Make It Plain

I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post. There I will wait to see what the LORD says and how he will answer my complaint. Then the LORD said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.  This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.  If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. Habakkuk 2:1-3

Habakkuk speaks to us and states, that he will remain on watch. The words, “Stand upon my watch”: let's us know he's comparing himself to a watchman (Ezek. Chapters 3 and 33), standing as a sentinel upon the city walls, Habakkuk is prepared to wait for God’s answer and to ponder his reply. Habakkuk is speaking in this verse. He is waiting to see what God will say to him. He is not shirking his duties in the meantime. He will still act as the watchman. We see that Habakkuk separates himself from this sinful people. He goes aside, perhaps, to a place in the mountains, until he hears from God. He is expecting God to reprimand him for the questions he asked Him In response to Habakkuk’s second complaint (1:12 – 2:1), the Lord announced that He would judge the Chaldeans, (Babylonian) for their wickedness. His reply included:

• The instructions to write it down, as a reminder that it would surely occur (verses 2-3);

• A description of the character of the wicked in comparison to the righteous (verses 4-5);

• The pronouncement of 5 woes describing the Chaldeans’ demise (verses 6-20). Verses 2-3:

“Write the vision”: Habakkuk was to record the vision to preserve it for posterity, so that all who read it would know of the certainty of its fulfillment. The prophecy had lasting relevance and thus had to be preserved. Although a period of time would occur before its fulfillment, all were to know that it would occur at God’s “appointed time” (Isa. 13; Jer. chapters 50 and 51). Babylon would fall to the Medo-Persian kingdom of Cyrus (ca. 539 B.C.; Daniel chapter 5). “Write the vision, upon tablets”: refers to the common practice of writing public notices with such large characters on the clay tablets that someone running by could easily read them. If the notice was a warning it would also cause the reader to run quickly to prepare for what was coming. The word of God tells us, that the message is for a time of His chosen, “An appointed time” indicates a specific future fulfillment of Habakkuk’s prophecy of the fall of Babylon (see Daniel 5:30-31). Every person who has a vision of a work God would have him do, could be inspired by these Words. God does things in His time, and not when we think it is time. Notice, in all of this, God does not scold him about the vision, or even the questions he has asked God. He explains that sometimes, they do not come to pass at the time of the vision. They may happen weeks, months, or even years later. The vision is for a time God appointed. God reminds Habakkuk that he is to patiently wait on the answers to come. When the appointed time comes, they will not tarry.