“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. 2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
Habakkuk has talked with God and doesn’t like His answers, but he knows when God speaks, he must pass the word along to the people of God, even if they do not like it.
When I preach on the love of Jesus and His marvelous grace and mercy, I am greeted at the door with folks smiling and saying how much that sermon meant to them.” Good job, Pastor”. But when I speak on the judgements of the Lord and rebukes in Scripture, I find many people looking down and not making eye contact. Many will by-pass me and scoot out the door.
Habakkuk is ready, with pen to write down whatever God says. We will look in more detail into this the next two weeks, but today we have the perspective of what happened to the nation of Israel. Babylonia will not ultimately prevail. We see how Daniel was led to Babylon as one of the captives and established a witness to God in a heathen country where even the vilest of leaders, Nebuchadnezzar, got saved. We see how Nehemiah won the heart of Artaxerses; we see how Esther was able to save her people from destruction by appealing as queen to Xerses. We see the fulfillment of the prophecies from Ezekiel and Daniel when God in His wisdom decides to give just a peek into the future and how according to God’s prophecies, Babylon was overcome by Persia and Persia was overcome by Greece. Greece was overcome by Romans. Then King Jesus came to establish His kingdom that would not die out. We are part of that Kingdom right now that will prevail and the gates of hell cannot stop it.
The Kingdom of God starts small like a seed of the Mustard tree. 12 disciples turn into 120 followers that moves onto Pentecost to 3,000 believers. His kingdom, to the surprise to the Jews, moves from Hebrew believers to include Gentile followers of Jesus Christ and soon peoples’ group upon peoples’ group throughout the world find the reality of the truth of Jesus the Son of God.
Don’t misunderstand me, Jesus also describes the broad way that leads to destruction. Jesus teaches there is a narrow way that leads to life and few there are that find it. Our job, until Jesus comes, is to be faithful - not to build up kingdoms for ourselves, but seek to live for the Kingdom that will prevail by the power and plan of God.
Prayer: Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.
