“Woe”
[Habakkuk 2:6-20]
February 4, 2018, Second Reformed
Church
We return again to our look at the
burden -- the heavy vision -- of the prophet, Habakkuk. Habakkuk preached about
the time of Jeremiah, before the fall of Jerusalem. We saw in our previous
looks at Habakkuk's burden, that the prophet calls out to God and asks God why
He is allowing Judah to sin and not be punished; why is the Law ignored and
Justice never served. God answers the prophet that God will punish Judah's sin:
He will send the Chaldeans against them -- to slaughter them and take them into
captivity. The prophet responds and cries out to God again, asking God how He
could be holy and send a people more evil than Judah to punish her. And God tells
Habakkuk that God is Holy; He is well aware of the sins of the Chaldeans, but
the just will live by faith alone.
God tells Habakkuk that He knows
that the Chaldeans are an insatiable and evil people, and God will deal with
them. Yet, God is using them to accomplish His Will in the punishment of Judah.
God instructs Habakkuk to write down his vision and print it in bold and clear
writing so all the people of Judah will be able to read it and know what God says
and what He is going to do.
God speaks five "woes" --
five laments of judgment -- against the Chaldeans. In response to their
insatiable and evil gathering of nations and people, God pronounces five woes
against the Chaldeans. The first three form a cluster about lust. The fourth
deals with the treatment of neighbor. And the fifth, with idolatry.
“Shall not all these take up their taunt
against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, ‘Woe to him who heaps
up what is not his own— for how long? — and loads himself with pledges!’ Will
not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then
you will be spoil for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the
remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to
the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.”
The first woe is a woe against those who
plunder by demanding unjust tribute. The Chaldeans lusted after money and
riches. Even after they had conquered and enslaved a people, they demanded that
they pay exorbitant tributes to the king. They desired more and more and more
-- while there was any breath left in their captives, while there was any
person or nation on the planet, there was more. They were trying to fill the
black hole of their hearts; their love of money. And God proclaims that the day
is coming when those that they have taken from and taken from and bled dry,
will rise up against them and demand back full payment in the blood of the
Chaldeans. They would not escape paying back their creditors -- the axe would
fall, and they would take their due in flesh.
Paul warned about this sin: "But
godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the
world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and
clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall
into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that
plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all
kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from
the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (I Timothy 6:6-10, ESV).
Do not misunderstand Paul. He is not
saying that being rich is a sin. God chooses to bless some with great riches.
That is not a sin, but it is a temptation. Those who have much are greatly
tempted. But we also must not glory in being poor, because being rich is
relative. If we make five thousand dollars a year amidst a people that make two
thousand dollars a year, we are rich. Paul is not saying that we should avoid
being paid what we are worth -- no, we are to pay people what they are worth --
for the job they do for us.
Oh, it's so easy to lust after money
and things -- especially in an age of credit cards. Credit cards are not evil
-- they can be useful and helpful, but have you ever bought something you
didn't have the money for and didn't need, but you had the card? Have you said,
"If I only had this, or one more of those, I would be content?"
Paul said, “but if we have food and
clothing, with these we will be content."
David, on the run in the wilderness
of Judah, wrote, "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips
will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will
lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my
mouth will praise you with joyful lips,” (Psalm 63:3-5, ESV).
Are you satisfied with what God has given
you? Whether marrow or fatness, merely food and clothes or riches. Is God's loving-kindness
enough? Is the gift of salvation through Jesus Alone enough? Or are we modern day Chaldeans with
insatiable lust?
“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his
house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have
devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited
your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the
woodwork respond.”
Similarly, God pronounces a woe against
the Chaldeans and those who seeks security and economic gain through evil
means. The Chaldeans thought if they conquered and enslaved more and more of
their enemies and took more and more of their goods, if they achieved more and
more control over the world, they would be safe and successful -- nothing bad
could happen to them. They would have all the toys, so they would win. But God
says that they would be put to shame; they sinned against their own souls. The
very building materials that they stole to build their homes and fortresses
would turn against them, and their sin would be public knowledge. Their glory
would be turned to shame. As Solomon wrote, "What the wicked dreads will
come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted” (Proverbs 10:24,
ESV).
I have been told again and again
that churches must be run like businesses. And, as often is the case, there is
truth and falsehood in that assertion. Is it true that we ought to run churches
in an orderly fashion, wisely stewarding what we have, setting goals and
working hard to achieve them? Yes. But, when I hear that we need to calculate
the number of people and the amount of money we need “to keep in business"
and that we must set forth in a mercenary fashion to get "x" number
of people with "y" amount of money in total -- that is sin, that is
putting out trust in numbers. That is seeking security in evil means.
Are we seeking safety in numbers? In
the stuff we see around us?
After my father died, my mother was
left to live on Social Security and the remains of the estate -- in other
words, not much, especially with three children still at home then – all with medical
problems. And people in my mother's church advised her to stop tithing -- that
God would understand that she needed the money now. I was thankful that my
mother said "no" to this friendly Christian counsel. God has provided for her daily needs for
fourteen years thus far.
Many people look at giving to the
church as something we do with the leftover money we have, as we feel like
giving. I have preached on how God teaches to give – generously, sacrificially,
trusting in our God and Savior. What is
Jesus and His salvation worth? Is that
reflected in your giving – in your offering thanks by giving to His church?
One of the struggles I am having
with money currently is that I have begun to think more seriously about my
future needs. In fact, our denomination
asked me to meet with a financial counsellor, because I had reached “a certain
age.” God calls us to be wise with our
money, to use it to glorify Him, to care for ourselves and those who depend on
us – so it’s not wrong to save – to prepare for a time when we can’t work as we
once did. But where is the line between
wisdom and sinful hoarding? It is a
question we must wrestle with God about.
Let us pray for each other.
So, are we hoarding to achieve some sort
of false security, or are we being obedient and trusting of God? After all, God
has given us His Son and eternal salvation with Him. The stones and the timbers
will cry out.
“Woe to him who builds a town with blood and
founds a city on iniquity! Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts that
peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? For
the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the
waters cover the sea.”
Again, in line with the first two, God
issues a third woe against the Chaldeans, against all those who ruthlessly seek
fame. The Chaldeans wanted to be known throughout the world for their power and
their glory, for their skill and their wealth. Nebuchadnezzar, the King of
Babylon -- the Chaldeans -- was walking on the roof of the royal palace and
said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as
a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30b, ESV). Do we
remember what happened in the land of Shinar, in the early days of our history?
The whole earth came together and said, "Come, let us build ourselves a
city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for
ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis
11:4b, ESV).
In pride and vanity, the Chaldeans wanted
to be known and glorified for their kingdom. They desired to be on a high place
-- they desired to be worshiped and adored. Remember, their net was their god,
so they thought they deserved all glory.
But God says it is vanity. It is the
eternal feeding of the flames of a fire. The nations weary themselves seeking
what they can never have. Their vanity grows exponentially as their sin shows
them they are not worthy, even as they want more and more.
And so we are tempted -- we also desire to
be known, to be thanked, to be glorified. (It is a sad commentary in the church
when people get angry because they have not been thanked. We should thank each other, but if we are not
thanked, we should not proceed to sin.) Who do we think we're asking to have
glory taken from when we ask it be put on ourselves? The world can fill their
black holes of vanity. But, Christians, we are the Church -- we are the Body of
Christ. We exist to glorify Jesus Christ.
Even I am not here to be glorified. You
ought to repect those who have been called to the ministry and strive to be
obedient and faithful, but no church is the pedestal of the minister. As Paul
writes, "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you
believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God
gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but
only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and
each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow
workers. You are God's field, God's building” (I Corinthians 3:5-9, ESV).
Seeking after our own glory will
fail, as it would fail for the Chaldeans some seventy years later. God said
that they would not receive glory and we will not receive glory, but "the
earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters
cover the sea.”
If we want joy -- if we want security --
that coming glory that will enrapture the whole earth will be our hope. That
glory that will come and make us as blind to our lusts and all sin, is the
glorious future we look for. Matthew tells us it will be like this: "For
as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be
the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will
gather.
“Immediately after the tribulation of
those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and
the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes
of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a
loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one
end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:27-31, ESV).
The commentator, Edward Marbury, wrote,
"It is plaine that Gods remissenesse in the execution of his just
judgments upon the proud and cruel Babylonians, and the miserable face of the
Church disfigured with tears, her voyce hoarse with roaring for help, he throat
dry, her heart aking, and no relief appearing: all this had not only made the
ungodly and profane confident that there was no such thing as Providence; but
it appeareth by this Prophet that the faith of Gods children was staggered
hereby. But when God shall declare his justice against these his enemies, then
he shall recover his glory; then shall they both know that Christ is Lord, both
the oppressor shall know it, and the delivered shall know it, and they that are
no parties to the cause of any side shall all understand" (Marbury, Habakkuk, 294).
“Woe to him who makes his neighbors
drink—you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their
nakedness! You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself,
and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD's right hand will come around
to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! The violence done to Lebanon
will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for
the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in
them.”
God speaks a fourth woe against the
Chaldeans and all those who encourage others in their sin and humiliate them
and abuse them. They gave their neighbors alcohol so they would get drunk. They
wanted to get them drunk so they could expose their nakedness -- to take
advantage of them, to shame them, to abuse them. (Nothing changes, does
it?) But God promises that the day will
come when whatever the Chaldeans do others -- whatever sins they encourage them
to engage in -- the violence that they do to the people and the cities and the
nations and the cattle and the land and all the grows on it -- all of that sin
and shame will occur to the Chaldeans as well. Their cities will be taken;
their crops and herds will be slaughtered. Their nakedness will be exposed and
they will be physically abused.
Have you ever encouraged anyone to sin?
Even just a little sin. "Everybody does it. Nobody will get hurt. But it
feels so good. Don't you want to? Nobody
will know." We are called to love our neighbors, so we ought to be about
doing everything we can to keep them from sin. We ought to be about doing
everything possible to promote holiness in our neighbors. Yes, even that nasty
neighbor down the street that spits on your lawn and allows his dog to relieve
himself on your stairs. Yes, even that good friend who says if you were really
a good friend you would just ... We must renounce the temptations that come to
us and not invite others in. It's true that sin loves company. Shall we
compromise our witness to the Gospel and steal a box of paper clips from work
because everybody does it? And so forth. We must draw the line hard and fast
and not allow ourselves to be swayed into believing that a little bit,
together, will be all right -- we can go to church and confess later. To such
excuses, God exposes one's uncircumcision.
“What profit is an idol when its maker has
shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own
creation when he makes speechless idols! Woe to him who says to a wooden thing,
Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with
gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. But the LORD is in his
holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Fifthly, God issues a woe against all
those who make idols. The Chaldeans, like all pagans, are idol-makers. Habakkuk
says right from the beginning that they will worship their nets if they caught
fish. John Calvin says that we, humans, are by nature, idol-makers. By the fact
of our depravity, due to our original sin, we seek to set up something,
anything in God's place. Something that we can control and make do our will --
a god who is wholly pliable to our whims and fascinations.
The Chaldeans carved idols out of
wood -- idols who could not speak or hear -- idols that could do nothing -- and
God taunts them telling them to wake their idols, to call on them to teach --
but they have no breath. They are false gods. Impotent, human creations.
We remember that the prophets of
Baal challenged Elijah and the Lord. And Elijah taunts the prophets of Baal
when Baal does not answer them by saying, "Cry aloud, for he is a god.
Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or
perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened” (I Kings 18:27b, ESV). And Isaiah
mocks the sin of Israel, saying that they would cut down an oak tree and "Half
of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is
satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, ‘Aha, I am warm, I have seen the
fire!’ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it
and worships it. He prays to it and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god!’ (Isaiah
44:16-17, ESV).
We may think we no longer build idols, but
let us consider it in the widest understanding: do we sin? Is sin against God?
Then sin is idolatry -- giving something or someone God's place. Each time we
sin, we thrust up one of these little homemade idols in God's face saying,
"I would rather follow him."
“I would rather eat until I am sick, even if I am not hungry. I would rather cheat and steal and lie to get
to the place of authority where I will be safe and secure. I would rather keep a wife and hire company
as well to keep myself pleasured. I
would rather stay home just this one Sunday to prepare for my Superbowl party”
Idols failed the Chaldeans, and our
idols fail us. They have no breath; they cannot speak.
But the Lord God Almighty is in His holy
temple, and the day will come when God shall speak, and there shall be no
answer from man or beast or idol. As Zephaniah prophesied, "Be silent
before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a
sacrifice and consecrated his guests” (Zephaniah 1:7, ESV).
Let us pray that our satisfaction
would be in God and His salvation alone. Let us be about preaching the Gospel,
trusting the numbers to God. Let us seek to see God glorified in all that we
experience -- and throughout the earth. Let us seek our neighbor's welfare in
all things, and especially in the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ Alone.
And let us worship our Holy God, lifting up our voices in praise to Him, and
shutting our mouths when they do not advance the cause of Christ.
Let us pray:
Almighty and Holy God, forgive us for our
presumption and our sin against You. We thank You for Your Son, our salvation,
and we ask that Yours Alone would be the praise and the honor and the glory and
the worship. Satisfy us with Yourself. Cause us to trust You. Make us Your
faithful and obedient children, for Jesus' Sake and for the Sake of the
Kingdom. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.
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