Habakkuk Chapter 2
Habakkuk’s Plan
Habakkuk had a rather turbulent first chapter! He opens with a complaint, “ O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!” Then he is blown away and befuddled by God’s answer, “I will raise up the Chaldeans.” So he devises a plan:
2:1 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.
This is a good plan. “God, I don’t understand, so I will wait on You for more information.” This is a further indication of Habakkuk’s faith: he believes that whatever God will do will be right, (even though he doesn’t understand), and he believes God will answer him. And He does!
God’s Answer
2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Here is God’s initial response, “Write it down, make it plain, it’s going to happen.” I admit, this doesn’t seem to answer Habakkuk’s question - the Lord will make that clear beginning in v 4, but let’s look at this first, after all, God spoke it first!
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it – a vision has not been mentioned so far, but it must be referring to the revelation of the coming of the Chaldeans in ch 1. “Write it down and make it clear so they will know what I am going to do.”
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry – “I have set the time for the Chaldeans to come; they will surely come.”
at the end it shall speak - This is very interesting, it seems to speak to the immediate situation, the Chaldeans, as well as something else more significant. This is brought out in the Septuagint (or LXX, a translation made by the Jews of the Old Testament Hebrew into Greek):
The vision is yet for a time and will rise up at the end and not in vain; if he seems to delay, wait for him, because he who is coming will come, and will not tarry. (LXX)
Very interesting! “He who is coming will come, and will not tarry.” The pronoun was changed from it to he: “it will surely come” to “he who is coming.” I believe the “he” is Christ.
Hebrews 10:37 quotes this and says it does indeed speak of something greater, the coming of Christ:
For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come, and will not tarry.
This could be applied to the first coming of our Lord, as it says in Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son.” And it is true, “he who is coming” came in the incarnation, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But I think that in Hebrews Paul is referring to the second coming of Christ. He is taking the situation in Habakkuk’s day (suffering because of the Chaldeans) and applying it to their day (suffering because of their faith in Christ) and his encouragement is, “The vision is yet for a time and will rise up at the end and not in vain; if he seems to delay, wait for him, because he who is coming will come, and will not tarry.” And it looks like Paul interprets “if he seems to delay, wait for him” to mean, “Yet a little while”.
Amen! Yet a little while and he who is coming will come and will not tarry!
Habakkuk got a big answer in response to his waiting on the Lord. “The vision is yet for a time”, the Chaldeans are coming as I showed you, and it will be a difficult season for you; but there is something bigger, someone greater coming, “The vision…will rise up at the end…wait for him.”
As the LORD said in Isaiah, "Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory." (Isaiah 46:12-13)
This is by no means the end of God’s response to Habakkuk, in 4-20 He expands upon His answer. It just keeps getting better!!
Tomorrow: 2:4-20 God explains His answer to Habakkuk
God’s Answer
2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Here is God’s initial response, “Write it down, make it plain, it’s going to happen.” I admit, this doesn’t seem to answer Habakkuk’s question - the Lord will make that clear beginning in v 4, but let’s look at this first, after all, God spoke it first!
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it – a vision has not been mentioned so far, but it must be referring to the revelation of the coming of the Chaldeans in ch 1. “Write it down and make it clear so they will know what I am going to do.”
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry – “I have set the time for the Chaldeans to come; they will surely come.”
at the end it shall speak - This is very interesting, it seems to speak to the immediate situation, the Chaldeans, as well as something else more significant. This is brought out in the Septuagint (or LXX, a translation made by the Jews of the Old Testament Hebrew into Greek):
The vision is yet for a time and will rise up at the end and not in vain; if he seems to delay, wait for him, because he who is coming will come, and will not tarry. (LXX)
Very interesting! “He who is coming will come, and will not tarry.” The pronoun was changed from it to he: “it will surely come” to “he who is coming.” I believe the “he” is Christ.
Hebrews 10:37 quotes this and says it does indeed speak of something greater, the coming of Christ:
For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come, and will not tarry.
This could be applied to the first coming of our Lord, as it says in Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son.” And it is true, “he who is coming” came in the incarnation, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But I think that in Hebrews Paul is referring to the second coming of Christ. He is taking the situation in Habakkuk’s day (suffering because of the Chaldeans) and applying it to their day (suffering because of their faith in Christ) and his encouragement is, “The vision is yet for a time and will rise up at the end and not in vain; if he seems to delay, wait for him, because he who is coming will come, and will not tarry.” And it looks like Paul interprets “if he seems to delay, wait for him” to mean, “Yet a little while”.
Amen! Yet a little while and he who is coming will come and will not tarry!
Habakkuk got a big answer in response to his waiting on the Lord. “The vision is yet for a time”, the Chaldeans are coming as I showed you, and it will be a difficult season for you; but there is something bigger, someone greater coming, “The vision…will rise up at the end…wait for him.”
As the LORD said in Isaiah, "Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory." (Isaiah 46:12-13)
This is by no means the end of God’s response to Habakkuk, in 4-20 He expands upon His answer. It just keeps getting better!!
Tomorrow: 2:4-20 God explains His answer to Habakkuk
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