Habakkuk sees the judgment and wrath of God and the devastation
it brings on the earth and asks a simple question, "Was your wrath against
the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation
against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation?" In the 1979 movie, The Jerk, there is a
character who determines to shoot and kill a random person from the phone book
and that person ends up being the simpleton, Navin Johnson, played by Steve
Martin. Navin works at a gas station and
the would-be killer plants himself across from the station and begins shooting
his rifle, primarily hitting the oil cans in front of the station and Navin
concludes the man hates cans. Habbakuk knows
better than to believe that the Lord hates the rivers and the sea, it is the
sin of those created in His image that is being judged but we often conclude
wrongly with respect to God's judgment. We
make short work of our sin and more of others.
We conclude that material blessing means God is pleased with us and
displeased with others. The prophet is
telling us to make right judgments and wise discernment, to look at ourselves
and recognize that creation suffers because of us, God is trying to get our
attention.
How did Jesus glorify the Father on earth? He fulfilled all righteousness. He did what the Father had told the prophets
He would do, He healed the sick and lame, restored sight to the blind, hearing
to the deaf, speech to the mute. He preached
the Good News of a loving God who desires to restore relationship broken by
human sin. He taught and revealed the
truth about God and man. As John put it
in the prologue to his gospel, grace and truth came through Jesus. In Him we understand those two concepts
fully. Jesus now prays that the Father
will glorify the Son in order that He might further glorify the Father. Who would have thought that glorification was
going to be a cross, God's wrath poured out on the only one in history who
glorified Him? To return to Habakkuk's question,
why did God so pour out His wrath on Jesus?
For love's sake and for ours, but also because in that act He is most
glorified. Grace and truth, and the relationship
between them, are most clearly revealed there.
For a very long time we have taught something Jesus never
taught, Paul never taught, something you cannot find in the Bible. What is this teaching? That if you once in your life or even always
in your life, believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins you will go to
heaven. Does that mean I don't believe
in salvation by grace through faith? Not
at all. What it means is that I believe with
Paul and James and Jesus that your walk matters. Sin remains sin, it remains repugnant to God,
rebellion against the King. If it
matters that Jesus led a sinless life and that God's wrath is poured out on sin
at the cross then why doesn't it matter now?
Our lives are meant to be changed by the cross, not just our minds. Believing is enough but truly believing
something changes everything. His life
mattered, not just His death, our lives matter as well.
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