HABAKKUK 2:2-4
2 Then the LORD replied:
“Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald [a] may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it [b] will certainly come and will not delay.
4 “See, he is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous will live by his faith [c] –
The righteous shall live by faith.
What is faith?
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1 ESV
What does it mean that the righteous shall live by faith in this passage?
Habakkuk needs faith in a time when he doesn’t understand why things have to happen the way they do… But sometimes we need to have faith that whatever happens, God is in control.
The righteous shall live by faith.
This isn’t the only place we find this verse in the Bible. We see it quoted in one of the best-known verses of the New Testament.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17 ESV
In Galatians we see the difference between living by faith and living by works. Galatians 3:11 says “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” (ESV)
We aren’t justified by the law… I wonder what that tells us about the story of Habakkuk. We see judgment in the book of Habakkuk. The Israelites will be judged for their misdeeds by the Babylonians, and eventually the Babylonians will be judged also.
We deserve judgment just like the Israelites and Babylonians deserved judgment.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” Romans 3:23-25 ESV
God’s gift that displays God’s righteousness is meant to be received by faith. It is not something we can earn. Like we read in Galatians, if we lived by works we would fail, because works cannot make us right with God.
That doesn’t excuse us from bad conduct now. We can live differently now, because we can live by faith empowered by the Holy Spirit.
And we see great examples of righteous people who lived by faith in Hebrews 11, from Abel to Samuel and the prophets. We read in Romans 4 of Abraham, who obeyed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
The righteous shall live by faith.
