The Wonder of Habakkuk 2:3 - He Is Coming

This is the Truth Network. Bible Wonders of Habakkuk. Oh, how fun we get to look at the gimel version or the third verse of the second chapter of Habakkuk today.

We're going to dig around in what would be the provision, right? Because the letter gimel has to do with God giving us something, and he certainly, as I look over this verse, I just think, man, this is a tremendous provision right here, and I think you're going to see it. So the third verse in the King James version of English, we're going to give you some other versions, which I think are helpful, reads like this. 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. And so, you know, the immediate thing that jumped out to me as I was looking for the provision of this verse is, you know, wait a minute, it says it's not going to tarry, because the way it says is it will not tarry at the end, but before that it says though it tarry. So I knew immediately that that was a very confusing thing in the King James version, and interestingly, that word tarry is completely different. I mean, the word that's in Hebrew, the tarry at the end is a completely different word than the tarry that's right in the middle there.

And so, you know, is this going to wait or is it not going to wait? And another version that the Jews, the way they translate this verse to me is absolutely amazing and really helpful, and so, and helpful, hopeful and helpful. So the way that Rashi translated it was this, for there should be another vision for the appointed time and he shall speak of the end and it shall not fail. Though it tarry, wait for it, it will surely come, it shall not delay.

So you can see they did that a little bit differently. And I love what the way that the end of the, what's called the NET or the New English Translation, the way they translated those last few words, it says, even if the message is not fulfilled right away, wait potentially, for it will certainly come to pass. It will not arrive late. So really, really neat when you dig into the Hebrew of these words, which I think is part of like what we talked about the previous verse, the thing that makes it very clear to me is when you look at the first word tarry, it's a mem and a hey and a mem and a hey. And the idea of that is like, Jesus is going to come, it's going to take a while, but you can just count on the fact that he will not be hindered. He is like, you know, he's coming, he just is coming.

And then, you know, when it says it will not tarry at the end, it means like, and all the way that word end is, is likely the very end of the age. And so you get the idea of whatever this vision is, is coming. And it certainly is coming. And it's not lying.

And it's certainly going to come. But what is it that we're talking about here? Because, obviously, you know, this is the provision is actually the vision itself. And is this the vision like Rashi says, and the vision that's going to be brought forth by another person, which by the way, when Rashi gives you his commentary on this, he goes into a long explanation of why he believes that the other prophet that's that he is speaking of in his translation is Jeremiah. And of course, the 70 years, which I find fascinating also makes reference to Ezekiel and Isaiah, as all different prophets that would speak to the same idea, again, of the immediate situation is Babylon. But I what I couldn't help but think about is, is what it's saying is that there's going to be a prophecy that's going to speak about the very end.

And I think you can't help but miss for those Christians that are in the room. That that's, you know, basically the book of Revelation that is that prophecy is still yet to be done when Rashi wrote when Habakkuk wrote this one. And then there's another thing that I think is really helpful so that you can see that both Matthew, Henry and Rashi again, I think it's always and okay, I mean, and and both, you know, so you got one way to look at it and another way to look at it. And then there's a both way to look at it.

So, you know, really cool. That word yet is like it comes around and around and around and around. So when you think about this idea of what you know what they're going to speak about the next couple of verses, that essentially the wicked are going to encompass the righteous and give it be puffed up and you're going to see that coming and it's helpful to read it a little bit to get some better understanding. But this is a cycle that has happened and happened and happened. And God allows it in order to have what is going to be explained here later. And I'm not going to get into all that except to say that that word yet, that is translated in Rashi's case that this is another prophecy that's going to speak. And it also is exactly the way that Matthew Henry said that it is is that this is coming and it is continuing to come and continuing to come and continuing to come. Okay, I'm talking about Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, you know, pill.

What's his name? Phil pill pot or whatever his name was the port, you know, once and again, and Putin, whatever you think of that situation, other words, these people that are proud are going to continue to rise up and they are going to continue to take out what would appear to be righteous people. But again, it is part of what God is doing in order to disrupt us to get us to where we can end up being what where we're really headed, which is the righteous got to live by faith. And so as you think about this idea of wait on it, wait on it, wait on it, here we are wait on it, which is cool, because it's my word for the year, which is to gather in great faith. And this verse speaks to that in so many different ways. So the story that illustrates is beautifully beautifully beautifully for me, one of my favorite stories of all time, is the is the missionary that was home, you know, on, you know, raising some money to get back out to the mission field. And he was graciously given this beautiful boathouse by a friend and he and his wife, and his son and his daughter and his niece were all staying in this boathouse. His son, at the time, as I recall, was about three, his daughter was about five, and his niece was about seven. Well, the daughter and the niece were out playing, and they were supposed to be watching the three year old son. But they had lost track of him, as he as they were out there and playing the father was in the boathouse doing some work, when all of a sudden the son saw a shiny silver boat at the dock, you can picture this, the rowboat that's sitting there. And so he and so he decides to go check that out. And he gets so excited, leaning over to look at the boat, that he falls into the lake. And when the splash happens, of course, the little girls scream because they hear the splash, they realize that their brother's gone into the water, the father hears the daughter screams. And he comes running out, they tell him that, you know, the little boys falling into the water, he runs to the water as fast as he can possibly get there. He dives in, he reaches out with his hands, you know, you can imagine the horror of, you know, the this idea of your son is lost. And so he's swimming all around reaching out with all he has tried to hold his breath, hold his breath, hold his breath.

And finally exasperated, he can't find him, because the water is so murky. He can't see him, he can't feel him with his hands, he's got to come up for air. And as he comes up for air, he hits him that Oh, my goodness, my son must be out of air by now, because he's been here longer than me. He immediately dives back down, reaches out with everything that he can possibly do. And he touches his son, and he finds him under the water, but he's still under the water. And as he's trying to get him to come up, he's got a death grip on the pier of the dock. He's just, you know, hugging that thing with all he's got. It takes all the man's strength to get his son to release that pier and he grabs him up.

And of course, he's got to give him artificial respiration, all that stuff to get him revived. But after about an hour, you know, the son and the father sitting on the boys, okay, right, beautiful story in that respect. And they're sitting on the bank of the thing, you know, and the father says to the son, you know, son, I just don't understand why were you holding on to that pier with all your might? And he said, because I knew you would come. Well, as you let that sink in, right?

I mean, that's the idea of that's this man in a hay and a man in a hay. It's like, you know, he's coming. I mean, you just know he's coming.

Hang on. He is coming and it will appear that the puffed up are winning this deal and all sorts of stuff, but I'm telling you that he will not tarry. He is on his way and God's purposes will come to pass.

But the vision is yet for an appointed time. In other words, this is going to be a cycle that happens again and again and again. And we don't really know, right? But we do know that it's going to happen again and again. And it certainly has throughout history.

And each time it proved to be something that God was doing to purify his people and for us to live by faith. Right. And I love that.

I pray that actually, as I think about the Holy Spirit every morning, as I kind of hug him and think, you know, as you just hold on to that with all your might. Right. I know you're coming. I know you're coming. And that is how the righteous live by faith. And we're getting there. Oh, are we getting there?

How fun is that? And you can see the provision of that. Like, oh, he's coming. I mean, that is the provision, the gimel verse today. And so thank you so much for listening and taking this adventure with me. And again, if God puts it on your heart to share this with somebody, I would so appreciate it as God is sharing the light. We need that fire to catch fire and keep burning. Thanks for listening.