Now back at two and three. What king of Israel died in 609 BC when he should have stayed at home and let the king of Pharaoh, King Pharaoh Necho, go on up to fight with the Babylonians? What king was that? Josiah, very good. Question number one in our outline, this Jewish girl married a Persian emperor and helped save her exiled people from extermination. Both are right, yes, Hadassah and Esther, both. What Israelite woman aided the king by killing the Canaanite captain Sisera in her tent? Jail, jail. That's the next one. Hold that thought for just a minute there, maybe. Three, what prophetess was the sister of two great leaders and was once afflicted with leprosy? Miriam, what prophetess was the sister of two great leaders and was afflicted with leprosy? Miriam is correct. Though her profession was condemned by an official decree of King Saul, the king disguised himself in order to get her to help him. Help from her. The witch of Endor. Correct. Not to be confused with the Ewoks of Endor. Not to be confused with that one. Number five, what Persian queen upset her husband, the king, by not appearing before he and his drunken friends? Vashti. Number six, David had a wife and a sister with the same name. Abigail Abigail was what we're looking for. I had to look it up myself The captain or here we go now from recent lessons the capital city of the Assyrian Empire What King of Judah died in 609 because he fought an ill-advised fight? Josiah we don't answer that one number nine these two armies or countries defeated Egypt and Syria at Carchemish You're on the right track So who fought there? Who fought right there? Babylonians and the Medes, the Medes and the Babylonian, okay? Number 10, Nebuchadnezzar, Pileser, whatever it was, and Nebuchadnezzar were kings of what empire? Babylonian. Who was taken into captivity in 605 and 597 and 586? Southern Kingdom. And what is another name for the Chaldean people? Babylonian people, very good. All right, so there we are. There's the Battle of Carchemish. That's where we are. In 609, Josiah fought a very ill-advised fight here in the Valley of Megiddo. Here we go, right here, Valley of Megiddo, very famous spot. Probably, I would say, maybe perhaps the most famous battleground in all the world, at least history-wise, historically. And it will be famous again before the world's over. He has to be famous again part of the Battle of Armageddon goes all the way down to Jerusalem in that whole area So that's gonna be that's gonna be and even in the future very much part of God's plan So we are in chapter 2 Habakkuk or Habakkuk however you want to pronounce it there. It is your discretion and I think probably 50% of the names I've pronounced wrong get to heaven, and he'll say, my name's Nahum. What would you say? Or Isaiah. I know there was an Isaiah. No, it's called Isaiah. Or Amoz. I've heard of Amos, but who's Amoz? Well, that's actually who I am. You just have mispronounced it all these years. So anyway, maybe perhaps not. Chapter two, verse two, we'll read a little while. And the Lord answered me, remember the question was, well, verse one, 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, response of God. And the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and make it plain upon tables and we 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. So he wanted to know, the first question was, why in the world, I probably don't say that now, back then, why are the Syrians, why are you allowing the Babylonians and the Syrians to run roughshod over my people? Why are you allowing these really bad guys to be up on Judah? That was his question. The Lord says, the just shall live by his faith. So he put the divine human relations on a much higher plane. What's really important, so I went to a meeting last night, a local meeting, and people have a chance to get up and air their griefs about what they don't like going on in their city. This was Greenup. And so I listened for the longest meeting I've ever been to there. Listened to all these, oh, this isn't right, and what are you gonna do about it? And I just, in the scheme of life. It's not that big of an issue. And so we've taken the things that are minor sometimes, and we've majored on the minor, and we minor on the major things, is your spiritual health. Do you know Christ as Savior? That's the number one, what comes into your mind, the first thing that comes into your mind when you think of God is the most important thing about you. Someone said, Smith, I said that, A.W. Tozer said that. What comes to your mind when you think of God, and people think, who is God? For us, it should be, He's my best friend. He's someone I talk to today. I've read his book today. Without Him, and I was talking to a lady just today about a lady, one of her in relation who has terminal, she's been put on hospice, 51 years old, and her husband's not saved. And I said, how difficult that must be for an unsaved person to see his wife going through all this and you don't have what you and I have is the understanding that God, the just shall live by faith. God is still yet in control and He still loves us. And so I say either he will come to know Christ or he'll be angry and pushed away further, most likely. So we need to pray. I need to pray for him. We need to know Christ. The emphasis really, if you look, which I have a copy of the Emphasized Bible, I forgot to bring it. But the Emphasized Bible would say, the just one shall, by his faith, shall live. So he says, and interesting, the words of contrast, not so much between faith and unbelief, but between perishing and living forever. but the just shall live by his faith." And so Habakkuk, all of these ones who are doing wrong, the roughshod, they're going to have their comeuppance, but the just shall live by faith, and we're going to live by faith with Christ forever. So just trust me. So regarding the trustworthiness of God, he is trustworthy. In the New Testament, it quotes the emphasis. There's three different emphases. It happens only three times. In Romans 1.17, the just shall live by faith. Galatians 3.11 and Hebrews 10.38. In Romans, really, it's the just shall live by faith. In Galatians, it is the just shall live by faith. And in Hebrews, it is the just shall live. So there's a little bit of emphasis, a little bit there on each one of those And so we find that God wants us, even as Habakkuk did, is to trust God. Why are all these things happening? Trust Him in that. Now, question number one, who was the German monk who read this passage and changed this religious world? Martin Luther. Martin Luther. He was seeking a plenary indulgence. Now, a plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church that removes all temporal punishment due to a sin. It can be attained under certain specific conditions, such as a state of grace, having a complete detachment from sin, or performing a certain prescribed action. So Martin Luther was going up the steps at what is called the Scala Sancta, or Pilot's Staircase, and he was on his knees, and he'd go up each step, and then he'd say so many number of prayers, he'd go up another, and when he came, and then that verse hit his mind, the just shall live by faith, and not by all these works. He got up on his feet, and walked down the steps, and left the church, and half of Europe followed him after him. The just shall live by faith. And in 1517, on the Wittenberg, whenever you pronounce German, the W is a V. I found that out in my first year of music. I pronounced Wagner as Wagner. Everybody in the whole music class made fun of me, especially the teacher. Of course, I didn't know. I was raised in McAuliffe County. Anyway, so it's vogner. I said, okay. I never made that mistake afterwards anyway in the door of wittenberg 95 theses about the bible and the just live my faith and he I wish he left the church more than he did but he left the catholic church still put took some baggage with him, but started the protestant reformation 1517 So Martin Luther was trying to earn his salvation by, are people trying to earn their salvation by works today? Oh my goodness. You'll see, especially in Hispanic countries, they'll be carrying their cross and they'll beat themselves or they'll be nailed to the cross for a couple hours and all trying to earn their, what are they trying to do with the beads, the rosary? To earn some kind of, say a thing a certain number of times? I'm thinking that's to earn points, I'm thinking. So, but, We need to understand, and we do understand, that's not what God has told us, it's by faith. A hundred times in the New Testament, by faith or by grace through faith, that's how we're saved and that's how salvation comes. So, God's righteousness on the individual plane. Secondly, God's righteousness on the international plane. And we have the wars of the Chaldeans, verse five, two fives, would there please? Yea, also because he transgresseth by wine, he is proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell and as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathers unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people. Question number two, what sin, or what notable weakness of the Babylonians did Habakkuk put his finger on? Alcoholism. He transgresses by wine. One of the things they were known for is they would not control their drinking. And so if you remember, even in Daniel chapter five, verse two, what is Belshazzar doing? have a big drunken party. And that's when they call and they bring in the cups from the temple and they start using those. And then the big hand comes on the wall and that's a history. And the Medes and the Persians come in and he is toast. Who enlarges his desire as Hades and as death and cannot be satisfied. So the wars of the Chaldeans. Secondly are the woes on page two, the woes of the Chaldeans. The woes would be severe enough and satisfied even Habakkuk. Habakkuk, the Lord, why do we say that? Hold on just a moment and turn your finger over too, please. It is chapter three, verse 18. We need to see the end. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. That's the bottom line. He's seen all these things that's been happening to his people. And yet, why are you doing this, Lord? But you know what? I'm just going to rejoice in the Lord because the Lord will take care of all these things. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Romans 19.12. I can't be 19.12. How about 12.19? Can't be 19.12. There's only 16 chapters. 12.19. So that was their woes. We see then in verse 6, we see the crimes back over in 2.6, their crimes. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting parable against him, and say, Woe to him that increases that which is not his? How long? And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay, shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee? and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for Bootes unto them, because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land of the city, and all that dwell therein." Think back for just a moment in history, how many nations have risen and had such authority and power, and they were the numero uno of all the world, and then all of a sudden they... Basically, usually it's sin. It's lack of character. It's not keeping by the stuff. And then what I think a lot of the demise of Roman culture was homosexuality. The wholesale pedophilia, the wholesale accepting of that as a lifestyle, and it's OK, and wanted, et cetera. And so you see all these cultures who have been so powerful, and then they allow A little crack here, a little crack there. Sin here, immorality here, immorality there. And before we know it, they're just part of the dust in the wind. I don't know if we're ever gonna, I don't know how long God's gonna tarry his coming. I can see America, though, a few decades from now, if we're not careful, we're gonna, may not that long even, we're gonna be part of that just has been, has been. And so I hope not, hope that we will return and get right with the Lord. That word thick clay, there has several, interpretations suggested. Some think he's referring to the ill-gotten booty that would turn out to be a mass of pledges and a burden of debt to one day to be paid. Others think the prophet was referring to the worthlessness of the treasure accumulated by the Chaldeans. Remember I told you just a couple weeks ago that the city of Nineveh had as much wealth as like the Persian Empire. So it was a hugely wealthy city that fell in 612. Regardless of interpretation, the vast treasure of Babylon was the price of blood. Verse number eight, because of men's blood and for the violence of the land of the city and all that dwell therein. God takes note of all these things. We see and people think, well, I can just sort of escape under God's radar. We can't do that. God has an excellent memory. Matter of fact, he knows it all. So all can be recalled in a moment's time with him. And so he's gonna remember all that they did. So not only their crimes, their covetousness, starting in verse nine, woe to him that covetous and evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil. that has consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and has sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." Page number two, then the second woe was punishment for the covetousness that had led to extortion and the strong commercial spirit in Babylon. Now remember Babylon came on, they had about 75 years of strength. They came in and took over the southern kingdom. They're the ones who won here, the Babylonians defeated. And then remember when Nebuchadnezzar came down and was going to attack, got down in here in the Jerusalem area, and then he heard his dad died in 605, and so he left and went back to take over. He was the crown prince then, and he came back then in 597, or for sure came back, I believe, in 586. But his nation did as the king. And so that's why you have the three different times. 605 which by the way is very important biblically because that's when Daniel was captured 597 Ezekiel time frame and then you have 586 when the fall of Jerusalem and so Babylon was involved in all those things You remember pictured all the way back in chapter 2 of Daniel He is the head of gold and so he had such a such a big footprint in the world So Babylon thinks they're going to win. They're above being judged, et cetera. They are not. So only that, the cruelty, starting in verse 12, we see their cruelty. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood and established a city by iniquity. Behold, is it not of the lords of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And now, did you notice a big jump here? A big jump. And 13, the prophecy leapt far beyond even the fall of the Babylonian Empire. Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for the very vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Won't that be a wonderful thing, when the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord? So we're looking forward to it. And by the way, I have my little board up here for some help, real briefly. We'll take just a moment. and see how you can help me here. We're going to talk about eschatological, eschatology. So, we're here. Here we are. We're very, very skinny tonight. Okay. We're very skinny. So, where are we in history? Where are we? Period of grace. All right. So, we're going to put the period of grace. What are we waiting for next? Rapture of the church, so we're gonna put the cross here. We're gonna put going up here. What happens on earth after the rapture? At least some point in time after that. Tribulation, how long is that? Seven years, okay, seven years. We're gonna put three and a half, three and a half there, three and a half there. Where are we? During tribulation, we're in heaven. What's going on in heaven? Very separate land before that probably. Before that marriage supper, what happens? Bema Seek. All right, so Bema Seek. Then we have a marriage, we put two rings there. All right, after, and we don't know, we're out of here, and then the tribulation starts after that. We're just not sure what starts the tribulation. Very important this day, considering. Pact made with Israel for seven years, correct. So, considering this is, wouldn't it be, wouldn't it be kind of fitting that on this, on May 14th, Israel Pact. Seven years, in the middle, what happens, what happens in the temple at the middle that, what you do? Sacrifices a bit, right there. So that breaks, and now he starts persecuting, and then the seven years is over, And then what happens sometime after the seven years? Yes, before that though. So I've always thought on that very last day, the tribulation, he comes back, but it doesn't say that. Immediately after the tribulation. So a day or two, three, he comes back. And that's called the what? Return of Christ, the great revelation. That's what the book of Revelation is waiting for right here. King of kings, Lord of lords, and out of his mouth goes a sword, and Armageddon happens. So here we are, and then there's a cleanup period, a grand total of 75 days after that, and then we have, what happens here after he comes back? Yes. Yes, millennial reign of Christ, that's gonna happen here on earth. Yes, if you are a historical, literal, grammatical interpreter, yes, that's happening here on earth. Matter of fact, that's what the whole Old Testament is moving toward. That's what we're moving toward. Anyway, we'll stop with that. And so at the end of the thousand years, there's one more, who has his last hurrah? Satan has his last hurrah, and what do they surround? What do his people surround? Jerusalem, correct. And what comes down? Fire comes down. Fire comes down. And right here, it doesn't say specifically the fallen angels, but Satan will be cast into the lake of fire. And I believe all the fallen angels are here to go. The ones that are already incarcerated. He's cast into the lake of fire. Who is already there notably? But he's a false prophet. So after that, we have something up here Great White Throne Judgment. Heaven and earth fade away. We're all up here. There's nowhere else for us to go, but I think in God's presence, and we're going to have the Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation chapter 20, 11 to 15. After that happens, then all unbelievers are cast into Gehenna, Lake of Fire, correct? Saddest day, perhaps, other than the crucifixion of Christ, the saddest day in all of history. And then we are going to have what? New heavens, new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Why? Isn't that exciting? God has it all planned out and mapped out for us, and so it says right here, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Won't that be amazing? I think it could be right here. That could be right here. If you want to see it, it's all the way over here. But I think in reference to the millennial reign of Christ, when he rules and reigns from Jerusalem, There's even going to be sacrifices again. Read it for yourself. In Ezekiel, the last few chapters there, they're going to be offering sacrifices. But now once we hit the new earth, how do we know the sacrificial system has to be here? Because here there's no more death. No more death once you get to here. So I think death and matter of fact, the Bible says death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. So I think that death. So once we get to right here, it'll be. Eternity. Without sin, we'll have no more sin. Everybody will be sinless. Won't that be amazing? That'll be a wonderful thing. Habakkuk sees some of that. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge and the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the earth. So it goes well beyond the context there of Habakkuk seeing. They're carousing in 15. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink that putteth hit thy bottle to him and maketh him drunken also that thou mayest look on their nakedness. Thou art filled with shame for glory drink thou also. Shame for glory. Drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and the shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. Shameful spewing. What happens to those who are inebriated a lot? They vomit. Shameful spewing. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts which made them afraid because of men's blood, for the violence of the land, and of the cry, and of all that dwell therein. So the Lord's case against Babylon was of violence, not just against men, but against the forest of Lebanon. Evidently, Nebuchadnezzar saw those huge cedar trees, from what we understand historically, and cut a lot of them down and sent them back over to Babylon. Do you remember that he's one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the hanging gardens of Babylon? That's Nebuchadnezzar. So he shipped a lot of things over to here, all the way from way over here in Lebanon, all the way over to here. That was a long trip. Wow. Anyway, he destroyed a lot of the forests. By the way, alcohol still plays a huge role in the demise of people today. Approximately 10.5 percent, 7.5 million U.S. children 17 years or younger live with a parent who has alcohol use disorder. According to a 2017 report, in 2017, 178,000 deaths were related shortening lives by the average of 24 years alcohol-related deaths in America. And that is a total of loss of 4 million years of potential life in one year alone due to excessive use of alcohol, still today. The cults, not only that, they're cults. In verse 18, what profit the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it, the molten image and the teacher of lies that the maker of this work trustest therein to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, wake! To the dumb stone arise, it shall teach. Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the Lord is in his holy temple, that all the earth keep silence before him. You recognize that verse? He is. It's so sad. I remember seeing it when I went to India in 2005, how the untouchables will actually find cow manure and they'll reach down and they'll grab it and they'll put it in. Actually, they use their left hand. Is that right? They use their right hand. Anyway, you can only shake them with one hand. Anyway, it must be the right hand. They put it in there. So you never shake the right hand of an Indian untouchable. So that was just a hygiene thing. And then they'll take it to their house, and they'll spread it on the side of the front of their house, and it's green, it's that lime-green cow manure, and they think because it's a sacred thing, but that's what they're steeped, the cow's sacred in it, so they're steeped in that. And I put it in this pouch, and they come along, We are blessed to have heard the freedom in Christ and to hear the true message of the true holy God that created us all. All right, we'll just let you do a lot, probably a lot on your own. The last chapter, you can take your lesson home. We find that faith surrenders. He does this last chapter. He must have been a musician on a stringed instrument. Faith surrenders. Oh Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, verse two, make known, I love this, in wrath, remember mercy. I pray that for America, should we not in wrath remember, and he has been merciful. I think he's been remembering mercy for quite some time with our country. So it's surrendered. Now there are three, I like this three, on page three, there's three alternatives loom ahead for America today. Three R's, can you guess what they are? Are you ruin or revival or rapture? Page three, question three. What three alternatives loom for us today? Ruin, revival, or rapture? I thought those were pretty succinct. So faith surrenders, faith sees. In verse three to five, we find there in verse four, and his brightness was as the light, and had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power before him with the pestilence and the burning coals went forth at his feet. He's gone again far beyond the immediate context to when the Lord comes back and the tribulation time when the Lord takes such Vengeance upon the earth for their rejection of him. We see the Lord's power in 6-9. There's the rending of the world. He stood and measured, verse 6, the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, and the perpetual hills did bow. His ways were everlasting. I saw the tents of Gushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Habakkuk saw all these things. Writing the waves in verse eight, writing the waves, while the Lord displeased against the rivers, remembering the word in verse nine, thy bow was made quite naked according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word Selah. Selah, an interesting, a pause, a musical pause, or there, what do you think of that? That's what John Phillips says, there, what do you think of that? remembering the word, remembering the Lord's progress, and also, and the nature trembled in 3, 9 to 11. Thus cleave the earth with rivers, the mountains saw thee, and they trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered his voice and lifted up his hands on high." Can you imagine how we see people, if you've ever lived through an earthquake, and they might live through an earthquake very much, I think it'd be very frightening. And so people get frightened, they start screaming. Can you imagine during a tribulation time when the Lord's doing all these hugely things unto the earth, how they're going to be convulsing? And you would think they would surrender, but of course, as the Bible says, they won't. Nations trembled. Thou didst march, verse 12, through the land in indignation. Thou didst stress the heathen in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation thine anointed. Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation into the neck. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages. They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses through the heap of the great waters. I'm telling you, our God is the one who hath formed everything. and he will be in control. Those who have hatred against the Jewish people, look out, our God will take care of you. And on a beautiful verses to close, faith soars. Verse 16, when I heard, now this is the aftermath. When I heard my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, and their field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no more herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places to the chief singer on my stringed instruments. What an ending. All these terrible things, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. That's us. all your difficulties, I think the first moment in heaven, I will rejoice in the Lord." Jesus led me all the way, right? That's what we can say. Jesus led me all the way. Let's pray together. Help us, Lord, as we think about this prophetic text. Lord, you've got this all planned out. You will be done help us to serve you whatever you called us to do or in the small way a large way Help us to be willing to bloom where we've been planted and maybe use us you would use us for your glory Until you see fit to come back for your church Or take us home to be with you in Jesus name. I pray a man