The book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament of the Bible has much application to the present time.
Habakkuk, the prophet, is complaining to God about the evil and injustice that is in Israel.
He says in Habakkuk 1:2-3, “How long, O lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?…”
Habakkuk is complaining because there is so much evil going on. He knows God hates sin. Why then, he asks the Lord, do you tolerate this much sin? We complain about the injustice in our nation when we see the rise in abortions, homosexuality, violence. We ask, “How long will you tolerate this, Lord?”
The Lord answers Habakkuk in Habakkuk 1:5-6, “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people, they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.”
The Lord answers Habakkuk that He is going to raise up a completely evil people, the Babylonians, to punish Israel. Babylon was in what is now the country of Iraq.
This happened when Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Judah in 605 BC. Then Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 586 BC taking captive all but a remnant of the Jewish people.
Habukkuk says to God in Habakkuk 1:13,“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” Habakkuk had been complaining about the wicked condition of Israel. Now he is complaining because God is going to punish Israel with a nation more wicked than they are.
Then Habakkuk says that he is going to wait for God to answer. Habakkkuk 2:1 “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 answers I am to give this complaint.”
Habakkuk 2:2-3 says, “Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”
Although this prophecy is for that time, it is also for our time. Babylon was the city where false religions had their origin. In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we see that Babylon again has a prominent place. Revelation chapters 17 & 18 are all about Babylon. Babylon (whether or not it is the actual city where Babylon once was is debated) will once again raise its evil head to become powerful.
What does the Lord answer to Habakkuk? God tells how He will destroy the evil nation of Babylon, then He says in Habakkuk 2:13, “Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Jesus Christ who is the Lord Almighty, will come back after a period of great distress. This period of great distress will be when a completely evil man will rule the world. The passages in the Bible that most describe him are Daniel 7 (as the little horn), Daniel 11:21-35 (which records the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes IV who ruled from 175-163 B.C. and is considered to foreshadow the antichrist), Daniel 11:36-45 (this “king” has not appeared in history), 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13.
Then Jesus will come back Himself and defeat this evil and set up His kingdom on earth for 1,000 years. Satan, the devil who tempts men to do evil, will be bound with chains and thrown into a pit.
After 1,000 years Satan will be released and millions of people will follow him and rebel against Jesus. It amazes me how after having the perfect government for 1,000 with the Lord Himself as ruler, millions will rebel. Yet this will happen, and this rebellion will be quickly taken care of.
There will be a Great White Throne judgment where all those that do not believe that Jesus Christ is God will be judged. Satan will be cast into a lake of fire along with those who did not choose Jesus as Lord.
This is explained in Revelation 20. Revelation 21 and 22 explain the new heavens and earth that will be established where there is no more death and sin and the effects of these things.
However, what I want to emphasize is Habakkuks’s response to what God has told him.
“I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. (Habakkuk was afraid, but he said…) Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights…” Habakkuk 3:16-19
This should be our response to the events going on in the world. Though everything falls apart around us, we can still rejoice in the Lord.