We are considering Habakkuk’s expression of faith and hope in Ch. 3. There is a question about 3:3-16. The NKJV, in 3:3, says “God came from Teman.” It is in the past tense. But is this passage describing a past event or is Habakkuk speaking of something future? It is apparently something communicated by God in a vision to the prophet (3:3b-5). Habakkuk was seeing something. It appears he is describing the Exodus from Egypt, and yet he refers to events that were not highlighted in the OT record.
Let me tell you what first caught my
attention. In 3:3 it says, “God came
from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.”
The assumption is that this is God bringing Israel from Mt. Sinai. You could say that they came from Edom (Teman
is part of Edom), although the OT record speaks of them being in the land of
Midian (Ex. 3:1,12; 4:19). And Mt. Sinai
was not in the Wilderness of Paran.
But what do we know about Edom and the
fulfillment of God’s plan for Israel?
The Messiah will come out of Edom.
Isa. 63:1-6 clearly states this; Ps. 108:10 refers to it. And Rev. 12:13-17 speaks of the salvation of
Israel involving the protection of the remnant in a desert area. One critical aspect to the promise of God to
restore Israel was that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the
glory of the LORD” (Hab. 2:14), something that has not yet happened, in all the
years that Israel was in the land in OT times.
There are some other things in Hab. 3 that
speak of the Messianic age. What is 3:6
talking about? “And the everlasting
mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills bowed, His ways are everlasting.” That has never been literally fulfilled. Spiritualize it if you want, but Zechariah
14:10-11 speaks of a time when this is literally fulfilled, and it is when the
Messiah comes. Zechariah uses real
geography in this prophecy, referring to Geba (to the north of Jerusalem, in
Benjamin’s tribal territory) and Rimmon that is south of Jerusalem. The whole area will be like a plain with the flattening
of the mountains.
What about 3:8-15? Is this reminiscent of the Exodus? Only if you spiritualize it and ignore the
details. It appears to describe major rearranging
of the earth, including dividing the earth with rivers (Zech. 14:8). It speaks of signs in the sky (v11). Is this Joshua or Messiah? What “salvation of Your people … salvation
with Your Anointed” is in view in 3:13?
Is it under Joshua (never called the “Anointed”) or Messiah? It seems to me Habakkuk is seeing as done
(past tense) a future event that he is seeing in a vision.
Now you might think we are seeing too much
Israel and not enough Christ. I think
about this. And I am reminded, again,
both from Romans and Hebrews, that there is a powerful connection between the
Christ of the cross and resurrection and the Christ who is coming to bring
everything into its proper place. It is
said quite well in the end of Heb. 11, where saints like Habakkuk “did not
receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they
should not be made perfect apart from us” (11:39-40). God’s fulfillment of promises to sinful
Judah/Israel cannot happen apart from the atoning work of the Messiah. We are still living in the age of “waiting”
that God spoke of in Hab. 2:2-3. But a
time is coming when God’s faithfulness to Israel will be the fundamental issue
in the judgment of the Nations. Matt. 25:31-46
says the evidence of faith in Christ will be, what have you done to “the least
of these My brethren” (24:40). I hope
you will think on these things, and consider them. And then give God the glory now for His
goodness and faithfulness!
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