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The Righteous Live By Faith (Habakkuk 2:2-5)

Scott Kercheville
06/06/15 - Sun PM

What do you do God promises judgment and destruction against the wicked, yet you realize you are at risk of being judged in the destruction as well? Habakkuk has asked God how long he will be deaf to his cries regarding the violence and corruption among God’s people in Judah. But God has answered that Habakkuk is the one who needs to see the work God is doing. God is raising up the Chaldeans (i.e., the Babylonians), a bitter, hasty, dreaded, and fearsome nation, to bring judgment and destruction upon faithless Judah. This completely shocks Habakkuk. Will God allow the Chaldeans to mercilessly kill nations forever? If God can idly watch the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they, God is not who he thought he was. 

I hope our study so far has caused you to want to cry out with him. This book should cause us to sit next to Habakkuk asking difficult questions and reworking our misconceptions about who God is. Habakkuk knows he has posed difficult complaints about God’s judgment, so he says he will wait to see how God will respond. He is ready for answers and to be corrected. God’s overall response spans Habakkuk 2:2-20 and is comprised of two sections - a word to Judah and a word to the Chaldeans. Our goal will be to receive the first portion - God’s admonition to the currently judged Judah - and consider how we can endure trials, persecution, and even God-sent judgment today.

• Judgment Will Surely Come (Habakkuk 2:2-3)
  • ​Do not doubt God's promise to judge the whole world (cf. 2 Peter 3:4-7)
  • Know God loves us and does not want us to be caught unaware.
• The Righteous Live by Faith (Habakkuk 2:4-5)
  • This refers to survival because God is assuring Habakkuk that he will not idly watch the righteous die.
  • This refers to survival because God promises this elsewhere (cf. Ezekiel 33:14-16)
  • Habakkuk 2:4 (NET), “Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion, but the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness.”
  • Our faith today must trust preservation beyond this life in bleak times (Hebrews 10:32-39).
• We can find life in our faith if we...
  • Trust God’s promise of judgment
  • Trust God’s promise of an abiding possession
  • Trust God when we do not understand