Habacuque 2
Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
Habacuque 2
Spurgeon comments: "one of the devices of Satan" is that "he seeks to lull God's prophets into slumber, for he knows that dumb dogs that are given to sleep will never do any very great injury to his cause. The wakeful watchman he always fears, for then he cannot take the city by surprise; but if he can cast God's watchman into slumber, then he is well content, and thinks it almost as well to have a Christian asleep as to have him dead: he would certainly sooner see him in hell, but next to that, he is most glad to see him rocked in the cradle of presumption, fast asleep." (Ed: Are you a slumbering sentinel at your Gospel guard post?) How I may reply when I am reproved - Most of the other versions translate reproved as "complaint" and so were read -- "what answer I will get to my complaint." (HCSB); "What I will answer concerning my complaint" (ESV) The NET Bible has "how I should answer when he counters my argument" (NET). Habakkuk's "complaints" were in the form of questions (Hab 1:13, 17) as to why God would choose to use the excessively evil Babylonians to defeat evil Judah. Notice Habakkuk's assurance that God will answer him - He does not say "if" I am reproved, but "when" - He expected God to speak to him."
Habacuque 2
Spurgeon - first, dear friends, we shall notice, in our text, THE ATTITUDE OR THE LORD’S SERVANT. That is expressed in the one word, “watch.” When you are puzzled,—when you are troubled,—when you do not know what to do, then may God help you to say, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” Before we can do any real service for God, we must first of all receive our commission from him. We cannot teach others aright unless we are ourselves taught of God, and his truest servants are those who continue waiting upon him that they may receive from him the words which afterwards they are to speak in his name to the people. Habakkuk is a model to us in this respect. Troubled in heart, he resolves to set himself to watch his God, and to listen for the message he is afterwards to deliver. We learn from him that the attitude of the Lord’s servant towards God is, first, an attentive attitude: “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me.” If we have a deaf ear towards our Lord, we must not marvel if he gives us also a dumb tongue. If we will not hear what God speaks, we may not expect to be able ourselves to speak in his name; or, if we do pour forth a flood of words, yet we may not expect that they will be such as he will approve and bless. O dear friends, if we would work for God in the right spirit, we must begin as Jesus did, of whom it was written in prophecy, long before he came to the earth, “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.” In the fulness of time, Jesus came forth, and taught to others what he had thus learned in secret; and, if we would teach others, we must first be ourselves taught by the Spirit of God. How much more we might know if we were only willing to listen to the Lord’s messages! There is, in the Word of God, a voice which is often inaudible because we are so engrossed with other things. There is, also, the voice of the Christian ministry which oftentimes speaks to us, but it is like the cry of one in a wilderness, and it is not heard by us. There is, too, a voice in God’s providence. How much the Lord says to his flock by every stroke of his rod, and by every blessing of his daily providence! There is a voice from every grave,—a message in every bereavement when friends are taken away. There are voices everywhere speaking to those whose ears are open. Above all, there is the blessed Spirit ever waiting to communicate to us the things of God by that soft mysterious whisper which none know but those who are themselves spiritual, but which they know at once to be the very voice of God within their spirits. Brethren, we must be attentive; we must not allow a single sound from the Lord to escape us. Some men seem as if God must speak thunder and lightning before they will ever hear him; but his true children sit at his feet, that they may catch the slightest movement of his lips, and not let a single syllable from the Lord fall to the ground. The attitude of the Christian worker must be one of attention. But, next, it must be a patient attitude. Observe what Habakkuk says, “I will stand upon my watch;” not merely, “I will be upon my watch for a moment;” but, “I will take my place like a sentinel who remains on guard until his time of watching is over.” Then the prophet puts it again, “I will set me upon the tower,”—as if he took his position firmly and resolutely upon the tower, there to stand, and not to stir till he had seen and heard what God the Lord would have him see and hear. Do you think, dear friends, that we are sufficiently resolved to know our Master’s will? Do we frequently enough get upstairs alone, and with our open Bibles search out what God would have us learn? And do we pray over the Word till we have wormed ourselves into the very heart of the truth,—till we have eaten our way into it, as the weevil eats its way through the nutshell, and then lives upon and in the kernel? Do we do this? Do we set ourselves upon the tower, determined that we will not go forth to speak for the Lord till the Lord has spoken to us, lest we go upon a fool’s errand, to deliver our own inventions, instead of proclaiming the message that comes from God himself? Your attitude, my brother or my sister, if you are a servant of the Lord, is that of attention and patience. To which I may add that it is often a solitary attitude: “I will stand upon my watch.” The church has gone to sleep, but “I will stand upon my watch.” Like flocks of sheep they lie all around us, the multitudes of souls for whom we have to care; but there are still shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, to whom the glory of the Lord is often revealed when the sheep perceive it not. The city lies wrapped in slumber, and no sound is heard among her ten thousand sleepers; but there is one who knows no sleep, nor gives slumber to his eyelids, for he is the appointed watchman of the night; and he keeps to his tower, and sets himself in his place, firmly resolved that, till the morning breaks, there shall be somebody to keep guard over the city. Well, sometimes, I say, that watchman has to be quite solitary. O brothers and sisters, it would be better for us if we had more solitude! It often becomes needful to us because we cannot find kindred spirits that can watch with us a single hour. The higher you get up in the Church of God, the more solitary you will be. For the sheep, there are many companions; but even for an under-shepherd, there are but few. As for that Great Shepherd of the sheep, the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls, the Good Shepherd, you know that his most favoured apostles could not watch with him even one hour, but he had to endure his terrible agony in Gethsemane alone; and such of his servants as he honours most will know best what is the meaning of Gethsemane, the olive-press, and the solitude which often accompanies the stern watch that the faithful servant of God must keep. Never mind if all others around you say that you are hot-headed, and zealous, and enthusiastic, and foolish, and I know not what; say to yourself, “I will stand upon my watch.” What if they should think that you carry things much too far, and have too much religion, or are too consecrated? Reply, “I will set me upon the tower, and will still watch, for that is my business even if I must attend to it all alone.” The man who has God for his Companion has the best of company; and he that is a solitary watcher for the Most High God shall one day stand amidst yon shining legions of angels, and himself shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of his Father. Expect, therefore, if you are a servant of the Lord, sometimes to have to watch alone, and be thankful for that position if God honours you by calling you to occupy it. Observe, further, that the attitude of the child of God who is called to be a prophet to his people—as I know that many of you are,—is one in which the mind must be entirely engrossed. The true servant of the Lord thinks of nothing else than this,—“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what the Lord will say unto me.” He is wholly taken up with that one matter. Many of you have your secular callings to follow; but, without neglecting them, you can still, in spirit, be watching and waiting to hear the voice of God; for God speaks to us not only when we are in the study, or kneeling in prayer by our bedside, but he has ways of talking with us while we are going along the road, and so he makes our hearts to burn within us. He can speak with us in the thick of the greatest throng; and, perhaps, some of us were never more conscious of the voice of God than amid the rushing of ten thousand spindles, or in the midst of the crowded street. At such times, the noise and turmoil of this busy world have not been able to drown the gentle voice of. God within our spirit. May you, beloved, be thus engrossed! If you intend to serve the Lord, give your whole soul to the learning of his truth and the hearing of what he has to say to you, that you may afterwards be able to tell out to others what you have yourselves been taught of God. Observe, also, that the prophet was entirely submissive to the will of God. He put himself into this attitude, that he might hear whatever God should say to him, and that his only thought, all the while, should be, “What shall I answer when I am reproved?” We need to be as much as possible like clean white paper for God to write upon. Our mind is often far too much occupied, and too prejudiced, to receive a clear impression of the will of the Lord. How many make up their mind as to what they will see in a text, and so they never learn what the passage would teach them if it were allowed to speak freely to them. If thou wouldst serve God, say unto thy soul, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and I will give both my ears and all my heart to understand what God would have me know, and to learn what he would teach me.” May this be the happy privilege of us all! The last remark I will make upon this first head is, that the attitude of the Lord’s servant was eminently practical. The prophet did not watch and wait merely that he might know the secrets of the future, or be able to prophesy, or show his wonderful knowledge. No; but he wanted to know what he should answer when he was reproved. He knew that, when he went out into the world, men would begin to reprove him for being a prophet at all; they would rebuke him for his zeal and his earnestness, and he waited that he might have the right answer to give, with meekness and fear, to all who opposed themselves. That should be your wish and mine, beloved; for, if we serve God faithfully, we are sure to meet with objectors. Well, if this opposition is only against us, it does not matter much; but, alas! sometimes their critical and cruel remarks are against the truth itself; and, worst of all, against our blessed Lord. In such a ease, it is well to have something with which we can stop the mouths of the snarling dogs. It is a blessing to have heard God’s voice, for, if you repeat the message he speaks to you, even the echo of God’s voice will break the rocks in pieces, and cause the cedars of Lebanon to split in twain. There is nothing that can stand against the Word of the Lord. In the twenty-ninth Psalm, David says, “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty;” and, if we have heard that voice, and know how, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to echo its mighty tones, they will strike the objector dumb; and even when he hates the truth, he will still be compelled to feel what force there is in it. So the servant of the Lord says, “I will watch and wait to hear what God will say unto me, for then I shall know what to answer when I am rebuked and reproached for the truth’s sake.” This, then, is to be the attitude of the children of God. Get away to your watch-towers, brethren; get away to your tower by the brook Jabbok, and wrestle with the angel there; get away to the top of Carmel, and put your head between your knees, and cry unto the Lord until the heavens are covered with clouds, and the thirsty earth is refreshed with rain. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much;” but they who do not hear God’s voice cannot effectually pray, for God will not hear their voice if they will not hear his. If we have been deaf to him, he will be deaf to us. The intercourse and communion necessary to prevailing prayer render it absolutely essential that we should first set ourselves to hear the voice of God, and then again it shall be said that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man, for the man first hearkened to the voice of the Lord. Full sermon - Habakkuk 2:1-4 Watching to See Habakkuk 2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run.: Write: Dt 27:8 Dt 31:19,22 Isa 8:1 Isa 30:8 Jer 36:2-4,27-32 Da 12:4 Rev 1:18,19 Rev 14:13 Rev 19:9 Rev 21:5-8 Make plain (KJV): Jn 11:28,29 1Co 14:19 2Co 3:12 Habakkuk 2 Resources NLT = Then the LORD said to me, "Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. Then - This time sensitive word should always prompt us to pause and ponder the passage, asking the 5W/H questions such as what is happening now?, why?, what has just happened?, etc. Habakkuk does not say how long he had to wait for the Lord's answer, but from verse 1 his attitude and action clearly reflect the fact that he trusted (believed, had faith) in the LORD that He would answer! The LORD answered me and said - Record (command) the vision - "Write down this message" (NET) Inscribe (command) it on tablets - "Record it legibly on tablets" (NET)
Habacuque 2
Spurgeon has an interesting thought on the vision tarrying writing that… The reason why the vision tarried in Habakkuk’s day, and the mercy was slow in coming, was that the trials of the people might act as a test of their character. In order to separate the precious from the vile, God used the winnowing fan of affliction, that the chaff might be blown away, and the pure wheat remain. Often, in national trials, the furnace is heated exceedingly hot, and the fire is blown upon with a fierce blast, in order that the gold may be divided from the dross… Those who looked like true believers while all was smooth and bright, have given up their confidence in God when trial has been fierce and long-protracted. This is the patience of the saints; but, alas! this is often the impatience of mere professors, and God thus makes men see what they really are. They perceive what is in their hearts when they are exposed to long-continued and severe affliction. See, then, one reason why troubles come upon both the righteous and the wicked, - that men’s true character may be discovered, and that the secrets of their hearts may be revealed. It happened in this case, and it happens in a great many other instances, that the fierceness of the furnace-heat of trouble separates men into two classes. One class is composed of men who are high and lifted up in heart. Our text says, “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him.” Then there is another class, namely, the just; and of these the text says, “The just shall live by his faith.” My dear friends, when trial comes on us, — as it surely will, — may you and I be able to bear it! May we prove to be men who can endure it; and if it be so, we shall live by faith; that will be our distinguishing mark. But if any of us are proud, and have lofty ideas concerning ourselves, “the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Habakkuk 2:4 Pride the Destroyer) Robert Spendera - The tension between God’s timing and human time is evident from the list of temporally related words found in verse three (yet for the appointed time… hastens… will not fail… tarries, wait… will certainly come… will not delay). Waiting becomes a matter of faith, as the Lord informs Habakkuk that he must wait (Hab 2:3). This was the task of a watchman. And it is the task of those who are faithful. In the NT James issues a similar exhortation… Be patient (aorist imperative - Do this now! See makrothumeo), therefore (See context = James 5:1-6 = Rich persecuted the righteous, etc), brethren, until (time phrase - What's the point? IT WILL END! Sufferings, persecutions, trials, adversities, afflictions WILL END! When? Read on… at… ) the Coming of the Lord. Behold (James now paints a picture with which all readers should be familiar - he is using the picture of a farmer waiting for his crops as a term of comparison), the farmer waits (ekdechomai = eager anticipation, as his lifestyle) for the precious produce of the soil, being patient (present tense = as his habitual practice; makrothumeo) about it, until (time phrase) it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient (aorist imperative - Do this now! See makrothumeo); strengthen (aorist imperative - Do this now! See sterizo) your hearts, for (term of explanation - Always pause and ponder to question the for - you will be amazed at how the Spirit will use this simple discipline to "unlock" a passage! And so, what is James explaining? What has he just commanded them to do? How is that going to be possible?) the Coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:7, 8) Comment: Habakkuk was standing as a watchman waiting and in Hab 2:3ff God gives him the sure promise that the evil Babylonians would be defeated. But as discussed more below, this prophecy has a "double fulfillment." In other words, ancient Babylon would be defeated, but future revived Babylon (Rev 17-18-note) would also be destroyed at the Second Coming of the Messiah. Whether Habakkuk fully understood this latter aspect of the fulfillment is uncertain. What is not uncertain is that this truth from God had a radical impact on his thinking and helps us understand how he could be transformed (by the Holy Spirit) from Worry in chapter 1 to Worship in chapter 3! And so in the NT passage, James is saying that persecution will end, and (in essence) all wrongs will be made right at the Coming of the Lord. He adds that the Lord's return is "at hand", the idea being that it could occur at any time (it was always "at hand" - it was Imminent [note] [see another note on imminency] then [in the first century] and is still imminent in our day!). What was the effect of this truth? It was to be the foundation for them to "be patient, strengthen" their hearts! Truth about the future is not ethereal but practical, for ultimately it should impact our present tense salvation. Since we have been given such a sure word of prophecy, such an absolutely certain hope (cp "Blessed Hope" Titus 2:13), we can "stand on our guard posts" like Habakkuk. As we by faith (cp Hab 2:4b) receive this truth, the Holy Spirit will take this sure word of prophecy and renew our minds, strengthen our inner man and transform us from glory to glory (2Cor 3:18). Such is the incalculable value of the truth that Jesus is Returning and His Return is always imminent. It is little surprise that one in twenty verses in the NT refers either directly or indirectly to the Second Coming! Beloved, you can mark it down… WHO YOU ARE LOOKING FOR WILL IMPACT WHO YOU ARE LIVING FOR! Simeon was living proof of the dictum that who you are looking for will impact who you are living for, for he was a believing Jew, part of the remnant. Luke describes him as follows… And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout (eulabes = cautious, reverencing God, God-fearing, discreet, undertaking prudently), looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. (Luke 2:25) Comment: Does this not sound somewhat like Hab 2:1? Habakkuk was in a sense looking for the consolation of Judah in light of the fact that God was sending the dread Babylonians! "IT" IN HABAKKUK BECOMES "HE" IN HEBREWS! For it will certainly come, it will not delay - "because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day." (Amplified) Remember Jehovah is speaking and here He gives His sure word (His guarantee) that what is written on the tablets will come to pass. Dt 18:21-22 says that the test of a true prophet is whether his prophecy comes to pass, which in this case it would because God said so (through His prophet Habakkuk). This Hebrew idiom is translated by the Greek auton (masculine singular pronoun = "he") hoti (because) erchomenos (coming - present middle participle) hexei (future tense - will come, will be present, will happen - used to express the certainty of a future event happening - eg, 2Pe 3:10, Lk 13:35 "until the time comes") kai ou me (double negative signifying absolute negation - i.e., it absolutely will not "tarry" is the idea!) chronise" (to tarry - aorist tense). Translated into English the Greek phrase would read "He who is coming will come and absolutely (will) not tarry." The writer of Hebrews under the inspiration of the Spirit quotes this same Greek phrase to describe the Second Coming of Messiah writing… "He who is coming will come and will not delay." (Hebrews 10:37b+) Comment: Remember that the Jewish believers were being persecuted and the writer refers to the sure word of prophecy in Hab 2:3b to encourage them. He makes one addition to the Greek text from Hab 2:3 by placing a definite article (ho) before the verb for coming, which would serve to define this "coming" as a very specific one, in fact the Second Coming of Christ. THOUGHT - Beloved, you can mark it down that one of the great values of prophecy is not to appeal to our curiosity but to stabilize our faith in difficult times. We can know that even though the times may be difficult, the trials will eventually give way to the eternal truth. In this case the truth is that Jesus is coming again and temporal trials will end forever. How can we be so sure? Because Babylon was defeated just as prophesied in Hab 2:6-20. In the same way, the future literal city of Babylon (See The Destruction of Babylon-Revelation 17-18) will finally be totally destroyed once and for all time. Related Resource: The Identity of Babylon in Rev 17-18. YOU CAN STAKE YOUR (ETERNAL) LIFE ON IT! Gaebelein: From this quotation (Heb 10:37) we learn that the vision which will surely come is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ (Ed: In other words Habakkuk's vision described a past historical event and a future historical event). He is the center of every vision and without Him there is no vision. Strauss: "This secret which God made known to the prophet Habakkuk had its primary application to Israel in those dark days following the cutting-off of King Josiah. Israel's hope was in the coming of Messiah, and it is to His coming that the five 'its' of verse three refer. They were to wait for HIM. But the Hope of Israel is also the Hope of all nations in all ages, for the five 'its' in the prophecy of Habakkuk become 'He' in Hebrews 10:37+, where we read: 'For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.' If all seemed hopeless to Israel, God would assure His people that there was still hope if they would but believe in Him who was to come. But faith must be exercised. In this vision given to Habakkuk Israel would find food for her faith. Though circumstances all around them seemed to contradict their hopes, they would live in the present through faith in Messiah's coming." (Galatians and Ephesians) Warren
Habacuque 2
Spurgeon wrote that … If there is a sin that is universal, it is this. Where is it not to be found? Hunt among the highest and loftiest in the world, and you shall find it there; and then go and search amongst the poorest and the most miserable, and you shall find it there. There may be as much pride inside a beggar’s rags as in a prince’s robe; and a harlot may be as proud as a model of chastity. Pride is a strange creature; it never objects to its lodgings. It will live comfortably enough in a palace, and it will live equally at its ease in a hovel. Is there any man in whose heart pride does not lurk? (Habakkuk 2:4 Pride the Destroyer) Guzik… Pride can be especially dangerous among the people of God. Once a man came to John Bunyan after a sermon and told him what a fine sermon he preached. “You’re too late,” Bunyan answered. “The devil told me that before I stepped down from the pulpit.” Satan can tell the praying brother to be proud of his ability to pray, the growing brother to be proud of his growth, and even the humble brother to be proud of his humility. Soul (05315)(nephesh) probably originally meant "to breathe" and so it refers to a breathing creature and hence to vitality and is translated soul over 200x in the NAS. However about 14x (NAS) it is translated desire. The Septuagint translates nephesh with the Greek word psuche which means soul. Right (03474)(yashar) literally means straight and ethically describes an upright (morally sound) life (Ps 119:128, Pr 11:5), which seems to be the meaning in Hab 2:4. His soul is not right within him - The Greek translation is rendered "my soul has no pleasure in him" which obviously places the emphasis on God ("My soul"), not on the proud man ("his soul"). The NT uses the Greek version in Heb 10:38b-note "if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him." Comment: "Shrinks back" is the verb hupostello which describes one who consciously retreats or draws back from a previously held position. Hebrews 10:38 in the historical NT context refers to Jews who were being persecuted for considering the claims of Christ and were tempted to fall away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and return to Judaism which would be the opposite of faith described in the first part of Heb 10:38-note. Only faith pleases God (Heb 11:6). "The man of faith receives life by faith, he walks by faith, and he moves into eternity by faith—not by his own ability but on the strength and the ability of Another." (McGee) In Heb 10:39-note the writer goes on to declare that he is not among "those who shrink back to destruction (apoleia = eternal separation from God - also used in Mt 7:13-note), but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul."