The Righteous Shall Live By Faith
As we look at the world around us, it is easy to wonder whether justice will ever reign and whether oppression will ever end. It is easy for those who love God to become despondent when we look at all the chaos and wickedness in the world. That was at the root of Habakkuk’s lament to God. Judah was sinful in her ways, completely doing the opposite of what God commanded. Why did God allow that to continue? God’s answer to Habakkuk (Hab. 2:1-5) was that at His appointed time, the wicked will fall and be destroyed but the righteous, because of their faith, will live. I pray that you would have the assurance to know that your faith in the Lord will be rewarded. Amen
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. (Hab. 2:1) After asking his question/registering his complaint to God, Habakkuk waited on God for an answer. Habakkuk began this scripture by saying he would stand watch and wait for the Lord to speak His answer. The picture here is one of Habakkuk standing in the watchtower and watching for the arrival of God’s word so that he would be enlightened as to God’s purpose for using Babylon to punish Israel for her sins.
The LORD’s Answer Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. (Hab. 2:2-3) The Lord’s reply to Habakkuk was to write down the message that He was giving him. In writing it down, Habakkuk was to make sure that the revelation would be understandable to those who read it. The herald is someone who was responsible to shout the news out to people. With the message written on tablets, those who read it would be able to run (make rapid progress). But the fulfillment of God’s promised action (Babylonian conquest of Israel’s southern kingdom; eventual fall of Babylon) would not occur immediately, it would come at a future time that God appointed.
“See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness — indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. (Hab. 2:4-5) God was not blind to the fact that Babylon was even more wicked than Israel. The enemy (Babylon) was prideful, thinking too highly of itself. the king of Babylon believed that he was a god, and conquering Jerusalem made the Babylonians believe that their deities were greater than God. Their prideful attitude fueled them to conquer many nations until they themselves fell and were conquered. But the righteous are the opposite of prideful. They don’t take pride in their own power, they put their faith in God. And because of their faith, the righteous will live and be saved.
Habakkuk’s central question to God was “why would God tolerate evil?”. Habakkuk didn’t understand why God, seeing all of the injustice, conflict, destruction, violence and oppression in Judah didn’t act to restore order. God assured Habakkuk that He was aware to the sinfulness of Judah and that He already had specific plans to use Babylon to discipline her. But Habakkuk then questioned why God would use Babylon, a nation more wicked than Judah, to discipline her? God revealed to Habakkuk that Babylon’s rule over Judah was to be for a period of time. But the wicked (like Babylon) are full of pride, trusting in their own power and because of that they will fall and be destroyed. The righteous, however, will live and be saved because of their faith in God.
As we look around us and wonder why God allows the evil to go on in this world, God’s message to us is the same as to Habakkuk. Evil and wickedness will come to an end and be destroyed at God’s appointed time. But the good news is that those who have right standing with God through faith in the Lord will be saved and live eternally with Him. Yes, God’s plan and message is unchanged… the righteous shall live by faith!
Blessings, Rev. Glenn
