Let's open our Bibles again this
evening to the book of Habakkuk. And tonight, if you will, we're
turning to chapter two. The title of the message is God's
Answer. Let me just remind us of a few
things that we have seen in our services concerning Habakkuk. First of all, his name means
to embrace. These Old Testament names, the
meaning was given by God, there's no question about that. And His
name means to embrace, and this is true of every child of God,
that we embrace the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. The prophet
lived approximately 600 years before the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world. I say that because we know the
year that Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians. And this
prophet, he prophesied before that destruction. It begins with the prophet speaking
about the wickedness and the sins of his people, and him crying
unto the Lord, and it seemed to him as though the Lord did
not hear him. If you notice in verse two of
chapter one, O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not
hear? Even cry unto thee of violence,
and thou wilt not save. He complained unto God, concerning
the wickedness of his nation, cried unto the Lord. And it seemed
that the Lord did not answer, but we find out that the Lord
would answer. And the Lord would answer by
raising up the Chaldeans or the Babylonians. He would raise this
nation up to Chason, Habakkuk's people, that is, Judah. If you
notice in chapter 1 in verse 5, Behold you among the heathen,
and regard and wonder marvelously. For I will work a work in your
days which you will not believe, though it be told you. Now, this
perplexed the prophet. This perplexed the prophet. The
Apostle Paul in the New Testament, he confesses to being perplexed. Sometimes we are perplexed. When
we see things that are going on in this world and we certainly
do not understand God's ways because they're so much higher
than our ways and his thoughts so much higher than our thoughts,
we too become perplexed. And he was perplexed because
God raised up a nation to chasten His people who were even more
wicked, that is the Chaldeans were more wicked than the nation
of Judah, that they were going to be used as an instrument in
God's hand to chasten. And that perplexed the prophet. We looked last week at his prayer. At the end or the middle of chapter
one, beginning with verse 12, we looked at his prayer and in
this prayer, we noticed he used that word wherefore, wherefore,
wherefore. The Chaldeans would so triumph
over Judah that he compares it to men taking fish out of the
ocean. taking them without much thought
and destroying them or killing them so they would come into
the land of Judah. Now, I have several truths tonight
I want to bring out to us in this second chapter. First, the
prophet is told the answer to his prayer. He prayed. And the first thing we see here
in chapter two is that God speaks to him and gives him the answer
to his prayer. Chapter two, verse one. The prophet
says, I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and
will watch to see what he, what is, that is what God, 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 faith. We see this truth that the prophet
expected an answer. I want to bring that out to us
tonight. He prayed and he expected an answer. And that tells us
that he prayed in faith. He prayed in faith, believing
that God would not only hear his prayer, but would answer
his prayer. And each one of us, we should
learn from his example that without faith, it is impossible to please
God. And I think many times I speak
for myself, we pray, but we really don't expect an answer. This
man, this prophet, he prayed and he expected an answer. He
went and he watched. He went to his place, his tower,
his watchtower, and watched and waited until God answered him. He believed God. He prayed to
God. And he believed, yes, his God,
his prayer, and will answer prayer. I think about Elijah. If you
turn back with me to 1 Kings just a moment, what a beautiful
example we have in this prophet of old. 1 Kings chapter 18. And beginning with verse 41. And
this takes place after Elijah had confronted those false prophets. Those false prophets of Baal.
And God answered. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. The God of Israel. The only living
and true God. He answered from fire. He answered
with fire. Fire came down from heaven. Consumed
the sacrifice. Consumed the wood. Consumed the
stones that the altar was made of and licked up the water God
answered the prayer of Elijah And now he goes up on the mountain
to pray beginning with verse 41 and here's old wicked Ahab
who supported and followed those false prophets along with his
wicked wife Jezebel and And Elijah tells Ahab something that's always
been very interesting to me. Notice what we read here. And
Elijah said unto Ahab, get thee up, eat and drink, for there
is a sound of abundance of rain. Well, no one else heard that.
Ahab didn't hear it. Elijah did. He said, there's
a sound of abundance of rain. And so Ahab went up to eat and
to drink. Elijah went up to the top of
Carmel, and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face
between his knees. See, the wicked king went up
to eat and to drink and all of that. The prophet went up to
pray. He went up to pray. And he said
unto his servant, Go up now, Think about this. He's, what
I'm pointing out, he expected an answer. He's praying for rain,
he expects it to rain. God had given him his word, and
yet he prays for it. Sometimes people say, well, if
all things are determined ahead of time, why should we pray?
Because God has commanded us to pray. And because he has asked,
and you shall receive. And he tells us, you have not
because you ask not. Sometimes when I'm praying, I
mention that to the Lord. I may not have it, but it's not
going to be because I didn't ask for it. That's what the scripture
says. You have not because you ask
not, and you ask and receive not because you ask to consume
it upon your own lust. Lord, I may not get what I'm
asking, but it's not going to be because I'm not asking. Elijah
asked for rain. So he sends his servant of his, and he said, go up now, look
toward the sea. I can just see them up on that
mountain. And he's praying and he calls his servant and he said,
now go, go look towards the sea. See if there's not some indication
that rain is coming. And he went and looked, came
back and said, nothing. Go back again. Nothing. Go back again. Nothing. But then
on that seventh time, he came back and he said, well, I'll
tell you what I see. Can you imagine the expanse of heaven
he could see out over that sea? And he saw a little cloud. That's
a little cloud, the size of a man's hand. Notice what Elijah said
to Ahab. Prepare thy chariot, verse 44,
and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. I'm sure you've
all heard the story of people, the church out in West Texas
during the drought, and they were going to have a meeting,
a special meeting to pray for rain, and one young girl showed
up with an umbrella. Hadn't rained in months. And someone said, well, what
are you doing with that? Where'd you bring that? Well,
we're gonna pray for rain, aren't we? That's the reason we're here,
to pray for right. What I'm saying is, and back
again in the back, he prayed and he expected an answer from
God. He had a place. Every child of
God, if possible, you should have a special place where you
meet the Lord. If possible, day by day, a special
place where you go and shut the world out. and speak to your
father, and your father in secret, he will reward thee openly."
So he had a place. It was a tower like these watchmen. That's what he was. He was a
watchman. He was a prophet, and a prophet is a watchman. He was
to watch, and he had a place maybe on the wall where he could
watch, and not only watch, but wait. Wait for what the Lord
God will say. That's one of the most difficult
things that we as believers must learn, is to wait. Most all of us want an answer
yesterday to a prayer we pray today, to wait. What does it include to wait? Well, I've written these three
things down. First of all, watching includes
watching in the word of God. If God answers us, he's going
to answer us most of the time from his word. He's not going
to tell us anything contrary to his word. If we think we've
got an answer from the Lord and it is in opposition to the written
word of God, just count on it, that didn't come from the Lord. No, when we're waiting and watching
for an answer, most of the time it's going to come to us from
the word of God. Number two, God's providence. When we're watching and waiting
for an answer to our prayer, we look for God's providence
in our life, his providences in our life as he leads us and
directs us. And number three, a spirit, our
conscience testifying to us of the truth. But this prophet,
he prayed, he expected an answer, he watched for the answer. And the answer came. The answer came. And God said,
write it down. Write it down. And make it plain
so that all who see will be able to understand. You know the work of a preacher.
One of the most important things about preaching is to make the
message plain, to make it plain. As much as is in you, no one
is able to misunderstand what you're saying. Make it plain. He's told to write this vision
in such a way that anyone who reads it, they will have no problem
in understanding it. The count ends. the Babylonians. God raised up to chasten Judah,
to carry them into Babylon, captives. But God assures them that the
vision, the prophecy, would not be sealed up until God's appointed
time. Notice that. And the Lord answered
me and said, Write the vision, the prophecy, 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. What we see here is that God
tells the prophet, yes, your people are going to be carried
into Babylon. But the vision will not cease. The prophecy will not cease until
the appointed time. Now, when was the appointed time? When was the appointed time when
prophecy should be sealed up? It was when the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world, of whom Peter tells us all the prophets
spoke. They all spoke of him. And that passage in Daniel chapter
nine and verse 24, there's six things that the Messiah would
do. He would finish transgression. He would make an end of sins.
to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and number five, he would seal up vision and prophecy. In other words, these prophecies,
visions, if you please, he sealed them up because he fulfilled
the prophecies. All of the prophecy, they all
spoke of Christ. All the prophets witnessed of
Christ. And when He came and lived in
this world and died on the cross and was raised again and ascended
back to the Father, seated at the Father's right hand tonight,
the law and the prophets until John, John the Baptist, the last
of the Old Testament prophets. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His
coming, By his doing, he sealed up the vision and the prophecy,
just like he brought in an everlasting righteousness, just like he made
an end of sin. He did all that by his coming
into this world and giving himself a ransom for his people. As mighty as the Chaldeans were,
and they were, they were a mighty, mighty country and But they were
still, they were the superpower of the world at that time. But as mighty as they were, they
were still only instruments in God's hand. God would use them
to chasten his people. And it's interesting when you
study about Babylon and the many prophecies that concern Babylon
in Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel, you find out that God, a hundred
years, a hundred years before this man was born, he was a Persian. His name was Cyrus. And God called
him by name, and God told many things that he would do to destroy
the Babylonians. Yes, they were a powerful nation,
but the kings of Babylon were just like Pharaoh, the monarch
in Egypt. When Moses told him, for in very
deed, for this cause have I raised thee up, to show my power in
thee, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Yes, a great mighty nation, the
Chaldeans, but they were nothing more than an instrument in God's
hand that he used to chasten his people for their sins, for
their iniquities. The second thing, but learn from
that. Let us all learn from that. When
we pray, let's pray in faith believing. And let's look for
an answer. Let's trust God. We're not just
speaking up into the air. We're talking into the ear of
the God of all things. God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Nothing impossible for Him. Nothing. And He will do His will. as the
scripture says. Now the second part is the prophet
is told the sins for which God would judge Babylon. Notice in
verse 5 of chapter 2, we read, Yea, also, because he transgresseth
by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth
his desire as hail, And here it says, death. You know, death
and hell never say it's enough. They never say, no more. We've
received enough. Oh, no. Death and hell, like
the grave, never say no more. And this kingdom, the Chaldeans,
they were that way. They wanted more land, more territory,
more kingdoms to add to their kingdom. He doesn't stay at home,
who enlargeth his desire as hell and as death, and cannot be satisfied. No matter how many countries
he conquered, he could never be satisfied. Always more. You remember what has been said
many times Concerning the riches of this world, how much is enough? How much is enough? Just a little
more. Just a little more. No matter
how much we have. You know, I look at some of these
men in the world today who are billionaires. You'd think they'd
have enough, wouldn't you? No, no. Just a little more. If
I have one billion, I want a billion and a half. If I have a billion
and a half, I want two billion. Never enough. Isn't it wonderful
as a child of God to be content in Christ, to be satisfied in
Him? That's where the peace and joy
is, in finding our satisfaction in Christ. Jacob. Esau said, I have enough. Jacob said, I have everything.
And when a person has Christ, he has everything. Now, considering other scriptures,
various writers have categorized the sin of Babylon under three
heads. First of all, her pride. Notice that in verse 4. Behold,
his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him. Pride. His soul is lifted up. And it was lifted up with pride. And you see that in verse 5 also. Yea, also because he transgresseth
by wine, he is a proud man. Pride is a wicked sin no matter
where it's found. And all of us are liable to it,
all of us. And we all know how God dealt
with King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, when he was lifted
up in pride and he said, is not this the great Babylon that I
have built? He didn't give God any credit.
He didn't think about the fact that his very breath came from
God. No, he just thought about what
he had done, how great he was, and God sent him out to live
like an animal for seven years, eat grass, hair grow like bird's
feathers, his claws rather like bird's claws. But I tell you what, when God
restored him, he confessed to sovereign, didn't he? He confessed
who is in control. But he had a grandson we know,
Belshazzar. And we'll see more of him in
just a moment. The pride of the Babylonians
made them think and boast. Not only think this, but they
boasted, we are invincible. We are invincible. We are the queen of nations,
of all the nations, of all the cities. We set as queen and we
will never be disturbed. We shall remain forever. We will never know widowhood. Look with me in Isaiah chapter
47. In Isaiah chapter 47, verse 7
we read, and thou, this is Babylon, and thou saidest, I shall be
a lady forever. I shall be a lady forever, a
queen forever. So that thou didst not lay these
things to thy heart, neither didst thou remember the latter
end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou
that are given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that
sayest in thine heart, I, and none else beside me, I shall
not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss
of children. That's never going to happen
to us. Not us. We're so powerful. We're so great.
But notice in verse nine, but these two things shall come to
thee in a moment, in one day. The loss of children, widowhood,
they shall come upon thee and their perfection for the multitude
of thy sorceries and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. First of all, her pride. Number
two, cruelty. This nation was a cruel people,
a cruel people. If you still have your scripture
open there to Isaiah 47, look in verse six, God called her
out for her cruelty. He said, I was wrath with my
people. God was wrath with his people. Judah, I'm going to chasing
them. I have polluted mine inheritance
and given them into thine hand. But how did you deal with them? You were cruel. Notice, thou
didst not show them no mercy. Upon the ancient, that is old
folks like me. They didn't show any mercy for
the old or for the young, for women, for those with children. They were cruel people. God said,
I'll raise you up to chasten my people, but you've taken severe
advantage of them and show no mercy. And the third thing is
their brazen sacrilege of her king. Now, let's turn to Daniel
just a moment. Daniel chapter 5. As I said,
we all know the story of Nebuchadnezzar. But he had a son or a grandson
by the name of Belshazzar. And he was even more wicked than
his father, Nebuchadnezzar. Chapter 5. We read, Belshazzar
the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. It's
a mighty, mighty, mighty Babylon. Not some two-bit nation or kingdom. This is a superpower of the world
at that time. And Belshazzar the king made
a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before
the thousands, and Belshazzar, whilst he tasted the wine, commanded
to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar
had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes,
his wives, and his concubines might drink therein, Then they
brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple
of the house of God, which was at Jerusalem. And the king and
his princes and his wives and his concubines drank in them.
But now notice this, they drank wine. Now that was bad enough
to take those holy vessels, those vessels which had been sanctified
and set apart in the temple for the worship of Jehovah to drink
wine out of them. But that wasn't all. They drank
wine and they praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass,
of iron, of wood, and of stone. In other words, our gods, these
gods of gold and silver and wood, are greater and more powerful
than the God of Judah, the God to whom these vessels belong. They praised their God for giving
them victory over Judah. Look down to verse 22. See, Belshazzar knew what God
had done to his, I think this was his grandfather, though they
called him his father, Nebuchadnezzar, from what I've studied at least.
But Belshazzar knew this. He knew what had happened to
Nebuchadnezzar. He knew he'd been driven out
there in the woods. He said, But when his heart was
lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from
his kingly throne. And they took his glory from
him, and he was driven from the sons of men. And his heart was
made like the beast, and his dwelling was with the wild ashes. They fed him with grass like
oxen, and his body was wet. with the dew of heaven, till
he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men,
and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. Now notice
this. And thou, his son, O Belshazzar,
hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this. You knew this. You knew by demonstration
who God really is. And yet, in spite of the knowledge
which you have, you have taken these vessels, and you have drank
wine out of them, and praised the false gods of Babylon. Verse 25, and this is the writing,
remember? Big. They're having a big shindig,
aren't they? A thousand of his lords. Big
feast. Everybody's happy. Everybody's
rejoicing. Until they saw that hand, the
hand of a man, riding on the wall. And the king got scared. He got so scared his knees started
hitting one another. Mene, Mene, Tikal. You know that no one could understand,
no one could read it. And so they sought, they found
Daniel. I think the queen told him, there's
a man here in this kingdom who can read this. He's a wise man. He's a man of God. So they called
Daniel. And he gave him the interpretation,
verse 26, Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it.
It's over, buddy. It's over. The jig's up. Turn out the lights. The party's
over. Not going to be finished. It's
finished. Tinkle, thou art weighed in the
balances and art found waning. Paris, thy kingdom is divided
and given to the Medes and the Persians. And we read in Isaiah chapter
47 that this came to pass in a moment and one day. Babylon, the reason they were
so proud, I suppose, is they felt like they were self-sufficient. They had the great walls all
around the city. They had the great river Euphrates
that flowed through the river. And when Cyrus came with his
armies, the historians tell us they had 20 years of provision
in the city. There's no way, there's no way
we're going to, this city's going to fall. Just not going to happen. They were proud. They were boastful. And yes, even when they saw the
armies of Cyrus digging those ditches, their thought was they
laughed at them. Because they thought they're
going to put in a siege. They're going to lay a siege
for this city and wait us out, starve us out. But they were
confident they had plenty, as I said, for 20 years. And never before or after has
a city been taken like this city was taken that night. While they
were having that big blowout, Cyrus gave the command. And the
river Euphrates, it was changed into other channels, lowering
the river enough that his soldiers came in. There's only two ways
in and out of the city, and that was through the river. The only
way in, there was no gates. The only way in was in one of
those ships, they called them, or boats. But when he lowered
the river enough, his soldiers came in from both directions,
met in the middle, and there was those leave gates there,
brass gates there, that were supposed to be locked so no one
could get into the city. But on that particular night,
they were left unlocked. Look with me in Isaiah 45. God
told what was going to happen years before. And I know I'm taking probably
too long, but I'm almost through. Isaiah 45, thus saith the Lord
to his anointed. That's the word Messiah. It's
the only time in the Old Testament that this word is used for anyone
other than Christ. He is the Messiah, the promised
Messiah. But God raised Cyrus up for this
great work, for this purpose. Whose right hand I have holden,
Remember, this is 100 years before he's born. God's telling what's
going to happen. I have holden to subdue nations
before him, and I will loose the loins of kings. That's the
loins of Belshazzar were loose that night, knees knocking. I
will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved
gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee
and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates
of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And I will give
thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places
that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by
thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake,
and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name.
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. Cyrus
didn't know God. God named him, and he was raised
up for God's purpose. I am the Lord, and there's none
else. There's no God beside me. I girded
thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the
rising of the sun. and from the West that there
is none beside me. I am the Lord and there's none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. One other thing, back to Habakkuk,
and very briefly in this answer, If you look down to verse 14,
the answer that Habakkuk received from God, for the earth shall
be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea. I believe this scripture was
fulfilled at Pentecost and since then, the knowledge of Christ
as the Savior has filled the earth. The strong man has been
bound and no longer able, as before, to deceive the nations. He no longer has the liberty,
you read about this in Revelation 20, no longer the liberty that
he once had to deceive the nation. Here was that little nation of
Israel, among all the nations, and they alone had the gospel.
God's elect was among that nation. But since Pentecost, it's spread
all over the globe, hasn't it? He's got his people everywhere. The earth shall be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the
sea. The gospel tonight is going out
all over this world. You know, the technology that
we have, that we use here in our services and other pastors
use, they use there in Mexico, the gospel is going out all over
the world through the means of the streaming. And those who
are saved, the glory of the Lord, and it's Christ, the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord fills the earth. Well, I pray God would
bless his word to all of us here tonight.