Virtually everyone in our country knows George Washington, our first, and one of our greatest presidents of the United States. Washington had a very charismatic demeanor about him. Men who were fleeing in battle would suddenly turn around and face the enemy when he rallied them. There was just “something about him.” In Ron Chernow’s biography of George Washington, he writes that the President loved children, but his presence tended to suppress their rambunctiousness. Washington’s adopted grandson said: “(the children) felt they were in the presence of one who was not to be trifled with.” 

I think that’s a pretty good description of what our attitude should be towards God too: as we continue our study in Habakkuk 2 today, we see how God is an awesome God who is not to be trifled with!

I. The God Who Judges Sin

As we mentioned last time, most of Habakkuk 2 (:6-19) is a series of 5 “woe’s”, each linked to a different sin the Babylonians were committing. It’s like a “song” with 5 verses, each starting with the word, “Woe.” “Woe” means bad things are coming! As we saw in 1:13, God is a holy God, and He cannot look on sin with approval. The Bible makes it very clear that God is a God who will judge and punish sin. 

Last time we looked at the first of the 5 “woes”, for the sin of the unrestrained appetite, which is one of America’s signature sins too. We always want “more, more, more”! But that was only the “first verse” of the song! There are 4 other “verses” that follow; 4 other “woes” that God pronounces in Chapter 2. So let’s look at them for a few minutes:

A. Unethical Business Practices

:9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house” 

Hebrew scholars (Keil & Delitzsch) tell us that the Bible language here denotes cutting off something from someone else, in order to add to what. You have. One (Bailey) says that a literal translation would be “an evil cut” – for example, to cut a cloth in a shorter length than what was promised. So this is talking about making money, or building your possessions, or your “fortune”, by cheating other people, and not giving them what they paid for. You’re cutting off from them, to add to you.

Unfortunately, many people think this is just what business IS, and that’s it ok to do basically anything in business, as long you go to church and do your “religious thing.” Mark Twain, writing about his travels to Europe and the Holy Land in his book The Innocents Abroad, said: “Greek, Turkish and Armenian morals consist only in attending church regularly on the appointed Sabbaths, and in breaking the ten commandments all the balance of the week.” That’s true of a lot of people TODAY too! Many have the attitude that you can do anything in business during the week, as long as you make up for it by going to church on Sundays! 

But it’s a mistaken idea to think that God doesn’t care about what kind of deals you make, or how you run your business. God says here, “Woe” to those who do this. Proverbs 20:1 says “Differing weights and differing measures, both of them are abominable to the Lord.” God cares about the standards you use in your business; He cares about whether you give people what they paid for; He cares about whether you cheat people on the job. It’s not “business is business and church is church” – NO! – if you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, it should make a difference in the way You do business every day. You’ll give people an honest deal; you’ll give customers what they pay for. And if you don’t, the Bible tells us here, though no one on earth may know about it, you will give account of it to God. He says, “WOE to him who gets evil gain for his house”! God will hold you accountable for your practices in the business world!

B. Using People

The next two “woes” are very similar, so I am going to take them together. 

— :12 says: “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed, and founds a town with violence.” This refers to killing or harming other people in order to build your own kingdom. 

–Then :15 says, “Woe to you who make your neighbors drink… so to look on their nakedness,” This refers to getting somebody drunk, in order to take advantage of them. Both of these verses refer to using people for one’s own lusts or advantage. God abhors this, and He says here that He will judge it. God made people to love and be loved, not to be used unscrupulously for our own desires. 

Texas Port Ministry Director Chris Moore shared last week about their ministry, that their motto is just “Show up and love people”. That’s great, isn’t it? Just show up and love people. That’s what God wants us to do: love people. 

But unfortunately, if we were honest, some of us would admit: you don’t “love” people. You USE them. You use them for what personal pleasure you can get out of them; you use them to build a network to make yourself money; you use them to further your status and enhance your credibility; you use them to make yourself more popular; you use them for all kinds of selfish purposes. You don’t really LOVE other people, you USE them. And there is a huge difference between loving, and using isn’t there? God says here the Babylonians were using people, and He says “Woe to them;” He will judge them for it — and God will judge those of us TODAY too, who do the same thing. 

C. Making Idols

:19 “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘awake’, to a mute stone, ‘arise” and that is your teacher?” Here God addresses the sin of idolatry. The Babylonians worshipped idols of wood and stone, and God said “Woe;” He will judge them for worshipping those images instead of Him. 

I still remember the first time I ever saw a man bow down before an idol: it was about 15 years ago and I was on a mission trip to India, and right in the middle of the city of Lucknow I watched a man in a business suit walk up to a little local Hindu worship place, in the city, ring a bell out front (which I later learned was meant to “wake up the god”!), and then he knelt down before an image of a monkey, and worshiped it! I could not believe my eyes: this intelligent-looking man in a business suit was bowing down before an image of a monkey — a dead piece of wood or stone! That’s what Israel & Babylon were doing in Habakkuk’s time too.

Now, some of us may think this doesn’t apply to us here, since most of us don’t have idols, but that’s far from the truth. Idolatry is rampant in America today — when you understand that idolatry means anything else in the place of God. John Calvin said that the human heart is an idol factory, and many Americans today are living examples of that. No, not many of us literally bow down before wood and stone; we are a little more subtle about it; but people today worship still practice idolatry; we worship all kinds of things in the place of God: money, pleasure, possessions, popularity, “success” — we put all kinds of things in God’s place. 

Think about your own life: What do spend your “free time” on? What do you spend all your money on? What do you think about all the time? What do you talk about all the time?  Whatever that is, that is your god — no matter what you “say” your god is. You may SAY that God is your God, but when you spend all your time on your business, or all you talk about is sports, or all you think about is something else besides Him, and you even take the tithe that belongs to Him and spend it on something you “really” enjoy — what does all that say?  Your god is what your world revolves around — what you spend your time and money and thoughts on, what you talk about all the time. Honestly, for most people, their world does not revolve around God — even those of us in the church. If many of us were honest, we’d have to admit that we are worshiping idols instead of God. 

No, we don’t see many people in America today bowing down before images, but one of the biggest problems we have in our country today is idolatry: worshipping something other than the Living God of the Bible. 

Regarding all of these sins in Habakkuk 2, God said “Woe … woe … woe!” He promised to judge them — and He did. And we can count on it; He will judge those same things today too. God is a holy, righteous God, and He WILL judge sin. His judgment is coming.

In David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of John Adams, he shares how even in the early days of America, Thomas Jefferson wrote about the evils of slavery:  “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.’”  (David McCullough, John Adams, pp. 330-331) Many believe that the Civil War, the most bloody war in our country’s history, by far, was an expression of God’s judgment on our land for slavery. But Jefferson could see it coming; he said, God is just; His justice won’t to sleep forever; it is coming!

This is just what God is is telling us in Habakkuk 2! He says, “Woe!”;  a day of reckoning for sin is coming. He is going to judge sin. This is a call for all of us to repent of any specific sin we are aware of in our lives. When John the Baptist came preaching “repent and prepare the way” for the Messiah, the people asked him “What shall we do?”
John told them to make specific changes in their lives. He said, if you have two coats, give one to the poor; he said stop grumbling about your wages; he said, stop cheating people. He was very specific. He told them to repent of specific sins in their lives.

And that’s just what God is saying to us in this passage today today. He says, Judgment is coming, so you need to prepare yourself. And “prepare” doesn’t mean just get “religious.” It means repent of specific sins in your life. Because if you continue the same sins you’re involved in right now, you WILL be judged for them. There is time to repent; there is time to change — but that time is NOW, BEFORE God’s judgment comes. But His judgment is coming, and when it comes, He WILL judge our sins. 

II. “The Great I AM”: the Living, Awesome God

It is significant that right after the series of the 5 “woes”, Habakkuk 2 ends the last verse with, “BUT”: “BUT YHWH is in His holy temple, let all the earth be silent before Him.” This refers to a couple of things here:

A. First of all, it reminds us that YHWH, the God of the Bible, is the One, True, Living God, The Great “I AM.” 

This word “but” here refers back to what :19 said, about how Babylon worshiped dead idols of wood and stone, in whom there was no breath. Then God says in :20 here, “BUT”!  “BUT YHWH is in His holy temple.” Many of you know that “YHWH” is the personal name of the God of Israel. It’s the name God gave Moses when He appeared to him in the burning bush, and Moses asked Him His name. He said, “I AM WHO I AM.” That’s YHWH, Jehovah, “The Great I AM.” That’s the God of the Bible; that’s Who we worship. People in our world worship all kinds of dead idols, but we worship YHWH God, the One True God, The Great I AM! 

— We don’t serve idols; we serve the Living God, Who actually came to this earth as Jesus Christ, who was crucified on the cross to pay for our sins but who rose again from the dead because He is the One, true, Living God! That’s our hope of eternal life: that because He lives, we will live forever too!

— And even in this life, dead idols can’t do for you what the true God can. Verse 18 says they are “speechless.” Idols can’t really talk to you. When you know the real God, He talks to you, because He is the real, living God.

Like many of you, every day I get up, and spend time with God in worship and prayer and in His word. And He talks to me through His word. For example, this last Monday I got up, after being sick all weekend, and I had the best time with God that morning. My Old Testament Bible reading has been in the Book of Isaiah, and Monday my reading was in Isaiah 59. Monday is the day I pray for our kids, and our grandkids, and their salvation. Near the end of Isaiah 59, :21 says: “‘My Spirit, which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,’ says YHWH, ‘from now and forever.’” I thought, wow, here I am praying for my kids, and my grandkids today, and God gives me this promise, right out of my regular daily reading: “My words will not depart … from the mouth of your offspring nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring”! What an amazing promise for my family from His word!

God talks to me in His word! He speaks to me, He gives me guidance and direction; sometimes He just gives me a word of encouragement to help me get through the day. But He speaks to me through His word. My God is no dead idol; He’s not just some “traditional religion;” He is the One, True, Living God; He is “The Great I AM”! As the song says, “He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known”!  

He is the one and only Living God, who gives us eternal life, and who walks with us every day. But not only that; we also see here:

B.  He is HOLY and  worthy of RESPECT and AWE.

Verse 20 here begins: “The LORD is in His Holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.” Unlike the idols of :18-19, YHWH is alive; He speaks in His word; He is working in this world; He judges evil; He will save those who trust Him — and HE IS ON THE THRONE!  “YHWH is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.” 

The Hebrew word for “silence” here is “hass” — almost literally our same English word, “hush” — and it means the same thing! “Hush,’ be silent before God in His temple. Habakkuk had all these questions for God, and as we have seen, God answered Habakkuk in part: He said, no one is getting away with anything; God is on His throne; He is going to judge. But now He just reminds him: I am in My temple; I am on My throne; just “HUSH” before Me!

In Revelation 8, when the 7th seal was broken, the Bible says there was “silence in heaven for a half hour”. Then immediately after the silence, the 7 trumpets announced the outpouring of God’s judgment and wrath on earth.

In the same way here in Habakkuk 2, God says “Woe, woe, woe” to the earth because of all these sins — and then that is followed by “YHWH is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth HUSH before Him!” Stand in silence, stand in awe, before the judgment and wrath God’s about to pour out on the earth. 

That’s a good word for us today, too. It’s not wrong to ask God some questions, like Job and Habakkuk and others did. And God may give you some answers too, just like He did them. But there often comes a time for us as believers when the last word we are going to get from Him is just “hush… it’s time for you to be still and know that I am God’.” Like Job whom we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there comes a time when we just need to cover our mouths and worship in reverence and awe. “YHWH is in His holy temple; let all the earth HUSH before Him.”

Not many of us Americans today are very good at that. If there is one complaint I have against some of our contemporary worship — not all of it, but some of it — it’s that some think it always has to be loud; always has to be busy; always has to be noisy. And I know that Psalm 150 says “praise Him with loud cymbals; praise Him with resounding cymbals” — yes, worship should sometimes be loud. That is scriptural. Psalm 100 says: “Shout joyfully to the Lord.” Yes! There is a time for that. But we also need to realize that it is not ALWAYS the time for that. The Bible tells us there is also a time to just HUSH before God; to be silent before Him; just to bow before Him in reverent awe. There are times when we need to just shut it down, and be silent before God in His holy temple. There are some moments in worship where there is just a precious sense of the Spirit of God; when His presence is manifest; and when that happens, we don’t need to clap; we don’t need to shout, we don’t need to say anything; we need to just leave it alone — and just “be still and know that He is God;” that “YHWH is in His holy temple; HUSH, all the earth, before Him!”

In our study in A.W. Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy last week, we talked about God’s “Transcendence”, which means that His quality of being is so far above ours. We see this in every Bible character who encounters God: they fall on their faces before Him: Moses, Abraham, Daniel — all of them fall on their faces before God in reverent awe. Tozer wrote “Conversely the self-assurance of modern Christians, the basic levity present in so many of our religious gatherings, the shocking disrespect shown for the Person of God, are evidence enough of deep blindness of heart.” Tozer quotes Goethe as saying that people treat the Divine Name “as if that incomprehensible and most high Being, who is even beyond the reach of thought, were only their equal.” Habakkuk is showing us here: God is infinitely more than our equal! He is “holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty; the Great I AM; HUSH all the earth before Him.” 

Now, someone may say, Well, Pastor, those instances you talked about those people falling down before God were in the OLD Testament, pre-Christ. We are closer to Him now.  But do you remember in our study of Revelation 1 earlier this year, when the Apostle John saw Christ in His resurrection glory? This same John who personally knew Jesus here on earth, who leaned over on Him during the Last Supper, and knew Him so intimately, who called himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” fell as a dead man at the feet of Jesus when He saw Him in His glory! This is NEW Testament, the very last book of the Bible! In the very latest update we have, the man who knew Jesus better than anyone, fell as a dead man at His feet when he saw Him in His glory! Let it be a reminder to us that we need to be careful how we address and treat God. There is line we are not to cross with Him!

The name of General George Marshall is largely forgotten today, but he was one of the most influential and powerful men of the 20th century, largely responsible for saving Europe after World War II. General Marshall was an imposing figure. Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson recalled how when Marshall entered a room, one could feel his presence. He said: ‘It was a striking and commanding force. His figure conveyed intensity, which his voice … reinforced. It compelled respect. It spread a sense of authority and calm.’ At the Pentagon lower-ranking officers had been known to exit from Marshall’s office backwards, out of respect. And no one of any rank called him ‘George,’ only ‘General Marshall.” Once, reportedly, President Roosevelt had called him, ‘George,’ he responded, ‘It’s General Marshall, Mr. President.’” (David McCullough, Truman, p. 534).  

The President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and General Marshall had a good relationship; they worked well together and were very close. But there was just a line you did not cross with General Marshall.  

If it’s true of mere men like George Marshall or George Washington, how much more true is it of the Great I AM, of YHWH God Almighty Himself?! 

— Yes, He made us and He loves us.

— Yes He died to save us. 

— Yes if you respond to that and give your life to Him through Jesus Christ you can have a close, intimate, personal relationship with Him, and He will speak to you every day. He will be the personal, living God to you.

But He never becomes your equal; He never becomes “the Man upstairs” or your casual “buddy.” We should never lose the sense of awesome respect for His Person, His presence, and His power. There is just a line we do not cross with Him.  That’s what Habakkuk is saying here. When we come before Him, we are coming into the Presence of One Who Is Not To Be Trifled With!   

“The LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent before Him.” 

INVITATION:

If you are a Christian today, would you evaluate your life by what we read here in Habakkuk 2?

— Are you yourself doing anything that God condemns in this passage?

Is there anything in YOUR work or business practices that He might judge?

Are YOU using people instead of loving them?

Are there idols in YOUR life that you have put in the place of God; giving them the time, the money, love, that really belong to God?

— And are you giving Him the respect that He is due? Do you come before Him with a sense awe that belongs to the God who spoke a billion billion galaxies into existence with a word?

And most importantly, do you know Him personally as your own Lord & Savior?