Okay, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. We are in Habakkuk chapter 1. I was planning on going through Habakkuk's entire second complaint tonight. We'll read through it, but we're only going to get really through chapter 1, verse 12 and build on that. But Habakkuk is in a situation where his culture his culture is corrupt and being a a righteous man a prophet of a holy god he recognizes this culture is is bad any he's asking as you know in the beginning you know lord how long is it going to be that i've got a stare at this culture that is rebellion if we get if we put this update this book at you know six oh six we get five eighty six is the destruction of jerusalem of six oh six that would make it you know twenty years we're in the last twenty years of Judah's culture before they're overthrown by the Babylonians, which again places this book at a very nice time if we're considering that we may be in the last 20 years of our culture. Again, that's speculation. That's just kind of what we're looking at. But I think as we looked at that, we can see his culture is similar to ours. at least the reports we hear again i'm i'm having a good time in my world right now everything's good but you see things swirling around i mean things could change overnight uh... i mean perl i know some people have gone through some struggles uh... and it could just creep throughout the whole culture it says in chapter one verse three why do you make me look at injustice Why do you tolerate wrong, destruction, and violence? There's the word hamas, are before me. There is strife and conflict, abounds, meaning there's arguments. People are not getting along, if it be with businesses, if it be, you know, interrelationships. Their strife and conflict abounds, therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevail." So there's so much tension that they can't get anything through the court system in a fair sense. There's no justice. It's paralyzed. And so, because of that, the wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is perverted. So there's, in the society, it's not just people doing bad things, it's corrupt throughout. If it be the politics, if it be the court systems, if it be whatever area we could throw in there in our culture, you know, education and the academics and just every, the media. And they had similar things like that. It's all corrupt and there's no justice. And so he's crying out to God about this. And so he is a mere man, can identify the corruption in society, and he knows the holy God they're serving needs to fix this. And so he's crying out to God for help in this situation. And God then replies, as we know, look in chapter one verse five, look at the nations and watch. Now God's going to take this right here right away. He's going to take this bigger than just Judah. He's looking at His target, which is the nations. It's the entire world. It's history. God is using history. He's looking for the nations. Remember, the entire reason there is even a culture of Judah is so that the nations can be saved. You cannot, and this is again something we slip into, even the church can slip into this, you know. The reason God called Israel was to reach the nations. The reason God formed the church, again we can say it was to renew the saints' minds, that we think like God, but it was to bring them together so they could be empowered so they might reach the nations. Jesus' last command was very similar to what He intended to Abraham, was go into all the nations. Go! But to do that, you're going to have to be strengthened by the church itself so that you're not just getting saved and going to heaven and the world's going to hell. No, you're getting saved, renewing your mind, being empowered so that you can function in God's plan and reach the nations. in the capacity of the church. So God takes him right away, takes his eyes off of this little situation as Israel, which he is going to deal with. He's going to bring judgment. And he says, look at the nations and watch. You know, almost lift up your eyes, see something broader, similar to what Jesus says in John 4. Lift up your eyes, and the fields are white for harvest, and be utterly amazed. I'm going to do something in your days that if you if you would not that you would not believe even if you were told and he says i've got an answer but i'm gonna tell you what it is the answer is babylon the babylonians are going to solve this problem the babylonians are being raised up and they're going to come in and they're going to fix this evil now the problem is going to be as you know that a back is going to point it out These are God's chosen people. They've got the temple, they've got the priesthood, they've got the law, they've got the Davidic lineage that's going to produce the Messiah. Even Micah 5 talks about one from the ancient days is going to come through the line of David and be born in Bethlehem and will be a righteous king. So this culture is important. but yet there they've gone bad they've got some problems they need correction so he says help we need to fix this got this i'm raising up the babylonians now the babylonians aren't even on the chart for righteousness they're they're they're they're they're destroying the assyrians at this time as we've talked about coming across the map from men about a hair and at the car commission other did their they're just routing the assyrians in a series in the death throes right here as the Babylonians are coming in. But the Assyrians were very wicked. They would skin people alive, they would chain people, put hooks in their jaw. Even King Manasseh had a hook put in his jaw and was taken to Babylon by the Assyrians who ruled Babylon at the time. But now the Babylonians are so ruthless that they've got the Assyrians on the run. So no matter how wicked and cruel the Assyrians, they would stack up skulls. I don't know what we've got here. Yeah, we've got guys on poles right here where they'd impale people. They'd just put them up there and let them I'd be on a pole going through their body while they died. They've got piles of heads right here with the guys, the soldiers are carrying the heads because they got rewards. Every head they cut off, they'd get rewards for it. So they'd just decapitate people in the battles, turn in the head, a big pile of heads. Sometimes they'd stack the heads up like a totem pole on stakes outside the cities they were destroying. So that was the Assyrians. They're being routed now by the Babylonians and they're being raised up. So These are the chosen people of God with a purpose, but they've got a bad culture. They're unjust. The prophet rightfully is calling out, we need to fix this. God says, I am. I mean, you won't believe what I'm going to do. I'm going to bring the Babylonians in to fix this. I'm going to take this bad culture and fix it by running, overrunning it with a totally evil culture, if you want to say it that way. And these are words, you could get theological with those. But basically, the Babylonians are a godless people. And Habakkuk doesn't say, God, don't you know there's other things we could do? God goes in and describes it for them. He says, verse 6, I'm raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetus people who sweep across the whole earth and seas dwelling places without their own. They are a feared and dreaded people. They are a law to themselves. Remember we talked up there in verses 2, 3, and 4, Habakkuk was complaining that no one's following the law. It's lawlessness. We need to get law established. Well, we're bringing in a people who don't even have a law. They don't even recognize your law. They're a law. Whatever they decide to do, let's make that the law. It's not illegal. Let's do it. They're lawless. They're a law to themselves and promote their own honor. Their horses are... And again, that's their character. But then in verse 8, He's also provided, God says, I've also provided them with the military strength. It's like, you know, we don't want Iran to get nuclear weapons. God says, well, you know what? I'm going to give them nuclear weapons. It's like, what? Why would God do that? I mean, that's what they're doing right here. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than the wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong. Their horsemen come from afar, meaning they're coming from down there in Babylon, coming up the Tigris, across the Euphrates, and they're coming across. They're going to go all the way into Egypt. It's like, they get on their horses and they just keep going. I mean, nothing will stop. They've got the best equipment. their horsemen come from afar, they fly like a vulture swooping to devour, they all come bent on Hamas." Habakkuk is complaining about Hamas in his culture. God says, I have equipped these guys with military weapons, with military force, and they're coming to your city and they're bringing Hamas to judge your Hamas. It's like, And Habakkuk is like, whoa, and he's struggling with this. Because these people should not even be in existence. They should have already been judged and done away with in the history of the world, and God should be focused on the people of Israel, the chosen people that have the law. And these people are just in rebellion constantly towards God, pagans. their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand." Now they've got a bad attitude, an evil attitude, they've got vicious military equipment, and now they're approaching people and here's how they treat people. They advance like a desert and gather prisoners like sand. If you count the grains of sand or pick up a handful of sand, you don't even recognize the individual pieces. There's just a handful of sand. That's how they treat people. They gather people like sand, like an inanimate object, just put the sand over there in a pile. That's how they're doing to people. They deride kings. People are like sand, but now the higher-ups of all these nations, the kings, the rulers, they deride them, they scoff at them. They laugh at the fortified cities because there's nothing you can do to stop them. And they know it. We've got the nuclear weapons, and you've got a walled city. We'll just blow it away. Again, they don't have nuclear weapons. I'm using that as a figure of speech. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on. It's like they lay your city waste, destroy it. Your lives are ruined. Your people are dead. And they're like, let's go somewhere else and do it again. And they move on. Guilty men whose own strength is their God. So at the end, it's like, well, are they good? Are they bad? Are you refining them? No, they're flat out guilty. They're evil and they're guilty, but I'm going to use them. And then God stops. And that's where we now, now Habakkuk has to respond to that. He had a problem. He had originally an evil culture he was living in, and they were bad. He says, we need to fix that. God says, well... I am. I'm doing something right now. I'm raising up the Babylonians, and if you haven't noticed, they are godless. They are a law unto themselves. They're gonna bring Hamas to your city, and when they're done, they're gonna march right on past and go destroy something else. These are vicious people, and they are as godless as they come. Now, back is like, whoa. So now, where's God at in this whole thing? God's not over here protecting. He's over here. The Lord, God, is down here and He's now pushing the Babylonians on His people. And so the problem is, and we see it all the time, I mean it's in our world, it's in our lives, it's like God now is Apparently on the side of evil. This is one of the great apologetic questions against Christians if there is a God Why is there still evil in the world and there's an answer for that but some atheists? Some people that are anti-christian that that ends the arguments like well look if you've got a good God and God is all that is he's all powerful if I was God I would just get rid of all the evil and fix everything but Obviously, I'm better than God. Well, Habakkuk's almost got that idea. Here's a bad culture, God. When are you going to fix it? God says, I'm going to fix it. Oh, good. You're on our side. Well, not really, because I'm going to use the Babylonians to fix this. It's like, well, you're not going to destroy the Babylonians? No, I'm going to use the Babylonians to move my plan forward. At least you can see God is going to use evil to move his plan forward. Now that right there is, I mean, you've got to wrap your mind around that. You don't have to accept it. But God is going to use evil to move His plan forward. And it's going to come up deeper in this book right here. He's actually, in a sense, aligned with evil right here to accomplish His purpose. And then we come up with this, just real quickly, this diagram. And you can see this if you're willing to admit it. And again, this is one of those areas where you vary, it's like defining the Trinity. Once you start verbalizing what the Trinity is, you do it and get off the subject because the more you talk about it, the closer you get into heresy because you can't take human words and logic and explain something that is outside of our human existence like the Trinity. It's true, it's real. But the same thing right here is if you have a a sovereign God, let's just put the Lord right here and the Lord is over all Things he's he's the Lord of all it's not it's not we're not in Star Wars. We don't have Jesus the light first thing the force of darkness and we've got this dualism going on this is not christianity some people some christians i mean it's natural to think this way there's the forces of good and of the forces of evil and they're battling it out and we're just on the side of good and ultimately good will always win that's dualism this is not what's going on i mean in a sense But above this whole thing is the Lord, or God Himself, who is Lord over all. And we can see this. I mean, right now my mind is rushing with examples. I've got a simple example. Jesus is ministering, casting out demons, and He's talking to the demons. He's not like cursing at them and fighting them and using the sword of His mouth to slay them. He says, what's your name? How many are there? And they go, can we go into the pigs? It's like, I'm the Lord here. I'll tell you what to do. He goes, the pigs? They don't, please don't send us to the abyss. Can we go? He's negotiating with the demons. It's like, well, that's not what's happening. Well, okay. If he wanted to get rid of these demons, he could just zap the demons, but instead he talks to them. What's your name? How many are there? We're legion. He said, well, you know, the pigs. They didn't say, you know, I'm going to send you the pigs. I hate you so much, I'm going to send you the pigs. No, they're afraid of being sent to the abyss, which means He has the power to send them to the abyss. Lock them up until some other time in future when in the book of Revelations the abyss is unlocked and a bunch of locusts come out like smoke, which apparently, I would at least suggest, is the demons that have been locked up in history being released on humanity. which is in the end times, which is something we're staring down at potentially. But nonetheless, he allows them to go to the pigs. And then, of course, you got that story. So the Lord when he has a a consul will just say a consul c o u n c i l that's a tough word for me to spell sat right uh... it would win it's time for a have to go to his death it says all the all the angels came to him and we talk about angels the the the christian mind thinks right away of good angels but angels are a class they're they're a group their species if you would there there are created order and the angels are in two groups There are the righteous angels. and apparently made a decision. Now this eludes human understanding too. When did this take place? How did it take place? And then there are angels who are in... They're Satan's angels. They sided with Satan's angels. They're with him. They are in rebellion. But they are all angels. So when it says the angels appeared, it doesn't just mean the righteous angels came because these angels over here, they do whatever they want. well now you're back to dualism they don't do whatever they want because they're under the leadership of the Lord. He is sovereign over all. You saw the angels, you can see it in Peter's writings, in Jude's writings, the angels that in Noah's day, we go back to the story of Genesis 6, they were locked up in everlasting chains of darkness because they left their place of authority. They have places, they have slots. The angels, you can see this throughout the Bible, angels have places that they've been assigned to. There's not just, again, this is me talking about spiritual things. I've never been there. But it's not like there's just this big pool of these things called angels, like the kitty cats. It's like, here's another cat. It's not like, well, they're all the same. No, you start looking at the angels. Even Gabriel and Michael are two different types of angels. Michael is a warrior angel. He's an archangel. He's the head of Israel, or the Israelite people, the nation. Gabriel is a messenger angel. You see him bringing messages to Daniel. He's reading from texts from the books in heaven. He brings a message to Mary. He brings a message to Zachariah. He's the one that's bringing messages. Michael, in fact, in Daniel, if we would have kept reading last night, Gabriel's trying to bring a message but Michael had to come fight to get him through because I've got the message But I need some backup here backup and Michael comes in and somehow fights against the Prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece Who are the Prince of Persian Prince of Greece? They're not Alexander and and Cyrus they're over here there are some kind of angels over here that were given slots or positions of authority and Just like Gabriel and Michael were these some of them split off and we've got this group over here that are using their place of Authority to come against the Lord's plan Satan was some kind of a chair of at some point if we read Ezekiel and put things together there He was a he's a fallen angel You've got that one verse that says, in Revelations, the dragon swept a third of the stars out of the heavens. And that's where we get the theology that a third of the angels went with Satan in this rebellion. That's it. I mean, the statement is something like this, and the dragon swept a third of the stars out of the sky. Something to that effect. or his tail did. And it's like, we get from that the doctrine that one-third of the angels sided with Satan. That's the only place you get that. I mean, I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying when you go to defend that statement, a third of the angels went with Satan, your text is, in Revelation, a dragon taking out a third of the stars. Again, I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying it's not explicit. you've got better evidence you've got better evidence in genesis chapter six of angels the sons of god cohabiting with women and producing children with them that's more explicit in genesis six that a third of the angels were swept out of the they were decided was saying I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying if you can accept a third of the angels went with Satan, you could surely accept the fact that the sons of God went to the daughters of men and produced the heroes of old, the Nephilim. It's like, well, that's kind of weird. I mean, this whole thing is weird. I mean, this whole thing. I mean, you get into it, it's like, holy smoke. I mean, you're with me on all this? I mean, we're talking about things I don't even understand. So yeah, why am I talking? I don't know, I just started a Bible study. Okay, so you've got these groups right here. When it comes time for Ahab to die, and God has pronounced judgment on Ahab through Elijah, it says, he called all the angels. Now, when he calls all the angels, that is in Job, that's the sons of God, and then it's just translated angels, it's the sons of God in the Hebrew, that's what it says. Ben Eli, Elohim, something like this. It's the same word that is used in Genesis for the sons of God went to the daughters of men. But there, they won't translate it angels, because that's too weird, so they just leave it sons of God. But in Job, when it says the same exact phrase, the sons of God were called, appeared before the Lord, they translate it angels. And they're talking angels here because it also says, and Satan also went. So when he calls, when the Lord calls a consul, an angelic consul, that we see in the Scriptures, it talks about him, in Psalms it talks about him sitting above the consul, the heavenly consul. That's the angelic. Now if every angel is there, Maybe the representatives are there. I mean, again, now we're into there's a hierarchy, the rulers and authorities, principles and powers. I can't imagine ever. And then our demons. Demons are demons, angels. I'm going to suggest, and I have before, the demons aren't angels. They're something. They're another whole group of beings. But nonetheless, when he has a consul, They all come. He gives them orders. Now, if they don't follow or they get permission, Ahab, let me tell the story. Ahab was going to his death. He calls. He says, how will Ahab die? It says, one suggested this, another suggested this. Finally, a spirit says, angel, I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. And the Lord says, hmm. Just like the Lord says to the demons, we want to go to the pigs. He says, hmm. Sure, I'll let you go to the pigs because the pigs weren't even supposed to be in Israel. They're illegal. And the same thing, I'll go and be a lying spirit in the mouths of his prophets. Oh yeah, he has. He has surrounded himself with false prophets of false gods. I can't stop that. That will work. You get to do what you want to do and it fits into my plan. You can go and lie to him about being successful in battle go, you'll be successful. And so the demon went and spoke to Ahab through a false prophet and told him all the great things that happened in battle. He goes off to battle, gets shot in the back, dies. A random shot, a random arrow. Someone just like, he was just in his chariot and just an arrow came out of nowhere and pierced his armor. It's like, where'd that come from? Well, we got some big things happening up here that we don't even understand. So, now if an angel over here, now I'm going to push this, if an angel over here decides, I'm not going to show up for the council, or I know I've got permission to do this, but I'm going to go over here and I'm going to sleep with the women, and have children by them, you have lost your place, you have left your place of authority. You were created for this, or this, or this. You were not created or given permission to go, in Genesis 6, and create these beings. So they are locked up in everlasting chains of darkness in Tartarus, which is the deepest of the bottomless pits in Greek mythology, and it's in the Scriptures. Which means when the lid is lifted off the abyss in Revelations and all the locusts and demons come out that have been locked up there when they were sent, they're released back into history. These angels are not going to be able to come out because they're in the deepest of the bottomless pits, locked up with everlasting chains of darkness. They're never getting out. I'm putting the stories together here. So that's what that means. They're removed from history. So these angels are working with Satan in rebellion, but they're also under the Lord's jurisdiction. And do not think for a moment there's peace over here. There's peace and cooperation over here under the Lord. In Satan's kingdom, I think Jesus pretty much pulled the cover off when he says, If Satan is coming against Satan, then Satan's house is divided, and it will not stand. Meaning, there's infighting in the kingdom of Satan, and that's what we have, we call, he asks them, he says, to the people that came against Jesus for casting out demons, he says, talk to the priest, he says, how do your sons do it then? And what they are doing is practicing exorcism, where it's actually a mystical thing, where you come over here and you start appealing to and manipulating demons or angels. And one angel, Jesus even says it, when a demon is driven out, it goes away. It finds seven stronger and comes back and reoccupies its house, and the house is worse than it was in the first place. So in other words, there's cooperation, but demons can drive each other out. And so there is, that's what exorcism is. Exorcism is not going to God. It's going over here. It's a form of sorcery. It's a form of mysticism. It's a form of demonism. And if you want to get into this, the person can go over there. I mean, that's what's scary about our culture right now, is we are abandoning truth And we wanted to be secular humanists, and you notice what's happening. The secular humanism is becoming political, no longer wanting to be scientific. If you want to be scientific and you want to do experiments and find out what God's green earth is like, you're going to find truth, you're going to find reality, and behind all that is going to be the Creator God. But if you go off there with a preconceived idea, and this is what we're going to find, this is what we want to use, and you find something you don't like because it proves your idea wrong... You're going to cover that up and promote your politics. And you're going to begin now using the claim of science, but you've gone right back to the dark ages. You've gone right back to the pre-scientific age. Because science is here, but you're over here running a political program or your own ideologies instead of actually following the science. Of course, we're following the science. So are the alchemists of the Middle Ages. We're following the science. But it wasn't science, it was magic, it was myth, it was things they thought were true. And when you get into there and you start dabbling in that, you're gonna end up in sorcery. And when our nation hits sorcery, and this is unleashed and we no longer have a protection, that's gonna be things we've never seen. Nonetheless, okay, the Lord is over all of this. we've established the fact that he is not intimidated by these things if you want one more and all he had called the council and all the angels came and saying also came job chapter one and two and he says to still lord it's y'all way in the text says the same have you considered my servant Job?" Now there's no discipline going on here. God is just using Job to prove his case that he is the righteous God and people who understand the knowledge of the Lord, who understand the truth, will commit to him and will follow him. And when things get confusing, they will level off and continue to hold to the truth they do understand as they navigate through the stuff that they do not understand. Because remember the book of Job at the end, the last chapter, God doesn't pull the curtain back and say, Job, here's what actually happened. The end of the book is you don't know what happened. You're never going to know what happened. You've got one choice. Are you going to trust me or are you going to come against me? And Job said, I really, I just, I want this to be treated fair. He says, do you think I'm not treating you fair? Well, things aren't going the way I want them to go. I'm losing everything. He says, are you accusing me? And finally God says, will you tell me? Ask him all these questions. Finally Job says, I cover my mouth. It's like, you know those things. Right. God knows the big picture. He knows the history. He knows the plan. You don't understand. You know this much. The things revealed belong to us and to our children. Learn them. Meditate on them. Don't lose sight of them. But understand, that's not everything. There's this whole deeper area of things that you're never going to know. You're never going to understand. You've got enough to know there is the Lord. And we can spend days, months, decades, centuries teaching, revealing the truth of the word of the Lord. But there's also things that have never been revealed. You're never going to know them. But sometimes those things are going to come up in your life and you're going to have to retreat to this place of faith, not ignorance, not blind faith, but solid, absolute anchor to your soul faith to be able to manage and navigate your way through things that you can understand. And God has no intention of revealing it to you. And that becomes a scary place, that's where Job was. But again, you remember the story, he asked Job, or he asked, the Lord asked Satan, have you considered my servant Job? And then he allows him to do a series of things, if it'd be his property, if it'd be his family, if it'd be his health. He says, just don't kill him. At first, he says, don't touch the man. And he lost everything. And God says, well, he says, Job's holding up pretty solid. He's got faith. He's confident of me. Yeah, Saint says, skin for skin. He says, a man will give up everything, including his family, as long as he is all right. God says, okay, you've pushed me. You can strike his flesh, but spare his life. All right, I'll break him this time. What? I mean, right there, it's like, what the heck? Is that a children's story? Let's have a little prayer time while I read the book of Job to the children before they go to bed. Do you love Jesus? I love Jesus. Well, he just might hand you over to Satan to see how strong you are. It's like, I don't want to be a Christian. I don't want to. I mean, it's crazy stuff. But it's in the Bible. It may be the oldest book in the Bible. It may be the first thing actually collected and written down. And that's another whole story. Anyway, God is not afraid of using Satan. They're evil. They've got a plan to come against God. But the Lord is the great strategist. Like I've said before, it's like someone using their martial arts or something. You use their weight against them. Satan comes against the Lord. and everything just recoils back on Saint and it pushes God forward in his plan. That is what's happening in history. God's going from point A to point B, a point Alpha to Omega, and he's going through this right here. Saint decided to rebel against him. And again, if I or Habakkuk were God, then once Saint rebels, you're gone. You put him in the lake of fire. But God allows Satan on the earth to continue. He allows Satan to have forces. He allows the rulers and authorities in heavenly places that work their plan and they're working against the Lord. They schemed against Jesus Christ. It's not like Jesus Christ couldn't stop it. He knew their scheming against Him would do this right here. Take the ball and just move it further towards the goal line. God is going from Alpha to Omega. The ball is here. The ball is here. Satan's going to attack. Oh, he's going to attack. He's going to stop God's plan. And when it's all said and done, he just moved the ball here. And it's that way history is working. Satan is in rebellion, but everything Satan does is under the Lord's authority. And if they get out of bounds, They will be removed from history. Angels locked up in everlasting chains of darkness. The demons, don't send us to the abyss. You've come before your time. Don't send us to the abyss. Send us to the pigs. All right, I'll send you to the pigs. So they've got to stay within their realm of authority, but they are allowed, God is allowing them to rebel against him. Apparently, God allowed Jesus or Jesus chose Judas because judas was going to side with saint in and be trade jesus and move the ball further down he ends up on the cross and the president were in the church age thank you judas for doing the evil will judas pays the price saint is going all to lose but you can't come against the lord god is not afraid of these things now how back it is struggling with this concept i'll stop does anybody want to say something here i mean i mean it's like Even if you don't agree exactly with it or I stumble through it, you understand. Would you say, again, you don't have to, if you totally disagree and you're going to call me a heretic, I mean, that's fine. But is it generally, I mean, if you had to explain it differently, I would say it different, but is it generally the model you end up with? I mean, is that what you think? It's got to be something like that. It's not, okay, I will tell you, it's something like that, and we can make adjustments, maybe say it better, maybe use some clearer Bible verses, but I can tell you, I can tell you heresy right here. This is heresy. right here. Jesus, Satan, and it's a dualism. It's like we don't know who's going to win. They're both equal. No, they're not both. Someone is Lord, and when you're Lord, you're in charge. Even Satan's in rebellion, but you're in rebellion, but you're still under God's thumb. Another thing is this. It's not the Lord, and then in the end, here's Jesus, and hears Satan, and they're going to struggle back and forth through history and eventually everybody just works up right here and everybody's in heaven. It's like, well no, that's universalism. No, this is going to be sent away, locked up, sent to the eternal lake of fire. There's going to be winners and there's going to be losers. Darkness is going to lose. It's not universalism. So that would be another, what I would say, heresy. So this would be wrong. Dualism would be wrong. Somehow you've got to put the Lord on top and then you've got to explain the fact that somehow the saint is over here running rampant in the earth. Even Peter says, he goes around the earth seeking whom he may devour. It's like, well what if I was God, I would put a stop to it. right, but God is looking at something much bigger. He sees things from the divine perspective, and I don't see that. God is going. He's using history. We're in a process. If God could create the world in six days, six 24-hour days, why couldn't just the seventh day just be salvation? Why can't we just, there's all the people, we're all in paradise, it's like, don't screw it up, cut down the tree with the fruit, and okay, we're good to go. That sounds like a better plan than all the chaos we've got throughout human history. For some reason, again, You could speculate, and it's a fun philosophical conversation, but you really at the end don't know. God could create the world in six days, but he can't bring in everlasting righteousness until the time of the end. Now, is he just bored in heaven? Just like, I want to watch this play out. I mean, well, you gotta let all the people be born. Well, you can produce, you know, cells can reproduce, you know, every moment. So, I mean, surely He could have come up with a plan where all the people are just, all are here within a week, at least, you know, on the Sabbath. They all get born on the Sabbath, and by Monday, we're in eternity. So, somehow, God's going from Alpha to Omega, and He's using history. He's using the nations, and He's got Satan involved in this, and that leads us back to this idea here. where Habakkuk's at. And Habakkuk wants, Habakkuk sees Judah is, we'll just say, Hamas. They're violent. And Habakkuk wants holiness restored to Judah and the Hamas judged. So he goes to the Lord and says, Lord, You are the righteous God. Get rid of this. And the Lord says, Yes. I am doing that. I'm down here and I'm bringing in total evil. The Babylonians are coming and are going to destroy this, but when they destroy that, to do that, they're gonna overrun Judah and completely run him in the ground. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought you were up here, Lord, but now you're down here with evil and now you're bringing evil up here to destroy your own people. I told you you wouldn't believe it if I told you. And so that's where we come right here. And he doesn't give them any benefit. It's not like, well, they're ignorant. They don't really know what they're doing. I'm going to give them time. He says, no, I mean, they're totally confident. They're totally bent on Hamas. I've actually allowed them to develop a military that can drive out the Assyrians. And when they come, they're going to destroy people like it's sand and not even think about it. When they're done, they'll move somewhere else. and do something else. They're totally guilty. He ends it. They are guilty men whose strength is their God. You can't describe them any other way. They've completely rejected the Lord. They're totally guilty and they put all the praise on themselves. That's the team I'm using right now. That's the team I'm betting on. It's like, What's that? Well, that's exactly what he's doing with Satan or what he did with Ahab or all the way through. It's like nothing can stop this. Here's the scary part. If you want to rebel against the Lord as a nation or in your own life, God can unleash evil and lead it right to your doorstep. And it's like evil will be punished. There's going to be punishment for the criminals and all the evil. But if you want to go against God, well, that's what Jesus a lot of times would drive out a demon and then tell the person, sin no more. It's like you got in this mess because of, well, you know what? So don't go there anymore. Okay, here we go. So anyway, Habakkuk just had that dropped on him. God's bringing the Babylonians. So now Habakkuk's got a bigger problem. It's not just his culture's evil. His culture's going to be burnt to the ground, sent into exile with Babylon. Now, he may not know all the details, but he does. He's going to tell you how violent they are. He knows. He's seen these images, or he knows these people. Hezekiah, face the Assyrians. They know this Assyrian culture. And there's a greater force coming from Babylon that's driving out these wicked Assyrians that would put hooks in people. They'd put people in hooks and chains and take them into captivity. They would cut their heads off. They'd skin them alive while they screamed. They would gouge out people's eyes. Whatever they wanted. Or they could put them in forced labor. So they were terrible. Now the Babylonians, they've got them on the run. And the Babylonians are sweeping through with their horses and their military. And God says, Habakkuk, I'm going to solve this problem and just destroy your people. Okay, so here we go. Chapter 1, verse 12. This is Habakkuk responding. O Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. Now, here's what he said. O Lord," now again, you can see the Hebrew up there, "...are not you from everlasting? Yahweh my God, my Holy One." In the Hebrew that's how it's written there, you can see it. But he's definitely saying, you're everlasting. Which is the idea, everlasting, is not only is he never going to go away and he's always present, is he's had a plan not even from the beginning. He's had a plan that's everlasting. What is happening right here in 608 or 606 BC is not God saying, oh my gosh, okay, quick, Michael, Gabriel, and what are we gonna do? Let's think, let's think, let's think. I mean, what is unfolding here is this plan that's coming down. So he says, Lord, or Lord, now he says three things. Lord, God, and Holy One. Yahweh, my God, Elohim, Holy One. Those are all correct titles. Aren't you from everlasting? Meaning I know, I know, you've known this from the beginning. I mean this is not, he's just saying, okay, I understand. I think what we got in chapter 1 verse 12 is basically Habakkuk reciting back to God his understanding of the plan. Okay, you're everlasting, you've got an everlasting plan, you're the Lord, you're my God, and you're the Holy One. Now this is going to come up later. Holy One. This is what he's gonna choke on right here. The Holy One, the Holy One is with the Babylonians. It's like, okay, okay, I'm with you. But he's gonna say, now let's go back to this. And this is coming up later in these verses. It's like, but how, how can you be here? It's like, if I was here, I would be in trouble. I would be guilty. How then can you come over here and be on this side? That's not just a fair question. That's a good question that everyone asks. You look at the corruption in the world today. There are some things I don't even want to mention that you know that's going on in the world. It just breaks your heart. All you do is pray and ask God to do something. This is so terrible. This is so evil that these things are happening in the earth right now today. And Habakkuk is seeing God say, well, let's read. Oh my Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, now he says, we will not die. And when he says we will not die, that's Israel. Because now he's got I mean, again, we're talking from the position of a prophet for the covenant people of God. He's not illiterate, he's not ignorant of the Word of God, the covenant of God. You've got Abraham, you've got Moses, you've got David, so you've got the promise, you've got the Sinai covenant, you've got the lineage of David, you've got the promised Messiah. It's like, okay, you're from everlasting, you've got a plan, And I know in that plan, we don't die. Israel cannot die. And that's what keeps Israel going. We know Israel, there's people that say Israel's got to pass away, the church replaced Israel. But this is a flat-out statement by Habakkuk. We, the nation of Israel, We will not die. Now again, he doesn't understand. He's looking, I mean, there are just a hundred years away, if you go 720, 722, the Northern Kingdom. was gone. Assyria shipped out the northern kingdom. Now, Judah came back from the Babylonian captivity. The Assyrian captivity, as you've read in the prophets, that took place and they've never recovered. They've never come back from this dispersion. Now, they will. Hosea and the prophets in the north promised there'll be a gathering of you back together. Now that gathering back together was not 586 when it took place, when they came back, 536, 538, when Cyrus sent them back, nor was that when they came back in the days of the Romans, or when they came back in 1948. They're not back. This has never ended. So that still has to all take place from the Roman dispersion, all that's got to take place yet. But that is what's holding this together. Israel cannot die. Now how they come back is going to be, it's in the hands of God. And we see hopes of that today. But when he says right here, you're from everlasting, you've got a plan, and in that plan Israel does not die. And he calls him Lord God the Holy One. So that's that first part of that verse. He's basically saying, You're everlasting. You're in total control. You've got a plan that's going to take place. And we will not die. That's chapter 1, verse 12, the first part. O Lord, are you not from everlasting? Okay, you're good. You've got a plan. You know what's going on. My God, my Holy One, we will not die. We have a covenant with you. You're everlasting. We've got a covenant with you. We're not going away. Now, He's building the parameters. this is God this is what he knows what's going on we're in the plan and we've got a covenant with the eternal God so we're not gonna die am I right so far right right we're not nothing's changing my attorneys not changing my covenants not changing and they'll go okay so then now he says this two times he says O Lord You have appointed them to execute judgment. O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. Or if you look over there on the notes, O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. So what you have right here is he says it twice. You see how those statements are repeated? Watch, I'll say it again. O Lord, you have appointed them to execute judgment. rock you have ordained them to punish so he goes Lord or Yahweh and then he calls him rock and then this person is the same person he has appointed and ordained he has appointed and ordained meaning he's the one who came up with the idea he it's in that eternal plan Israel will not die. Okay, O Lord my rock, in that plan you have appointed and you have ordained, you have put it in your plan that the Babylonians, it doesn't say Babylonians, But it says right here, it says, them and them. So them is the Babylonians or the Chaldeans. And that's really not, you can't argue with that really. But the Lord, his rock has appointed or ordained them, the Babylonians, to do these two things. To execute judgment. I always put an extra E in that word. Judgment now this is exactly what Habakkuk came in chapter 1 verses 2 3 & 4 he wants judgment and the very next word that we hit is and Punish or punishment in the English standard its judgment and reproof and And he's asking, Habakkuk has come asking Yahweh. Our nation is lawless. There's no justice. No one gets treated fairly. Those that have, the rich, the powerful, the elite, crush the middle class. He says, help, how long are you gonna watch this? He's accusing God of not taking action. How long must we wait before you fix this? God says, well, I'm gonna. But if I tell you what I'm going to do, you won't even believe it. I'm raising up the Babylonians. I'm raising up the Babylonians. And then he describes them for him, just in case you don't understand, and Habakkuk did. They're ruthless. They're going to bring Hamas. They are lawless. Whatever they want to do, they make it legal and they do it. They destroy people like sand and walk by and just do it again. And when they get done, they applaud themselves and think they're gods. They think they're doing it. But they're guilty. But I'm bringing them to you to do these things. To bring judgment and punishment. And Habakkuk right here in this verse, the second part of the verse goes, O Lord, O Rock, you have appointed, you have ordained the Babylonians to bring the judgment and the punishment that I asked you to bring on my people. Yep, you've got it. And God says, okay, we've got this figured out. But Habakkuk's not done. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, okay. And I'm just gonna read, we'll pick this up next week, but I'll read through it. So right there, I think, and again, you can read it yourself, but I think Habakkuk in chapter one, verse 12 is just simply summing up, when God tells him, I'm gonna tell you and you won't believe it. Habakkuk says, well, here's what I got. I got, you are the Lord and the rock from eternity. We aren't going to die because we're Israel, but you have appointed and ordained the Babylonians to bring judgment and punishment on your people that you've chosen in your plan. And it's like, yep, that's, I mean, that's it. That's the plan. Now he backs up in verse 13 up to verse 17. And I'll read this and we'll quit and pick it up next week. He goes, okay, now he starts making some statements or assumptions. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. Okay, if we were the Babylonians, we would be wrong. If I worked with the Babylonians, I would be wrong. But yet you who are pure, our priesthood has to be pure. The gold in the temple in your place has to be pure gold because we've been driven since the beginning. You are a pure God. No contamination. Nothing unclean. Is that right? That's right. Follow my directions. So you are pure, but yet you're siding with evil. Now, I mean, he's building a case. He says, that'll make sense. The priests have to be clean, the temple has to be pure, but you're going to go play with the Babylonians. You cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? If that's a theological statement, then why are you doing what you're doing? I understand the big plan, the picture, we're Israel, God's got a plan, you've ordained them, you've already told me, I understand what you just said. But understand why that doesn't fit theologically, it doesn't match my theology. Why then do you tolerate the way, if that's true, then why can you do what you just said you're going to do? Now, I mean, this is a great point. This is a great, every one of us have thought this at some point and atheists are going to bring it. If they're thinking, they're going to bring it up every time. And God's doing it. I mean, he's right here. He's, he's recording it saying, yep, that's, that's your, that's right. And you can just get excited about the rest of the book because God's going to not flinch from this, but He's going to drive this all the way home until all of a sudden you're like, whoa. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? Now, how does Habakkuk know this? Well, two ways. One, he knows historically what's going on in the world, but also God just got done telling him this is what they do. They treat people like sand. Habakkuk is going to repeat it and say that they treat them like fish. Man, that was your great creation that was supposed to have dominion over everything, over the fish of the sea, are now treated like fish themselves by men. Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those who are righteous in themselves? You have made men like the fish in the sea. God says they're like sand. Habakkuk says, well, like fish. like sea creatures that have no ruler. When you create them on that day of creation, they're just massive. All the living sea creatures. Well, who's in charge? Man's in charge. Well, there they are. He said, that's what men are like. And what do you do with fish? You throw nets, you throw hooks, you catch them, you cook them, you slice them, you filet them. He says, and that's what the Babylonians are going to do to us. The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, and that's literal. He's got an imagery of fishing here, but next week I'll try to get you some pictures of the hooks. He catches them in his net, and we've got these engravings of large groups of people being drugged in nets, sometimes by the Babylonian gods. He gathers them in his dragnet, and so he rejoices and is glad. That's the Babylonian. Therefore he sacrifices to his net. That's what God says. They're God unto themselves. And burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury. They're not just successful, they're living the best life now. And they make it legal. They don't feel guilty because they've made it legal. Hamas includes the idea of the superior race, or the superior economic status, or the superior, we are a superior people, so we can put you in nets, we can put hooks in your jaws, we can drag you over here, we will live in luxury, and we don't feel guilty because Hamas. It's like, we're superior. It's like, you're like fish. We're like gods. For by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choice food. Now he describes it similar to what God describes him, but he's using it as an accusation against God and you're going to allow that to happen. The very people, man, that you said will have dominion has been reduced to a fish, a sea creature in the sea that's going to be hooked and netted and captured and flayed. Was this your intention? Is he going to, and then verse 17, is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy? In other words, it's not just like he's going to do this one time. Because the Assyrians did this, drug people into captivity and disperse them. Now the Babylonians come, they do the same thing. We talked about the destruction of Nineveh when Nebuchadnezzar or Nebuchadnezzar came up and they destroyed Nineveh. We went through that and that was prophesied by Nahum. Now here comes the Babylonians, they're doing to the Assyrians and to the whole Middle East. Well then after the Babylonians, here comes the Persians. I mean this This is going to go on forever. You're just going to keep bringing up another people. It's going to sweep through. The Persians are wicked. Here comes the Babylonians. Now the Babylonians are wicked. Here comes the Persians. The Persians are wicked. Well, here comes the Greeks. Well, the Greeks are wicked. Here comes the Romans. Well, here comes the barbarians. Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy? You talk about everlasting. When is this? What's the end game? I mean, what is the end game? Because it's just gonna dump the people out and go get some more. You're just treating them like fish. Now, I'm wrapping this up. Habakkuk now in chapter two, verse one, got one more statement. He's made his case. I mean, he understands the plan. But he's challenging God, says, this doesn't make sense. His faith is not, he doesn't have a lack of faith, he's got faith, he doesn't understand the faith that God's asking him to have. And you can see that throughout the Bible. And what he said is, again, in a sense, some harsh things, aggressive things. and but he's he's got a job he knows who he is he knows who god is he's a prophet he says i will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts i will look to see what he will say to me and what answer i am to give to his complaint now what he's saying is okay i've made my peace i've made my statement i understand what you're doing i think it's wrong and he accuses make some statements it's okay now he's fully it's not like god is going to say you know what I didn't think all the way through that, Habakkuk. You're right. And Habakkuk knows that. He knows he's not like, just like Job says, if I was going to argue with you, how am I going to argue with God? He tried, but he said, I can't win this case. And Habakkuk knows the same thing. He's like, it doesn't make sense to me. He's being honest, but he also has to understand that God is not going to come and say, you know, I've changed my mind. Let's just, and then get a new administration in the temple. It's like he knows he's going to get blasted. He knows he's going to be rebuked. He's not going to be punished necessarily, but he knows he's going to be reproved. He's going to be corrected. God's going to say, no. So he says, I will stand at my watch. I'm not going to run and hide. I'm not going to be like Jonah and get on a boat and run away. I'm a stinking prophet. I'll stand right here. I've asked you to solve a problem. You told me how you're solving it. I understand the plan, but it's not a good plan. Now, I'm not getting on a boat and run away. I'm going to stand right here as a prophet. I'll stand on my watch and station myself on the ramparts. That's where, like in the battles, you'd stand on the walls of the city and look out and see the enemy come. He's watching. He's a watcher. i will look to see what he will say to me i'm gonna wait and see he's gonna say to me he's anticipating re you know a rebuke but then what's this and i did this is this is this is very very good yeah now you may see it you may not i will look to see what he'll say to me but while i'm waiting and what answer i'm to give to this complaint now the words i'd i'd i'm not done this was just our first go around. Because you're going to come back and rebuke me, and I'm anticipating what you're going to say, and while I'm standing here on my watch, on my rampart, I'm getting ready for my rebuttal, because no way am I going to agree with this. So you can kind of see that. I'm going to stand. I'm not going to give up. I'm not running away. I know he's going to come at me with a response, and he's expecting God to respond. He's expecting God to respond to him. God's not hiding. But he's probably anticipating a rebuke, because I'm also getting ready for a response back. Just like you know, you know those people that are, they're talking to you, or you're talking to them, and you know they're not listening. The whole thing, they're just waiting for you to get done talking, because they're going to say something. They're playing, and I do that too. I mean, someone's talking to me, and I'm like, okay, hurry, hurry, I'm going to say something. You know it, because I stand here and talk for an hour at a time. So when you start talking to me, it's like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm already, you say four words, I've got an hour response. So it's like, I know what that feels like. That's what Habakkuk is doing right here. I know you're going to have a response, but while I'm waiting, I've got five more points I'm going to bring up." And that's kind of where he's at. And we've got to clean that up next week, but that's what's happening there, I think. And then, of course, in chapter 2, verse 2, then the Lord replied, right down to Revelation. And I think in chapter 2 then, that thing I was drawing here at the beginning, the Lord and all this, This is Babylon of physical people, but in chapter 2, he's going to pull that curtain back. Babylon is just a representation of the ultimate evil one. You're going to be able to take this right here and write, in here, which would involve all the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. And eventually, it's gonna be, Satan's gonna manifest as the Antichrist. And all, it's the same, once you get this, you understand Satan's name in there, you understand the Antichrist's name in there. It's like, he's going right into the end times. And even at the end, Habakkuk's gonna be like, oh, that's not, that's not the way I would do it. He said, man, we're gonna get toasted. He said, okay, but I trust you. If there's nothing, we have no food, we have no grain, we have no horses, we have no cattle, I'm gonna stick with the Lord. And that was Job's, Job says, I don't know what's going on, but I tell you what. I'm going to trust God. At the end of this argument, I'm going to trust. And how many times in life does it come down to that? I mean, we've got to read the Bible. Some people just bail out and go right to that. Well, all things work together for the good of the Lord. Boom. Okay. Okay. But you don't have any root. You don't have any truth. You don't have any knowledge. This has been given to you to establish solid growth, solid roots, so that when something real difficult that you can't understand, you do understand something. The person that just defaults to, well, I just trust Jesus. Okay, what does that mean? Well, you know, I just know He loves me and I love Him. And then, what happens when all hell breaks loose in your life? What's your second statement? Well, I guess He doesn't love me, because I felt like He loved me, but now I don't think He loves me. I don't even think there's a God. I mean, you just see people that have a shallow faith just go right into, well, I don't know. There's no God. Habakkuk's got faith, and Job had faith, but God's going to take him to a place where they're gonna have to trust the Lord that He is good, even if they don't understand what's going on. Okay, I'll pray and we're finished. Father, we thank You again for the chance to look into Your Word. We do ask that we would understand it, that we'd understand the things revealed to us, but also that we would be able to trust You, Yourself, the good God, the Lord who's created all, created us, saved us, and has got His eternal plan. We fully don't understand, but we do know about You and what You're doing on a limited scale. We do ask that we continue to learn, that we continue to grow, and that our faith would increase, that we'd be able to stand firm in times of difficulty and be able to help others that are struggling. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for your time.