Habakkuk as a Paradigm

In the first four verses of the book of Habakkuk, the prophet questions God, “Why does He permit evil in Judah?”  God answered Habakkuk in verses five through eleven by saying, “I am raising up Babylon to chastise Judah.”  Habakkuk wanted Judah punished for her sin.  How could God use Babylon, a more wicked nation even than Judah, to punish Judah?  Habakkuk further complained (verses 12-17), “If You will chastise Judah, LORD, then why would You not do worse to Babylon?”

The answer from God to Habakkuk is one of the most famous and important verses in all of scripture.  In Habakkuk 2:4 the LORD says to Habakkuk:

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

It is a kind of message in a message from God to Habakkuk.  All of history has two essential groups, one that lifts up its soul so it is not upright and the other that is just or righteous by faith.  To put it more simply, someone either doesn’ t believe or he does believe. Babylon is the former.

Babylon and Judah

When someone or a nation like Babylon or Judah lifts itself up, which is not believing, it will not be just, neither will it live.  Judah had its opportunities and still didn’t believe, so God sent her into captivity.  Babylon could have turned to the LORD by faith too.  It didn’t, and the Lord destroyed it.

God expects faith especially from Judah and especially Habakkuk.  Habakkuk’s response to God is a microcosm of what God expects of every soul.  If Judah would believe, definitely Habakkuk should. Upon the hearing of the Word of God, the righteous respond by faith.

In the end, the righteous live.  They live by and because of faith.  No one lives without it.  Faith is a conduit for the saving grace of God.

But how does all this have to do with the title of this piece?  God raised up a great world empire like the Babylonian or Chaldean empire.  God also destroyed that empire using Cyrus and the Persians.  He also used the Chaldeans to chastise or punish the Southern Kingdom of Israel.

Cyrus and the Persians and Reading History

Read history.  Which historian says God used Babylon as an instrument in His hand in the 6th century B.C.?  Furthermore, name a historian who says that God designed Cyrus to defeat Babylon to fulfill prophecy?  God said in Isaiah 45:1-7:

1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

God told the name of Cyrus and predicted what he would do over 150 years beforehand.  Every historian should point to this truth.

Caesar Augustus and the Correct Viewpoint of History

Which historian will say that God produced Caesar Augustus to tax the world (Luke 2:1) to fulfill the prophecy in Micah 5:2?  God sent Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem when she was nine months pregnant.  He used Caesar Augustus to do it.  The emperor of Rome was a pawn in God’s hand.  That’s a historical truth.

The LORD, who is sovereign over history, talks about the correct viewpoint of history.  He wraps it all up in Isaiah 41:22, when He says:

Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

God connects the former things, history, with what they be, the present, and then the latter end of them, when He declares things to come.  Former, present, and future interconnect.  God does that.

Considerations

Consider the American Indian.  Historians will not consider the paganism of American Indian tribes as a reason for their fall.  Historians treat the American Indians as true owners of North America, because they were here first.  They do not trace their downfall to idolatry or rebellion against God.

The just shall live by faith.  And then there is the alternative — cursing for those lifting themselves up and against the one and true God.  Overall, blessing comes by faith.  Cursing comes by unbelief.  This is our Father’s world.  God will sometimes use wicked people to punish other wicked people.  No one will get away with wickedness, because God is the Final Judge.  Almost all historians get history wrong.