Dec 18, 2022
HABAKKUK 3:
Yesterday in this book we heard Habakkuk bring
his complaints to God about God’s justice, and God answered, in
effect, that after he uses the Babylonians, their time of judgment
will come. In chapter 2 verse 3, God gives this
assurance:
Hab. 2:3b NLT If it seems slow
in coming, wait patiently,
for it will surely take
place.
It will not be
delayed.
Then the next verse ends with a famous promise:
Hab. 2:4 NLT “Look at the
proud!
They trust in
themselves, and their lives are crooked.
But the righteous will live by their
faithfulness to God.
(This verse, as it is often quoted in the NT, is a little different from what we find in the OT. The OT is translated from the Hebrew, while the NT authors quoted from the Greek taken from the Septuagint.)
Two more powerful and often quoted verses bear repeating:
Hab. 2:20 NLT But the Lord is in
his holy Temple.
Let all the earth be silent before
him.”
Hab. 2:14 For as the waters fill
the sea,
the earth will be filled with an
awareness of the glory
of the Lord.
Rereading ISAIAH 55:
Note
that in Revelation we have already read— and will read again, words
like the beginning of Isaiah 55:
Is. 55:1 NLT “Is anyone
thirsty?
Come and
drink—
even if you have
no money!
Remember also that Jesus in John chapters 4 and 7 offered living water and streams of water that would bubble from within.
This chapter 55 is so rich! But we don’t have time for me to comment verse by verse. As a Bible translator, the promise we base our very lives upon is found in verse 11.
REVELATION 9:
In
Rev. 8, we saw the results of the first four trumpet blasts. This,
like the seals, is another vision of God’s justice finally being
expressed in judgment. Note that the enactment of this punishment
was preceded by the prayers of God’s holy
people. (That’s is how NLT
translates ‘saints’. And that word means
us, we have been
purified by Christ!) At last, the answers to prayers for God’s
justice like heard from the martyrs in Rev. 6 and like in
Habakkuk’s prayer will start to be answered.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.