There will come a day,

even so it semms to delay,

when good will win,

over injustice and sin.

That day will continue 

for ever more,

forgotten will be

poverty seekness and war.

Habakkuk lived in Judah towards the end of king Joshua’s reign or the beginning of Jehoiakims reign, 640 – 598 BC.

He, like Jeremiah, may have lived to se the attack on Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 597 BC and the fall of Nineveh. The Babylonian empire was then about to rise

In the Old Testament time God spoke to people directly as observed in Genesis. Later the prophets received revelation through visions dreams and supernatural experiences.

The test according to the word was and is:

Does it happen as it is said.  

The book is written very clearly with deep feelings.

It contains a dialog between God and the prophet and has no message to the people.

It is by faith in God that circumstances change.

Habakkuk prayer became a public confession for the God fearing people at that time, who were struggling to comprehend Gods way.

The same questions can be raised today after more than 2000 years. Why does God allow evil to prosper, at least for a season, taking into account the life and struggle of many other people.

Only God has the answer to those difficult questions, but life is a onetime thing. Man has a free will to choose to be obedient to Gods command or to rebel.

We would all be lost, would it not be for the redemption on the cross. God has a plan for mankind and for the nations of the world from the beginning to the end.

God is past, present and future all together, whereas we only have the present time.

Therefor the spiritual become more real than the earthly.

The spiritual will also be earthly, the day Christ returns to earth to rain as king.

In the end God will work all things together for good for those who love him. 

See Romans chapter 8 verse 28.

Chapter 1 verse 1-4: How long O Lord shall I call for help.

Habakkuk called on God for the present difficult evil situation in Israel and ends with saying:

Therefor justice turns out perverted.

Verse 5 – 6: God answer in a way that may perplex Habakkuk even more. 

He says: Look among the nations and be astonished.

You may not believe it, but I am rising up the Chaldeans.

Up to verse 11 the description of a terrible people able to do the most horrible thing.   

The Chaldeans are the Babylonians, who finally invaded Jerusalem and took over the country for 70 years,

as explained in the book of Daniel.

From here on, God starts to reveal his plan to the prophets for the nations throughout history, up the second coming of Christ.

A plan, possibly too big, for Habakkuk to comprehend at that point of time in history. It shows the littleness of our capacity to grasp, what God is doing in the world. Trough the prophesy of different prophets at different times in history, we see Gods plan unfolding. A plan, that in no way contradict what was prophesied, over a longer time.

Verse 12: Habakkuk answers by saying: O Lord my God the Holy One. You appoint to judge and to correct.

Verse 14. Men are like fish of the see. The Chaldeans will bring them all up with a hook and gather them in their net.

Habakkuk speaks of the present time. We would act like vise.

Chapter 2 verse 1 Habakkuk says: I will stand watch to see what he will speak to me.

It is a very vise thing to say, because only God knows the future, and it is where God want us to be, because without faith in God it is impossible to please him. If we believe – then God can work great things in our life.

Verse 2 the Lord answered me and said: Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who read it may run.

Verse 3: The vision is for an appointed time.

It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.

It is a very vise thing to record, what God is revealing to us.

Today it is trough his Spirit God speaks to us, as prophesied in the book of Joel.

Se Acts 2 verse 17: It shall be in the last days, that I will pour fort my spirit on all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Young men shall see visions, and your old men shall have dreams.

God want us to be prepared and ready for his plan in our life.  

Why trial ???  Where is God ???  Romans chapter 8 verse 28. Gods hidden purpose, is to work out good from evil.

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied about the exile in Babylonian kingdom, and encouraged the people to go on living there for the time being. God also promised to prosper them in a foreign country.

The good thing that came out of it was, that when thy returned, they became Jewish Orthodox and were no more idol worshippers

Ezra started rebuilding the temple. God always have somebody ready for the next step.

Something changed inside the people, when thy started to cry out to God for their country.

Galatians chapter 4 verse 4: When the fullness of time had come, God sent fort his son born of a virgin under the law.

There had to be a right timing for Jesus Christ to be born as the son of man. Likewise will it be at his second coming as king, there will be a right timing.

Habakkuk had a revelation, of Gods splendor and majesty at his second coming. He starts to worship God for his greatness and power and was greatly comforted.

He describes the splendor of God in a very poetic way.

Chapter 3 verse 2: O lord revive your work in the midst of the years, make it known and in wrath remember mercy. 

Verse 3: His splendor covers the heaven, and the earth is full of his praise. His radiance is like the sunlight.

He has rays flashing from his hands, and there is the hiding of his power.

Chapter 3 continues with judgment on the nations and pressure on earth environment.

Verse 13: You vent fort for the salvation of your people,

for the salvation of you’re anointed.

You struck the head of the house of the evil,

to lay him open from neck to tight.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a dream of a great statue. Daniel, who was deported from Israel, served in the king’s palace, and was the only one who could interpret the dream. 

The statue had a head of gold – Babylonian kingdom.

The chest and the arms were of silver – Persian kingdom.

Belly and thighs of bronze – Greece kingdom.

Legs of iron – Roman kingdom.

Feet mixed with clay and iron – the kingdom of antichrist,

also called the Roman kingdom mixed with the spirit of ancient Babylon.

A stone falls from heaven and crush the statue or the kingdoms. The earth has become the kingdom of  Christ.

When evil get overhand,

it judge itself.

Take the right stand,

and all will be well.

When evil get overhand,

it on its way down.

take the right stand,

and you will earn what you have sown. 

When evil get overhand,

Gods glory will arise.

Take the right stand ,

and you will sing Gods praise.

Without doubt Habakkuk had a glint, of what the lord will accomplice in the end-time.