Hab 2:1-3 | KingComments | STEP | After Habakkuk’s second complaint it remains quiet for a while. There does not come, like the first time, an immediate answer from the LORD. That does not bring Habakkuk to despair, but he goes to stand on his guard post. He speaks of “my guard post”, by which he indicates that it is a place he personally occupies. A guard post is an elevation from where the surroundings can be searched for danger. For us this means that we must be elevated above the circumstances, close to God, so that we can see things from His perspective and understand His work. Habakkuk takes that elevated place in order to look forward expectantly to the answer God is going to give. This is the appropriate attitude when we have asked for something. Hurried as we are often, we take little or no time and make little or no effort to climb on the guard post and wait for God’s answer. But perseverance must have a perfect result. If we do not get the answer, then we keep looking forward to it. Otherwise God’s answer may come and we do not see it. Let us look up and see, as Habakkuk does. He is waiting for the dawn of a new day in which God will work. He looks forward to light in the dark circumstances in which he is. God does not so much take away our worries and difficulties, but He adds something to our lives. He brings light into our lives in the Person of the Lord Jesus. He comes in our circumstances. Then the problems do not disappear, but they will look different. We, too, have to be open to God’s voice to notice what He is going to say to us personally in connection with all the questions that His ways raise in us. And to God’s answer, in which a correction may lie, a reaction will come from our side, a reaction that God also expects. When that attitude is there, God continues speaking in . There will be more communications. It is not about a literal guard post, but about standing at a height through which someone is lifted up above earthly events and brought into connection with heaven and Him Who thrones there. Prophets are more often called guardians ( ; ; ). They must look at the unrighteousness among the people and warn of the doom that is to come. In this spirit of attentiveness, the prophet is ready to receive the answer. We must learn to wait. Our impatience counts time we have to wait as lost time. This is not the case with Habakkuk. “What He would speak to [or: in] me” means that the speaking of God to the prophet is done by an inner, not externally audible, voice. With the answer God gives him, the prophet can reply to his reproof ( ) for himself and that he can also communicate to others.

‏ Habakkuk 2:1-3

Habakkuk Goes to Stand on His Guard Post

After Habakkuk’s second complaint it remains quiet for a while. There does not come, like the first time, an immediate answer from the LORD. That does not bring Habakkuk to despair, but he goes to stand on his guard post. He speaks of “my guard post”, by which he indicates that it is a place he personally occupies. A guard post is an elevation from where the surroundings can be searched for danger. For us this means that we must be elevated above the circumstances, close to God, so that we can see things from His perspective and understand His work.

Habakkuk takes that elevated place in order to look forward expectantly to the answer God is going to give. This is the appropriate attitude when we have asked for something. Hurried as we are often, we take little or no time and make little or no effort to climb on the guard post and wait for God’s answer. But perseverance must have a perfect result. If we do not get the answer, then we keep looking forward to it. Otherwise God’s answer may come and we do not see it. Let us look up and see, as Habakkuk does. He is waiting for the dawn of a new day in which God will work. He looks forward to light in the dark circumstances in which he is.

God does not so much take away our worries and difficulties, but He adds something to our lives. He brings light into our lives in the Person of the Lord Jesus. He comes in our circumstances. Then the problems do not disappear, but they will look different. We, too, have to be open to God’s voice to notice what He is going to say to us personally in connection with all the questions that His ways raise in us. And to God’s answer, in which a correction may lie, a reaction will come from our side, a reaction that God also expects. When that attitude is there, God continues speaking in Hab 2:2. There will be more communications.

It is not about a literal guard post, but about standing at a height through which someone is lifted up above earthly events and brought into connection with heaven and Him Who thrones there. Prophets are more often called guardians (Isa 21:8 ; 11; Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17 ; Eze 33:2-3). They must look at the unrighteousness among the people and warn of the doom that is to come. In this spirit of attentiveness, the prophet is ready to receive the answer.

We must learn to wait. Our impatience counts time we have to wait as lost time. This is not the case with Habakkuk. “What He would speak to [or: in] me” means that the speaking of God to the prophet is done by an inner, not externally audible, voice. With the answer God gives him, the prophet can reply to his reproof (Hab 1:13-17) for himself and that he can also communicate to others.

The Vision Must Be Recorded

Habakkuk receives answer from the LORD. How long he has waited, is not said. The answer comes in a vision, an inner perceptible revelation of God. He receives a visible message. That answer is not only for him, but also for others, that is for the people. That is why he is commissioned to record the vision. He must not write this vision down on paper, but inscribe it on stone tablets.

By recording it, the vision will be preserved for the future, and by inscribing it, it will be indelible and will not be lost (Isa 30:8; Exo 17:14; Psa 102:18; Jer 30:2). At the same time, the vision does not become dependent on people’s memory. The reason for writing it down is given in Hab 2:3.

It must also be recorded clearly (cf. Deu 27:8). The message is so important, that any misunderstanding or careless passing must be excluded. The fact that it must be readable for someone who runs by quickly has to do with the short time that remains before fulfillment comes. Whoever reads it must pass it on. It is a message of joy for Israel. After all, the downfall of the enemy means the deliverance of Israel.

In the answer we see some important principles:

1. The vision or the prophecy must be clearly announced.

2. Everything will remain a vision for a certain time, that is, for the time being unfulfilled.

3. During this time, the man of the world will grow in his pride and thereby become ripe for the judgment of God.

4. During this time, the righteous will live by his faith.

5. At the appointed time, determined by God, the announced vision will be fulfilled. It is therefore rewarding to wait for this goal to come to pass.

The Appointed Time

“The vision is yet for the appointed time” means that deliverance will not come immediately, but that patience is needed. But it is certain that it will come. God will make the vision of the extermination of the disciplinary rod, Babylon, reality. After seventy years, Babylon will be conquered by the Medes and the Persians. God’s intention cannot be hastened or delayed. It will be fulfilled at the “appointed time”.

The appointed time is also the designated end time. That is “the goal”. This is the double bottom of the prophecy. “The goal” has a deeper meaning than just a short-term event. It is about the coming of Christ and the establishment of the realm of peace (Hab 2:14). This is apparent from the quotation of the last part of this verse in the letter to the Hebrews (Heb 10:37). There it appears that this verse is about the second coming of Christ. God has appointed a time for the second coming of Christ, who will fulfill all promises. We see here that Jesus Christ is the content of the vision.

“Though it tarries” is quoted in Hebrews 10 from the Septuagint and changed to “for yet in a very little while”. The “vision” makes the believer today look forward to Him, to His coming, as an event that is near. When He returns, He will rectify everything. In the end time, the wicked will be judged and the people will be restored and the righteous will be rewarded (2Thes 1:7). If the answer tarries, it is because the perseverance must have “a perfect work” (Jam 1:4).

Deliverance does not come a moment later than the moment that God, in His wisdom, has established for it. In that time of waiting, it appears that the righteous lives by his faith, that is, by his faith that he puts on God. We see that in the following verse.