Tag Archives: Sovereign

Defiant Joy – Sermon on Habakkuk 3:13-19 for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Habakkuk 3:13-19

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Be careful what you ask for because… you just might get it.” Habakkuk asked God to do something about the sin and violence that surrounded him. God did.

This reading from the end of Habakkuk makes more sense if you know what came before it. Thankfully, summarizing the book of Habakkuk is easy because it’s only three chapters long. The first two chapters are two complaints from Habakkuk (Hab. 1:2-4, 12-2:1) and two responses from God (Hab. 1:5-11, 2:2-20). The book concludes with Habakkuk’s psalm of praise (Hab. 3), which you just heard.

The book starts with Habakkuk praying and asking God to act. He had looked around at his land and countrymen and all he could see was violence, injustice, and sin. He cried out, “God, how long am I going to cry to You, and yet You won’t hear? How many times am I going to point out all the violence, but You don’t do anything? All I can see is sin, destruction, contention, and strife. The wicked surround the righteous. But You just keep twiddling Your thumbs” (Hab. 1:2-4).

God answered, but not in the way Habakkuk expected. God didn’t say that He would start a revival or send a spiritual awakening. Instead, God answered, “I’ll send Babylon, that bitter and hasty nation, with all their military might” (Hab. 1:6a). Then, God talks about how dreaded, fearsome, and violent Babylon is (Hab. 1:7-9). He highlights their pride and arrogance, how Babylon isn’t afraid of anything, and how they laugh at the kingdoms and castles they have demolished (Hab. 1:9-10). God even mentions that they are so prideful that they worship their own might as a god (Hab. 1:11). Babylon—a ruthless, pagan people—is going to be God’s answer for the sin and idolatry of His own people.

Habakkuk isn’t too keen on God’s plan. In his mind, that cure was far worse than the disease. He tries to get God to pump the brakes on His plan, but Habakkuk does it in an extremely arrogant way. He basically tells God, “This plan is no good. You’re too holy to use Babylon like that. I’m going to stand on my mountain of right and wait for You to change Your mind” (Hab. 1:12-2:1).

The majority of chapter 2 is God telling Habakkuk to wait, to trust Him, and to remember that the righteous shall live by faith (Hab. 2:4). He has it all under control, and He’ll deal with Babylon’s sins in His time. That leads to this final chapter, which is Habakkuk’s psalm of trust.

In a way, the whole book is about how God formed and shaped Habakkuk. He began as a man who thinks God is snoozing on the job and who arrogantly tells God, “You don’t know what you’re doing.” But Habakkuk ends up with this bold, confident trust in God’s plan. In a lot of ways, the book of Habakkuk parallels the book of Job. It’s like a bite-sized version—just without the boils and round after round of friends giving bad advice and offering sham comfort.

With that in mind, look again at v. 17 of our text. Habakkuk goes through this list of things that could fail. The fig tree, the vines, the olive trees, fields, flocks, and herds. To our modern ears, sure, that all sounds bad. To the people of Habakkuk’s day, it sounded like the end of the world.

That list of things that could fail crescendos. It doesn’t start out so bad. Figs were generally considered a delicacy, almost like a candy bar. They were nice to have around, but you can live without figs. No fruit on the vines means no grapes and wine. Wine was part of feasting, and it was mixed into ordinary drink. It was more common than figs, so more people would miss it, but you can live without wine. Olives are where things start to get more serious. They used olive oil to bake many things and to light lamps at night. Losing olives would almost be equivalent to your power going out. The flocks and herds at the end were the sources of transportation, work, clothing, and food.

Today, we have ways to adapt if these types of things disappear. The people of Habakkuk’s day didn’t. This isn’t just empty shelves at the grocery store. This is no planes, trains, or trucks coming with product from somewhere else. On top of that, there is no production from the fields. This isn’t just power lines being down and waiting hours or days for the electrical grid to be restored. This is the very plants and dams that produce electricity being destroyed.

This scenario Habakkuk imagines isn’t something you adapt to because every alternative is completely blocked. That kind of devastation would take years or even decades to recover from. Notice (this is important), this isn’t actually happening as Habakkuk sings this song. However, it is likely that all of this will happen. Habakkuk knows God’s plan—Babylon is coming. Habakkuk doesn’t know when, but he knows that. They’re ruthless and brutal. So, he looks into the future that he knows is going to be horrible. It isn’t happening yet. But Habakkuk resolves what he will do when all of this takes place.

Habakkuk says, “Though all of that should happen, …yet. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab. 3:17-18). This is defiant joy. And he has this defiant joy because he looks to the past.

Look again at v. 13. When God goes out, He goes out for the salvation of His people. Habakkuk isn’t just mustering up some good feelings. He is remembering and singing about history—specifically the Exodus out of Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea. He remembers God crushing the head of the wicked and trampling the sea with His horses (Hab. 3:13-15). When they were in Egypt, Israel didn’t have their own horses or a navy. Pharaoh did. But God sent His hosts so the waters became a grave for the enemy and a road for His people.

Habakkuk uses the past as a lens to look at a future that he already knows will be terrible. Babylon is coming, and when it does, the figs may not blossom, the vines and olive trees may fail, the fields may yield no food, and the flocks and herds may disappear. The whole thing fills Habakkuk’s bones with rottenness (Hab. 3:16). Habakkuk doesn’t say that the collapse will be fine. Instead, he says that even if it comes, he already knows that God is at work to save His people. That’s what God has done in the past, and that is what God has promised to do in the future.

Dear saints, the future is out of your hands and full of unknowns. Staring at all those unknowns is the recipe for a life full of worry. Go ahead and glance at the unknowns long enough to name them, but don’t stare at them.

Remember the past. God goes out for the salvation of His people. He has gone out against Pharaoh, and He promises Habakkuk that He’ll take care of Babylon. But most importantly, you can look to the past where God has gone out against the serpent, the enemy of all mankind. When it was time to deal with your greatest enemies—sin, death, and the devil—God didn’t send another evil empire. He sent Christ, His Son. Jesus is the God of your salvation who endured God’s wrath against your sin and went to His death for you. Now, He is risen and ascended to reign on the throne of all creation.

The future is out of your control, but it was never supposed to be in your control. It is in the nail-pierced hands of the God who has already gone out for your salvation. That’s why you can have the same kind of defiant joy that Habakkuk has here. Because of what Christ has done, you don’t have to wait for figs to come back. You can stand in front of barren fields and empty stalls and sing about your God who splits seas. More than that. You can look at the grave—the grave of your loved ones or even your own grave—and declare that your Savior has already defeated it.

Dear saints, your God is your strength right now. Right now, He makes your feet like the deer’s. He makes you tread on your high places (Hab. 3:19). This is not a mood that you feel. It is what Christ is doing for you now, whether you feel it or not.

The future will always be full of things you cannot manage. But you don’t have to wait for your circumstances to get better before you can sing. Christ is your strength right now, and He will never leave you. Sing with Habakkuk now, before trouble comes, and even after it arrives: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab. 3:18). Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.

Eternal Dominion – Sermon on Daniel 7:1, 9-10, 13-14 for the Ascension of Our Lord (Observed)

Daniel 7:1, 9-10, 13-14

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

They say, “Repetition is the mother of learning.” Well, today, you’ve heard the same event, Jesus’ ascension, described three times. You heard it twice from Luke’s two books of the Bible (Act. 1:1-11; Lk. 24:44-53). And you just now heard it from the prophet Daniel. This past Thursday marked the 1,993rd anniversary of Jesus’ ascension to the throne of all creation. The gospel of Luke ends with the disciples seeing Jesus ascend, and Luke makes this comment, “They worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God” (Lk. 24:52-53). The reason they were filled with joy was that they knew what Jesus’ ascension meant.

Jesus had opened the disciples’ minds to understand everything that had been written about Him in the Old Testament (Lk. 24:44-45). So, the disciples got to see Jesus ascend with their own eyes, but they also knew what that meant because Jesus had opened their minds to understand the vision we just heard from Daniel. This text is what happens at Jesus’ ascension—not from the view of earth that Luke records. Daniel records what happens in heaven at Jesus’ ascension. And really, it’s what happens in the entire cosmos.

So today, fellow disciples of Jesus, let’s be filled with the same joy that the disciples had because of Jesus’ ascension by considering this text from Daniel.

Daniel wants us to know about this vision he saw around 552 BC. Daniel had multiple visions that night, but what I just read was the final and greatest vision he saw. He sees God the Father, but Daniel calls Him “the Ancient of Days” (Dan. 7:9). His clothing is white as snow. His hair like pure wool. His throne is ablaze with fire. God is sitting there in judgment. Holy. Majestic. Perfect. Glorious. But the Ancient of Days isn’t alone. There are angels present there. Daniel says there are a thousand thousands angels serving Him (Dan. 7:10). That’s one million angels. How did he count them all? A million seconds is 11.5 days. But then, there’s more. Daniel says there’s 10,000 times 10,000 angels standing before Him. That’s 100 million more angels. How do they all fit in that throne room? They’re all gathered around that fiery throne. Again, think of the beauty and sheer holiness of this place.

Then what does Daniel see? “With the clouds of heaven, there came one like a Son of Man” (Dan. 7:13). Don’t get confused here by the word ‘like.’ This isn’t a being that merely appears like a man. The translation would be better if it said, “There came one as a Son of Man.” Or even, “I saw a Human come up into that scene in heaven.” What business does a human have there?

Remember how Adam fled in his own home that God had made for him in the Garden of Eden because he merely heard the sound of God walking there (Gen. 3:8) Remember how Isaiah saw God on the throne. He saw some angels—some seraphim. But Isaiah doesn’t say he saw 100 million. And he cowered in fear (Is. 6:1-5). Remember how the millions of people God brought out of slavery in Egypt heard God speaking from Mt. Sinai and asked to not even hear His voice (Ex. 20:18-19). Remember all the people in Scripture who are terrified even when they see one angel (Num. 22:31; Jdg. 6:22-23; Lk. 1:11-12, 26-29; Mt. 28:2-4). This Man isn’t acting like any of them.

He doesn’t run. He doesn’t fall down in fear. He isn’t ashamed or afraid. He enters that room. He doesn’t sneak in to find a quiet, obscure corner in the back to simply see everything. He goes higher. He keeps approaching, walking through those millions of angels as they make a path for Him. Closer and closer He walks with His human body and stands there before the Ancient of Days Himself (Dan 7:13).

Pause here for a minute before we get to the rest of the vision because Daniel’s probably thinking, “What is this guy doing? He’s going to be incinerated!” You, of course, know that this is Jesus, so you know that this is the Son of God approaching the Ancient of Days. But don’t forget that this Jesus became man, true man. Christ is Man as we were intended to be. Sadly, it’s easy to forget Jesus’ humanity. Remember Daniel describes Him as “a Son of Man.” And Daniel knows that all humans have been stained by sin, so he probably thinks this Man had been too. And He actually was, but not in the way the rest of us have been stained.

This is Jesus, the One Isaiah says, “the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:6). Paul tells us that He became sin (2 Co. 5:21). He didn’t commit any sin, but He definitely got tangled up in them. Who is more familiar with sin? You who committed them? Or the One who bears them, suffers God’s wrath against them, and paid for them with His precious blood and death (1 Pet. 2:24)? Jesus knows the weight of your sin. He’s your great High Priest who bears with you in your weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).

Dear saints, this Jesus, this Son of Man that Daniel sees, He doesn’t approach the Ancient of Days because He avoidedsin. He approaches the Ancient of Days because He triumphed over it by His blood (Col. 1:20). He canceled the record of debt that stood against us by nailing it to the cross (Col. 2:14). He left those sins in the grave, which forever stands empty. That’s why He approaches the throne. And what happens? 

Daniel sees that this Man is the center of attention in that great throne room. He is there to receive dominion and glory and a kingdom (Dan. 7:14). Jesus doesn’t go to just be there or because His work is done here. He goes to receive what belongs to Him. This isn’t a gift. Jesus takes possession of what He has purchased. He’s earned this.

This Man, Jesus, takes possession of the kingdom of all peoples, nations, and languages. This all-encompassing kingdom and dominion is everlasting. It will not pass away or be destroyed.

Daniel saw kingdoms get destroyed in his days. History is full of kingdoms that have risen to great power, but all of them eventually fall—Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, the British Empire. Enough time passes and they all fade away. But not this kingdom. Not Jesus’ dominion. It lasts to eternity. It spans any boundary you can imagine, either physical or ethnic. Again, this kingdom is over all peoples, nations, and languages. In other words, this kingdom is also over you.

In Philippians 2, Paul says that Jesus is highly exalted and has the name above every name. And that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Php. 2:9-11). Christian, for you this is the best news. Your Savior sits on the throne of the eternal kingdom of God. But, sadly, for those who reject or deny Him, for those who don’t believe, well… they’re fighting in a battle they’ve already lost.

That’s the Ascension. But I want to leave you today with a call from Scripture that relates to Jesus’ ascension. It’s from Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Scripture repeatedly calls us to draw near to God (Jas. 4:8; Is. 55:6; Jer. 29:13). But in Heb. 4:16, it says to draw near to the throne. That’s different. How do we do that? What do we do to draw near to the throne? Do we need to get ourselves into this throne room that Daniel is seeing? Nope!

The throne of grace is here—right here—at church. When you come to church, you are drawing near to the throne of grace because here Jesus is preached. You are drawing near to the place Jesus gives Himself to you, Body and Blood. Jesus is not somewhere far away. He promises that where two or three are gathered in His name, there He is (Mt. 18:20).

Dear saints, you have a place in Daniel’s vision here. As you approach Jesus, the Ruler of all creation smiles and welcomes you as His redeemed child.

Later in Hebrews, you are told that you have come to Mount Zion. You have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Here are innumerable angels in festal gathering. This is the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. Right here is God, the judge of all, and the spirits of the righteous made perfect. Here is Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant (Heb. 12:22-24).

No, you can’t see all of that. But Scripture is clear that you go wherever Jesus goes. He is the Head, and you are His Body (Eph. 5:23). The day will come when He will return, and you will see Him and everything else Daniel saw. But for now, know that He is present here for you, right now, in His Body and Blood. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.