The prophecy of Habakkuk opens
with these words in chapter 1. The burden which Habakkuk the
prophet did see. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry
and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence
and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity
and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are
before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked,
and judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about
the righteous. Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. In verse 12 he has this to say,
Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, thou
hast ordained them for judgment, and, O mighty God, thou hast
established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity, Wherefore lookest
thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the
wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he, and
makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that
have no ruler over them. They take up all of them with
the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in
their drag. Therefore they rejoice and are
glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto
their net, and burn incense unto their drag, because by them their
portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore
empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations? I will stand upon my watch, and
set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say
unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.' And the
Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain
upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 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. Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him, But the just shall live by his faith. write the vision and make it
plain upon tables that he may run that read if it 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 behold his soul which is lifted up is
not upright in him but the just shall live by his faith The scene in which Habakkuk dwelt,
the scene in which he received a burden from the Lord, which
he saw a vision from the Lord, was a scene of darkness, a scene
of sin, of rebellion, of iniquity, of spoiling and violence. of
strife and contention. O Lord, how long shall I cry
and thou wilt not hear, even cry out unto thee of violence,
and thou wilt not save? Why dost thou show me iniquity
and cause me to behold grievance, for spoiling and violence are
before me? And there are that raise up strife
and contention. All the world around him was
in darkness. full of sin and corruption, full
of strife and contention. And the Prophet sorrowed because
he cried out unto his God in the midst of the darkness and
there seemed to be no answer. How long, O Lord, how long in
this darkness must I dwell? How long must I plead Thee to
save, to deliver us from this evil? All around there is strife
and contention, thy law is slack. It is not brought in judgment
against the wicked. The wicked gather around, they
compass about the righteous. They oppose and tread underfoot
those who would follow God. The followers of God are despised
and rejected. And the wicked multiply in number,
all is darkness. How long, O Lord? Yet into this darkness the Lord's
light shines forth. In this darkness and in this
prophecy of Habakkuk we see the shafts of light, the shafts of
the light of the Gospel shining forth. Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die because of thou oh lord we shall
not die if we're thine though this world is dark and though
this world is full of sin I will stand upon my watch and
set me upon the tower and watch to see what he will say unto
me. The Lord answered me and said,
write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may
run that readeth it. There's a vision given to Habakkuk,
light shining in the darkness, a sight to be beheld. if sight
is given to see it. The vision is yet for an appointed
time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. It will surely come, it will
not tarry, and the just who see it shall live. by faith. The just shall live by his faith. Yes, light in the darkness as
was made plain at the beginning of time in the opening words
of Genesis. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and
void and darkness was upon the face of the deep And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let
there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light and it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. Such we see in this prophecy
of Habakkuk. Darkness. in which the Spirit
of God moves and shines forth light in a vision to be seen by faith. All we see in the world around
us and in the hearts of man in your heart and in my heart is
violence, grievance, iniquity strife and contention. And all this does is bring God's
wrath down from heaven upon us. And left in such a state, all
we can expect is God's judgment and anger. All we can expect
is death forevermore. But the light given under Habakkuk
declares, but we shall not die. Despite the darkness and the
death which is all around us, despite the sin, despite the
violence, Despite the obvious sight we see of people being
born, living, dying, born, living, dying and the fruits of sin all
around us and the mortality of man and the frailty of life and
the consequences of his rebellion plunging man into the grave every
day. Every day there are those who
die. Despite all the death all around
us, Habakkuk knew that there was a God who was from everlasting. Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, mine Holy One? There is a God who does not die,
a God without beginning and a God without end. A God who is light. A God who
dwells in light inaccessible. A God in whom there is no darkness
at all. A God who is holy and just and
righteous. If there is life to be found,
if there is light to be seen, it will be in and from Him and
Him alone. There's no light. There's no
understanding. There's no righteousness in man. Not in you, not in me. But there is a God who dwelt
before ever this world was brought into being. Who dwelt before
ever you were born and who will dwell in eternity, long after
you leave this earth. There is a God who is from everlasting
unto everlasting and all the hands of all men and women throughout
time are in His hands. You are in His hands. To Him
you will answer. Before Him you will stand. Unto him you will give an account
of all you have ever done, Thornton said. Then how will we stand? How will you stand before that
God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, who can't
not look on iniquity? He cannot behold evil. How will
you stand who are full of iniquity and full of evil before a holy
God like this? Surely His anger will burn against
you. Except He look upon you in mercy. And except there be found a way
for this God to take your evil and take your iniquity and blot
it out and shine into the midst of your darkened heart the light
of God and eternity. Accept this God. Cleanse you
of your iniquity. Wash away your sins. Take away
the darkness and make you to be righteous. Then you will surely
die. But Habakkuk, when he looked
unto this God, when he looked out of the darkness unto the
light, when God opened his eyes to see the light shining in the
darkness, could cry out in that light and of that light, O Lord,
we shall not die. We shall not die. Because of
Thee, because of Thy light, because of Thy justice, because of Thy
glory, because of Thy grace, because of Thy mercy, we shall
not die. How could He say such a thing
when He knew the evil and the darkness in the world around
Him? On what ground could He cry out
with such hope that we shall not die? He could cry out. Because the Lord gave him a vision
and a sight of that which would save him. The Lord gave him a
sight of that which could deliver him from his sin. The Lord opened
his eyes, his blind eyes, and made him to see. The Lord put
faith in his heart. that he should see the vision
and believe. A vision of grace, a vision of
mercy, a vision of salvation, a vision of the gospel, a vision
of the Son of God coming to the world to save sinners, a vision
of a man dying in the place of Habakkuk, a man crucified for
him, a man bearing Habakkuk's sins, slain in his place. taking away his iniquity, taking
away the evil, taking away the darkness and bringing in for
Habakkuk the righteousness of God. That Habakkuk should be
spared the judgment that his sin had wrought and be brought
into righteousness and be spared the death and brought to live
forevermore. He was given a vision and a sight
of things that were hid from the wise and the prudent, things
that were hid from those around him, things that were hid from
those who despised God and the followers of God. He was given
a sight of things that cannot be seen naturally. He was given
a sight of faith. To look out of time into eternity. To look out of the natural realm
into the eternal spiritual realm. To look beyond the darkness into
the light. To see the grace of God pouring
down from high as rivers of living water. to see the bread of God
coming down from above and being broken for him, to see the blood
as it were being poured forth as wine, and the body being broken
as bread, to see his sin being destroyed in the body, and his
sins being washed away by the blood. He was given a sight of
Christ. a sight of his saviour, a vision
that delivered him from death and brought him into everlasting
life. Have you ever been given that
vision and that sight? For without it you remain in
darkness. And if it never comes to you,
you will remain in darkness, dead forevermore. But if you're
ever to live, if when you pass from this world to the next,
you're ever to know eternal life, to dwell with God forevermore,
then you must be given this vision, this faith. For the just shall
live by his faith. We must have this vision. As
Proverbs 29, 18 tells us, where there is no vision, the people
perish. Where there is no vision, the
people perish. When you don't see, when you're
blind, when you've not seen, when you can't see because you're
blind and you can't see because there's nothing presented to
see, you perish. But the Lord answered me and
said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables that he
may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for unappointed
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. This vision
came, God showed this sight unto Habakkuk, and he said, write
it down, make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth
it. First it was written down, this
vision of the Gospel has been written down. It's recorded in
the Scriptures. It's been brought to you this
day in the Scriptures. You may take a Bible and you
may read of this vision. You may read of the things of
Jesus Christ, you may read of the state of man by nature, you
may read of your sin and corruption, and you may read of the sending
forth of God's Son into this world to save sinners such as
you and I. It's there, it's been made plain,
it's been written upon tables, it's been written down that you
may run that read of it. But you can take that writing
and you can hear those words and never see, and never see. But as Habakkuk is told, 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. You may say
I've read the scriptures a thousand times and never seen the meaning. I've never had a sight of Christ,
I know all about him, but I don't know the power of his salvation. It's just words to me. Well wait. Wait because this vision speaks
and lies not, it's the truth. It's the vision of Jesus Christ
who said I am the way, the truth and the life. I am your way unto
God. I am the only way unto God. I am the only truth in this world. All truth is embodied in me and
anything outside of me is alive. and I am the life. If you will
ever live, you will live in me. And if you remain outside of
me, you will die. This vision shall speak and not
lie. Because when Christ takes the
words of this gospel, this vision, and speaks them by His Spirit
unto your soul, you shall hear as the dead who lie in graves
shall hear the voice of the Son of God. You shall hear, for he
shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. Christ is preaching his gospel
today. The vision is sent forth, the
light shines in the darkness. you can hear his voice. As the light shines in the darkness. Consider various visions you
may read of in the scriptures there are a number of accounts
of different prophets, different patriarchs, different people
who had visions. The Lord spake unto them in visions. And so, so often we read of these
visions as being in the night. The Lord came unto Abraham in
the night. He came unto this one and spake
in a vision unto him in the night. He saw a vision in the night.
Genesis 46 too, when God spake unto Israel in the visions of
the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here am I. This vision comes in the night,
in the darkness. But what can you see in the darkness? What vision can you see in the
darkness? Nothing. It's all dark. And that's the point, it's dark. You can't see this with the natural
sight. In the darkness all is dark. But God has a vision that he
makes plain in the darkness. He opens the eyes of the blind
and shines his light into their hearts that they may see, when
there's no natural light to see by. Here Jacob saw a vision in the
darkness, not with natural sight or natural light or natural intellect
or natural understanding, not with the aid of man at all. But God opened his eyes to see
something hid from others. In type and figure, his eyes
were opened to see a vision by faith. Jacob was given faith here to
see. Abraham was given faith to see. All these of God were given faith
to see in the darkness, though by nature they could not see. And you who sit in the darkness
will see nothing in the darkness, except God opens your eyes to
see by faith. The intellect of man will not
open your eyes. Great learning and teaching will
not open your eyes. The best of theologians, except
God, use the Gospel by them to declare His truth unto you. The
words of even the best men will not open your eyes. You lie in
darkness. But when He comes in the power
of His Gospel and puts faith in your heart and opens your
eyes to see a vision, you'll see a vision in the darkness. A vision of the night. Abbot Cook saw this vision, he
wrote it on tables, he was sent forth to declare it and to preach
it. As we do with the Gospel. But you'll only see the Gospel,
you'll only see Christ suffering for you in the Gospel when God
gives you sight. Have you seen it? if not wait, it will not tarry. And when you see this sight,
you will know and you will know that there is a God from everlasting. And you will know because of
this sight that he's given you of a savior crucified. You will
know by faith that you shall not die. But God must open your eyes. The blind cannot open their own
eyes. They're blind. Someone must open
them. We wait, as it were, by the wayside
until God comes our way, until the vision comes that we might
see. In the Gospels we read of the
blind man sat on the wayside, Matthew 20. And behold, two blind
men sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed
by, cried out, saying, have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. they sat there blind, there's
nothing they could do but there came a day when Jesus walked
past them and they cried out for mercy and he touched their
eyes and opened them and made them to see now that may be you
sat in the darkness perhaps you've heard the words of the vision
perhaps you've heard or read the gospel or heard the gospel
from men but it's all words in the darkness because that vision
has yet to speak unto you because your eyes have yet to be opened
because God has yet to put faith in your heart to see it. Perhaps
that's you sat by the wayside. Well wait, the vision will not
tarry and Christ does come along the pathway and he does pass
by dead sinners, blind sinners who sit there waiting. He has
mercy upon the lost, upon the weak, upon the broken, upon the
contrite. Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him. Yea, also he who transgresseth
by wine, he's a proud man. Perhaps your soul is lifted up. Perhaps you're proud of your
own abilities. Perhaps you think you see when
you don't see. Perhaps you've heard the words
of the gospel and think you've grasped it. Perhaps you think
you've come to Christ and all the time you're deluding yourself
because it's all in the head. Well your proudness, your pride,
your great strength in yourself needs to be broken down. These
blind men knew they were blind. Their pride had been crushed.
They knew they were nothing. And when Jesus passed their way,
their cry was, have mercy on us. Oh Lord, our son of David,
are you sat on that wayside? If you are, wait for the vision. It will surely come. for the just shall live by his
faith. There is a vision to be seen
in the gospel, a sight to be beheld, but there is a vision
to be granted with which to behold it. There is that faith that
we must have to see the sight which God makes known in his
gospel. We need vision to see the vision. We need sight to see the sight. We need faith to comprehend the
faith. For the just shall live by his
faith. The just shall live by his faith. Oh, what a tremendous thing the
faith of God's elect is. What a tremendous thing it is
to have the eyes open to see. What a tremendous deliverance
when you sit in chains of darkness with the burden of sin upon your
back. crushed under the weight of your
sin, feeling the wrath of God against your sins and then there
comes that day when the Saviour comes your way and touches your
eyes and faith enters into the heart and your eyes open and
you behold and you see Him and you see Him suffering for you
and you see Him washing your sins away and you see your salvation
What a tremendous thing faith is. To open the eyes to see that
which was once hidden from us. To see that which once we were
blind to. What a tremendous thing. For
without faith it is impossible to please God, Hebrews tells
us. Without faith we're dead. Without
faith we cannot see. Without faith nothing we can
do is pleasing unto God. Without faith we're blind. Without faith we walk in our
own strength. We may come to the Scriptures,
we may come to the Word of God, we may come to the Law of God.
We may seek us, set ourselves to live in as righteously as
we can by our own merits and our own strength. We may take
the very Law of God and seek to use it to model our life.
But without faith we're dead, and we're told that the Law is
not of faith. The Law doesn't demand faith,
the Law doesn't require faith. the law won't bring faith then
righteousness won't come by the law salvation won't come by your
works and faith won't come by your keeping of that law but
when faith comes in the gospel you see a law that's been fulfilled
in the death of christ a law whose every demand and penalty
against you has been answered and met by his blood a law which
has been nailed to his cross and taken out of sight, a law
which has been conquered and from which you've been delivered
from. And you rise up in faith in Christ
alone. You rise up as one who was unjust,
as one who was wicked, as one who was evil, as one who was
iniquitous. You rise up in Christ justified
by Him. Justified from all the law's
demands. Justified from all the wrath
of God against your sin. Just. The unjust made just. The wicked made just before a
holy God. Made righteous. And the just
shall live by his faith. It's a wonderful thing this faith.
A precious thing. Precious faith. To see and to
behold a vision which was once hid from the gaze. But this verse,
this proclamation regarding the just has more than just the believer
in mind. The just shall live by his faith. Those who are made just by Jesus
Christ and His atoning work shall live by faith. But in themselves
they're not just. In themselves by nature they're
wicked and unjust. There is none just, there is
none righteous by nature. There is none good. No man has
ever walked this world without sin. without corruption, righteous,
except that one man, the mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. He's the just one. He's the just
who suffered for the unjust. He's the righteous one. And when
Habakkuk in prophecy speaks of the just here, he speaks of him. He speaks of Jesus Christ, the
just one. The just shall live by his faith. If we're made by him to be just,
then our justice, our righteousness, Our purity is holy in Him. We are made to be the righteousness
of God in Him. We are only counted just because
He's just. Then this properly speaking speaks
of Christ. Christ first and His people through
Him in Him. The just shall live by His faith,
by His faith. by Christ's faith. If God gives
us faith it's his gift to give and it's that faith which Christ
lived and had that he gives unto us, which we as united to him,
as one in him, he in us and us in him, it's his faith by which
we live. but it's his faith which brought
about our salvation, it's his faith by which he lived, by which
he brings his people to live, the faith of Jesus Christ. Which is why Paul when he expounds
these truths, when he takes this vision and makes it known in
the gospel, in doctrinal terms in Romans and Galatians, speaks
of this faith and speaks of this righteousness. He quotes this
very verse from Habakkuk in Romans 1 and Galatians 2. I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, he says, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness,
the justice, the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith as it is written the just shall live by faith the just
shall live by faith and that faith by which we live
that faith which is given to us in the gospel is the faith
of Jesus Christ The righteousness of God is revealed by that Gospel
from faith to faith, from His faith unto our faith. He led by faith, He walked by
faith, He was the forerunner of faith, He went to the cross
by faith. and by going to the cross for
his people and taking them into union with himself, sinners united
to the just one by being plunged into death for them, he brought
down from heaven above in judgment against them and their sins upon
himself the righteousness of God. He manifested in his death
in judgment the righteousness of God, as it was brought down
in judgment against their sin. And as he went through that death,
looking under his father by faith, resting in him, trusting in him,
believing that he would bring him through the rivers of death
safely to the other side, as he did that act of laying down
his life, as he performed that act of faith, that one righteous
act, the righteousness of God was manifested. and his faith
was honoured, and his faith brought forth that righteousness by which
the dead then live. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. This faith of Christ is foundational
to this gospel, it's what manifested the righteousness of God, it's
what gives it the power. As Romans 3.21 tells us, but
now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. when he laid down his life that
righteousness was brought forth to be unto all that would believe
and then when they are brought to faith brought to believe quickened
to life by the spirit it is placed upon them it brought it forth
it was in Christ as God from all time. In his life of faith
which he lived in this world, he displayed the righteousness
of God in all its glory. He honored the law in all its
points, for the law could find no fault in him. The righteousness
of God shone forth through him. But at the cross, when he took
the darkness of his people's sins upon him, he manifested
that righteousness for them in judgment. And it was brought
forth in the darkness. The light shone in the darkness. They who dwelt in darkness were
made to be the righteousness of God in him. Their sin and
iniquity was taken away, judged, and his righteousness was made
to be theirs. Oh what a life of faith he lived
and what an act of faith he performed at the cross. There's no greater
display of Christ's true humanity than his faith. There's no greater
display of His manhood than His faith. He lived by faith. He
walked by faith. He lived a life ever looking
unto His Father. He dwelt in this inner life of
faith. Always communion with His Father
by prayer. Always going off into a mount
to pray. Always dwelling with His Father
though men all around Him. railed against him and contradicted
him and sought to put him to death. He lived, he walked with
this life of faith before his God and Father, wed unto God
his Father, one with him, united unto him. looking out of time
into eternity, looking beyond this realm into the heavenly
realm in which God dwells. The man, the man Christ Jesus
was sustained, he lived, he trusted in his Father, he lived by faith. That's what enabled him to walk
through this world of contradiction, of strife and contention, of
violence. He was a man of faith. And that
is how the believer, wed, united unto Christ, follows on. United to him by faith, we have
this life, this inner life of walking with God through Jesus
Christ. With the same faith by which
he lived, that same faith by which he brought forth the righteousness
of God in the Gospel. That faith is what brought Christ
through death. That faith was vital to him to
bring him through death and to raise him up the other side and
us in him. It is his faith by which he saw
in the night of the cross, when he was plunged into the darkness
of death. In that darkness, out of that
darkness, he looked by faith unto his God, and he saw, as
it were, a vision in the night. He saw his hope in the night. He looked unto God and knew that
he would be risen from the dead with his people. It was that
faith which brought the righteousness of God to light in the gospel. It brought that righteousness
in judgment upon him at the cross and us in him. And it is that
which gives the gospel its power for it's that faith by which
he saw in the darkness and by which we see in the darkness. And in the darkness of this world
in the darkness of unbelief in the darkness of our natural state
we will only see this we will only see this truth that the
just shall live by faith the faith of Jesus Christ if God
grants us that same faith and gives us that vision if he opens
our eyes if he puts that faith in our hearts And if he does,
then we too will know that the faith we have is the faith of
Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus Christ. It's
this truth that runs through Habakkuk's whole prophecy. It's by this faith that he can
cry out, we will not die. It is this and this alone which
gives us hope in the darkness. Hope amidst this people around
us who are full of strife and contention. What are they contending
against? What are they striving against? Why they contend, they strive,
they fight against the gospel of Jesus Christ, the faith of
Jesus Christ. And yet when you're given the
vision, and you're given the faith to see the vision, You
see in that vision, that in that Gospel, through that faith, there
is salvation, righteousness, life, light, resurrection from
the dead, hope and glory, everlasting salvation. You see when your
eyes are opened a light shining from the heavens and a voice
crying out unto you, which is the voice of Jesus Christ calling
you by name, calling you to follow him, calling you out of darkness
into the light, calling you out of death into everlasting life. You see a vision and through
that vision by faith you live forevermore. Saul, who became
Paul, had that vision. He records of it in Acts 26,
from verse 13, where he says to Agrippa, at midday, O king,
I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness
of the sun, shining round about me, and then which journeyed
with me, And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard
a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet,
for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee
a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee,
delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom
now I send thee. to open their eyes and to turn
them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto
God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon,
O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient, unto the heavenly vision. Whereupon,
O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. As
God opened your eyes, like he opened Habakkuk's, like he opened
Saul's, to see the heavenly vision, to see Christ crucified for sinners,
to see by faith your salvation, Have you heard a voice crying
from above unto you by name, as it were, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And have you cried out, who art
thou, Lord? I am Jesus. And has Jesus, as he did with
Saul and Habakkuk, forgiven you of your sins because of that
which he did as made known in the vision of the gospel when
he laid down his life for sinners such as you. Amen.