Write God's Vision (Hab. 2:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/7/2016 10:44 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Write God’s Vision

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Habakkuk 2:1-3

Message of the verses:  “1 I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved. 2 Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. 3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”

John MacArthur writes the following about verses 2-3 in his study Bible:  “Habakkuk was to record the vision to preserve it for posterity, so that all who read it will know of the certainty of its fulfillment (cf. similar language in Da. 12:4, 9).  The prophecy had lasting relevance and thus had to be preserved.  Although a period of time would occur before its fulfillment, all were to know that it would occur at God’s ‘appointed time’ (cf. Is. 13: Jer. 50, 51).  Babylon would fall to the Medo-Persian kingdom of Cyrus ca. (539
BC (cf. Dan. 5).”

Now when we look at the first verse we see that it kind of goes with the end of the first chapter, but in it we see that Habakkuk saw himself as a watchman, similar to what Ezekiel wrote about being a watchman for Israel. “Eze 33:7 “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me.’” When you read the history of the watchman they stood on the walls that surrounded the city to see if an enemy would come to attack the city, so it was very necessary for them to stay awake and report of any enemies that came.  This was a very serious job that Habakkuk speaks of (KJV). 

I have to quote how Dr. Wiersbe views the watchman for today:  “The image of the watchman carries a spiritual lesson for us today.  As God’s people, we know that danger is approaching, and it’s our responsibility to warn people to ‘flee from the wrath to come’ (Matt. 3:7).  If we don’t share the Gospel with the lost sinners, then their blood may be on our hands.  We want to be able to say with Paul, ‘Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men’ (Acts 20:26 NKJV).”  We have been looking at how our Lord spoke to Nicodemus and also the woman at the well in our study of the gospel of John, and we can learn from Him how we are to speak to other about the gospel.

We can get the impression from these verses that Habakkuk may have been a bit nervous as he waited for the Lord to answer him as he wonders how the Lord will reprove him as seen in verse one.  However the Lord being gracious answered Habakkuk with a vision that he is told to write down.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The vision included not only the words in Habakkuk 2, but also the revelation of God’s glory recorded in 3:3-15.  When you behold the glory of God and believe the Word of God, it gives you faith to accept the will of God.”

Just think about the obedience of Habakkuk as he followed what the Lord told him to do in writing down the vision, for if he would not have been faithful we surely would not be studying this book today.  We can learn a lot about God in this rather short book.  Now in this vision we read “That the one who reads it may run.”  Dr. Wiersbe has an endnote about this section:  “Commentators and translators don’t agree on what ‘that he may run that read it’ really means.  The NIV translates it ‘so that a herald may run with it’ and the NASB says ‘so that the one who reads it may run.’  The NRSV translates it ‘so that a runner may read it,’ and F. F. Bruch puts it ‘so that one who reads it may read with ease.’  Bruce explains that phrase to mean ‘not that the person who reads it will start running, but rather that the reader will be able to take it in at a glance. So large and legible is the writing; the eye will run over the text with ease.’  That seems to be what the Lord said to Habakkuk.”

There are times in the OT Scriptures that we get a meaning for what a prophet writes, and then it is quoted in the NT, but there are also times when the NT writer will use the Greek translation of the OT in his quote for the NT.  Now the fulfillment of this vision came as the Babylonians defeated the Southern Kingdom and then later on they would be defeated by the Medo-Persian Empire as seen in Daniel chapter five.  However Dr. Wiersbe writes “the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews interpreted it to refer also to the return of Jesus Christ.  Led by the Holy Spirit, he changed ‘it’ to ‘He’ and applied it to our Lord.  ‘For yet a little while and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry’ (Heb. 10:37).  Along with the scoffers Peter wrote about some readers might ask ‘Where is the promise of His coming? (2 Peter 3:3ff) and God’s reply is, ‘Wait for it!  It will surely come!’”  A long time ago when I first began to study the book of Hebrews I was told that the quotes from the OT used in the book of Hebrews all come from the Greek translation of the OT, so perhaps that explains what it is quoted as it was in the book of Hebrews, although we do have to remember what Dr. Wiersbe stated that the Holy Spirit gave guidance to the writer of the book of Hebrews as He does with all Scripture.

2/7/2016 11:28 PM