The Justice of God That Compels Us to Live by Faith

Habakkuk 2:2-20 - Riley Boggs

I wondered why the Lord allowed me to choose this book to go through, but as I study it more and more, I think I’m starting to see.

This morning we look at what God says in response to Habakkuk’s second complaint. As a reminder, let me set the context of what we are about to look at. Habakkuk was a prophet of Israel. It was his job, or role, to listen to what God says to him and then communicate it to Israel, who was at this time God’s people. More specifically, he is in Judah, Israel’s southern kingdom. As he is doing this, he begins to see increasing corruption among the people. He sees that people aren’t listening to what he has to say, even though it is from God, and they are supposed to be followers of the one true God. People aren’t seeking God, aren’t obeying the law, and sin is running rampant. Not only that, but the wicked people in Judah aren’t being punished. Instead, they are prospering. 

  All this bothers Habakkuk. He doesn’t understand why God isn’t doing anything about the situation, or so it seems. So he turns to God and makes a complaint about what is happening, and that is where this book begins. In verses 1-4 of chapter 1 he cries out to God and asks why He is being inactive. He wants to know why God is allowing this to happen. He wants to know how much longer this is going to go on. He wants to know what to do. It is a cry for an answer, for help, for justice.

And so God responds in chapter 1 verses 5-11. He says that he sees the situation and He is not being inactive. Instead he is bringing about a great plan. A plan so great that Habakkuk cannot know it all, and so he only tells him part of it. He tells him that He is going to raise up a surrounding nation, the Chaldeans, also known as the Babylonians. He’s going to raise them up to bring justice in Judah. He describes them as an evil, violent, and strong nation. And they are going to come to Judah and do what must be done.

Habakkuk hears this and perplexed. So in verses 12-17 of chapter 1, and the first verse of chapter 2, he responds and says how can you do this? How can a Holy God use such a terrible people, even more terrible than the wicked people in Judah, to bring about justice? Habakkuk thinks there must be a better way than this. Can’t there be another way to judge Judah than to allow the horrible Babylonians prosper through this? He is bothered. It doesn’t make any sense to him. And yet, at the end of this second complaint he says this in verse 1 of chapter 2. “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.”

In other words, he says none of this makes sense, but I will trust your word. He commits to not responding with another complaint, but resolves to only listen. And it is there that we pick up this morning, in the response that God gives. And there are 2 parts do this response from God. The first is in verses 2-5, and the second in verses 6-20. In the first section God tells Habakkuk to write all this down and make it clear, so that anyone who reads it will understand. And then tells those who follow God, the true remnant in Judah, what they must do to live. And second, God tells Habakkuk what will happen to the Babylonians in the end. So this morning, we’ll look at each section, apply it to us, and then I’ll make a concluding point at the end.

1.) What Must We Do? Live by Faith (vv.2-5)

First, God tells Habakkuk what those in Judah, who do who follow God, must do. I mean, imagine the circumstances for yourselves. Imagine you and your family are seeking to follow God in Judah at this time. You are listening to the prophets and trying to obey to the law. And then you learn, that because of the wickedness of those in your nation, judgement is coming. The violent Babylonians are coming to bring about judgement. What do you do?

God makes it abundantly clear in verse 4. For those of you who are desire what righteous, live by faith. He says that I know the Babylonians are wicked, I know they do what is wrong, and I know it might be hard to make sense of. But I am not calling you, my people, to make sense of everything. I am calling you to live by faith. Believe what I have said. Believe the promise.

What is the promise? If you will turn to Genesis 15 with me, and see what God tells Abraham in Genesis 15. Before I read this, as a reminder. Abraham is the father of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob. And it is Jacob is who God will go on to rename Israel, and that is where we get the nation of Israel. What we’re about to read is the promise, or covenant, that God made with Abraham, which in turn is a promise to Israel. A very important piece to understanding how the Bible works together as a whole.

God says to Abraham, “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram (that’s Abraham) in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son[b] shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Okay, how does this relate? Well look at what God says to Habakkuk here in verse 4 and what He says to Abraham in verse 6 of Genesis 15. God says, if you believe, if you have faith, you will be counted as righteous. It is by faith. And so he is calling on those who are following God in Judah to remember the promise made to Abraham. He wants them to live by faith, believe the promise. Trust God, despite the circumstances. 

God is not saying that if you do enough, if you work hard enough, if you obey me enough, if you whatever enough you will be counted as righteous. No. It is simply “have faith”. If you have faith, you will be counted as righteous, and you will live. And it isn’t even your faith that makes you righteous, but it’s God. Faith is simply the channel by which God will count them, and you, as righteous, and cause you to live. The righteous shall live by faith. 

So what God is saying in all of this is that he is using the wicked Babylonians to purge the evil out of Judah. And so for those who believe the promise, it’s time to cling to it tightly. Because hard days are ahead. God is saying that there is going to be violence all around, but know that I am simply using these evil people to bring about a greater good. Those of you I have counted as righteous, have faith.

Church, the same is true for us. In a world of sin, brokenness, and things that don’t make sense, you have only been called to have faith. To believe the promise, and to trust in the God who saved you. And your righteousness is not contingent on whether or not your faith is always strong. God knows you will struggle and doubt and all of that. But you have been counted as righteous not by your faith, but through your faith, by God. And what God calls righteous, is righteous forever. And we must cling to this, and live by faith. 

God is going to use things in your life that you don’t understand, can’t make sense of, and at times it may even seem like God is doing something He shouldn’t. But that is a lie from the enemy. He loves you, He loves those whom Christ bled and died for so that they be counted as righteous. And He has given you a faith so that you may believe the promise, despite what everything around you and the enemy might try to convince you of.

Now that was only 4 verses. So what about the rest of chapter 2. From here he flips the conversation to reminder Habakkuk, and God’s people through Habakkuk, what will happen to evil Babylonians in the end. We’ll move through this section a bit quicker as well.

2.) What Has God Promised to Do? Bring about Justice (vv.6-20)

Don’t you hate when liars and cheaters win? It’s the worst. Even more than that, don’t you hate it when those who do evil don’t get punished, or even worse they are boastful about the evil they did? That is part of complaint that Habakkuk makes in verse 17 of chapter 1 when he says, “Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?” That is to say, are you going to let the Babylonians get away with this?

God answers in these verses and says definitively, no. They will not get away with this. I put verse 5 with the previous point, but it could go with this one as well. It sort of serves as a bridge between God’s disposition towards the righteous vs the Babylonians. In verse 5 he calls them describes there wickedness, and then moves to the rest of his answer where he gives 5 different “woes”. You’ll see them in the text as we go. A “woe” is what is often used in prophesies regarding judgement. God is essentially giving 5 ironic truths about what will happen to these evil people after he uses them for His purpose. And as a side note, each of these are true of the Babylonians, and they are true for those who do evil things in our world today. So let’s briefly look at these and then make apply it.

Woe #1, The Plunderers Plundered (vv.6-8)

They take things that aren’t there’s by force. Through violence they acquire more and more. But, one day all that they have will be taken. The plunderers will be themselves plundered. This one might not feel as personally applicable to us, as we haven’t lived in a war-torn country where this is the case. I think the others will start to feel closer to home.

Woe #2, The Exploiters Condemned (vv.9-11)

They exploit others for their own personal gain. By dishonesty and other evil practices, they prosper. All so that they can “set their nest on high” and “be safe from the reach of harm”. Ironically, in doing so they have forfeited their life. They can hoard up all the resources that can ever attain, and it will not be enough for them to escape the judgment of God.

Woe #3, The Famous Forgotten (vv.12-14)

They build cities stamped with their name so that they may be known as the greatest nation ever. And yet, their glory will be long forgotten in the end. Only the glory of the Lord will stand the test of time. All those who, by evil ways, try to create a legacy for themselves that will last forever, will be forgotten in time.

Woe #4, The Shameless Shamed (vv.15-17)

Those who do things that cause others shame, or boast about horrible things they do, will one day be shamed themselves. God will bring shame on them for all the ways they have hurt others and disobeyed Him.

Woe #5, The Idolaters Silenced (vv.18-20)

Those who make idols and put their hope and trust in them, will one day find themselves speechless before the one true God. They will realize that they have been calling for the worship of things made with their own hands, when they should have been worshipping the one true God.

So what’s the point of all of this? Why does God go through all of these things to respond to Habakkuk’s question. There are 2 reasons why I think He does this. 

1.) God’s Justice Is Sure

I’m not sure how great of an understanding of judgement we have. I know for myself I didn’t have a great understanding, and maybe still don’t, until the last few years. I used to think that God’s Judgement wasn’t a good thing, but a necessary thing that God had to do because of disobedience. That’s a wrong way to think about justice and judgement. Think of it this way.

The Holy Eternal God who needed nothing, created a world from nothing. In this world, he created man and woman, and gave them a command and told them what would happen if they disobeyed the command. And in His own creation, which He had no obligation to create, a man and woman who has walked with the eternal God in the garden, disobeyed the command. Now, every single human born has a sinful nature. A nature that is presupposed to disobeying God.

But God, in His great kindness, made promises and covenants with a people to bring redemption again. To restore the original relationship. And so He does, by His own Son. He sends the Son of God, who never sinned and fulfilled the law, to be slain by the people God Himself created. They killed Him and He bore the sins and wrath of God. And then He resurrected and sits at the right hand of the Father.

And now, all one must do is repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ, and they can be made right with God. They can go back to what it was supposed to be like, before sin. But instead of doing this. Instead of partaking of the greatest thing ever, they choose sin. They choose to plunder others, to exploit others, to build up temporal things, to elevate their own name above God’s, and even go as far to worship human created idols that do nothing. 

There has to be justice. Justice for the sins and refusal to repent to God. Justice for all the sins they have committed against other people. There has to be judgement if God is to eradicate sin once and for all, and He has to. And it is good that He does, because He is the Holy Creator of everything.

God’s judgment over all of this is sure. It’s going to happen; He promised it would happen. And the very fact that He continues to wait while more and more people sin against Him is only a testament to the great patience and kindness of God, not a sign that justice may not come.

Alright, this is really where I want you to hear why I think the Lord has given us this text. There hasn’t been a lot of application until now, but it was necessary to work through all the text first. But now I want you to be able to take this text and apply in the way that Habakkuk, and the believers who have heard this account for thousands of years, have applied it. And that is by remembering this…

2.) The Sure Justice of God Should Compel Us to Live by Faith

Hear me say this. The reason Habakkuk was struggling to have faith is because the evil people seemed to be winning, and God seemed to be doing nothing. And after God’s first response, it even seemed like God was going to allow even more to prosper. But this is what God is saying in return.

He is saying that He will make all wrongs right, and He will keep His people until the end. There is not one single act of injustice in all of history that God has not seen. There is not one slanderous comment He has not heard. He knows all, and He is going to bring about justice for His people. For those of you who have been taken advantage of by evil people, God is going to make it right. For those of you have been cheated, lied to, manipulated, and harmed, God is going to make it right. When you read headlines of horrific tragedies, know that God is going to make it right. He is going to. 

And you have to remember this, you have to. Because you live in a world where evil is rampant, and you are going to be threatened, worried, and even harmed by them. Whether that is by word or deed, it’s going to happen. And the struggle is that when you are in the depths of that, you have to have faith, because the righteous live by faith.

The author of Hebrews takes up this exact point in Hebrews 10. Listen to this… Hebrews 10: 30-39, “30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

When everything around you says to shrink back, stand firm and have faith. Believe the things of God. Believe that He will bring about justice, because He will. Those who followed God in Judah had to believe this, because the Babylonians were coming. They needed something to compel them to have faith in the midst of this, and so God reminded them of His sure judgement.

And so to you here today. I want to do the same. In the midst of whatever is going on in your life, know that God is going to make everything right one day. All sins, tears, sadness, anger, and everything else will be gone for you, if you are in Christ. Keep going. He will protect you and keep you, and He will bring about justice on your behalf. Just continue to live by faith.

For those who do live by faith, we have another reminder to help us press on in the Lord’s supper. A meal that reminds of what was done and points us to what will be. A meal that reminds us of the sacrifice Christ made for us so that we may have eternal life, and points to the marriage supper of the Lamb we will have when all things have been made right.