Turn with me in your Bibles: Habakkuk 1 AND just put your finger there.
The Title for this morning’s message is - Habakkuk, America, and the middle east.
Habakkuk is one of the books of the bible that are referred to as the minor prophets, not because of their importance but rather the length or time period over which the prophecy unfolded as opposed say to Jeremiah which is ___ Chapters long.
Lets begin this morning with a little history: The prophecy comes between 609–598 BC. (11 Yr. window)
The reasoning for this date is that during his reign that the Babylonians were growing in power.
• The Babylonians marched against Jerusalem in 598.
• The subject of this prophecy is the impending destruction of Judea and Jerusalem for the sins of the people, by way of a national calamities. This is 1 major way God deals w/ nations calamity.
It would come about by the hand of the Chaldean or Babylonian people. Todays Iraq and Iran.
• The servant of the Lord was deeply afflicted by seeing ungodliness and violence prevail; especially among those who profess the truth
.
• That’s should be the norm of a true believer –Noah, Lot, David, Jeremiah, John the Baptist.
Habakkuk’s cry to Judah and Jerusalem was meant so they would notice the calamity among the nations by the Chaldean people, and they were to consider themselves a nation about to be scourged by them.
God uses the wicked to chasten the wayard! Pharoah, Nebuchadnezzer are just 2 examples of that.
But its clear from History that they didn’t heed the prophets warning:
Because most of Judah and Jerusalem presume on continued prosperity, or that calamities would not come in their days. (Sound at all familiar)
Jeremiah points that out in Jeremiah 5:21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
The Psalmist repeats that in Psa. 135:16-17 ; They have eyes, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear.
In Mark 8:18 Jesus even shows that this can be among those that follow him, a slowness to hear or understand. - Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember?
As in the days when Lot dwelled in Sodom with his family – The stench of the peoples sin had come up before God, as a testimony against them.
Just scant years earlier the prophet Jeremiah began to call out the imminent destruction of Judah and Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 51:9b ( National accumulation of sin, or sinfulness)
for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.'
Rev. 18:5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
It’s not only individuals, but whole nations that will stand in judgment one day before the Lord.
• Before we get into the heart of this mornings text and message let me just share one passage of scripture that shows specific gross sins that God says he will judge a nation for.
Leviticus 18:20-25
20 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her. ( Adultery)
21 “‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Moleck, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. ( pedofilia, child porn, abortion)
22 “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. ( homosexuality)
23 “‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. ( Beastiality)
HERE IS HOW GOD SAID HE DEALT WITH THE NATIONS)
24 “‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. 25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
Habakkuk is an interesting book – The first two chapters is a dialogue between the prophet & Yahweh.
• But the 3rd chapter interjects a critical theme, because while we may live in an increasingly corrupt nation we are still individuals and we will stand before God as individuals.
Hence a key theme makes its way into the book in Chapter 3 “ The Just shall live by faith.”
• There, after pronouncing the impending judgment and destruction on the land by God the prophet utters a profound truth, that even though the nation will be judged he will trust and believes God for the end result.
16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Lets begin with our text this morning - Turn with me to Habakkuk 1
1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
And notice in the NIV it the heading is described as Habakkuk’s Complaint!
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!,” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
As we start let me remind you of this about scripture and in particular prophesy, it is both historic as in some of the events have taken place, but it is also often both historic and a prophetic look forward to another day and time
.
And one more thing – It has universal application meaning if it was true for Israel then the cruxct of it is true for all peoples and all nations, unless specifically stated by God to be only Israel. By that I mean that certain truths are only for Israel such as the Messiah would come from the Jew, but truths about sin, and a nations rejection of God are true of all nations.
So lets look at the prophets complaint - IN REGARDS TO ISRAEL TODAY!
1. How long must I call for help, but you do not listen. – Remember that Israel from its inception has had to fight and battle for its very existence. One can understand their weariness.
2. Or cry out to you violence! But you do not save. In Egypt, taking the promised land, in their captivity, the days of Queen Esther when Haman wanted to destroy all jews, Nazi Germany, their existence to this very day is a violent, painful history. Rockets reign down on Israel.
3. He asks why do you make me look at injustice? If Im serving you God why must I see all of this sin and failure and its consequences. I didn’t do it.
That’s an interesting question – If I didn’t do it why must I witness it, why must I suffer from it.
Perhaps the best answer is found in the quote of a man whose faith I admire: ¯ Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Silence is not golden when a nation is slipping away from God - We are watchmen on the wall, we are a city on a hill, the salt of the earth. Made to call out injustice, and silence allows injustice to grow. Just as it had in Habakkuks day.
The rest of the text reads:
The Lord’s Answer - Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. That describes Israels total existence.
But wait a minute, what about America?
• What does that passage say about America?
Ok stay with me here. - If scripture has universal, unchanging truth than would it not apply to America were America to turn her back on God? YES.
So lets read that again and ask yourself if you have ever felt that way!
How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Is that not applicable to this nation for the past 50 or so years?
All the way back to the removal of prayer from our schools by one woman, the removal of the 10 commandments, the removal of Nativity scenes at Christmas, the removal of Christ centered songs from public school Christmas plays, in fact the changing of the name from Christmas break to Winter break.
Who here hasn’t cried out long and hard for God to stop the madness in our nation?
All the way back to George H. Bush, the dad – The night before the election the church we pastored then in Gowanda, New York held an all night prayer meeting, 24 hours. I was sure he was going to beat Bill Clinton. Mr. Clinton had the soreted past with all the women, the Jennifer flowers, Paula Jones. But when the election night closed so many of us were confused, much like Habakkuk here.
1. Who among us doesn’t look around at the injustice and ask why God?
2. 56 million babies aborted and no sense of wrong, but if you kill a whale, or a seal, you are deemed horrible.
Injustice seems to be the new norm. I don’t have the time to cover this point the way I need to but suffice to say America is awash with injustice.
3. Our own govt selling guns to drug lords in Mexico, one that came back to kill one of our own border guards, where was the justice there?
4. Our ambassador and 3 other brave Americans killed in Libya – A sham story of it being the result of a movie and now proof that it was known right from the start that wasn’t the reason. Where was the justice there?
5. The IRS – choosing to interfere with select groups, suddenly when they appear caught, all computer records are gone, poof!
NSA – Our own govt spying on all of us, reading our emails, our text messages, and who knows what else.
6. And now thousands if not millions of Illegal Immigrants flooding into our nation.
Friend this nation is a nation of Immigrants, Immigrants is not the issue that is all of us. It’s that little word Illegal.
It’s the not being told to us how that all came about, it’s the diseases like Tuburkulous that are being brought back into out nation that we no long have and could be epidemic. It’s the govt just deciding that we don’t mind giving away money we cant afford to give away as well as the crime that in many cases is coming in with gang members.
Destruction / Violence / Strife - Look around you, we are a nation divided by every means possible, race, gender, union or non union, green activist vs those who believe God gave us the earth to use. Violence is abounding – Just the city of Chicago over the 4th of July Weekend.
• Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend in Chicago, 82 people were shot in an 84-hour window, according to the Chicago Tribune. Fourteen were dead by Monday morning.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Our govt has never been more lawless, the House and Senate cant get anything done, the White House is taking powers never granted to it, the Supreme Court is trying to get it right but other portions of the judicial system earlier up the line are legislating from the bench.
• Justice in so many ways is being perverted in this nation.
CHURCH – I say all of that to say while we look at ancient Israel and say how stupid they were for disobeying God, we are in the very same place they were when Habakkuk gave his prophecy.
So let’s look at Gods response:
5 “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe, even if you were told.
In Habakkuks day – God was saying look around. Observe what is going on around you, be awake.
Be utterly Amazed - That statement is a clear signal that when they do stop long enough to really see what is going on around them its going to shock them.
Quite honestly – what he says next causes me fear even today!
For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.
• Israel, or more accurately Judah and Jerusalem had known a significant period of self rule at the time of Habakkuas prophecy. But what God says next is going to be earth shaking to them, and not to the good.
Remember what I said at the start of the message; Some scriptures are both Historic
and prophetic with a future time in mind.
How many are watching what is going on in the middle east?
a. How many know how dynamic a shift has taken place since the so called Arab Spring?
b. Libya has fallen and now has Al Qaeda there, Egypt has changed leaders and is still very unstable, and unpredictable. Iraq that we spilled precious blood for has fallen again into Chaos, Iran and Iraq are teaming up, Syria is in chaos, with the newly formed group ISIS coming out of that. An incredibly violent group, so violent that Al Qaeda disavowed themselves from them. There is talk of ISIS destroying the Mosque in Mecca, the holiest city of Islam.
c. Islam itself has come to a frightening rise for the first time since the 1400’s.
d. Israel is now in a life or death battle with Hamas in the West Bank, but with terrorists in Lebanon now joining in. Jordon fears falling if ISIS continues on his Caliphate drive.
So lets read this last part of Habakkuks prophecy.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.
These next verses speak of the speed with which it happens
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;9 they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 10 They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. 11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”
The current rise really began in the late 70’s with the overthrow of the shaw of Iran, here is a comment from the then leadere of that movement— Ayatollah Khomeini
“Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.”
Everyone is enjoying the World Cup of Soccer right now but few realize that the 2022 games have already been threatened with violence.
• “ISIS in a letter to FIFA has already warned: Cancel the World Cup or We’ll Bomb It,”
issued a bizarrely polite threat to FIFA earlier this week, warning them not to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The group claims that by that stage, Qatar will be a part of its newly-declared Islamic Caliphate, “under the rule of the Caliph Ibrahim Bin Awad Alqarshi” (the full name of ISIS leader Al Baghdady). Under that caliphate, football games will be considered “a diversion from Islam”.
Some scoff at the Islamic uprising - I am not one of them.
1. Passages from Ezekiel 38 and 39, as well as the concluding chapters of the Book of Daniel, and Im sure even more than those are now waiting to spring into action.
2. America is crumbling as a world power right before our eyes.
Someone called me a pessimist a while back, asked why do you talk about that stuff.
a. I talk about that stuff because when the Lord gives it to me I obey.
b. I talk about that stuff because everything within me tells me something is happening in our day that God has told us about in his word.
c. It is amazing but not in the positive way, and quite honestly large numbers don’t believe it.
d. Large numbers are walking more in the world than ever before.
But I close bringing you back to this.
While God will judge a nation and take it down or build it up, the choices we make personally are the ones we need to be most concerned with.
16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Just shall live by faith. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,[a] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”[
Galatians 3:11 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”[
Hebrews 10:38 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
We cant pick the time we live in, for such a time as this we have been placed on the earth. But we will always have the last word on how we live.
A lot is going on in the world right now, but nothing outside of the sight of God.
• Wise and foolish virgins, wise servant, foolish servant.
God is doing something new, but its only through His spirit that it can be discerned, my question to you this morning is do you feel it?
