Habakkuk 1, our focus this morning on verse 5 to 11, is the Lord's answer to Habakkuk's cry, his call, which we understood last time. We're going to read again from verse 1, just to hear his call again, and then to hear the Lord's answer. I have one. In the word of God, I have seen the prophet. How long, oh Lord, do I call for help, but you do not hear. I scream to you, violence, but you do not help. Why do you show me injustice and deny me the power? Yes, destruction and violence are before my eyes. There is war. That is why the law loses its power and the law will never appear again. Because the Godless encircle the just. That is why the law will never appear again. Look at us among the nations and stand up! Stand up! Stand up! For I will do something in you that you will not believe when it is told to you. For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, where the evil and ungodly nation, which moves through the wilderness of the earth, to take homes and possessions which it does not deserve. Terrible and wicked is he, of himself his right and authority goes forth, and thinner than leopards are his horses, and golden as ant-wolves. And on a gallop his riders came, yes, his riders. From afar they came flying, just like an eagle shooting down on its prey. They all came to perpetrate violence. The direction of their faces is forward, so that he gathers the prisoners together. I drive in the spot with kings, and Vorste is a laughingstock for them. He laughs at every party. He picks up the ground and takes it in. So let's focus on that verse 5 to 11. So dear ones, the answer I cried out, I cried out. You don't hear, you don't see, you don't answer. I cry and I cry, but nothing happens. And the Lord patiently listened. And now He answers. He does not answer after I have prayed the first time. That is why I prayed. How long did I cry out? So I cried out for a long time. But the Lord does not answer after I have prayed the first time with reason. He wanted me to drink his soul with the anger and the violence. He wanted me to taste it. He wanted me to see what violence is. His soul had to become very distressed. He wanted me to touch his soul with the anger and the violence. In this way, that he agrees with Abba Kik's evaluation of the situation in Jeddah. Because he doesn't point to the right on something. This answer to Abba Kik's question, he doesn't say to Abba Kik, you saw that wrong or you don't see that right anymore. He agrees with what Abba Kik says, there is violence and there is violence and strife and injustice and tiredness and devastation of law and godlessness and so on, everything that is mentioned in his speech. I want to answer you as a loving father. A father that hears. He hears the complaints of his children. He hears when the Godless are the perpetrators of sin. He hears when violence seems like it is safe. The Lord hears rightfully. The whole prayer is as if he heard Habakkuk's prayer. And he answers. Think how much Habakkuk felt that he prayed the same prayer over and over. And then he hears it. Oh, this is a word. I hear this answer. But the fact that the Lord did not judge me, because I did not understand that particular situation correctly, if I had acted in a certain way, here he complains about injustice and violence and the Lord is saying and being in front of him with his answer, I will now go into the answer, I have seen, I have seen, and I have been doing something for a long time, You said, I don't see, and I don't do anything. But I did see. I will answer you now. And I say to you now, look, look away, notice, I am busy with something. It's like a child who runs to his father's heart to cry. Not exactly the same, but the child says, God stamped me and stole my throne. And the father said, I know. I have seen it. And not only that, the wind blows the child's sails, but it also makes him calm. Because he knows, his father who will do justice, has seen it. He comes to complain and he hears, The Lord knows of your complaints and has long since begun to do something that is far beyond my complaints. That's what I should have heard. But the Lord's answer is an answer that I would not have expected. It is an answer that I would have ignored. It is an answer that no one would believe if it were told. You will not believe it, says the Lord in verse 5. This answer, but it is a great, terrible answer. And it comforts the believer, but it also warns. We are now going to read these few verses, just to see what is this terrible answer that we will not believe. I think we should focus on, we will see who the Lord is. Now we have to answer to that. How can a true Lord help us here? So verse 5 says, The Hebrews clearly state that it is an assignment for the 2nd person plural. You, despise you, among the nations, and beware of you, and stand in awe of you, for I will do something in you that you will not believe. So just as the speaker has clearly changed, even though it is not announced in verse 5. Something like the Lord has answered you or something like that. But it is clear that the speaker has changed. It is no longer Habakkuk who speaks with, I pray you do not answer. It is now, I'm going to do something, they and you. They and you. And what is being described is clearly not the words of Habakkuk from verse 5 to 11. It is the one to whom Habakkuk prayed to do something. It is the person who speaks. It can not be Habakkuk who speaks. Habakkuk can not be the Galdeans, for example. This is an answer to Habakkuk's prayer. And the answer is also correct. Habakkuk asked how long, and then the Lord says, I am busy all day long. Did I complain about the injustice? The Lord said, you are going to face injustice. Did I complain about the violence? The Lord said, you will face violence. So did I pray personally? But the Lord's answer is also personal. The Lord's answer, not just in general terms, general prophecy, or whatever you want to call it. His answer, really, what did I pray for? It is a personal answer. But it is also more than just, do I have? The commandment in verse 5 is for you, as I just said. It does not come from the Africans, but it is more about you. It is a, do I have you? Do I have them? And it was a group that thought like Habakkuk, where the situation there in Judah, they came together, Bibles to the group, discuss the situation, and Habakkuk prays next to the prophet. But in the end, because Habakkuk is a prophet for the people, of the Lord, the middle man speaks between God and the people, this whole, I mean for the whole people, the whole people must hear this announcement of judgment, for the people. All of them need to hear this. But look at what the gentlemen are doing with Habakkuk. He takes their attention away from their situation, Habakkuk's situation and says, look at the nations. The Lord takes our eyes, Habakkuk's eyes, away from just seeing Israel, to see Judah, to see a bigger picture. Not like something much bigger is going on than we thought. As Habakkuk thought. It's not just Judah's dress that's on the game. Not like something big is going on. Look at the nations. Look what the Lord is doing in the world history. That's what the Lord says. Look what the Lord is doing in the world history. Look at your injustice, your injustice is injustice. Go and complain about your injustice. But look at the bigger picture. Look at the world history. Notice it. Dismantle the nations. He lets history run. He is busy with a bigger plan than I realized. We can get so caught up in our own situation of injustice. We say, there is nothing in the world as bad as this. That we never think about what the Lord is doing. Abba Kok probably heard and saw what was happening in the world, but he did not understand. We do not look and we see, but we do not understand. The Lord is busy with bigger plans than we can imagine. I have to see... The Lord is busy, and I have His time now, with redeeming history. I have to see that He is busy with a plan of the final redemption of the great injustice and violence. A plan of redemption against sin. In verse 5 it says, I am going to do something in your day. He also told him in the present tense. I am not going to do a job. The Lord says he is busy doing a job. The Lord is busy, although it does not seem so. I think this must have been blown away by Abba. He says, look what is going on. You do not see it, you do not hear anything. He says here, I am busy. I am already busy. I am not going to do anything. I am already busy, even though it does not seem so. This is such a big trust. There must be a story that I have trusted. Here He is busy. He hears, He knows and He is busy. He knows what you feel. He is busy, even though it is not the way you thought. He must be busy. And here I am already trying to teach Father Kirk something. Reference to... You can not believe in anything else. Or believe. For redemption as net possession. And this lesson comes out in this terrible answer of those who follow me. That is precisely the reason why the Lord says, His answer is so great and so overwhelming. The Lord is busy in all His plans with something greater than what Habakkuk and I and you realize. He is busy to roll out His great plan. He knows a long time ago before Habakkuk began to complain, I had complained for a long time, but the Lord knew. And then He said, look what I am going to do. Verse 5, His commandment is, here is a wilderness, a wake-up cry, here comes great good. I know verse 5, look among the nations and notice, look, stand in awe, Stupid that I'm going to do something in your day that you will not believe if I tell you. Because look, notice, see, be stupid, very stupid. That stupid, there are two different forms of the same word after each other and it says, stupid, be stupid, very stupid. Something is going to happen that you will not believe, it's just going to be too bad, it's just going to be terrible. You will be in the highest form of stupidity. Blown away. You will snap at your ass and eventually, you will become insane with fear. This warning to be stupid, is already part of the Lord's promise in Deuteronomy 28. He says, The Lord will strike you with insanity, blindness and confusion of the mind. This word for confusion of the mind is almost connected to the word for stupidity. You will be stupid when the judgment comes. You will be like the result of the judgment that comes. You will see and look and you will not believe it, not because it is too good to be true. But because it will be a terrible fear on your hands. The miraculous deeds of the Lord, the deeds of redemption, great and powerful deeds, the preservation of Egypt, your departure, the taking of the land of Canaan and so on. The people will remember it and the people will hear it and the people will believe it when it is told. But this will be worse than your worst fear. They are going to be astonished. And they are not going to believe you. And it is going to be worse than the fear of seeing how they rape your child. It is going to be worse than losing your whole country. It's going to be worse than standing there and watching your house burn down. So, I just thought about the mixed feelings Habakkuk had with Netflix 5. In the end, he heard the Lord's voice, the Lord's answer to his call. Look at the nations and marvel at the Lord's answer. And then stand astonished. Astonished. That I'm going to do something to you that you will not believe. I'm going to tell you. It's not such a good thing. And then comes the big beating. With just holding on. Habakkuk probably hoped for some kind of national reform. Again, as you can see there in the valley of Yossia, a leader who rose up and brought injustice to the country. Punish the evil-doers and restore the Lord's justice. The Lord said, Look, I'm going to wake up the Galdeans. It's not a name I wanted to hear. That must have left him ice cold. Here you see the Galdeers. Unfortunately we don't know the Babylonians. They reached their peak. Powerful reach. King Nebuchadnezzar. I don't know the name. The king who led the people into rebellion. And history demonstrates that the Jews awakened for specific purposes. It is very impressive what people see in history. There were probably a lot of small villages by the Euphrates River. Babylonian world. Fishermen, farmers. There is no mercy. And then, out of nowhere, as if just, poof, there they are. They start in about 625, 626, under their first king, and they build. And in less than 10 years later, their cities begin to merge. Serious cities, one after the other. Within 10 years from the beginning, they took over Babylonia, Assyria, Palestine and Egypt. While they were just barely known. The Lord raised them up. For a purpose. A mighty nation. Just as quickly they fell again. It was really a powerful realm. But in 539, Queen Kores of Persia took over again. It is the gentlemen who attack the nations and again something falls, as Job 12 says, he makes nations great and lets them come around, he expels nations and leads them away. It is he who decides what his next instrument will be and his secrets, but a good plan. But this is the Galdeans. And if I had profited from this prophecy, if I had heard this word, then I would have known who the Galdeans are. I had heard of them, I had seen them on my knees. From this point on, the Chaldeans, as the first instrument of judgment, will be further described. The tension is only getting worse and worse, verse by verse. This one verse sounds worse than the previous one. It's disgusting. Terrible judgment. Verses say, look, I'm going to pick up the Gildeus, that the angry and indignant nation that pulls the whites of the earth to take homes and possessions that do not belong to them. They are angry, bitter and indignant or hasty. That's the idea of them, they are very irritated, they are always angry. They are evil and not merciful, and that is why they are irrational, and make hasty and evil decisions. They are so powerful that they can spread over the whole world, and not diminish their power. They are so many that they can just be everywhere and take over everywhere. Without any resistance being successful. And that is why they just take over and take what is not theirs. And what the people need to hear is, you came into this country and got big and beautiful cities that you didn't build. And houses full of all kinds of goods that you didn't fill. And cut out rainbows that you didn't cut out. Wings and olive trees that you didn't plant and eat and will become fertile. And now it will be done to you. These people will receive what they don't deserve, like you received what you don't deserve. Now it will be done to you because you left the right of the Lord. It is as if the people of the Lord now stand in the place of the Canaanites, because they had to take the land. Now you will be well received. The people of the land, their sins must be punished. And now Judah and the Sallaboy, your sins have been fulfilled in front of the eyes of the Lord. It will be punished. Verse 7 goes on, He is terrible and terrible, from Himself His right hand will be lifted up. These words, for terrible and terrible, are used to describe fear that you must have to the dinosaur dragons in Job. The same word. It can also be translated as disgusting, terrible, horrible. It is the feeling you get when you are surrounded by snakes, scorpions, threats and prejudice. If you stand in front of this, you will lose more control than just your breath. It is the fear that you must have when you appear before God's face, like Abraham in Genesis 15. That a fear came over him. It is the same word, a fear. Where you just fall down, nothing else can do. It is the same fear that the people had when they heard the Lord's mighty deeds with the exodus from Egypt, Exodus 15. The people heard it and they trembled when the inhabitants of Philistia intervened, when the chiefs of Edom It was heard as they were trembling. The mighty men of Moab attacked. All the inhabitants of Canaan trembled. Tremble and fear fell upon them. By the size of their arms, they were as big as a club. While the people retreated. Gentiles, while the people retreated, what did you do? Gentiles, with mighty men, led their people out of the land of Egypt. And the other people trembled. Now, the LORD says, He will raise up the Galileeans with mighty deeds, and they will tremble. Then you have to understand the ugliness of this. What I have also understood in the next part, is that these nations think that it is all in their own doing, and they are independent and powerful from their own. It is God who covers them. But verse 7 says, from Himself goes His right and authority. The idea of, we are proud of what we have done. And then they determine their own justice. They do not look at God's standard for right or wrong. They will decide for themselves. And that's why there was no mercy. That's why there were no borders when it came to war. And it was also very rare, the Gauldeans did not have mercy. Right without God's standard. It is the worst of the worst. A pride and a pride without God's standard. We see it today, this is what happens when our God brings you out of your shell. We pray that the Lord will not let this evil that is in us be extinguished against us. A peace without the Lord's wrath. It's terrible for you. Verse 8 goes even further. And Finnegar of the Leupards is his horse, and as soon as night falls, on a gallop his riders come, yes, his riders. From afar they come flying, with such a roar that strikes his prey. The idea is given that no one can flee. And just try to get these images in your head. Wolves and leopards that hunt. Once again, VREED. They come in a hurry, and they get lost. The same with the Arendt, he shoots down in terrible speed and violence, and no one can get away with it. If you still think about it, Assyria will help them. Egypt will help them. Think again. Quickly and decisively. Like the Lord's final speech. And this is terrible, because if I would have known, if I would have known them, of the so-called 28th flight, what the Lord says, the Lord will bring against you a nation from far, from the end of the earth, like an eagle flies. A nation whose language and understanding is a nation's heart of concern, which does not despise the gray earth and has no mercy for its seed. They will eat up the fruit of your fields and the fruits of your land until you are digested, which you will not be able to eat by the king Moses or by the number of your animals or by the number of your small animals until they have made you into nothing. This is what Habakkuk 3 says. Habakkuk has understood what is going on, what is the implication of this judgment that comes. They will bring you to your senses, in all your gates, until your ears are strengthened and your ears fall, on which you have trust in your country. Yes, they will bring you to your senses, in all your gates, in the whole country, which the Lord your God has given you. It is the curse of wickedness. And I have heard it once. The Lord did not say that injustice will be punished. The Lord said, this people will experience balance. What happened to Israel, will happen to you in the North. The good that you see on your knees, it will come to you. It was nice and easy to look at you all the time and hear about the different nations that are so different from each other. They come for you. This people. You are next. It was not said. They all come to commit violence. The direction of their faces is forward so that the prison is gathered as sand. Are you ready for violence? The answer is violence. They come to commit violence. What you do among yourselves will be done to you, said the Lord to the people. With you there is no mercy, with you there is the injustice, that will now be done to you. And you will be frightened if you understand what it means. You will be frozen with fear. They will come for you, women and children. They will come To slaughter your children in front of your eyes. They will do it as a bitter and hasty nation. They will do it with hatred in their eyes. Without mercy. Without a little cry for mercy. Jeremiah 5 says of their arrow shells, it is like an open grave. They are all heroes. They will eat up your oxen and your bread. They will eat up your sons and your daughters. They will eat up your little cattle and your cattle. They will eat up your finger sticks and your firewood. They will eat up your ruined cities, which you will destroy with your sword. Do you get the idea of the prank? Of the horror? Another possible translation of the direction of their faces is forentoe. Their faces are slurped up like the east wind. Forentoe, east wind, west wind or desert wind. Forentoe is the same word, so we can also translate it like that. And it is a wind that swirls. Hosea 13 describes the wind. Then comes an east wind, a wind of those who rise from the desert, then its fountain dries up and its source dries out. It is a warm, swirling wind that dries up. Jeremiah 4 says, a wind too strong for these things will come to me. Now I will speak against them about judgment. Look, clouds are coming, just like a storm wind in his battle-ship. His horses are thinner than earth and they weigh us, because we are angry. So then the little prince of Arendt and Perth and Sput will go with the wind. So I think it can also go together here. It's the wind of the East, Babylonian direction. He comes with his horses, they will drag you up. And then sand, the sand that remains in the landscape. That's fascinating. Prison gathered, Susan. Prison gathered is the word of Ballingskap. Christine, I drive in the spot with Koenens and Vorst is for him a joke. He laughs at every party and he raises ground order and takes it in. To go from city to city and take it in is funny. A fortress is the toys, not what you laugh about every fortress. It is the toys to take in a fortress. A fort is going to cost you. If you take it in, because it is not that difficult to penetrate. You are going to decide. Men give a price. Defenders are going to lie to you. But the Galdeans laugh about it. They are also grounded and on. Oh, it's a... they dig up the ground and build those kinds of rides. With ground, to go over the city wall. That was pretty much the Galdean strategy, many times. And then with sand and gravel from the underground through the city, just all over the place. They do it like it's nothing. It's like making a sandwich. But if he is eleven, then he slides past the wind and drags on, but becomes guilty that the Holy Spirit is his God. He goes on like the wind, from city to city, he takes in scraps, he takes over the world. But... But they stand guilty. Because they have taken themselves to God. They have tried to put themselves in God's place. The Lord ended this part, his answer with that beginning. He said, look at the nations I have, see the injustice and the violence that is coming, but see also, it is I who will awaken them. And even if they are made as if they are of a God, even if they make up their own righteousness, nothing can escape my right. All iniquity will stand before the one and only judge, the God of the universe. And with that, the Lord will finally comfort this troubled, faithful prophet. You see the iniquity in your time. The Lord hears you and He is busy. All iniquity will be punished. Now I understand that it is not yet normally to go to Ahmad verse 12. And he asked a lot of questions about why exactly the Galdeans, they are also sinful. But if I had seen it here, the Lord uses the Galdeans, but also they are guilty. And all these verses emphasize that if the people would see the judgment, if they see it coming, If they had seen the dust on the horizon, the east wind that is coming, the horses like leopards and night wolves, those arrows that come down to take Jerusalem in their possession, then they should not only see Babylon's peace and violence, they should see the Lord's hand. He is going to bring judgment and they who are going to use this word, They will experience it in their day. They will experience the Lord's terrible judgment. The Lord does what He says, He will do it, and He does it in their day. They will feel and smell for sure. How rich it is, when blood flows in the streets. They will test the judgment, the Torah, and the curse of the Lord with sin. The Lord does not leave us in the lurch. Beloved, we must see this. The Lord does not leave us in the lurch. Galatians 6, verse 7, God does not allow him to spoil, for just as the man sows, he will also reap. The Lord looks, He uses the debtors, but He still looks for the debtors, and He does not allow them to spoil. He has been watching for a long time. He knows about the injustice. He knows about the crimes that the church commits. And he sees when you sleep around, or just look around, and you think nothing is going to happen. He sees you when you go around with your money, and you think nothing is going to happen. He sees you with your ugly face. And you think you can fool people and nothing is going to happen. He sees Him. He looks at the people and nations that are so full and full of Himself. He looks at Julius, who says He is Jesus. He looks at you. And He leaves you full of Him. If we go even further, Paul is wise of us. He passes the verse to the three Jews in Acts 13, verse 5. He passes Habakkuk in verse 5 to the Jews in Acts 13. The Lord was never silent. He always has a great plan. He explains that Jesus is the one who will come, that he died on the cross and that he rose from the dead. Then he says in verse 38 and 39. Let it be known to you, brethren, that through him the forgiveness of sins will be made known to you, and that everyone who believes will be justified of all that you could not be justified by the law of Moses. He said to them, God does not play with us. God is busy. The law of Moses shows you the standard to which you will be measured. And the law of Moses can, you can not be justified by it. You are guilty with all your deeds. Then he said to them, beware that there is not about you what the prophets have said. Look then, you despised, and be amazed Because I'm going to do something in your day, something that you probably won't believe if I tell you. That's Habakkuk chapter 5. So Paul says, not for the Jews, that... Listen Jews, what happened in Habakkuk will happen to you. That's not what Paul does. He sees... What did I have to see in the end? This is where the Gospel comes in, it is so beautiful. To see Paul, what did I not see at first? With the announcement of judgment. He sees that the judgment of salvation is nothing compared to the judgment that will come when he will work for Jesus. And we have to see, all the judgments and the lost signs and judgments and hunger, thirst and warnings were... It does not matter how terrible it was, it will not weigh up the terrible horror that will come with the coming of the day of the Lord. You are not going to believe the truth, if the final verdict does not come. This is what Paul saw, and this is what Habakkuk also had to see. Just by the fact that the Lord said, the nation that you are going to punish, they are also guilty. We are going to stand before the Lord's justice, and a terrible verdict is going to come. Paul understands the big picture of Habakkuk, which he also announced to the Jews. Your works cannot save you, because you are guilty. The righteous will live by faith. Without faith in Jesus, you will forever be in terrible pain and death. And that is why he announces to them, Let it be known to you, brethren, that through him the forgiveness of sins will be made known to you, and that everyone who is judged by him will be justified of all that will not be justified by the law of the Lord. The judgment announcement that the Lord has given you, announces this. Go to Jesus. Savannah, Here he gives a small window of how the day of Jesus will be. The day of the Lord. He says, Nearby is the great day of the Lord. Nearby and very fast. Like this passage that comes very fast. Hear the day of the Lord, bitterly scream the hero there. The day is a day of grimness, a day of anxiety and fear, a day of anger and devastation, a day of darkness and darkness, a day of clouds and cloudless night, a day of crowds gathered in a circle against the fortified cities, and to the high corners of the earth. And I will bring the people out of need, and they will walk around like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. And their blood will be poured out like dust, and their clothes will be thrown out like dirt. Their silver or their gold will not be able to save them on the day of the cruelty of the Lord. But the river of his eyes will cover the whole earth, because he brings destruction." Yes, a terrible example. about the inhabitants of the earth. A call by us, also by Paul. If you hear his call today, do not hesitate, but obey. Lord Jesus calls, come to me, all who stand under judgment, There is no redemption outside of me. And I will never throw away what comes to me. Amen.