Scripture: Hab 1:1-2:1, 3:16-19
Symbol: Stone Watchtower
Once again we see God raising up a prophet to warn His people of the impending disaster they bring upon themselves by their sin. God is holy, says Habakkuk, and He is too pure to look upon evil. He prophesied sometime before the fall of Judah to Babylon, somewhere between 640-598 BC. In this book he struggles with the fact that there is great wickedness and sin that so often seems like God ignores. But here, God assures him that righteousness and judgment will come in due time. The last chapter of Habakkuk is a glorious prayer of one who anticipates the coming of His Savior in full glory, splendor, power, victory, righteousness. This Savior would judge the earth, crushing the head of the wicked. He would go out for the salvation of His people! Let us, with Habakkuk, await the coming of our Savior, Redeemer, and King with fear and trembling, but yet with great anticipation and peace, knowing our God comes yes, in great wrath, and with judgment, but He also comes for the salvation of us, His anointed!
Discussion Questions
- How does Paul, in Acts 13:38-41, apply Habakkuk 1:5 to the Jews of his day?
- Read Hebrews 10:35-39 and compare to Habakkuk 2:3,4. What (who) is the "it" that Habakkuk refers to? The Messiah came once, in the "fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4). As Habakkuk awaited the first coming of the Messiah, we await the second coming. What does the passage you read in Hebrews encourage us to do while we wait?
- Do you ever feel discouraged when you see the wicked "get away" with their actions and prosper while the righteous struggle and suffer? What does God reassure us of in Habakkuk 2:3 and 1:5?
