Well, we live, as we know, in
a world of sin. And that sin is the root cause
of enmity with God. God is good. God is holy. God is good in every respect.
But the sin that is in the world and the sin is in the heart of
mankind causes enmity with God, opposition, conflict. And it
leads to all the things that we see in the world today. We
live in a very uncertain world. I know the last century was filled
with horrendous wars, and there are always wars and rumors of
wars. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that would be the case. But we
live in a world that is filled, it seems, with turmoil. I find
particularly that the things of the last 20 or 30 years have
completely turned on their head. things that most people, whether
they were really believers or not, regarded as morally right
and wrong. And, in a sense, this modern
world seems to think it's becoming so morally upright and politically
correct in what it does, and yet, those who know the truth
of God know it is absolutely riddled with hypocrisy. There's
turmoil. There's uncertainty. People are
fearful, genuinely, because there are wars. You look across the
globe, there are wars. There's economic strife. There's
economic polarisation. You know, the difference between
the rich and the poor. Has it ever been greater? It's
colossal. In a day when it should have
been that everybody was enjoying equal prosperity. No, no, it's
more and more polarised. And death, of course. Yes, we're
living longer. Ah, but swathes of humanity.
As the book of Revelation tells us, that pale horse of death
comes along and sweeps away hordes all of the time. And the best
that people without any belief can say in their best of moods
is, as the saying goes, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow
we die. Make the most of it, because this is all we've got.
Isn't that the philosophy of so many? But for the elect of
God, For true believers, for those who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, for those who live by faith, His justified ones,
those who have the faith of God's elect, those who believe Him,
who trust Him, who seek to serve Him, they live quietly confident
in Him. In the midst of all the turmoil
and the strife, they live quietly, confident in him. Because as
our text last week in verse 4 of chapter 2 of Habakkuk said, the
just shall live by his faith. The just shall live by the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to fulfil everything God
the Father gave him to do, to redeem his people from their
sins. And the faith that they have been given by the Holy Spirit,
which is that sight of the soul that sees things that the natural
man cannot see, that faith looks to the faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so the justified ones live
by their faith. It's their creed, it's their
rule of life, it's their standard of life. The believer's rule
of life is the just shall live by faith. God is sovereign over
all. He is. We look with that quiet
confidence, we look, doesn't matter what's going on, God is
still sovereign over all. Whatever man does, whatever nations
do, whatever organisations might strive to do, God Now listen,
God ordains and uses all things to accomplish his eternal purposes. Doesn't he say, all things work
together for good to those who love God, who are called according
to his purpose? What things? All things. Does
that exclude anything? No. All things. God uses all
things to accomplish his eternal purposes. His kingdom shall certainly
be finally triumphant. God's kingdom shall certainly
be finally triumphant. But how does God triumph in this
world of uncertainty? The answer is simple. It is through
Christ. It is through the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is through the Messiah, the Promised One, that God would
send, God becoming man, God coming in flesh, the Christ that the
Scriptures promise. It is through Him that was born
at Bethlehem in Judea 2,000 and odd years ago. He came at the
pivot of history. and he came for the purpose of
God. It is through him that God triumphs. That's the message
of Habakkuk. That's the message of this prophecy,
these three chapters. It's the message of Habakkuk
that it's through Christ, that in the midst of uncertainty it's
through Christ that God triumphs, that his kingdom shall certainly
be finally triumphant. It's the message of all Scripture.
All Scripture. Jesus said to the Pharisees,
John 5, 39, You search the Scriptures, for in them you think that you
have eternal life. Well, that's right, you do. These
Scriptures are the ones that speak of me. Can you imagine
a man stood before them saying, these Scriptures, these Old Testament
Scriptures, these speak, what's the Bible about? And there's
a man standing there who says, it's about me. Now, that's either
the most arrogant statement that has ever been made, or he is
God who became man, who alone has authority to say, these scriptures
speak of me. They speak of Christ. Now, in
these days when Habakkuk was written, the Chaldeans are just
one example of God fulfilling his purposes. I'll remind you
again of Revelation. Do you remember in Revelation,
we saw the seven sealed book And no one was found worthy,
and then they found one. The elder said to John, don't
weep. Look, there's the lion of the tribe of Judah, which
is Christ. And he looked, and he didn't see a lion. He saw
a lamb, as it had been slain. Because in the capacity of a
slain lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ has the authority the authority
of the eternal Godhead to open the seals. What's the book? It's
the book of God's sovereign purposes. It's what governs everything
that goes on, and he opens those seals, and the seals were the
four horses, the white, the red, the black, and the pale, and
then other things that came, there were another three, the
final one of which was the opening of the seven trumpets, and the
trumpets blow, and they all, and the pouring out of the vials
of wrath finally, they all have a purpose. In the purpose of
God, what they are for is to frustrate the kingdom of Satan. To frustrate what Satan, because
see, Satan wants to establish and have a kingdom in which the
justice and righteousness of God is not established. That that justice and righteousness
of God is ignored, is turned on its head. Is that not what
we see all around us? But God frustrates it with the
red horse of war, the black horse of economic hardship, the pale
horse of death. He does all of that so that the
fourth of the horses, which was actually the first one, his white
horse, what was his white horse? His white horse was the horse
of the gospel of his grace. It is Christ coming into the
world to save his elect. So that his white horse will
triumph, so that his kingdom shall triumph. Now, do you believe
that? Do you? Not many do. Jesus said
in Matthew 7, 14, straight is the gate, meaning narrow, and
narrow is the way which leadeth to life, and few. Oh, we're at such a small number,
aren't we? Oh, if this was right, there'd be far more people with
us, wouldn't there? How can it possibly be right? There's so
few people with us. Jesus said, few there be that
find it. Few there be, where the truth
of God is nearly always. The numbers are not great. Even
the biggest gatherings of people who believe what we believe and
seek to preach what we preach, they're measured in tens at the
most, hundreds. Really, these big mega churches,
why are there so many people there? Because they're not preaching
the truth. They're appealing to the flesh. In Habakkuk 1 and
verse 5, We read there, God saying, behold ye among the nations,
and regard, and wonder marvelously. For I will work a work in your
days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. Is it
not the case that flesh will not believe? It will not believe. It is stubborn in its unbelief.
There's only one thing that makes fallen nature believe the gospel
of God's grace, And that is revelation from on high. That is the Holy
Spirit giving the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. None will believe except by divine
revelation. And then when you do, you see
everything just as he intended you to know it. You see it. It's
clear. It's clear. Evidence, you know,
there's no evidence. You hear these Naturalists say
they believe in evolution and not creation because they see
nothing in nature that would let them think they might be
a god. Well, of course they don't. They're just in the flesh. They're
just in nature. They have no spiritual understanding. The
natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them. Why?
They are spiritually discerned. And you must have spiritual discernment.
Where do you get spiritual discernment? God, the Holy Spirit, must give
it. Oh, give us eyes to see. Lord increase our faith, give
us eyes to see. So what was Habakkuk's situation?
Let me remind you it was 600 years before Christ came. Remember
in the history of Israel, King David had been about a thousand
or so years before Christ came. And then there was Solomon, then
the kingdom got split and they fell into more and more idolatry.
And this is about 600 years before Christ. And God had promised
that if the people of God, the Jews, Israelites, if they had
departed from the temple worship, Temple worship, read all about
it in Exodus, you read the details of the, that was all about how
do sinful people have fellowship with God. If you depart from
this, because it was all a picture of the gospel of grace, it was
all a picture of Christ and redemption. If you depart from this into
idolatry, I will put you in captivity. I will take away the kingdom
from you. And in 600 BC, the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar
and his kingdom, were God's instruments of judgment. Oh, it was lucky
for God that they just arrived on the scene of history at the
right time, wasn't it? Isn't that what people think?
If you turn back to chapter one and verse six, and read with
me the first four or five words, this is God speaking. What does
God say? He says, for lo, I raise up the
Chaldeans. Who raised up the Chaldeans?
God raised up the Chaldeans. If God hadn't raised up the Chaldeans,
the Chaldeans would never have been raised up as such a fierce
military machine. They were God's instruments of
judgment on the Jews for their idolatry, for their unbelief
of the gospel that was portrayed in the temple worship. The Chaldeans
were an example of the red horse. of the apocalypse, the red horse
of revelation, the red horse of war riding forth, they were
an example of that red horse and they had black horse and
pale horse consequences, economic and deathly consequences. Satan's
kingdom, you see, in the purposes of God, must not prosper in its
rejection of divine justice. Listen carefully to what I'm
saying. It's so important to an understanding of this world
in which we live as believers. Satan's kingdom, in the purposes
of God, must not prosper in its rejection of divine justice,
because that's what it is. They're trying to turn divine
justice and the precepts of God on their head. These people,
these Chaldeans, were fierce, a powerful military machine.
They were ravenous and greedy in their conquests. But here,
in Habakkuk chapter 2, we see what they were really like in
God's judgment. Look in verse 4 of chapter 2.
His soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him. His soul
which is lifted up. The soul of the Chaldeans, of
Nebuchadnezzar, He thinks he's okay, but he's not. It's not
right in him. You see, they were raised up
at this time, and like Cyrus, of whom we read in Isaiah 45,
which was written 800 and odd years before Christ came, 200
and odd years before this happened, in Isaiah, Cyrus, chapter 45
of Isaiah, verse 1, God says, Cyrus, my servant, my servant. He was the emperor of the Medo-Persian
empire that came after Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian empire. And like Cyrus,
Babylon was raised up by God. But they're still under God's
judgment and condemnation for their sin. Look at their culture. It was godless. It was cruel. It was idolatrous. Where did
it have its roots? The Chaldeans, the Babylonians,
where did it have its roots? That culture of theirs? It is
Babylon after all. Its roots were in Babel. Genesis
chapter 11. Turn back to Genesis chapter
11. And if you can't, don't worry,
just listen while I read it. You know in chapter 10 earlier
on we read about Nimrod in verse 8 of chapter 10 and Nimrod, this
is after the flood, this is after God had swept all of the evil
away and there's just Noah and eight of them in the ark were
the only ones that were saved but from them there was Shem,
Ham and Japheth And from Ham came a whole culture that was
godless and God-rejecting. And from his line came one in
Genesis 10, verse 8, Nimrod. Nimrod, rebellious panther, is
what the name means. A rebel against the God of Noah. The rebel. the rebel. He began
to be mighty in the earth. He was a mighty hunter, a mighty
rebel against the God of Noah, is what it means. And in chapter
11, they went on. This was the world of the Middle
East as it was, as people multiplied, and there were thousands and
millions of them, because they multiplied very rapidly. And
the whole earth was of one speech and of one language and of one
speech. And they came to a place, in
verse 3, they said to one another, Go to, let us make brick, and
burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone,
and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us
build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven. And let us make a name, lest
we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. This
was mankind in its natural godless state aspiring to heaven without
the justice of God being satisfied. It was an aspiration to heaven
without the satisfaction of divine justice. Is that not exactly
as the world today? What is it that people reject?
What is the offense of the cross? The offense of the cross is that
God's justice must be satisfied. that sin brings God's judgment. Sin must be punished. That's what it is. The offense
of the cross is that it can only be dealt with by the coming and
the doing and the dying and the rising again of the Christ of
God, the Messiah. And yet they reject it. That's
the offense of the cross. They reject it. We will not have
this man to rule over us. And so we see in Habakkuk chapter
two Remember, the people that were coming. to inflict God's
judgment on the nominal people of God for their idolatry. These
were the ones that were descended from those at Babel. They were
the ones who were descended from the people that had tried to
build a tower to heaven without the justice of God being satisfied.
They had false self-righteousness because God gives his judgment
of them. God gives his case against them in this chapter. Although
he's using them as his instruments of judgment, He gives his case
against them, the Chaldeans. They have a false sense of self-righteousness,
unlike God's justified ones, who are made the righteousness
of God in Christ. So, in verse 4, the Chaldean soul is lifted
up and he's not upright in him. No, he's got a false sense of
his own self-righteousness. But the just, God's justified
ones shall live by his faith. In verse 5, he transgresseth
by wine. He's a proud man, he doesn't
keep at home, he enlarges his desire as hell, and is as death,
and cannot be satisfied, but gathers to him all nations, and
heapeth unto him all people. He transgresses by wine. Yes,
they did literally transgress by wine. It was a very boozy
culture. In fact, if you read in the book
of Daniel, when you get to chapter 5, you read about Belshazzar,
one of the sons of Nebuchadnezzar, who was the ruler then. After
Nebuchadnezzar had died, Belshazzar was one of the sons. And Belshazzar
had a feast. And it was a great drinking feast.
There's some music written about it called Belshazzar's Feast.
And they used, for drinking cups, they used the sacred vessels
that they'd stolen from the temple in Jerusalem and they took them
back to Babylon. And they had a big drinking party.
And you remember in that night, if you read Daniel chapter 5,
they were all there having a great wail of a time and reveling and
the writing came and wrote on the wall. And Belshazzar's heart,
his blood ran cold in him, because the writing on the wall, many,
many tekul pasen, which means, you're weighed in the balances,
and you're found wanting. And this night, you'll give an
answer for it. And that very night, that very
night, the Medes and the Persians swept in and took over, of whom
later on, Cyrus was one of the rulers. All exactly as God had
said. Quite remarkable. But you see,
yes, literally they were guilty of drunkenness, but this is referring
primarily to drunkenness with the wine of idolatry. I want
you to turn to Revelation 14. Revelation 14. Because you see,
this shows us what really is being what really is meant by
this drunkenness with wine, it's the wine of idolatry, it's the
figurative wine of idolatry. They become drunk with it, they
don't see reason, spiritual reason, they don't see it clearly because
they're drunk with the wine of idolatry. In verse 8 of chapter
14, there followed another angel saying, listen, Listen, Revelation
chapter 14, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. Why the word fornication? It's
not talking about physical, it's talking about unfaithfulness
to the true God of the universe. Unfaithfulness. It's talking
about Going off, seeking after idols and other gods that are
not the true God. She made all nations drink of
that wine. Turn over to chapter 70 of Revelation. Chapter 17 and verse 2. Again, talking about Babylon. with whom the kings of the earth
have committed, see a whole of society, the society in which
we live today has all committed this spiritual fornication, this
spiritual infidelity of the true God, has committed it with falsehood. And the inhabitants of the earth
had been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Chapter 18 and verse 3. For all
nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance
of her delicacies. Can you not see it clearly there? Everything that says that mankind
can attain to eternal bliss of whatever sort without any need
for divine justice to be satisfied, that's the wine of which they
drink and get drunk. And God pronounces, in this chapter,
five woes. Even though they're His instrument
of judgment on Israel, on Judah, He pronounces five woes against
them, which He pronounces against all society. Look at the first
one, in verse 6. Woe to him that increaseth that
which is not his. Woe to those that increase that
which is not theirs. Robbery. greedy expansion, insatiable
desire to get more. Beware, he says, verse eight,
because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the
people shall spoil thee. You know what it says about he
that lives by the sword, beware, for you shall die by the sword.
Beware, beware. God's judgment and punishment
of sin is entirely just and in accordance with his holy nature.
The message of this book is that God must punish sin. It cannot go unpunished. Verse
9. Second woe. Woe to him that coveteth
an evil covetousness, that he may set his nest on high. Woe. God pronounces a woe against
it. Setting his nest on high. seeking
to elevate self to a form of heaven by your own worth and
your own effort. Isn't that exactly what society
all around us is doing? Also what false Christianity
and all other religions are seeking to do? They exalt themselves.
They set their nest on high. Third one, verse 12. Woe to him
that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity. Building your systems, whatever
systems they might be, religious systems especially, on the back
of the exploitation of others. God pronounces woe against it.
No, this is not, you know, as you see protesters marching through
the streets these days demanding justice and making a great thing
about societal injustice. No, this isn't about social justice.
This book is about salvation. That's what this book is about.
Woe to him that establishes his own system in the face of the
truth of God. Verse 15, the fourth one. Woe
to him that giveth his neighbor drink that puttest thy bottle
to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on
their nakedness. Thou art filled with shame for
glory. Drink thou also, and let thy
foreskin be uncovered. Woe to the purveyors of false
religion, is what that's saying. Enticing neighbors to partake,
snaring them into your own false worthless goodness. All will
be revealed as nakedness and uncircumcision of sinful flesh. God pronounces woe against it.
The last one. Verse 19, well it starts in verse
18. No breath in it, you can't do anything. Woe to idolatry. What is idolatry?
Anything which is not the true religion of the gospel of God's
grace in Christ. to those who, as Isaiah 45 says,
have no knowledge, that set up the wood of their graven image
and pray to a God that cannot save. All these woes are pronounced
by God on the society and religion of this world, on all that rejects
the truth of God in Christ. on you if you reject the truth
of God in Christ. All of these woes are pronounced,
for God is just, and he must, he must have his justice established. So then, where is God in all
of this? Where is God in the world in
which we live today? You see, there's, this is it,
I'll tell you, I'm raising up, says God, via Habakkuk, he says,
I'm raising up the Chaldeans, as my instruments of punishment
against the people for all that I warned them against and they
didn't listen to me. And he says, but even they are
an evil people who are going to be judged and called to account
for their own sinfulness, because although I use them for my purposes,
they are still accountable for their own sin. And you think
throughout it all, well, apart from saying, whoa, whoa, whoa,
where is God in all this? Now read verse 20. Read the last
verse. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. That is where he is, where he
has always been and always shall be. I remember many years ago
hearing the account of how Henry Mahan's oldest son was killed. He volunteered to go to Vietnam.
and he flew out to Vietnam with the troops, with some basic training
and when we got there he never actually, as I understand it,
he never actually saw action. He was killed in a road traffic
accident and they learned that their son, who apparently was
a good American boy, he was an outstanding example of a shining
example of everything that an American family would want their
son to be. Other churches in Ashland, Kentucky
hated what Henry Mahan preached. They hated his gospel, they hated
his God, because he preached what we seek to preach. And I
remember hearing that when the news got out that Henry Mahan's
oldest son had been killed, one of these other bitter preachers
phoned Henry up very early on, and he said to him, well where's
your God now in all this? And Henry's reply? He's exactly
where he's always been. God is in his holy temple, sitting
on his throne, where he's always been and where he always shall
be, in his holy temple. His holy temple, what is the
temple? It's where a holy God meets with his elect people.
How does he meet with them? in the temple in the Old Testament,
it was all a picture of it, on the basis of divine justice. Established by Christ his son,
with his own precious blood, which alone has established righteousness
and made satisfaction to offended justice. This is the seat of
universal authority. Whatever else is going on, God
is in his holy temple. Let the earth keep silent. You
just shut your mouth and listen, and sit in awe. God, now, now,
in this world, God is in his holy temple. As it says in Ecclesiastes,
chapter 5 and verse 2, be not rash with thy mouth, and let
not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. Why? You know, don't come in saying,
well, I think this about, and I, you just hold your tongue. God is in heaven. And you're
on the earth. Your view is very limited. You're like the four-year-old
who goes to the football match where they're all standing up.
And he's only three feet tall. And he can't see what's going
on on the pitch. And he's talking about what's happening on the
pitch, but he can't see what's happening on the pitch. You're
on the earth. God is in heaven. You keep quiet. Therefore let
thy words be few. God is in his holy temple. Whatever
the Chaldeans appear to do, whatever appears to go on in our modern
world, God remains in supreme authority. Look at verse 14.
For in the midst of all of these woes on Babylon, on the Chaldeans,
for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Is that not remarkable?
In this world where it's the last thing that seems to be the
case, The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. All shall come to know
it. What is the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord? What is it? What does it mean?
You know, this is where the best commentary on scripture is the
rest of scripture. And you think, where have I,
what's ringing your bell about this? The glory of the Lord,
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Is it not his sovereign
grace, in justifying his elect sinners, that despite seeming
universal disbelief and rebellion, that all shall bow to the truth
of God's sovereign saving purposes? Where is it seen, this glory
of the Lord? who calls light to shine out
of darkness, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6, has shined in our hearts to
give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Where will they see it? Where
will the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of
the Lord as the waters cover the sea? In the face of Jesus
Christ. In his coming to redeem his people. and establish true righteousness.
That fact is the pivot of world history. I want you to turn to
Isaiah 45 with me as we just wrap this up now. Isaiah chapter
45 and it starts out with In verse one, Cyrus, my servant. Again, just reinforcing that.
But why was God raising up Cyrus as his servant? Look at verse
four of Isaiah 45. For Jacob, my servant's sake,
and Israel, mine elect. I have even called thee Cyrus
by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though
you haven't known me. You, Cyrus, you don't know me.
But for Jacob and Israel. That's his people. His believing
people. That's his church. That's the
bride of Christ. He's done it for them. That's
why he's done it. So that all shall come to know
it. All of them, everyone, shall
come to know this, all for the sake of his people. Verse 17
of Isaiah 45, verse 17. But Israel, his people, shall
be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. And ye
shall not be ashamed, that means in the judgment, or confounded,
world without end. His people shall be saved to
the uttermost in the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel shall be saved
in the Lord. And gospel truth will be declared
to them. Verse 19, I have not spoken in
secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not to the seed
of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. when God spoke to you, He didn't
say, have a go, but you're not going to find me. He said, seek
and ye shall find. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Gospel truth declared to his
people. In verse 21, in verse 21, tell
ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I, the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Saviour. There is none
beside me. In Christ alone God is just yet
justifies sinners, he's perfectly just, he always hates sin, he
always must punish sin, the soul that sins it shall always die
and he shall in no wise clear the guilty, yet in Christ he
justifies his sinful people. And we look Verse 22, look by
faith unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, without
distinction of race, for I am God, and there is none else.
Look, there it is. Believe, there it is. Because, verse 23, I have sworn
by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return, that unto me Every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall swear. Is that not exactly what Havocook
said? the earth shall be filled with
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea every knee shall bow as Philippians says in the New
Testament Philippians 2 verses 9 to 11 wherefore writes Paul
God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is
above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow you see Paul says how is that verse in Isaiah fulfilled
at the name of Jesus who is God come in the flesh, every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We glorify
God the Father when we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So
then, there are mysterious and evil things happening all around
us in this world, but the message of God's book is that at the
pivot point of all history, God has confounded the falsehood
of Satan. He has satisfied his justice
for his people in Christ. He has sent forth his Son, just
exactly as Habakkuk 2 verse 3 says, for the vision is yet for an
appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie, though
it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will
not tarry. What? Christ came. at the fullness
of time Galatians 4 verse 4 when the fullness of the time was
come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law
to redeem those who are under the law he has satisfied justice
he has sent forth his son and justly justified his people in
him so here's the question where are you are you outside as it
were, of the temple in the outer court of this world and on the
broad way to eternal destruction heaping up all of these woes
which surely apply to every one of us in the flesh, these five
woes in Habakkuk 2, heaping up those woes or are you with God
in his holy temple? How do you get in there? You
enter via the veil. Remember when Christ died on
Calvary the physical veil of the temple on the Holy of Holies
in Jerusalem, through which only the high priest was permitted
to go on fear of death, once a year, and then only with the
blood of a suitable sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, that
veil, that barrier, that thick curtain that kept ordinary people
out of there, because you would die in the presence of a holy
God if you went in there, That veil was torn from top to bottom
when Christ died on Calvary. The veil was rent, torn in two. And so now those who believe
him are with God in his holy temple, having entered via the
veil rent by Christ's death. And who was the high priest that
went before us? With blood that was acceptable?
As Hebrews tells us, it was Christ. Not with the blood of bulls and
goats, but with his own blood he entered through the veil.
And when you're in there, like the writer of Psalm 73, whether
it was David or it was Asaph, it doesn't really matter, but
the writer of Psalm 73, he was in a terrible position, not really
understanding why things were like they were. And then he went
into the sanctuary. He went into the temple. The
temple is such a picture of gospel, belief and faith and truth. And
when you're in there, he said, then understood I their end. Then I understood what it was
all about. And so will you, if you come
by faith in Christ.