Live by Faith
When shopping at Piggly Wiggly, Publix, Wal-Mart, or Winn-Dixie, most of us pay with credit cards. Of course, whatever we charge on those cards has to be paid back. Believe it or not, there is a freely given, exchangeable credit that can be used to secure our ticket to heaven. Just what exactly is that supernatural, non-monetary medium of exchange, one might ask?
Well, it is not riches. It is not doing good works. It is not doing good deeds or even living an exemplary life—not that those are in any way negative things. It's just that those attributes or traits do not, nor will not, purchase the key that opens the gates to heaven. So what is this wonderful, redeemable 'currency' we can gain?
The blood of Jesus was shed as payment for the sins of everyone. However, as we know, only some of us will see the brighter side of heaven. Others will feel the fires of hell. The Bible offers many examples of the necessary spiritual currency we must have—a true faith in Christ. Yes, the way to gain eternal salvation is freely offered, but we must believe our faith into existence. That is how we 'earn' this currency.
Acting in faith, praying for our faith and the faith of others, are also rewardable attributes. God has given us His Word, in our hearts and from our Bibles, so that while we are here on the earth, our faith in Christ will prove to be the currency that will purchase our individual, eternal life in heaven. I specifically mention 'individual' because we cannot pray someone else into heaven. We can pray for their salvation, but it is their personal response to the will of the Holy Spirit that becomes the deciding factor.
Galatians 2:20, New King James Version. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
So, is Christian faith explained and/or limited by the New Testament alone? No!
The Old Testament book of Habakkuk, written 2,600 years ago, is an ancient Bible text that reveals startling connections of examples of faith for us today. In this book of the minor prophets, Habakkuk records a dialogue between the prophet and God. Imagine God and a man having a One-on-one discussion. What better, first hand, evidence to base the definition of human faith upon! It all begins with a series of difficult expressions of Habakkuk's deep doubts and concerns over the unchecked evils within his society. Evils, I must add, much the same as the evils we face today.
The eighth book of the Bible's 12 minor prophets, Habakkuk probably composed this work late in the 7th century BC. Contrary to several other prophets, Habakkuk penned a humbly short book. While waiting for and expecting an eventual judgment of Babylon, he received a vision that evoked memories of past deliverance—both from a historical and a godly view. His book of prophecy carried a “Christ-like” message several centuries prior to the virgin birth of Jesus. The components of Habakkuk's epistle are vital, since it carried God’s message to the people. The first two of three short chapters reflect a dialogue between him and God.
By way of comment, the title of this lesson could also be a simple, “Why God?” Or it could be “The Just Shall Live by Faith.” But the message within is that we should live by faith and obedience.
Millions of warriors and civilians have died in America's numerous wars. In the shadows of those tragic conflicts, there have been deaths from hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, floods, heatwaves, and winter storms. Then, and even in today's tumultuous times with the persistent and ever changing COVID-19 troubles, people often ask, “Why does God allow the sufferings of these calamities?
Our Almighty Father doesn’t mind us voicing questions, but when any questions or doubts crowd out our faith in Him—that is sinful. Habakkuk's book relates the answers the prophet received from God regarding why He allows injustice.
Even among devout Christians, who of us has thoroughly studied the Old Testament book of Habakkuk? In the Protestant King James Version, he is mentioned only twice. Other Bible translations claim that God instructed him to bring food to Daniel in the Lion's Den. In fact, in the New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, he is purported to be sitting with Daniel as the lions pace around them. These differing versions of the Book of Daniel, which place Habakkuk in that situation, generally have fourteen chapters, two more than the twelve chapters of the New King James version.
What we actually know is, he was the eighth of the twelve minor prophets in the Bible. His three short chapters warn Judah of impending doom. Habakkuk's main prophecy was directed against the kingdoms of Babylon, Persia and Media, which grew into terrible warring powers that conquered the Land of Israel and the rest of the ancient world.
The Book of Amos had also foretold the northern kingdom that injustice would bring judgment. This proved correct in 722 BC. Assyria swept the northern kingdom away. The Book of Amos had warned the people of Israel by saying, in part, “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live—remember justice in the gate, and it may be that the Lord of hosts will be gracious” (Amos 5:14, 15).
Over a hundred years later, the southern kingdom of Judah is blamable for the same offenses. They had learned nothing. The state of affairs Habakkuk faced was the impending invasion of the southern kingdom of Judah by the Chaldeans, who are sometimes referred to as Babylonians.
Chaldea was a small country that existed between the late 10th, or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BC. After which, the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into the native population of Babylonia. Chaldea was located in the marshy land of the far southeastern corner of Mesopotamia and briefly came to rule all of Babylon.
The Lord had revealed to Habakkuk beforehand that Judah was going to be punished for her sin. This invasion finally happened at the end of the sixth century BC, and Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.
So Habakkuk, in his day, could have said to Judah: The just shall live by his goodness! The just shall live by executing justice in the gate! And he would not have been wrong. For it is a thoroughly biblical teaching that people whose everyday lives are not changed by the Holy Spirit will not inherit eternal life (Galatians 5:21). So in truth, we do gain our eternal lives by faith and becoming better people reflecting God’s message and by showing our neighbors and enemies alike our Christian actions and mercies.
Habakkuk 1 tells us how the Prophet questioned God’s judgments. O Lord, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises. Therefore, the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore, perverse judgment proceeds.
Like most people today, Christian or not, Habakkuk asked why God did not step in to advert the impending destruction of Judah. After introducing the burdensome message he received from God, Habakkuk cried out in Chapter 1, 2–4 that Judah is full of violence and perverted justice.
Does Habakkuk even question the possibility that this destruction could be averted? No. Does he call for repentance by the people of Judah? The answer is “No,” again. It's too late! So he predicts the destruction of Judah. Beyond that, he even foretells the eventual doomsday that will befall the Chaldean's themselves. He promised that the only way to preserve their life through the judgment was by faith. So even though destruction is decreed for the entire nation, there is hope for individuals who hold fast their confidence in God. This is as true today as when Habakkuk first spoke. Thank God!
The Lord replied, “Look among the nations and watch—Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it was told to you. For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful; Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, and more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; Their cavalry comes from afar: they fly like the eagle that hastens to eat.”
“They all come for violence. Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. They scoff at kings, and princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. Then his mind changes, and he transgresses, he commits offense, ascribing this power to his god.”
In Habakkuk 1:5–11, God foretells what he intends to do. God controls all nations. He swings them like a sword to chastise his people. The Chaldeans will come against Judah as God’s rod of correction.
The Prophet Habakkuk asked, “Are You not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, you have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he? Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them?”
“They take up all of them with a hook, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore, they rejoice and are glad. Therefore, they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet; Because, by them, their share is sumptuous and their food is plentiful. Shall they therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations without pity?”
Habakkuk announces that the just shall live by faith by saying, I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.
Then the Lord answered Habakkuk and directed this warning: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. Woe to the Wicked.”
“Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man, and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, He gathers to himself all nations And heaps up for himself all peoples.”
The nations wearied themselves in vain to fill the earth with their fame and power. So in answer to Habakkuk’s protests, God assures him that the pride of the Chaldeans will come to a woeful end and that any in Judah who humbly trusts God will gain his life. “The just shall live by his faith.”
Remember that Habakkuk’s prophecy began with his spoken attack on Judah’s violence, strife, and perverted justice. You might expect that when he came to tell the people how to be saved in the judgment, he said, “Cease being violent! Show justice to your fellow man by ceasing all strife!” That was similar to what Amos had said in the third book of the minor prophets. But Habakkuk doesn’t say that. Was it because the people had already drifted too far away from God?
When the judgment is certain and the question is, “How can I gain my life before the wrath of a holy God?” Habakkuk’s answer—is to trust God. “The just shall live by his faith.” According to Habakkuk, Old Testament faith implies two things. One is that all those who are righteous are also ones who have faith in God. Having a righteous standing before God always includes faith in God. The other idea that Habakkuk implies is that faith is what saves us from God’s wrath. Not on a day-to-day basis, but at our singularly most important time—the Day of Judgment.
Habakkuk’s third chapter is a prayer in response to what he has heard. But it is more than his own personal prayer. It is intended as a psalm to be used in worship. When it says, “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth,” it means (to some scholars) that the prayer is to be used with musical accompaniment with a spirit of excitement and triumph.
Within verse 2, Habakkuk shows a reverent, healthy fear of the judgment of God. So he prays that in the midst of wrath, God will have mercy.
Then in verses 3 to 15, he sings about the greatness of God’s power, and especially his power to save. This is exemplified by verse 13: “Thou went forth for the salvation of thy people, for the salvation of thine anointed. Thou did crush the head of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck.” The prophet knew God’s power from his work in the past, and so he counted on his ultimate victory in the future.
Verse 16 states that even though his body trembles at the thought of the invasion, he “waits quietly” for what must be.
In troublesome times, this is exactly what we should do. That—and pray for God's will to be done.
Finally, in chapter three, Habakkuk breaks out into a wonderful song of faith: Though the fig tree do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like hinds’ feet, he makes me tread upon my high places.
In other words, no matter how severe the tribulations are when the Chaldeans invade the land, Habakkuk will never stop trusting God. Even in a nationwide wrath, God will show mercy to those who trust him and rejoice in him alone. Even though the enemies may enjoy prosperity for a few seasons, as the victors over Judah, all the proud, whether Jew, Babylonian, or Gentile, will perish in the judgment.
But the positive side is stressed as well, specifically, “the just shall live by his faith.”
The New Testament reinforces Habakkuk's prophecy of promise into our lives under Christ Jesus, “It is appointed for me to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Those who resist God are “storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5). The resurrection of Jesus is confirmation of the greatest blessing of God to man—the truth that Jesus died for our sins. Paul wrote, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1Cor 15:3).
When you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, and you give up trying to lead your own life by establishing your own worth, but instead surrender your heart to Christ, you are headed down the path to salvation. Trust Jesus for your salvation and three things happen immediately. Your sin receives its deserved condemnation, God’s righteousness receives its deserved glorification, and you receive your undeserved justification.
Habakkuk’s Old Testament message beats with the heart of the gospel, but Jesus had not yet been revealed. Habakkuk, on his own, could not explicitly express how righteousness and faith are related. He simply said, “Righteous people have faith, and this faith saves them.” But God had, in general, revealed it to him, and so he then proclaimed it. The heart of the gospel is that God's required righteousness comes solely by faith. It is only possible for us sinners to gain life in heaven, after our earthly death, because Christ died for our sins. Genesis 15:6 says, “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”
Therefore, is there any need to ask yourself: Would I gain my life before this Holy God if I died tonight? Or am I ready to take my stand in the divine courtroom and hear the Judge pass an eternal sentence on me? For you, there will only be one of two verdicts on that day. Also, in turn, one or the other of those edicts will be passed on every person, either “condemned” or “justified,” the fire and brimstone of hell, or heaven's eternal life.
If the damning shame of your sins had not been at stake, your sin would cause eternal punishment. But God glorified his righteousness by requiring an infinitely valuable sacrifice—the death of his own Son. If you know how to gain your blissful life on that day, do not keep it to yourself. For the sake of spreading the righteousness of Christ—tell others and offer to show them how to make the right choice.
Is it conceivable in this immoral universe that God should simply let bygones be bygones? Without Christ, the sins you committed decades ago are as vivid and horrible and condemning as if you did them last night. As are the sins you will perpetuate today and tomorrow? Our righteous God cannot merely forget and ignore sin—unless there is an atonement—a sacrificial substitute.
Therefore, God Almighty dispatched His Son, so that our sin might receive its deserved condemnation, and God's righteousness might receive the merited glorification.
Only when you trust in Christ, do you receive undeserved justification. “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
The just shall live by faith is Habakkuk's primary lesson about when judgment day comes. When God's true seed, Jesus Christ, comes to full fruition in the New Testament, we see that the reason they live and die by faith is that they just are justified by faith in Christ, Lord Jesus.
It is easy to visualize Habakkuk and the Apostle Paul sharing a heavenly conversation in total agreement. Paul summed it all up in Romans 1:16-17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Paul also said, in 3:21-26, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be the rightful Justifier of the ones who have faith in Jesus.”
Demonstrate your faith through Christian prayers; some for yourself, certainly, but mostly pray for the well being, happiness, and salvation of others, friend and foe alike.
Demonstrate your faith through what you say. Hopefully, you'll vocalize a diamond hard faith cushioned in open compassion for the needs and feelings of others at every opportunity.
Demonstrate your faith through what you do, not only for Christ's sake, but for the sake of others.
Demonstrated faith is the currency that saves souls.
The End, Amen!
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