At one time or another nearly everyone has asked some form of the following questions: Why does God allow evil? If he is almighty, then when is he going to put a stop to injustice? Doesn't God care about us?
Others, though, when contemplating the implications of what it would mean if God actually, forcibly, stopped wickedness find it unacceptable for God to bring about the end of the world. In either case, God's character is called into question.
While on the one hand Jehovah is accused by some of being uncaring and negligent for not exercising his power and ridding the world of sin and evil; on the other hand he is accused of being a tyrant and bully for merely intending to destroy the present evil system.
Regrettably, Jehovah's Witnesses only seem to muddle the picture at times by giving people the impression that at some point, out of the clear blue sky, God is just arbitrarily going to start slaughtering people at Armageddon.
Surely, though, Jehovah is aware of the questions involving his good name and reputation. So, how may God show that he cares enough to bring about justice, while at the same time not leave himself open to the criticism of being a bully when he does bring about the accomplished end of this unsatisfactory evil system with everlasting finality? How can these questions be resolved? Do the prophets have anything to say regarding this crucial issue?
As a matter of fact, they do. The prophet Habakkuk was inspired to ask of Jehovah the very questions that many people today often wonder about. In effect, Habakkuk speaks before God for all concerned.
The vision of Habakkuk opens with a series of questions that the prophet directs to God, asking: "How long, O Jehovah, must I cry for help, and you do not hear? How long shall I call to you for aid from violence, and you do not save? Why is it that you make me see what is hurtful, and you keep looking upon mere trouble? And why are despoiling and violence in front of me, and why does quarreling occur, and why is strife carried?"
As the prophet enumerates: since Adam and Eve's expulsion from the paradise of peace and pleasure, trouble of all kinds—including quarreling, violence, strife, despoiling, and other forms of hurtfulness--have marked mankind's experience outside of Eden. It is as if the flowers of paradise have been supplanted by an evil that has taken root and spread like a choking vine. In view of humanity's strong inclination towards injustice and outright inhumanity, there is little reason for optimism that evil ever can be uprooted, and that justice and peace will ever prevail.
And now that numerous nations and despots possess weapons with the potential to cause destruction and death on a scale that staggers the imagination, the issue of Divine intervention becomes all the more urgent. Without taking God's immediate involvement into consideration, there is no realistic hope even for the continued survival of our race. Although most people prefer not to think about such an unpleasant outcome for the world, Jehovah's prophets assure us that this present wicked civilization is eventually going to have to think about the unthinkable.
Most people are inclined to scoff at the idea of any sort of judgment from God. Similarly, most people have been mentally conditioned to reflexively smirk or recoil at the mere mention of the word 'conspiracy.' But, when we consider that the world is ruled over by the one whom Jesus identified as the 'father of the lie,' how could there not be a conspiracy against God's kingdom? No wonder, then, that we have been subtly trained to categorize anyone who talks about a New World Order conspiracy as paranoid nut-cases that believe that "boogiemen" in government are hiding the truth about saucer-flying extraterrestrials and crop circles, and other such nonsense. Thus, the idea that there could be an ongoing conspiracy to subvert the world into an anti-God, supranational, totalitarian state is made to appear preposterous.
Even Jehovah's Witnesses may be inclined to scoff at the suggestion of a conspiracy for a so-called New World Order. It might be assumed by some that if it were that important, then the Watchtower and Awake would cover it. Because there is so much disinformation coming from all angles, complicated by a natural skepticism and even deep-seated reluctance to believe that something so sinister could exist, we are unable to recognize the truth regarding these matters related to Jehovah's future judgments.
In recognition of our tendency to dismissively scoff at such things, Jehovah opens his response to Habakkuk's inquiry by saying: "See, you people, among the nations, and look on, and stare in amazement at one another. Be amazed; for there is an activity that one is carrying out in your days, which you people will not believe although it is related."
According to the Septuagint, Habakkuk 1:5 reads: "Behold it you scorners, and look, and wonder marvelously, and vanish away, because I am working a work in your days, which you will by no means believe even if anyone relates it in detail."
What is the "work" that God is working to which the prophet refers? According to the prophecy of Habakkuk, the work that Jehovah was working originally had to do with allowing the Babylonian armies to tyrannize and subjugate not only Judah, but a large portion of the world of that day. But how could the Babylonian military possibly do the work of God?
After describing the ferocious nature of the invaders, Habakkuk was inspired to explain that the Chaldean juggernaut was to serve as Jehovah's official punishing agent. Habakkuk 1:12 reads: "Are you not from long ago, O Jehovah? O my God, my Holy One, you do not die. O Jehovah, for a judgment you have set it; and, O Rock, for a reproving you have founded it." Thus, the principle is established, whereby, although Jehovah does not create such beasts, it may suit his purpose at times to allow "naturally" existing rapacious institutions to serve as the executioners of his judgments by not stopping them from carrying out their work.
Interestingly, at Acts 13:41, Paul quoted Habakkuk 1:5 from the Septuagint translation. By doing so, the apostle verifies for us that Jehovah's judgment work extends far beyond using the literal Chaldean centuries ago. That can be discerned as well from the prophecy of Habakkuk itself, because the whole 3rd chapter of that prophecy has to do with Jehovah's direct response to the atrocities of the Chaldean.
For a fact, the Bible's prophets foretold Babylon's fall in considerable detail; but the fall of Babylon to the Persians was more or less a bloodless coup. There most certainly was no miraculous appearance on God's part to save his people from annihilation. Yet, the prophecy of Habakkuk describes Jehovah unleashing an earth-wide destruction from the heavens in response to an attack upon his anointed one.
For example, Habakkuk 3:11-14 reads: "Sun—moon—stood still, in the lofty abode thereof. Like light your own arrows kept going. The lightning of your spear served for brightness. With denunciation you went marching through the earth. In anger you went thrashing the nations. And you went forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed one. You broke to pieces the head one out of the house of the wicked one...with their own rods you pierced the head of his warriors when they moved tempestuously to scatter me. Their high glee was as of those bent on devouring an afflicted one in a place of concealment."
This part of the prophecy can only be describing the actual war of Armageddon. That being the case, it is evident that the vision of Habakkuk, while applying initially to imperial Babylon, is in reality a prophecy that details God's ultimate judgment of our modern world.
The vision of Habakkuk has obviously not become a reality yet. That is why God tells his watchman, Habakkuk, to write down the vision so as to preserve a record of it, because, as Jehovah says: "For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it keeps panting on to the end, and it will not tell a lie. Even if it should delay, keep in expectation of it; for it will without fail come true. It will not be late."
Most of the Bible's prophecies were originally communicated by God by means of visions. And, just as the visions of Revelation, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others, have not seen their ultimate fulfillment yet, so too, the vision of Habakkuk is reserved for the actual time of the end.
In spite of the fact that the vision is for a future time, according to the Watchtower's most recent commentary on Habakkuk, the many wars and atrocities of the 20th Century are somehow the work of the modern Chaldean. But, if that were true it would mean that the Nazis, Soviets, the Red Chinese and the Khmer Rouge, etc., were all serving Jehovah's purpose when they mercilessly destroyed tens of millions of lives. And the question remains: If they served as God's punishing agents, then why does injustice, strife and oppression still prevail earth-wide? Furthermore, why has God not miraculously appeared to set things straight as Habakkuk envisioned? It is obvious that those wicked regimes did not suit God's purpose. Clearly, Habakkuk's prophecy concerns the future appointed time of Judgment Day.
According to Habakkuk, as well as all the prophets for that matter, God's ultimate interruption of human affairs comes about as a direct response to the outrages and atrocities perpetrated by the last king. So, what could account for the Watchtower's disappointing lack of insight into these crucial matters? Isaiah 29:10 explains it, saying: "For upon you men Jehovah has poured a spirit of deep sleep; and he closes your eyes, the prophets, and he has covered even your heads, the visionaries."
As is the case with numerous other prophecies, it is evident that Jehovah has also concealed the true meaning of Habakkuk until such time as the vision comes to life. And, as if a sleeping leviathan suddenly awakens to prey upon an unsuspecting world, that's the way the vision is presented. That's why at Habakkuk 3:1, the prophet implores Jehovah with these words: "O Jehovah I have heard the report about you. I have become afraid of your activity. In the midst of the years O bring it to life! In the midst of the years may you make it known. During the agitation, to show mercy may you remember."
At this late date, as the world seems to be on an unalterable death-march towards eventual all-out war and the inevitable use of weapons of mass destruction, it seems particularly timely to consider what the vision of Habakkuk actually portends for the future.
Habakkuk introduces us to the Chaldean by describing him as a bitter, impetuous and fear-inspiring nation. The 8th verse reads: "And its horses have proved swifter than leopards, and they have proved fiercer than evening wolves. And its steeds have pawed the ground, and from far away its own steeds come. They fly like the eagle speeding to eat something."
Up until relatively recent times, the fearless warhorse was the ultimate in military hardware. A charging cavalry could quickly cover a considerable amount of ground on the battlefield and easily overwhelm or outflank mere foot soldiers. This gives rise to the question: If the primitive Babylonian army was at one time described as such a formidable conqueror of nations, how much more fear-inspiring are modern mechanized military forces?
It has been said that the arms race is over and the United States has won. Without dispute, the modern American military is the most awesome and terrible war machine that has ever existed on this earth, as was recently demonstrated in the latest U.S. and British attack on Iraq. No single nation can possibly hope to defy the overwhelming might of Anglo-American military superiority.
The most recent war in the Persian Gulf region provided the world a small glimpse of the raw military power that the United States is capable of unleashing. From bases halfway around the globe or from gigantic floating airbases in the seas, literally thousands of supersonic war planes can swoop down from the heavens and unleash precision laser-guided missiles with deadly pin-point accuracy. Ground-linked orbiting satellites even provide the soldier on the ground the capability of guiding sea- or air-launched cruise missiles and huge bunker-busting bombs to within mere feet of targets anywhere on earth. And those are just conventional weapons and technology that are in the formidable U.S. arsenal. Of course, more than a dozen nuclear-armed submarines prowl under the oceans of the world and are capable of obliterating entire nations at a moment's notice with push-button ease. Besides many thousands of nuclear weapons, reportedly there are still many secret weapons that are either under development or that simply have not been used in battle yet. Certainly if the Chaldean army was considered to be fear-inspiring, how much more so the military of Anglo-American superpower?
Up until recently the United States has not aggressively sought to dominate other nations militarily. However, in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attack, America has taken on a more menacing character towards the nations of the world. The newly-formed American policy targets not only the recently-dubbed "Axis of Evil" nations, but virtually all sovereign nations may be unilaterally condemned as either rogue nations harboring terrorists, or in some other way judged to be a threat to American security.
Ironically, the nation that is most at risk from American imperialism is America itself. That's because the real enemy of the empire is the entire democratic nation-state system, of which America is foremost. Another terrorist attack coupled with the collapse of the dollar, could easily give rise to a military dictatorship and the end of the United States as a constitutional republic. Many observers are already alarmed at increasing, unconstitutional police-state measures.
What is perhaps most interesting about the recent political developments leading up to the attack on Iraq, is that the Anglo-American duo risked world condemnation by defying international law and the edict of the Security Counsel of the United Nations. It seems as if the Anglo-American king has held the rest of the leading nations of the world in contempt.
While the vision of Habakkuk has not come to life yet, in view of the hubristic attitude displayed by the seventh king of Bible prophecy, we may gain some insight into the future fulfillment of the verse that reads: "And for its part, it jeers kings themselves, and high officials are something laughable to it. For its part, it laughs even at every fortified place, and it piles up dust and captures it." (Habakkuk 1:10)
As the presently-reigning god of this world, it seems that Satan the Devil is more than content to keep things as they are. For the last approximately 6,000 years, he and his demons have indulged in being worshipped in various ways by the deluded masses of mankind. But the allowance for the Devil to play the prince over mankind is only a temporary indulgence on Jehovah's part. Jehovah has already made the legal provision for Christ Jesus and his 144,000 chosen ones to take over the rulership of the world. However, we should not suppose that the demonic horde will go off quietly into the night in handcuffs. After all, the Hebrew name of Satan literally means opposer. We may therefore be assured that the demons will fiercely oppose Christ's kingdom when it fully comes to power. The 12th chapter of the Apocalypse reveals that Satan and his demons will wage a furious but losing battle in heaven when once the kingdom of the world is given over to Christ.
The result of that unseen war in heaven is that Satan and his legions are to be physically ejected from their residence in the angelic realm of Jehovah's presence. The bad news is that they will be forced to make a last-ditch stand against the glorious kingdom of Christ here on our tiny planet! Needless to say, that development will not bode well for the world or for Jehovah's Witnesses. Thus the Scripture says: "On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time."
The same 12th chapter of Revelation also depicts Satan as a monstrous dragon with seven heads and ten horns. That indicates that the seven-headed ten-horned beast that represents the seven biblical empires, is really merely a reflection of a satanic organization that exerts influence over the planet from the non-physical dimension. Seeing that the earthly political system is so closely connected with the demonic, by virtue of cause-and-effect, the ouster of the great dragon from heaven must have profound earth-wide ramifications that far surpass any calamity that this world has ever experienced.
Just like a cornered criminal madman may take hostages in a desperate attempt to stave off his inevitable capture and inflict as much damage as possible, so too when the gods of this system are faced with their own incarceration, it will be as if they take the world as their hostage and threaten the entire globe with annihilation should Christ attempt to take them out. So it is, then, that during the critical last hour coinciding with Satan's "short period of time," we may expect the vision of Habakkuk to come to life, causing the modern Chaldean, motivated by Satan's impelling spirit, to launch into his fearsome quest for total world domination.
Habakkuk 1:9 &11 foretell: "In its entirety it comes for mere violence. The assembling of their faces is as the east wind, and it gathers up captives just like sand…At that time it will certainly move onward like wind and will pass through and will actually become guilty. This its power is due to its god." Just how the demonically-empowered Chaldean becomes guilty will become apparent.
According to Habakkuk, the empire represented by the Chaldean is going to pillage and enslave the whole world! This is corroborated by the prophecy of Joel that depicts the entire earth being overrun as if by a plague of devouring locusts that rush into the city, over protective walls, and thru open windows like thieves. Is it really possible, though, for our present world to succumb to such an inglorious fate? Yes, it is--and much more readily then most people can possibly imagine.
Empires have always thrived from looting and enslaving lesser peoples and nations. It seems to be an irresistible impulse among those whom Satan has empowered to govern his world. In modern times, communistic governments have simply revoked the property rights of their citizens and confiscated all private property. However, capitalism has the same capacity to dispossess—albeit in less overt ways. This may be accomplished through promoting excessive indebtedness, because as the Bible observes—the borrower becomes a slave of the lender. Governments may also enslave and impoverish their subjects through graduated heavier taxation, sudden currency devaluation, or hyperinflating the amount of currency in circulation, thus rendering it worth less and less, until eventually it is worthless.
In view of the world's current economic condition, as individuals, corporations, and nations, slowly sink deeper and deeper into a quagmire of debt, there is now the looming specter of a debt default triggering a sudden, catastrophic, meltdown-scenario that disintegrates the entire debt-bloated financial system. Because of the interconnected global financial system, the collapse of a single large institution may set off the dreaded chain-reaction, the so-called "domino" scenario that could bring down the entire house. The reality is that the computer-wired age means that the entire world may be virtually foreclosed on, on any given afternoon in the event of a systemic collapse.
And a global financial collapse is an absolute certainty if terrorists or rogue nations ever detonate a nuclear device in any major population center anywhere in the world—let alone the use of WMD by an imperial superpower. How quickly might the world change if common everyday financial transactions became impossible!
While most of what passes for money today only exists as so many digital bits of data stored on supercomputers, and obviously paper money and credit cards did not exist when the Bible was written, still, we ought to get the sense of the prophet's words when he says: "Into the streets they will throw their very silver, and an abhorrent thing their own gold will become. Neither their gold or silver will be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's fury." (Ezekiel 7:19)
Of course, most people do not own physical gold. And even our coinage contains very little actual silver. Nevertheless, the Christian prophet confirms for us that it is whatever passes for material wealth that will ultimately fail those trusting in it. It should be noted that gold does not rust or tarnish, yet James 5:1 reads: "Come, now, you rich men, weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted, and your outer garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted away, and their rust will be a witness against you and will eat up your fleshy parts. Something like fire is what you have stored up in the last days."
So it is that, even as Jesus said, that the unrighteous riches of this system will eventually fail us. They will fail to serve as our means of maintenance and as our protection from the hardships of abject poverty. But how will the impoverishment of the world come about so that our money will become as so much paper confetti to be thrown into the street? Habakkuk 1:6 describes Jehovah's punishing agent, saying of him: "The nation bitter and impetuous, which is going to the wide-open places of the earth in order to take possession of residences not belonging to it."
In response, Habakkuk 2:6b appropriately pronounces a curse against the pillaging empire, saying: "Woe to him who is multiplying what is not his own—O how long!—and who is making debt heavy against himself!" And again in the 9th verse: "Woe to the one that is making evil gain for his house, in order to set his nest on the height, so as to be delivered from the grasp of what is calamitous!"
We may be certain that the vision for the appointed time involves the utter collapse of the present system and the ushering in of a totalitarian, collectivist, global state. Habakkuk foretells that when the appointed time for the vision to come to life arrives, that the neo-Chaldean empire will keep "gathering to himself all the nations and collecting together to himself all the peoples." We should not confuse the gathering and collecting of all the nations with any sort of peaceful unification of peoples of the world.
The very first Psalm foretells a similar gathering of all nations during a time of great upheaval and "tumult"—or "agitation"—as Habakkuk words it. It reads: "Why have the nations been in tumult and the national groups keep muttering an empty thing? The kings of earth take their stand and high officials themselves have massed together as one against Jehovah and against his anointed one." Ultimately, then, the future gathering of nations under the 8th king is a prelude to God's war of Armageddon, even as Revelation says: "And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon."
Jehovah's Witnesses should no longer suppose that the prophecy on the first Psalm was fulfilled in 1914. The obvious reason being that the time of tumult, when the nations and kings mass together against God's rulership, is what ultimately provokes Jehovah into finally breaking his centuries-long self-imposed silence. The Psalm goes on to say: "The very One sitting in the heavens will laugh; Jehovah will hold them in derision. At that time he will speak to them in his anger and in his hot displeasure he will disturb them, saying: "I, even I, have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain."
Since Jehovah has not yet expressed his anger upon the nations, it is evident that the foretold amassing as one against God's kingdom is a future event. That being the case, it is also self-evident that neither has Jehovah's Messiah been installed as earth's new ruler. Apparently the great tumult that envelopes the nations is the oncoming great tribulation, which is a direct result of Christ's enthronement and Satan's ouster from heaven, which is the decisive development that forces the issue of God's universal sovereignty inescapably in front of a renegade world.
The prophecy of Habakkuk also sheds light upon the enigmatic 666 of Revelation. While the multitudes of tabloid-taught Bible "believers" imagine that the antichrist is going to stencil a visible 666 on everyone's forehead, or that a coded microchip is going to be implanted in all of earth's inhabitants, such literal interpretations of Bible symbolism merely serves to obscure the truth.
No one is going to get a literal 666 tattooed on their forehead or hand any more than the 144,000 are going to have the name of Jehovah and Jesus emblazoned upon their foreheads, as the very next verse of Revelation 14:1 foretells. The mark of the beast merely symbolizes that a decisive separation occurs among mankind during the judgment period, so that Jehovah clearly recognizes those who belong to him and those who do not. Those who belong to him are those who actually worship Jehovah—even when it may cost them their life to do so. Whereas, those who are marked with the triple-six in the sight of God, are those that doom themselves by worshiping the Devil's empire in a vain attempt to prolong their lives.
Revelation 13:16-17 details how the decisive separation will come about, it reads: "And it ("it" being the Anglo-fabricated image of the beast that eventually comes to life) puts under compulsion all persons, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, that they should give these a mark in their right hand or upon their forehead, and that nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the beast or the number of its name."
Since the time of Nimrod's imperial Babel, Satan has consistently tried to use his political-religious apparatus to coerce Jehovah's worshippers into submission. However, apparently by divine providence, many modern nations have developed various constitutional guarantees of certain liberties that have served as a bulwark against absolute tyranny. Apparently, though, such protections will become obsolete during the last hour of the 8th king. That's when the Devil makes an all-out bid to deceive, intimidate, coerce, and otherwise force all the nations to look to him for salvation and not to Jehovah's kingdom. That's what Revelation is foretelling when it says that the beast "puts under compulsion all persons." From Jehovah's standpoint, though, our looking to any other source for sustenance and salvation, other than to God, constitutes an act of idolatry.
The image of the beast is granted life and death power over all mankind so as to "cause to be killed all those who would not in any way worship the image of the wild beast." No one will be allowed to remain apathetic in their allegiances during Judgment Day. The question concerning our faith will literally become a life-and-death issue. That is the day when men will be forced by sheer desperation of circumstance to give an accounting as regards whom they worship. No wonder Jehovah speaks through Habakkuk saying: "But as for the righteous one, by faithfulness he will keep living."
God's pronouncement against the Chaldean condemns him for coercing mankind into worshipping an idol, saying: "Woe to the one giving his companion something to drink, attaching to it rage and anger, in order to make him drunk, for the purpose of looking upon their parts of shame." (Habakkuk 2:15)
Paul similarly condemns Christians who self-indulgently make a god of their own gut. Likewise, Jesus warned his followers to be very careful not to become weighed down by heavy eating and over-drinking, so that the day of Jehovah might not be a snare for them. Habakkuk indicates that such neglect and over-indulgence may lead to being ensnared because of not having the spiritual strength to resist drinking from the cup of rage that the enraged king will pass among us. To their everlasting shame, many will allow themselves to become mere idol worshippers in a vain attempt to keep their souls alive—exchanging their integrity for a bowl of stew, as it were.
Most people today seem to be of the opinion that idolatry is a practice relegated to the ignorant peoples of the ancient past. In their minds, idol worship is solely that crude form of veneration carried on by brutish pagans as they groveled before grotesque images of their own contrivance. However, Jehovah has another perception of matters. From his standpoint, the peoples of our modern world are practicing a form of idolatry that is every bit as barbaric and disgusting as was the religion of the ancient Chaldean.
Just as a literal carved image denigrates the illustrious God Jehovah, so too the political agency that presumes to substitute for the kingdom of God can only result in blasphemy. Jehovah considers it vain and presumptuous for sinful humans to boast that by their wisdom and might all of man's needs will be attended to and the world's plethora of complex problems will somehow be solved. So, in the minds of those who become captivated by this mythological idea of a global political utopia, a savior from heaven is no longer necessary.
The prophecy of Habakkuk expresses this thought in harmony with others of the prophets, saying: "Of what benefit has a carved image been, when the former of it has carved it, a molten statue, and an instructor in falsehood? when the former of its form has trusted in it, to the extent of making valueless gods that are speechless?" (Habakkuk 2:18)
"An instructor in falsehood" is an appropriate description of the satanic propaganda behind world government. A previous generation of admirers blasphemously hailed the League of Nations as the only hope of peace for our planet—to the exclusion of Christ's kingdom. And as those informed in such matters know, the United Nations has even stolen the Bible's messianic prophecy that foretells that men will beat their swords into plowshare and it has shamelessly applied that prophecy to itself. But, as the above-quoted verse of Habakkuk infers, what benefit can it possibly bring to those who might make a molten statue even of Isaiah's symbol of peace, thus idolizing its icon, when they are powerless to achieve its realization?
In years past, the Watchtower used to boldly refer to the United Nations as a counterfeit of God's kingdom—which of course is exactly what it is intending to become. Strangely, though, in more recent years the Watchtower has taken to speaking of the United Nations in glowing terms, even highlighting its supposed accomplishments. Nevertheless, we may now better appreciate why the Bible refers to the last empire that poses in God's holy place as a "disgusting thing," and why it is that Habakkuk 2:4-5 refers to God's judgment of the presumptuous Neo-Chaldean, saying of him: "Look! His soul has been swelled up; it has not been upright within him…And, indeed, because the wine is dealing treacherously, an able-bodied man is self-assuming; and he will not reach his goal, he who has made his soul spacious like Sheol, and who is like death and cannot be satisfied."
In what way will the last king make himself as spacious as Sheol and as insatiable as death itself?
Modern civilization, for all of its many scientific advances and sophistry, is merely part of an ages-old wicked system of things, and as such, it is plagued with the very same problems that have afflicted human society for centuries. The reason being that fallen human nature does not improve over time. People are still just as prone to acts of barbarism, greed, and idolatry as in ancient times. Because the world has spurned Jehovah's counsel and has sown winds of destruction, the laws of reciprocity demand an eventual reaping of the whirlwind of annihilation.
As unpleasant and disturbing as it may be to contemplate, the fact is that men have a long history of murdering one another and are still no less disposed to do so. Empires and their religious consorts are the worst bloodletters on the planet. The Assyrian and Babylonian empires were notoriously ruthless and cruel. So was the Roman Empire and Christendom. Grimly, though, the vision of Habakkuk foretells that the worst is yet to come.
After Jehovah responded to Habakkuk's initial question, introducing the prophet to the Chaldean executioner, Habakkuk was appalled at what he envisioned. That is why the prophet addressed himself to God again, asking why Jehovah would allow a treacherous tyrant to swallow down someone more righteous than he is. At Habakkuk 1:14, the prophet continues his query, asking: "And why do you make earthling man like the fishes of the sea, like creeping things over whom no one is ruling?"
Since Adam rebelled against Jehovah, leaving mankind without the direct oversight of our heavenly King, God has determined not to shield mankind from experiencing the inevitable horrific end result of our rebellion. In the animal kingdom, the strongest, most cunning animals are considered most successful. According to the earthly, animalistic philosophical underpinnings of civilization, man is nothing more then a highly self-evolved animal. Such lack of spirituality has led men, originally made in the image of God, to view and treat each other in ways becoming of beasts. The ultimate end result described by Habakkuk is that entire nations are ensnared by the Chaldean as if mere fish in a net. The 15th verse reads: "All these he has brought up with a mere fishhook; he drags them away in his dragnet, and he gathers them in his fishing net. That is why he is joyful."
The racist mindset of an imperialist has always been that other ethnic groups and lower social classes belong to a sub-human species. And like mere cattle, or fishes, such lesser humans are to be herded and culled as the ruling class sees fit. No doubt the immoral, lawless and violent nature of the common man has only validated the racist's view of things.
In modern times, the Nazis believed their Aryan race was the master race. They saw other peoples and races as a problem to be dealt with, which gave rise to their so-called "Final Solution," which called for the liquidation of the Jewish race. Like the Nazis, modern elitists have the same racist, animalistic mentality. Apparently, they fully intend to use world government to implement a global "final solution" to the growing problems of population control, environmental degradation and dwindling natural resources.
Just as anti-globalists and national patriots have warned and feared, evidently the trap of global government will inevitably lead to genocide on a scale never before seen on our blood-soaked planet. Habakkuk continues: "That is why he offers sacrifices to his dragnet and makes sacrificial smoke to his fishing net; for by them his portion is well oiled, and his food is healthful. Is that why he will empty out his dragnet, and does he have to kill nations constantly, while he shows no compassion?" In true predator fashion, the last king is destined by prophecy to dine on entire nations for his own pleasure. In that way he makes "his soul spacious just like Sheol."
According to Jeremiah, the Chaldean was to come from the direction of the north. For example, Jeremiah 4:6-7 relates: "For there is a calamity that I am bringing from the north, even a great crash. He has gone up like a lion out of his thicket, and the one who is bringing nations to ruin has pulled away; he has gone forth from his place in order to render your land as an object of astonishment."
According to Daniel's more familiar prophecy regarding the king of the north, the modern imperial king of the north will eventually flood over all the nations, including spiritual Israel. But after the king has situated himself as the master of all nations, Daniel 11:44 foretells: "But there will be reports that will disturb him, out of the sunrising and out of the north, and he will certainly go forth in a great rage in order to annihilate and to devote many to destruction." No doubt his going forth in a great rage to annihilate many occurs during the tribulation when the Chaldean kills nations constantly and shows no pity—as Habakkuk similarly foretells. But, what about the reports from out of the sunrising and out of the north that disturb the king of the north?
In the Scriptures, God's own judgments are said to come from the direction of the symbolic north—in effect making Jehovah the ultimate King of the north. For example, Psalms 75:5-6 says: "For neither from the east nor from the west, nor from the south is there an exalting. For God is the judge. This one he abases, and that one he exalts." Since God's judgments are said to not come from the east, west or from the south, it is evident by the omission that north represents the direction from which God issues his edicts.
The 14th chapter of Isaiah parallels Habakkuk in that it depicts the king of Babylon as the killer of nations. Isaiah 14:6 refers to "the one striking peoples in fury with a stroke incessantly, the one subduing nations in sheer anger with a persecution without restraint."
Verses 18-20 also describe the inglorious death of earth's last genocidal tyrant, saying: "All other kings of the nations, yes, all of them, have lain down in glory, each one in his own house. But as for you, you have been thrown away without a burial place for you, like a detested sprout, clothed with killed men stabbed with the sword that are going down to the stones of a pit, like a carcass trodden down. You will not become united with them in the grave, because you brought your own land to ruin, you killed your own people. To time indefinite the offspring of evildoers will not be named."
Whereas history speaks fondly of previously ruling kingdoms and empires, the last king receives no honorable burial, as it were. When we consider that globalism intends to place the UN above all presently-ruling kingdoms, the realization of that scheme would mean that all of the world's citizens will one day belong to it. Hence, the fact that the shining one is condemned by God for killing his own people is also indicative of an ultimate global genocidal final solution.
But, as regards the symbolic north, Isaiah 14: 12-14 reads: "O how you have fallen from heaven, you shining one, son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the earth, you who were disabling nations! As for you, you have said in your heart, 'To the heavens I shall go up. Above the stars of God I shall lift up my throne, and I shall sit down upon the mountain of meeting, in the remotest parts of the north. I shall go up above the high places of the clouds; I shall make myself resemble the Most High."'
The original Chaldean lifted himself above the "mountain of meeting" when he literally destroyed the temple that sat upon the pinnacle of Mount Zion. As the latest commentary on Isaiah correctly points out, he lifted himself above the "stars" by exalting himself above the Davidic line of kings. The grander fulfillment can only mean that the 8th king will ultimately exalt himself above God's kingdom—as a counterfeit kingdom. But, since God's kingdom rules from a heavenly vantage point, how may any earthly kingdom possibly raise itself above the ruling stars of heaven?
Since the inception of the Christian congregation on the day of Pentecost, 33 C.E., Jesus Christ has ruled as king over his kingdom of believers. However, the prophecies point to a time when the Devil's kingdom over the world will be given to Christ as well. That is the period of tumult and agitation described in prophecy.
In the period leading up to that momentous event, anointed Christians who hope to share with Christ in his kingdom have no real ruling authority outside of the congregation. However, when their Lord becomes king of the world the faithful anointed become kings in the fullest since too—being appointed over all of their heavenly Master's earthly belongings. That's why, for example, Daniel 7-8 refers to the kingdom being given to the holy ones of the Supreme one.
Also, we may better appreciate how it is that the king of fierce countenance keeps "on getting greater all the way to the army of the heavens, so that it caused some of the army and some of the stars to fall to earth, and it went trampling them down." The ruling army of the kingdom of the heavens will be fully represented on earth by an anointed remnant during Christ's presence. No longer will the then revealed sons of God serve as ambassadors for God's kingdom. They will be full-fledged kings of God's kingdom even before their resurrection.
No doubt the newly-crowned kings of God's kingdom are those referred to in Revelation as "the kings from the rising of the sun." And doubtless, it is the announcement of the ascending kingdom of Christ that constitutes the reports "out of the sunrising and out of the north," that disturb the king of the north and provoke his unrestrained wrath.
Ultimately the Chaldean 8th king becomes guilty, as Habakkuk 1:11 foretells, due to directly attacking the earthly kings of God's kingdom. In the 3rd chapter of his prophecy Habakkuk describes Jehovah's response to the attack, saying: "And you went forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed one. You broke to pieces the head one out of the house of the wicked one. There was a laying of the foundation bare, clear up to the neck. With his own rods you pierced the head of his warriors when they moved tempestuously to scatter me. Their glee was as of those bent on devouring an afflicted one in a place of concealment."
Once the anointed kings of God's kingdom have been finally sealed with Jehovah's irreversible approval, there is nothing that any antichrist, Devil, or imperial tyrant can do to break their loyalty to God. Their salvation is assured. They are immortal and incorruptible from that point on. Their martyrdom only serves to instantaneously transform them into glorious, invincible, heavenly kings. From their heavenly station, Christ and his gathered 144,000 unleash total annihilation upon the killer of nations and the would-be usurper of God's kingdom.
Since Christ and his associate rulers have the legal right to protect their interests and assert their authority over the earth, it is perfectly just that the Chaldean be held accountable for his atrocities against the nations and the city of God. Habakkuk 2:7-8 foretells how the kingdom heirs will pillage the pillager, and kill their killer, saying: "Will not those claiming interest of you rise up suddenly, and those wake up who are violently shaking you, and you certainly become something to pillage? Because you yourself despoiled many nations, all the remaining ones of the peoples will despoil you, because of the shedding of blood of mankind and the violence to the earth, the town and all those dwelling in it."
Habakkuk concludes his prophecy by describing the physical and emotional toll that the vision had upon him: "I heard and my belly began to be agitated; at the sound my lips quivered; rottenness began to enter into my bones; and in my situation I was agitated, that I should quietly wait for the day of distress, for his coming up to the people, that he may raid them."
Jesus once told his apostles that he had many things to tell them but that they were unable to bear the burden at that time. No doubt the future unveiling of Christ will mean that he will fully reveal all the things his followers must suffer, including the correct understanding of Habakkuk and the other prophets. Interestingly, several translations of the first verse of Habakkuk's prophecy call it: "The burden that Habakkuk hath seen."
But, even though the prophet was distressed by the appalling vision concerning the future of the world, and the Devil's final solution, his abiding faith in Jehovah empowered him to look forward to the realization of the vision, knowing it would ultimately lead to salvation for God's people. Hence, the closing words of Habakkuk's burden conclude on a positive note: "Yet, as for me, I will exult in Jehovah himself; I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. Jehovah the Sovereign Lord is my vital energy; and he will make my feet like those of the hinds, and upon my high places he will cause me to tread."
Copyright © 2003, by Robert King
All Rights Reserved.