The Oracle to Habakkuk, Part 14: Unbreakable

The date is December 16^th, 1944.  The Second World War is being fought from the forests of Europe to the beaches of the South Pacific.  In the European theater Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany is being opposed by an allied coalition of nations consisting primarily of Great Britain and the United States in Western Europe, and the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe.  After the allied invasion of Normandy in June of 1944 the western allies have steadily pushed the German forces back toward their homeland.  Paris has been liberated and all signs point to the imminent collapse of the Nazi war machine.  But unbeknownst to the allied commanders, Hitler has come up with one last gamble to counter-attack and try to salvage the remains of his crumbling empire.  The overall objective of the German plan is the harbor of Antwerp, Belgium.  This is a major strategic asset, control of which would allow Germany to cut allied supply lines and thus significantly reduce their ability to advance.  Because the primary muscle of the German army is in tanks control of roadways is critically important to their success.  Thus the only way to capture Antwerp before the Allies can recover and bring their powerful air superiority to bear is to seize the roads through eastern Belgium.  All seven major roads in the Ardennes mountain range happen to come together at the small town of Bastogne, making it vitally important.  The Germans need to capture it to continue their advance.  The Allies need to hold it long enough for reinforcements to arrive and stall the German attack.

Bastogne is lightly defended by American forces.  The Allies were under the impression that only a single infantry division was opposing them in this area.  Much to their dismay, the Germans send 25 divisions through the Ardennes in a lightning surprise attack.  After six days of fighting in which the beleaguered and mostly surprised American defenders have been decimated by the German advance the town of Bastogne has been completely surrounded.  It is defended primarily by infantry.  They are outnumbered approximately 5 to 1 and are low on cold weather gear, ammunition, food, medical supplies, and senior leadership.  Due to poor winter weather aerial re-supply as well as tactical air support is impossible.  In every way imaginable the situation of the defending forces is hopeless.

On the 22^nd of December, the commander of the attacking German forces sends a demand for surrender to his American counterpart.  In this message he cites overwhelming numerical superiority and the danger of civilian casualties.  He further threatens to annihilate the defenders with a devastating artillery bombardment if they do not surrender within two hours.  The American general in command of Bastogne sends the following reply:

               

 To the German Commander.

            NUTS!

            The American Commander.

With the irreverent and dismissive American response ringing in his ears the German commander launches a full scale assault upon the town of Bastogne.  But amazingly the defenders manage to defy the odds and hold off the German assault long enough for elements of General George Patton’s 3^rd army to arrive and rescue them.  Hitler’s “Battle of the Bulge”, as it comes to be known in history, grinds to a halt.  Only a few short months later the war in Europe is over at last.

The gutsy determination and seemingly illogical action taken by the American Army in the face of almost certain defeat is the same sort of attitude that the prophet Habakkuk displays as he closes out his contribution to the pages of scripture.  There is a very clear sense in the prophet’s writing of a determination to do what is right and an acceptance of whatever may come.  His conviction is not without fear and trembling, but it is sure, solid, and unbreakable.  In many ways it echoes his previous statements from earlier in the book.  How can this possibly be?  How, in the face of overwhelming obstacles and what should be crushing despair, can Habakkuk continually maintain faith and trust in His God?  Furthermore, can we today do the same?  This fundamental question is very much the theme of the whole book.  And it will finally be answered for us here at the very end.  To find out how let us proceed to the text.  We will begin with verse 16 of chapter 3:

                   I heard and my inward parts trembled,

                   At the sound my lips quivered.

                   Decay enters my bones,

                   And in my place I tremble.

                   Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress,

                   For the people to arise who will invade us.

Habakkuk once again reminds us and affirms the fact that he has heard the voice of the Lord speak to Him.  He has heard the report that has come from heaven especially for his ears first, and then the nation of Israel second, and finally the church of the living God.  There is a very important implication inherent in hearing God speak.  That is, one must listen in order to hear.  In Proverbs 2:1-5 Solomon gives us a tour de force explanation of the importance of listening to God: My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.  When we think of listening to something it is usually perceived as a passive act.  We are on the receiving end of whatever we are listening to, whether it be someone speaking, music being played, or a movie being shown.  But what the preacher is describing here is anything but passive.  He uses words like incline your heart, cry for, lift your voice, seek, and search.  We are to be active listeners to the Lord our God.  We are to seek His voice purposefully, deliberately, and unceasingly.  Even when we are instructed to be still, as in Psalm 46:10: Cease striving and know that I am God, there is very much a sense of intentionality in our silence and a determined cessation of striving.  We must choose to be silent and incline our heart toward God, crying out to Him for discernment just as Habakkuk did in chapter 2 verse 1 of his book, and seeking after His wisdom as assiduously as if we were digging for hidden treasures.  If we have any hope of emulating the prophet’s response to the Lord then we must begin as he began, by listening.

Having said that, God makes no guarantees that when we hear Him speak it will always be soothing to hear and easy to accept.  Notice the prophet’s response.  What Habakkuk is describing for us is nothing less than a complete emotional and physical meltdown.  The phrase “inward parts” could alternatively be translated as belly or abdomen.  The trembling he speaks of could also be rendered agitated, quivered, or churned.  And it is this last definition that might give us the best understanding of his meaning.  Imagine your stomach as a vat.  This vat is filled with acid.  Rather than a calm and placid surface it is roiling, boiling, and churning with agitation.  You feel nauseous.  Every food you have ever eaten appears poised to come up your throat and out of your mouth.  Your esophagus burns from the constant action of stomach acid splashing back and forth and hurling droplets upward.  You are in every sense of the word, well and truly sick.  The physiological reaction extends beyond your insides to your lips.  They are locked into an uncontrollable trembling.  You are on the verge of a flood of tears to rival a torrential rainstorm.  Your misery doesn’t end there however.  A sense of decay creeps into your skeletal structure.  The bones that give your skin and muscles a framework seem to be crumbling inside your body.  You feel limp, light headed, you are on the verge of passing out.  And your entire body is shaking violently.  If you can picture yourself having a reaction similar to this then you will have some idea of what Habakkuk is describing for us.  He feels utterly spent.

The obvious question is why.  What is it about what he has heard that is causing the prophet so much distress?  In a word: foreknowledge.  God has granted Habakkuk a vision of future events.  They include both the destruction of Judah and the eventual salvation of the faithful remnant.  And while that promised rescue serves as a beacon of hope in his mind, it is exceedingly difficult to calmly and objectively get past the horrific devastation that will precede the restoration.  To make matters worse Habakkuk really cannot confide in anyone else.  As he puts it: I must wait quietly.  This means he must submissively bow his head and wait for the inevitable.  Even were he to fulfill his function as a prophet of God and share this vision with his fellow Jews, the evidence from his contemporary Jeremiah is that no one would listen to him.  The nation of Israel demonstrated time and again that it was perfectly willing to stop up its collective ears and ignore the warnings of the prophets.  Jeremiah chapter 26 records an incident in which the Lord prophesied through Jeremiah against Judah by saying: “this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth.”  The people were so enraged by this that they seized Jeremiah and intended to kill him.  Undoubtedly, if Habakkuk had occasion to do any public prophesying, he would have received a similar response.  So whether through physical silence or being ignored the prophet was very much humanly alone in his grief.

There is some interpretive disagreement among scholars over exactly what Habakkuk is waiting quietly for.  Some translations, such as the one given above, point toward the invasion by Babylon.  In this rendering the “day of distress” that the prophet is waiting for is tied to the forthcoming attack by the Chaldeans.  He is unhappy over the catastrophic events he knows are coming.  Other translators take a different approach.  They would say that the day of distress Habakkuk is waiting for is the one to come against the invaders themselves.  God, in the five woes of chapter two, very clearly laid out an eventual punishment for the wickedness of Babylon and all who are like them.  If one takes this approach then the passage would be depicted similarly to the following: “yet I will wait quietly for the day of distress to happen to the invaders.”  In spite of this variation I am going to intentionally side step the question because I believe it is of little importance and also because there is a larger issue at stake here.  Whether Habakkuk is waiting quietly for Israel’s day of distress or for Babylon’s day of distress, the point remains that he has been given a glimpse of the future, it terrifies him, and he has no choice but to submit and wait for it. 

And again, there is a very important principle bound up in all of this unrest the prophet is feeling.  Namely, that his dread over the horror to come is caused by his understanding of the transgressions his people have committed that necessitated the horror in the first place.  When we take that standard, lift it out of the circumstances it is presented in here, and apply it to all of man’s dealings with God, then what we are left with is the required first step to finding salvation from God’s wrath; namely, repentance.  As if echoing Habakkuk’s reaction to what is coming, Psalm 119:120 presents a very similar picture: My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments.  Elsewhere in Psalm 4:4 the same sentiment is echoed: Tremble, and do not sin; meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.  It is an undeniable truth of scripture that a realization of one’s sin before a holy God should produce disquiet in the soul.  In fact, as Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 7:10 the Lord purposely wills it to be so: For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.  The only way to even begin to have a right relationship with God is to admit the guilt that we have incurred in our depravity.  Just as a child who steadfastly refuses to own up to his misdeeds in spite of the iron clad evidence against him causes a fracture of the parent/child relationship, so a man who stubbornly avoids his sin guilt in spite of his own conscience condemning him in concert with the Bible causes an irreparable rift in the creator/creature relationship.  In light of that then, if we, when contemplating our own sin nature as well as individual acts of sinning, do not experience sorrow such as Habakkuk felt, then we do not truly accept or recognize the gravity of our offense.  And therefore we fail to express true repentance as prescribed by God.

Habakkuk of course, does recognize his own sin and that of his people.  He understands that mankind has no grounds whatsoever to complain against God’s decrees.  Further, in Habakkuk’s mind God is well within His rights to do anything He so chooses with His creations.  This realization and acceptance enables him to continue waiting quietly, even in the face of the most complete and utterly catastrophic situation he can possibly imagine, which he now presents to us:

                   Though the fig tree should not blossom

                   And there be no fruit on the vines,

                   Though the yield of the olive should fail

                   And the fields produce no food,

                   Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

                   And there be no cattle in the stalls,

To our modern minds the situation described by the prophet may seem rather tame.  Fig trees failing to blossom?  Olives not yielding their produce?  Flocks stuck outside the fold?  Big deal we might say.  But what is important for the modern reader to understand is that what Habakkuk is describing here is nothing short of a complete breakdown of society through economic recession and starvation which leads to civil disorder and eventually anarchy.

Every item on the list above was a major part of life in the 6^th century B.C.  Fig trees provided the people with fruit and was a dietary staple.  Figs were such a normative part of everyday life that they made it into the scriptures in 1 Samuel 30:12: They gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; then his spirit revived.  The reference to fruit on the vines has grapes in view.  Grapes were used to produce wine, a product with multi-faceted uses; everything from consumption at celebrations to usage as a medicinal agent.  And don’t forget olive oil, which obviously comes from olives, and is the “yield” being referred to.  Olive oil was to the Israelites what butter is to us.  Not only that but they used the oil for light in lamps, anointing of the body (both for cleanliness and religious purposes), and offerings.  Continuing Habakkuk’s pessimistic setting, he envisions farmland going fallow and crops dying.  This would have been an unmitigated disaster for ancient peoples.  With much less access to imported resources than we have today, if the local farms stopped producing grains and vegetables there would be an immediate negative impact.  This is precisely why famines were such a frightening prospect for these people.  It further explains their rationale in prostrating themselves before a false god of fertility and agriculture such as Baal, as we looked at in chapter one.  In the midst of this devastating starvation the sheep become lost.  Either unable to find their way back to their pens or intentionally removed from them, they become easy prey for predators.  This causes civilization’s primary source of fabric for the making of clothing to disappear.  People are unable to replace their worn out garments.  Clothes become increasingly tattered.  Additionally, the loss of flocks of sheep indicates the absence of shepherds.  Shepherding was a vital occupation in ancient times.  So to lose the shepherding industry points to a catastrophic disruption of the fabric of society.  Last but certainly not least, even cattle disappear from the face of the earth in Habakkuk’s description.  When the livestock are gone so also vanishes milk, the primary source of dairy foods, as well as meat and leather. 

As you can see this is no small problem the prophet is describing.  What he has in mind is complete devastation in every area of life.  This goes beyond luxuries and gets at the root of basic human necessities.  And it drives home two points from scripture.  First, it should remind us of the danger of taking for granted the creature comforts we enjoy in our modern day generally affluent lifestyles.  Deuteronomy 8:7-10, although it was written by Moses specifically for Israel, serves as a timeless principle of the need to give thanks to God for His blessings: For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.  It is a true statement that we are obligated to give thanks to God for what we have because it all comes directly from His hand.

Second, the picture painted by Habakkuk should remind us of the danger of clinging to those same comforts we just offered thanksgiving for.  Paul delivers this point in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 when he reminds the church at Corinth of the fleeting nature of material things: But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.  Scripture, here and in many other places, is unrelentingly blunt that we ought not to enslave ourselves to material possessions or comforts because ultimately they are all fleeting and transitory anyhow.

With those truths in mind, let us turn our attention back to Habakkuk.  What was his purpose in giving such a bleak description of life devoid of many of things necessary to sustain it?  He gives the stunning answer in verse 18:

                   Yet I will exult in the Lord,

                   I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

Do you hear the prophet’s message ringing across the mists of time to the present day?  Do you understand the ramifications of what he is saying here?  Do you grasp just how incredible of a thing this is for him to say?  Habakkuk is saying that even if all comforts are stripped away.  Even if all societal order is removed.  Even if his own life is threatened by food shortages, exposure to the elements, or anything else.  In spite of all these situations, and in spite of any other possible scenario that might arise, he is still going to worship the Lord.  Not only is he going to worship, but he is going to exult in his God.  Zephaniah 3:14-15 gives us a picture of the type of emotion the prophet is describing: Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion!  Shout in triumph, O Israel!  Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!  The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies.  The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you will fear disaster no more.  After centuries, even millennia, of anti-Semitism and troubles of every kind imaginable God is going to restore the fortunes of His people Israel.  He will acquit them of their offenses and eliminate their enemies.  He will even dwell with them as a surety against future problems.  For these Jews, this faithful remnant, this is a day of unbridled celebration.  They have faced turmoil most of us can barely fathom.  And now to have it all wiped away and guaranteed never to come again will result in exultation and rejoicing with all of their collective hearts.  This is the same idea Habakkuk has in mind when he says that in spite of what he has just described he is still going to exult in the Lord and rejoice in the God of his salvation. 

But what is jaw dropping about this is that the prophecy in Zephaniah describes a time when the people have been rescued by the Lord.  They very clearly have visible evidence of their obligation to be joyful.  Habakkuk is still sitting in the midst of the fire, as it were.  He is saying that even though I have no logical incentive, according to human wisdom, to rejoice in my God I’m still going to do it anyhow.  I don’t care what comes or how beat down I get.  I’m still going to lift a voice of praise to the Lord.  We can see this same type of determined, almost “devil may care” (but for the right reasons!) attitude in Daniel 3:16-18.  The account is of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego and their response to King Nebuchadnezzar when he ordered them to bow down and worship his golden image: Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  This then is the resounding anthem that Habakkuk trumpets as his book comes to a close.  Come what may, I will do what is right.

Now then, the question I asked at the beginning of the chapter has still not been answered.  This is the fundamental inquiry that forms the bedrock of this book and is ultimately the most important point to walk away with.  Simply put, how can this be?  How is it possible for someone to be in the midst of a situation so incredibly horrific that the mind shrinks away from thinking about it yet still give praise to the Lord?  Now at long last, in the final verse of the final chapter of his book, Habakkuk provides the answer:

                   The Lord GOD is my strength,

                   And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,

                   And makes me walk on my high places.

                   For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.

There is only one way in all of creation for someone to respond as the prophet did.  It isn’t through rigid determination.  It isn’t by cultivating a gutsy devil may care attitude as the Americans did at Bastogne.  It isn’t by being smarter than the next person.  It isn’t through sheer force of will.  What Habakkuk makes abundantly clear with this single verse of scripture is that it is God alone who enabled his responses in the face of certain calamity.  The prophet outlines a three point statement that is a comprehensive shaping of his character by the Lord, leaving no part of his life untouched.

First, God has made him strong.  Many of the uses of this word in the Old Testament are clearly referring to physical strength, perhaps of limbs or of military forces.  But the context here is clearly pointing to a different sense of the word.  Habakkuk has been in an intimate conversation with his God.  He has had several blows dealt to his preconceived notions of how events will play themselves out for Judah.  He has just seen a remarkable vision of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in all His majesty and authority.  And he has just affirmed in the previous verse that he is going to keep right on adoring and exulting in God.  This is all mental rather than physical.  There is no sense of Habakkuk going out and doing any valorous deeds.  No, he is fighting in his soul.  His spirit is wrestling with these weighty matters.  And it is in this setting that he delivers the line ascribing his strength to the Lord.  A good way to make this distinction might be to think of this as strength of heart.

Further, there is a subtle distinction in the way Habakkuk phrases this that we must not miss.  Notice that he doesn’t say “God gives me strength” or even “God is the source of my strength”.  If the line had been constructed that way it would focus the attention on the prophet by turning this strength into a gift that God parcels out to those whom He will.  If this were the sense of the verse then although it had come from God there would be a sense of detachment from Him that would be in view, as if He apportioned out this power and then left the scene to lurk in the background.  But this is not what Habakkuk said.  In fact, a direct literal translation of the Hebrew without any attempt to convert it to proper English grammar would go something like this: “Jehovah Adonai strength”.  Why is this significant?  Because the prophet is directly tying himself to God.  It’s not that he has any strength in and of himself.  It’s not even that God has given him strength that he now uses.  The idea is that God Himself IS the strength that is within the prophet.  There is a sense of unity and oneness here that will later be expounded upon more fully by Jesus in John 17:22-23: The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me.

The second alteration of character that God has performed in Habakkuk is to make him swift.  A hind is another name for a deer.  So the prophet says that God has symbolically made his feet like that of a deer.  What does this mean?  Think about how a deer moves when they are running.  They are light on their feet.  They leap and bound through the forest.  There is a sense of coiled springs within their legs.  It is not with a skulking crawl that the deer travels.  He triumphantly springs forth, unhindered by excess weight or human emotional baggage.  His is a lighthearted jaunt.  This concept is mirrored in Isaiah 35:6 when the reaction to God’s salvation is described: Then the lame will leap like a deer.  The point the prophet is making here is that even as a deer leaps and bounds across a sunny field or through a dark forest, so he shall leap and bound through both the light tranquility and the dark turmoil of life.  The implication given by this imagery is that it is irrelevant what the specific circumstances are that come his way.  Times of war.  Times of peace.  Days of plenty and days of want.  Captivity or freedom.  Exile or security.  The prophet will be able to meet whatever comes with the same light hearted and joyful attitude because the Lord God has made his feet like a deer’s feet.

The third and final quality granted to Habakkuk by the Lord is that of success.  The prophet says that the Lord makes him to walk on his high places.  This probably conjures up some perplexing imagery.  From past studies we know that high places were pagan cultic platforms upon which evil perversions were committed in the name of Baal, Asherah, and Moloch.  And while this use of the Hebrew is correct there is also a more generalized sense of the word that refers simply to a mountain or even a battlefield.  The idea is of a location where achievement can be had.  A climber can successfully scale a mountain.  A general can victoriously prosecute a battle.  An example of this usage of the same word can be seen in Deuteronomy 32:12-13 in the song of Moses: “The Lord alone guided him, and there was no foreign god with him.  He made him ride on the high places of the earth”.  Alternatively, in Deuteronomy 33:29 we can see the same word being used to refer to a pagan high place, yet with a sense of resounding triumph for the godly: “Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty!  So your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread upon their high places.”

From this we can clearly ascertain the prophet’s meaning.  The literal Hebrew is “height tread”.  An English equivalent might be “treading on the heights”.  Habakkuk has been describing a comprehensive authorship of his entire life.  God is his strength to overcome the difficulties of a fallen world.  God has given him the agility of a deer with which to face the obstacles of life.  And now he says that God makes him successful in his endeavors.  God causes the prophet’s life to have the significance and purpose that will transcend the temporal and meaningless pursuits of this life.

The final line of verse 19 once again reminds us that this is intended by Habakkuk to be a song.  It is to be performed with musical instruments, a specific cadence, and perhaps even with a particular musical style.  The prophet is eager for these words from the Lord to be treasured by his people for years to come.  And what is the main point he is hoping they will walk away with?  What is the theme of the entire book if we could distill it down into its fundamental meaning?  The overwhelming evidence from the prophet’s writing is that it is God who is the source of all things.  Both the good and the bad, the joyous and the troublesome.  God is behind it all, before it all, and through it all.  It is God alone who will be our strength, make us swift, and grant us success.  Once again we turn to the words of Jesus in John 15:5 to authenticate what we are seeing in these words written some six hundred years before His incarnation: I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.  This idea drills down far below the surface of human aspirations and endeavors.  It isn’t just that we need to turn to God if we want things to go well.  This is of course true but there’s more to it.  If we took this mindset the implication would be that we are free to go about our business apart from the Lord, but if we want real success then we need to turn to Him.  Instead Jesus and Habakkuk before Him are describing a reality of life such that nothing at all is even possible without God.  He is the key driver for and the definitive source of all human ambitions and intentions. 

In Romans 14:4 Paul is discussing principles of conscience.  He instructs us not to look down on other people because they have different convictions than we do about certain gray areas of the Christian life.  And then he writes this: Who are you to judge the servant of another?  To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.  To put it bluntly, we do not stand on our own.  We are incapable of achieving our own success.  If we attempt to obtain victory in our walk with Christ by striving alone then we walk down the path of works based failure that the Jews ran up against with the Mosaic Law.

Perhaps this should be obvious.  The gospel as it is written in the Bible clearly teaches the understanding that salvation is a free gift of God, completely apart from any works we perform.  We understand that we deserved no grace or mercy and that God in His great tenderness and compassion deigned to grant them to us anyhow.  We cast ourselves upon the Lord and depend on Him to forgive us of our sins, save us from His great wrath to come, adopt us into His family as sons and daughters, and promise us an eternal inheritance that cannot be taken away and will never decay.  We know all this.  Yet sometimes following our new birth, as the years roll by and a certain level of normality creeps into our lives we become ensnared by forgetfulness.  Although we know that the credit for our deliverance belongs solely to God thoughts begin to creep into our minds, perhaps even subconsciously, that we need to strive harder, work faster, pray more, or minister more often in order to “win”.  We struggle with temptation and, in spite of the knowledge of grace, we somehow get it into our heads that to fight off the temptation we just need to suck it up, gut it out, and bull our way through it.  Our own human hubris begins to creep back into the forefront of our collective minds and we forget that which we should always remember.  We overlook that which Habakkuk the prophet is trumpeting loud and clear from his writing.  It is God alone who is responsible for all that is.  As Paul makes plain in Philippians 2:13: for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.  There is very much a theme of divine exclusivity resounding from the pages of scripture.  God is the one who is at work, driving our wills and empowering our efforts, all for the sake of His own preferences and delights. 

We must latch onto this truth.  We must affix our fingers, locking them to the granite of this great teaching.  We must clothe ourselves with the reality of the principle being espoused here.  We must immerse our minds in the tranquil pool of this living water.  We must go overboard in reminding ourselves and repeatedly coming to terms with this certainty.  Because the sin nature that God has left within us (even here He asserts His authority as the driving force behind everything) will ceaselessly rage with hatred against the knowledge that God is in the driver’s seat.  If we do not constantly keep our mind filled with the knowledge of God’s supremacy in every facet of life then the tendency will be, as already stated, for that truth to gradually slip out of view as water slowly drains from a leaky bucket.  Sanctification is very much a cooperative effort between a believer and the Holy Spirit.  But in a very real sense, the effort put forth by the believer isn’t so much about actually doing “things”.  Rather, the work done by man should be to labor tirelessly to ground himself in the truth of scripture while the Spirit works to enable, empower, and embolden everything else. 

So to answer the original question: How did Habakkuk continually and faithfully assert his faith in God even through the most desperate of circumstances?  How did he remain unbreakable no matter what trials he had to endure?  The answer at long last is that he didn’t.  God did it through him.  This is the great theme of the book of Habakkuk; man’s responsibility to continually affirm God’s supremacy and sovereignty.  God grant that this will also be the great theme of our lives.  To Him be the glory, forever.

The Oracle to Habakkuk, Part 13: Boundless Glory

Have you ever found yourself, on a warm and sunny day, inside a building that had its inside temperature set too low for your comfort?  Or maybe you were in someone’s home and they are one of “those” people who like to freeze everyone “to death”.  There may have been an instance of being outside early in the morning with the cold and damp clinging to the earth.  But then finally the sun peaked over the horizon and flooded the air with light and warmth.  Regardless of the specifics of your circumstance, do you remember what it was like to feel the sun on your face?  Did you perhaps stand still for a few minutes, face upturned with eyes closed, drinking in the heat that was beating down on you?  Did you luxuriate in the tingling warmth that began to suffuse your skin?

If you have been in this situation then I believe you have some idea of how Habakkuk felt as he penned the words to the third chapter of his book.  Whereas our experience was physical and we basked in the warmth of sunlight Habakkuk’s was spiritual and he basked in the light of the glory of God.  In only two chapters the prophet has been through a journey of confusion, frustration, worship, and understanding that must have been very much like an emotional roller coaster.  He began with dismay and righteous anger over the distortion of God’s law and reputation among the Jews.  The Lord responded by assuring His servant that He was going to raise up the Chaldeans to mete out justice upon the wayward nation of Israel.  This revelation was particularly distressing to Habakkuk, as Babylon was a cruel, pagan, and godless nation.  He became frustrated by his lack of understanding of how God in His holiness could use such an evil people to accomplish His purposes.  The prophet understood that his exasperation was not good and that it stemmed from a failure to see reality from God’s perspective.  Because of this awareness of his own shortcomings as a man he asked for instruction and correction.  God obliged Habakkuk by laying out a six point outline of how the Babylonians were in violation of His character and the laws He had established at creation.  Furthermore, full assurance was given that the guilty would be met by justice and punishment would be handed down wherever appropriate.  This had to have been a remarkable and eye opening experience for our confused prophet.  He was given a front row seat to the tapestry of God’s design in the world.  In spite of the depravity of human nature that was presented to him through the introductory word picture and the five woes that followed it, what emerges triumphantly over the sickening corruption is a pulsing, pounding thread of truth that is nothing less than the awesome power and wisdom and righteousness of God Almighty.  It is as if Habakkuk has stepped out of a frozen wasteland into the glorious morning of the Lord with the light of God’s glory shining full upon his face.  And in response he bursts forth now in chapter three with an amazing, jaw dropping response to everything he has seen and heard.  It begins quite slowly and softly but will rapidly build into a crescendo:

                        A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, 

                        according to Shigionoth.

Immediately we see the heart of this man.  His response is formed as a prayer to God.  A prayer is a solemn address to the Supreme Being consisting of adoration, thanksgiving, and supplication.  By its very nature a prayer is a vertical form of communication in the sense that it rises from the creature, who occupies a position of subservience, upward to the creator who occupies a position of supremacy.  So by characterizing his response as a prayer Habakkuk qualifies and categorizes everything that he is about to say.  Not only that, but notice the phrase “according to Shigionoth”.  Scholars are unclear exactly what this Hebrew phrase meant.  It appears only one other time in the Old Testament as part of the title of Psalm 7.  The most probable connotation is that of a musical instruction or a reference to the musical style that was to be used when the text was sung.  From this we can infer that not only did Habakkuk intend for his prayer to be lifted up to His God but he desired for his countrymen to have this song as a treasured possession that they could refer to in the future in times of despair and discouragement.  And so in an effort to help them recall the tender mercies and loving kindnesses of God the prophet repeatedly draws on the Jews’ own history as a series of reminders.  In light of the fact that Habakkuk had inside information on exactly what was going to happen to his fellow Jews this makes the poignancy of his prayer all the more striking.

The prayer divides neatly into four movements or expressions of thought.  He begins with a plea, continues with a vision of the Lord triumphantly coming to earth, expands with praise and thanksgiving for salvation, and concludes with a determined statement of stalwart intent.  We will cover the first three pieces in this chapter and then look at the conclusion next chapter. 

The opening of this four part song is a statement that is utterly astonishing coming from the mouth of a sinful man:

                        Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear.

                        O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,

                        In the midst of the years make it known;

                        In wrath remember mercy.

What is the prophet saying here?  And what is so astonishing about it?  Notice that he says that he has heard the report about the Lord.  This mirrors his statement at the beginning of chapter 2: “I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.”  He waited for the Lord’s answer and now the prophet acknowledges that he has heard it.  And in the hearing he “fears”.  This is not terror or fright.  The Hebrew word can be taken as such.  But the context of both what came before in chapter two and what immediately follows in chapter 3 makes it clear that Habakkuk is fearing in the sense of being in awe of God.  He is amazed at the report he has been given about God’s work.  Rather than being filled with dread or dismay over the revelation of exceedingly painful experiences to come he is filled with a triumphant sort of astonishment at how the divine plan will ultimately come together. 

And so the prophet asks His heavenly Father to do it.  “Do that which You have prophesied to me” he cries out to God.  Habakkuk desires for God to make His plans come to fruition.  Not only that but he wants these plans to happen soon.  There is some disagreement over exactly what “in the midst of the years” means.  The most probable explanation is that Habakkuk has in view the Babylonian exile and captivity.  As I have said a major concern for him is his countrymen.  He is distressed over how long they will be held in a foreign land with foreign gods.  The fear is undoubtedly that they will become depressed and sink into despair out of a conviction that their God has forgotten them.  So Habakkuk is hopeful and asks God to perform His work of justice and grace and to “make it known in the midst of the years” of the Babylonian exile.  He closes this supplication with a plea to remember mercy.  In spite of God’s great wrath over the sinfulness of His people Habakkuk is asking Him to be gentle with them.  The prophet shudders in dreadful anticipation of the punishment to come and his heart goes out to his fellow Jews.  Compassion rises to the surface of his mind and he casts this burden upon the Lord, knowing from the scriptures that God will never permit the righteous to be moved (Psalm 55:22).

Observe that in all of this God’s judgment is a foregone conclusion for Habakkuk.  By asking the Lord to perform His work of justice even in the midst of the exile to come he is implying an acceptance of that exile.  By requesting the application of mercy to his people the understanding is that there will be wrath poured out on them from which to beg for that mercy.  Nowhere does Habakkuk give the impression that he is arguing with God about what is going to happen.  In a marvelous parallel with Habakkuk 1:12 (We will not die.  You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge; and You, O Rock, have established them to correct) he simply accepts what God says and proceeds with that as his basis of reality.  The prophet’s track record of this sort of single minded devotion to the Lord has already been well documented.  But this passage serves to both remind us of the commitment he personifies in his writings as well as to cement that character trait firmly in stone on the off chance that there was any doubt after reading Habakkuk chapter 1.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a vision bursts forth.  This revelation is astounding in its scope and power.  As a boy I enjoyed fantasy stories.  Swords and dragons and wizards filled me with wonder.  Descriptions of fanciful and unbelievable feats of amazing power in books like “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy fired my passions such that I would read them over and over again.  Even as an adult I find great enjoyment in these types of tales.  But what I have found in the word of God is a jaw dropping tapestry of the fantastic that simply cannot be equaled by the mind of mortal man.  The next thirteen verses of Habakkuk chapter 3 are just such an instance of divine reality instead of fantasy.  Rather than an imaginary powerful wizard or fearless knight stepping into view what we have is nothing short of the truth of Jesus Christ presented in all His glory as the very image and exact representation of the invisible God as He explodes off the pages of scripture in a fiery campaign of justice and wrath that will shake the foundations of the earth.  Let’s take a look.  We begin with the second act of Habakkuk’s prayer/song, covering verses 3 to 7, which is a description of the Lord God coming to earth:

                        God comes from Teman,

                        And the Holy One from Mount Paran.                  Selah.

                        His splendor covers the heavens,

                        And the earth is full of His praise.

                        His radiance is like the sunlight;

                        He has rays flashing from His hand,

                        And there is the hiding of His power.

                        Before Him goes pestilence,

                        And plague comes after Him.

                        He stood and surveyed the earth;

                        He looked and startled the nations.

                        Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered,

                        The ancient hills collapsed.

                        His ways are everlasting.

                        I saw the tents of Cushan under distress,

                        The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.

The first thing we notice is the reference to Teman and Mount Paran.  Teman was a city in southern Edom.  Mount Paran’s precise location is unknown, but it was to the southeast of Israel.  The geographic location in view with these references is that of Sinai.  The Lord originally revealed Himself to the Israelites on the mountain of God, called alternatively Sinai or Horeb in scripture.  The book of Exodus records this incident in chapter 19 verses 18 and 19 as a terrifying encounter for the people due to the fiery appearance and thunderous sound of the presence of God: Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.  When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.  This is the historical spot where God chose to reveal Himself, first to Moses in Exodus chapter 3 and later to the whole nation.  And this is where He chooses to make His arrival on earth.  By marking out Sinai as the location for God to touch down Habakkuk would have immediately called to mind a wealth of racial memories in the minds of his Israelite readers.  From Moses’s initial meeting with God to the formation of the Mosaic Law as a system of government to the retreat of Elijah from the wrath of Jezebel, Horeb had a cultural heritage and significance that would not have gone unnoticed.  In that sense God’s appearance here is a symbolic link to His previous acts and an affirmation of His identity specifically to the Jews and generally to the nations of the world. 

After alighting on the mountain God begins His march, presumably toward Jerusalem because of its significance as the holy city.  The “splendor” that Habakkuk beholds is the kingly authority and majesty with which the Lord is crowned.  His being exudes these qualities in such an overpowering manner that they “cover” not just the earth but the heavens.  The word for covering here is the same as that found in Genesis 7:19-20: The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.  The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.  There is no escape from the all-encompassing spread of God’s splendor.  It completely inundates all of creation just as thoroughly as the flood waters covered the earth in the days of Noah.  This aura of power radiates from God so magnificently that the entirely of the planet is filled with praise at His appearance.  An excellent picture of the extent of this is found in Exodus 40:34-35: Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.  Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.  We are not talking about a partial dusting or an incomplete presence.  The majesty of God is such that when He pulls away the veil from the face of humanity and appears in all His glory there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide because His mighty presence fills the entire expanse of reality as far as the east is from the west.

After having established His starting point God proceeds forth from Sinai.  Habakkuk records that His radiance is like sunlight.  Picture the Lord with a closed fist.  Held within His fist is a visual representation of the omnipotent power that He wields over the creation that He brought forth by His word.  This power is partially concealed but its fullness is such that the light of it leaks between the fingers of God’s closed fist.  The rays of light stream forth in a dazzling display of brilliance, hinting at the terrible and awesome might inside. 

The signs of His passage are impossible to miss.  Habakkuk 1:13 taught us that God, being transcendently glorious and matchlessly holy, is absolutely incompatible with sin.  It is total anathema to Him and is the complete antithesis of His nature.  Because of this, when the two come into contact with each other sin is utterly destroyed.  In fact, sin is wiped out before it even gets to Him.  Thus when God touches down on earth in physical form and begins marching across the land it is unavoidable that this discordance causes disease, plague, and death to go before and behind Him because of the horribly corrupted state of both mankind and even the earth itself.  The cause and effect nature of this situation is difficult for us humans to come to grips with.  But we cannot ignore facets of the reality of who God is merely because they are perhaps less palatable to us than others.  It is much more fun and pleasing to talk about God’s love and gloss over the sobering reality of His stalwart opposition to sin which results in human casualties.

Next in verse 6 we see the Lord surveying the earth.  This is not merely a casual glance or hasty inspection.  Much like a surveyor who carefully plots and precisely measures distances so as to mark out parcels of land God is going to take an exhaustive inventory of every acre, every mile, every foot of the planet.  The idea to keep in mind is that no stone will be left unturned.  No evil will be hidden from God’s view.  No deep and dark hiding place will be sufficient to safeguard sinners from His fiery wrath.  This comprehensive inspection will catch the nations unaware and startle them.  In spite of the plentiful warnings that have issued forth from the preaching and reading of His word, they will be totally surprised at His appearance and their best laid plans and most strenuous efforts will be dumbfounded.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:2 Paul writes that the day of the Lord will “come just like a thief in the night.”  Habakkuk’s vision correlates with Paul’s writing and together they provide a sobering look at the impact of God’s physical presence on humanity.

It is not only people that will be irreversibly impacted by the appearance of the Lord.  The prophet writes that “the perpetual mountains were shattered, the ancient hills collapsed.”  In the following verse we see the “tents of Cushan under distress” and the “tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.”  Again we see Habakkuk calling to mind the great history of God’s deliverance.  There is some scholarly debate over exactly what is meant by Cushan in this verse.  Some would say that it is a reference to Cush or Ethiopia.  Others would call to mind the time of the judges when Othniel overcame the Mesopotamian oppressor, Cushan-rishathaim (Judges 3:8-10).  If the latter is accurate then it would dovetail neatly with the note about Midian and Gideon’s defeat of their army by the hand of the Lord.  Either way the point is that the coming of God onto the earth in the full majesty of His great and glorious power is literally an earth shaking event.  He will collapse mountains and shatter hills.  The habitations of humanity will be brought to ruin.  Zechariah 14:4 expands upon this concept with a terrifying depiction of the day of the Lord: In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.  In a striking contrast Habakkuk makes the point when he says “His ways are everlasting” that although these geographic features of earth seemed to us to be timeless and ancient, when compared with the eternality of God they are as but dust in the wind.

As we finish this segment of the prophet’s incredible vision there is a sense of exhaustion.  We feel wrung out like a wet rag and twisted up like a knot.  The description of God’s righteous march across the earth with its pouring forth of divine power and fundamental alteration of both land and people is of such a compelling and guttural nature that we feel utterly awed at the breadth of it.  As Habakkuk said at the beginning of his prayer “I have heard the report about You and I fear.”  This should be the orientation of our thoughts at this point in the narrative.  And this is precisely the frame of mind, one of sober realization of the power of God and our insignificance next to Him, which both we and the ancient Israelites need to be in as we come to the next portion of the passage, verses 8 to 15.  Because only after coming to terms with the terrible majesty of our Lord can we begin to appreciate the gravity of what it means that He will fight for us and protect us.  The prophet continues:

                        Did the Lord rage against the rivers,

                        Or was Your anger against the rivers,

                        Or was Your wrath against the sea,

                        That You rode on Your horses,

                        On Your chariots of salvation?

                        Your bow was made bare,

                        The rods of chastisement were sworn.    Selah.

                        You cleaved the earth with rivers.

                        The mountains saw You and quaked;

                        The downpour of waters swept by.

                        The deep uttered forth its voice,

                        It lifted high its hands.

                        Sun and moon stood in their places;

                        They went away at the light of Your arrows,

                        At the radiance of Your gleaming spear.

                        In indignation You marched through the earth;

                        In anger You trampled the nations.

                        You went forth for the salvation of Your people,

                        For the salvation of Your anointed.

                        You struck the head of the house of the evil

                        To lay him open from thigh to neck.                    Selah.

                        You pierced with his own spears

                        The head of his throngs.

                        They stormed in to scatter us;

                        Their exultation was like those

                        Who devour the oppressed in secret.

                        You trampled on the sea with Your horses,

                        On the surge of many waters.

Habakkuk begins this section by establishing that God will fight for His people.  He asks rhetorical questions to establish a baseline of purpose for the Lord.  Brought into view yet again is Israel’s history.  This time it is the deliverance that God orchestrated for Israel at both the Red Sea and the Jordan River when He supernaturally parted the waters so the people could pass through.  The prophet asks the question, “Was the Lord angry with these waters?  Is that why He sent them into turmoil?  Is that why He disrupted the usual course of their flows and the natural order of their design?”  The answer is no, of course not.  The reason God did these things was so that He could both save His people from destruction at the hands of the Egyptian army and facilitate their passage into the Promised Land.  As stated, a part of Habakkuk’s intention is to remind the Israelites of the history they share of the knowledge of their God.  Again we see a parallel with what he has already communicated.  In chapter 1 verse 12 he pointed out the legacy of divine action on their behalf when he said “Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One?”  We discussed this in depth in chapter four.

Now, having established God’s purpose here, Habakkuk begins to escalate the imagery he is portraying.  He begins by conveying the image of God as a divine warrior, equipped and ready for battle.  When he says that God’s “bow is made bare” the idea is that the bow has been taken out of its case.  The bowstring has been unfurled and fitted to the bow stave.  It is prepared for action.  Not only is the bow ready but the Lord has arrows in His quiver.  These arrows are seen as “the rods of chastisement”.  These rods, or arrows, are for the chastisement, or punishment, of God’s enemies.  And He has had them made especially for this purpose by having their construction sworn, or commissioned.

Then at the end of verse 9 and into verse 10 we see the Lord begin to utilize flood waters to quench His anger.  Habakkuk says that He “cleaved the earth with rivers” and “the downpour of waters swept by”.  God will slice into the land as if with a giant pickaxe, forming canyons.  And as He “tramples on the sea with His horses” floodwaters will follow.  Verse 15 references the “surge of many waters.”  They will sweep by with thunderous fury.  The deep parts of the ocean will rise up like a colossal titan, raising its hands high into the sky in the form of a massive wave, the crashing of whitecaps like a great and terrible battle cry.  These tsunamis of the wrath of God will fill the chasms formed by His passing.

And now this divine warrior, the Lord God in all His glory, transcends even the bounds of physical creation and fractures time itself.  Verse 11 tells us that even the sun and the moon will stand still in their places.  The passage of time will cease while God is on the march.  Even the light of these celestial bodies will be covered over and obscured by the light of the Lord in all His gleaming finery, the “light of His arrows”, and the “radiance of His gleaming spear.”  Such is the wrath of God against sin and His resolve to deliver His people that no element of His creation will remain untouched by the monumental wake of His passing.

And now this anger bursts forth onto the nations in full force.  Verses 12 to 14 describe a tableau of utter carnage being perpetrated against an evil and hostile and alien mankind.  It is righteous fury that will drive God forth across the surface of the earth.  It is His incendiary hatred of sin that will cause Him to “trample the nations”.  The Lord will at long last punish Satan when He “strikes the head of the house of the evil to lay him open from thigh to neck”.  This is graphic imagery but it is necessary to get across to the reader how serious the situation is.  These evil nations who are being punished are not merely innocent bystanders who are caught between a rock and a hard place.  They are not kindhearted souls in the wrong place at the wrong time, wedged in the middle of a supernatural war between a harsh and uncaring God and the former leader of His angelic hosts.  These people are completely duplicitous in the hostility and antagonism that has been directed toward the Lord for thousands of years.  This is apparent for two reasons.  First is the nature of man.  Psalm 14:3 paints a vivid image of the state of mankind: They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.  The second piece of evidence that convicts humanity is the reference to Satan himself.  The “head of the house of the evil” cannot be anyone other than the devil.  No mere human could possibly match that description of ultimate depravity.  And he is the one stated as the head of the nations, pictured here as a house of evil.  So man is not a bunch of innocent lambs being unjustly oppressed.  After establishing the enemy as mankind with the devil as their leader Habakkuk reveals that God will decisively strike the prince of demons with a mortal wound that he will not recover from.  When the day of the Lord occurs no injustice will be left untouched and no hidden evils will be allowed to fester.  Not only will Satan be struck down but his human accomplices as well.  Even as they “stormed in to scatter” with an “exultation like those who devour the oppressed in secret” God will turn their own weapons against them and pierce their bodies.

To further reinforce this idea that it is not the Lord who is to blame here, notice in verse 13 why He is striking down the nations.  His goal is the “salvation of His people”.  No, it’s even more than that.  It isn’t just some generic reference to a people group in view here.  It is God’s own anointed who are to be saved by His prowess in battle.  The Lord specifically and intentionally chose out for Himself people to be His own treasured possession.  He brought them forth and anointed their heads with oil in a symbolic gesture that was precisely designed to mark someone out.  This oil, the recipe for which was given straight from God to Moses in Exodus chapter 30, was used to consecrate Levitical priests so as to set them aside for the work of ministry.  They were to be symbolically holy and blameless before the literal holiness and blamelessness of God.  Thus the anointing of someone is a direct philosophical and theological link to that attribute in God’s own character.  The seriousness of this cannot be overstated.  And this is why God is issuing forth here in Habakkuk’s vision with such force and vehemence to save His “anointed ones”.

The complexity and scope on display in the prophet’s vision is astonishing and it bears a quick recap to bring it all together in our minds.  First of all, we need to clarify just exactly who we are discussing here.  In the Old Testament the presence of God was terrifying.  A direct look at His face would kill a man.  Although the Father’s form is incorporeal He was completely overwhelming to human sensibility as evidenced by His presence both at Mount Sinai and at the tabernacle.  By contrast, in the New Testament we see Jesus as very approachable.  He is tender and compassionate yet firmly grounded with truth.  He is the exact appearance of what God’s image looks like in a man.  This is the mark that Adam should have hit but fell short of.  In this physical incarnation the Lord divested Himself of some portion of His divine power and prerogatives.  So in a sense His glory that was revealed at Sinai was hidden from view.

Now imagine the two of those images coming together, descending through the clouds, and touching down on Mount Sinai.  He is literally standing in front of you.  A perfect physical living breathing image of God in the flesh.  John gives us a wonderful picture of this in Revelation 1:13-16: and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.  His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.  His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.  In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.  The God-man is suffused with unmatchable power and magnificence so that it exudes from His very skin.  This aura radiates outward to such an extent that sin is immediately eradicated from His presence.  He is clothed with splendor, majesty, and authority.  His armor gleams, not in the sun, but in the light of His greater glory.  A bow is in His hand with arrows of light in His quiver.  A spear of radiance is on His back.  He mounts a celestial charger and begins to march toward the holy city, Jerusalem.  The seas are whipped into a catastrophic maelstrom by His passing.  Massive waves form and surge across the land.  Mountains shatter at His footsteps, the earth quakes, broad canyons and deep gorges are gouged out of the landscape only to become lakes and rivers as they are filled with the raging flood waters.  Even time itself stands still and ceases to function.  The light of the sun and moon are obscured by His radiance.  Nations collapse and are ground under the heel of His righteous anger over sin.  This unstoppable warrior prosecutes His open and shut case against those who would seek to destroy His anointed ones.  He attacks the leader of the opposition and splits his torso open while turning the weapons of the enemy armies back against them even as they rush forward in expectation of triumph.  His people rejoice with unchecked thanksgiving and praise as their salvation is delivered by their God.

What we have in this vision is the true and accurate description of the Lord Jesus Christ unveiled in all of His greatness.  The imagery, although coming prior to it historically, is the literal fulfillment of what the Apostle Paul wrote about in Philippians 2:9-11:  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  People may be allowed the freedom at this time to deny the deity and authority of Christ.  But one day He will stride the avenues of this planet, being arrayed in all of His glory, having been outfitted with divine weaponry, fracturing the very earth, and disrupting time as Habakkuk has described here.  On that day tongues will cleave to the roofs of mouths, hearts will flutter, knees will grow weak, and no one, from the staunchest Atheist to Satan himself, will be able to deny the Lord Jesus Christ.  For those of us who are His brothers and sisters under the shared parental authority of the heavenly Father, this is a great and glorious day to look forward to and should be a source of supreme contentment even in the midst of the afflictions of this life.