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Habakkuk chapter three is where we’re going this morning, and focusing on God making all things new is important for this chapter, because this song is a song of praise that Habakkuk is about to sing before the Lord. And the reason he’s singing this song of praise is God’s taking him through a journey. And that journey began in a place in his life where he was desperate for God. Israel has lost touch with the goodness of who God is and experiencing his glory in their lives. And so this word Habakkuk is also important. It’s not only the author of who wrote the book of Habakkuk, it also defines what the book of Habakkuk is about. This word Habakkuk means to embrace. Habakkuk is going through a battle to try to experience God in the adversity that he is facing in life. He wants to know that God cares. God’s there. God has a plan. God loves him and God’s going to see him through. And the Bible reflects to us constantly in passages of Scripture that especially in James chapter four and verse eight, if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us that in fact it’s not. It’s not God turning his back from us, or God running away from us. It is. It is us as people who choose to to walk contrary to the Lord that God is making himself available in our lives. If we would just cling to the glory of who he is.
And this is a. This chapter is a discovery of God making things new in our hearts, embracing the glory of who God is, and walking in that experientially in our relationship with him. When Habakkuk starts Habakkuk chapter one or chapter three, excuse me, and verse one, he starts this section, uh, acknowledging to us that this indeed is is a a prayer. It is a song. It is something habakkuk’s rejoicing over before the Lord. In fact, when you look in verse 19, it reflects the same thing. The end and the beginning of this chapter shows that Habakkuk is singing this praise before God. This is a song of rejoicing in what God has brought to Him and his experience of adversity before the Lord. And it says in verse one a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigenori, that’s how you can just say that right there. Uh, Lord, I have heard the report about you and I, and I fear this word for fear also means I am in all. Oh, Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years. Make it known in wrath. Remember mercy. When Habakkuk makes this, this word, whatever you want to call that this morning, I’ll tell you that commentaries have no idea what that means. They take their best guess at it. They say it relates to music and that Habakkuk is writing a psalm here, a song of a psalm of worship or a song of worship.
And so their best guess is this is either the type of psalm Habakkuk is writing, or this is some sort of instrument related to the song in which they’re there to sing this in praise to God. And the crux of what he’s saying, and his desire and what he’s experienced in the Lord, is that God, in verse two would remember mercy in the midst of the wrath. If you were to recap what Habakkuk has experienced in the first couple of chapters as it relates to God back, it comes to God and says, God, what are you going to do about all this corruption we’re seeing within the nation of Israel? And God says, well, I’m going to stop it. And Habakkuk says, oh, you’re stopping. And God responds, yeah, I’m going to stop it. I’m going to bring in the Babylonians to stop you guys from living contrary to me. And then Habakkuk question then, then Is God well, do you even care about me? Do you care about your people, your covenant people? And and God’s response we see in chapter two is, yes, I’m offering you grace and discipline. Against those who oppose you in chapter two, specifically in verses four and 14 and 20, as God brings his judgments, pronouncement of judgment against the Babylonians, God’s also delivering to Habakkuk his desire to bring his covenant people back to his glory.
He’s using what Babylon brings to this nation as a tool of discipline. Because. They are his covenant people. God is teaching Habakkuk the difference between. Wrath and discipline. It’s an important point for all of us to recognize. In fact, Scripture shares much about this idea of God’s discipline and God’s wrath. And in Ephesians chapter two, it says this, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, and we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God being rich in mercy because of his great love, which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And raise us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. See we could approach in our lives often this text. Similar to the life of Habakkuk. In the midst of adversity, in the midst of hardship that you face and difficult circumstances, you just want to know God is there. God cares. And to experience his glory. And sometimes in the adversity that you face, it brings you to a place where you ask the question, God, God, do you even love me? And do you care? And we’ve reflected on in previous weeks how the goodness of God is shown forth in his justice and in his wrath.
And it’s important for all of us to even acknowledge, as it says in Ephesians, that every one of us belongs under God’s wrath, because in comparison to who God is, we we are not holy. We are not perfect. We are imperfect. We are sinful. We are contrary to what his kingdom represents. We in that sense, we stand in opposition to who God is. None of us can relate or compare to God. God’s also gracious. And God’s also merciful. And in the midst of God’s grace and God’s mercy, we as people find find hope in who God is. And Ephesians two explains that to us that we were by nature children of wrath, contrary to the kingdom of God, who is so good. Yet in his grace he has extended mercy to us that we may experience the goodness of who he is. Let me let me just distinguish in our minds just really what the difference is between mercy and grace. Because in chapter two we see his grace. In chapter three he’s playing on his mercy. More so here because I think it’s prevalent into God’s judgment. But mercy is God withholding what we deserve. It’s God holding back his wrath and grace is then God giving to us beyond what we deserve.
It’s as if it’s as if your bank account is negative. God. God puts it at zero in his mercy. He’s not bringing his wrath, but then he brings the goodness of who he is and giving his grace. He lavishes on you the beauty of who Christ is. You now belong to him. His kingdom is is yours. And so God, bringing us his mercy and bringing us his grace, Habakkuk is holding on to that in the midst of the opposition he faces, because in that he sees the love of God wrapping itself around him. There’s a difference between wrath. Indiscipline. Roth casts away. Discipline looks to restore. Roth requires payment for sin, while while discipline corrects to protect and bless. Punishment focuses and Roth focuses on past sin, where discipline, while still dealing with sin, looks to the future and blessing. And it’s under this statement, this understanding of who God is, that now Habakkuk begins to sing his song of praise, because he has seen in the midst of what his nation is doing and what Babylon is bringing against them, that God loves them, and his pursuit is still for his people to restore them, to experience and enjoy his grace and glory. In fact, it said that. Verse four of chapter two. The just will live by faith. In verse 14 that God’s glory is going throughout the earth. And in verse 20, the opportunity to stand before such a king.
It is important in our lives to not only acknowledge what God does. But the nature of who he is. So we see very readily in our lives who or what God has done for us, and we proclaim it here regularly every time we open up God’s Word, what God does for us. But all of that, all of what God does, is wrapped in the nature of who he is. And when we connect that, we see the radiance of God’s glory in our lives. Uh, John Calvin said it like this Christ was given to us by God’s generosity to be grasped and possessed by us in the faith. By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace. What Calvin is saying is there is this grace of God that is extended to all of us because all of us, as Ephesians two says, we rest under the wrath of God. He’s holy. He is good. When God has given us today. And that’s an extension of his grace. He is indebted to. No one owes no one anything. But on top of that, not only has he given us the mercy of today. He’s doubled up on his grace and given us opportunity to experience him through eternity. In the goodness of who he is. And his mercy and grace. A.w. Tozer said it this way I want the presence of God himself. I don’t want anything at all to do with religion.
I want all that God has or I do not want any. What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will. When Habakkuk experiences this grace of God in the midst of his people have turned their backs on God. It says in verse two again, Lord, I have heard the report about you, and I am in awe or I fear. Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years. Make it known in wrath. Remember your mercy. God, I am in all of what you’re doing. How how you orchestrate both your wrath and your grace, both your mercy and your goodness and what you’re doing and and, Lord, I, I’m just standing in all of a God who cares and a God who responds to my cry. And Habakkuk is just experiencing the goodness of who God is. And when you read in Scripture how this happens, individuals who experience the goodness of God are captivated by God’s glory. So much so that outwardly it’s expressed in the experience they have before God. Let me just read these thoughts when when Moses experienced God on Mount Sinai, it tells us that he trembled as God gave the law. When Joshua experienced God and Joshua chapter five, he fell face down before the Lord, and so did David.
In first Chronicles chapter 21, Daniel became exhausted and ill after seeing the vision of God that God gave to him. In Daniel chapter eight and in chapter ten, Peter, James, and John at the Mount of Transfiguration, before Christ fell face down on the ground, and all of who God was. When you talk about God’s glory. I can tell you any time, any sermon ever relates to that. It falls grossly short. And in the explanation of the goodness of who God is. But Habakkuk beginning in verse two as he sings the song. Tries to relate to Israel. To all people the importance of recognizing not only what God has done. The goodness of who he is. And as he writes in the passages ahead and talking about the goodness of his God in verses three to verse 15, he explains God in two ways. Verses 3 to 7 he talks about the kingship of God, the rulership of God. Verses 8 to 15 he talks about the warrior that is God, the the authority that is God, and what he’s capable of, and the goodness of who God is. And he and he ties all of this into verse 13, which becomes the pinnacle of his explanation as to why he can sing these praises in such a glorious God, and why he has hope in such a glorious God. As he sings this song, Habakkuk reflects back to an important point in Israel’s history, and that is when Israel is released from bondage in Egypt as slaves.
Why? Because Habakkuk is tying the glory of who God is to the people of Israel, and the way that they can relate it in the circumstances that they’re about to endure. Israel was once taken captive and Israel was once set free. And as he sings this song to the nation of Israel and the glory of God’s goodness, he knows that Israel is about to be taken captive again. And his hope is on a God who will allow them to experience the freedom that relates within him. So all of that is important to us. Because in the end, as we sing Habakkuk, sing this song before the people of Israel, we’re going to ask the question, so what? I mean, that’s good that they’ve experienced God’s glory, but what does that have to do with me? But it’s important for every generation to find the significance of God’s glory and how it relates to us in life. And so this song is the way Habakkuk ties it into his culture, so that the people can rejoice over the goodness of who God is. And I’m going to tell you, when you look at these passages of Scripture, I get excited when I read them. When I used to read Old Testament, sometimes I would read verses that Habakkuk is about to have in verses 3 to 15, and it would frustrate me.
But as I began to understand what Hebrew literature was about, it excites me to see who God is. They think it’s it’s somewhat cheap to just say, you know, God’s sovereign. Or God’s. God’s powerful. And instead they they use these poetic analogies related to God to explain the goodness of of who he is. And Habakkuk relates poetically Israel’s exodus out of Egypt to his people today, and how they’re going to experience the goodness of God. And this is the way it comes to us in verse three. God comes from Taman. You know, the typical vacation spot of all of us. We know exactly where that is, right? And the holy mountain and the the Holy One from the Mount of Paran. Selah. What? Well, if you study Israel’s history when they’re coming out of the land of Egypt, they’re going to the land of Canaan, the promised Land. In between this, they have experiences with God around Mount Sinai and beyond. And and these locations are what’s described between Egypt and Canaan. This word Selah is a is a is a word in the Psalms that they don’t know what it means either. Maybe it means a reflective pause. Maybe it means an interlude. Musically, who knows? But it’s a song. And so so whatever is happening here, he makes the statement and just says, think about this. Look, I’m saying something here. I want you to connect back to this God, that we’ve seen his glorious hand.
Whenever you relate to adversity in your life, whenever you’re experiencing hardship in your life, you’re looking for some sort of ground to tie it to God. Can I trust you in these moments? How do I know I can trust you in these moments? Well, it begins by looking at the past. As God demonstrated himself as a God who is trustworthy. When everything looks hard and nothing makes sense. When you need somewhere to rest your feet. Where is God? Habakkuk. Remember when we’re coming out of Egypt. And all of us were afraid, and we were getting frustrated. And Moses and and we thought he was making our lives harder by going before Pharaoh, because Pharaoh, after Moses would go before him, would make our lives harder. And we couldn’t see hope in that. And then God set us free. And then we’re we’re going to the Red sea. By the way, I heard this week that archaeologists found an army buried under the Red sea. And they they’re going before the Red sea. And remember when we had our backs, uh, to to the sea, and we see this army coming to kill us, and and God opens that, and we cross the Red sea, and we get into this place, and the glory of God is just radiating upon us. Do you remember that? Just think about this moment for a minute, and then it says this.
His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. His radiance is like the sunlight. He has raised flashing from his hand. And there is the the hiding of his power. And so Habakkuk is saying, you remember how how God came down on these mountains, and God came down in these places, and even us, we stood in fear of that. And his glory just radiated in that. Remember, remember this King. And before him goes, pestilence and plagues come after him. And no doubt in Egypt, God brought plagues on the people there. But there’s beyond that. Habakkuk is relating still to the kingship of God, because when someone of authority would come into a city or a town, he would be followed by an entourage. And the bigger the entourage, the the more glorious this individual would be. And if a king would come into a land before him, there would be something, and after him there would be something. And in the center was the glory of who he is. And it’s saying, this God is so glorious, so powerful that pestilence and plagues before and after him. He controls it. In verse six he stood and surveyed the earth. He looked and startled the nations. This is Habakkuk’s way of saying, when someone steps foot on the ground, when someone measures a land, he is saying that belongs to him. And Habakkuk is saying. This whole earth.
This whole earth belongs to him. And he looked, and he startled the nations at how he is, declaring over it that it is his authority. And the perpetual mountains were shattered. The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of cushion under distress. The tents, the tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling. Habakkuk’s acknowledging, you know, we look at mountains and we look at hills as if they are these powerful creations, these foundations of the earth. And God is so much more glorious than these that he stands in authority over those, that he can bring them to nothing, because he is the one that has everlasting. You may think these mountains and hills endure, but God withstands and stands beyond all of it. And when the glory of God was seen. And the people of God who was who were walking with him. The individuals that rested in the land between Egypt and Canaan shook. When you think about the stress that is ahead of you. Or when you think about the adversity in which you endure. This is the God who walks with you in all of it. The glory of this God. Radiates. Thinking beyond that. Just as a king, he now shows God as a warrior fighting on behalf of his people. He says, did the Lord rage against the rivers, or was your anger against the rivers, or was your wrath against the sea that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation? Israel is are coming out of Egypt.
God. God cursed in the Nile River and turning it to blood. God. God stopped the river of Jordan so the people would cross. God parted the Red sea. In Israel’s history, there’s correlation to water. Even from the beginning, when God created the earth, it was without form and void. Water was chaotic upon the land and God in that brought forth order. God in that brought forth land, and upon that created man. And the chaos that is, the rivers and the waters that seem to stop people. God comes over it. And just like the Egyptians that were crushed in the Red sea, God on his chariot is able to ride for salvation. Your bow has made bare. The rods of chastisement were sworn. Selah. You cleave the earth with rivers. The the mountains saw you and quake. The the downpour of water swept by the deep uttered forth its voice. It lifted high its hands. There’s a story in judges chapter four and five that says God using water with Barack, uh, defeated enemies of Israel. And in verse 11, Sun and Moon stood in their places. They went away at the light of your arrows, at the radiance of your gleaming spear. When Joshua fights in Joshua chapter ten, it tells us that that God is are coming into the Promised Land as they’re fighting in the land of Canaan, that God holds the sun still so that they can fight in battle.
God has this ability to even control the celestial beyond us. And in verse 12, in indignation you march through the earth. In anger you trampled the nations. God stands for his people. God cares for you. Which is why Habakkuk then ties all of it into verse 13. And the glory and power of this King. Who is a mighty warrior. Habakkuk says. You went forth. The salvation of your people. For the salvation of your anointed. You struck the head of the house of evil to lay him open from thigh to neck. You pierced with his own arrows the head of his thong. Throngs. They stormed in a to scatter us. They their exaltation was like those who devour the oppressed and secret. You trampled on the sea with your horses. On the surge of many waters. God is about. His goodness. And God is about the redemption of his people. Macek says all of this because he wants to praise God. And captivate his people and the glory of God’s grace. Relating this back to the nation of Egypt and how God set him free. And hearing God come back to him in Habakkuk chapter two, and repeat the same covenant promises that he gave to his people from Abraham to Moses, it gives Habakkuk hope in the midst of adversity. What does this have to do with us? What is God’s glory to Habakkuk have to do with us? And and if and if they saw God’s glory in Egypt, they they they they experienced God’s glory through his mercy and grace in the time of Habakkuk.
How how do we experience it today? You know, when it comes to God’s grace, God’s mercy being made known in our lives, I think there’s there’s commonly two responses that we often give and rejection to it. One is this we don’t believe we’re worthy. Or two. We don’t see a need for him. If you don’t believe you’re worthy. I love what Scripture communicates repeatedly to us. The Bible says it’s it’s not you at your worst that God has a problem with. It’s actually you at your best. Because I think it’s us in our best when we think that we we are just great for God. That we began to lose sight. Of how much we need them. You know why you don’t pray. Do you know why you don’t get into God’s Word? Why you don’t pursue him with your life. It’s because at particular points in our lives, we fool ourselves into thinking that we have no need for him. A.w. Tozer said the reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making life a little forward progress is because they have yet to come to the end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders and interfering with God’s work within us.
Matt Chandler and talking about the gospel says, you can tell whether or not a man or woman understands the gospel by watching what they do when they sinned and fall short. If they run from God, they don’t understand. But if they run to him, they get it. Not feeling worthy or seeing a need will cause us to run from God because we don’t understand his nature. God’s pursuit of us. Isn’t because we’re worthy. But rather because we’re unworthy. Gods in pursuit of of his people in their unworthiness, because it is Christ who who sets us free. And so it’s important to then ask the question, how do we get to see God’s glory? How how can we contextualize in our own lives the goodness of God and who he is, that we may praise him the way that Habakkuk is talking about in this passage of Scripture. This past Wednesday, um, started lent. Right. Ash Wednesday. An important period of time 40 days leading up to Easter, in which which the encouragement is to to empty your soul of of filth, to lay it down before God and allow God to fill your soul with the goodness of who he is. How? How do we experience the glory of who God is in that? When you experience it. The result is Habakkuk three. There’s such praise coming out of our being, acknowledgement of who God is. I like the way Habakkuk does it.
I think it’s something that we can relate to as people. He sings a song of praise before God. Something we even find valuable today is we want to relate to our heart the importance of who God is. We love to just sing to God in such a way that that it just. It lights our heart with the goodness of who he is, and it acknowledges and praises Him and His glory. You think in Israel’s history, it’s far different than the way that we often receive God today? In this sense, I don’t think it’s too far off, but but let me just say it in this sense, during the time of Habakkuk, many people were illiterate, right? Uh, this is probably one of the most literate times in history. In American culture, we we we can understand God as we read his words. But during the time of Habakkuk, it was especially important to understand the truths of God, that they sing praise to God. And I would say for us, it’s even important that our soul connects in that way. There’s something about music that helps us connect our soul to God and sing the glory of who he is. Not only that in Israel’s history, but but books were hard to come by. They would have been expensive and difficult to carry around. They were in scrolls, rolled up. And so not only did they have songs that taught them how to how to praise God and acknowledge the truth of who God was, they also had systems of sacrifice that reminded them of the importance of the redemption which God was going to bring in Christ.
You think everything they did was symbolic and representing the goodness of who God was? And sometimes I think there is there is some importance to the way God taught his people of Israel the effects of sin. And the wages of sin being death. We’re far removed from that in our culture today. And you think when you go to the grocery store to get some meat, you have no story behind that animal. I want it in a nice, clean, clear package where I can see it before I purchase it, and my hands do not have to touch it. Please. Israel dealt with death on a regular basis. And there are worship ceremonies reminding them of the effects of sin, but still leaves us with a question how do we experience the glory and goodness of who God is? The Bible tells us it’s available. In John chapter one. In fact, when God started this book through through John, it says this in verse 14, talking about Jesus as the word and the word became flesh. And dwelt among us. And we saw his glory. The glory is the only begotten from the father, full of grace. And truth. Do you want to contextualize the glory of who God is in your life, and experience the grace of God so that you you may experience the glory of God? Here’s here’s where it happens.
It’s Jesus. In fact, everything that took place in the life of the Egyptians through Habakkuk leading, leading into Habakkuk singing this song, all of it was about redemption. You think when Israel’s coming out of the land of Egypt, they they celebrate the Passover, which points to the lamb who would be sacrificed. When Habakkuk is seeing his people going back into captivity again, he goes back to the redemption of God who comes for salvation of his people. In Habakkuk three and verse 13, all of it is pointing to this the glory of God revealed, contextualized to us in the most personal, intimate of ways in Jesus becoming flesh. Why? So that you could experience the glory of who God is to the grace that’s given to you in Christ. It’s something made available to you every day. Because he is still king. And he is still warrior. And he sets upon that throne. One of the beautiful things I think, that happens within history. Uh, put an illustration of it on the back of this. People continued to be, uh, illiteracy continued to be high in history. And to have books, you had to have typically had to have some wealth to do that. And, and so in order to teach the truth of who God was, people began to paint pictures to explain it.
In fact, when you go back in early church history and you find pictures of God, they would paint pictures and they meant they they made the color of the pictures, even tell a truth about who God was so that people could understand the story. And this was a painting or a mosaic. It’s described at Saint Mary’s mosaic that was uncovered in Great Britain in the 1960s. It was made in the three hundreds. That means by this period of time, in 300 years. The goodness of Christ taking place in Jerusalem. By his death on the cross had carried itself hundreds of miles to Great Britain. And people continue to explain the glory of who God is. How do you see it in this picture? It’s a good question. Well, this mosaic is 15 by 17ft. It is enormous. We’ll just say it’s as big as your screen. And in the middle of this picture is is Jesus. And and on the outside of this picture are the four gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And it’s important. It’s saying this. These stories are what helps us to contextualize the beauty of who Christ is, the glory of Christ. How do we know that’s Jesus in the middle? That looks kind of kind of like a funky dude there, right? Well, on the back is, is is is the the hero the first two letters and in Christ’s name, the ch and the r this x for for when you say Merry Christmas that x, it represents the first letter in in Christ’s name.
And then the r is this symbol above Jesus. It’s the representation of Christ and who he is. Why is it important that they did this picture in this way? Well, at this point in Great Britain’s history, the the people that they’re worshiping are the gods of Rome. And when they would design these mosaics, they would design them honoring these false gods. And when they would create these mosaics to these false gods, they would design it in such a way that the focal point, the centerpiece of the mosaic, would be the god that they wanted to honor. And they would recognize in the corners of these paintings that the the glory of this God was represented by the four winds. And here in this passage. Or here in this mosaic, I should say. The story that’s told would shock the people who were learning about the goodness of who God is. It would walk back through or past such a mosaic and they would see rather than a god. That they’re accustomed to. There’s a new god. Who is this that’s taking the place of our false gods? Well, let me tell you the story of the glory of this God who has appeared. Because his glory has radiated in such a way that he’s made it personal for you to experience.
And the challenges that we face as people is one we don’t believe we’re worthy, or two we don’t see a need for him. But but the truth remains that he has done this for you because we are children of wrath. But now in him we get to become children of his grace and experience his glory because of what Christ has done. And this king, this warrior, gives you an opportunity to be a part of his kingdom. How do you know about his glory? It’s not the four winds. These writers have have written for us the glory of who he is in his Scripture, so much so that it tells us. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as the only begotten, full of grace and truth. This is so important, and understanding the glory of God that this became the theme of the writers throughout the New Testament. Listen to this second Corinthians four for all things are for the sakes, so that so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Ephesians one six to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved, in Hebrews chapter two and verse nine. But we do see him who is, who has made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
And first Peter 510 after you have suffered for a little while the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm and strengthen and establish you. In Second Peter and chapter three and verse 18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. All of this book. Is intended for us to pause in our hearts and allow ourselves to be captivated by the glory of such a king. To see how this good king. Brings justice in the earth. And in the goodness of his justice, he offers grace to his people. And as we grab hold of the grace of Christ in our lives, out of the need of who we are in light of who he is. God gives our hearts the opportunity to praise, because in the midst of adversity and in the midst of justice. We find hope and in that we rejoice. How do you experience God’s glory? Everything to do with the relationship with Christ. As you see your need for him.