This Prophet Went Before God on Behalf of a Sinful Nation! He was BLOWN AWAY By What He Was Told!

Is it okay to say, “I hate click bait?” Just in case it is not, I will just say that I hold a strong disdain for click bait. You may be asking, “What is click bait?” If you have no idea what it is then you are the luckier out of the two of us. The technical definition is “content, especially that of a sensational or provocative nature, whose main purpose is to attract attention and draw visitors to a particular web page.” To make things easier I have included a checklist of what one would normally see.

·         Is it vague?

·         Is there some form of feel good attachment to it?

·         Are the words: SHOCKING, BLOWN, AWAY, AMAZING, or WOW in all caps?

·         Is the subject of the article hated by a particular group?

·         Will you have trouble guessing what happens next?

·         Is it a list with a certain number BLOWING YOU AWAY?

·         Will your faith in humanity be restored?

·         Is a baby or small animal involved in some way?

·         Does every sentence end in an exclamation point!

Any number of these would point to click bait. A title might read something like this: “You’ll be BLOWN AWAY by the SHOCKING thing that happens when an AMAZING one armed baby monkey is handed a guitar! His third song left a group of orangutans in tears and restored an alligator’s faith in humanity! Musicians hate him!” These links contain articles that usually contain nothing good.

Now that the definition is out of the way, we should focus on something that could be confused for click bait but is far from it. There was a prophet who went to God concerning a nation which was steeped in sin. He had gone a number of times but felt that God was ignoring him. He cried out because the Law was being loosely held, violence ran rampant in the streets, and those who in power were extremely corrupt (Hab. 1:1-4). He is the prophet Habakkuk and what he is told next was truly shocking. How do we know? “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” (Hab. 1:5). God told the prophet, “You will not believe me after I have told you (v. 5).” What shocking revelation was Habakkuk going to find out?

A New World Power is Coming to Sweep the World. “For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.” (Hab. 1:6). God was going to raise the Chaldeans up to be a great and fearsome nation. This proud group of people would march forward to take land which was not theirs through force. This action would be swift and with much fierceness (v. 8). The kings and princes of other nations would be viewed as jokes to the Chaldean people, who would lay siege to their cities and conquer all who stood in their way (v. 10).

A Great Nation Was Ready to Fall. Something was implied in the statement about the Chaldeans being raised up. The nation of Assyria was ready to fall. This implication is backed up by the prophetic statements given by Nahum. God claimed Nineveh, the capital, and the country would be washed away (Nah. 1:7; 2:6). Many would be murdered and those who are would be carried away into captivity (Nah. 3:10). After the Chaldeans were done with the Assyrians, the surrounding area would rejoice at the destruction of such a horrific nation (Nah. 3:19).

Judah Would Fall to the Chaldeans. Habakkuk realized that God meant something else by this statement. Habakkuk initially asked God why He was not taking care of the problem that was a sinful Judah. God told him, “I am going to use the Chaldeans to do just that.” Habakkuk was quite literally shocked to hear such a statement. Had Judah gone the way of the unrighteous? Yes, Habakkuk had affirmed how the unjust were afflicting the righteous. But the question he initially asked was, “God, You are too pure to behold such wicked people, why the Chaldeans?” (v. 11-17). Habakkuk failed to realize one important point.

The Chaldeans Would One Day Fall. God refers to the future destruction of the Babylonians people while speaking to the prophet. In Habakkuk 1:6-11, God refers to the pride of the Chaldean people by referring to their scoffing at the princes and kings, trusting in their own gods, and how their dignity proceeded themselves. He affirms knowledge of their wickedness by telling Habakkuk that the Chaldeans were not “upright” but how the just would live by faithful obedience (2:4). Having understood what God intended to do, the prophet pronounces five inspired woes against the unrighteous (2:5-20) and a full trust in God’s plan (3:18-19). After the destruction of the Chaldean people, there would be a time when the children of Israel would return to their homeland.

The Feel Good Part of the Story. This would not be complete without the heartwarming part. After the destruction of the Chaldean people, there would be a time when the children of Israel would return to their homeland. Habakkuk would go on to say, “Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.” (Hab. 3:13). It is quite obvious that the reference to salvation would concern the salvation of God’s people but the inspired statement may be a little broader that one might think. The ultimate form of salvation occurs to those who are obedient to the gospel of Christ (Rev. 1:5). After all, He is the Messiah, which means “the Annointed One.” Keep in mind that this is only heartwarming for those who have been obedient to the truth (2 Thess. 1:6-8).

The prophet Habakkuk went before God on behalf of a sinful nation. Not only did the revelation he received shock him, but it also encouraged the prophet to trust in the might of God. In it, man is also reminded of the wonderful hope that is found in Christ Jesus.