollywood. Never lift your doctrine off the TV set. It’s horrid stuff, even when it’s presented to us innocently and we’re gullible about it.

    Think! Won’t you think? Now, I know I’m going to get into trouble for what I’m about to say. But there is that form of faith, that popular expression of faith. that is spread abroad through Hollywood and its products. And I have in mind, yes, I have in mind one of the most sacred products that Hollywood has ever produced. I have in mind the sound of music. I want you to think about it. We find that popular form of faith expressed in this musical as Julie Andrews is on her way to Christopher Plummer’s house, skipping down the road, singing, I have confidence in confidence.

    Or, I have faith in faith. The form of faith expressing itself here is the type that rises up from within the person who is confessing that faith, or giving expression to it. And invariably, in this form of faith, the object of faith is very much connected to an aspect of personality.

    In some cases, it’s actually genetic. Some individuals are just born a little more optimistic than others. Some are even relentlessly optimistic. But even where it isn’t genetic, We learn, yes, from the faith-meisters of our time, we learn that we all have within us these seeds of potentiality, and if we can just tap into that, then we’ll rise above all the storm and stress of life, and our existence will be a perfect call. Here, the form of faith is nothing less than sheer willpower. It is built upon an appeal to our inner potential, and we, having tapped into our inner potential, can even congratulate ourselves for having tapped into it. And then we can go on to congratulate ourselves some more, because with this faith that we now have in tow, we have developed a remarkable stick-to-itiveness and perseverance that is especially suited to help us face the ups and downs of life.

    In fact, our stubborn optimism may even win us some awards. We might get some recognition. And that from the apostles and prophets—yes, once more, the faith-meisters of our day, those who are the exponents of the faith and faith gospel—we might even become the headliners at an emerald convention, or get to tell our story in the pages of Guidepost magazine.

    Now let me assure you that there is nothing, nothing at all of this form of faith in true biblical religion. And let me assure you equally, as hard as it is for maybe some to take it and to accept it, there is nothing of Roger and Hammerstein’s I Have Confidence in Confidence in the biblical gospel. Still it is pursued by literally millions.

    I ran into it myself early in my ministry I remember the early years of the 70s and the great strain and difficulty that this nation was undergoing, the strain that many families were experiencing. And I listened to the reports coming out of Southeast Asia. I listened with anticipation with regard to word about soldiers that would be coming back. I heard Those who were receiving their loved ones back speak. I heard them on the radio, I saw them on the television, I read their comments in the newspaper.

    Those that were receiving back their loved ones, even the prisoners of war, their sons, their husbands, their sweethearts from that Vietnam conflict. And the refrain that I heard repeatedly from people who are receiving their loved ones back, I never lost faith.

    But sadly, as the majority of these people went on to express themselves, to talk about that form of faith that they had in themselves, I was saddened even more to discover that the form of faith that they embraced was utterly and completely vacuous. There was no evidence that their faith had any vital connection to the faith spoken of in Scripture, the faith that is grounded in the concrete historical acts of God. The sense that you had as these people talked on was that the faith that they expressed was merely an attitude or disposition that they generated and maintained from within themselves, and that they actually believed that it was their faith that brought home their loved ones, that actually brought about the return of those that they loved. Now, some of you might be up to speed with me here, but as I have just stated the case, you may be perceiving in it the patterns of that age-old faith game. in which genuine faith, so called or so described, genuine faith is measured by its ability to gain for you what you want.

    And such faith is even thought of as having the power to procure for you what you want. Clearly then those families whose boys failed to come home from Vietnam in the early seventies didn’t have enough weight. Isn’t that the conclusion? There’s something terribly wrong here.

    In the faith game, faith is no longer a receiving and resting upon Jesus Christ or upon the works of God as they are presented to us in the Gospel. Faith is no longer a trust in God’s sovereignty and His righteousness as revealed to us in the Scriptures. According to the faith game, faith is just another form of manipulation. Faith is a form of voodoo, it’s a form of witchcraft by which we manipulate our destinies to our own liking.

    If there is any of this paganism, and I call it paganism, if there is any of this paganism in Habakkuk, God is determined to rid him of it. and that in order that by the end of his prophecy he might be both a spokesman for true faith and a living example of what it’s all about. So if the faith game is oppressive in the man, it must be stopped. and every vestige of its manipulative devices removed in the interests of true piety. But you must know now, and this is where things get complicated, you must know now that the threat to Habakkuk is not merely a pagan manipulative form of faith. Habakkuk is a Jew. He has been raised in the covenant. He has been trained in the vocabulary of faith.

    He knows God’s name, the special name of God. He knows God as the Lord, he knows him as Jehovah. How long, O Lord? He intones in verse 2 of that first chapter. He confesses later that the Lord is the Holy One. He is his God, verse 12. Thus he acknowledges a personal and covenantal relationship between himself and God. He believes that this God sustains a bond, a tie between Himself and His people. He believes that this Lord God has revealed Himself in the course of time, in history, by His mighty works and by His faithful words, at the center of which is His law.

    In fact, it is precisely in the law That law as revealer of God, precisely in the law as the vehicle for defining righteousness and wickedness, right and wrong, that is so much in evidence in Habakkuk’s prayers. In the first prayer, verses two through four, the prophet is upset by the wickedness that stands so blatantly contrary to God’s law. which is forced upon Habakkuk, as it were, and by its very presence compels him to look at it day after day, continually, in the life of the nation of Judah. The Lord responds, verses 5 through 11. He is going to send the Babylonians, called here the Chaldeans, as the instrument of his judgment. But now Habakkuk comes back on the Lord, verses 12 through 17. Complaint number two, and here he addresses the Lord in language informed by God’s covenantal dealings with His people, and in language that claims God’s law as its basis for moral judgment and outrage.

    Habakkuk’s prayers are very Jewish, that is important. They are not yet Christian. This means then for all of their covenantal sensitivity, all their awareness of the law, do you hear echoes of yourself in this? You have covenantal sensitivities, you’re aware of the law, but you stand short of where Habakkuk is going to end. For all their covenantal sensitivity and awareness of the law, for all their Jewishness, these prayers of Habakkuk are tragic.

    They are opening up his soul. Do you know that about prayer? It opens up your soul before God. You understand why I am very impatient with the contemporary styles of worship in which there is such familiarity in prayer and absolutely no sense of the majesty and awesomeness and holiness of God. It is a very flippant activity. And I dare say that the soul of the church is being laid bare by its prayers. Your soul is made there before God in your prayers. How do you pray? There is yet then in this man as precious as he is to us even in his present state, and we do love him, don’t we?

    There is yet in this man something unformed when it comes to his faith, something immature, and if it is left at its present state, it will cause death. If it doesn’t go on, Habakkuk is going to fall himself under God’s judgment. Now the obvious tip-off of the necessity for this is found in the opening verses of Habakkuk’s second prayer, making it plain that we are dealing here with a man immature, standing short of where he ought to be. Now this may be a little hard to see, and I understand that, because you see, invariably, These verses, 12 and 13, are misunderstood, and the reason is that most interpreters fail to reckon with the Prophet’s immaturity and even impiety at this point.

    As far as these interpreters are concerned, there’s no movement in the man throughout the entire course of the book. And that is not true. Everyone, even from the get-go here, as he’s starting Habakkuk, seems to be concerned to set Habakkuk in the best possible light, even his faith, which is faulty at this point. So therefore, these interpreters approach Habakkuk’s prayers as if they are merely innocent inquiries of the Lord, righteous as far as they go.

    By good people, these prayers are anything but innocent inquiries of the Lord. We are observing a man in desperation, and the whole of the old economy of Israel is in the balance. That’s what’s going down the tubes if he doesn’t get his way. This man is desperate. He is trapped. He is trapped, of all places, in the old economy, and he is trapped in God’s law, as his words in these verses testify.

    He has been taught that the Lord is from everlasting, verse 12. Understand these words now. that there is a relationship between God’s eternity and His covenantal faithfulness. In other words, you can count on God’s covenantal faithfulness as much as you can on His eternity. So the covenant is in view, and this approach to the opening of that twelfth verse is proved by what follows. For there is a reliance by Habakkuk upon the covenant.

    He calls the Lord, My God, My Holy One. It is on the basis of the covenantal bond that Habakkuk then declares, enigmatically possibly for us, we will not die. Oh yeah? We will not die. He has in mind what God has already said in verses 5 through 11. The Babylonians are coming. God has said, you are going to die. He says, no, we’re not going to die.

    Therefore, he goes on to boldly suggest that God could only be raising up Babylon as an instrument of chastisement and correction, but not destruction. Thou, O Lord, hast appointed them to judge, and thou, O Rock, hast established them to correct.” As we move into verse 13, Habakkuk now presumes to give the Lord a lesson in justice. by applying the Lord’s own law to the Lord himself. After all, so says Habakkuk, your eyes, Lord, and this in keeping with what I know to be true from the law, your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot look on wickedness with favor. Therefore, you cannot allow to happen what you said is going to happen.”

    These are the words of a trapped man. He is desperate. A man whose former faith has him trapped in the limitations of the old covenant and in the limitations of the law itself. Here is a man whose faith is set upon the permanence of that Old Testament administration and all that it had in view. He sees no further than God’s promises to Israel with respect to the land. and he contends himself that he is righteous before the law, and therefore, because of his observance of the law, and because he’s on the right side of the question, the inheritance is guaranteed to him. What Habakkuk does not see at this point in the prophecy is that the land and the law, the ingredients of that old administration, are actually becoming obstructions to his faith.

    He is being disdirected, and he is being led into a life of vain confidence and self-righteousness. Even though these are Habakkuk’s estimations with regard to the Old Covenant, they are not the Lord’s. They never were. the land and the law were meant to lead Israel to something greater. They were meant to lead Israel to the Christ, to abject humiliation and humility, and to the glory of a heavenly inheritance. The true faith rising off the pages of the Old Testament then points in another direction, a counter-direction to the direction that Habakkuk presently moves. Habakkuk, at this point in his own story, does not as yet get the point. But he will. For he will be brought, as it were, through death itself, a death to the old, that he for and in the new.

    What about yourself? Is there something of a pagan manipulative form of faith to your faith? Or do you stand quite proximate to Habakkuk in his immaturity? You pray the language of the covenant, you rehearse the law, but even as you voice your prayers, your faith is still bound to temporal goals. And regardless of what you say with your mouth, those goals are guaranteed to you by your self-assurance that you stand acquitted in your own right before the biblical canons of righteousness. I’m okay.

    But if this is your faith, it is not the justifying faith of which the gospel speaks. If you would have justifying faith, then read on in Habakkuk and live with him through the entirety of his prophecy. Dear, the faith of this man come to expression as the Lord himself would bring it to expression in him. That faith that grasps a maturity leading on into the gospel of Jesus Christ, and is of the temperament, belongs in the circle of that confession that rises then out of the Apostle Paul. For we know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through the faith of Jesus Christ. And even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Here we have no lasting city by a mature, justifying faith. we wait for and seek the one which is to come.

    Our God, you tell us in the gospel that faith has come. And Lord, this faith is our faith. We would not then, O Lord, be afflicted by the manipulation of that form of faith too common in the world. And Lord, we would be saved from a vain spirituality in which we content ourselves with our covenantal language and our knowledge of the law. And in our heart of hearts, believe that we have a right standing with you because we are keeping that law, observing it, maintaining it, and thus distancing ourselves from the wicked. O God, our true faith is abandonment, whereby we abandon ourselves and rest in you. And our confidence is not in the law, but in Christ. And our home is not here, but in heaven. May we keep these things straight all our days, for Jesus’ sake.

    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.

  • God Kills to Cure

    God Kills to Cure

    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, February 12, 1995.

    About this sermon

    The law proves useless on its own to answer Habakkuk’s complaint, unable to do anything but describe the problem. God’s own remedy looks at first like judgment: the Chaldeans marching on Jerusalem, a cure that looks like death. What Habakkuk is being taught to desire is God himself, not merely what God can give him.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are looking again this morning once more at Habakkuk chapter 1. We are beginning with verse 1, and we will be reading the first 11 verses. Hear the word of God. The burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?

    Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slack, and judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously, for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful.

    Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. And their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far. They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence. Their faces shall suck up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them. They shall deride every stronghold, for they shall keep dust and take it.

    Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over and offend, imputing this, his power unto his God.” And then, turning to the book of Job, chapter 1, reading at verse 9, “…then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy Oh God, in your sanctuary, it is your word that rules. Lord, may we have heart for your word, and may you rule in us. even as we give our attention to your word, and your spirit has his way with us. We pray this through Christ our Savior. Amen. The cure is worse than the disease.

    Not a few children have thought so. In my house it was always splinters and loose teeth. More than once I chased one of my sons around the house with what they thought was an extraordinarily large needle. I always dug splinters out with extraordinarily large needles. Or if we were dealing with loose teeth, I used to chase them around the house with what they thought were a death-dealing pair of pliers. To this very day, my sons hide my tools so that I won’t ever use my tools on them again in the interests of my home cures. At least I think that’s the reason they hide my tools, at least I can never find them.

    But of course when it comes to the cure, being worse than the disease, matters can be much more serious than splinters and loose teeth. As any radiation and chemotherapy patient is likely to tell you, at their most desperate moments. They find themselves wishing they were dead, even thinking that they were passing through some form of death.

    More than one such person has thought about that old proverb in such a situation. Cure the disease, kill the patient. Interestingly, the Lord is convinced in dealing with his people, and that also in the days of Habakkuk, that he must kill the patient in order to cure the disease. In such a context, God’s pathology gathers a solemnity and seriousness that takes us past even the extremities we might suffer in fighting off a terminal illness. We struggle against death. We fight fiercely, hanging on to life. We combat death with life or with what we think is life. We are bound, it seems, in this direction, struggling against extermination.

    Consider Habakkuk. he presently suffocates in the reeking stench of decay. The land of Judah, his precious Jerusalem, are smeared with blood, the blood of the innocent. Waltzant and arbitrary violence force him, as it were, against a wall of inner terror And with his face pressed to that wall, his stomach twisted in desperation, he cries out to the Lord. He complains that he has been constrained to look upon iniquity. He can’t even open his eyes without seeing it. He watches as wickedness spreads as a heavy cloud over the land of Judah, and invades the dear city of Jerusalem. Death marks those deliberately plotting. Oh yes, it marks the innocent victims. But death also marks those deliberately plotting destruction and savagery. They are filled with death. They consume their victims. And that’s while enlisting the aid of even those structures and codes established within Israel to protect the vulnerable and the weak.

    Therefore, the law itself proves to be no help. It is powerless, it is ineffective, it appears to be useless as justice is imprisoned. The righteous are outnumbered from Habakkuk’s point of view. They are besieged like a small village, or better yet, like a single house. And that, by a large army, an extreme version of overkill by such a large force with its own perverse notion of equity. Habakkuk, therefore, complains bitterly in the midst of all that he sees.

    Where is God? Where is his deliverance? Where is this life that in its force, in its power, destroys such death? Thus the pleading priest Habakkuk approaches God in verses two through four of the first chapter. by an act of God which may even set Habakkuk against God’s will.

    He was not a willing servant at first, quite possibly. But this one, this man is taken now to the very council chambers of the Lord to hear the Lord’s response, to hear the Lord’s answer, verses 5 through 11. And in his answer, the Lord will shatter Habakkuk’s perceptions and prescriptions. You see, Habakkuk looks for the downfall of those in Judah responsible for the violence and cruel injustice. Habakkuk looks for the downfall of corrupt politicians and judges.

    He looks for the unseating of corruption, and he looks also longingly for the vindication of the innocent and the oppressed. Habakkuk anticipates such things as these, all in the interest of preserving Judah, the lovely land, the precious city of Jerusalem, its sacred temple, its order and its ministries. Certainly admirable motivation. Certainly righteous goals.

    Habakkuk, therefore, longs for God to destroy the disease. and in destroying the disease to destroy those responsible for it, thus preserving the patient. He includes himself in the identity of the patient, as he includes others who would comprise the remnant attached to him. But Habakkuk is longing for God to act for the purpose of preserving his life, and the life of his friends, and the life that they know in the world through which they have become accustomed, upon which they have set their heart.

    But the Lord will not kill the disease. and cure the patient. Rather, he will kill the patient in order to cure the disease, and thus prove himself to be a God so powerful that he is stronger than both. The Lord then will not battle death with life, or life as Habakkuk imagines it. He will not battle death with life, or for the sake of maintaining that life as Habakkuk has come to know it. Rather, the Lord will battle death with death. And in that confound all of his enemies.

    If Habakkuk prays and complains in the interest of holding on to his life in this world, God will force him to let go of that life and this world. Six hundred years after Habakkuk had his soul seared by Jehovah, Jesus applied his own iron to the souls of his disciples with these words. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall to the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it. and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” John 12, 24 and 25.

    Habakkuk, however, is not yet at the point that Jesus would have him. Habakkuk is not yet at the point that Jehovah, whom he addresses, would have him. And now he is compelled to stand, as it were, apart from himself, watching his own activity. as if dragged by God into the council chamber, then there to have conferred upon him a message, and then commissioned to deliver that message to Israel, a message that completely baffles and depresses Habakkuk. This is an affirmation of the sovereignty of God. for Habakkuk is enlisted to deliver a message that he doesn’t agree with.

    It is also an affirmation and a confirmation of the Prophet’s inspiration. How else could he then deliver a message with which he doesn’t agree, unless he was compelled to do so, unless the message came in a way that stood over against the Prophet himself? I am reminded of what Peter says much later in the history of salvation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the willed man, but holy men of God, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

    2 Peter 1.21.

    The Lord’s answer then causes Habakkuk dismay. Oh yes, as that answer begins, the Lord announces that it will be for the astonishment of all. Look and wonder, He says. Look among the nations. I am about to do something in your days that you will not believe, even if it were told you. Verse 5. Announced is the rise of the Chaldeans. Verse 6. or as we know them, the Babylonians from the East.

    These bitter and impetuous people, the Lord not being particularly concerned about suits from the Babylonian anti-defamation These bitter and impetuous people take center stage now on the world scene as they bring down the curtain on the Assyrian Empire and destroy that empire’s capital city, Nineveh, in the year 612 B.C. But now they will march imperiously through the world, spreading terror and dread. Here is an authority thoroughly self-referenced. The philosophy of these people, their creed or code of social honor, originates from within themselves, verse 7. They are responsible for the organization of an army that is a machine of destruction, That army has mastered military mobilization.

    It is as swift as leopards and eagles. And it is eager, as if born to the slaughter. Like wolves, this army is. All of the soldiers are like horses straining against a tether. They can’t wait to get into the fray. and there is no dissent in the ranks. This army is unanimous.

    It has voted to a man for unprincipled violence and carnage. Like the infamous Kurtz from Conrad’s great novel, The Heart of Darkness, the Babylonian soldier does not recoil from but is drawn to the horror of butchery. He has only one goal, a forward march to prove his prowess, collecting people like trophies, gathering captives like someone would collect sand from the seashore.

    These men live to mock every power, kings and princes, or those to whom Respect is due, no respect is given. Rather, these are the objects of ridicule. Every rival and unyielding head of government is a joke, a byword. Every cynical of resistance is a laugh. Verse 10. The Babylonian horde moves like the wind, nothing retards it, nothing stops it.

    Habakkuk was bold to make his complaint, and now he’s sorry he even opened his mouth. What has been revealed to him is all too much. He had been grievously bitter over God’s inaction, but now God tells him that he is about to act. And with this answer that comes about, it sees a holocaust, a holocaust being visited upon Judah and upon Jerusalem. He sees coming to an end the world that he knows. He sees coming something like an end of the world itself. for it is like the end of the world as Babylon would sweep into Judah and overwhelm Jerusalem.

    Even then, the righteous laid low with the wicked. But if that happens, where is justice? Where is the security? The security that he thought that he had in his faith. And where is that vindication? That vindication that I long for. That vindication of myself against all of those that have raised their hand against me. What is that sense of personal satisfaction in me seeing my enemies get theirs, if in fact I am told that I will have to get theirs too?

    For obviously the Babylonian soldier will be singularly unconcerned about where you stand on religious matters in Judah when he comes with his sword unsheathed. He’s not going to ask you your religious opinions when he slits your throat. Here’s Habakkuk, then, while he was expressing his prayer in verses two through four, was in fact laying beneath the lines an attack upon God himself.

    As if he were asking God, what good are you? You can only imagine what’s going through his mind now. I ask you for your help, Lord. And this is the help you send? A ruthless, cruel army to destroy all of us? I called upon you to cure my country and your people, and you destroy us all and all that is ours. What sense does this make at all?

    But you know, the Lord loves Habakkuk. And he loves a people preserved for himself even within Israel at this time. His remnant. And he will make even this devastation to work to their good. For all things work together for good, to them that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. The Lord will have his people. He will not be denied his beloved.

    But how will He test His people and prove them that it might be evident that they are His people and that they may know with a confident assurance that they belong to Him? How will it be plain, even to them, that they belong to the Lord? If there is a question as to whether they would have Him for Himself alone, and not for all the other things that supposedly come along with him.

    Satan is the prince of darkness, but he’s no fool. He strides right into the assembly of God when the sons of God have come to gather there in the courts of heaven, and he puts it to the Lord, right to the Lord’s face. Job serves you for nothing. Or, rather, he doesn’t serve you for nothing. You’ve put a hedge around him, you’ve protected him and all that is his. Reach forth your hand now, strike him and all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.

    Is it true, then, that we have God for Himself? Or is it that we have God for all those other things that come with God, that we’re supposed to be attached to Him? If that is the case with us, then those other things are even more important than He is.

    As long as I am convinced that God will give me things, or that God will give me peace of mind, or that God will keep me out of mental institutions, or that God will guarantee to me the perfect family, as long as I have those things, I’ll worship Him and serve Him. If it is true, then that there is this potential even within the hearts of the faithful, even within Habakkuk’s heart, God then becomes a tool, he becomes an instrument, he becomes a means to an end, and the end is more important than he.

    That end is acquisitions, that end is possessions, that end is my peace of mind and my inner and psychological tranquility. God’s rule, after all, is to supply me all that I want. Everything, in fact, that if the truth be told, I treasure above him. And listen to me in my self-assurance. I will even trumpet my righteousness, not only before men, but before God, making it clear that I am righteous in myself, and I have these possessions and acquisitions because I have earned them. They are mine by right.

    And certainly, as I structure the world, and make my case, and draw my worlds around me, Even as I walk through the streets of Jerusalem, even if my name is Habakkuk, I am confident that if God loves anybody, He loves me. Now, we might, yes, reasonably conclude that things have not gotten to this state in Habakkuk yet. And we might hope and trust that things have not gone this far in us either. But God will know the truth about us, that we might know the truth about ourselves.

    You are about to meet yourself. For God sees the seeds of all of these things. Yes, in Habakkuk and in all of his dear children. He sees the potential of it, and he is determined to deliver all of his children from such soul-destroying sin, particularly from the sin of selfish interest and self-righteousness.

    And there is no way for that to happen. unless the Lord slay us. There is no way for that to happen unless He removes everything that we think is so essential. Unless He directly attacked that sense within us that we imagine we deserve what we have, and we have earned it, and that not even God himself has the right to take it from us. It is a mercy that God slays me. It is a mercy for him to kill the patient, that he might destroy the death within with death itself.

    And here is a profound meaning for the death of Christ. On the one hand, Christ is the exemplar of faith, as he abandons himself to God and for God, and in the last says, into thy hands I commit my spirit. But Jesus is also the object of faith. since by my faith I am united to this one who has perfectly believed and trusted. And his faith is imputed to me as much as his righteousness. His faith is as vicarious for me as is his sacrifice. By faith I am united to this one who exhibits perfect faith, and now I am made, by grace, a participant in his perfect faith. But also, by my union with him by faith, I am united to him in his death. That as he has died to sin, and died finally, So also, I, united to him, have died to sin, and have died to death, that they might not have any dominion over me any more, and that as he lives, now I also live.”

    And how do I live? I live for God. Do you realize why I am so impatient with such ministry as we see in the church of our time? Because it becomes increasingly evident that the focus of the piety in much of Christendom presently is not for the sake of God alone, it is for the sake of the things that God has imagined to provide. It is almost as if the church itself is in need of dying afresh, or at least seeing the scope and magnitude of the death of Christ once more, and our relationship to that death, that what is of death in us might die so that we all can live to God. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

    Colossians 3.3. Amen. Our Father, this is the hard lesson. It is brought before your people time and again.

    It is so wonderfully focused in Christ, both in his message and in his life and ministry on our behalf. But Lord, the motivation for our lives and all that we do and say must be you and you alone, not the other things that we imagine that you will provide. And if, O God, we will make you our delight, will you not also freely give us all things in Christ Jesus? We pray, our Father, that you will deal with, yes, even those seeds of death in us, teaching us that in Christ we have died to death and to sin, that we might live to you. We pray, Our Father, that the manner in which we will live and do live will bring you praise. For Jesus’ sake, 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.

  • A Complaint the Cross Forbids

    A Complaint the Cross Forbids

    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, January 29, 1995.

    About this sermon

    Habakkuk’s lament sounds like other prophetic complaints on the surface, but his is really a theodicy, an argument that God himself has failed to act justly. That kind of complaint is real, and Habakkuk is not rebuked for voicing it. Christ’s own cross, though, finally forbids that same complaint from us, having already answered it.

    More sermons from Habakkuk · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    We are reading this morning again from the book of Habakkuk. This is Habakkuk chapter one. We are reading the first four verses of this chapter. Then we are reading some verses from chapter two before we turn to a text in the New Testament. Let’s give our attention now to the reading of God’s holy words. the burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see.

    O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that rave up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slack. And judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

    Chapter 2, beginning at verse 1, I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him. but the just shall live by his faith.”

    And then Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, “…for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

    Our God, the wait for your word has ended in the coming of Christ. And now, Lord, we who have received that word and its testimony are those who have been born again by your spirit. And as witness of our rebirth, O God, we worship you and we give our full attention to your word. We pray, Father, that our time today with you and with your word would be most profitable for us, that we might grow in grace. through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

    Habakkuk is a prophet. He is also a priest. He is a Levite. And this is proved by the beginning and ending of his third chapter, verses 1 and 19, beginning of that chapter and its conclusion, a chapter containing Habakkuk’s great hymn. that was to be used in keeping with his office in the temple service for praise to God. Habakkuk, then, was a Levite by birth, and a priest with some responsibility in the temple of God and with respect to its musical service. this through an ordinary call that came to him in his place within the tribal organization of Old Testament society. But Habakkuk’s access to God in the temple was heightened through an extraordinary call from God. to the more exalted access that he would enjoy with but a select few, namely the prophets. Well, as his prophecy begins, Habakkuk is more the priest, engaging in the common priestly task of prayer and intercession. that before his prophecy ends, he shows himself the prophet indeed, engaging in direct exchange with God in the council chambers of heaven, having been taken up into the war room of heaven’s commander-in-chief.

    That while Habakkuk shares the office of the priest with many, and the office of a prophet with a few, he is among the prophets of Israel unique. Not that he lacks points of contact with the other prophets. You will note in his second chapter, beginning at the sixth verse, that there is a series of woes listed rose that parallel what we find elsewhere in other prophets. Not that he lacks points of contact, then, with other prophets, not that certain prophets like Jonah, in a negative sort of way, and Jeremiah, because of a number of parallels in a contemporary setting, don’t connect in dynamic fashion with Habakkuk and his message. Still, Habakkuk stands solitary among the prophets because the issue at heart for his prophecy is so singular and so focused.

    That issue is what we call the Odyssey. Theodicy, T-H-E-O-D-I-C-Y, or the justification of God’s ways in light of existing evils. The justification of God’s ways in light of existing evils. Now that Habakkuk stands solitary along this line makes it evident to us that there is a breadth to this man’s prophecy.

    Since although it is unique among the messages of the prophets, it is clearly joined to other Old Testament writings, such writings as Job. the book of Ecclesiastes, and a number of psalms, even Psalm 13, which we read and sang this morning. So-called wisdom psalms, especially those psalms that are filled with the note of lament and grief and perplexity. Habakkuk, therefore, is that Old Testament prophet in whom is gathered up in compressed and compact fashion the many theodicies, perplexities of wisdom, and laments of the Old Testament, marvelously by the superintending action of God. This prophet is positioned at the junction of the greatest Old Testament crisis for Israel, namely the destruction of Jerusalem and the laying waste of Judah.

    And that, not only to express lament and launch an anguished attack upon the rationality of heaven or even the inaction of God, but for the purpose of seeing resolution through God’s grace, and to declare that resolution as God’s word to His own, to His elect.

    We witness, therefore, in Habakkuk, this resolution for theodicy. This resolution proclaimed to the people, and even wonderfully embraced by the prophets Habakkuk moves from priest to prophet. He also moves from the depths of overwhelming frustration and brooding bitterness to the heights of greatest satisfaction, and that in the space of three chapters. As a true prophet, Habakkuk declares to God’s people the truth by which we all, being neither priests nor prophets, might come to the pinnacle of spiritual joy. Indeed, it is in his famous Watchtower, chapter 2, verse 1, that Habakkuk hears God’s awesome words, “…the just shall live by faith.” Believing those words himself, Habakkuk is changed. Habakkuk is changed.

    He becomes one in whom we might all anticipate that which is to come by root of those words in the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ. shall live by faith.” That gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ being a gospel from which those words cannot be extracted. A gospel for which those words are absolutely essential.

    It is with these words, then, Habakkuk 2.4, the just shall live by faith, it is with these words in tow that we will have to approach Habakkuk’s prophecy in its totality. His prophecy begins with a prayer of complaint, verses 2 through 4 of that first chapter.

    Habakkuk is greatly agitated. How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and you will not answer me?” Obviously, the man has been at it for a while. But in his estimation, God has not heard. Now his words in this prayer communicate something of the spirit that Habakkuk has had it. His patience has expired.

    Now this is not the pure and pious prayer of God’s faithful servants. or of the glorified saints, such as we find in Revelation 6, verse 10, where we hear about souls crying out to God from beneath the heavenly altar, How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood? No, this is not the pure and pious prayer of God’s faithful servant at this point. This is the prayer of a man much in need of a profound spiritual lesson, and he’s going to get it. But we might not think, looking at his prayer at first glance, that this is the case, that here is a man much in need of a profound spiritual lesson.

    After all, it seems to us that a baggage-causing job Its sensitivities are above reproach. The man is simply outraged by rampant violence in his society, in the culture all around him. Verse 2. How can he be wrong? He is outraged by the rampant violence, he is agitated. The iniquity and wickedness he is constantly compelled to see appalls him. It gets him into a state.

    Verse two as well. And it’s not just the outward physical acts of violence in the culture of Jerusalem and Judea at that time that agitates this man. As Habakkuk’s prayer progresses, it is obvious that he has in mind attitudes of soul and heart. He has in mind motivations. He has in mind particular situations, even legal situations, in which the innocent are taken advantage of by the guilty and the opportunistic.

    Yes, destruction and violence are before me in the latter part of that third verse. in the New American Standard rendering. The destruction in that latter part of that third verse has to do with a legal situation in which the rug is being pulled out from under someone else. The violence of which Habakkuk speaks at this point suggests a maliciousness, a cruel disposition, by which some seek to damage others, and that for their own gain. As that verse concludes, the strife of which Habakkuk speaks, as well as the contention, has to do with legal wranglings in which the weak have no chance.

    Their case cannot stand. Verse four, the wicked manipulate the law, Habakkuk complains. And they do so because of their own vested interests, their concerns for their positions, and their ambitions. They use the law strategically to their own advantage. It is as if a permanent state of injustice prevailed in the society that Habakkuk’s survey with the wicked ringing about the righteous, besieging them as if they were a little band about to be overrun by an invading army. And though it may be that the wicked tip their hat to justice in some fashion, every time they do so, justice comes out twisted and perverted. So Habakkuk is agitated. He is upset and he is angry. And that anger is heard in his prayer.

    But we judge, do we not? But if things are as Habakkuk says, then he has every right to be agitated, angry, and upset. and even to complain to heaven. In fact, we conclude that we ourselves have every right to be enraged, agitated, and upset when we are confronted with similar circumstances ourselves. Do we not find ourselves reacting similarly to Habakkuk, with an equally exercised sense of righteous indignation? When we’re set up with the violence that is all around us, the arbitrary and vicious character of that violence, when it is perpetrated not just by the criminal element within our society, but those who wear three-piece suits, Are we not ourselves outraged by a legal system that protects the malicious, that is itself paralyzed by strife and contentions, that is neutralized and even neutered through maneuverings that hardly promotes justice, only promotes career causes and big sufferings?

    So what’s wrong with a prayer that takes aim at such evils as Habakkuk sees, and calls upon God to address them and even do something about them, overturn them, in fact? It seems like a fine prayer, one to which we, very much in our own present circumstance, our present day, would add a hearty amen. We, looking out at our culture, our nation’s legal nightmare, are ready in our rage to blast away at Heaven’s slowness to respond, and to hold even God accountable for what is going on. Why doesn’t He do something? But in our rush to register our disgust at the collapse of our social fabric, our rush to register our affinity with Habakkuk’s brights, we are liable to forget a couple of things.

    The first thing that we are liable to forget is that Habakkuk, when he utters these words, when he voices this prayer, verses 2 through 4, chapter 1, still stands short of Habakkuk 2.4. The just shall live by faith. He hasn’t got there yet. You see, as Habakkuk prays, there is still too much immaturity in the man.

    Therefore, we must not be surprised when it is pointed out that for whatever good there might be in this prayer, whatever there might be of righteousness itself, there is still something of an accusation in Habakkuk’s tone. Not an accusation against his society and culture, but an accusation against God. The underlying message of Habakkuk’s complaint, then, is that God is failed. And in his failure to act, he, God himself, is acting unjustly in Habakkuk’s case. But Habakkuk’s immaturity goes deeper still. How might we be certain that in his crying out against injustice, Habakkuk isn’t voicing his own case of self-interest. How can we be certain that Habakkuk isn’t giving expression, somehow and in some way, to a residual self-righteousness? In fact, Habakkuk’s complaint at this very point could be read as a gripe because he sees his own vested interests at stake.

    Even in the legal arrangement of things, his gripe could well be motivated because he sees his rights being trampled upon. His particular claims within the society in which he lives, even his claim to certain advantages due to him because of his office, all of these things being trampled upon. And now it seems as if God will not guarantee his own personal security. If we think of it in terms of investments, God can’t be counted on as a guarantee for all of my investments. And if He cannot be counted on as a guarantee for them, then what use is He?

    So if you are rushing to add your voice to Habakkuk’s and his complaint, I plead with you, first stop and think. Think of the danger that is there, the danger to yourself. Is there too much in your own complaints, self-interest, and much too much self-righteousness? What about my rights? What about people trampling upon my sense of justice? What about my property? What about my investments? What good is God if He will not protect my corner of the world?

    If God isn’t going to look out for me, what good is He? of this spirit within us and the resolution to Habakkuk’s immaturity, if not to the element of unbelief that is resident in the man, comes when we believe God so thoroughly that in our faith we understand we are bound to him as our sufficient reward, and that regardless of the injustice and deprivations we may suffer in this world. The resolution to our immaturity, the resolution to Habakkuk’s immaturity, if not The unbelief resident in the man comes when we believe God so thoroughly that we understand that we are bound to him as our sole and sufficient reward. Regardless of the injustice and deprivation that may come to us in this world. Here are the just. who live by faith. Now, the second thing that we are liable to forget as we rush headlong to add our amen to Habakkuk’s disgust is that his prayer here, verses 2 through 4, chapter 1, stands short of the New Testament.

    Not only do they stand short of Habakkuk 2.4, they stand short of the New Testament. This fact has many implications. Among those implications, you must remember that while Habakkuk is much exercised about societal and political injustice in Jerusalem and in Judea, our focus of interest has been changed. even if we are to value rightly a quest for justice, that quest for justice must first of all, given the New Testament setting, must first of all focus not upon society as a whole, but upon the Church.

    Are you concerned about the injustices in the Church? I will ask you that. Are you concerned about the violence in the church? Are you concerned about the unethical practices? Are you concerned about those who use the gospel and the law to their own advantage in order to increase their reputations before the world? Who play with religious things just to get the advantage over you?

    So, as much as we may be concerned, rightly so, with the problems of our society, the focus now, as we move into the New Testament, has shifted. The interest, primarily, is the Church, because it is the Church that answers to Israel as we stand in our New Testament setting. So, more than the judges that sit upon the bench in the Supreme Court, I’m concerned with the elders that sit upon the benches in the Church. More than concerned about Congress, I’m concerned about Presbyteries and General Assemblies. Note, then, our great concern.

    It is not, first of all, in the righting of societal ills. It is not, first of all, for the mending of the political fabric. It is not, first of all, for the cure of our secular corpse. Truly, our chief concern is for the truth and justice of the Church of Jesus Christ.

    Yet, in the maturity of our faith now, as we would express it in this context with our concern for the Church and our focus upon the Church, we must not be guilty of offering up a prayer like unto Habakkuk with regard to the Church. In fact, that’s forbidden us. We are forbidden to look out upon the Church of Jesus Christ and to say, How long, O Lord, will you not hear us? We are forbidden to look out upon the Church of Jesus Christ and to despair. That option, that avenue, is not open to us. In the interest of the Church, we cannot resurrect the complaint of Abbatik that arises out of his immaturity. As we observe the evils, even the injustices, the political wranglings, the legal maneuverings within the Church, we have no justification for offering that prayer of immaturity that comes out of Abbatik.

    And this is because of what Habakkuk himself learned in his watchtower and expressed in his great hymn that concluded his prophecy. And it is because of what we have learned. We have learned in Jesus Christ and in his gospel. And now is being made increasingly clear to us, since Jesus Christ himself in his identification with us in our sins, even to the point of taking our complaints upon himself, has gathered up in himself all of our immaturity, all of our self-interest, all of our self-righteousness, and slain every bit of it on the cross.

    And that, in his great statement that comports with the prayer of Habakkuk, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? No one prays that prayer anymore. In the Church of Jesus Christ, if in fact you have the faith to which Habakkuk was brought, if in fact gospel faith has been given to you, for Jesus, your Savior, have said those words and expressed those sentiments, even the sentiments that you hear in Habakkuk’s prayer for the last time.

    What a great faith. And what a great Savior. Your complaining is ended. Your true praise has started. Dear Father, it is very difficult for me to hold back when I see the wonder of the cross and the matchless glories of Jesus Christ. Lord, I would ask you to bless this congregation even as I have been so emphatic with a deeper grasp and understanding of those things that pertain to the salvation which you have given us. May we love our Lord, may we rejoice in Him, and may the faith that we express, O God, be that which Habakkuk found and Jesus Christ established in his gospel. Thus may it be, Lord, that the voice of sinful, self-interested, and self-righteous complaining would be removed from your church. and the great and wonderful peace of your realm would be everywhere evident. And that in a people that lives by faith. We pray it in Jesus name. 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.

  • God, the First Prophet

    God, the First Prophet

    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, January 22, 1995.

    About this sermon

    Liberal scholarship tends to flatten the prophetic office into one undifferentiated category, missing the real progress running from Samuel through to Christ. God himself is, in a sense, the first prophet, speaking creation itself into being. Habakkuk’s own prophecy rests on faith in a heavenly world he cannot yet see.

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    Sermon transcript

    We are reading this morning from the book of Acts. We are in chapter 3 and beginning with verse 1. This is Acts chapter 3 verse 1. Give your attention now to the reading of God’s holy and infallible word. Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the ninth at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour.

    And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asks an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee.

    In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

    And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But he denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.

    And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Now, brethren, I know that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted. Let your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

    And he shall son Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers of prophets, Shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me?

    Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in my seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you, first God, having raised up your son Jesus, sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” Then Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 1, the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

    Pray with me now. Our gracious and eternal God, you who by your word made the world, who made the heavens and the earth, you who by your word sustain us, now Lord, feed us with your word. that we might be proved as your people, as we give attention to the things that you say, in order that we might live to your glory. This for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

    Habakkuk is a prophet. He is the Lord’s spokesman. He is the mouthpiece of God. He is that prophet whose message came to Judah and Jerusalem in the early 600s before Christ, very near to that time in which the nation of Judah and the royal city Jerusalem would be destroyed. But where does Habakkuk fit in the overall development of the history of the prophets in Israel? And where does Habakkuk fit in the overall development of God’s plan of salvation? As we saw last week, Present-day liberal critical theory has its own version of the history of the prophets in Israel. We understand now that that liberal critical theory sees the history of the prophets in a thoroughly naturalistic way.

    So say the liberals, all primitive cultures had their eccentric, ecstatic clairvoyance. All primitive cultures had their wild, mad men who claimed to have access to God or to the gods. And Israel was no exception. Therefore, according to the liberals, the prophets of Israel are to be understood as those who had their roots in the corollary, corresponding cultures in the world round about. The prophets of Israel then had their roots with individuals and groups that were set apart by their bizarre and even irrational experiences. The prophets then, according to the liberals, were originally religious visionaries, not far removed from conjurers, mediums, soothsayers, even those who entered into religious mystery by way of drug intoxication. The liberals contend that we have evidences of this in the Bible itself.

    They turn to Numbers chapter 11, for instance, and the story of Moses there, and his cry to God for help. In response to that cry, God sends his spirit upon seventy in the camp, and these seventy are thought to have then succumbed to bizarre and irrational experiences like the madmen of other cultures. to this story can be added that of Saul, the king. You might recall he was numbered among the prophets on a couple of occasions. Most outstandingly, 1 Samuel 19, when we are told that Saul entered the company of the prophets, took off all his clothes, and laid down naked all night. Actions that are indeed bizarre and apparently irrational.

    So the liberals have contended for the truth of their position on the back of texts like these, suggesting that the prophets of Israel were no different than the prophets of any other culture or nation. But being the champions of evolution that they are, the liberals have gone on, suggesting to us that the institution of the prophets from these early primitive excesses, moved then and developed in such a way so as to become the center of what was most sophisticated, sublime, and admirable in Israelite religion. From the most ridiculous to the most sublime. in a process that was naturally evolutionary, as the religious consciousness within Israel developed, and developed specifically amongst the prophets. Israel’s prophet guild took a giant step forward then, suggest the liberal critics. When the prophets of Israel moved beyond the bizarre extremes and excesses of the previous era, but also when they left behind the severe nationalism that was attended to their office and their ministry.

    Think of Elijah and Elisha in this regard. Elijah is separated from the prophets of Baal. He’s not one drawing blood with knives, slashing at his own wrist. as were the prophets of Baal, Elijah has moved beyond the excesses of primitivism. But that doesn’t mean that Elijah is out of the woods, no, for he is part of this overall evolutionary process by which the religious consciousness of Israel is developing. Elijah, along with Elisha, was champion of a localized regional deity whose existence was tied to the future of the nation. So even though Elijah had moved beyond the excesses, he, in his theology and in his doctrine, was very much tied to the future of Israel as a nation. Thus, for Elijah and Elisha, for Israel to cease as a nation would mean that Jehovah himself would cease.

    It was prophets like Hosea and Amos, however, a century later, who began to preach a new message. So, say the critics, these had achieved a superior ethical sensitivity. Hosea and Amos intuited in Jehovah a similar ethical interest to their own. And this ethical interest in Jehovah set him as much apart from Israel itself as the prophets themselves were set apart from the common people.

    This meant, then, that Jehovah could be preserved even though the nation was lost. This meant, then, that Jehovah was not, then, tied to the nation and its destiny any longer. He transcended the nation, and he transcended the nation specifically in his moral purity, that standing over against the nation’s moral perversity. But going one step further, these later prophets then were those who were declaring to the people that Jehovah through and because of his moral excellence, was capable of destroying Israel in the interests of his moral excellence. For the prophets then of the mid-eighth century before Christ, prophets like Hosea and Amos, the nation of Israel had to be sacrificed even in order to save Jehovah. the God who embodied the Prophet’s own ethical ideals. But the step from this ethical crest to a monotheistic peak was then a most natural step indeed.

    Once Jehovah was separated from Israel and his ethical character was established, It became increasingly clear from the eighth century B.C. to the time of the Babylonian exile that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was superior to all other gods. He had now, through the prophets, gained his independence from Israel, but in his new status, this Jehovah God of Israel was now understood to be, by the prophets, as the God of all nations. Not only was he ethically superior to all other gods, he then was the only god possessing divine substance. He alone was God over the nations.

    According to the liberal critics, this is the development of the religious vision that took hold of the prophets and progressed through the history of the Old Testament. Now, the liberals are not blind to the casualties of this whole process, for this religious vision was not well received by the general population in Israel, nor especially by the religious leaders. The religious leaders, for instance the priests, put their emphasis upon ritual, not upon word. They put their emphasis upon ritual and ceremonial cleanliness, an emphasis that concentrated upon ethnic and racial purity, the separateness of the Jewish people ritually from all others. There was not then in the priest’s message that which would comport to the prophet’s message.

    The Prophet’s message had to do with the universal ethical righteousness found in God, but also in those who would follow God. By this route, then, we are told, by the liberals, the Prophets themselves have been salvaged for us and are worthy of our applause. They have rendered marvelous service to humanity. because they have perfected the notion of ethical monotheism, which has had such a great history throughout the course of this world. We can applaud the prophets because, in some sense, they have proved to be modern theologians. In fact, we can applaud them because we find in them the same ethical interests that we discern within ourselves.

    After all, we all know, do we not, that ethical goodness is the be-all and end-all of religion. Is it? Is it even the starting place? The modern critic then congratulates himself, not just applauds the prophets. He congratulates himself because he is able to discern now that the prophets are actually supportive of his own position.

    After all, biblical religion is pure ethicism. Biblical religion is, first of all and foremostly, about behavior. In fact, the congratulations that’s being passed around now is even more amazing, because the ethical superior that marks out the prophets and we, liberal critics, marks out Jesus Christ as well. which means the heart and soul of all true religion, especially biblical religion, from beginning to end, Old and New Testament, is the exaltation of the ethical ideals that we find in the prophets, in Jesus, and in ourselves.

    But don’t be deceived now. The evolutionary process did not end with Jesus. Nor did it end with the prophets of the Old Testament. As there has been progress, evolutionary progress, in religious consciousness, from Elijah to Amos, and then from Amos to Jeremiah, and then from Jeremiah to Jesus, there certainly has been evolutionary progress from Jesus to ourselves.

    So what might we say? It’s not just a matter of us applauding the prophets and Jesus, recognizing in them something that comports with ourselves. We are actually in a superior position to the prophets and to Jesus, and that necessarily because of the force and the inevitability of evolution. The liberals believe it, whether they say it or not.

    They are better than Jesus. You see, the prophets and Jesus were a little too hyper in their ethical vision. They were still a bit too primitive in their notions about God. Certain things had come to them, and they were not able to divest themselves of those primitive aspects of their own belief.

    For instance, the prophets and Jesus actually believed in a system of rewards and punishments. The prophets and Jesus believed in retribution and in divine vengeance. There were also those mythological and supernatural matters that expressed themselves in the language of the prophets and Jesus. But Jesus, with the prophets, expected supernatural intervention by God in the course of the affairs of this world. In fact, Jesus said that he was the embodiment of such an intrusion of God into the course of this world. The prophets and Jesus believed in the miracles that were attendant to the appearance of the kingdom of God. The prophets and Jesus had a longing for a new world, beyond this one, beyond the destruction of this world. They had a longing for life in glory and fellowship with God in a real place, a spiritual place to be sure, but a real place.

    But we all know, do we not, that that is just a bunch of nonsense. There is no divine judgment. There is no retribution. There is no true intervention by God in the course of this world or intrusion into the course of history of this creation. There is no such thing as a miracle. This world will not end by the coming of God. It may through ecological crisis, it may through nuclear disaster, but it is not going to end by the intervention and the intrusion of God upon this created order. Such language is wholly mythological and must be dismissed.

    So we know, do we not? because the liberals have told us that such talk is nonsense, and we pride ourselves that we have progressed to a place in which we are religiously superior to the prophets and to Jesus. Even though the foolishness of the liberals should be obvious to all of us, That is not to say that there isn’t a progression in the history of the prophets whom God gave to his people. Surely we affirm that, even as the institution of the prophets peaks in the great prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Our repudiation of, our contempt for, the liberal position does not mean that we lack an understanding of the progression of that prophetic office in the history of salvation. To begin with, the office of the prophet is not rooted in the religious swoons of eccentric ecstatic clairvoyance.

    Rather, it is rooted in God himself. God is his own prophet. He plays prophet to himself, even from the beginning. His word in creation is in fact predictive, but it is also powerful, carrying within itself vital productivity. God spoke, and it was so. God’s prophet-like speech in creation conveys blessing and by inference intimates judgment. And in one text, as the creation story comes to a conclusion, E. J. Young has pointed out the declarative force of what is said by Moses in Genesis 2, verse A verse that speaks about God having completed all of the works of His hands. But it is not just the completeness of those works that is in view in that verse, according to Dr. Young. He contends that what is in view is the declaration that all of those works were completed. Thus, God performing prophetic ministry on that first Sabbath of the creation, and I might add, thus preaching the first Sabbath day sermon. declaring all of his works done.

    Who is the first preacher for the people of God? God Himself. Who is the first prophet for the people of God? God Himself. Now man takes up a prophet’s task derivative of God. Abel, for instance, is called a prophet. He is called a prophet by Jesus in Luke 11, verses 50 and 51, obviously referring to the fact that Abel had preached, proclaimed, the person and work of God to his brother Cain, in whom was hid a murderous heart. Enoch, the man of God, we are told, walked with God. Noah is similarly described. These two men, Enoch and Noah, are prophets of God, so understood throughout the history of Revelation. Abraham is called a prophet, chapter 20, verse 7 in Genesis. This prophethood is derived from God, dependent upon God Himself. All these men speak for God. They are God’s mouthpiece, finding the paradigm for their service in God Himself.

    The unbelieving world, the seed of the serpent, though having common ancestry, humanly speaking, not only generates its own corrupt religion, but it generates its own perverse imitation of God and His prophetic role. So where do the madmen come from? Where do the eccentric ecstatics come from? They don’t come from God, they come from the perversion of true religion and apostasy.

    I might just add that God’s language at creation, he being the first prophet, was intelligible. It wasn’t ecstatic gibberish. He then, from the unbelieving world, a descendant from the seed of the serpent, lacking divine discourse in exchange with the true God, manufactured contact, invented contact for themselves with what other worlds they might imagine and the supposed deities that might reign there. It is against this background of apostasy and religious degeneracy that true religion in Scripture presents itself, and that contrary to what the liberal asserts. Initially we have these figures, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, but then in concentrated form the prophetic office settles upon Moses.

    He becomes a paradigm in the history of Israel for the prophets of God. However, the institution and office of prophet will enter a new era, even beyond Moses, and that’s when the kingdom begins to take shape in the history of Israel in the days of Samuel. This is obvious from the movement of the Old Testament story itself, but it is also obvious through Peter the Apostle, who in Acts 3 verse 24 makes Samuel the watershed figure in the history of Old Testament prophetism. Peter says in that text, all the prophets have spoken from Samuel and his successors onward, announcing the days of the Messianic Kingdom. Samuel is the watershed figure. But the prophetic ministry in Israel inaugurated in Samuel itself divides into two parts, into two sections.

    The first part moves from Samuel to the time of the writing prophets, who appear in the mid-eighth century, that is, the time of Hosea and Amos. This first part, from Samuel to the writing prophets, in which their ministers Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, and others, operates as something of a reconstruction for the life of Israel. Here is true biblical reconstructionism. The first part of this history, from Samuel to the writing prophets, finds the prophets in it operating something as reconstructionists within the life of Israel.

    They call these prophets, call for the repentance and conversion of the people in the hopes of a brighter future, which is still very much tied up to their hopes of preservation in the land in which they live. The future is still something of a fog to them, and they do not quite grasp just how much the future which they speak of will swallow up what is presently before them. But then comes the second part of this epoch, from the writing prophets on.

    It is also filled with the message of repentance and conversion. But now coming to the fore in prophets like Isaiah and Micah, Jeremiah and Habakkuk, is the message that what is needed is not mere repair or reconstruction of the old, not the mere refurbishing of the Mosaic theocracy or the Davidic monarchy, but the arrival of something completely new altogether, the dawning of the transcendent eternal kingdom of God. The prophet’s call for repentance and conversion, therefore, in this latter period, is not for the purpose of preserving the people’s place in the earth, even if that place be Jerusalem, the city in Judah. Instead, it is for the purpose of preparing God’s true people for the glory of God’s perpetual, permanent presence in the heavenly abode in Zion above. is a moving, compact testimony to the truth of this very point. In his prophecy, which emphasizes so much faith, faith has its focus in more than a confidence with respect to the immediate situation. That I’ll come through this ordeal, I will survive it.

    Rather, faith, according to Habakkuk, looks beyond and grasps hold of the climactic purpose of God in the quiet confidence that then waits upon the Lord. Increasingly, God’s prophets, including Habakkuk, serve as those who in this life refuse to count their lives dear because they know that their lives are secure in a world that is beyond this one. they live from God, whom they have been privileged to behold, knowing that they and all of God’s children shall be brought at last to behold that very God permanently.” Of course, this progression for prophetic ministry This proper biblical evolution for prophetic ministry peaks in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose coming means the arrival of all that the biblical prophets, from Abel to Habakkuk, longed to see. And now, those things that they longed to see, you are privileged to behold in your faith.

    Don’t let them go. For by letting them go, you see, there will be even more confirmation of the prophet’s message with regard to you. That the judgments, yes, that divine retribution of which the prophets and Jesus spoke will come upon you. You will be undone and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

    What a glorious history, oh God, is ours in what the scriptures tell us. And, Lord, in affirming the truthfulness of what is read there, we are not blind to the progression that moves towards culmination in Christ, the great prophet. And we would hear him, believe him, lest in the end we be overtaken. and undone.

    Now God make of this congregation. A congregation that believes the prophets. Rests in the promises of the Lord. Returns from idols. That awaits the appearance of Jesus Christ in the clouds of glory. And may this oh God. Control us. in our thoughts, words and actions. We pray it for Jesus’ sake.

    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.

  • What Is a True Prophet?

    What Is a True Prophet?

    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, January 15, 1995.

    About this sermon

    Biblical prophets and pagan prophets share a vocabulary but nothing else, the ecstatic utterances of the nations bearing no real resemblance to God’s own word through Habakkuk and Jeremiah. Only the biblical prophets speak truly, not because of their technique but because of who sends them. Christ himself is the prophet every other prophet only anticipates.

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    Sermon transcript

    We begin our scripture reading this morning in the prophecy of Jeremiah. We are beginning at chapter 1, verse 1. Let’s give our attention now to the reading of God’s holy and infallible word. The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anatoth, in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

    And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my word in thy mouth.

    See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” Then, turning over to Habakkuk chapter 1, verse 1, the burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see.

    O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear, even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not say? Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that rise up strife and contention. Therefore, the law is slack, and judgment doth never go forward, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous. Therefore, wrong judgment proceedeth.”

    Let’s pray together. Our desire, O God, is that your word would be effectual in us to salvation. We are praying, Father, that we might attend your word with all of our energy. And as we do, O God, may we have a personal diligence, but also be of a help to those that worship with us, that their diligence also may be encouraged. May we prepare ourselves, O God. May we come with prayer. May we receive your word with faith and love. May we lay it up in our hearts. and we practice it in our lives. For the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen.

    In Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 1, Habakkuk is identified as a prophet. But what is a prophet? What is a prophet? Now, we are all aware of the simple and common answer to that question. A prophet is a foreteller. A prophet is one who has the ability to tell the future, to forecast it.

    And in our popular culture, there have been figures who have stood out for the popular mind in this regard. We think of the modern veneration of the invented saint Nostradamus. It was supposed to have prognosticated everything that we’ve gone through thus far, even charting the course to the end of the world, and that seemingly infallibly. There are also our modern-day crystal ball gazers, our horoscope charlatans, like Gene Dixon and Edgar Cayce and many others whose advertisements appear on television. These people, in the common parlance and vocabulary, are called prophets because of their claim to be able to forecast future events.

    But as we shall see this morning, hopefully not only are none of the individuals that I have mentioned thus far prophets in the biblical sense—in fact, they are nowhere approximate to what prophets are in the biblical sense. But we will further see that the telling of the future, though related, for surely prophets are in some sense defined in terms of their eschatological connection, yet telling the future is not quite at the heart of what the prophet, the biblical prophet, is all about. Yes, the future is in view, and that in a very fundamental way. But the biblical prophet is about much more than just foretelling or prognosticating the future. This is the case even if we examine the pagan notion of what prophets are and what they do. We will find out that the forecasting of the future is not specifically at the center of the definition of the prophet, even amongst pagans. Take the prophets of Greek culture, for instance.

    They were not forecasters, they were instead interpreters. That was how they were seen. They were interpreters of the dark sayings of the gods. They were very necessary for Greek religion, but they were interpreters of the dark sayings of the gods. They were looked upon as inspired spokespersons who laid before inquirers the will of the gods and the methods by which the inquirers might appease the gods.

    Now, in relationship to the famous oracles, such as that at Delphi—we’ve probably all heard of the oracle at Delphi—the Greek prophets there stood before the high priestess of Apollo, who had placed herself on her tripod over a cleft in a rock that emitted trance-inducing vapors. In actual fact, the high priestess of Apollo was in a narcotic swoon, uttering what were thought to be the incomprehensible expressions of the god Apollo. See, the god Apollo didn’t actually speak. All he could do was sort of groan or make noises.

    And these noises were picked up by the high priestess, and then the prophets stood by and they were to interpret the groaning of the high priestess for the sake of the inquirers who had come the world over, and yes, with money in hand, to make inquiry of the oracle. Now, the Prophet’s messages from the High Priestess invariably had to do with the most immediate questions that the inquirers might bring with them.

    Questions like, well, what should we do? with our finances? What should we do with our lives and these particular matters that are of such importance to us? What course of action should we take? What course of action will have the blessing of the gods and thus prove fortuitous for us? Although these matters are related to the future, we can see that. They are of a broader concern, and even have a moral dimension to them.

    Therefore, the prophet, even in Greek culture, was not a foreteller, but rather a foreteller. The prophet told forth the will of the God. He declared the will of the deity. Now there are obvious differences between the pagan prophets and the biblical prophets. There are certain formal similarities at the same time, for it seems as if in both the pagan cultures and in Hebrew culture, the prophet was a messenger. The prophet was a messenger. There are obvious differences between the pagan prophets and the biblical prophets.

    The biblical prophets are not, for example, involved directly or indirectly in the use of drugs and narcotics. The biblical prophets are not given over to ecstatic wildness and frenzy. But these observations, which I think are plain on the text of scripture, have not stopped some biblical critics from suggesting that the biblical prophets had their roots in the wild, Jewish-like antics of the Canaanite and Phoenician prophets. and in the annals of the prophets of other cultures as well.

    If it wasn’t the drug craziness at Delphi, then it had to be the frenzy-generated babblings of the dancing, drooling fools from the hill shrines of Poland, or the self-mutilating, knife-wielding fanatics from Sidon who showed up 400 strong at Mount Carmel to challenge Elijah and his God.

    Now, supposedly, these critics, in support of themselves, turned to the figure of Saul, the first king of Israel. Remember the story of Saul, the band of prophets coming down from the hill shrine? Saul joining up with the prophet Band for a while. This ecstatic, so the biblical critics read it, this ecstatic if not irrational experience of Saul, when it was asked of him, is Saul also among the prophets, is thought to confirm the point.

    The roots of Hebrew prophecy of the biblical prophets is then found in the soil of pagan prophecy. Applying this to the Elijah case, in other words, even though Elijah had moved beyond the bizarre behavior of the prophets of Baal—he didn’t lacerate himself—his advantage was merely formal. His advantage was not one of kind, but of degree. The difference between Elijah and the prophets of Baal Prophets in ancient cultures, religiously speaking then, according to these biblical critics, are all from the same school of the prophets. The prophets of Israel, they say, may have been a little more sophisticated, a bit more civilized in their practice of the prophetic arts, but they, like the mad Cydonian oracles and the Delphic sybils, manufactured, generated their prophecies from within themselves out of various stages of self-induced altered consciousness, by which they prepared themselves through their ecstatic experiences to receive the divine message.

    But it is precisely at this point that these radical theories with regard to biblical prophecy fall apart, break down. The consistent witness of Scripture does not set the biblical prophet in the company of the pagan prophecy, even remotely, but over against the pagan prophecy. Pagan prophecy, as we have already intimated, is self-generated, and in many instances it demanded an elaborate scheme not only for the attracting of the gods’ attention, as on Mount Carmel, but also in communicating the words of the gods, such as at Delphi.

    To be sure now, the biblical prophets, like the pagan prophets, are understood to be messengers of deity. But unlike the pagan prophets, the biblical prophets are messengers who have had the most direct discourse with God imaginable. A discourse, I might add, that is always represented in an intelligible exchange between persons. not an ecstasy-driven descent or ascent into the unintelligible. This discourse between God and his servant, the prophet, is immediately the result of the approach of God himself, who, in his sovereignty, intelligibly gives his word to his prophet, even placing it in his prophet’s mouth. The biblical prophet, then, is one in whom God’s word is found because God has put it there. The biblical prophet is the mouthpiece of God.

    Now, there are two passages among many that I want to call your attention to that express this very point. I remind you of the story of the call of Moses. Moses’ call is recorded for us in Exodus 3 and 4. And you will remember how after God has issued his call to Moses, Moses begins making his excuses and pleads with God that God might send someone else to speak to the Israelites and to the Egyptians, because he, Moses, is slow of speech and of tongue.

    God then tells Moses that his brother Aaron will be as a prophet to Moses, and Moses will be as God to Aaron. God plays off of an analogy. As with himself and his prophet, so now with Moses and with Aaron. Aaron’s role as Moses’ prophet, then, we are told, is to be Moses’ mouthpiece.

    We find that in Exodus 4, verse 16. it is that the prophet of God is the mouthpiece of the Lord. That, rising out of this text. The second passage I have in mind is the one we read this morning from Jeremiah, chapter one, and the call of Jeremiah to his service. After Jeremiah complains about his inadequacy, sounding very much like Moses, verse six, The Lord puts an end to the matter by stretching out his hand and touching Jeremiah’s mouth. He says, then, Behold, I have put my word in your mouth.” Verse 9.

    It is clear, then, the biblical prophet is God’s mouthpiece. He speaks the word of the Lord. He is inspired. Something supernatural is going on here. It is obvious, is it not? There is a special relationship between the Prophet and the Lord. He is specifically defined, then, by the function that he carries out for God and for God’s people.

    But I will reiterate at this point. The exchange between God and His Prophet is always portrayed to us in the most intelligible way. And I will suggest to you that that is the case not only in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament as well. And I will be bold to suggest to you that that is what is at stake in 1 Corinthians 14, where the subject of prophecy comes up. A matter that greatly concerns the Apostle Paul as he deals with the congregation there. The prophet is always attached to intelligibility and to communication, yes, in his discourse with God, but also in his discourse with the people.

    The haze and the mist is removed. of irrational mysticism is dismissed, and an ecstasy-driven kind of religion is put in its place. Biblical prophets, Old or New Testament, do not stand in the company of pagan prophets in this regard. Now that’s not to say that in dealing with the biblical prophets we are not brought face-to-face with extraordinary experience. This means, then, that the biblical prophet is not merely defined by his function as one who serves as the mouthpiece of God, but he is also defined by what has transpired in him and to him by his call, that affecting a life-altering change.

    Now, it’s important to suggest here, then, that this call of the Prophet sets the Prophet apart from what he is in himself. He has become new. He has been changed, and changed radically. This means, then, that the biblical Prophet is not what he is by the intensification or the maturation of his inherently good and stellar qualities. This means also that the Prophet is not what he is because he is a candidate for the office of sage, relying on his native or acquired spiritual apprehension and intelligence. This means that the Prophet is not what he is because he has acquired some very sensitive conscience with regard to the nation, having as his chief goal the development of an impeccable sense of moral balance among the people. Was the Prophet a graduate-level theologian?

    Brilliant, and a cut above the rest. who is a deep and driving passion for one grand religious idea, such as monotheism. And he most certainly is not that truly sensitive soul defined by his alert grasp of the plight of the underprivileged and even the oppressed.

    The prophet has seen God. And that’s what makes the difference. The prophet has been called by God, specifically. And that is what makes the difference. In that confrontation with God, in that call, he has been personally transformed. And that, specifically, by the one he has beheld, and by what he has been privileged to see.” This means that for us to understand the call of the prophet, we’re going to have to move in two directions.

    It’s not just a visitation by God from heaven to the prophet that is in view. It is a literal translation of the prophet himself into the council chambers of the Lord. It’s not just a matter of God coming down, it’s a matter of a prophet going up. The visions, then, of the prophets and the emphasis upon sight in the prophecies, the biblical prophecies, brings in view the prophets’ privileged access to the planning session of God’s council chambers. Think of it. To be taken up into heaven, as it were, to behold what is going on there. Even to listen in as God makes his plans. Then to be commissioned to take what you’ve heard and seen back to the people of God. It is a life-altering experience.

    In order to confirm this, I want to call your attention to the prophet Micaiah, 1 Kings 22, verse 19. Remember that Micaiah was the unpopular prophet. amongst all the prophets in Israel during the day of Ahab. Ahab didn’t like Micaiah. But Micaiah is called to prophesy before Ahab and Jehoshaphat, and this is the way in which Micaiah introduces his prophecy.

    I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing by him on his right and on his left.” What do you think is taking place there? What Micaiah was privileged to see was a planning session in heaven that God had convened between himself and his angels.

    This is proved by what is said next in the text, and the Lord said, who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? That question, together with the great question that is asked by God in Jeremiah 23, verse 18, establishes the point that we are making. In that Jeremiah text, 23 verse 18, God asks, so as to discredit the false prophets, who has stood in the counsel of the Lord that he should see and hear his word? Implying, of course, that the false prophets never have stood in the counsel of the Lord, but every true prophet has.

    Think of the marvelous record of Isaiah’s call in this regard. Chapter 6 in Isaiah’s prophecy, you remember how it begins, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne high and lifted up, and his glory, his whole train filled the temple. This is a vision of the council chamber of the war into which now Isaiah is brought. And out of that council chamber, Isaiah is himself commissioned to bring the message of the Lord to the people.

    Nothing less than this is in view in Habakkuk’s vision as we begin it. Habakkuk’s vision is of one taken up into the council chamber of the Lord And in this case, in the opening chapter of the Bacchic, the prophet himself enters into a dispute with the Lord in his own council chamber. Now, he isn’t going to have a last word. Habakkuk enters into a dispute with the Lord about what is presently happening in Judah and what is surely to happen to Judah and Jerusalem. But you see what takes place now.

    Even as the Prophet, in his calling, brought into this circumstance, there is a transformation that is effected, a transformation for Habakkuk himself. And that transformation is such that the prophet is not only God’s messenger to the people, but in his person he becomes God’s message. In that transformation that the prophet experiences, he becomes the pattern for regeneration itself. And when he brings his word to the people of God, he says, if they too are privileged to see into the council chamber of God himself, and that message is transforming, you see the purpose of God, you hear his word, and that changes the transformation of the prophet himself becomes pattern for your own transformation. Just as he is changed, you are changed by the word of the Lord.

    And it’s not as if you’re standing remote from what is transpiring. The word that the prophet brings is animated, it is alive. He has the power to take you and put you right there in the council chamber yourself. It has the power to set you right before the face of God. Do you see Him when you hear the Word? That’s how you know that the Prophet’s Word is having effect in you.

    You’re changed. You get up out of your seat. You go out a different person than when you came in. Is this then an exercise in nonsense, in futility? Is all of this preaching for naught? Having seen the Lord, you cannot be the same. Having heard the Lord, you cannot be the same if you love him.

    The prophet in his person, then, becomes a proper pattern for appropriate response. Oh, that all God’s people were prophets. The prophet in his person becomes the pattern for appropriate response. The Book of Habakkuk, then, in its entirety, is a wonderfully compact presentation of a prophet, a changed man.

    Changed by what he has seen, what he has witnessed, what he has heard. Changed by what he has now observed concerning the purpose and the intention of God. But there is one other way in which the prophet is himself the message, not just the messenger, but the message. You see, what the prophet has seen in seeing God, and in seeing glory, is his own end and destiny. He is looking at the conclusion of the matter.

    He has been brought marvelously into the presence of God, and there he is witnessing the destiny that awaits him and all God’s people. For as he, the prophet, has temporarily been brought into such an environment, he now knows that he and all God’s true children shall be brought to that very point to live permanently with God forever. Nothing less than this is imprinted upon Habakkuk’s prophecy as you move through it to its great, wonderful climax in the great psalm. in chapter 3, where Habakkuk the prophet, despite his complaints with which the prophecy began, now shows himself a man willing to suffer the loss of everything if he has God.

    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 flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exalt in the Lord.

    What is a prophet? A prophet is God’s mouthpiece. God’s prophets speak for him, having been called by him not only to deliver a message, but to be a message, both in their response to the revelation that they had been given, but also by their living anticipation of their final glory and dwelling with God. But however well all this is communicated by the many prophets and their many messengers, in the pages of the Old Testament, it is only imperfectly communicated and awaits the perfect communication by that one who is the prophet indeed, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The one through whom God has finally and fully spoken, the one who in his person perfectly responds to God’s purposes and reflects and embodies our hope of glory. Indeed, he is the veritable Word of God.

    Let’s pray. Father, we are impressed by the marvelous witness of your word concerning the prophet’s office. And Lord, we are overwhelmed by the supernatural character of the whole matter. And Father, we are asking that as we receive your word, we would in fact be responsive even as the prophets themselves. But Lord, as those prophets have been given to us as testimony of our eventual end and destiny, may we live in light of the hope which they communicated, namely, glorious fellowship with you in heaven. We pray our Father now that you would give us strength even as we would give our attention to your word and submit ourselves to your servants whom you sent to us for our good. We pray this in Jesus’ name. 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.

  • Habakkuk’s Complaint

    Habakkuk’s Complaint

    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, January 8, 1995.

    About this sermon

    Habakkuk shares real historical ground with Jeremiah, both watching Judah collapse from within before Babylon ever appears on the horizon. His complaint against God’s apparent silence is real, not merely rhetorical. Habakkuk 2:4, ‘the just shall live by faith,’ already summarizes the gospel this whole book is building toward.

    More sermons from Habakkuk · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    I may warn you before we get to the evening service that, yes, I’ve done it again. I’ve put a scripture text and a sermon title there that I will not be holding to this evening. Instead, I will be moving into a series that has to do with the Holy Spirit, his person, and his ministry to us. So that is going to be the subject of our evening services and messages for the foreseeable future. The Holy Spirit, his person, and his ministry to us.

    This morning we are turning to the prophecy of Habakkuk. The prophecy of Habakkuk, we are beginning at verse 1. We are reading the first 11 verses of the first chapter of this prophecy. Let’s give our attention now to the word of our God, the burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

    How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out to thee, violence, yet thou dost not save. Why dost thou make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness? Destruction and violence are before me, strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore justice comes out pervergent. Look among the nations, observe, be astonished, wonder, because I am doing something in your days you would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs.

    They are dreaded and feared. Their justice and authority originate with themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour. All men come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand. They mock at kings, and rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress and heap up rubble to capture it. Then They will sweep through like the wind and pass on, but they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their God.”

    Let’s pray together. author of your word to us. May your word become effectual in us, even to the full range and extent of your saving grace. And to this end, O God, may we attend your word with full attention and diligence. May we even learn, O God, to prepare ourselves for our approach to your word, and may our approach be accompanied with prayer. O Father, we ask that we might receive your word then with true faith and genuine love. May we lay it up in our hearts. May we practice it in our lives. And this for the sake of the One who is the Living Word, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

    You might have lost track, and I could understand why. My series on the Church, to the title Concerning the Church, has been going on for a year and a half. It’s time for a little break before we return to that subject and finish it out. making our way through the rest of the New Testament material with regard to the Church, its life, and its ministry. But as I was considering what we might give our attention to, it occurred to me that I had not had a series of Old Testament messages during our morning worship service for a while. So we are long overdue for a visit into the company of the Old Testament servants of God.

    But why Habakkuk? Well, I have chosen Habakkuk for reasons other than I think that it’s important for us all to learn how to pronounce his name. or where to look for him amongst those minor prophets. I turn to Habakkuk because Habakkuk’s prophecy, first of all, is so strategic.

    His prophecy is so strategic. It is strategic in the development of the canon of the Old Testament. It is strategic in its place within the development of God’s history of salvation or the history of his self-revelation. It is wonderfully strategic for a good grasp of the Old Testament prophetic message as a whole. So we turn to Habakkuk.

    Now, many years ago, I preached an extensive series on the prophet Micah. And those of you who may have heard those messages many moons ago may recall that one of the points that I made was that Micah serves as a miniature Isaiah. Micah serves in the canon of the Old Testament as a miniature Isaiah. In fact, you will find some passages in Micah that are identical to some in Isaiah. Micah and Isaiah prophesied then at the same time in the history of God’s people. This means then that Micah was an eighth century prophet with Isaiah.

    He spoke God’s word as the curtain was coming down on the northern kingdom. The ten northern tribes of Israel with their capital, Samaria. Now, the instrument of God in bringing the curtain down on those ten northern tribes was the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians had invaded the north, but they had also set their sights upon the south, and even upon the prize of Jerusalem. Micah’s message was directed, although on the background of the demise of the North, to the southern kingdom, to the remaining two tribes, and the capital there, Jerusalem. His message came as warning to these Judeans against the injustice of their politicians, their judges and their elders, against the corruption of their clergy, His message came to them as warning also with God’s vengeance in view, that vengeance recently having overtaken their northern relatives. As you know, God was most merciful in the days of Micah and Isaiah to Judah and her capital, since both city and nation were spared at that time.

    But now we come to Habakkuk. We’ve moved. Historically, we’ve moved about a hundred years. We are now in the latter days of the seventh century B.C. Assyria, the world power, has been ruling over things ruthlessly for a century. But now its capital, Nineveh, is being besieged, and that by the combined armies of the Medes, And yes, of course, the Babylonians. In the year 612 B.C., the city of Nineveh falls. The world ruler that rises now, even given the rival powers of the Medes and the Scythians, is, of course, Babylon. And Babylon asserts its ascendancy in one of the greatest battles in the history of the world.

    We are seven years later. We are in the northern, northwestern plains of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. We are in the regions of And in 605, Theronico, the great ruler of Egypt, has made his way north, there to encounter the Babylonian army, which is under the authority, the leadership, and the rule of a young crown prince by the name of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar is victorious at Carchemish in 605 B.C., and he is soon to be the master of the world.

    Eighteen years later, Nebuchadnezzar will set his sights upon Jerusalem, and that in such a way as to bring that city to the dust. Jerusalem is destroyed, and the Temple destroyed with it. Nebuchadnezzar, with his army, has wreaked havoc throughout all the Judean territory, and he takes away with him into Babylonian captivity those Jews who have position and ability.

    Now Habakkuk is from this period in Judah’s history. He dates from the early 600 B.C. Even as the Babylonian, or as he calls it, the Chaldean horde, verse 6 of his first chapter, is taking shape as the instrument of God’s wrath a wrath to be visited upon Judah and Jerusalem.”

    Now, Habakkuk dates from the same time frame as two other prophets. Conveniently, those who surround him in the canon of the Old Testament. So if you are not familiar with Habakkuk, and you are even less familiar with Nahum and Zephaniah, here you have three prophets who belong to the same period of time, you can group these three prophets together then. But you will note that Habakkuk is also the contemporary of one of Israel’s greatest prophets.

    Here, coming into view, is Jeremiah. In fact, we can find many points of contact between Habakkuk and Jeremiah. Remembering what we had worked out years ago with regard to Micah and Isaiah, do we have something along the same order here with Jeremiah and Habakkuk? Does Habakkuk serve, then, as something of a miniature Jeremiah? Jeremiah is a very long prophecy. If you want to get to the heart of Jeremiah, it may be well for you to turn to the prophet Habakkuk and read him, and then from that point move into Jeremiah for a better understanding of what is transpiring with that prophet.

    Habakkuk, therefore, is of strategic importance for us, for with this prophecy we are brought face-to-face with the destruction, the looming, the anticipated destruction of Jerusalem, as well as the nation of Judah. And we are brought, as well, face-to-face with the crisis that this creates. in the lives of the people of God as they see David’s throne destroyed and the seat of Judean power overthrown. But keep in mind that there is here as well that summary of the prophecy of Jeremiah. In short compass, then, in Habakkuk’s three chapters, We have the promise of gaining mastery over a wide range of time and over events that are of greatest importance for the history of salvation, and even gaining a greater acquaintance with at least four Old Testament prophets. Besides Habakkuk, we have Jeremiah and Nahum and Zechariah as well.

    So then you see, there is reason for turning to Habakkuk because of Habakkuk’s strategic importance. There is reason to turn to Habakkuk because of the great promise that is there for us, that we might gain greater acquaintance with our Old Testaments, and especially that portion of the Old Testament that seems to be somewhat removed from us, distant, or even ignored. Habakkuk offers us great promise. Pray for me as I preach on Habakkuk, that the promise that is here in Habakkuk may be fully communicated to you But Habakkuk commends itself as well along other lines.

    Although this prophecy is often overlooked, if you read through it, you will find out that it is a quite compelling message from God. And it has this compelling quality, this even unique compelling quality, because of the way in which it religiously is able to touch the alert soul.

    You will note first of all in this regard, that the prophecy starts right out. with Habakkuk’s complaint. There is immediate contact between Habakkuk and the reader, if in fact the reader or the hearer had themselves expressed complaint before the Lord. The prophecy begins with the prophet’s complaint. Verse 2, How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and thou wilt not hear? Not enough that Habakkuk utter it once, you will note in verse 13 he utters it again. Why dost thou look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Habakkuk asks. Why art thou silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?

    Here, most assuredly, is a tie to Jeremiah. Jeremiah has been known as the lamenting prophet, the weeping prophet. But he is also known as the complaining prophet. Now, to be sure, both Habakkuk’s and Jeremiah’s complaint have their place and also their resolution within the unfolding story of salvation recorded for us in the whole of Scripture. How wonderful it is for us to live in our present circumstance, for there is that true and glorious sense in which we, blessed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, have been brought wonderfully beyond the complaints of even the Old Testament prophets. hold on to that truth. There is that sense, you see, in which the complaints of the Old Testament, those that we hear time and again through the Psalms, even in the Prophets, the Prophet Habakkuk, have their conclusion in the Gospel, and so complaint is read out of the text, now, of the New Testament. It is, as it were, a broad entrance into the message of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul is not an apostle of complaints. In fact, complaints never passes his lips. Still we who aspire to be like the Apostle Paul do find within ourselves, do we not, that the complaint hangs on, that we murmur still. We are hard-pressed at times, are we not?

    And religiously and personally, the words of Habakkuk find themselves, yes, even passing our lips. It’s the old age problem that is facing Habakkuk. It’s not simply the unfortunate aspects of life and existence. It’s not simply the fact that, well, things aren’t working out well for me in my career. I would have chosen some other route or some other circumstance. No, you see, the issue that is pressing upon the Baptist is the prospering wicked, specifically the Chaldeans and the suffering righteous, those among whom he includes himself.

    That Habakkuk raises this issue means for us then an immediate religious contact insofar as this question does rise in our own hearts. But that this issue rises in Habakkuk also means that we are brought face to face in him with that hope which was the resolution to his religious conflict. Now here I want to rush on, get ahead of myself, and move to the close of Habakkuk’s prophecy.

    When this prophet ends his message we find that he is concluding with a reflection upon the resolution of the difficulty articulated at the beginning of his prophecy. And as he expresses himself, we are touched with one of the most sublime expressions of religious feeling, genuine, godly religious feeling ever recorded. There is hardly a section of God’s Word that stands out in this regard as Habakkuk chapter 3. So powerful is the emotion attended to this resolution that it must be communicated in poetry, it must be communicated in song and in psalm. This alone can capture Habakkuk’s prayer of praise as he concludes the matter.

    What stands at the center of this explosion of religious feeling? It is Habakkuk’s vision of the coming of God, and it is that upon which his soul is set Only the coming of God will resolve my difficulty, my problem, my perplexity. Only the coming of God is resolution.

    And you will note what he says about the coming of God. It is so unnerving, it is so terrifying, it is so overwhelming that it reduces the prophet to uncontrollable shaking. of that third chapter, I heard, and my inward parts trembled. At the sound, my lips quivered. Decay, that is death, entered my bones, and in my place I trembled.”

    Right of the coming of God, then, the prophet’s notion of the righteousness, even the righteousness that he was born to claim for himself at the opening of this prophecy. even those notions about righteousness are reordered, rearranged, redefined, so as to give expression now of a notion of righteousness founded in and grounded upon the most genuine faith. hear him out as he concludes that third chapter, 17-19, even if the coming of God brings the end of the nation, even if it brings the desolation of that land once described as a land flowing with milk and honey, even if it brings the parched earth and turns Judah into a wilderness, even if it brings the destruction of vine and herd, yet Habakkuk will glory in God, who will most assuredly exalt him.

    Beyond the Lamb, beyond any possession, beyond anything that he has, anything in this world, he has God. Do you understand where the Old Testament is going? You understand how the ministry and the work of Jesus Christ fit into the message of this prophet, pushing you beyond the land or any possession here for an eternal possession in glory. And what is that possession?

    God himself. given here, then, is the heart of biblical faith in and love for God. And this makes all the more powerful the Lord’s summary statement about the nature of true faith, which the Lord himself provides in the most memorable verse from Habakkuk, Habakkuk 2, verse 4. Religiously speaking then, the soul alerted by the Holy Spirit resonates to what the Lord himself says here. The righteous shall live by faith.

    The wicked may seem to prosper. The land may be taken from us. My house may have burned down this morning. My wife might leave me before midnight. My child might die before the week is out. But the righteous shall live by faith. All the signs of the apocalypse may come. The world may dissolve, its very elements melt, but the righteous shall live by faith, and they shall live by faith. Now you should all be smiling.

    And they shall with Paul sees Habakkuk 2.4 as the summation of the gospel. You know that.

    Romans 1.17, in the gospel, the righteousness of God has been revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Here is the apostle’s motto, taken right out of Habakkuk. Elsewhere, Paul understands this text not only to be summation of the gospel, but also, also expressive of the true heart of genuine biblical religion that puts the law in its place, recognizing all of its inadequacies, and putting in its place, all those in their place, all those who boast in the law, be that company inclusive of even Habakkuk. From there is undone by what he sees in that vision of the coming of God.

    So Paul writes in Galatians 3.11, now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith.

    The final citation of this text in the New Testament is found in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter where the writer to the Hebrews speaks of the faith in view in Habakkuk 2.4 as that faith which alone has the hope of eternal reward.

    Do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward. So says the text, For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet a little while, for yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

    But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. for faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Little Book of Habakkuk does indeed commend itself to us all, and this in no small way because of its strategic position in the economy of God’s self-revelation. but also because of the revelation it makes with regard to the religious condition of the people of God. Habakkuk himself, while in complaint against what seems to him to be an unresolvable dilemma, and what seems to be God’s unjust dealings, chapter is preached to by God himself with a message of supreme importance, that just shall live by faith, chapter 2, verse 4. And it is precisely this life of faith that now Habakkuk expresses in his great prayer of praise, chapter 3. As we come to know this prophet better, It will be clear to us, I am sure, that nothing less than gospel faith and gospel life are in view in Habakkuk’s prophecy, and that nothing less than these consumed him, and we must be consumed by the same.

    Our father. Teach us from every part of your word. May we be benefited, oh God. By all of your servants. Who you have given to us. And Lord, we would ask that we would be profited. By this servant to back it. even as, Lord, the word given through him anticipates the gospel and brings before us gospel faith and gospel life. We thank you, our God, for your graciousness to us, that by your mercy you have communicated to us to the end that we, trusting in you, would be brought to you to live with you in glory.

    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.