Habakkuk Chapter 2 verses 5 to 20

Sermon Notes: Habakkuk Chapter 2 verses 5 to 20

How you live and what you do to others matters to GOD, so listen to Him.

Some people don’t care that much about God, don’t give a thought to what He says about how we should live our lives. But there is a day when Jesus will return to wrap up this world as we know it, and every one of us will be accountable to GOD for how we have lived our lives, here on earth and what we have done with Jesus.

There are five ‘Woes’ in Chapter 2, v6, v9, v12, v15 ,v19. Five loving warnings from God to this brutal, ruthless, godless nation of Babylon, who care nothing for God and who care nothing for the people and the nations that they plunder, ransack, exploit, murder and destroy, all for their own selfish greed and gain.

God is giving five loving warnings to this nation in Habakkuk’s day, but on a broader and longer time frame. Look at what God says about Babylon v5, ‘they are so arrogant and selfish, greedy, always wanting more and never satisfied, conquering one nation after another’. Our Western culture is always wanting more, never satisfied with what we’ve got, even though we have so much already.

God is giving to Babylon in Habakkuk’s day and to us in our day warnings that are so real, so relevant and so bang up to date.

1. V6, Making money by exploiting people.
2. v9, Building your own safety net, feathering your own nest and building your beautiful houses and comfortable lifestyles.
3. v12-13 Using your power to build a city and an economy at the expense of people working cheap labour.
4. v15 Exploiting people sexually for your own pleasure and gain. Also exploiting the environment, cutting down the beautiful cedars of Lebanon v17 to build luxurious palaces and houses whether it is in Babylon.
5. v18-19 The Warning to those who live their lives rejecting and ignoring the One true Living God and live their lives to worship idols.

At the core of this Chapter and at the heart of these five loving warnings to Babylon in Habakkuk’s day and to us in our day, there are two beautiful and powerful declarations about the LORD.

1. v20 ‘But the LORD is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth be silent before Him.’ The LORD is alive! The Living GOD is here. God has already told us in Chapter 2 that there are only two possible ways to live your life:
2. Arrogantly and selfishly, live for yourself and whatever you build your life upon.
3. ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ Those who know God will live their lives trusting Him and following Him, even in the darkest days and in the toughest times.

Declaration v14, ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.’ Babylon at the height of its power was glorious, fabulous, prosperous, a wealthy nation and it was stunning. But one night GOD spoke to the king of Babylon through a dream which Daniel explained and which basically said: ‘Tonight, because you have disobeyed ME and challenged ME, your nation will collapse and all you’ve built and worked for will be destroyed. That very night the Medes and Persians ransacked Babylon and their human greatness and glory was suddenly reduced to dust and ashes..

But there is a Promise from Scripture here in Habakkuk Chapter 2v14 and right throughout Scripture, that GOD is building another Kingdom, a glorious, wonderful Kingdom under King Jesus, that will grow and grow throughout the world. The church of Jesus, that was born on Pentecost from a very tiny seed of 120 believers, is growing right across the world to this very day. The fastest growing Church today is in Iran, the country that defeated the Babylonians.

That’s what Habakkuk Chapter 2 v14 is pointing us to, ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of GOD, like the waters cover the seabed.’

Jesus put it this way when He said, ‘The Gospel will be preached to all nations (so that the whole world may know that GOD has given us a Saviour and a way of Salvation) and then the end of the world) will come.’ Mark 13:10.

Let’s be prepared for that day and let’s be part of spreading the Good News here in Lisburn and beyond Lisburn, so that everybody gets a chance to hear the Gospel, before JESUS comes back.