As we embark on a fresh journey into the book of Habakkuk, we confront one of life’s most challenging questions: Why does God allow evil to persist? This minor prophet presents his faith-filled wrestling with God’s apparent inactivity in the face of rampant injustice. From the opening verses, we walk alongside Habakkuk as he seeks answers, ultimately uncovering a message of profound faith. Discover how Habakkuk’s ancient dialogue with the Divine continues to offer comfort and insight into the struggles of human existence today.
The firm of foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
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You know, one of the most powerful questions in life is comprised of just three little letters, W-H-Y. Why? It’s one of the first questions asked by small children, and it’s one that we as adults ask too, especially during life’s difficulties. Why me? Why now? Why isn’t God answering my prayers? Sound familiar? Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’m glad that you’re here as our Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, is going to begin a new study in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk with another important why question. Why doesn’t God do something about evil? And since we’re just beginning in Habakkuk, I want to remind you that Dr. McGee’s notes and outlines for this study are available for free in our app or at ttb.org when you click on Briefing the Bible. Now as we’ll find out, Habakkuk is a small book, just three chapters, but it’s very important. So to help us understand its context, let’s first listen to the continuation of Dr. McGee’s overview of the Minor Prophets.
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Now we saw last time that Hosea is returned. That is the key word to the little book. God says to his people, though they’ve sinned, they can return to him. Fifteen times he gives that invitation. We saw in the little book of Joel, the day of the Lord, and that the day of the Lord is not light but darkness. It begins like a Hebrew day at sundown, a great tribulation, but moves into the millennium. And then the little book of Amos, it presents God as the ruler of the world today. And he judges all nations, and all nations are responsible to him. The government of God overrules the government of man. He had eight nations that he judged. Now we have the little book of Obadiah. We just got to it last time. Now, in the little book of Obadiah, the message is very simple. God judges Edom. And the charge that he made against Edom was pride. And pride is something that God hates. And in this little book, he reveals what pride really is. It’s the attitude of a life that declares its ability to live without God. In other words… It’s the attitude of men today to go it alone. We don’t need God. And many say, I can make it on my own. Now we come here to the little book of Jonah next. And the little book of Jonah tells of a great revival in Nineveh, that God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the nation Israel. And there was a revival in Nineveh while there was apostasy in Israel. And God taught an unwilling prophet, that he was the God of the Gentiles, and he wanted to save them. Well, there’s another message there in the book of Jonah, and that is relative to the fish, even the fish has a message for us, and that is you can’t keep a good man down. But Jonah is a very important little book. And then we came to Micah, and we have in Micah the judgment and redemption of God. And in the little book of Micah, I’m going to turn and read that verse again. It’s so important here. That’s Micah 7, 18. Who is a God like unto thee who pardoneth iniquity? And… passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. God delights in mercy, and judgment is his strange work. But in the little book of Micah, we have both the judgment and redemption of God. And Micah looks at the human race, and he said, Woe is me. And a great many folk today that are taking a look at the human race come up with the same response. Then we came to the little book of Nahum. And Nahum is not Poham, it’s Nahum. And here you have the judgment of Nineveh. 200 years went by, and they went back to their paganism and heathenism. And in the judgment of Nahum, you see the justice and the goodness of Almighty God. And how wonderful, by the way, that really is. Now, will you notice that after Nahum and Habakkuk, And that’s where we are now. This little book has written over it, capital Y. Why doesn’t God do something about evil? And we’ll be seeing that as we get into our study today. Why doesn’t God move against evil? Well, he does, and he is. And then we have in the little book of Zephaniah, the dark side of love. You know, a father loves his child, even when he has to take the child to the hospital and have a doctor put the little one to sleep and then operate upon it. That is an act of love as well as bringing the candy the next week to the little one.
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Let’s pray. Father, thank you for your love and your patience with us when we don’t understand your ways. Your grace humbles us, so help us to hear from you through your spirit and your word. In Jesus’ name we pray.
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Amen.
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We’re off to Habakkuk on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, friends, as we come to this little book of Habakkuk, And I dare say that this is a little book that you haven’t heard many sermons from it. I began preaching on it about, oh, I suppose somewhere around 35 years ago. And I used to ask congregations if they’d ever heard a sermon on Habakkuk. When I first started out, no one had ever heard a sermon on Habakkuk. But I find today that there are many preachers that have found their way to this little book. And it’s one of the many of these so-called minor prophets, but every one of them is a major leaguer, as we found out. Now, we’ve put together here Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, and they have a great deal in common. Each one will give a different facet of the dealing of God with mankind, both in the way that the government of God is, as it were, integrated into the government of man and also God’s dealings with the individual. So that is one of the important things about putting these three little books together. Another way in which they are quite similar, actually, they all come from approximately the same period. In fact, they could all have been contemporary. And the possibility is that they were. But it’s very difficult to nail down to a specific date many of these prophets. In fact, many of the books of the Bible, you can’t come up with an exact date always. And the reason is that that’s really not the important thing. But obviously, Nahum and Habakkuk and Zephaniah all fit into a period between Josiah and Jehoiakim. And in that same period, you have Jeremiah also. He fits into this period. The northern kingdom had gone into captivity and the southern kingdom was right on the verge of it. And after Josiah, every king after him was a bad king. In fact, they abused the title of being a bad king. So we have to follow along here by putting these three in the same time capsule. And they apparently belong together. They’re rather contemporary. Now, Habakkuk, though, is certainly different from the others. He’s different from Nahum. Nahum dealt with just one nation, Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. And God was right in judging them, and not only right, that God was just and righteous and a God of love. And still he could judge them because he is all three. Now Habakkuk approaches this problem from a little different viewpoint. Here’s a man that’s got problems. And his problem was that he thought that God was doing nothing about the iniquity of his own people. And it disturbed him. He says, why don’t you do something? And I’m of the opinion that a great many people feel very much the same way about, well, why doesn’t God move in the affairs of men today? Why doesn’t God do something about the condition that is in the world today, in our own nation? Why doesn’t God move in? Why is he permitting man to get by with so much? Well, we’re going to find out that was the problem of Habakkuk. In fact, his problem was multiplied. God answered that question for him and said to him, I’m preparing a nation that’s going to come and take this nation into captivity. Unless they change their ways, they’ll go into Babylonian captivity, and I’m preparing Babylon. Now, if you think he had a problem before, he’s got one now. And the problem is, why will you use Babylon, a nation that’s definitely more wicked than your own people, more pagan than your own people, more given to idolatry and to sin than your own people, and you’re going to use them to punish your people? God said, yes. That’s what I’m going to do. But you see, God says I’m not through with Babylon. I will judge Babylon then. And this is my method. Now, we’re going to see that as we get into this little book. So this man. is quite an interesting man that’s before us, Habakkuk. He’s written a lovely little book here. In fact, there have been many that have had a great deal to say about the literary excellence of the little book. In fact, the last chapter, there are not but three here, but the last chapter, chapter three, is actually a song or a psalm of praise and adoration to God And it’s actually a very beautiful thing. And the book is very important as far as the New Testament is concerned. Now, I think it’s generally conceded that the three great doctrinal books of the New Testament are Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. And all three of these books in the New Testament are We find that all three quote from Habakkuk. A fact of the matter is that all of them quote from it and make that the background of their message. We’ll see that when we get to it. And that verse, by the way, is verse 4 in chapter 2. The just shall live by faith. And that is in the little book of Habakkuk. So this little book looms up on the horizon of Scripture as being very important. And don’t let the brevity of it deceive you because it becomes all important. It’s not really how much you say, it’s what you say. And so here we see that. Now, his name means love’s embrace. And did you know that that’s about all we know about Habakkuk? That is his personal life. He tells us nothing about himself, and he doesn’t even date his book. Now, many of the prophets said they prophesied during the reign of so-and-so, king of Israel or king of Judah. And you can, of course, pinpoint them, but Habakkuk doesn’t even help us out that much. Martin Luther prophesied He gave a very striking definition of the name Habakkuk, which means loves embrace. And I’d like for you to hear this. Habakkuk signifies an embracer or one who embraces another, takes him into his arms. He embraces his people and takes them in his arms. That is, he comforts them and holds them up as one embraces a weeping child to quiet it with the assurance that if God wills, it shall soon be better. It’s a very wonderful quotation, by the way, and reveals something also of the heart of Martin Luther. You can understand why Martin Luther, who had been a monk, why he married. He was a very romantic individual, by the way, and this statement here reveals that. Now, this is all actually that’s known of the writer. Except another thing that we would like to add ourselves to this. And that is, I call him the Doubting Thomas of the Old Testament. Actually, he had a question mark for a brain. His book is really quite unusual. It’s not a prophecy in the strict sense of the term. He’s very much like the book of Jonah in the sense that he gives his own experience. And his experience is that he had a question and he didn’t have the answer for that question. And the answer that he finally got created a bigger question than he had before. He’s really a doubting Thomas. I’d frankly probably should turn that around and say it like this. The apostle Thomas is the Habakkuk of the New Testament because the little book of Habakkuk reveals a man that was certainly one with a real hang-up, and he wanted an answer to his questions. He was born in the objective case, and in the past blue perfect tense, and in the subjunctive mood, and you write over him an interrogation point. That is a question mark. Finally, though, when you come to the last chapter, and especially the last two or three verses, then you can put down an exclamation point. But the little book has over it written a question mark. And that’s what the man had for a brain. And the question is why? Why? And I think that you can reduce the doubt of Thomas in the New Testament or back in the Old Testament or the question that men have today into one word. Why? And I think this is fundamentally the question of the human race. You remember Job, the oldest book that we believe we have in the scripture. You can write over the entire account there. Why? Why? Why did Job have to suffer? That was his question. And believe me, I think it’s your question, and it’s mine. We can reduce all questions to the lowest common denominator, and it’s basic to all questions. Why? Why didn’t God do something about the evil in the land of Israel? Why didn’t God begin to judge his people? And that’s a question that is sometimes raised today. So you see, it’s almost the opposite question from Nahum because God was moving there. And there would be those that would raise the question, how can he be a God of love and judge as he did? And here, it’s the opposite. Why doesn’t God do something about the evil that is in the world? Now, may I say that I believe the closing statement in the little book here, it says, for the chief musician on my stringed instrument. And that reveals, of course, that this is a song. And that was put there for the orchestra leader and for the director of the choir. And this last chapter, as we’ve said, is a song. It’s a psalm. And the entire prophecy is really a gem of beauty. Let me say this relative to what others have said about it, because maybe a moment ago you thought I was waxing eloquent about the beauty of this little book, but it’s impressed others. Dalich wrote, his language is classical throughout, full of rare and select turns and words. And Morehouse wrote, it is distinguished for its magnificent poetry. Now, this little book, it opens in gloom. It closes in glory. It begins with an interrogation point, and it closes with an exclamation mark. Habakkuk is a big why. Why God permits evil is a question that every thoughtful mind is faced. And I think this book is the answer to the question. Will God straighten out the injustice of the world? Well, this book answers the question. Is God doing anything about the wrongs of this world today? Well, this book says that he is. And the book is the personal experience of the prophet told in poetry as Jonah was told in prose. Now, the theme of the book is faith. Habakkuk has been called the prophet of faith. And that great statement in 2, 4, the just shall live by faith, it’s quoted three times in the New Testament, Romans 1, 17, Galatians 3, 11. Hebrews 10, 38. When we come to it, we’ll give an explanation of that. Now, as we get into the little book, I’d like to give you my outline of it that we have in our notes and outline that we send out. In chapter 1, you have the perplexity of the prophet. Now, in chapter 2, you have the perspicuity of the prophet. Now, I could have said the perception of the prophet, but that wouldn’t have sounded as big, you know, and as learned as to say the perspicuity of the prophet. But it really is the perception of a prophet. Now, in chapter 3, we have the pleasure of the prophet. Now, this is a remarkable little book, you see, dividing as it does in this way. Now, we come to chapter 1. Chapter 1, the first problem of the prophet, and that’s in the first four verses. Why does God permit evil? That’s it. That’s the question. God’s answer, that’s in verses 5 through 11. God was raising up the Chaldeans to punish Judah because God will punish sin. And then the third division here is the second problem of the prophet, which was greater than the first. Why would God permit his people to be punished by a nation that’s more wicked than they are? Why did he not destroy the Chaldeans? Well, that’s our problem. And that was his problem. And now it’s going to be our problem to look at it. Now, let’s look at Habakkuk, the man with problems. And we’ll begin with verse 1 now of chapter 1. And I’m reading, “…the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.” Now, I want to say just a word about the pronunciation, because you probably have heard a different pronunciation of this. But you will find that this is the one I’m giving is the generally accepted pronunciation. But I also want to add just this word. The names in the Old Testament, especially, And it would apply to them. The syllable on which the emphasis should be placed actually is not really a matter of rule or rote. Your pronunciation may be just as good as the next one. And actually, it’s been almost arbitrary how you pronounce some of the words in the Old Testament. And every now and then, I get a letter, someone trying to correct me on a name in the Old Testament. So I’m going to beat you to it here with a backer. Don’t write in and tell me that it should be pronounced Habakkuk. because actually that is not the better one, or I should say the generally accepted one. Now, if you want to call him something else, that’s all right. Just so we all understand who we’re talking about in many of these names, why that’s the important thing. And to put down any hard and fast rule of pronunciation in the Old Testament, that is something that very frankly, is not all important. So if you find yourself disagreeing or pronouncing a word different than someone else, don’t be disturbed by it, and you don’t have to change their pronunciation, because yours is just as good as theirs, because actually there are certain words that you have generally accepted. pronunciation here, Habakkuk, is the generally accepted. But the other one, I wouldn’t argue with you a minute. But don’t try to correct me on it because I already know about the other pronunciation, but I just don’t use that because I don’t think that it is really the better one. Now, it’s the burden which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see. Now, the burden here means actually the judgment. This is the judgment. which Bacchus the prophet did see. And it’s not so much the question that he asks here, but rather it’s the Lord’s answer. And the Lord’s answer is really the prophecy. And it is the burden. And it is the judgment. And that is the way that it fits into the picture. Now, that has gotten us through the first verse. So we didn’t get very far today, but I trust we put on a good solid foundation for this marvelous little prophecy that we’re going to consider now next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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To take your personal study a bit deeper, Dr. McGee’s booklet on Habakkuk called Why Doesn’t God Do Something? is available for free download anytime at ttb.org. And while you’re there, why don’t you check out another popular booklet, The Dark Side of God’s Love. To download these booklets and other Bible study helps, visit us at ttb.org. And where you can also, by the way, download our app. And when you call, please tell us how you hear through the Bible. Is it with our app or on your favorite radio station? Maybe Spotify, online, Alexa, YouTube? Well, this little piece of information really does help us to make wise decisions and to be God’s good stewards of the resources that we have been provided with through faithful friends like you. And speaking of resources, we’re grateful for those of you who pray and give to keep the Bible bus rolling out in more than 250 languages around the world. It really is a privilege to partner with you as together we take God’s whole word to his whole world. If you want to find out more about how you can join us in this adventure, just click on Donate in our app or call 1-800-65-BIBLE. Well, Habakkuk had questions for God, but did you know God also had questions for Habakkuk? We’ll hear more about it next time as the Bible bus rolls along. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll save a seat just for you. Today’s study is always available, free to stream or download, thanks to the generous and faithful investments from your fellow Bible bus travelers. Just go to ttb.org or download our app to listen again anytime. As always, we’d love to know what’s God teaching you.
