From Fear to Faith
Scripture References:
Isaiah 40; Habakkuk
Mar.
20, 2022 Quacco Baptist Church
Introduction -
From among letters delivered from
Stalingrad in January 1943 by German soldiers to their families; these being intercepted
by German command authorities wanting to check on the morale of the soldiers,
is the following:
We are entirely alone, without help from outside. Hitler has
left us in a lurch, [that is without help or protection]. If the airfield is still in our possession,
this letter may still get out … So this is what the end looks like. Hannes and
I will not surrender; … yesterday I saw four men who had been taken prisoner by
the Russians. No we shall not go into captivity. When Stalingrad has fallen,
you’ll hear & read it. And then you’ll know that I shall not come back.
The Fuhrer made a firm promise to bail us out of here; they
read it to us & I believe it firmly … because I have to believe in
something. If it’s not true, what else could I believe in? Leave me my faith
dear Greta; all my life, at least eight years of it I believed in the Fuhrer
& his word. –
On the other side of the line was an
equally brutal, if not more so, regime with its own network of concentration
camps. Solovetsky Islands—or Solovki—a string of
small islands in the White Sea near the Arctic Circle, where medieval Orthodox
monks had built monasteries, tsars of the sixteenth century built prisons, and,
in 1923, the Bolsheviks established a camp.
The camp called
Solvoki, the administration at Solovki put up a sign at the main camp, which
captured the Leninist program. It read, “With an Iron Fist, We Will Lead
Humanity to Happiness.”
So began the Red
Terror, which helped win the civil war for the Bolsheviks and defined the
nature of Communist power. From then to the fall of the Soviet Union. These
camps were in effect “a death sentence on 10 million” Russians.
That slogan pretty
much epitomized the program of the Lenninist.
Well, the war in
Europe ended on May 8, 1945 and the people celebrated the victory. Raymon
Ortlund, Presbetyrian minister, wrote that his mother celebrated that night in
Washington D.C. but when she came home she said the triumph of democracy had
turned into a “pretext for public vulgarity. He asks did Washington represent
the triumph of good or evil?
From those days up to
today, do we truly see how broken this world is? How far have we, the world,
fallen? As we see more of life we’re just persistently confronted with a lot of
disappointment and so we convincingly see having hope as just something dumb,
stupid. We’re disappointed in our ideals, our careers, the people we trust, and
in ourselves.
The Jews in exile in
Babylon, were living a far cry from what God had wanted for them. God had told
Abraham that he would be a mighty nation, that he would be a blessing to the
whole world, (Gen 18), but they had failed their high calling, and paid a heavy
price for it.
Now God’s people in
exile are defeated, bitter, disillusioned, and in fact, they think God has
failed them, Why do you say, O Jacob, and
assert, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me
escapes the notice of my God"? (Isa. 40:27). That’s what we typically
do - blame God –.
But then what does God
do? He comes down to us and comforts us with a promise, a hope, that doesn’t
depend on us at all, but only on Himself. He promises to display His glory
before the whole world. As we enjoy His promised salvation, His coming for us,
as He said in John 14, "Don't let
your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more
than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told
you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I
will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. He
strengthens us to face anything while we wait.
The wait though, seems
to be long, hard, and difficult. It's been 1,990 years, by our Gregorian
calendar in use. Let’s look at what has transpired in the 120 years. Two world
wars, and numerous countless conflicts. I read last week that in the last 100
years there have been only 46 days of no conflict. How accurate that is I don’t
know. In researching I kept finding various answers. But just in the past 3 to
4 decades look at what has come about here in the U. S.
School prayer was
banned in public schools in a decision by sophists of the U. S. Supreme Court –
I remember my dad saying in a couple expletives how wrong that was, “why, we
said the Lord’s Prayer in school everyday”. Back in the 30’s in the one room
schoolhouse in Dalton Ohio. I really didn’t pay it any mind, I was attending a
Catholic school and we prayed morning, noon, and before being dismissed.
In 1973 came the
decision on Roe v Wade, and begins the legalization of abortion; sacrifice of
children on the altar of Molech. And for the next 60 plus years we have
continued on a slippery slope with the sacrificing of over 350,000 babies
annually.
Additionally there are
forces that seek to dismantle the core values that built America .. They want
to rewrite the past to control the future of this nation. Diversity is used to
divide, to destroy. The ideologies that are promulgated are to keep the
different cultures and races in a perpetual, endless conflict.
The ultimate call is
for the eradication of Christianity, and the way of life here. There is an
increasing bellicose attitude of the socialist and other religions against
Christianity and Jews. Even within Christianity itself there are calls to make
it a more inclusive religion.
Planned Parenthood
commits more than 350,000 abortions each year as I said earlier. We find
ourselves wondering what in the world is going on? The battle keeps getting
harder and harder. These problems are worldwide but I am focusing on us here in
America. Can we like Israel ask as in Isaiah 40: 27, "My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes
the notice of my God"?
Well, this really
isn’t a political science or sociology class. We may think that things now are different then in other times; in the
times of the Old Testament but no, they aren’t really much different – We have
technology, super communication, and awareness but these are superficial
impressions.
As you read through
God’s word and listen to the prophets it becomes clear that human condition was
as much the same then as now.
It won’t be a long
series but we’re going to go through the book of Habakkuk.
A brief background
Habakkuk prophesied
around the final days of the Assyrian Empire & the beginning of Babylon’s
world ruler-ship, - under Nabopolasar & his son Nebuchadnessar.
The Babylonians
overthrew Nineveh in 612 BC & Haran & Carchamesh by 605 BC. Necho the
king of Egypt was enroute through Judah to assist the Assyrians but was opposed
by Josiah, then king of Judah.
Now, Josiah reigned
for 31 years, from 640 BC to 609 BC & these were the best years of Judah; 3
decades in their latter years. There were no wars from outside enemies &
they were concentrated on rebuilding her land & spiritual resources.
Idolatry was rampant
in the land when Josiah came to the throne. At that time he was 8 years old. He
had to have godly advisors; he followed the ways of (his father) David and did
everything that was right in the eyes of God. He went down the straight path,
it’s written he didn’t go to the left or the right. He didn’t follow the ways
of his father Amon nor his grandfather Manasseh. At 16, the age when teens
begin to want to become independent, he began to seek the Lord.
Second Chronicles 34,
35 & 2 Kings 22, 23 gives you a play by play account of the reforms by
Josiah.
The temple was cleansed from all
objects of pagan worship, and the idolatrous high places in the land were demolished. Josiah restored the
observance of the Passover (2 Kings 23:2–23) and removed mediums and witches from the land. Second Kings 23:25 records, “Before him there was no king like him,
who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all
his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after
him.” God’s wrath would later come upon Judah due to the evil King Manasseh had
done (2 Kings
23:25), but the judgment was delayed because of
Josiah’s godly life and leadership (2 Kings 22:20).
Josiah died in battle
against the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo. King Josiah was buried in
Jerusalem in his own tomb, and his son Jehoahaz took the role of king. Much can be learned from
Josiah’s life that is positive. First, Josiah shows the influence a person can
have from a very young age. Even children have enormous potential to live for
God and to have great impact.
Jehoahaz
son of Josiah, king of Judah (609 BC). Although he was the
fourth son of Josiah, Jehoahaz was made king over Judah once his father died (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Chronicles 36:1). Also known as Shallum (1 Chronicles 3:15), Jehoahaz only reigned for three months in
Jerusalem before being deposed by Pharaoh Necho. The pharaoh installed
Jehoahaz’s brother, Eliakim (aka Jehoiakim) as king and deported Jehoahaz in
chains. Jehoahaz later died in Egypt (2 Kings
23:31–35). This third and
final Jehoahaz also “did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his predecessors
has done” (2 Kings
23:32).
The sins of the last
Jehoahaz are especially tragic because his father, Josiah, had been an exceptionally good king. Josiah had
found the Book of the Law, renewed the covenant, torn down the high places of
idol worship, destroyed the priests of false gods, reinstituted the Passover,
and turned to the Lord “with all his heart and with all his soul and with all
his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses” (2 Kings 23:25). But his son Jehoahaz did not follow in his
steps.
Jehoiakim (named
Eliakim at birth, 2
Chronicles 36:4) was one of the last
kings of Judah before the Babylonian Captivity. Jehoiakim was a son of good
King Josiah (Jeremiah
26:1) of Judah. His mother’s name was Zebidah (2 Kings 23:36). Jehoiakim’s father, King
Josiah, had returned Judah to the Lord by tearing
down idol shrines and restoring obedience to God’s Law (2 Kings
23:19–25). After Josiah’s
death, his son Jehoahaz was chosen king by the people. But, as often
happened in those days, Jehoahaz did not follow in the footsteps of his father
but “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 23:32). Jehoahaz only reigned three months before he
was taken into captivity by the king of Egypt, who replaced Jehoahaz with his
brother Eliakim (2 Kings
23:26; 2 Chronicles 36:5). The Egyptian king renamed the 25-year-old
Eliakim “Jehoiakim.”
Jehoiakim also did
evil in the Lord’s sight (2 Kings 23:37). Because of the ongoing, unrepentant sin of the
nation of Judah, God sent invading armies to capture and enslave them.
Jehoiakim was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar, who put him in chains and carted him off to
Babylon (2 Kings
24:1; 2 Chronicles 36:6;). It was at this time that Daniel and his three
friends were also taken to Babylon (Daniel 1:1–2). Jehoiakim was later
returned to Jerusalem, although he had to act as Nebuchadnezzar’s servant for
three years and pay tribute to him.
During the time King
Jehoiakim reigned as a vassal of Babylon, the prophet Jeremiah preached in Jerusalem. God’s message was that
the Babylonian invasion was God’s punishment for Judah’s sin and that the
Hebrews should repent. Jehoiakim called for Jeremiah’s scroll to be read in his
court. But, as every three or four columns of the scroll were read, “the king
cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the
entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard
all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes” (Jeremiah 36:23–24). Rather than heed God’s warning, Jehoiakim
hardened his heart and tried to destroy God’s Word (see Jeremiah 25:1–4). Earlier, Jehoiakim
had murdered the godly prophet Uriah (Jeremiah 26:20–23).
Jehoiakim reigned eleven years (2 Kings 23:36; 2 Chronicles 36:5). Jeremiah rewrote the scroll that Jehoiakim had
burned, and God pronounced judgment on the king: “Therefore this is what the
LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the
throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and
the frost by night” (Jeremiah
36:30). “He will be buried like a dead
donkey—dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gates!” (Jeremiah 22:19, NLT). This prophecy was fulfilled when, in the eleventh year of Jehoiakim’s
reign, he stopped paying tribute to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar responded by
besieging Jerusalem. According to Josephus, Jehoiakim was killed during the
siege, and his body was thrown over the city wall.
After Jehoiakim’s ignoble death, his
son Jehoiachin succeeded him as the new king in Judah.
Jehoiachin reigned only three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9) before he, too, was taken to Babylon while the
foreign king appointed his successor (2 Chronicles 36:10). This appointment of kings by the people or by
invading armies was a far cry from the holy anointing of God’s chosen ones by
His prophets in days gone by. The removal of God from Judah’s political process
was another indication of just how far the Jewish people had fallen away from
their God. We have removed God from our political process. Oh yes, public
offcials place their hand on the Holy Word of God and take an oath in His name;
but as children did and do, had their fingers crossed. We are no different than
they.
From King Jehoiakim’s
life, we can learn that godly parentage does not guarantee godly children. Many
times in Israel’s and Judah’s history, the Scripture records that the children
of good kings and prophets “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 21:1–2; 1 Samuel 8:3) and did not follow the paths of their fathers.
God holds each individual responsible for his or her obedience to His direction
(Deuteronomy
24:16). Jehoiakim’s willful rejection of God’s
Word and his subsequent fate are a perfect illustration of the folly of
disobedience. “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be
destroyed—without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).
Now enters Habakkuk after this introduction and we will pick it up here
next time.
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