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, October 15, 1995.

We are reading Habakkuk chapter 3 once more this morning. This is the prophecy of Habakkuk chapter 3. Pay heed to the words of God. A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet upon Shigiomen. O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy. God came from Canaan and the Holy One from Mount Perun.

His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise. and his brightness was as the light. He had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. He stood and measured the earth, he beheld, and drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow. His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

Was the Lord displeased against the ridders? Was thine anger against the ridders? Was thy wrath against the sea that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Thy bear was made quite naked according to the oaths of the tribes. Even thy word, thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw thee, and they trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered his voice and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. At the light of thine arrows they went. and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

Thou didst march through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Thou runnest forth for the salvation of thy people, even the salvation with thine anointed. Thou runnest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Thou didst strike through with his staves, the head of his villages.

They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters. When I heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones And I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hind feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instrument. And then turning over to Matthew 11 and verse 16, a few verses here, Jesus speaking, “‘But whereunto shall I liken this generation,’ Matthew 11, 16, “‘it is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced. We have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he hath the devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.

But wisdom is justified of her children. Our God, we have given ourselves in our gifts this morning, and we give ourselves again now as we give our attention to your word. Help us, our Father, that we might be attentive to our good. And even as we are profited, may we be a source of profit to others. Therefore, Lord, may we help them to hear. We ask this, O God, in Christ’s name. Amen. There has been movement. There has been movement in the Prophet Habakkuk. Movement of the most profound sort.

For Habakkuk is now a changed man. different in the third chapter of his prophecy from what he has been in the first two chapters. One way to see this change in the man is by looking at the eighth verse of that third chapter. is Habakkuk’s praise-filled prayer that explodes upon us following the crushing spiritual ordeal through which he has been brought in chapters one and two. And this prayer in chapter three is comprised of four sections. First, in verse two, the prophet confession and petition. The Prophet himself now overcome with abject humility as he prostrates himself before God, he becoming limp because of his fear, trembling before the Lord. but at the same time giving expression to his great confidence and faith in making intercession, in uttering petition not for himself, but for God’s people, for Israel. The second part is verses three through seven, and here is the prophet’s rhapsody on the coming of God. The vision that he has with respect to the coming of God overwhelms him, and in this rhapsody he draws language from the stories of God’s previous invasions of the plane of history. those invasions, particularly in the Exodus under Moses and its aftermath, giving perspective then on the current crisis for Judea, since Judea is presently threatened with the invasion from the Chaldeans, the Babylonians.

But as Habakkuk has learned, And as it’s expressed in verses three through seven of that third chapter, it is not the coming of the Chaldeans that he needs fear. As awesome and as horrible as that may be, but rather the coming of God. Jesus said it this way six hundred years later. Do not fear those who kill the body and not the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

At the same time, Habakkuk’s tone in verses three through seven is filled with faith and expectation. It’s as if he is actually welcoming the coming of God, as awesome a thing as that is. He is welcoming the coming of God, and looks toward it with faith and with expectation, reminding us also of Jesus’ instruction to his disciples with regard to their prayer, as they with faith and with expectation are to pray to their Heavenly Father, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. in earth as it is in heaven. What is it about our prayers, what is it about your prayers, that you can actually consider the awesomeness of the coming of God and simultaneously welcome that coming? It is only if you have faith, as described in scripture, that you can be involved in such prayers.

The third and fourth part of the prayer in chapter 3 appears now, appear in verses 8 through 15, and 16 through 19 respectively. This last part, verses 16-19, is Habakkuk’s matchless declaration of his fealty to his God and to his Lord. We will be getting to those verses in future messages, but this morning we are interested in the third part of the prayer, verses 8-15. Now, I said at the beginning of this message that verse 8, which begins this third part of the prayer, provides us with an angle of vision on the change that has overtaken the prophet. Well, notice the form this verse takes.

It is a question, a rather extended question. Did the Lord rage against the rivers? or was thy anger against the rivers, or was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride on thy horses on the chariots of salvation?” Now admittedly, this is a rhetorical question, but a question nonetheless. And you might not think anything of it if it had not been that Habakkuk had peppered his previous approaches to God with questions. Look at them. Those previous approaches are like a litany made up of questions.

In his first approach to God, verses two through four of the first chapter, we find questions at the head of both verse two and three. How long, O Lord, will I call for help? and thou wilt not hear,” verse 2, followed by, “…thou dost not make me to see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness,” verse 3. But now drop down to Habakkuk’s second approach to God, beginning in the twelfth verse of that first chapter. Once more, we start out with a question. Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One?

This question may well appear innocuous and rhetorical by itself, but it must be read in the light of what follows. Habakkuk asks two crucial questions in verse 13. First, why dost thou look with savor on those who deal treacherously? Followed by Habakkuk’s most revealing of questions, Why art thou silent when the wicked swear off those more righteous than they?

But the prophet isn’t done yet. In verse 14 of that first chapter, he asks once more, Why hast thou made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things, without a ruler over them? And finally in verse 17, Were all the Chaldeans therefore empty their net, and continually slay the nations without sparing?

To say the least, Habakkuk has been a man full of questions. But as such, he is not the child, whose constant stream of questions are mere puffs of innocent But neither is he a humble seeker, whose questions rise from sincere curiosity. Instead, these questions are honed. They are sharpened like the edge of a knife. This is not to say that Habakkuk is devoid of a certain form of piety, or even devoid of faith altogether. Nevertheless, his questions cut.

They contain accusation against God. And as Habakkuk mouths them, They set Habakkuk in the role of the adversary. You see, as Habakkuk asks those questions in the first chapter, it is as if God were on trial, and Habakkuk were the prosecuting a turn. But that was the way of it in chapter one. We have said, however, that Habakkuk now is a changed man. In chapter three His role is reversed.

He is no longer, by his question, attacking and prosecuting God. Rather, by his question, he is defending God. Habakkuk’s new line of interrogation is therefore designed to set up the presentation of the world’s intention in the revelation of his wrath and indignation upon the earth. And that is the salvation of his people, even the rescue of his anointed. At the expense of the vanquishing of the power of the house of evil, which arises pass over that thirteenth verse of the third chapter. Habakkuk, therefore, is no longer the ones of God that he explains his ways to him. Rather, Habakkuk, by his prayer, shows that he stands ready to explain God’s ways to God’s people, and even to the world. Still, there is something more to Habakkuk’s questions in that first chapter. That the man’s the change for Habakkuk if he is to stand with God.

What I have in mind lies along these lines. There is something in this man’s disposition that defies satisfaction. As he is in chapter one, there is something operative in him that defies satisfaction. In his first approach to God, verses two through four of that first chapter, Habakkuk complains because God has not acted. But then in his second approach, beginning in the twelfth verse, he complains bitterly because God has told him that he’s about to act. in his present condition, there, in chapter one. Not only will nothing suit the man, nothing can suit the man.

Do you wonder about the roots of bitterness in yourself? If you are susceptible to something within you, that defies satisfaction? Is the truth about you that you never will be satisfied, regardless of what God does? But why is it true? Why is it true that Habakkuk, this man, is one who has within him something that defies satisfaction? Because he is afflicted by an inner deep-seated perversity. Though he is a Jew, though he is a believer, though he is a prophet, though he is a priest in God’s house, he is afflicted by an inner deep-seated perversity. And what is the nature of this perversity?

Well, do you remember that I called Habakkuk’s last question in chapter 1, verse 13, his most revealing question of all? That question posited Jewish moral superiority over the Chaldeans. and at the same time exposed Habakkuk’s quantitative view of righteousness. We, and I, are more righteous than they. Therefore, Lord, you can’t destroy us. In fact, if we suffer in any way, it’s unfair.

The liability of this position is that it can never know satisfaction, because in confidently asserting its own inherent superiority, it cannot tolerate any real or perceived injury. It makes no sense. How can I be in this position? How can I be in this situation?

Well, I’m more righteous than they are, therefore these sorts of things should not be happening to me. There’s injustice abounding in Judea. Why should I be constrained to look upon this wickedness? a reflection on Habakkuk’s own personal estimation. He’s even more righteous than his fellow Judeans. This disposition can never know satisfaction because and confidently asserting its own inherent superiority, it cannot tolerate any real or perceived injury. It cannot tolerate any real or perceived injustice.

But what are you going to do? Life is full of real and perceived injuries and injustices. How are you then going to live? How are you going to face existence if not with an increasing mountain of bitterness within you? I have been wronged. I have been done wrong. I have been cheated. I have been dealt with unfairly. I don’t deserve this sickness. These circumstances are unfair to me personally. Why? Because in that I don’t deserve them, I am superior. Now, of course, you can turn this into a racial and gender thing. Need we talk about that?

Since life is full of real and perceived injuries and injustice, there can be no satisfaction. And since God, yes, for those who have faith, either stands idly by while these injustices and injuries are compounded for me, and actually is guilty of perpetrating them himself, then in the end we can’t even be satisfied with God. He is the enemy.

If left unchecked, God knows how great is mercy. If left unchecked, this attitude leads to a generation described by Jesus, which wanted the austere John the Baptist to dance to their flute. and the gregarious Jesus to mourn to their dirge.” Such a generation will never justify the wisdom of the kingdom of God. If left unchecked, God knows, O how great his mercy, that such an attitude leads to a religious position among men and women, boys and girls, incapable of understanding the gospel.

Incapable. that the just shall live by faith in the sovereign saving activity of God. Contrary to that gospel is the one that asserts its own righteousness on the basis of an imagined superior standard. Those who are of the gospel and love the gospel know that they will never be satisfied except in Christ, who is the very righteousness of God given to us as a gift.

God would not have Habakkuk come to him in the last day with an attitude that stands contrary to the gospel. God would not have you come to him in the last day with an attitude that stands contrary to the gospel. He would not have you to complain about the injustice of his dealings with you on that And to that end, he even presently, as he did with Habakkuk, causes you to look upon the wickedness, causes you to look upon the injustice and the injury. To that end, he allows Chaldeans, Babylonians, whoever, to overrun the world. He even permits you to be swallowed up by the contemptuous.

That in the trial of your faith, which is more precious than gold, you with Habakkuk may put all your questions to rest, while you rest in Jesus your Savior, who for your sake completely and quietly rested in his father’s care. Do you note the difference? Not just as you move from Habakkuk 1 to Habakkuk 3. But as you move from the Old Testament to the New, where are the questions like those that Habakkuk uttered in chapter 1 in the New Testament? They’re not there. They’re not there. and they are not to be in you.

Our Father help us, for we may feel that we are a long way from the conclusion of the matter as opened up for us in Habakkuk 3. And it is true, Lord, we struggle. Our emotions run high. Even our prejudices are supercharged. that in the final analysis we are compelled to look at you and we pray father that you will take from us that seed of bitterness that may well grow into a full-blown tree even into a forest because we are offended by you and your actions we even resent the fact that you have made us as we are. Lord instead, may we know the quiet repose in the faithful and wonderful embrace of our Savior God, and may we rest in you to the full satisfaction of our souls, even as we live beneath the ark of your sovereignty. 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.