THE MESSAGE OF HABAKKUK
Dr. David L. Cooper
Biblical Research Monthly
June 1954

The Message of Habakkuk falls naturally into seven divisions, as indicated in the chart above. The message of our prophet begins with this statement, "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see." The marginal translation of the term, burden, is oracle, that which God has spoken. The word in the original carries the idea of a weighty message. Everything that God says has weight and power. There are certain portions of the Word that are, by virtue of the nature and content of the message, more powerful than others—more drastic and thorough going.

The Prophet's First Complaint—Regarding the Sinfulness of the Nation of Israel

From verse 2 we gather that the prophet had complained to God concerning the evil and wicked conditions he had observed on every hand among the people of God. He therefore asked, "O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?" (Hab. 1:2). How long, he wanted to know, would he have to continue to pray before his petition would be answered? A perusal of the messages of the prophets shows that they frequently asked this question. It sometimes appears hard for us to wait for the answer to our prayers. But God does not get in a hurry. He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him, those who are called according to His purpose. We should, therefore, recognizing that God is over all and overruling everything, abide the time of His answering our petitions.

The prophet observed violence on every hand. Iniquity and perverseness was to be seen everywhere. Strife and contention were the order of the day. The result of such lawless conditions was that there was little or no justice manifested at any time or any place.

These facts remind the prophetic student of the conditions that will exist throughout the world at the end time. They doubtless foreshadow the end of the dispensation.

Jehovah's Answer—in the Raising Up of the Chaldeans as a Scourge to Israel

In Habakkuk 1:5-11 we find God's answer to the prophet's complaint concerning the immoral, wicked conditions that gripped the country. God is working all things at all times and is directing the course of human events and history in order to bring the greatest good to the largest number possible. The prophet assumed that the people could see the work of God and recognize His hand in international affairs, as we see in 1:5: "Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you." God has a blueprint, figuratively speaking, of the onward march of the history of the world and the course of events through the centuries, as seen in such passages as Paul's speech at Mars' Hill (Acts 17:22-31). Note especially the thought in verse 26 of this passage: "having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation."

On this same point, read very carefully Jeremiah 27:1-11. In this passage Jeremiah is talking about the same event as was Habakkuk. God caused the neo-Babylonian Empire to come back to life under the activity of Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar. It gained momentum and power under the latter, who was the human instrument that God had in mind when He inspired Habakkuk to give the answer to the prophet's complaint.

Believing scholars, interpreting Habakkuk 1:5-11, see the only possible data for determining the time of Habakkuk's ministry. They place it as probably in the days of Jehoiakim. After the decisive battle of Carchemish, when the Chaldeans overcame the Egyptians in that memorable struggle, the way was opened up for the Chaldeans to come on into Palestine. Thus conservative scholars place the ministry of Habakkuk in the days of Jehoiakim, beginning about 610 B.C.

In verses 5-11 we see a prediction of that which was fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar in his mad dash at Palestine and his overthrowing the throne of David and deporting Jewish captives to Babylon. If, however, we study these verses carefully, we shall see that they go far beyond that which was fulfilled historically in the war that resulted in the Babylonian captivity. In fact, the language is similar to other predictions that positively describe conditions at the end of the age. Thus the prophecy concerning Nebuchadnezzar and his activity blends with the prophecy concerning the Antichrist and his hordes of the end time. Read especially verses 8-11. Thus this passage is another example of the law of double reference.

The Prophet's Second Complaint—Regarding the Wickedness of the Chaldean Scourge

In 1:12-17 we have the prophet's second complaint to Jehovah. This time Habakkuk is perplexed concerning the wickedness and the cruelty of the Chaldeans. He is puzzled that God would use such a wicked reprobate as the king of the Chaldeans and his ruthless hordes to inflict punishment and chastisement upon God's Chosen People. The answer to the prophet's complaint is found in the fact that God makes even the wickedness of men to praise Him (Ps. 76:10). All things become tools in the hand of God in His carrying forward His plans and purposes. God uses a dirty man for a dirty job; He uses a good man for a good job; but He allows every one to exercise his own free choices—overruling, however, and making the free actions of men, even the most wicked ones, to contribute to the advancement of His cause among men.

The Vision of the End Time

Nebuchadnezzar and his lieutenants were indeed reprobates, cruel, heartless men. But Nebuchadnezzar and his associates could not in anywise equal the Antichrist and his cohorts in the end time, as we can see when we compare their cruelty and diabolical actions.

In Habakkuk 2:1-5 the prophet uses a very forceful comparison. Here he says that he will take his stand in a watchtower, look out into the future, and see what God will answer him concerning his complaint regarding the Almighty's using wicked characters to forward His plans and purposes. To use this figure is but natural (See II Kings 9:17 and II Sam. 18:24.)

When the prophet thus submitted his complaint to God, the Lord answered Him by saying: "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it." Prophecy is given to the people of God in order that they might understand what is in the future, and in order that they might cooperate with the Lord by adjusting their plans to fit in with His purposes.

The prophetic word is plain and clear to the one who has an eye that is single to the glory of God and to the doing of His will.

In 2:3 the Lord declared: "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." The vision to which reference is made is the one described in 1:5-11. But, as noted above, while the rising and the advancing of the Chaldeans from the East against the Jewish kingdom constitutes the first part of his prediction, this vision, as already noted, blended with another which gives us the activities of a greater than Nebuchadnezzar, namely the Antichrist and his cohorts. The Lord tells us that the vision which began with Nebuchadnezzar had but a partial fulfillment in the Babylonian overthrow of Israel, but that this vision will find its complete fulfillment in the time of the end. In these verses we have positive evidence that the Antichrist and his activities are seen also in this vision. The prophet is urged to be quiet and to trust. Though things may not seem to develop so very rapidly and suddenly as men would like them, yet he, the prophet, and the people of God are to be assured of the fact that the vision is correct, and that it will be fulfilled exactly as presented to the prophet.

In Habakkuk 2:4 we are told: "Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him." The one of whom the prophet was speaking is doubtless the Antichrist, because he is discussing that phase of the vision which pertains to the end time. The Antichrist is everything but righteous and just. His ego will be inflated. He will become so very arrogant that he will claim that he is God himself and will demand that people worship him as God. Paul, in II Thessalonians, chapter 2, gives us this information.

The statement in verse 4 quoted above is followed by these words, "but the righteous shall live by his faith." Literally rendered, this sentence reads, "but the righteous shall live in his faithfulness." When we recognize the setting of this passage, we know that the prophet is talking about those people who will live in the end time, under the regime of the Antichrist, and who will be protected by the Lord in their being faithful to the light that they have. God promises to protect all who are honest and conscientious, and who are seeking the light, which they at that time will not have. God will preserve their lives and give them an opportunity to hear the message of life and be saved eternally. These people will therefore "live in their faithfulness"—by being true to the light they have and by courageously living up to their convictions. These same persons appear in Psalms 15 and 24.

While what I have just said is the correct interpretation of the language of this verse, there are depths to this passage which are brought out by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. In this passage he saw faith—trusting in God—as the principle, the motive power lying underneath one's faithfulness in living a life consistent with one's actual convictions. In Hebrews 10:37,38 Paul interprets this passage literally in accordance with the facts of the original context of Habakkuk. There is, therefore, perfect harmony in the applications made in the New Testament of this marvelous passage.

The Five Woe Judgments Upon the World Power of the End Time

The fifth division of the Book of Habakkuk consists of the block of scripture found in 2:6-20. An examination of the woes that are pronounced upon the individual mentioned in this passage shows that the prophet is speaking of the Antichrist of the end time. He is the one who plunders many nations and commits indescribable depredations against helpless ones. Under the heading of woes one to four the prophet describes various and sundry acts of violence and terror, which the Antichrist does in his effort to strengthen his grip upon the world and to make himself secure.

Under the last of the woes Habakkuk sees idolatry that spreads over the world in the first half of the Tribulation, as appears in various other passages in the Scriptures. But he pronounces a woe upon all those who turn to idolatry, in 2:18,19. These idols cannot talk, they cannot answer the petition of the worshipers. This being true, the people should look to the true and living God, who alone can save. Thus, in pronouncing the fifth woe upon the Antichrist and those collaborating with him, the prophet calls upon the people of the world to turn from idolatry to God, the Holy One of Israel, who is in His holy temple, and may be approached—in the proper way, namely, through the shed blood of the Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of the world.

The Second Coming of Christ

In Habakkuk 3:1-15 we have the most graphic and vivid description of the second coming of Christ that is to be found anywhere in the Old Testament. This prediction begins with a vision of the Tribulation Period (vs. 2). The work of God—mentioned in this verse—which is the great world-wide revival that sweeps the world in the first half of the Tribulation, is brought to a dead stop in the middle of that period of judgment. Habakkuk is shown that fact and prays to God to revive His work in the middle of the years—the years of the Tribulation, which are seven in number. A study of the predictions which deal with the Tribulation shows that idolatry spreads all over the world as soon as the Tribulation begins. Then the Jewish evangelists, to whom we are now giving the gospel, arise in the beginning of the Tribulation, go into every nook and corner of the world, and proclaim the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ to lost men. They bring about the world-wide revival. This is natural, for man's extremity is God's opportunity. Then men will turn unto their Maker, as we are told in Isaiah 17:7,8, Isaiah 26:9, and Revelation, chapter 7.

When God's work is brought to a standstill by the decree of the Antichrist in the middle of the Tribulation, the prophet prays that it may be revived, and it will be revived in the middle of the Tribulation, even though the Antichrist will—in the latter half of the period—demand that all men worship him. But, as we see in Revelation 14:6,7 the gospel will be proclaimed in the second half of the Tribulation, and thus the prophet's prayer will be answered.

As stated above, Habakkuk 3:1-15 gives the most vivid description of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the Tribulation. In the American Standard Version (1901 ed.) the verbs appearing in verses 3-15 are rendered in the past tense. For example, "God came"; "His glory covered" (vs. 3). But there is a footnote on the verb "came," which states that all these verbs may be rendered as being in the present tense; thus, "cometh"; "covereth." When these verbs are thought of as being in the past tense, the prophet is represented as telling us what he had already seen in a vision which had been granted to him. On the other hand, when these same verbs are rendered as being in the present tense, the prophet relates the vision as being in the future. When the facts are properly seen, it becomes evident that both renderings amount to the same thing—the coming of Jesus at the end of the Tribulation.

Other prophecies of our Lord's return are given here and there in the Word. For instance, see Psalm 97:3-7; Isaiah 30:27-33; II Thessalonians 1:3-10; and Revelation 19:11-16.

The Prophet's Facing the Realities of Life Courageously

In Habakkuk 3:16-19 the prophet, overcome by the appalling situation with which he was confronted, declared that he would quietly and courageously meet and endure the conditions. But it is also clear from these verses that he was carried forward in vision by the Spirit of God to the end time and became the spokesman for the faithful remnant of Israel, as they will quietly endure the sufferings of the Tribulation, until relief comes by the personal return of Jesus, the Hebrew Messiah and Saviour of the world.

Our God never disappoints the faith of anyone who is seeking to know and to do His holy will—in due time He grants the longed-for deliverance!