The Book of Hebrews

Part 30: Be Astonished and Wonder (Heb. 10:37 – 11:2)

I. What is Left but to Believe?

The writer has come to the crowning point of articulating and celebrating the finished work of Christ.

With this, he echoes another urgent call to come away from the soon-to-be-demolished systems of fear and religion. Religious systems are no longer necessary. Striving and performance is done. Jesus has completed the redemption of the human race.

As the High Priest of humanity—in the unending “order of Melchizedek”—Jesus represents the whole world. He redeems our true value and nature. He also redeems our understanding of God’s nature, revealing his true face of tenderhearted mercy. Furthermore, his blood has released us from everything pertaining to the old order, which is fading like the night sky at dawn.

But what then do we do with all of this?

Our call is to simply believe.

And true belief leads to a life of overflowing love. This becomes the theme of the last three chapters. (Using 1 Corinthian 13 language, these three chapters can be summed up by the words faith, hope, and love.)

We’ve already learned that believing involves staying connecting with a believing community where we can experience ongoing encouragement and communion. But now the author will dive deeper into the reality of faith, hence the famous “hall of faith” chapter of Hebrews 11. Here is where we are given a striking definition of faith followed by extraordinary examples of it.

But this is far more than just examples to inspire us. There is a great treasure hidden in this chapter that leads us into deeper into the mystery of Christ’s work. Before we get there though, we must look again at the verses at the end of chapter 10 that brought us here…

The great faith chapter only makes sense in the context of this preceding quote from the prophet Habakkuk:

37 “For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come, and will not delay. 38 But my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” 39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. —Hebrews 10:37-39

II. The Prophet’s Cry

As previously noted, these words from Habakkuk were used by the apostle Paul to jumpstart the entire message of his letter to the Romans. Arguably the most important book detailing the work of Christ, Paul ties everything in it to this simple line from Habakkuk.

In Romans, this phrase about faith is used to explain the entire Christian life. Righteousness itself—our true identity as image-bearing sons and daughters—comes by faith. We live by faith as opposed to works of the law (i.e. doing outward things to become righteous as opposed to trusting in the righteous identity that is already ours).

But there is much more to discover in the story of Habakkuk and the circumstances that drew him to hear this significant revelation from God.

Habakkuk is writing during a transitional season in Israel’s history—the days of Babylon. We touched on this subject in the last session. Habakkuk is living during the time this growing superpower was taking over entire swaths of civilization. At the time of his writing, Babylon had not yet decimated Jerusalem; however, the time was approaching.

Meanwhile, Israel was full of idolatry and corruption. The nation had greatly fallen from the vision of its founders (Moses, David, Solomon, etc.). As the world grew darker under the thumb of a violent regime, Israel was losing its place as a light of the world, falling into its own darkness.

In the midst of this, Habakkuk begins his book crying out to God about the darkness all around him:

2 How long, O Lord, will I call for help,

And You will not hear?

I cry out to You, “Violence!”

Yet You do not save…

4 Therefore the law is ignored

And justice is never upheld.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

Therefore justice comes out perverted. —Habakkuk 1:2, 4

To this, God responds with words which, at the time, were terrifying to hear:

5 Look among the nations! Observe!

Be astonished! Wonder!

Because I am doing something in your days—

You would not believe if you were told. —Habakkuk 1:5

From there, God says that he is in fact allowing this corrupt superpower named Babylon to grow. This empire of fear and control that is devouring the earth will eventually come to Jerusalem, the holy city, and plunder it. These are the same prophetic messages given to Jeremiah and other prophets during this time period.

To this, Habakkuk issues a second prayer of complaint. He asks God why he is allowing such evil to take place (1:12-17). He releases some of the deep questions of the human heart in regard to evil and suffering. We find such things in many writings of the Old Testament prophets. There is nothing like it in the literature of the world at the time (see Habakkuk: Introduction in The Passion Translation).

After pouring out his heart, Habakkuk decides to enter a time of silence and stillness (2:1). He watches and waits for the Lord to speak into these deep-seated fears and questions. As he positions himself into an openness and humility, the Lord responds:

2 Then the Lord answered me and said,

“Record the vision

And inscribe it on tablets,

That the one who reads it may run.

3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time;

It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.

Though it tarries, wait for it;

For it will certainly come, it will not delay.” —Habakkuk 2:2-3

This is where we come to the quote from the end of Hebrews 10: “For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come, and will not delay.”

This brings us another confirmation that the author of Hebrews is warning about the coming onslaught of Rome—even though it’s not directly stated in the letter (and therefore many readers miss this important element of the book). The author of Hebrews is warning about the coming day of Rome’s invasion by quoting a prophet who warned about the coming of the Babylonian invasion.

Through Habakkuk, God is saying: Even though this is tarrying, wait for it, because Babylon will eventually come and destroy the city. Both your corrupt government and religion will crumble under an even worse entity.

III. The Divine Answer

But there are always more layers to scripture. This warning of judgment is just the top layer of the text. There is much more to this “vision” God gives to Habakkuk to “record on a tablet.” Within this revelation is a deeper truth about God’s plans for the world.

In the very next verse, we begin to see this unfold. The author of Hebrews quotes from this part as well. Here God begins to condemn all kinds of evil. He speaks against the foundations of empires themselves, all built on the backs of slaves and secured through violence to feed and sustain insecure leaders.

Such things do not originate from God’s heart. They were never part of his plan for the world.

He begins his answer to Habakkuk by highlighting the sin of pride:

4 Behold, as for the proud one,

His soul is not right within him;

But the righteous will live by his faith. —Habakkuk 2:4

The Lord is first responding to Habakkuk’s deeper questions by exposing the root of all evil, which is pride itself. This is what causes the human “soul” to not be “right”—or as it should be.

The prideful soul believes it can become like God on its own (which means it believes it is lacking something). This goes back to the Tree of Knowledge. It leads to self-effort and independence. From there it branches into all the twisted pathways of religion, political corruption, violence, slavery, and other forms of injustice.

Nonetheless, God has a plan that involves a different pathway. The path of living by faith. Specifically, his faith. In the original text, this passage can be interpreted as saying the righteous will live by God’s faith.

In other words, the soul becomes as it should be by living according to what God believes.

According to Genesis 1, God believes we are very good. This is because we are his beloved image and likeness. We are his children who bear divine DNA. This is the word we are to pay attention to and feed upon. This is the way of the Tree of Life where we live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

The word “faith” can also be translated as faithfulness. The righteous live by God’s faithfulness—not by their own. This is what informs the entire letter of Romans and the rest of Paul’s theology, undergirding a good chunk of the New Testament.

And this response from God to Habakkuk leads to one of the most incredible promises in scripture. After God condemns all the violence and brokenness that comes from pride, he makes this stunning statement:

14 For the earth will be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

As the waters cover the sea. —Habakkuk 2:14

This is where we start to uncover a deeper message within the prophet’s revelation. While many people think this verse is promising that the glory of Lord will one day fill the earth, that is not what the text is saying… God is telling Habakkuk that one day the earth will be filled with the knowledge—or “awareness”—of the glory of the Lord.

This means the glory of the Lord already fills the whole earth as the waters cover the sea … however, people do not see it or believe in it yet.

But one day they will …

This correlates to something the prophet Isaiah experiences when he was taken up into the throne room of God. There he received a heavenly perspective as he heard the angels cry out these incredible words: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:1-3). Amazingly, Isaiah was later given the same exact promise as Habakkuk, word for word (see Isaiah 11:9).

This brings a whole new understanding on the beginning of God’s answer to Habakkuk’s cry over the problem of evil. He condemned the brokenness perspective of pride and then said, “The righteous will live by his faith.”

The righteous are those who trust in what God sees and declares. When God looks at the world, he sees his glory everywhere. This is because he still sees his original blessing on creation, specifically the centerpiece of creation—humanity—who carries the image of Christ within.

• As we see in the prophetic language of Solomon’s Song of Songs, our King has eyes like “doves besides streams of water, bathed in milk” (5:12). God beholds us through the perspective of His Spirit, washed in the truth of his own Word.

IV. Faith that Treads Mountains

As the book of Habakkuk progresses, God declares that he will bring about a final destruction to Babylon. A promise of restoration enters this visionary response from God. Like other prophets during the time, Habakkuk receives confirmation that Israel itself will be redeemed.

This brings us back to the literal interpretation of the prophecy—which all came true. Babylon did eventually destroy Jerusalem and bring the people into exile. 70 years later, however, the nation of Israel began to be restored.

The same holds true to Israel during the time of the book of Hebrews. Israel was eventually destroyed by Rome in 70 A.D. and brought into exile. However, in 1948, almost 2000 years later, Israel began to be restored as a nation.

Just these facts alone testify to us that there is a beautiful promise of redemption in the face of the world’s evils. The prideful empires of man will not stand the test of time. Babylon no longer exists. The Roman Empire is ancient history. The small and weak nation of Israel, however, lives on.

This is a testimony of victory even in a world that still chooses the path of pride. The way of self-effort that seeks glory through our own strength—and thus loses sight of the true glory we already have—will never succeed. It may look like it does for a season, but resurrection will always follow the crucifixions caused by evil. This is a huge part of the meaning of Habakkuk—that all things will be well in the end.

However, this takes us even further into the real message of the book. This is not just about Israel or some general hope for the future. This amazing message of “faith” is tied to the finished work of Christ and his own crucifixion and resurrection.

There’s an amazing insight that comes when we look at how the apostles quote Habakkuk in the book of Acts. In Paul’s first recorded sermon, he talks about the death and resurrection of Christ with a group of Jewish people who were having a hard time believing the message. He says this to them:

40 “Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: 41 ‘Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’” —Acts 13:40-41

These were God’s very first words to Habakkuk. At first, we saw that this was a terrifying warning. God was saying, Behold, I am doing something you will never believe…and we took this to mean Babylon was going to literally destroy the nation.

However, Paul takes this passage and now applies to his message of Jesus’s death and resurrection! The real meaning of Habakkuk’s vision is the redemptive work of Christ.

It turns out the whole epic drama of Israel’s exile into Babylon and restoration into the Promised Land (and even the repeat of Roman invasion followed by the 20th century restoration) is really pointing Jesus’s death and resurrection. Jesus was exiled from the land of the living through a crucifixion accomplished by the hands of a wicked empire (in partnership with corrupt religion). Yet he triumphed over this evil through his resurrection!

As we’ve learned in Hebrews, Jesus did this as our High Priest, our global Representative. Jesus entered into all the evil and suffering that is caused by pride. He represented us and therefore took the sin of the whole prideful world on himself. He forgave us of this broken way of life.

However, when he resurrected, it was also the whole world being resurrected with him. His resurrection proves that our broken ways are not the end of the story. We are now forgiven and restored to our true identity as beloved children of God.

In God’s eyes, through Christ, we are as we ought to be. He loves us and sees us as holy as his Son! Our corrupt politics, religions, fears, and insecurities are all buried in the grave. The truth is that there is a new world of hope already begun in Christ.

The righteous enter this world by faith.

This is the real vision we are to see and “record on a tablet” so that he who runs (evangelists) can run with it. This is the deeper message of the book.

We are now called to live by what God believes. The righteous live by his faith. This is the Good News!

And all of this is why Habakkuk ends his painful prophetic book with one of the most triumphant words of faith in all of the Bible:

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom

And there be no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

18 Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,

And makes me walk on my high places.

(For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.) —Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though he wrestled with the evil he saw in the world around him (and even in his own interior world of Israel), Habakkuk comes to a place of awakening. He comes to a place of faith. This what gives him “hind’s feet for high places.” This is the life of overcoming faith.

Habakkuk decides he is no longer going to live by what he sees on the outside. He is not going to be overwhelmed when it appears evil is winning. Even if no “fruit” appears to be on the vine, he is going to walk by faith and have extreme JOY (“exult” and “rejoice”) in God’s perspective.

• Habakkuk writes these powerful words down as a song and gives it to the director of music in the temple so that Levitical priests may sing out this revelation—even though the temple is about to be destroyed. This is a faith that transcends the physical building!

This final part of Habakkuk is the key to Hebrews 11, which is why this faith chapter begins right after Habakkuk is quoted.

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. —Hebrews 11:1-2

Think about what we learned from Habakkuk. The writer of Hebrews is acknowledging that his readers do not see the full realities of Jesus’s “finished” work on the cross. In a way, he is acknowledging that the term “finished” seems untrue since there is still evil around them.

But faith looks from a higher perspective. In God’s eyes, all of humanity’s sin has been forgiven and atoned for in Christ. We were all buried and raised to new life, with Jesus as the shining example of who we really are.

Now, when the full fruit of God’s Kingdom is not “blossoming,” faith rejoices in God’s promise. This gives a person “feet like a deer” to tread over the mountains of evil and suffering. From this divine vantage point, evil becomes all bark and no bite.

This powerful gift of overcoming faith will now unfold like a flower of revelation as this chapter develops, especially as we see it reflected in other stories from the Old Testament, where even more treasure is to be found.

Follow-up Encounter:

Have a communion meal with other believers. Ask the Lord together for a greater vision of his glory throughout the world. Ask him to fill your heart with the same vision of Isaiah who saw the whole earth FULL of his glory. This includes every person, place, and thing.

Let this usher you into a new way of praying. Thank God for his plans and purposes for people. Declare his Word over individuals, groups, and nations. Prophesy the hope of glory over your family, your neighbors, your community, your church, and however else you feel led.

Celebrate communion by praising God for his glorious victory in Christ!