Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Much of the Old Testament deals with the nation of Israel. Other nations are brought into the picture, but Israel is the main focus. God chose Israel to reveal Himself to mankind. He demonstrates His faithfulness to His promises and His superior wisdom among other things. Israel has demonstrated the stubborn nature of lost humanity. In spite of all the blessings that God has given her, she has quite consistently snubbed her nose at Him.
God will never abandon Israel. He made that commitment to Abraham and He has shown Himself true to His Word.
This week Hamas released another three Israeli hostages. In exchange Israel released 369 Arab prisoners. Each one was given a shirt which reads: “We will not forget nor forgive.” There is no doubt that Hamas has inflicted great pain upon the nation of Israel as a whole and upon those specific families. However, the God of Israel demands that we forgive our enemies. He has demonstrated the need for that. He is willing to forgive those who were once His enemies. On the cross, Jesus Christ forgave the thief who at one point railed upon Him, but later repented and sought Jesus’ forgiveness and salvation. That is one picture of thousands who have been forgiven and saved.
The sad reality is that Israel today does not know the true God and they do not know how to teach others the importance of knowing the true God, and thus they cannot forgive. Forgiveness does not mean there are no consequences for sin. The thief on the cross remained on that cross and suffered much until he died of suffocation. His suffering was not as great as that of his new found Saviour and Lord, but he still suffered the physical consequences of his sin. However, the weight of sin was lifted off of him and he entered into paradise and then heaven because of what Jesus Christ did for him. The same is true for anyone who will humble themselves and turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation.
The book of Habakkuk records the frustration of Habakkuk, a true prophet of God. It also records the judgment of God upon the sin of Judah. Habakkuk needed to learn and understand and accept the ways of the true God. The LORD God is not like man. He is just in all His dealings. Those who submit to Him learn the blessing of walking in the fear of the LORD. We walk by faith, not by sight. We see the mighty hand of God at work and we stand in awe of His greatness. We humbly submit to His righteousness and we honour Him.
Habakkuk would learn this through this short book. For greater understanding of what Habakkuk was writing we would encourage the reader to read and study the book of Jeremiah. He lived in the same time and also prophesied to the same nation. Jeremiah suffered much for being faithful to the LORD. He grew weary of the battle and wanted to quit, but because he was a true servant of God, he could not quit. There was a burning in his heart that kept him going and serving the true God.
It is important for those who are saved to understand that we are not in charge. There are many things about God that we do not understand. God is so much wiser than we are and He never makes any mistakes.
Habakkuk as a true prophet of God, wondered why God was sending the Babylonians against Judah. He thought that was an unjust move, but he was not going to protest too hard. He thought the Babylonians were much more wicked than Judah. He would learn that was not true. Judah had been given more light than the Babylonians and they chose to throw away that light. They chose to adopt the paganism that was around them and cursed of God.
God would teach the Babylonians some important lessons yet. At the moment it was necessary to humble Judah. Judah was a stubborn nation. They have fought against God for many centuries. That will come to an end in the future.
Gentiles would be wise to look at the failure of rebellion against God and turn to Him in repentance. Yet sadly, most Gentiles remain just as stubborn as Israel. We have the privilege of having access to the same Word of God that the Jews have access to. We have the privilege of true local churches that teach the truth, but most are not interested in attending. We have the privilege of broadcasting through the internet and we are thankful for the many countries we can reach into through this means.
Habakkuk used the illustration of a watchman standing in his place in the watch tower. He would stand in that high place where the obstructions of life were not in the way, and he would observe what God was doing. He was not in that tower because he was being proud and arrogant. He was there to get away from the distractions. He wanted to understand what God was doing. He could not do that if he remained engulfed in the hustle and bustle of life on the ground.
Jesus showed us the importance of getting away from the busyness of life as well. He took the disciples away from the crowds at times. He took them out of that so that He could teach them important lessons.
God has blessed us with the true local church. A true local church has the Lord Jesus Christ as its’ Head. We come together to study God’s Word. We do not come together to reason among ourselves. We accept the fact that God’s Word is the truth and we subject ourselves to the God-ordained teacher who He has chosen to help us to understand Him better, after we are saved. Those who are not saved, need to come together with saints to hear the truth in an environment where the noise of sin is not so loud. That is why a true local church does not conform to this world. We do not need the world’s music or the sensual atmosphere of the world. We do not need a stage where ‘performances’ take place. We do not need ‘worship teams’ that try to swallow their mics and act like they need to find a bathroom.
The true local church is like that tower where we can come away and we can observe what God is doing from a greater vantage point. For me it is sad to see so many places that do not have a true local church. There used to be far more church buildings around. Just about every small community had a church in it. Most of those churches practised false religion. That is why many of them no longer exist. Over the years, the generations have grown weary of the deception and they have chosen other forms of false religion instead.
We see that Habakkuk was willing to go to that tower and watch and see what God would say to him. He understood that he would be reproved in that tower. Every person that attends a true local church will be reproved in that place. God is holy and so much wiser than we are. We get our preconceived ideas into our heads and we need to be changed. We need to be forgiven and saved first of all and then we need to be drawn into greater understanding of the Truth. We can be thankful that we have that privilege. It is a shame when people choose to remain in an area where there is no true local church. We know that in Bible times, people would travel to be where they could hear the truth. Those who were saved saw the value of fellowship with other saints.
Something has changed and professing saints do not see that value today. God has not changed. He still wants to provide that fellowship for His children. We need to get the “wax” out of our “ears” so that we can hear His call. Habakkuk would receive a blessing by submitting to God’s authority in his life. We need that blessing today as well. God’s Word and His house should be the priority for the true child of God. God’s clock is ticking. Soon this opportunity will be gone.
Pastor Bartel
