Holding With an Open Hand (Philippians Part 3)

Keeping Watch, Keeping the Faith

Habakkuk 2: I will stand my watch, And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. 2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision, And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4: “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.” (NKJV)... 14: For the earth will be filled, With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.... 20: “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

The book of Habakkuk differs other prophetic books in the Hebrew Bible. The prophet did not receive a message directed to Israel, but it is more the very personal dialogue of a troubled man of God with His Creator. In fact, God told Habakkuk: “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” (Habakkuk 1:5).

His declaration that: “the righteous shall live by faith” (2:4) is one of the most quoted Old Testament verses in the New Testament. 

He was a man of prayer and heard the voice of God like few did in his generation. (He was a compatriot of Jeremiah).

1. Watch Tower!

Instead of praying what he always prayed for, Habakkuk went on his watch tower to receive the divine insight for his time. What worked in years past might not work today or even tomorrow. 

Habakkuk stood watch! He kept a look out and an ear out!

He wanted to see what God was doing and he wanted to hear God’s answer. Remember, Habakkuk is motivated by his burden for the people (How long Oh Lord…)

This is a time when each one of us is called to go up to our personal watch tower to pray and seek the Lord as never before. 

Insight from God can turn a watch tower into a Light House. 

As Habakkuk listened, God spoke to him! God’s new revelation changed the perspective of the prophet. 

God did not change his purposes, but He allowed the prophet to see the world how God saw it. 

Habakkuk’s watch tower of prayer turned into a lighthouse of guidance for others. God used him in turbulent times to be like the sons of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32). 

2. Write It Down!

The Lord told him to write down plainly what He was about to share with him so that others could read it (2:2). That means God gave him not just an answer for his own questions but what he heard would help others too. 

Most messages I have heard on this passage is all about church visions. In context that not is what is happening.

Habakkuk is told to write it down because it’s going to take some time to come about!

He needs to write it down because people, not just him, will need the encouragement of the prophecy. 

Now we need to understand some things:

When we write down something God says it is to remind us of what God has said.

When we write down something we are not writing out a word that is equivalent to the Bible, the written Word of God. Habakkuk was writing a book of the Holy Scriptures but he did not know it at that time. 

When we write out something God has told us it is a reminder, but it is subject to the authority of the Bible. If it contradicts Scripture it’s not from God.

We need to reminded of what God has promised. Now, remember, this prophecy was telling them that the Babylonians were coming to take them into exile. It was not all fantastic encouragement. But is also contained the promise that those oppressors would also be judged. It also contained amazing promises about God too.

It would sustain and encourage the people. In fact, Habakkuk put it to music and the people would sing this as a reminder during their exile and captivity!

3. Tell Others!

2: And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.

There is something about this. 

So many people don’t want to make it plain! They want to sound mystical, secretive, gnostic even, in their personal revelations. We need a wake-up call - there are no private interpretations!

2 Peter 1: 20-21: …knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Story: I was ministering in a town and a young guy reached out to me as a leader and requested a meeting. We met for coffee and he told me he was busy planting a church in the local cinema - he wanted me to know in case all my church folk left me and went to him! I asked him his vision. I genuinely wanted to cheer him on, after all the harvest is ready but labourers are few. He said, “Only those who will partner with me can understand the vision and, if you’re one of those, God will reveal it to you too.” 

Which sounds kinda spiritual but also kinda loopy! 

I said, “If you go down that route of ‘secret revelations’ you’ll end up in error and your new church won’t make it two years.” 

Obviously, he rejected that. Eighteen months later his church closed.

Secret revelations have no place in the church. Why? Because we are to encourage others:

2b: "That he may run who reads it."

Some versions say that the "herald can run with it." The basic idea we have is two-fold: The prophecy can be shared with others! People can be strengthened by the prophecy.

Remember two things: Everything must be tested (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22) and we are witnesses of the Good News of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8) - we should be telling others about the hope we have.

4. It May Take Time

3: For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

There is a time and a season for everything (Eccl. 3:1-8).

When we think of time we think of chronos (chronology) a set appointment. Time that passes.

In Scripture there is also a word, kairos in Greek, the window of opportunity.

Here in the Hebrew the word means a fixed point in the future (Strongs H4150, Word: CREN Pronounce: mo-ade’). It could be read: It will linger (H4102) for the God-appointed time (H4150) … but it will not be late (H309)

God has a plan! He is never late! 

5. The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

4: Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.

This is not presumption.

This is not wishful thinking.

This is the foundational belief that God is good and keeps His promises.

Now I have heard this verse misquoted often. People use it to proclaim that they are going to get a new car, a new job, a new wife, a bigger this and a better that. But that is not the meaning of this verse.

Remember, Habakkuk is prophesying at the same time as Jeremiah. Jeremiah is sometimes portrayed as the doom-and-gloom prophet and Habakkuk as the prophet of grace.

When we are told the righteous live by faith it is:

Faith to keep going despite the worst possible circumstances - oppression and exile.

Faith to believe that God will not be late - faith in a future deliverance (in the same way we believe that Jesus is coming back).

Faith to hold on when in Babylon that they will come back to God - a repentant faith

Faith the live differently to those around them!

Oh, Christian brothers and sisters, in these uncertain times in the world how we need to live by faith in the living God! 

• We can trust Him - He is true to His word: Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (NKJV)
• We can trust Him - There is no higher name, no higher authority, no one above Him, so he swears His promises by Himself: Genesis 22:16 …. and said, “I swear by myself,” declares the Lord,…
• We can trust Him - It’s In His Name:

Revelation 19:11: I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True…

We used to sing a hymn by Russell Kelso Carter:

“Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Through eternal ages, let his praises ring, Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God, Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Saviour, Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God”

We need to be reminded that the promises we stand on are solid, guaranteed, timeless and timely! 

Shaking events will surely come. They may be international, they may be regional, they may even be personal - in your family or body - but the promises of God are to be levelled against them through praying in our watchtowers and living by faith!

6. God is at Work!

Even of the circumstances around us in the world tell us otherwise, God is at work!

Hab. 2:14: For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

The word of God is spreading! People are seeking Him like never before, despite our media and news coverage saying the opposite. 

When I first became a Christian I remember the news saying that in twenty years there would be no church in the UK, attendance numbers were dropping off. Sure, some denominations have struggled but others (especially the Pentecostal movements) have grown. The gospel is preached in more than ever before. 

The Church is attacked around the world, but she is never defeated!

In context the people needed to know that, in the middle of the prophecy about exile and persecution, God was going to make His name known to everyone - to His people and to those who had rejected Him.

A time is still coming when every person will bow to that name!

Romans 14: 10b - 12: … For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: ‘“As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “Every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.”’ 12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. (Cf. Phil 2:10)

One day every politician, doom-sayer, atheist, persecutor of the Church, and false religion will be silenced before God. 

He has the first word and the last word over His creation. He has all the words in the middle too if we care to listen. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. 

In Habakkuk 2 we have the mic-drop moment (which no sound tech likes btw), but here it is:

Hab. 2: 20: “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (NIV - literally let the rest be silent!)

Boom! You can suffer and struggle but nothing outweighs the fact that God is on the throne!

Wrapping This Up:

My friends if you want to live by faith you need to be one who intercedes and seeks God for the nation and your town . You need to get to a prayer tower - somewhere where you can hear God. For when you hear God, your faith is strengthened. 

Remember, God has set a time for deliverance. He has set a time for the return of Jesus (Matthew 24:26). In the meantime, God is still seated on his throne.