Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: I read a person talking about society back in the 1940s. They said if an organism or a country cannot deal with its infection quickly and effectively, it will die of the infection. I think we are infected with sin. We're seeing that like Habakkuk's time.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador notes God dealing with Old Testament Israel may parallel his future plans.

Brett Meador: God gave them over, and that is what he's doing in Habakkuk's time. That's what he will do globally in the end times.

Guest (Male): Surrounded by wickedness and facing an enemy invasion, the prophet Habakkuk was distressed and approached God to gain clarity. As God showed Habakkuk the vision, it unlocked a bigger picture of how God deals with the unrighteous, saves the just, and works all things together even in troubled times. With a verse-by-verse account, here's Pastor Brett Meador with today's word.

Brett Meador: Habakkuk chapter 1. I love the Bible how relatable it is. Even though this was thousands of years ago, I marvel at how humanity really hasn't changed all that much. One of the things we Bible prophecy buffs tend to do is think these are really bad times or they're worse than all the other times.

Really, when you're also a little bit into history, you realize there's just been a lot of bad times. There's been a lot of centuries and people that thought the end was during their time. Arguably, I think if you lived during World War I, especially if you're over in Europe or in the trenches, you could think this is the end. No wonder they called it Armageddon. That's what they thought World War I was, or the Holocaust of World War II.

There've been horrible times in history. You realize that man hasn't changed all that much. There's been a lot of sin and debauchery, but it does say that globally we'll start to see those things on more of a global scale, not just a localized scale. That's one of the things we see in modern days.

Really, Habakkuk lived in scary times. He was one of those guys, like Jeremiah and some of these other prophets, I refer to them as end times kind of guys. I think he gives us a great model of what to do if you live in scary times or end times kind of times.

What was going on in Habakkuk's day? This was Israel being threatened, its very existence, by the Babylonians. The Babylonians were knocking at their door. Habakkuk is going to wrestle with this a little bit, the question of why bad things are happening to good people. Then he's going to answer his own question.

Habakkuk's ministering during the time when Israel's about to be scattered and taken into captivity into Babylon for those 70 years of captivity. It was a dark and gloomy day. Sin was running rampant through Israel and there were horrible things happening because of the Babylonians.

Remember there were three major waves of Babylonian invasion. Habakkuk's ministry happened in the middle of those waves, so he saw some of the horrifying things that were happening. If you remember what your Bible tells you, during those days it got so bad people were starving and women would default to eating their own children. Cannibalism was happening. It was dark.

He lived during the 12th and 13th year of the reign of King Josiah. Josiah tried to bring righteousness into the land. He did away with all the idols, but one of the things he tried to do is legislate righteousness. Does that ever work? It's a funny thing when you try to legislate righteousness.

Josiah made a good attempt at that, but you can't just mandate people to be lovers of God, believers in the word. That's got to be a heart decision that people make. Israel's in that place of real darkness and Josiah tried to legislate righteousness, but that didn't really work.

The people got rid of their idols for a few minutes, but they shortly thereafter got other idols all ready to go. Then after Josiah came Jehoahaz, and after him was Jehoiakim. These are the kings during the Babylonian invasions. Jehoiakim was ended up being taken by the Babylonians.

Remember Jeremiah went to him with the word of God, and what did Jehoiakim do with the word? He cut it up with a knife and threw it in the fire. People are doing that today, trying to cut out things in the Bible they don't like and try to get rid of it.

It's a very much the same kind of day as these kings, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and ultimately with Zedekiah, the last king of Israel before the Babylonians came and wiped out Israel and Judah. But all that to say, just like today, this prophet sees the problem and he struggles with it.

He's wrestling with the problem of the sin of the people, but knowing the judgment that's coming. In fact, if you could say there's a singular theme of this book, you might say it's the theme of affliction of God on the people of God. Does God afflict his people? He does, as it turns out.

The Lord will allow us to be afflicted, and he does it for our own good. It's not punitive, by the way; it's corrective. If God was going to punish people for their sins, what would be required? Death. People get this confused all the time. When the Lord allows affliction to the people, they're like, "He's punishing us for our sins."

No, if you're still breathing, he hasn't punished you for your sins. He's actually allowing affliction to correct. This is a big affliction season for the Jews as they are walking in total rebellion. But it's the affliction of God on the people of God. Why? For correction. It's going to be a brutal spanking that God's going to give the Jews during this time.

It's going to be a long-term one, 70 years of captivity, the Jews scattered all over. It's going to be a big problem. Now, Habakkuk does something that's unique among all the prophets, and I find it interesting. Habakkuk is the only prophet that God doesn't approach first.

All the other prophets, God says, "Who's going to go for me?" And Isaiah's like, "Here I am, send me." He goes to Jonah, "Jonah, go to Nineveh," and Jonah said, "No, I'm out of here," and off he goes. But Habakkuk's the only one who never had the Lord approach him. He approached the Lord, which is an interesting thing.

I think we can learn from this guy who's in an end times kind of situation. If you're jotting down notes, there's three chapters and there's three main divisions in this book. The first one is we see Habakkuk a wondering and a wrestling. He's wondering and wrestling, wondering what's going to happen, wrestling with what's going on in Israel. That's chapter one.

Then in chapter two, we're going to see a watching and a waiting where he's going to watch and wait. Even as the Lord calls you and I in these days to watch and wait when it comes to Jesus talking about the end times. Over and over Jesus said, "Watch, be ready. Be the watchman on the wall."

The Bible talks about the times and the seasons, the signs of the times. The Bible says the church should be aware and not be ignorant of those things. Sadly, the church often is ignorant of these things. A lot of churches avoid Bible prophecy like the plague.

They say it's too divisive, nobody can understand it, so they just avoid it altogether. Big goof. That's one of the things we're going to see Habakkuk do. He starts out with a wondering and a wrestling, but then he's in the middle, he's watching and waiting. Wise is the believer who watches and waits.

Then the third chapter we'll see a worshiping and a witnessing, and we'll visit that one again when we get to chapter three. So in chapter one, you might even ask that question: If God is love, then why do bad things happen to good people? Does anybody remember the answer to this? There are no good people.

That's a simple answer to say the least. People make a mistake assuming that we're all such good people. "There's good in all of us," and "love yourself"—that's just ridiculous. Love yourself? Bible says no man ever hated his own flesh. We have a problem with too much self-esteem.

We've got to get ourselves off of ourselves, forget about ourselves, look to Christ. The Bible tells us over and over this kind of stuff, and it's hard. I'm not saying it's easy, I'm just saying it's what's true. This idea of if God is love, then why do bad things happen to good people is a false premise right there.

There are no good people. We're going to see that here, and that's what Habakkuk's going to do when he starts off with his first thing here, a wondering and a wrestling here in chapter one. So here we go, a wondering and a wrestling, chapter one. It says in verse one:

"The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth."

Does this sound like another time in history in the world today? When you read this, the description here is exactly what's going on in our culture. Do you feel a little bit of a burden when you think about what's going on in the world today? That's what Habakkuk's saying.

He says, "the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see." This is the first thing that initiates Habakkuk's ministry. It's not the Lord saying, "Who will go for me? Whom shall I send?" That was Isaiah. It wasn't the Lord saying, "Come on, Habakkuk, I need you to go and be my mouth." That was Jeremiah.

Habakkuk comes to the Lord and says, "Lord, I feel burdened by what I'm seeing." This is what initiates Habakkuk's ministry as a prophet. Notice the things here. There was iniquity and unrighteousness with the people. In fact, he says there's violence. Again, interesting in the book of Habakkuk, he uses this word.

Does anybody remember what the Hebrew word for violence is? Hamas. Which is funny. That's an interesting sideline. Hamas in the Hebrew. Now, is that why the green-scarved wearing Hamas down in the Gaza Strip call themselves Hamas? No. They're not using the Hebrew, but it is an irony that the Hebrew word for violence is Hamas.

He's going to use this all throughout his book because the people have become more violent against each other. This is some of the stuff he was witnessing—Jew on Jew crime kind of stuff. And he also talks about how the law, therefore in verse four, is slacked.

If you look that word up in the Hebrew, it can also be translated as paralyzed or stunned, like not really able to do anything about crime. Isn't it interesting that we're dealing with violence and crime today? Our laws really don't scare anybody anymore. People go and smash and grab and you might get a slap on the wrist, but you'll be out on the street again the next day.

If you go and smash and grab a jewelry store or whatever, capital offense if you are in death row for your crime, the average time spent from sentencing to execution is 227 months, almost 19 years before the death penalty would be carried out.

They'll have spent 1.2 million dollars on that single person in those 19 years while they're waiting death row. It's a strange system that we have. But we're watching violence, we're watching crime on the rise. That's really what Habakkuk sees. He says violence is before me and those that raise up strife and contention.

Therefore, verse 4, he says the law is slacked or paralyzed and judgment does never go forth. That's exactly where we are. I think we're living in perilous times. It's an interesting day. But notice it says the last phrase: "therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." We're seeing wrong judgment happening in our world just like in his day.

It's not just sinful stuff is going on. That's what he's talking about, about those that will sin and do wickedly. Verse 4, judgment never goes forth and wicked does compass—do you ever feel surrounded by wickedness? It used to be, not that long ago, when Disney was safe.

Disney's diversity and inclusion manager, Vivian Ware, says the company has eliminated all mentions of ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. So when you go see the fireworks down there, they don't say that. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that's now retired because it marks gender discrimination.

I forget what they're going to say—dream seekers or something like that. Who are you to say that homosexuality and all this gender stuff is wrong? It's not me; it's the book of Romans chapter one. There are six places in the Bible that talk about this.

Romans chapter 1, verse 24 through 27 says—this is the ESV, I like this, it's a little more modern which is helpful—"Therefore God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen."

Now pause for a second. Isn't it interesting that God says, "I made them," and he made them male and female. He's the one who knows biology, by the way. I'm so glad God knows that because he said male and female did he create them.

It's interesting because I think one of the reasons people love to say no, there's not male and female, is because it flies in the face of what God says about his creation. That's why they're willing to just totally ignore biology altogether because they don't want to acknowledge the Creator and the way he made us.

They're all saying, "We're going to go aside from God and do it the way we want to do it." It's just rebellion, that's all it is. So verse 26, "For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error."

Man, where are we as a nation? We're just like in Habakkuk's days where people were just doing things in total rebellion against God. That's the sad truth of what the Bible says. Injustice, inequity, sin, the law was paralyzed and wasn't able to do anything about it.

I read a person talking about society back in the 1940s when they said this. They said if an organism or a country cannot deal with its infection quickly and effectively, it will die of the infection. I think we are infected with sin.

We're seeing that like Habakkuk's time. God saw that with the Jews during that time. They were infected just as a nation in those times and Lord says, "Time's up." Like this Romans 1:24, God gave them over to. There's a point where God says, "I will not always strive with man." Genesis 6 talks about that.

So God gave them over, and that's what he's doing in Habakkuk's time. That's what he will do globally in the end times. So Habakkuk does sort of parallel God's plan not just for the Jews but for the whole world eventually. So Habakkuk is very contemporary, but all that to say, this is all part of Habakkuk's wondering and wrestling with this topic of what he sees.

He asks the question sort of rhetorically, but in verse 5, God answers. He says there in verse 5: "Behold ye among the heathen, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you."

Lord's saying, "Habakkuk, you're not even going to believe what's going to happen." I think that's kind of interesting. Like you wouldn't believe it if I didn't tell you this, Habakkuk. I wonder if that's the way it is for end times as well. We wouldn't believe unless the Lord told us in his Word.

I think it's amazing to watch as a Bible prophecy student. It's amazing to watch Bible prophecy unfold right before our very eyes. You wouldn't have believed it unless the Lord so clearly wrote it in his Word. That's why so many people are missing out on all the interesting excitement of the days we're living because they don't know their Bibles prophetically.

There's a whole section of the church of Jesus Christ that says all prophecy's already wrapped up, there's nothing new in prophecy and there's nothing to be fulfilled. Some people are just done saying prophecy's fulfilled, it all happened in AD 70, which is really painfully off.

But they're missing all the good stuff that's going on right now. That's the only thing that makes this kind of fun, seeing what's going on in the world and going, "Wow, Bible said that's going to happen." We shouldn't be shocked.

It also gives us comfort. Jesus said when you see these things, don't be troubled by these things. Don't let these things trouble you. I love that. It gives us comfort in confusing times. I love that. So God says you're not even going to believe what I'm about to do, Habakkuk, though it be told you.

In other words, God doesn't tell you what he's doing until he's really ready to tell you. That's what verse 5 is saying. Then verse 6: "For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans," that's the name of another name for the Babylonians, "that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves." In other words, they're going to rely completely on themselves. Verse 8: "Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god."

What's going on here? The Chaldeans, that's the Babylonian army. This is a description of what God would do, allowing the Babylonians to go through and wipe out Judah and the people of Israel. Remember the northern 10 tribes were already wiped out by this time by the Assyrians, if you recall.

Really the main army we're talking about is the army of Babylon that's going to take the southern tribes of Judah. Basically, this would have been horrifying language for them. It's interesting because, again, in the days we're living, we're talking about stuff that is so appropriate for what he's saying. Your horses are going to be swift as leopards.

When we talk about modern weapons, we're talking about these supersonic missiles that apparently Putin has, and maybe the Chinese. These hypersonic missiles. Talking about weaponry, their weapons are swifter than ours. It's still a lot about speed, isn't it? Just like in this, their horses are like leopards.

That would have been a horrifying thing. To us, we're like, "that doesn't matter. How fast are their tanks?" But this is something the Lord says, but you can count on this: the Babylonians are going to be swift and they're going to be accurate. Their arrows are going to be on the mark and they're going to fly like eagles, it says here.

This is talking about scary military advancement by the Babylonians. The Bible talks about military weapons of the last days and how they're going to be horrible as well. We're seeing the invention of horrible weapons. Verse 12 goes on:

"Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction." You can almost hear Habakkuk saying, "But the Babylonians are the bad ones. They're the ones that should be corrected, not us."

But the answer to that is both need to be corrected. If you read your scriptures, the Lord's going to use Babylon to crush Judah. We know that. But what happens after the Lord uses Babylon to crush Judah? What happens to the Babylonians? They get crushed. That's the Lord. The Lord says, "I will crush them." So Habakkuk's wondering, "What's going to happen to them?" And the Lord's got a plan. We know that from other books of the Bible.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador with a revealing look at the prophet Habakkuk, learning to trust that God is still at work even when his ways are hard to understand. And there's more to come from our Today's Word verse-by-verse series of Habakkuk. I hope you'll stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in a moment.

First, Today's Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church just south of Portland, Oregon, where Pastor Brett Meador's the senior pastor. Our vision is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus their Savior through careful study of the Bible.

We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. All right, Pastor Brett is with me now. Brett, I know you grew up in a Christian home. Your folks were involved in ministry. You have some stories about how those experiences made an impression on you and your ministry today, don't you?

Brett Meador: Growing up in a Christian home really was a giant blessing and I think I'm realizing even more and more how huge that was for my ministry right now. I think I'm only now fully starting to realize. My parents, hard-working people, they were fairly new Christians when I was born, but they were hungry for the word.

My dad being in construction, we'd travel around different cities on the West Coast, different construction jobs in Southern California all the way up into Oregon. But we attended churches: Baptist church, Assembly of God, Nazarene, wherever the nearest church was, we'd go.

So as a little kid, those churches all left impressions and I think were largely part of shaping what I thought about church in general. Finally when we settled in Southern Oregon, my parents, there wasn't really a great through-the-Bible teaching church that was nearby.

So they called up a friend from Southern Cal and they came up and started a church in my own home. So I had an experience going from a church with 10 people in my living room and that church grew to over 7,000 people in about a 25-year trajectory.

So it was by that experience I became deeply involved in ministry from a very young age just because it was what my family did. I don't remember anything but serving, watching my parents serve people quietly, praying with sincerity, studying the word faithfully. And those impressions really stuck with me.

One of the biggest things I learned from my parents is just it's not about the spotlight. It's just about being faithful, and my parents really modeled that. They weren't the front-of-the-sanctuary kind of people as much as they were behind the scenes just serving, and that was a giant thing for me personally.

Guest (Male): Well, thank you, Brett, for sharing some of those personal stories about your upbringing. And like you said, what a blessing to have parents like that to model Christ and service to you. Well, if you'd like more information about Athey Creek Church, Pastor Brett Meador, or Today's Word, you can visit our website at todayswordradio.com.

Well, that's all the time we have. Next time Pastor Brett will look in Habakkuk how this prophet cried out over the violence and injustice before him and how God responded. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.