CHAPTER TWO—GOD'S ANSWER

The answer to Habakkuk is a little of that order. In ch. 2 he is exhibited as standing waiting for an answer from God—
         "I will stand upon my watch, and will set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved."
There are two things before us in the remainder of the book— first, God's answer to Habakkuk (ch. 2), and second, what Habakkuk says on hearing it (ch. 3).

God answers him— "Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it." —that is, that he may be enabled to run—that the righteous may
be sustained, for if God had not revealed to His people something of the chronology of the case they could not have held up under these constant visitations. His plan has an end: "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come—it will not tarry."

So there was to be a tarrying time—a time during which patience should be sorely tried. Our lives cover a part of the tarrying time, for a part of it runs from Christ's departure until now, and the Spirit's exhortation is: "Wait." Now, what is this vision that was to speak so infallibly "at the end"?— "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith."
There, at the outset, we are perplexed by an apparent enigma.  In what way does that explanation cover the whole of the tarrying time? In this way—In speaking of the head at the time of the end, the Chaldean power is before us as a figure of the head of the opposition then to exist against God and His land and nation.

THE AGE-LONG OPPOSITION BETWEEN WORLD AND GOD'S PEOPLE
Such an opposition has existed in all ages, from Habakkuk's day to ours, when it is manifested in the position of the Apostacy with regard to the Truth.
"His soul which is lifted up is not upright in him." —is a description that applies to the Apostacy today. There is much pride and hypocrisy; much religious profession—and little uprightness. The position is that described by Job— "The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof."  This is a terrible position. We do not realize it all at once. It takes a life-time to comprehend the present possession of the earth by the wicked. 

"Now the just shall live by faith." What enables the just to endure this state of things but THE FAITH? This v. 4 of ch. 2 is a kind of complete prologue in a nutshell. Now with regard to the detail, read v. 5 (realizing its reference to the time of the end, when the vision speaks plainly)— "Yea, also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell (or the grave), and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people.'   This is no mere private man, as we can all see, but a public head of "all nations' — an ambitious, rapacious, insatiable man. When we look at the prophets, we have no difficulty in identifying him. Zech. 14 tells us that at last God will . . . "Gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle." The Spirit by Ezekiel and Isaiah says that it shall be "in the latter days"  It is the characteristic of the closing phase of human antagonism to God that the nations are to be gathered together under one head in the Holy Land.

THE GREAT LATTER-DAY HUMAN CONFEDERACY OF EVIL
Daniel speaks of this in the end of ch. 11, and Ezekiel in chs. 38-39 describes it in considerable detail. He shows us Gog of the north parts at the head of a great confederacy of nations, coming "in the latter years" against the mountains of Israel to take a spoil and a prey from the land which at that time will be recovering from the "desolations of many generations."   He shows us further, Sheba and Dedan and the Merchants of Tarshish in the act of challenging and opposing the northern invader. Thus we can identify Gog with Habakkuk's — "Proud man that keepeth not at home . . . but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people."   Now what happens just at that time? Habakkuk says (v. 7)— "Shall not they rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be a prey for them?" Who are they? There is no need for labor to answer that; it is all in Daniel's program (Dan. 12)— "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt."

After preliminary judgment (we must never forget that), what is the function of the men who thus awake to everlasting life? To "bite," "vex," and devour Gog. Those who thus "awake" are going to so kill the great human confederacy of the latter days.      The scene is not restricted to Ezekiel and Habakkuk. It occurs again in Rev. 17 & 19, which show us the kings of the earth making war upon the Lamb who . . . "Shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they with him are called and chosen and faithful."   They will "bite," "vex," devour and spoil the enemy. According to popular conception, the work of Christ is inconsistent with that.  We must never be guided by popular conception, but by the Word of God. Christ is before us in prophecy as the wielder of a rod of to break nations in pieces (Psa. 2), and it is Christ himself who makes the promise— "He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father" (Rev. 2:26).
So, strange as it may seem, if Christ accept us, we are of those of whom Habakkuk speaks who shall "rise up suddenly" and shall "awake" to "bite," "vex," and destroy the adversary, and thenceforward govern the world in righteousness.

HELPING US TO HOLD FAST OUR PRESENT POSITION
A recognition of this will be of some service in helping us in the keeping of our present position. It will help us to receive what is said about our being prepared—make ready beforehand— as God's instruments and weapons against the time to come. A practical recognition of our high calling will greatly help us to adjust ourselves to the various questions that may arise in this time of probation. V. 8 continues: "Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the nations shall spoil thee."   That is according to the moral deserts of the case — "Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil" (v. 9).   There is woe denounced against that policy; and what is true of the general and political is true of the individual and spiritual: the man who goes upon that principle is obnoxious to God. "Set his nest on high" in this case, of course, refers to a public character, and the effect upon him of such a policy is shown in v. 10: "Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul."

Then comes a bit of figure. The prevailing iniquity is so great that the stone cries out, and the beam answers it. We are familiar with the figure of stones crying out because of its use by Christ (who himself is the "precious corner stone" and the "little stone" of Daniel's prophecy) on the occasion of his entry into Jerusalem riding upon an ass (Lk. 19:40). The stone says: "Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!"    And the beam responds: "Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?  "FOR THE EARTH SHALL BE FULL OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF THE LORD AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA."

So the present state of evil is "of the Lord." This is an apparent contradiction, but not a real one, as may be clearly seen when the nature of sin and evil are understood. Man is the author of sin, as it is written— "By one man sin entered into the world" (Rom. 5:12).   But God is the author of evil, as He Himself says (Amos 3:6)— "Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?"
"I make peace and create evil" (Isa. 45:7).   Sin and evil are as cause and effect. Both exist with reference to the divine purpose which is here declared to be the filling of the earth with His glory. The time for its realization draws on apace and a great crisis is forming in human affairs, by which we can see that we are in the time of the end when the vision speaks and lies not. Ch. 2 closes with this adjuration— "The Lord is in His holy Temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him."

-1974 Berean p248