God's Will

As Christians, many times we will hear words like "discerning God's will". What is God's will? Doing a search on Biblegateway for "God will" yielded 863 results, and "His will" yielded 976 results - totalling 1839 verses.

As for the 863 and 976 results, there are a small portion of overlapping verses (i.e. "God showed us His will" would give results in both searches). A portion of "his will" searches in yielded irrelevant results (i.e. "his" refer to a mere human rather than Jesus or God. Ignoring those parts, we still have well over 1000 verses on God's Will. 

What I will endeavor to is to find out what "God's will" (along with its various forms like His Will, the will of God, etc) mean - and how does it apply to Christians today.

I will do this in a few steps:

1) Classify the different usages of the phrase

2) Elaborate shortly each of them

3) Explain its relation to us

Classifying:

The few categories that I will list is

1) Promise type

2) Individual specific type

3) General teaching type

The list of verses below are a collection of categories 2,3.

Mark 3:35
Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

John 7:17
If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

John 9:31
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.

Acts 18:21
But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus.

Acts 22:14
"Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Acts 20:27
For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

Romans 1:10
in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

Romans 2:18
if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;

Romans 8:27
And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Romans 9:19
One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?"

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 15:32
so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.

1 Corinthians 1:1
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

2 Corinthians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

2 Corinthians 8:5
And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.

Ephesians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 1:9
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

Ephesians 1:11
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Galatians 1:4
who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Colossians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

Colossians 1:9
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Colossians 4:12
Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

1 Thessalonians 4:3
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;

1 Thessalonians 5:18
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 2:4
God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Hebrews 13:21
equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 2:15
For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

1 Peter 3:17
It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

1 Peter 4:19
So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

1 John 2:17
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 5:14
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Browsing through them, you will realize that these categories amount to less than 50 verses in total - which leaves 950 verses in category 1.

So, what is this promise type? Here is an example, 1 out of 950+: 

Romans 12:19

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,"Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

God's will is expressively written mostly in the form of what He will do. For example, in the past, God said in many ways He will raise up a King, the Messiah to save His people. This is His will - this is how almost ALL of "his will" phrases are like. While this may not seem very helpful to help us decide "what is God's will for me" at the moment, what is very helpful is that this can help us create a proper framework of thinking about this whole issue.

While we may ask the question "what is God's will for me" in a sincere way as to desire to know God's desires, or perhaps some of us are guilty of self-centered thinking - Whatever it may be, the focus of God's will is His promise.

By definition, God's will can be thought of what God wants and desires: and we know full well that if God desires or wants something to happen, it will surely happen. Such that God's will can almost be taken as God's promise (with some reservations in a few areas since the phrases are not synonyms although their application might be similar most of the time).

So we have to be very careful to keep thinking of God's will as always self-focusing, for the pattern of the Bible reveals that God is more concerned in a cosmic scale of promise-fulfillments from Abraham to Revelations. 

From here, I would want to branch out to the general teaching type. While the general teaching type may look as though there are little references, much of the promise type are related to the general teaching type. For example when God says "I will be their God and they will be my people" back in the Old Testament, it is always in one of these backgrounds: Future covenant, coming messiah, and a call for repentance.

The thing I want to stress on is the last part: Calling for repentance. This is very general for all peoples: they should repent of their sin. From the list of verses above, example of the general teaching types are Colossians 1:9-12 where Paul prays that the people would know God's will so that they may live in a pleasing way to God.

Or Romans 12:2 about proving God's will as we live lives with renewed minds.

Or 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that says giving thanks to God always is God's will for us.

The list goes on. What would be very helpful to notice here is that everything that is in this category (and the previous category) applies to Christians. Every Christian's conversion experience is "God's will", and the general teaching types are what Christians are called to follow - "God's Will".

The third category is the one that many people run after - "what is God's will for me". The references for this verse is the opening lines of Paul in almost every letter: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Or to stretch the idea a little further is to say that God at one time, forbidden Paul to preach at one place and asked him to go to another place. That was God's will.

While I couldn't continue elaborating on this point as there are too little patterns in the Bible to support this sort of searching for God's will: Many will quote events like Joseph and Daniel becoming Prime Ministers, and David becoming king of Israel, noting that it was God's will for them to become who they were.

I agree that God does call us to certain professions: Paul was called to be an apostle. But as we look just a little closer, it is very interesting to notice that:

Joseph was called to be a Prime Minister so that Abraham's family would not die of starvation and that God's promise of giving Abraham many children is fulfilled!

David was called to be king - and that prophecies are made about Jesus who is the Son of David

Daniel was called to his position when Israel was exiled and he prophesies about the coming of the Son of Man that will crush the kingdoms from before.

All of them are called to their specific positions, and all of them serves the fulfillment of God's promises. That is why it was said of Joseph: After he served his generation, he died. After Joseph was God's instrument to preserve Abraham's line, he died - he served his generation.

In the light of this, I am not sure that the whole idea of God calling us to be doctors or lawyers, or anything along those lines - we really need to think about whether this line of thinking is consistent with the rest of the Bible. While Category 1 is something that we need to anchor into, and category 2 is something we need to continue working on - I suppose category 3 is something that we should only let time reveal.

What is sad is perhaps we would think of category 1 as mere "God's part" which we don't need to care much about, category 2 is something that is not special and therefore we be careless about it, and category 3 as something we would pour in all our prayers for.

A study on Luke 12:13-34

Bible Reading Luke 12:13-34

If any of us own an NIV Bible - this is what the heading says:

The Parable of the Rich Fool

v13-21

Do Not Worry

v22-34

But like all little headings that people put to supposedly make things easier for us, there is very little reason to actually think what Jesus is trying to explain here. Not that the headings are outright wrong, just that it might mislead us to think that Jesus is talking about 2 disconnected things. The study(materials) being focused on the latter half (12:22-34) would be much more helpful if it took into account the context.

As we read the Bible, it is remember that there is a context of what is spoken, such that one verse we would like to quote is consistent with the rest of the chapter, and the rest of the book, and is consistent with the theology of the whole Bible. It is funny how we read a Bible. We pick a few lines in the middle of the book, and then tell a story or give a lesson with little regard of how the rest of the book looks like. We don't even do that to secular story books - we don't start in the middle of the novel do we? But that is what we often do with the Bible.

Getting back to the Luke studies on discipleship; Before anybody thinks I say this of myself, I will just use one line to indicate why it was taken out of context, therefore if taken into account, would be much more helpful in the Bible study.

Luke 12:22

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 

The verse starts with "Then"..."Therefore"...

If we are too quick to label it as "Do Not Worry" then we will just pick it up from "Then" and "Therefore" without remembering those words are actually connecting some very important ideas from before. Jesus was saying something pretty important - Therefore something else.

Before we proceed to study the passage, it would be helpful therefore to read at least Luke 12:13-34 to have an idea in what context Luke 12:22-34 is in.

A simple break down of ideas of the passage is this (there is no right answer, just like the headings that comes with your Bible, they may be helpful, they may not be - we have to be careful):

v13 

Somebody asks Jesus to divide his inheritance

v14-21

Jesus tells a story about a greedy man's life that is self-centered

v22-28

Jesus illustrates to his disciples not to worry of their lives and body following Him

v29-34

Jesus teaches his disciples to be God-centered instead

As we look at the passage over again - let us notice 3 verses that would be very helpful to help us put a "frame" around the whole study.

Luke 12:21

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

and

Luke 12:33-34

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The first chunk talks about a heart that is centered on "store(ing) up things for himself", which is exactly the opposite of "being rich toward God". Rather, see how Jesus comes up with a conclusion that is the exact opposite of that? 

"Sell your possessions and give to the poor" and store "treasure in heaven"

If I may paraphrase it, it is "store NOT up things for yourself, but be rich towards God"

The story begins with a picture of a self-centered man who ends up in God's judgement, and ends with Jesus words to his disciples which receives commendation from God:

Luke 12:32

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

The first idea that is important to note is this:

Who is Jesus speaking to when

1. He was telling the story of the rich fool

2. He was telling "do not worry"

From Luke 12:13-16 we see that Jesus is talking to a crowd. But from Luke 13:22, we see that He is talking to a group of disciples only. There are always crowd following Jesus everywhere; but let us not be confused between "people who just follow Jesus wherever He goes", with "people who truly follows Jesus in their hearts". 

The latter group is who Jesus is speaking to the disciples. Disciples look to their Master. But what kind of Master is Jesus?

If some of us did the "commitment" study a week or some weeks before, we remember Jesus said in just a few chapters before

Luke 9:57-58 

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Such is it like following Jesus 2000 years ago. Jesus is somewhat homeless, and nobody would be surprised that a homeless person would have to worry about food and clothing. But here is Jesus, "homeless" so to speak. Of course His disciples should worry!

Imagine going to work one day in a so-called multinational company - and you see your boss cycling to work in an old bicycle. You would be terribly worried if he is actually going to pay you- and brother, I would worry together with you!

Such is the context as we read Luke 12:22-34. A bunch of disciples who follows a poor Master - but the poor Master is really Christ the King! Jesus comforts His disciples using illustrations from nature - birds and lilies which are worth so little and and such a short lifespan - Jesus assures the disciples they are worth much more, there is no doubt God will care for their very needs. What sort of loving king would neglect His subjects? The earthly kings may do so, but not our Heavenly Father.

Here, let us be extra careful of the context - missing it is to miss everything altogether. The reason why I think this is very important is the misuse of these verses too often.

 

What happens when e have an exam to pass ? we claim the verse "Do not worry, God will give these things to you". But what is that verse in context? "Seek first God's Kingdom, and all these things shall be added to you!". Funnily, we interpret it as "going to CG one day before my exams is seeking God's Kingdom". While seeking God's Kingdom may reflect in that - that is a "blind faith leap" of Scripture interpretation. Remember who Jesus is talking to - and what was it about?

While praying for exams and a promotion are perfectly alright, let us firstly not take a verse out of context to meet our immediate needs. While God DOES meet our needs, we have to really "stretch our faith" to believe that God has in his main agenda in Jesus preaching that "we may get good grades and get a good paying job to support our never ending desire for a more comfortable life".

On the contrary, we have to be very careful, for Jesus warns us that a heart centered on such things(self centered things) calls for judgement. Look at the rich fool! He has so much crops that instead of giving them away, he tears down his smaller barns to build bigger ones to store his crops! What is a modern day equivalent?

Know people who shift homes from the middle lot of the road, to the first lot (the semi D which is about 300 square feet larger) along the same road because they just got a promotion? 

Remember changing cars unnecessarily "to just get a cooler car" even though the older one served you well and you have no need of another? 

Remember how we just go SHOPPING! for things we do not need - when we could use the money better to give them away to "the poor and store up treasure in heaven"?

At this point, please indulge in this part where I really admire Pastor Daniel a lot. He lives in the same house for many years, he drives the same Wira for many years. He spends less so that he can contribute to the needs of the Gospel, both local and international.

Take a look around, many pastor of mega churches take huge salaries out of the weekly contributions of the members. They drive big cars, and preach that "God seeks to make us all healthy, wealthy, wise and everything nice!" It is always Malachi - put more into the offering box and God will bless you richly! Always. No doubt, they live up to it - and they lead many people into such erroneous understanding of Scripture.

Not to distract our focus, but Jesus is the One, who for our sakes - "became poor so that we may be rich". And we would be His disciples if we followed in His footsteps.

There are just a million examples of a heart that seeks to "store things to himself" and "give the remaining bits" to God that we may glorify ourselves to insult Him. But here, Jesus tells a story of judgement for such hearts. But as for a heart that seeks God's Kingdom above all, Jesus assures us that we have no need to worry. God Himself has an active hand in providing for us.

The application questions

The question then for us is this - where is our heart? Do we set our hearts to store treasure on earth or treasure in heaven? Do we love? - and it is most importantly shown whether we share the Gospel. 

Saved souls is definitely the one thing that no "thief can steal" nor "moth can destroy"... 

Every other thing, education, reputation, status, economy, politics - while essential to living on earth as they are(and yes they are) - such are things that will one day come to nothing.

While in the text, Jesus does say very practical outworking of what a Kingdom-centered life is like in 12:32-34. Jesus is ultimately talking about a matter of the heart. Greed is a matter of the heart.

While Jesus does talk about greed in monetary terms, Jesus did mention "all kinds of greed" in 12:15 - this is a matter of the heart.

Before our hands can change, our heart needs to change. And Jesus is not talking about an emotional change - it is about being Kingdom-centered instead of self-centered. Such a change of the heart calls for prayer, and a change of our mind. For God will judge the greedy self-centered person (it is one and the same), but those who seek the Kingdom - Jesus assures that the Father is happy to give it to us, and we have no worries in this life, for God feeds us, and we lay for ourselves treasure in heaven.

Let us pray

Dear Heavenly Father, you are the Creator of the Universe - the cattle on a thousand hills belong to you. You who are rich - You who lives in heaven where there are streets of gold, where the adoration of angelic beings surround you all day long; Even Jesus who lives there, has willingly come down - obeying You. 

Jesus for our sakes, came to be poor, and suffer, being insulted and rejected by sinful men like us - Jesus came to die for our sins - that we may no longer be rebels living in God's world, but to repent of our sins and live righteously for God. While we were still powerless, Christ died for us. We have nothing to claim to merit our salvation or sanctification, but the Holy Spirit alone are able to make Your Love in us effective. Help us God, not to be under the influence of this world, but by your Spirit - help us be holy, to realize that your Kingdom is worth above everything, that our hearts might set its sight on heaven, and not on earth - not on things that will one day pass away. 

Teach us O Lord, to use our finances, our time, and our efforts for your Kingdom, lead us not into temptation, to hoard things for ourselves - but learn that we are but stewards of Your resources who will one day be called before the Judgement Throne for an account. For Jesus' sake, Amen.

Witnessing to Malays and others

"Eh, Joel, why can't Jesus just be a prophet ye? Kenape dia tak boleh macam orang biase?"

These are wonderful questions to hear from your Malay colleagues. I am more than happy to answer why Jesus is not just a prophet, and why Jesus cannot be merely a prophet to save the world. 

Just these 2 days, my Malay colleagues have been asking me different things about Christianity in contrast with Islam (over lunch and after office work is done). Sometimes I gave satisfactory answers, sometimes I tell myself "You should have responded to that question more wisely!" a few minutes after I gave them a reply.

Besides that question, they have asked things like

"What is the difference between Catholic and Protestant?"

"Who is the biggest guy in Protestant?"

"What does the Bible say about doomsday?"

"Why are there so many versions of the Bible, and that there are so many revisions of one version"

"How can the Trinity be true?"

and the list goes on. 

Admittedly, there are no simple answers to the questions above. Besides that, knowing why they are asking such questions might sometimes be more important than answering the question itself. I had no guide book in answering these questions, and one question came after another, sometimes I am a little disappointed when I give blurry answers, but I am happy for one thing - they kept asking questions about Jesus and the Bible. Its good because by asking more and more questions about Jesus and the Bible, I can tell them more and more about the Full Gospel without saying things like "Do you have a moment for me to tell you from Genesis to Revelations?"

Most of the time, the "witnessing skills" we learn or the "witnessing mode" we turn on involves us telling more and more about ourselves becoming Christians - and trying to convince another person that our "experience with God" is genuine. We have to tell them how we "felt" when we sing songs in church, how the atmosphere just buzzes, the miracle about our aunt getting healed of cancer, and the list goes on. Instead of drawing them to the cross, we draw them more and more to ourselves. We learn the trick: People cannot contradict testimonies. You can argue against theories, but you can't argue testimonies.

But the problem is that we are bearing testimony of ourselves (and our little experiences) rather than bearing testimony of what happened on the cross 2000 years ago. Seekers become more suspicious as they hear the words we say, and their suspicion is well founded. After all,

"What gives me the assurance that what happen to you will also happen to me?"

or

"What makes you sure that what happens to you is the truth? After all, you are not the only one with miracles happening"

We then go further and further to ask them to make a "leap of faith" to trust that our experience of God is good enough evidence for them to make the first step... and hopefully they "experience" whatever we experience enough, so that their faith may be strong. Do we not realize that we have shifted the basis of our faith from the "historical work of salvation by Jesus" into some "weak experience and feelings we develop in church"? And yes, our mindset along such lines have brought us to continually think...

"If only I can bring Joe and Moe to church, then the pastor will do some amazing thing and they will somehow come to believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour!"

Oh, if only we knew how powerful God's Word is on its own. We think as though people do not want to know the truth, as if truth does not matter. We are so busy feeding their immediate needs - promising them feelings(of peace, security, health, wealth, and whatever nots) leaving out the most crucial truth! Do we not know that even if they should come to church and raise up their hands during an altar call - you are increasing their chances of falling away? Or have you not heard the parable of seeds? The seed who fell on shallow ground who received it immediately with joy, but withered away as they had no roots? Should not their faith be rooted in the truth of the Gospel?

I remember during McGarage long time ago (yes, long time ago), we were laughing over the idea how church has served the Gospel with sandwiches. So that halfway while eating their sandwich, the pastor pops up and they can't go anywhere. Surely we do not use sandwiches, but do we try to serve the Gospel with Feelings? Most of the time, we think so pragmatically, that we say:

"it is okay for them to buy the feelings/our second hand experience/whatever first, they will come to know Jesus later"

and we do this in the name of "meeting their immediate needs". Come on, I believe most of us are educated in university already. Even a person not educated in university knows what a "con job" this is like. Let us suppose that this believer does "buy" our talks on feelings and miraculous experiences, do you want his faith to be rooted in that? Is that what the Bible teaches us to do?

2 Corinthians 4:5

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^[a^] 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Here is the demonstration of the Spirit's power - God's testimony of Jesus Christ crucified, so that our faith rest in the Gospel, and not on wise and persuasive words, good as they are - they are but nothing in times of trouble. As I come to close, I would like to share with you personally...

"I find myself much more confident selling the Full Gospel, rather than fearing my candy-packed-Gospel would be unconvincing"

Some of you sales people out there, I'm sure you would understand this. It is easier to sell a good product, than to sell one that you can't guarantee anything. Question to you, question to me is this: -

Have I been sharing the Gospel faithfully and truthfully?

What am I trusting in when I seek to share the Gospel? (God's Spirit to use God's Word? or God to use my brilliant life experience?)

If I trust that God will use His Word - then am I behaving that way in my speech? Am I taking the effort to learn what the Gospel is before telling others?

FAQ (something like that) 

Many people have used Paul's encounter with King Agrippa as a defense that a personal testimony is "the way to go". That is a terrible misreading of the context. Paul was brought out to defend himself and then perhaps share the gospel. Paul was not invited to "tell from Genesis to Revelations". Besides that, Paul was aware that Agrippa knew the prophets (OT), and when Paul appeals to Agrippa, Paul used the OT, God's Word.

Some of us work hard in our day job with the thinking of 

"One day, my colleagues will realize I'm so excellent in my job and I get promotions and I am so happy all the time. and then they will ask me why? then I will answer then 'it is because I believe in Jesus', then they will somehow be convinced that it is the right thing to be a christian and try out church"

I hope this logic works for you, because it doesn't work for me. I believe that Christians should do their work faithfully and honestly, for this adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour (Titus 2:9-10) But let us not mislead others into Christianity.

The second answer to that is also that it is the Bible pattern to lead people to Christ using God's Word. Relationships are important (we know it is hard to invite a person to church), but they cannot be the means nor the reason why someone would come to Christ. We have to trust God in evangelism, and trusting God simply means that we trust that His Spirit using His Word - is good enough, in fact, it is the best way to lead a sinner to Christ.

An Overview of Habakkuk

Introduction
When we look at our world today, there is so much injustice. There are wars all over – innocent civilians die because of power hungry dictators like Saddam Hussien. Recently, George Bush expressed regret that the U.S. intelligence gave wrong information and that Saddam didn’t actually had any weapons of mass destruction! Pity the people who died in the process. What about Hitler and the 6 million Jews who died? What about the rape cases around us? Many of these rapists are never caught, and as time passes, people forget and the police stops pursuing the case – and these rapists run free!

Non-Christians asks the question rightly: Where is God? Is God’s hand somehow shortened? God is not able? Or perhaps some will try to “defend” God, by stating that it is really the human problem – God has done His part, it is just that we fail at ours. There is definitely truth in that we humans are terribly responsible for the mess we are in, but is this the whole story of God’s solution? The political and economical injustice we see in the world today, isn’t God going to do something about it?

Our world today is not entirely different from the world that the prophet Habakkuk lived in. He saw the same injustices, he asked the same questions. Before we move on, it is important to know the background of Habakkuk. It would also be a good practice to have the Bible open before you, so that you can make sure what is preached is really according to the Bible, and not something the speaker made up.

Background of Habakkuk
According to historians, Habakkuk is dated about 605B.C. This is a very interesting time:

After the Golden Age of David and Solomon,
Israel split into 2 countries:
Israel (The Northern Country) and Judah (The Southern Country)
Both of the countries steadily saw their decline.

Their immorality towards God revealed itself in all sorts of crime.
God judged Israel by sending Assyria to attack Israel. Israel is forever gone from the pages of history.
God has warned Judah of her sin (and we read it in the book of Habakkuk too).

During 605 B.C., Judah is being reigned by the evil king Jehoiakim in Jerusalem who did what was evil in the sight of The Lord (2 Kings 23:36-37)

Wickedness, injustice and bribery is rampant in the country, and it is during this time that Habakkuk is written.

Habakkuk 1:1-4
Habakkuk has been crying out to God who apparently is indifferent about the Israel.

“The law is paralyzed and justice never prevails”

There is wickedness in the judges, injustice is everywhere! The wicked oppress the righteous, justice is perverted! God isn’t listening!

Habakkuk 1:5 – 1:11
To Habakkuk’s dismay, God revealed to Habakkuk that He is about to judge Judah by raising the “ruthless and impetuous” Babylonians who does not obey the Law of God but are “a law to themselves” to attack Israel.

God reveals that the Babylonians will “seize dwellings not their own”(i.e. conquer Judah which is immediately fulfilled during Jehoiakim’s time). God will judge wicked Judah by sending a more wicked Babylon to conquer it.


Habakkuk 1:12-2:1
Habakkuk takes no such “nonsense” from God and “makes his case” to “see what God will say to him”. Habakkuk then puts forth his argument:

o God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil: How can he tolerate such wickedness? As if Israel was not wicked enough – God will give Israel over to Babylonians who are more wicked!

o Babylonians are going to “catch” Israelites like fish – without mercy! As though Israelites are not human beings!

o Not only that, in their victory and pride, the Babylonians credit it all to themselves ( and their idols) – “sacrificing to their nets, and burning incense to the dragnets”

o Above all, God is going to just let all these happen when the Babylonians are destroying the nations without mercy?

To Habakkuk, God’s decision is inconsistent with God’s character.

Habakkuk 2:1 – 19
God replies! From 2:4-17, God reveals that He indeed hates the wickedness of the Babylonians, there are proud, have wicked desires, greedy, steal, extort, murder, commit all sorts of immorality – the list just goes on!

As God reveals each type of wickedness that He detests, He also reveals that He will judge them with a terrible judgement. Perhaps the most powerful line is revealed in 2:16, speaking to the Babylonians

“You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed!”

(Reading from Daniel, we know that God revealed that the Babylonian empire to be overthrown by the different empires that followed after – as Daniel explained the dream)

Building from 2:2 onwards, the most striking verse in this chapter is found in 2:4

“The righteous will live by faith”

God revealed that this judgment will not be immediate. It will take time – but it will SURELY COME. It speaks of some appointed time, not now, but sometime in the end. But it will not prove false. God’s judgment lingers, but IT WILL CERTAINLY COME!

Meanwhile, the righteous will just have to take God at His Word and trust that God will make good His promise of judgment. The righteous will have to live by (his) faith. Faith that simply says “God will do what He said”.





Habakkuk 2:20
God does not lie, though His judgment will take time. God is sovereign. We who are often so faithless, doubting whether God actually cares about what is going on with the injustices in the world – this is what God says to Habakkuk (and perhaps to us)

“The Lord is in His holy temple, let the earth be silent before Him”

Habakkuk didn’t get this, he thinks that God is somehow mellow and complacent with wickedness when no immediate judgment followed – maybe God fell of His throne of something else! But God replies that He is not like the idol who is useless (2:18-19), but Yahweh is THE Sovereign Lord who is ever in control. Judgment will come, God knows what He is doing – let the earth be silent before Him.

Habakkuk 3:1-15
Receiving such a powerful revelation of God in His power and sovereignty, Habakkuk burst into a beautiful poem using different imageries to describe God’s strength for simply who He is, and His Judgment – God’s sure Judgment.



Habakkuk 3:16-19
Now Habakkuk understands. The world may crumble, Babylonians may win the battle – but God is still God! God will surely judge Babylon as Habakkuk “waits patiently for the day of calamity to come to the nation invading Israel”. God has opened Habakkuk’s eyes to see beyond the “here and now” to be confident that God will make good His promise and Judgment – God is teaching Habakkuk to “live by faith” (to take God at His Word). It is no wonder that if Habakkuk can see what God sees (in a way), the Sovereign Lord is His strength! Habakkuk’s sight of Judah crumbling fails him, but God’s promise of avenging Judah just turns the table around – no wonder Habakkuk bursts forth

“I will be joyful in God my Savior”

Application:
What about our world? What about the rich who oppress the poor – and get away with it? What about the rapist?? Will they get away? Will God judge the greedy American businesses that caused this financial crisis?

God will surely judge is the reply. Maybe now, but most probably not now. Will God judge them now by striking them down with cancer? Maybe, maybe not.

How should we understand this judgment in light of the New Testament? Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4

“The righteous will live by his faith”

in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. Paul argues that we are saved by grace through faith – the righteous will live by faith. Faith in what? In Jesus Christ.

To understand God’s judgment, we have to understand Jesus. It is not weird for the Israelites to expect the Messiah as a “political deliverance”. After all, they have been ruled by foreign powers since forever! But through Jesus’ death on the cross, we suddenly realize that the sin of the whole world goes on to Jesus! The real deliverance was not military/political in nature, God is concerned for something FAR MORE IMPORTANT.

This is unimaginable! The rapist’s sin? Hitler’s sin? Saddam Hussien’s sin? Perhaps more importantly – My sin? Your sin? We are almost going to cry out in disagreement like Habakkuk did! But God has indeed judged the world. The judgment fell on Jesus.

The world is sinful.
God is Just, God is loving.
Jesus takes the penalty.

What? The Judgment fell on Jesus? Yes, this is what the Christian Message is. Jesus – Sin Bearer of the whole world, which is the means by which EVERYBODY can find forgiveness. By faith, we are saved. Not of ourselves, so that no one can boast. The righteous shall live by faith.

Paul argues: By the law no one is justified. Some of us who think we are good enough – that is not true. Jesus had to die – for our sins, and the sins of the world. If anybody could be nominated for being the “most cursed person”, it is Jesus. Innocent, Righteous, GOD Himself – suffers the ultimate humiliation, the ultimate condemnation. Can we try to earn our salvation? No. God’s Love calls us to accept this free gift. By faith.

Whichever way it is, God wants to teach us to take Him at His Word that He will surely judge, even though what our eyes see might not look like God’s immediate judgment. God wants us to trust in Him – in His Word that He will surely fulfill. God is not an absent God like what we would think of absent fathers – they go away and do their own thing, and comes home to just give money (assuming that they have done their part). God is actively involved in our world, but God has a time for everything – sometimes God’s timetable is the same as ours, most times it is different. Perhaps God didn’t want to waste this opportunity to train His People to “live by faith and not by sight”.

But let us not only point fingers at others – the rapists, the swindlers, the wicked dictators. What makes us think that God who is the Judge of the whole world is not our Judge? God is just and shows no partiality! Not with “them” (the other people), neither with us. To start with, when we point fingers at others calling them murderers and thieves, do we not practice it? (Afterall, the Sermon on The Mount equates hating our brothers as murdering – highlighting that what God demands is the true obedience from the heart, not just a FORM of obedience)


Closing:
God is just and God hates sin. His eyes are too pure to look on evil. God’s hatred for sin and God’s judgment for sin is revealed in Jesus. Yet on the cross, we realize God’s love for us is immeasurable. It is immense – God’s judgment and God’s Love demonstrated fully through Jesus Christ crucified. What about us? We know God’s judgment – it is terrible and horrifying. How then are we to respond to Jesus – to God?

Questions to challenge us
Are we going to realize our own ignorance, and turn to God for forgiveness and trust in Him – to stand in awe of Jesus’ sacrifice and bow our knees? Or are we going to continue in our ignorance and despise God’s Love?

Questions to discuss
1. What kind of issues in our world and our lives today that we think “need God’s immediate judgment”?
2. In light of Scripture and Jesus’ death, how then are we to understand the world we live in?

Mark 1 - Epilogue

Introduction:
Mark, though the shortest among all the Gospels, is one master storyteller. Mark is structured in a way such that for the first half of the Gospel (till middle of Chapter 8 - Peter's Confession of Christ), we will be looking at Who is Jesus? Then thaat point onwards, we will look at what it means to follow Jesus.

Please do read through Mark 1 and ask questions along the lines - Who is Jesus?

Chapter 1:

v1. The Gospel is about Jesus Christ, Son of God.

v2. "I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way"
Mark quotes Malachi 3:1 - dated about 430 B.C. Malachi talks about the "Day of The Lord", a day when God Himself would be coming down from heaven.

v3. "A voice of one calling in the desert", "Prepare the way of The Lord"
Mark quotes Isaiah 40:3 - Isaiah speaks of God comforting his people(Isa 40:1), and also that "The Lord" is coming to his people (Isa 40:10)

v4-8. John is corresponds to the messenger in the desert region. He announces that One will come who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

v9-11 As there is the messenger, so "The Lord" would correspond to the person that John points out, i.e. Jesus. God testifies of Jesus as His Son.

Extra note up to this point:
As a whole, Mark is pointing out that Jesus is The Fulfillment of the prophecy of the long awaited God-King who will come for Israel.

v12-14 The antagonist, Satan, appears for the first time in the Gospel of Mark. As readers, we are now aware that Jesus is not alone. This quickly follows with a report that John (the messenger) is thrown into prison. After the temptation, Jesus ministry begins.

v15. "The time has come", "the Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news" - Within immediate context, the time would refer to the time where the Kingdom of God is near. Thus far, Jesus ministry is proclaiming the good news - calling people to repent, and believe the good news. The good news will be the continuing pages of Mark which we will read more of.

Jesus' Authority

v16-20 We see that Jesus has the authority to call men to Himself. Whether he has favour with men, or favour with God - we might not be able to conclude how He has the ability to do so. But from the text, we know that Christ has such authority.

v21-22 Jesus taught (the Scriptures) with authority. Jesus taught it with authority, so much so that people were amazed as He spoke differently from the teachers (of the law) of the day.

v23-27 Jesus has authority over demons. "Be quiet, come out of him" is simply a command - that the demons have to obey Jesus' words, unlike what the media portrays (people holding crosses and sprinkling "holy water" and shouting chants).

v29-31 Jesus has authority over sicknesses. Jesus simply touched Simon's mother-in-law and the sickness left.

v32-34 Further records of Jesus work on healing and exorcism.

Extra note up to this point:
From v24-25 and v34 we are introduced to the concept of some secret. Normally known as the "Messianic Secret" - we read of Jesus making effort to conceal His identity for some reason. Yet, we also see that Jesus continues to do works that demonstrate His Deity.

v35 After a whole day (cf. v32 evening) of ministry, Jesus departs to a place where He could pray. He departs early in the morning while it was still dark, perhaps He did not want anybody to see Him, and simply to be alone for some time with God in prayer.

v36-39 Everybody is looking for Jesus. From previous verses, it is most probable that there were more diseases to be healed and demons to be casted out. The disciples were eager about it - but Jesus had a different focus. Jesus plainly declared that His purpose of coming was to preach (the Gospel - the Good News), to teach. Jesus continues to teach (primary focus) and drive out demons.

v40 -45 Though the main aim of Jesus was to preach, the people continued to come to Jesus for their physical ailments. "Filled with compassion", Jesus continues to heal the people - yet the man who once had leprosy did not obey Christ's word, so much so that what he thought of as "spreading the good news" became a hindrance to Jesus ministry.
v44 - This is an Old Testament Law from Lev 13:49 and Lev 14 concerning lepers who are healed.

Chapter Summary:
Jesus fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus Authority (call men, teach, heal, drive out demons) and the centrality of preaching the Gospel.

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