Please turn to the book of Habakkuk, chapter 1, the first five verses.
The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear?
I cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save.
Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and lookest upon perverseness?
For destruction and violence are before me;
And there is strife, and contention riseth up.
Therefore the law is slacked, and justice doth never go forth;
For the wicked doth compass about the righteous;
Therefore justice goeth forth perverted.
Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvellously;
For I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.
Now chapter 2, verses 1 through 5—especially verse 4.
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower,
And will look forth to see what He will speak with me,
And what I shall answer concerning my complaint.
And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets,
That he may run that readeth it.
For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie:
Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.
Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;
But the righteous shall live by his faith.
Then chapter 3, verses 1 and 2.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.
O Lord, I have heard the report of Thee, and am afraid:
O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years;
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
Finally, in the same chapter, verses 17 through 19.
For though the fig tree shall not flourish,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labour of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no food;
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, the Lord, is my strength;
And He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,
And will make me to walk upon my high places.
To the chief musician, on my stringed instruments.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, oh, how we do praise and thank Thee through Thy beloved Son. We are now in Thy presence, and in Thy presence there is fullness of joy and life for evermore. As we come, we ask Thee that Thou wilt open Thy Word to us and make Thy Word life and spirit to us, that Thou mayest be glorified. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
The very name Habakkuk means “embrace,” “strong embrace,” or “the embrace.” We do not know whether that name was given to him by God or whether the prophet took that name for himself. But we do know that this word, in its strictest form, is used both for God and for man.
For instance, in Song of Solomon 2:6 and Song of Solomon 8:3, we find how the Beloved—that is, our Lord—will put His right hand under our head and use His left hand to embrace us.
But the word can also be used of man. In Proverbs 4:8, we are exhorted to embrace wisdom.
In this particular case, probably it is used of man. Here we find the prophet Habakkuk embracing God with the arms of faith in the midst of trials. He held on to God.
It is like Jacob when he wrestled with the angel of the Lord. His thigh was touched, and he was crippled; yet he held on and said, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.”
This is the same thing we find in Habakkuk. He embraced God with arms of love and faith and refused to let God go until he was instructed, blessed, and established.
Martin Luther said that Habakkuk was the prophet who embraced the people of God, took them into his arms, comforted them, and lifted them up before God—comforting them by assuring them that, if God willed, it would soon be better.
So you can apply this both to Habakkuk himself and to his ministry toward the people of God. It was his own experience, as you find in this book; and he also embraced the people of God in that time and sought to comfort them with the assurance that God was with them.
We are not given the genealogy of Habakkuk. We are only told that he is “Habakkuk the prophet.”
Of the twelve minor prophets, even though they are all prophets, only three are especially designated as “the prophet”: Habakkuk, Haggai, and Zechariah. In other words, he was officially placed in the position of prophet by God. He was to be the spokesman of God to His people in that particular period.
From the final verse of the book—“to the chief musician, on my stringed instruments”—some think that Habakkuk was most likely a Levite. In the temple service, it was the Levites who played musical instruments and participated in the music. So evidently, Habakkuk may have participated in temple worship by playing a stringed instrument.
We are not even given the time of his prophecy. But by reading the book itself, I think we can come very close to it.
Most probably—of course, commentators have different ideas—he prophesied during the latter part of King Manasseh, through the two years of Amon, and into the earlier years of King Josiah.
The reason is this: in Habakkuk 1:5, the Lord said, “I work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be declared unto you.” We know that the work God was going to perform was the Chaldean, or Babylonian, invasion.
When God said, “I am going to do this work in your days,” He meant in that generation. The people who heard this prophecy would actually experience that work, though they would not believe it.
Why? Because at that time Assyria, with Nineveh as its capital, was still in power, while Babylon was only beginning to rise. What the remnant of Judah feared was the Assyrians. They feared that Assyria might come again, as it had before. They never thought of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians.
Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC, and this prophecy was before the destruction of Nineveh. Therefore, Habakkuk must have prophesied before Nineveh’s fall and before Babylon rose as the dominant power in the world.
Furthermore, his contemporaries were Zephaniah and Jeremiah. Zephaniah evidently adapted some of Habakkuk’s language. For example, Zephaniah 1:7 says:
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord the Lord.
We find a fuller expression in Habakkuk 2:20:
But the Lord is in His holy temple:
Let all the earth keep silence before Him.
Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah. Jeremiah began his prophecy in the thirteenth year of King Josiah. Therefore, Habakkuk seems to have begun his ministry before Zephaniah and Jeremiah. Zephaniah even prophesied the destruction of Nineveh, which again indicates that Habakkuk prophesied earlier.
Habakkuk also used the language of the earlier prophets—especially Isaiah, perhaps Micah, Deuteronomy, and the Psalms. His prophecy is more in the style of the older prophets than the newer ones. Thus, we tend to believe that he prophesied during the latter part of Manasseh and the earlier part of Josiah’s reign.
He prophesied of the Babylonian, or Chaldean, invasion. Because of the sins of Manasseh, God was determined to judge Judah. Yet Manasseh repented, and Josiah prayed; therefore, God postponed that judgment. The Babylonian invasion did not come until the reign of Jehoiakim. Though it was not immediate, it was not too remote. The work was done in their times, within their years.
The book of Habakkuk is most unusual. It is not strictly a prophetic book in the sense that the whole book consists of message after message directed toward the people.
Rather, Habakkuk is cast in a very dramatic presentation of a conversation between the prophet and God. As you read the book, you find two main speakers: Habakkuk the prophet and God. They are in a colloquy, a conversation, a dialogue. This constitutes the book of Habakkuk, and yet it is a prophetic book.
Of all the prophetic books, Habakkuk is different because it reveals the deep spiritual exercise of the prophet. Some prophets simply prophesied what was going to happen. But Habakkuk had deep exercise over his prophecy. That is most unusual.
The book of Habakkuk has three chapters, and we can clearly divide these chapters with three words:
First there is a burden. Out of that burden, the prophet sees a vision. Then, with that vision, he offers a prayer.
The book begins with “the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.” Why this burden? Where did it come from?
He said it was the burden that he saw. In other words, he saw something. But who made him see it? It was God who made him see it.
Brothers and sisters, things are around us. We may see, and yet we do not see. Things are there, and we cannot say that we do not see them; but strangely, we have not really seen them. They do not create a burden within us.
It was like the days of our Lord. In the outer court of the temple, merchants were selling animals and exchanging money. This had been going on for years and years, and everybody knew about it.
When people went into the temple, they saw these things and took them for granted. Some may even have thought that these arrangements made worship more convenient. Sacrifices had to be without blemish and approved by the priests. If someone brought his own lamb, it might not be approved; so he had to buy one already approved by the priests.
There was buying and selling of sheep and cattle in the temple area, supposedly to make sacrifice easier. There was also money changing because the temple tribute had to be paid in the temple shekel. People coming from foreign countries had to exchange their money into temple currency. It was very convenient because the exchange was right in the temple area.
This had been going on for years. People simply took it for granted. Nobody had a burden about these things. But when our Lord Jesus came into the temple and saw all these things, He was so burdened that He cleansed the temple.
The same was true with the prophet Habakkuk. The nation of Judah at that time was almost in its last days. Its moral and spiritual condition was very low. There was violence, strife, contention, injustice, and perverted judgment. The wicked prevailed over the righteous, and the righteous suffered. The whole society was corrupted.
This had been the situation for some time. People lived under it and saw all these things around them. But here was a man whose eyes God opened—not merely to see with natural human eyes, but to see with the eyes of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, it makes a great difference whether you see things with your natural eyes or with the eyes of God. If you see with God’s eyes, you see very differently.
God caused Habakkuk to see iniquity. It was not that Habakkuk was purposely trying to find fault with his nation. God opened his eyes and caused him to see iniquities. He saw corruption all around him. He saw the righteous suffer and the wicked prevail.
The burden of God came upon him. The burden of God became his burden. God was burdened by the corruption of His people, and He shared this burden with the prophet.
When the prophet saw what God saw, he was distressed. He cried:
O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear?
I cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save.
Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and lookest upon perverseness?
In other words, “Why do You not do something about it?”
God is righteous and holy. When He saw all these iniquities among His own people with His holy eyes and righteous character, would He do nothing? Would He allow these things to continue forever?
When the prophet was burdened with the burden of the Lord, he began to pray: “God, do something. You should not allow these things to continue. You should not let the righteous suffer. You should punish the wicked. You should change the whole situation. Why do You not do it?”
That burden came from the Lord Himself. The Lord was going to do something, but He wanted His people to pray about it.
Strangely, we find the longsuffering of God. Brothers and sisters, when we see something that does not meet our eyes, we want it judged and punished immediately. God has holier eyes than we do. He cannot bear these things, and yet He is longsuffering.
Why? Because He wants to give mercy. He hopes that people will repent. He will judge, but He waits and gives opportunity for repentance.
The prophet was burdened with God’s burden and could not stand it any longer. He cried out, “Now, Lord, do something. Why do You not do something?” He simply could not understand.
In Habakkuk 1:5, God said:
Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvellously;
For I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.
God said, “Yes, I am going to do a work. I am going to raise up the Chaldeans to chastise My own people.”
“You cry out for Me to discipline My people. I will. But I will use the Chaldeans as the rod of My chastisement.” The Chaldeans were very wicked, very bloody, very violent—more wicked, more violent, and more corrupt than the remnant of Judah.
But Habakkuk 1:11 says:
Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall pass over, and be guilty, even he whose might is his god.
God raised up the Chaldeans as His rod of chastisement. God is sovereign. In His sovereignty, He raised them up and used them to correct His own people.
But the king of Babylon, instead of seeing that it was God who raised him up and gave him power to destroy nations, began to think that it was his own power. He passed over the boundary God had set for him.
Instead of acknowledging that he was only a servant of the Lord, used by the Lord as an instrument, he began to worship his own power. He made his power his god. He was proud of himself. That is always the case.
By revealing this to the prophet, God gave him hope. The Chaldeans were more wicked than Judah, yet they had overstepped their boundary and made their power their god. Therefore, the prophet said, “We shall not die.”
If the more wicked are used to punish the less wicked, then perhaps the less wicked will die. But because the more wicked have overstepped their boundary, the prophet knew that Judah would not perish utterly. The Chaldeans were only a rod in God’s hand, used to correct His people.
Still, Habakkuk could not understand why God used the more wicked to punish the less wicked. It did not seem right, and he did not understand why God did not act quickly. God answered his first question, but Habakkuk had a second, more serious question. The prophet was puzzled.
G. Campbell Morgan said that this book is a book of contrasts. It opens with Habakkuk 1:2 and ends with Habakkuk 3:19.
Chapter 1 opens with a question—indeed, with many questions. It is a mystery. Chapter 3 ends with certainty and assurance. It begins with a cry of despair, but it concludes with a shout of confidence.
The secret, the key to this change, is Habakkuk 2:4:
Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;
But the righteous shall live by his faith.
Before we go on, I would like to point out that Habakkuk 1:5 is quoted in the New Testament. The work God would do in their days, which they would not believe, was the raising up of the Chaldeans as His rod of chastisement.
But this verse is quoted in Acts 13:41. Paul, preaching in Antioch of Pisidia, presented the whole counsel of God and the plan of salvation. He told them of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, of how God had made Him the Saviour, and of repentance and remission of sins through Him.
In Habakkuk, the work was the Chaldean invasion—a work of chastisement and correction. But in Acts, when Paul quoted this verse, the work was the first coming of Christ. It was a work of salvation.
This is the way the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God. Thank God, He does a work today. It is also an answer to the question, “Why is there so much wickedness around us?” God says, “I am going to do a work. I am going to forgive your sins through the finished work of Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In chapter 2, because the prophet was puzzled, he said:
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower,
And will look forth to see what He will speak with me,
And what I shall answer concerning my complaint.
Because he did not understand, he went to the tower and waited for God to reveal what it was all about. A prophet is also a watchman.
Then the Lord answered him and said, “Write the vision.” God gave him a vision.
What was the vision? If you read chapter 2, you find that the vision was the destruction of the Chaldeans. Their soul was puffed up; it was not upright. Therefore, God would destroy the rod that He Himself had raised up.
But this vision was for an appointed time. It hastened toward the end and would not lie. Though it tarried, Habakkuk was to wait for it. It would surely come and would not delay. The destruction of Babylon would surely come, but it would come at God’s appointed time.
God does not lie. Eventually Babylon was destroyed by Medo-Persia. That was the vision.
In Habakkuk 2, God proclaimed five woes over the Chaldeans, the Babylonian people and nation.
The first woe, in verses 6 through 8, concerns their ambition. The Chaldeans were full of ambition; they sought to conquer the whole world. That ambition sowed the seed of their destruction.
The second woe, in verses 9 through 11, concerns covetousness. They were greedy and not satisfied with their gains.
The third woe concerns violence—bloodshed. The fourth concerns their insolence: they treated those whom they conquered cruelly and inhumanely. The fifth concerns idolatry: they worshipped their own power as god.
Because of these five things, God would eventually destroy them. This was the vision God gave to the prophet in order to comfort him.
In chapter 2, there are two passages quoted in the New Testament. First, Habakkuk 2:3:
For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie:
Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.
This is quoted in Hebrews 10:37:
For yet a very little while,
He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.
Do you notice that in Habakkuk 2 the pronoun is “it”? The vision hastens to the end; though it tarry, wait for it; it will surely come. In its immediate meaning, the vision concerned the destruction of Babylon.
But when the Holy Spirit quotes it in the New Testament, He changes “it” to “He.” The vision is ultimately a Person. Who is He? Our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Hebrews 10, the writer exhorts God’s people to press on—not to be disappointed or despairing, but to continue in faith and patience, inheriting the promises. Why? Because He is coming back soon.
So this points to the second coming of Christ. Our Lord is coming back soon. Therefore, do not give up hope. Continue on and inherit the promise. He is coming; He will not tarry.
Then Habakkuk 2:4 is also quoted:
Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;
But the righteous shall live by his faith.
This is the message behind the vision. The vision is the destruction of Babylon, but the message is that the wicked will perish and the proud will die. Yet the righteous shall live by faith.
Because of the longsuffering of God, Babylon would not be destroyed immediately. The Babylonian Empire existed for about one hundred years and ruled over the known world of that time. How were the righteous to live through that time? The righteous shall live by faith. That is the only way.
This verse is quoted three times in the New Testament. Romans 1:17 emphasizes the righteous:
But the righteous shall live by faith.
Galatians 3:11 emphasizes faith:
The righteous shall live by faith.
Hebrews 10:38 emphasizes live:
But My righteous one shall live by faith.
This one verse is planted in the Old Testament, and the Holy Spirit uses three New Testament books to develop it. It is a very important principle.
Brothers and sisters, how are we going to live through our times? When we see the wicked prevail and the righteous suffer, we know that God is going to judge—but when? Why does it take so long? How are we to live through such difficult times? By faith. We can only live through by faith.
After the prophet received the burden, he sought the Lord concerning it. The Lord gave him a vision, showing him what God was going to do. Then the prophet responded with a prayer. That is what it should be.
If you have a burden from the Lord, you should seek the Lord about it. The Lord will reveal His mind to you in a vision. When you see the vision, you do not simply sit back. You must respond with prayer.
Thus chapter 3 is a prayer: “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, set to Shigionoth.”
This prayer is a song. In the book of Psalms, there are several psalms also called prayers: Psalm 17 and Psalm 86 are prayers of David; Psalm 90 is the prayer of Moses; Psalm 102 and Psalm 142 are also prayers.
A song may sometimes be a prayer. This psalm is a prayer of Habakkuk. It comes out of a burden and a vision. Brothers and sisters, a prayer that comes out of a burden and a vision is real prayer.
It is set to Shigionoth. We are told that Shigionoth may indicate a musical expression whose root suggests reeling or excited motion. It is a song to be sung with intense and rapid movement.
As a matter of fact, in this entire prayer, only verse 2 is direct prayer. The rest is praise or worship. Of course, praise and worship are the highest forms of prayer.
The prophet prayed:
O Lord, I have heard the report of Thee, and am afraid:
O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years;
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
The prophet heard the report. He heard what God was going to do: God would raise up the Chaldeans to chastise His own people, and God would also punish the Chaldeans. These were fearful reports, and when the prophet heard them, he was afraid.
Yet, although he feared the judgment that would come upon his own people and upon the nations, he was in full sympathy with God. Therefore, he cried, “Revive Thy work in the midst of the years. Do it.”
In spite of how fearful it was, he said, “Do it. Revive Thy work. Do it.” Yet he also prayed, “In wrath remember mercy.”
He knew the wrath of God. He knew that without mercy all would perish and be consumed. Not only the Chaldeans, but the remnant of the Jews also would be consumed, because no one is righteous before God. Therefore, he prayed, “In wrath remember mercy.”
God heard his prayer, because God saved a remnant for Himself.
From Habakkuk 3:3 through verse 16, we have a glorious picture of theophany—the glorious appearing of the Lord. The Lord comes forth in glory, judging and delivering.
Behind these verses is the deliverance of God’s people from Egypt and their entrance into the promised land. The waters were divided. God was not angry with the waters; the passage refers to the Red Sea and to the Jordan River.
God delivered His people. In the promised land, the sun and moon stood still in the days of Joshua, so that the people might inherit the land. God was judging the nations in order to deliver His own people. It is a glorious picture of the mighty hand of God.
The final three verses of Habakkuk 3 are worship. The prophet looked at his circumstances, and they describe the worst circumstances imaginable.
The fig tree does not blossom. There is no fruit in the vines. The labour of the olive fails. The fields yield no food. The flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls.
The fig, grape, olive, food in the field, flock, and herd were the people’s enjoyment and their very sustenance. All these things failed. Everything failed. What do you do when everything fails?
The righteous shall live by faith. When everything fails, Habakkuk says, “I will rejoice in the Lord.” God never fails.
“I will joy in the God of my salvation.” He is my salvation. “The Lord, the Lord, is my strength.” He is my strength. He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and causes me to walk upon my high places. In other words, He enables me to live in the highest place—victoriously.
Brothers and sisters, this is faith. What is faith? Faith is looking away from circumstances. Faith is looking straight at God.
Faith does not look at itself. Faith looks away unto Jesus. When you fix your gaze upon the Lord, you find that He is your Rock, your salvation, your strength, and your victory. That gives you joy in the midst of distress.
The prophet learned that lesson, and he shared it with the people of his time.
Now, brothers and sisters, when we study Habakkuk, do we see the burden?
Habakkuk received a burden for his own people—what would happen to them. He also had a burden concerning the Chaldeans—what would happen to them. Or, to put it another way, he was burdened with the holiness and righteousness of God.
Brothers and sisters, are we burdened today with this burden? When we look at the people of God today, what do we see?
We see the apostasy of the church. We see how the church has fallen from the truth and grace of God. Where is the testimony of Jesus in His church?
Do we see this? Or are we so familiar with the scene that it does not bother us anymore? Are we concerned with the holiness and righteousness of God? Are we burdened with the testimony of Jesus in this world?
Is God going to do anything about it?
Among God’s people, those who love the world and go along with the world seem to prosper. They seem to have a good time. Yet those who want to follow the Lord seem to suffer, despised by those who love the world.
Why does God allow such things to happen to His own people? God is righteous. God is holy. If you follow the Lord faithfully, you should be blessed. Why is it that you suffer?
Why is it that those who deviate from the truth of God prosper in this world, while those who follow the Lord become very small and despised? Where is the holiness and righteousness of God?
Brothers and sisters, how are you going to live through such things? If you do not have faith, you will fail. But the righteous shall live by faith.
One day He is coming. At His coming, at the judgment seat of Christ, everything will be clear. Tears will be wiped away. There will be no scorching sun. He will shepherd His own people. This is our hope.
And if you look at the world, the world is so wicked. Yet it seems to go on and on. People say, “There is no end to it.” It looks like it. Is there no justice? If there is a God, where is He? Is He going to do anything about it?
The world persecutes the church, and God does not seem to hear the cry of the church. Brothers and sisters, wait for His coming.
At the second coming of our Lord Jesus, He will come to judge the world. In His first coming, He came to save; but in His second coming, He is coming to judge. Who can stand that judgment?
So, brothers and sisters, we need to have a burden—a burden for the church and a burden for the world. We need to have a vision, and the vision is the coming of our Lord.
And we need to pray that God will revive His work in the midst of the years. But in wrath, remember mercy.
Lord, give us burden. Show us Thy vision. Give us prayer.
O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of these years. In wrath, remember mercy. In Thy precious name. Amen.