Habakkuk Chapter 1
VERSE 1 “O Lord, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to you, “Violence!” And you will not save.”
“In Verses 2–4 the prophet described his feelings and experiences at the time he gave this message. That time was shortly before judgment was to be executed upon Judah and Jerusalem in 606 B.C. by the Babylonians (called the Chaldeans in the Book of Habakkuk).
A turbulent picture is being described of evil conditions surrounding the righteous continually. The message begins with “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!” Habakkuk witnessed all the spoiling (pillaging, looting), violence, strife, contention, slackness of the Law, the wicked encompassing the righteous, wrong judgment, etc.—in short, a condition of LAWLESSNESS, anarchy.
This situation was also Lot’s experience in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed because of iniquity. Wickedness was everywhere. Lot’s righteous soul was vexed daily by the evil conditions he saw (2 Pet. 2:8). He was extricated from Sodom just as the city was going to be destroyed, being yanked out at the last minute.
In antitype, the Little Flock will not be on the scene at this time, for just as Abraham saw the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah from afar (Gen 19:1-29), so the Little Flock will witness the destruction of Christendom from heaven.
Certainly these words can well be applied to this “present evil world,” when God seems too many to be indifferent as to whether good or evil succeeds, and permits evil to triumph, the godly to suffer persecution, and the wicked to flourish. In view of this, the prophet asks as the representative of all who love righteousness, “How long, O Lord,” shall it be thus?
*Why and for how long will evil be permitted?
When shall the present evil world give place to that wherein dwells righteousness?
Nevertheless we believe that this prophecy applies more specifically to the end of the age and to the great time of trouble soon to come. The time prophesied when the Beast that was, and is not and is to come again will make its appearance once again.
At the time of this evil, prophesied by Habakkuk, the nominal churches will already have been DESTROYED. Hence there will be no religious restraints nor governmental restraints for the mountains (the kingdoms, governments) will have likewise fallen, having been dissolved into the sea (the restless anarchist masses of mankind). Anarchy and confusion will prevail.
Let us consider the words of VERSE 2 again: “O LORD, how long shall I cry … and thou wilt not save!” Habakkuk expressed the feelings of the righteous class, who were perplexed and bewildered by what they saw and the slow response of God to correct the situation. Iniquity was abounding.
Why didn’t God stop it?
This was their question.
Habakkuk reveals the thinking of the Great Company class in the future after Christendom, including the governments have been destroyed. These are the sentiments of the Great Company AT THAT TIME, who will be perplexed by evil so great that the very survival of humanity will be threatened with extinction. Our Lord's words in Matt 24:22 attest to this fact, “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.” Thus we believe these texts to be describing “THE GREAT TIME OF TROUBLE”.
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*See the study on “The Permission of Evil”, for more insight into this question.
We continue with Verses 3 and 4 in our next post.
