In 1904 a short
story was published in “The Strand Magazine”.
It was entitled “The Country of the Blind” and was authored by H. G.
Wells. In this tale a mountaineer named
Nunez attempts to summit the crest of a fictitious mountain in Ecuador. However, he slips and falls down the far side
of the mountain into a hidden valley which is cut off from the rest of the
world on all sides by steep precipices.
The valley is inhabited by a tribe of people descended from natives who
had fled the tyranny of conquering Spanish Conquistadors centuries
earlier. But after arriving in the
valley an earthquake reshaped the surrounding mountains, hiding them from the
Europeans but also cutting them off from the rest of the outside world. Early on in their new life of seclusion a
disease spread among the populace which rendered all newborns blind. Eventually, the sighted among the tribe died
off, leaving only the sightless to carry on.
As a result of this blindness, the people’s other senses sharpened to
such a degree that by the time Nunez encounters them they are living quite
happily and prosperously without vision.
As the story
continues Nunez attempts to explain what sight is to the people but they don’t
understand. They have no frame of
reference with which to comprehend what he is talking about. In fact, they believe him to be quite
mad. Eventually the suggestion is made
that perhaps Nunez’s eyes are diseased, are affecting his brain negatively, and
should be removed. Before the operation
can be done he flees and climbs high into the surrounding mountains, happy to
have escaped from the valley.
This fictional
story in some ways bears a striking resemblance to mankind as a whole. We seem to have a racial blindness to the
glory of God that is constantly on display all around us. We are born without sight, so to speak, blind
to the fact that God “is working until
now” (John 5:17). But unlike the
tribe in the story, our malady is worse than simple blindness. As we saw in chapter 7 Solomon reveals that
God “has also set eternity in their
heart” (Ecc. 3:11) and additionally “that
which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to
them. (Rom. 1:19). If this is so
then why does it appear that we are so blind to the work that He is doing all
around us? The previous verse in Romans
tells the sad tale: For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
So in the parallel with H.G. Wells’ short story we are like a tribe of
people who, although blind, have a collective racial memory of what sight
is. Yet in our stubbornness and ignorance
we deliberately suppress and repress this memory to such an extent that we will
violently resist anyone who attempts to disabuse us of our notions.
This is the
sorry state of affairs that God describes for Habakkuk in His third woe against
the Babylonians. As before, this divine
taunt song begins with the description of a crime:
“Woe to him who builds a city with
bloodshed
And
founds a town with violence!
We
see before our eyes an image of ferocious tyrants. They are consumed with a lust for power. In the pursuit of their yearning for earthly
treasure they give no thought whatsoever for anyone other than themselves and
their own interests. Their personal
relationships are limited to those who align with the same goals and who pursue
the same agendas. In the name of
building first a town, then a city, and finally a nation these evil comrades
oppress, subjugate, steal from, enslave, and ultimately murder those who stand
in their way.
It
would appear at first glance as if the Lord is describing two separate but
linked instances of evil here. The
building of a city with bloodshed and the founding of a town with violence seem
to be two different variations on the same theme. But in reality what we are looking at is the
exact same crime stated two different ways.
Consider what God says about blood.
In Leviticus chapter 17 Moses and the children of Israel were given very
specific instructions regarding blood.
Verse 10 records this dire warning: ‘And
any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them,
who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and
will cut him off from among his people.’
This injunction might seem odd to us.
We might ask the question: who goes around eating blood? It is more easily understood in modern terms
by the phrase raw meat. God’s
restriction is on the consumption of raw flesh that has not been cooked
properly. And anyone who violates this
command is going to have the “face” of Almighty God set against him for ill
rather than for good. This is almost
astonishingly severe. Why is God
decreeing such a dreadful judgment against someone who consumes raw meat?
The
principle being given in Leviticus operates on two levels. On the one hand, as with many regulations of
the Mosaic Law, there are health benefits to be had by obeying the Lord’s
instructions. Although they would have
been totally ignorant of germs at this time in history, modern science has
confirmed for us the truth of God’s safety precautions given two millennia
previously. The consumption of raw flesh
has very real health dangers due to the presence of bacteria and disease. So from this standpoint the Lord is
protecting His people from the perils of a creation that has been subjected to
corruption by its Maker.
But
at a deeper level, what is being constructed in Leviticus for the Israelites is
a complete worldview package which has God at its center, the sinfulness of
mankind unavoidably present, and the promise of divine redemption to come
unmistakably obvious. In this context
blood has a massive symbolic representation of life and death. This is made clear in the next verse: ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood,
and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for
it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’ There is a parallel in the mind of God
between the physical truth that blood carries oxygen to every part of the body,
thus providing life itself to the whole, and the spiritual truth that just as in
the absence of blood physical life ceases so blood is necessary to cover the
sin that causes spiritual life to cease.
In effect, the blood of sacrifices carries an atonement for sin to every
part of our spiritual life just as blood within our bodies carries oxygen to
every part of our physical life. Both
physically and spiritually, blood is a fundamental element of life. And the Lord wanted to make it crystal clear
to humanity that sin is of such a serious nature, disrupting as it does the
ability of the creature to come into the presence of the creator, that a
payment of the very stuff of life itself is necessary to bridge that gap and
make a way for the sinner to be joined with the savior. Then once this imagery was firmly fixed in
the mind of one who views the world through lenses of scripture the revelation
of the Son of God and the shedding of His perfect blood as a singular atonement
for sin would become glaringly obvious.
Furthermore,
as stated in chapter 1 human life has an unprecedented sanctity in the eyes of
the Lord. This is because mankind
represents the Imago Dei, the image
of God. We were created in His image as
a representation, a painting if you will, of the character and essence of the
Lord. And as we made clear in chapter 5
God’s essence is of perfectly pure and transcendent righteousness and
holiness. Anything that God touches is
sanctified and made sacred by His very presence. In Exodus 3:5 Moses was told: “Do not come near here; remove your sandals
from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” The ground itself had nothing to do with
holiness. It was the presence of God
which made it holy. In a similar way
human life is sacred because it is marked with a stamp of God’s nature. Even in the debased form mankind currently
bears there is still a certain quality of godliness contained within him. As such, to cause a loss of that human life
is in a sense to tarnish the Lord Himself.
Now
then, as it relates to our passage in Habakkuk the point is this. Blood, the presence of it, the shedding of
it, the sanctity of it, and the importance of it has a freight train of
theological ramifications. Therefore, to
cause the spilling of human blood, with its implication of causing death, is
inherently a vile and despicable act. It
is equated with the most horrid of crimes and carries the most serious of
consequences before the judge of the universe.
The Hebrew word that is translated above as ‘violence’ is more accurately
stated as iniquity. It is the idea of
injustice, unrighteousness, or wrong. So
when God links blood and iniquity together He is not making two separate
statements about unjust civic development.
He is not saying that to cause bloodshed and to resort to violence are
both separate and equally wrong acts.
Instead, He is saying that to utilize bloodshed to accomplish one’s
goals is to take part in iniquity.
With
that baseline established, the Lord now proceeds to expand His overall point
with verse 13 of Habakkuk chapter 2:
“Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts
That
peoples toil for fire,
And
nations grow weary for nothing?
This verse
operates at two different levels. On one
it links with the preceding verse. On
the other it aligns itself with verse 14 which we have yet to look at. In this way verse 13 serves as a bridge that
knits the entire woe together. We’ll
take each aspect one at a time.
To help us
understand the first point we need to examine a companion text. It can be found in Jeremiah 51:58 and it
contains a Hebrew phrase that is almost identical to our verse in Habakkuk: “The broad wall of Babylon will be
completely razed and her high gates will be set on fire; so the peoples will
toil for nothing, and the nations become exhausted only for fire.” Jeremiah aids us in putting Habakkuk’s
meaning in perspective. There is a
futility being conveyed here of building up cities via iniquity. God will cause all these evil human efforts
to be burned by fire in the end, causing all their labors to be for
naught. Therefore, why bother to engage
in such things. They are utter
futility. In fact, to drive at the point
from another angle, the King James translation renders “toil for fire” as
“labour in the very fire”. The idea is
that these wicked people who have amassed for themselves national security
through ill-gotten gains are engaging in pursuits of such a transient, or
temporary, nature that it is as if they are standing directly in a bonfire as
they work. The moment they complete one
project it is consumed by the flames and burned to ash. Thus they endlessly grind away at their
humanistic goals with never a hint of ultimate progress in the end. In this way they work themselves to the bone
for no gain whatsoever. In the words of
the preacher from Ecclesiastes 1:14: I
have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is
vanity and striving after wind. It
is this manner in which verse 13 supports verse 12. The former describes the crime of which
Babylon was guilty. The latter explains
the ramifications of the crime on a human level.
But there is
another way in which this verse can be applied.
It is a plane of thought at once both deeper and broader. Notice the first line: “Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts…” Everything that we have just looked at is
specifically and directly authorized and handed down from God above. This is a truth that runs parallel to the
first point we just looked at. Yes the
people work at their material goals as if they were in the midst of a
furnace. Yes they weary themselves
fruitlessly for no profit. And yes it is
the Lord God Himself who causes this to happen.
His authority and supremacy reign so supreme over creation that they
extend to and encompass even the pathetic wasted efforts of sinful
mankind. There is no rock of self will
and self-effort that people can hide under in order to escape from the
sovereignty of God. It is absolute.
And it is this
element by which verse 13 serves as a link or a bridge to verse 14:
“For the earth will be filled
With
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As
the waters cover the sea.
In modern
vernacular we might replace “for” with “therefore”. In that sense we could say that because of
the truth revealed in the previous verse, “therefore” what follows in the next
is also true and is the foundation upon which that first truth is built. This foundation is the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord.
His glory will
ultimately prevail as completely as water prevails on the earth. Water is deceptive. In a controlled and contained environment it
appears benign and soft. It refreshes us
on a hot day. It provides the fuel which
plant life requires to grow and flourish.
And it is a vital ally in the pursuit of continued animal life. Without water our bodies, which are comprised
of approximately 70% water, would cease to function. In contrast to these beneficent qualities
that water possesses there is a dark side to it. Given the right conditions it transforms into
a raging horror capable of destroying everything in its path. Venture deep enough into the ocean and water
can crush a man to death under the equivalent pressure of 50 jumbo jets. Give water enough wind to spiral around and
push it into a mound at the center of a tropical storm and this normally
nonthreatening substance can smash into coast lines with enough force to annihilate
entire cities. But even when water is
not overtly dangerous such as in these situations it is still an inexorable foe
whose application against other materials is devastatingly absolute. Against a flooded home the ruin that water
brings is final: rotting the wooden frame, irreversibly staining the floors,
and carrying away valuable mementos of a life forever altered. Give water enough time and it can slice
through the hardest rock forming canyons and other fissures in the earth’s
surface.
In a similar
way the application of God’s righteous judgment is deceptive. It would often appear to our near sighted
carnal minds that God is impotent in the face of evil. We become frustrated when criminals are
acquitted of wrong doing. Our irritation
grows when we suffer personal offense at the hands of other people. And we perhaps are prone to mockingly and
irreverently ask God “where are You?”
Habakkuk even succumbed to the temptation to question God’s intentions
in the face of the great moral decay and spiritual bankruptcy that infested his
beloved Judah. But just as the natural
power of water is absolute and its coverage of the oceans of the world is
complete, the divine power of God is final and the presence of His authority
over all creation is comprehensive.
It is this
truth that is the great theme of this third woe. God is effectively “singing” this taunt song
against the Babylonians and all wickedness of men for the purpose of
proclaiming the greatness and the knowledge of His own glory. He permits evil for His own greater exaltation
that is seen in the eventual settling of the debts incurred by such sin. In Exodus 14:4 the Lord revealed this truth
to Moses: Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s
heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and
all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. The glory of God revealed through both the
forbearance of evil and its subsequent eradication can be found in Ezekiel
6:9-10: “Then those of you who escape
will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive,
how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me,
and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they
will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have
committed, for all their abominations. Then they will know that I am the
Lord; I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster on them.” Repeatedly in chapter 25 of the same book God
echoes the refrain that the nations He is executing judgments against will know
that He is the Lord. By permitting such
evil to exist the acclaim He receives at its obliteration is magnified. A man who rushes into a peaceful home to save
a child receives no honor. But introduce
fire into the timbers of that home and suddenly the man is lauded as a
hero. Danger or adversity must exist if
the one who defeats it is to be recognized for his actions. This is the principle at work here in
Habakkuk 2:12-14.
It is only our
own blindness and hostility to the truth that prevents us from seeing such
things. We are ignorant of the futility
of our own endeavors that we engage in without first seeking the blessing of
the Lord. Our tendency apart from His
corrective guidance is to suppress the truth that is revealed in His character. And like the tribe of blind people in “The
Country of the Blind” our instinct is to resist the notion that the glory of
God is evident around us. We require
training to correct our skewed vision of reality. We must begin to view the world in the proper
light of scripture which tells us that it is we who are off base in our
presuppositions and ignorance.
So once again
we must turn to the example of the Lord Jesus Christ to find the plumb line of
reality by which we ought to be governed.
The entirety of the incarnation of Christ revolved on this axis; that He
both knew and sought the glory of God in all He said and did. Therefore by following the pattern of life He
established we can begin to correct and reverse this racial blindness we are
cursed with. When considering how Jesus
viewed the glory of God the question is not whether the evidence exists but
where to begin. Many, many examples can
be drawn from the gospels to prove this point.
But I have selected just two.
First, we can
see that even as a boy the Lord was fixated upon His heavenly Father. Luke 2:41-49 records an incident in which
this devotion to the glory of God came somewhat into conflict with his human
parents; Joseph and Mary. As the account
goes, the family traveled to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the
Passover. When Jesus was twelve years
old they made the trip as normal. Verse
43 sets the stage: and as they were
returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed
behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it. This probably strikes us as rather odd. How could His parents possibly not realize He
wasn’t with them when they left? The
difference in understanding lies with the difference in culture. Jewish families in Israel were typically large
and tightly knit. They would often live
in the same towns and villages, sometimes even multiple generations and
relations in the same home. And they
most certainly traveled together on long journeys, both for safety and
fellowship. Such was the case here. Verses 44 and 45 give us insight into this: But supposed Him to be in the caravan, and
went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and
acquaintances. When they did not find
Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Now the alarm has been sounded. Joseph and Mary realize there is a problem
and immediately swing into action to locate their son. Verses 46 and 47 continue: Then, after three days they found Him in
the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and
asking them questions. And all who heard
Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. Now let’s for a moment put ourselves in the
parent’s shoes. We have “misplaced” our
son. And this isn’t just any son, so to
speak. They know good and well that this
is the Son of God, who has been placed in their keeping and they have been
charged with His safety and upbringing.
And now they have lost Him!
Although with the benefit of a historical perspective we understand that
this was part of God’s plan, I doubt we would be so philosophical about it were
we in Joseph and Mary’s places. Imagine
their mortification at the prospect of failing the task set them by God. He sent them His Messiah and they couldn’t
even keep track of Him for a few years without blowing it. Obviously, any time a child becomes lost the
parents instinctively grow fearful. But I
have to think that Joseph and Mary were terrified here on an even greater level
because of what was at stake. So Mary’s
response in verse 48 is certainly understandable; in fact, it’s probably a bit
understated compared to how we would respond: When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son,
why have You treated us this way?
Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And now we come to the focal point of the
whole incident; Christ’s response to His parents in verse 49: And He said to them, “Why is it that you
were looking for Me? Did you not know
that I had to be in My Father’s house?”
Now, my first
impulse upon reading a statement like that from a child to a parent is to
suppose that the child is being impertinent.
He or she has been caught in some misdeed, is being called on it, and
responds with selfish and sinful defensiveness.
In other words, they are being a smart aleck. But there’s a problem with that view. This is Jesus the sinless Son of God we are
talking about here. 2 Corinthians 5:21
refers to Him as “Him who knew no sin”. So it is incompatible with biblical truth to
think that this was teenage rebellion on the part of Jesus. We have to shift our thinking to perceive
this from a different angle. In that
light, we might picture Him as genuinely surprised by His mother’s
concern. He understands that she lacks
the clarity of vision and purpose of being committed to the glory of God, as He
is, and so He asks her a pointed and rhetorical question, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My
Father’s house?” The King James
renders it as “Did you not know that I
had to be about My Father’s business?” The
implication is that she should not have had to search at all. In fact, that Joseph and Mary searched for
three days without successfully locating Jesus is itself an indication of the
skewed perception of reality they both shared.
Jesus was the only one in this situation who was on the right
track. And that right track was to set
aside human contentions and distractions.
In the face of the seeking after of God’s glory such things become
irrelevant and unnecessary. It is often
our very humanity that is the culprit in diverting our attention from the glory
of God where it ought to be focused.
This is exactly
what we see in the Apostle Peter in Matthew 16:21-23. Once again we find Jesus squarely focused on
the work of His Father. And once again
we find this putting Him at odds with His human companions and their racial
blindness: From that time Jesus began to
show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on
the third day. Peter took Him aside and
began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” Peter displays incredible obtuseness
here. The temerity to somehow fancy that
God and Jesus were two separate beings, and that Jesus was in some way being
forced into a situation against His will, thus implying that the Father and the
Son were at odds, is downright ludicrous.
Again it must be said though that we, having the benefit of a historical
perspective, most likely would not have fared any better were we in Peter’s
sandals. But be that as it may, the
point is that he was dead wrong here. So
wrong in fact that Christ does something shocking in verse 23: But He turned and said to Peter, “Get
behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling
block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Ouch!
What a stinging rebuke to slap Peter with. Once again our assumption would tend to be
that someone making a statement like this is being heartlessly cruel. But as before we have to remind ourselves
that this is Jesus we are talking about.
He was perfect in every way. He
was, figuratively speaking, a spotless lamb without blemish, ready for
sacrifice. So this cannot possibly have
been a sinful rebuke. Therefore the only
logical explanation is that it was entirely appropriate for the
circumstances. This forces us to ask
what it was about Peter’s statement that was so deadly as to elicit this
response from the Lord. The answer is
the same theme we have been exploring.
Peter was blinded to the glory and will and work of God. He was fixated upon human interests. He wanted Jesus to stick around and set up
His kingdom now. Peter, much like any 1st
century Jew, would have longed for Israel to be restored to prominence and the
Romans to be expelled from the country.
The purpose of God in this situation was entirely incidental and only
acceptable so long as it aligned itself with these man centered goals that
Peter and probably the rest of the Apostles shared.
So in effect,
what we have in these two accounts, is first Joseph and Mary then Peter,
committing the exact same crime the Babylonians were guilty of; ignoring the
glory of God in favor of their own flammable agendas and the utter
purposelessness of their strivings.
Although these New Testament associates of Jesus may not have been
guilty of the same evils against humanity that the Chaldeans were, they were
most certainly guilty of the same godless mindset. And similar guilt is shared by all who allow
their focus to be distracted from the glory of God.
Rather than
following after the examples given here of man centered thinking seen in the
actions of Mary, Joseph, and Peter, we should instead pursue the God centered
thinking of Christ. If we set that as
our highest goal in life then something astonishing is promised in scripture to
happen to us. John 14:8-11 sets the
stage: Philip said to Him, “Lord, show
us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I
been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me,
Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you
say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the
Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not
speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe
Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe
because of the works themselves. If
we desire to see God then we need look no further than Jesus, His only begotten
Son. By looking upon the incarnation of
Christ we literally see God Himself.
Therefore, we see His glory. By
meditating upon His life and training ourselves to respond as He did to
circumstances it will become possible to reverse the debilitating disease of
God centered blindness that we were born with.
But there’s more, and this is the ridiculously delicious part. Verses 12 and 13 take the foundation already
laid by the preceding passage and explode it into application: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes
in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he
will do; because I go to the Father.
Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be
glorified in the Son.
Did you catch
it? Jesus just said to Philip and by
extension to us that if we truly believe in Him, which in a Greek context means
to trust in Him fully and completely, then we will be granted the unimaginable
privilege of partaking in the works of Christ.
And beyond that, what God will accomplish through us will further the
work that Jesus began. His time here on
earth was short by design so that the church could be tasked with continuing
the Father’s work that He started in Christ.
And so we can become partakers in the process of bringing glory to God
by believing on the Son and emulating His example. There is no better way to learn to be
consumed with a passion for God’s glory than to be a part of the chain of
unfolding it to the creation that surrounds us.
By being the conduits through which His glory passes and reflects back
to Him we gain a front row seat and a backstage pass to seeing it first-hand. Do you want to be cured of your blindness and
really begin to see clearly? Then
immerse yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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