Lesson 6A
The Church in the Roman Empire
During the days of the Roman Empire , when Christ and the Apostles lived and the early church began, the political leaders determined that religion was okay, as long as it did not go too far – that its purpose had to be to serve the state and meet the political needs of the empire.
The highest truth was political truth and so both philosophy and religion needed to produce obedient citizens. Anything that upset the prevailing political order must be ruthlessly pursued and eliminated.
“What is truth?” asked Pontius Pilate when he finally ordered the crucifixion of Christ. To Pilate, political truth, obedience to Roman law and the peaceful administration of law in Judea , was the most important determination of truth.
Christianity fell into conflict because Christians would not worship the emperor as divine, and refused to believe his empire was eternal. Christians announced courageously and tenaciously that they worshipped only their God and that the Kingdom of God
With the conversion of Constantine Rome
Then something amazing happened. The Visigoths began attacking Rome itself, the symbol of the mighty Roman empire (the city was no longer the capital, it had been moved because of the increasing invasions at the empire borders, but everyone still looked at as the Eternal City as the origin and home of the mighty emperors and the Empire. Rome
In 410 A.D. the Visigoths entered Rome
This meant the Christians were proved right – the Roman Empire was not eternal.
Augustine and the City of God
It was at this time that Augustine lived and wrote his famous and still popular
book called City of God
Augustine was born in 354 A.D. and died in 430. He was writing during the time the Visigoths were invading Rome and so he knew first hand that the Eternal City
(Augustine’s own story is in “Confessions of Augustine,” a really powerful book, especially Part 9, where he tells how his mother Monica prayed fervently, with tears, daily, for his conversion, which came about when he was 34 years old.)
Augustine’s understanding of God’s sovereignty and His grace, as defined in City of God
Anyway, Augustine wrote while witnessing the fall of Rome
His prognosis of history:
Sin insures that all things of this world are born to die, even empires and emperors. Our longings for God, our desire for peace, our frantic and yet futile search for a political order that actually helps humanity, can only be realized in the next world. And that will happen in a quite different, supernatural kingdom, the City of God
There might be better governments, like the US, and much worse empires, like Nazi Germany and Stalin’s regime in Russia, but human history, in and of itself will never achieve the kingdom we are dreaming of and searching for.
Human history has always been and always will be a story of the rise and fall, ebb and flow of one political regime after another until God Himself creates a new heaven and a new earth, and with it ushers in His Kingdom, in which He will reign. In the meantime, He is sovereign and His is the hand that controls the rise and fall of empires.
So for right now, we are going nowhere. Political utopias exist only in our longings. They will never be possible.
Augustine believed in original sin. And so government cannot solve our problems, cannot make men better and cannot bring freedom and peace.
Man’s task, with his government, is to begin to incorporate God’s message and character, as much as possible, into our laws. There should be some correspondence, however slight, between His Kingdom (City of God ) and our sinful human kingdom (City of Man
The poor and the orphans should be cared for. Military might should be used for the protection of the citizens, and only in extreme circumstances, for war against another society. Evil should be restrained. People’s civil rights and property should be respected evenly.
We know these things because they are admonitions from God – in the Ten Commandments, and throughout the Old Testament, God tells us how He wants us to live. Christ emphasized how we should live, too, in the Beatitudes and in His other teachings. How God wants us to live has never been a mystery.
But governments are made up of people, and so can be turned to evil themselves.
Our Founding Fathers recognized this and that is why they set up our elaborate system of checks and balances – where political power is divided among the President, the Congress and the Court system. There is supposed to be tension among these power groups.
Augustine’s description of the City of God and the City of Man
Augustine’s philosophical treatise served as one of the most important works during the Middle Ages and into the Reformation period, and to the founding of our own nation and into current times.
{Note: These days secularists and anti-god people lump Judaism, Christianity and Islam together in one basket and cry how harmful “religion” is in society and how much damage religious people do. They lump them together so they don’t have to deal with the unique claims of Christ – next time you hear that nonsense, reflect on the 20th century – atheistic empires like communism (especially under Stalin) and Hitler’s Nazism – how many people did they kill? At the very least, 100,000,000 – that’s at least one hundred million – atheists – not zealous religious fanatics! ATHEISTS – listen, all you talk show hosts and nutty celebrities – it’s the atheists we need to fear!}
(I know, Islam is scary, too! Wouldn’t it be great if Traveler’s Insurance really could “take the scary out of life?”)
Fun Projects for Lesson 6A
1. Read Psalm 94. Notice the parallels between the words of this psalm and Habakkuk’s 1st complaint to God in Habakkuk 1:2-4.
How does the psalmist describe God?
Who is the “blessed man”?
What promises does the psalmist refer to in verses 14-15?
Look at verse 16 – do you ever feel that way?
How is a corrupt throne described?
Notice how the psalmist, in the final verse, comes back to his original theme.
2. Read Daniel 2:19-23. In what way do Daniel’s words remind you of Augustine?
Read Daniel 4:34-37. Nebuchadnezzar’s prayer. How does this remind you of Augustine?
Read Daniel 6:26-28. This is Darius’ document that was sent throughout his kingdom. How does it remind you of Augustine’s treatise?
Read 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 where Cyrus’ proclamation regarding the captive Jews is given. How does that remind you of Augustine?
Then turn the page of your Bible to the opening verses of Ezra.
Notice how Ezra just picks up where 2 Chronicles left off….
making a seamless account of the history of God’s people.
ISN’T THIS THE MOST AMAZING BOOK IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!
Lesson 6
III. Habakkuk’s 2nd Complaint – 1:12 - 2:1
(12) O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment, O Rock, You have ordained them to punish.
(13) Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do You tolerate the treacherous? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
(14) You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler.
(15) The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.
(16) Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.
(17) Is he going to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
(Chapter 2:1) I will stand at my watch and station myself at the ramparts; I will look to see what He will say to me, and what answer I am to give for this complaint.
I. Introduction and Habakkuk’s 1st Complaint (1:2-4)
II. God’s Answer to Habakkuk’s 1st Complaint (1:5-11)
III. Habakkuk’s 2nd Complaint (1:12-2:1)
IV. God’s Answer to Habakkuk’s 2nd Complaint (2:2-20)
V. Habakkuk’s Prayer (Psalm) of Praise (3:1-19)
Now we go to section III of Habakkuk.
In this passage we see how horrified and puzzled Habakkuk is at God’s response to his first complaint.
In Section I he complained to God that the wickedness around him was increasing and progressing – unpunished by God.
In Section II God tells Habakkuk that ‘Yes, I do see what is going on and I am going to bring judgment on My people, but in a way you would never imagine. I am going to raise up your enemies, the Babylonians, and use them to bring about My judgment.’
Uh oh…really bad news.
God even describes what the Babylonian invasion will be like.
Habakkuk’s challenge to God’s plan
How can a holy God use the most sinful nation to bring His judgment on God’s people, who were sinners, but nothing like the hated and feared Babylonians? How (and why) do they fit into His plan?
There are great doctrinal statements in this section.
For one, Habakkuk acknowledges that God is “from everlasting.”
We read in other places that God is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 1, 21 and 22).
And the holy name of “I AM” – Our God has been and always will be – occurs so often in Scripture.
Apparently Habakkuk understood that important doctrine: God is uniquely eternal. He has always been and always will be.
And then for an example of the second great doctrine, look at verse 13 – “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil.”
Twenty-six hundred years ago this obscure messenger understood the doctrines of God’s eternality and His holiness. Isaiah understood it, too. And others in the saga of the Old Testament. (Did they go to seminary?)
This view was unique to the Hebrews. No other nation or culture believed in an eternal god, and certainly not a ‘holy’ god. Their gods were ruthless, conniving and manipulative beings who cheated each other and fought to achieve control of the “earthlings.” They killed each other off in fierce retaliation for atrocities they committed.
God’s holiness is central to our own salvation message – men are sinners and God is holy. He cannot even look at sin – that is why we are estranged from Him – but in His great escape plan He provided His own sacrifice to remove our sin and now we stand in the righteousness of His Son, Jesus the Christ. So when He looks at us He does not see our sin, He sees His own beloved Son – the best news in the whole world!
(I was thinking last Christmas – why are we surprised that little Jesus was born in a stable? Think about it…for hundreds of years the acceptable sacrifices were born in stables, barns, pens or corrals…so it wasn’t inappropriate that the final, greatest Sacrifice was born in a stable?)
How can You tolerate wrong? Habakkuk challenged God in his first complaint. And now here in the second complaint he says he knows God cannot tolerate wrong.
(How do we reconcile God’s apparent tolerance of sin and His holiness? Think about grace. Isn’t it amazing what grace can do?)
Besides the statement of the two great doctrines of God’s eternality and His holiness, Habakkuk also refers to His Sovereignty. See verse 12. Habakkuk says God has appointed the Babylonians to execute judgment. The Babylonians did not just appear randomly on the world stage. They were “raised up” by God Himself. And raised up precisely where and when He wanted them to appear. Nothing surprises God. Nothing catches Him off guard.
Nothing ever happens in the course of history that does not come through the channel God has dug for it.
Because God Himself controls all of world history.
In 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 we read David’s great prayer of dedication of the goods collected for the construction of the temple in Jerusalem
We can see from David’s words in this prayer that he, too, understood the sovereignty of God:
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
(This would be a good way to start our TAWG (Time Alone With God) sometime – we can just read it to Him out loud….)
The Big Question
Verse 13 is an important pivotal point in Habakkuk’s argument: ‘how can a holy God, who cannot look on evil, use people even more sinful than we are to swallow us up?’
Yes, we are sinful, but they are so much worse!
God doesn’t really answer this question of Habakkuk. He, of course, does not have to give account of Himself for His actions. He does answer several of the prophet’s other questions. But this one He does not.
In Psalm 135:5 there is an explanation I love to ponder….”I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. The LORD does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth.”
Isn’t this the best answer of all? Our God does exactly what He wants to do….when He wants to do it…and how and where and all the other conditions….
I don’t know about you, but this verse brings me great joy. I want to just shout it out: “Listen to Him – Our God does exactly what He wants to do…what pleases Him….just accept it and move on! Get over it!”
The same idea is in Isaiah 46:
Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels….
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey, from a far-of land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted….
(Just shout it out – it will do us all good to yell it out and laugh with joy! Let’s all scream it together! “Listen, guys, He does what He wants to do! All that pleases Him! He is on the Throne (not you!)
Isn’t this a great God we serve?
Another thought occurs to me also. We have seen how God confides His plans to those He loves (see Psalm 25:14) – that seems to mean what His plans are, not necessarily all the particulars as to why and how His actions fit into the total picture. And so with Habakkuk – He told him what He was going to do, but not exactly why He was doing it that way. That’s something for us to mull over.
THE NEXT QUESTION
Now Habakkuk turns to the natural world to further his complaint to God. Look at verses 14-17. Men are like schools of fish. They have no leader. (And, he says to God, ‘You made us this way.’)
So the wicked come with their hooks and then with their nets (and dragnets) and gather their victims up. Hooks, nets, dragnets…each picture shows a greater calamity. A fish might escape a hook, and even a net – but how can a fish escape a dragnet?
And then these wicked fishermen rejoice over their catch. And they then worship (with incense and sacrifices) those nets!
Because it is by those nets that they live and are prosperous. They eat the finest food and live in luxury…because of those nets!
Then Habakkuk asks an important question in verse 17 – Will they keep on emptying their net, destroying nations without mercy? How long is God going to tolerate them? And God answers his question.
Here Habakkuk seems to be reconciled that God is going to use the Babylonians – but he wonders, is God going to allow the Babylonians to have power indefinitely? Is God going to eventually also judge them?
Isn’t that exactly the way our own “logical” argument would have gone: OK, God, but what about them? (Imagine a child being punished for his part of disobedience, and he asks his mother, well, what about Susie? She was with me! You need to punish her, too!)
The Babylonians and their Nets
There is a compelling thought process here regarding those nets –
remember in God’s 1st response – in verse 11 – God calls them “guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”
Babylonians worshipped their military power. Their chief gods (after Bel) were Marduk, Adad, and Ishtar. These were gods of war and were given credit for the military victories and conquests.
So when Habakkuk says that the Babylonians make sacrifices and burn incense to their “nets” he is referring to their worship of their military gods. They were paying homage to their false gods and honoring them for letting them live in luxury.
Final thoughts on this section
God does not allow His deeds and purposes to be controlled by people, even His own righteous people. He is and always will be the Sovereign Lord, and is free to act as He wills, whether in judgment or mercy.
But the passage also tells us that we are permitted (maybe even encouraged) to return to God when we don’t like His answers to all the dark mysteries of life. We can challenge our God. And in doing so we can get to know Him better, as Habakkuk did.
I heard once about a woman who lost her husband and two children in a tragic auto accident. She went to her pastor and said she wanted to go somewhere and scream. He talked to her about prayer and she said, “You just don’t understand. I know about prayer. I don’t want to pray. I just want to scream!”
In her screams she would be challenging God. She would be asking for an explanation. Deep down in her heart she wants to make some kind of dreadful sense of it all.
Maybe we don’t allow that enough in our churches today. A time and opportunity to accommodate those who just want to scream.
To challenge God. After all, He can handle it!
At the end of this section – where is Habakkuk? Standing watch, positioning himself on the city wall, maybe in a tower. Look back at Verse 5 – looks like Habakkuk is doing just what God told him to do.
Is He sometimes telling us this? Just stand and watch. Observe His hand at work. (Don’t just do something, stand there!)
NOT GOD’S FINAL WORD
The Babylonian invasion is not God’s final word in His relationship with His people. The invasion is not by chance, it is arranged by God. God has not changed His mind about His people. The purpose is to “bring judgment” and “punish.”
Habakkuk knows “we will not die” (verse 12). The invasion is a tool by which God will purify and correct His people. It will do them good.
Why does he know that? Because he knows God is faithful to His covenant promises. Habakkuk knows it by his faith.
“My God, my Holy One,” he cries. He does not doubt God’s ultimate goodness and love for His people. (Notice Habakkuk’s personal relationship with His God.)
Fun Projects for Lesson 6
1. Read Psalm 25. Write verses 4-5 in your own words.
See verse 14. The LORD God of the Universe “confides” in us! Is that astonishing? He lets us in on His plans. O how He loves you and me! He confided to Habakkuk and so many others – Abraham, Daniel and all the prophets. It’s like we are in the inner circle of the most powerful leader on earth – only that is a small comparison to His greatness. We are in the inner circle of the most powerful Being in the whole universe – and even that doesn’t describe it!
Name one other figure from the Bible that God confided in and
give an example of that exchange
2. Habakkuk challenged God’s plan. Name someone else in the Old Testament who argued with God
3. What two doctrines are presented in Habakkuk chapter 1?
4. Henry W. Longfellow wrote a poem during Christmas in 1864.
He could hear the cannons and artillery of the soldiers fighting in the Civil War. He was discouraged and despondent and penned these words:
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth and good will toward men….
And in despair I bowed my head.
“There is no peace on earth,” I said.
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep,
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
God is not dead…nor doth He sleep….
Habakkuk found that to be true. But, as with Joy to the World, this carol is more about the second coming of our Lord and King than it is about the nativity.
Maybe even more reason to sing it?
How does Longfellow repeat some of the thoughts of Augustine?
5. Are you glad that God sometimes seems to tolerate sin? How is that different from grace? Is it?
6. Habakkuk expressed concern over whether the Babylonians would be punished. Read Isaiah 14 and Jeremiah 50. See verse 9 of Jeremiah, chapter 50. God says, “I will stir up and bring against Babylon
That happened at Belshazzar’s feast (Daniel 5) when Darius the Mede (in alliance with Persia ) invaded Babylon
His alliance with the Persians is called the Medo-Persian Empire.
Quiz #3
(covering lessons 4, 5, and 6)
______1. Daniel was already in Babylon when Jerusalem
and fell to the Babylonians.
A. True
B. False
_____2. When God answers Habakkuk he gives examples from nature of the power of the Babylonians. They included:
A. Sheep and wolves and camels
B. Leopards, vultures (eagles), and wolves
C. Goats and cattle and sheep
D. Hyenas and camels and vultures (eagles)
_____3. According to Josiah, why was God angry with the Judeans?
A. Because the 10 northern tribes had seceded and formed their own nation
B. Because they made an alliance with the Assyrians
C. Because they had not obeyed God’s Law
D. Because they set up a market in the Temple
_____4. When Habakkuk voiced his 2nd complaint to God, he used several names of God. They are personal and reflect his belief in his personal relationship with his God. They include:
A. My God, My Holy One, O Rock, My Savior
B. LORD, My God, My Holy One, Eternal One
C. My Holy One, My Sovereign, My Rock
D. O Rock, LORD, My Holy One, My God
_____5. Who were contemporaries with Habakkuk?
A. Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Zephaniah
B. Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, Josiah
C. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
D. All of the above
E. A and B only
_____6. When Habakkuk refers to “nets” he is referring to the
A. The nets of the fishermen around the Dead Sea
B. The nets that the Babylonians brought to help feed their soldiers during the siege
C. The military might of the Babylonians
D. The nets Christ talked about in His parable that catch fish, good and bad, and then have to be separated.
_____7. In 1 Chronicles 29 we are told about the goods David was gathering for Solomon to use in the construction of the temple. He challenged the leaders and people to also contribute.
A. David prayed that God would keep the desire to give to Him willingly in the hearts of the people forever.
B. They gave eagerly, acknowledging that everything comes from God’s hand
C. They gave freely and wholeheartedly
D. All of the above
_____8. David’s plans for the temple, with its portico, the buildings, storerooms and place of atonement (1 Chronicles 28)
A. Were given to Jehiel the Gershonite
B. Were placed in his mind by the Spirit of God
C. Were copied from Moses’ plans for the Tabernacle
D. Were filed with the City Manager of Jerusalem
E. A, B, and C
_____9. Siege ramps and battering rams were important weapons.
And we are told about other weapons. See Judges 20:16. The tribe of Benjamin had
A. A company of famous swordsmen who could wield their swords with both hands
B. A company of Amazon women who could mud wrestle
C. A company of 700 very accurate left-handed sling shooters
D. Discus throwers who could decapitate their enemies
______10. In Deuteronomy 28:49ff God reveals to His people what will happen to them if they ignore His Word and His covenant with them. In the verses 28-53 what does God promise will happen to them? They will be
A. Invaded by a nation from far away that swoops down on them like an eagle
B. Invaded by a nation that will take their food and animals
C. Invaded by a nation that will lay siege and their city walls will fall down
D. All of the above
E. A and B
How to Determine Credits Earned
for Section 2 (Lessons 4 - 6)
Lessons 4 and 5 have no projects.
LESSONS 6A and 6 PROJECTS
(50 possible credits) Lesson 6A has 2 projects that give 20 points credit each for a total of 40. Complete them both and I will throw in another 10 points to bring it to 50 point for these two challenges.
(50 possible credits) Lesson 6 has 5 projects, worth 10 points each
If you complete projects for both Lesson 6A and Lesson 6 you will be eligible for 100 points. Grade them yourself and tell me how many points you give yourself.
QUIZ 2 (Covers Lessons 4-6)
(50 possible credits) At the end of Lesson 6 there is a quiz – 10 questions at 5 points each for a total of 50 credits. (This quiz covers Lessons 4-6). Email answers to me. Or postal mail.
[As before, grade yourself on the projects (total possible is 100) -----just let me know what points you give yourself-- and email me the answers for Quiz 2]
Again, if you have things you want to share -- ideas you have gleaned -- insights revealed to you, email them to me, too.
And let me know if I can share them with others.
Email: gloart2@yahoo.com 20260 CR 510
Address: Glorya Hammers Brazoria , Texas 77422
Fax: 979.798.2748
