Habakkuk

Habakkuk is a prophet and poet who prophesied after the destruction of Nineveh. As a poet, Chapter 3 is judged to be his masterpiece. The beauty of his imagery, faith and trust in the Lord must be admired.

The general design of the prophecy is to comfort the people of God under the judgments that were coming upon them by the Chaldeans, and to encourage them to exercise faith and patience. Habakkuk expresses his faith that the people of God would be preserved and would not perish in God's designed captivity … intended for correction only and not destruction. His prayer was for God to hasten the redemption of his people.

Judgment was unavoidable; therefore he submitted to God, knowing that He was merciful, even though all appearances were against the fulfillment of His promises. He knew that the Word of God could not fail, and therefore his confidence was unshaken.

He ends with his masterpiece … his prayer expressing his awe and trust in the mercy and goodness of God while undergoing His judgments. In these following two verses the poet paints the desolate state of the land of Judea during the captivity. They display Habakkuk's confidence in the Lord.


Habakkuk 3:17-18 ..."Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

The Doctrine of Election Part II

Continuing with "the doctrine of election" I want to look at three more verses that will also fit within the terms of … "election and predestination" that we looked at in Part I of this study.

Matthew 19:30 … "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first."

You might say that Jesus was speaking prophetically about the Jews, who were the first people of God in the Old Covenant, and He was saying (my translation) that … "they will as a whole nation reject me, and consequently will be last and rejected by me. The Gentiles, last to hear of me, shall be saved through the knowledge of the truth, and they shall become the first."

Matthew 20:16 … "So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen."

The Gentiles, who were without God, would now be God's people of the New Covenant; and the Jews, who were God's people from the beginning, would now be disowned and rejected (for a time) by God because they rejected the Lord.

Matthew 22:14 … "For many are called, but few are chosen."

Jesus often uses this proverbial expression. The Jews had been called, but few of them had been chosen for life in Christ. We know of His disciples and of some of the women who also followed Him in His ministry. We know there were five hundred or so who watched Him ascend into Heaven. And of those believers, they dwindled down to a hundred and twenty who were later filled with the Holy Spirit in the upper room.

The nation of Israel was sinful, and they showed by how they lived that they were not chosen unto salvation; so then the Gentiles were given the invitation to be saved. Nation after nation was called; but even of all them, history has proven that very few of them were really chosen to be followers of Christ.

This 14th verse of Matthew … "For many are called, but few are chosen" … is the end of the parable about the wedding supper when Jesus will be united with His bride in Heaven.

Jesus said the King asks the question … "Friend, how did you come when you don't have the required wedding garment?" Jesus then said that the man was speechless.

Could it possibly be true also, that many in the church today may be without the proper wedding garment, thereby showing in the end that they were not part of the chosen few?

This 14th verse brings me to the logical conclusion from reading the whole parable, not just the part about the man who does not have the wedding garment, (which is still a valid point though) that the many who were called to the wedding in the time of Christ … were the Jewish nation.

The many being called today, are all mankind who are hearing the Gospel of Christ. Those who have been called but are rejecting the mercy and grace of God are not part of the chosen. What are they chosen for?

They have been called to salvation by the preaching of the Gospel; but few, comparatively of all those called, are chosen to dwell with God for eternity … simply because they do not come to the King of the wedding supper for a wedding garment … the righteousness of Christ.

R. Simeon ben Jochai has stated … "I have seen the children of the world come and they are few."

Augustine has said that it is the sole fault of man that they do not believe. "If I be asked why these could not believe, I immediately answer, because they would not."

The "called" must be distinguished from the "chosen." The called can only mean simply … the "invited." The "chosen" are those by divine sovereign election who have responded to the invitation. Which are you?

Let me say it again. It looks as if God doesn’t treat everyone the same.

So … is God unjust? No. May I give one more opinion on "called vs. chosen?"

God knows the end from the beginning with everyone. He knows each person's heart as to whether or not they will ever accept or reject Christ. Could this be the reason it … looks as if … God doesn't bother with many people? Yes, He desires that all would be saved. But maybe because He knows the end from the beginning … He doesn't choose those who He knows will never accept Jesus.

There’s a great debate on this, as you know, which will continue I'm sure until Jesus comes back.

The Doctrine of Election

Part I

The doctrine of election or … "predestination" … as it is sometimes called is a difficult subject to get a clear understanding of. How can God choose some to save and not others?

Ephesians 1:4-5 … "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will …"

Ephesians 1:11 … "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will …"

The apostle Paul is basically telling us here in Ephesians that we have been predestined in Christ as He saw fit through the counsel of His own will to adopt us as His children. Paul also follows that very same theme in the book of Romans. Some of us as we read these two books struggle with the concept of … divine sovereign election.

We need to understand this one basic point … that God in considering the human race in its fallen condition sees all of us as in a state of rebellion against him. If He were to exercise His justice totally and completely toward the whole world, then all of us would certainly perish. But He has elected, He has chosen not to.

The Scriptures tell us that in our natural, fallen state, we are in a state of bondage to sin. We still have the ability to make choices, we do have a free will; but those choices follow the desires of our hearts and flesh. What we lack because we are fallen creatures is a natural desire for God. It's just not there.

John 6:44 … "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

John 6:65 … "And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."

Jesus said, "… no man can come unto me except it is given unto him by the Father." Until what is given to him? The "it" is the drawing power of the Holy Spirit. It's the thing tugging on your heart, the feeling you have when convicted of sin in your life; sin you want to get rid of.

Although this act of drawing is an act of power, it is not done by force. God in drawing the unwilling, makes them willing by enlightening their understanding, bending their will, drawing them with love. We usually think of drawing as applying power to pull or move something like the power of a drag line by force.

But God's drawing power might be better understood if it is shown as working in the same way that music draws the ear, beauty draws the eye and love draws the heart. But God's problem with man's free will (if I may say it that way) was that no man would ever come to Christ on his own; because no one would, without this drawing, ever feel the need of a Savior.

I think that what "the doctrine of election and predestination" is all about is this … that God sovereignly calls and gives the desire for Christ to those whom He chooses. The difficulty and the great mystery in all this, is that apparently He doesn’t do that for everyone.

God reserves the right, as He told Moses and as Paul states again in the New Testament … "to have mercy upon whom He will have mercy" … just as He chose Abraham and not his brother Nahor; just as Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus in a way that He didn’t appear to Pontius Pilate.

Let me say it this way, in other words … God doesn’t treat everyone the same. Sorry. But even so, He never treats anyone unjustly.

God has reserved the right to give or to withhold His mercy and blessing to those whom … He chooses.

In Part II of The Doctrine of Election, I will look at … "many are called, but few are chosen."

About Healing

"Healing" … we all need it from time to time. If not us personally, our loved ones do. How many wives or husbands (as it says in James 5:16) pray as fervently and effectually as they can for healing when their partner in life is sick or on their death bed? What about children, your very own flesh and blood; is there anything worse than watching the child God created for you to love and nurture, pass from this world to the next because for whatever reason … God didn't heal?

I will be the first to admit when it comes to … "healing" … I just don't understand. So … I've been thinking about what the Word has to say about this perhaps most important subject there is next to salvation itself.

This short discourse is my attempt to answer two main questions …

1.) "Is healing really God's will for us?"
2.) "Why aren't we healed every time we pray?"

The Apostle John wrote about God's love and His "will" for us with these words through the anointing of the Holy Spirit in 3rd John 2 …

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." K.J.V.

I have always thought and continue to believe this verse means …

"I wish above all things that you may prosper in the following two ways, spiritually and with good health physically." (my translation)

Several years later when the Amplified Bible came out I read this …

"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and that your body may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers." Amp.

God wants your soul and body to prosper and if you prosper in other ways, great. Most people just quote the part about prosperity as if that is what the most important part of this verse is about. The meaning of the word "prosper" in its original context is not about material things … it is a term which means to have "a prosperous journey" as you travel the road of life.

If it is God's "will" for us to be in health then why aren't we healed more often when we pray? Why would God make it so difficult to receive something that Jesus already paid the price for? I'm speaking of the stripes from the Roman whip that left His back torn and bloody from the scourging He received before going to the cross. I thought He suffered the stripes for our healing?

Isaiah 53:5 … "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed."

Some thirty years later the Apostle Peter must have remembered the scourging he watched Jesus receive that fateful morning before his Lord was crucified, from the fact that he was inspired to write almost the same words as Isaiah had written hundreds of years earlier; words that most people believe to be a promise … "by whose stripes ye were healed."

But as Peter writes his 2nd letter he changes one word; in place of the words "are healed" that was pinned by Isaiah, Peter uses the words … "were healed" … making it past tense, meaning Jesus appropriated our healing for us when He was scourged.

If we by the grace of God, repent and confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, receive as a gift both faith and salvation that has been paid for in full by the death of Jesus on the cross; then I ask this question … why can't we also receive healing as a gift since Jesus has also already paid the price for it?

In truth … "I don't know." This is one of those secret things that belong only to God.

I am starting to believe what I just alluded to … that we have already received the power for healing when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Maybe we don't need to ask for something we already have … just declare it so … "by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony" … as a declaration of our faith.

Speaking of Peter, I also remember the question that Jesus asked him after Peter's faith failed and he started to sink when he walked on water. That question was … "Why did you doubt?" Could doubt be why we are not healed every time?

So … "Why do I doubt?" For me it's simply this …

"I can't find in the Word where God has promised to heal every person, every time, in every situation."

Am I doubting God? No … not God.

I just doubt that all of God's "will" for each of us has been revealed in the Word. His general "will" has; but as I have already stated, not the unrevealed secret things that are known only to Him. Things like the number of days we have left.

Why do I keep praying for healing? Because we are instructed to. It's that simple.

Let God be God. Pray, trust God and go on.