Actually, this could apply to a number of people in the Old Testament, but the man who did not know why was a prophet by the name of Habakkuk. His book is just a little book with three chapters very close to the end of the Old Testament. Interestingly, some of you may have read this from the pen of Ellen White, that as we draw close to the end, our ministers are going to study the Minor Prophets.

All of the prophets are instructive, but these prophets we call the Minor Prophets because their writing was much less than ones like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. These Minor Prophets wrote either just before or, in some cases, a short time after the captivity of God’s people by Assyria and Babylon.

Ellen White says that the prophet wrote less for their own time than for our time. That is something that we need to think through very carefully. If they wrote less for their time does not mean they did not write for their time, but the fulfillment of the prophecy in their time actually was the secondary fulfillment. The primary fulfillment is in our time. So these prophets have a lot to say that we need to study.

The book of Habakkuk begins with a vision or dream that God gave to the prophet. He is not necessarily talking about things that he has seen with his mortal or fleshly sight, he is revealing to us what God gave to him, or what he saw in vision, in a dream. Remember, he is talking more for our time than he is for his own time. He says, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear! Habakkuk 1:2. Have you ever felt like that? Let me tell you, friends, the saints are going to feel like that many, many times between now and the Second Coming. He says, Lord, I am crying out—I am in trouble. I need help! How long? Then he says, "You show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble, for plundering and violence are before me, there is strife and contention." Verse 3. How long? How long are you going to show me—how long am I going to have to look at this violence, this trouble, this iniquity, this strife, this contention?

What is the iniquity? What is the trouble?

The iniquity, the trouble, the strife is in the world. You all know the text in I John 5:19 that says, "The world lies in wickedness." The Bible predicts that in the last days there will be a time of wickedness in the world. Jesus said that lawlessness would be abounding. (See Matthew 24:12.) But it is not just there, although that would be bad enough, it is not just in the world, the iniquity, the trouble is in the church, that is, those who profess to be the children of God.

Paul predicted that there would come a time (see II Timothy 3:5 where he talks about the perilous times that will come in the last days) and he says that people would have a form of godliness but they would deny the power of it. In other words, they go to church—they are members of the church, they call themselves Christians. They have the form of godliness, but they deny the power. What is the power of godliness? What did Jesus and the apostles teach was the power of godliness? The power of godliness, friends, is the power that was invested in Jesus Christ to set you free. Do you remember that Jesus said to those who followed Him, He said, If you continue in My Word you will be My disciples indeed, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

The Jews said, Well, we have never been in bondage to anybody, but they were lying. They were in bondage to Rome right then, but they said, We have never been in bondage to anybody, how can you say we will be set free.

Jesus answered, The one who commits sin is a slave of sin, and the slave does not remain in the house forever. [In other words, he will not have eternal life.] But the Son remains forever. If therefore, the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed.

The power of godliness is the power invested in the Son of God to set you free, and that is a promise that the devil is trying to dispute, and you and I need to claim the promise and say, "Lord, You promised me if I would follow You that You would set me free." That is the power of godliness—to set free the captives. That is what it was predicted that the Messiah would do—set the captives free. It was not talking about physical captivity; it was talking about spiritual captivity.

But in the last days there will be iniquity, trouble, violence, contention, strife—not just in the world, but in the church, and Habakkuk says, Lord, how long am I going to have to look at this? How long is this going to go on? But that is not the innermost part of the problem, it is not just the iniquity, it is not just the trouble in the world or in the church. The trouble that we are in goes much closer than the trouble in the world or the trouble in the church.

This is not our main subject, but notice what Paul said in Romans 7:18. If you want to look up what Ellen White comments on this verse, you will notice that Paul is not talking about himself as an unconverted Christian or about himself as a Jewish believer. He is talking about himself as a Christian. "For I know that there does not dwell in me (that is, in my flesh) any good thing." That is the innermost part of the trouble. The innermost part of the trouble, the iniquity, the sin, the wrong, the evil, is not in the world or even in the church; the innermost part of the trouble is in the heart of each person. That is where the real trouble is.

The gospel, of course, goes to the heart of the matter. Jesus told the Pharisees, "Why do you try to clean up the outside and not clean up the inside? If you clean up the inside first then the outside will be clean." Is that true? Yes it is. That is why, when Jesus was here, Jesus did not start a campaign to reform the Roman government, because He knew that cleaning up the world on the outside would not solve the problem if you left the sin on the inside, in the human heart. The gospel goes to the heart of the problem and it is the only real cure for the problem that we have.

Paul says that within me, that is, within my flesh, there dwells no good thing. We do not teach holy flesh. We do not have anything to do with that teaching. Ellen White said there was no truth in it at all—not a thread. As Adventists, we believe, from studying the Bible, that you and I have a battle to fight, and this battle goes on every day. It goes on every hour of the day. It is the battle of the flesh and the Spirit. Notice what the Apostle Paul says about this in Galatians 5:16: "But I say walk in the Spirit, and the lust of the flesh you will not fulfill. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. For these things are opposed to each other in order that you might not do whatever you wish." You cannot do what comes naturally and live a Christian life. If you are going to live a Christian life there is a battle taking place inside—in the mind and in the heart. The battle is the battle of the Spirit against the flesh. Notice verse 18: "But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not under the Law."

If there is somebody reading this, and you have lost some battles, Jesus wants to come into your heart and life through the Holy Spirit and help you to start winning battles. But He cannot save you from the battle. That is the Christianity that some Christians want. They want a holy flesh theology. They want to be saved from the battle! They want to say, in fact there are some who teach, if you just pray enough and you just study your Bible enough, then it will just be automatic. Friend, that does not square with the New Testament. You are going to be discouraged eventually if you try that method, because the Bible teaches that we are to resist—we are not just to pray and study. We need to pray and study so we will have some spiritual weapons, but we are to resist (See Hebrews 12:1–4.) It is as plain as can be. We are to fight and we are to resist. There is this battle taking place in the human heart. Look at Galatians 5:24: "But those that are of Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts."

What is the trouble? Well, the trouble is in the world, first of all, that is bad enough. Secondly, the trouble is in the church that is worse. But thirdly, the place where we, each one, have to fight the battle day by day, hour by hour, the battle is inside. Habakkuk says, "Lord, how long do I have to cry to You about this. I cry out to You, and I see violence. You are showing me iniquity and causing me to see trouble, and there is plundering and violence before me, there is strife and contention; how long is this going to go on?"

This is an accurate picture, by the way, of what we see in Adventism today. Many people thought that we were going to be in the kingdom a long time ago, and they were looking for us all to come into harmony and unity, and we have preached about it for many years. And while we have preached about harmony and unity, more strife, contention, and violence has developed within Adventism than in any previous period of which I am aware. People used to talk about the strife and contention taking place in various conferences and conference churches. Well, how about people who are not in conference churches? Are they all in harmony and unity? No they are not. Now, for at least two or three years, people have been saying, "Pastor John, I am not sure that God is in this revival and reformation movement that you talk about in Adventism, because I see so much strife and contention." Friends, I cannot deny that the strife and contention is there, because we are all in it. How long is this going to go on, and what is going to be the answer to it? That is what Habakkuk could not figure it out.

Notice what He says in Habakkuk 1:4. "The Law is powerless." In other words, there is no justice. I do not know of any time in recent history when we see God’s people being faced with situations as great as today when there is no justice. No justice in the world and no justice in the church. Ellen White said that in her day the devil was trying to arrange matters so that God’s people would have neither mercy nor justice. Notice also in verse 4; "the wicked surround the righteous." Have you ever been in a situation like that? The righteous are surrounded by the wicked. Before we comment on that, perhaps we should look at some more of the first chapter of Habakkuk, starting with verse 5. This is God speaking, and He says, "Look among the nations and watch, be utterly astounded [or astonished] for I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you."

What is this work that God says He will do in our days that if somebody told us we would not believe it? Not too many years ago we did not believe it. I will never forget, about 12 years ago, we were having a Bible Worker Training School at Steps to Life, and Elder Ralph Larson was visiting us and was teaching our students, and I was sitting with the students in the classroom. He told us of an experience that he had a number of years before. He had a teacher who taught them something about the history of the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuit Order in the Roman Catholic Church. After this teacher taught them some of these things he said, now when you look at their history and you look at their philosophy, it is impossible not to conclude that they have attempted to infiltrate the Adventist Church. Those of you who have studied a little of our history know that they attempted to do that even in the days of Ellen White. If we had not had a living prophet, they would have done it in her day. But as long as we had a living prophet, they found it impossible to do. We do not have a living prophet anymore. Elder Larson told us, I could not comprehend how that could be. Well, maybe we could not comprehend it, but let me tell you, the Lord said, something is going to happen that if I told you about it before hand you could not believe it.

Well, what is going to happen? Look at what He said in verse 6: "For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans [who is that? That is Babylon!] to march through the breadth of the earth." The divine sentence was that Babylon is going to march through the land of God’s people. The Lord said if I told you about it before hand, you could not believe that it is going to happen. It is going to happen whether you can believe it or not.

By the way, this is not the only place in the Bible where this is predicted. Another text, also in the Minor Prophets, is Micah 4. If you look at the context of Micah 4, you will see that this chapter is talking specifically about the last days. Notice what it says, "Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in birth pangs, for now you shall go from the city, you shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered. There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies." Micah 4:10. Interesting is it not? Where are God’s people going to go? They are going to go away from the city into Babylon and they are going to be saved, they are going to be delivered from Babylon. Babylon is going to march through the land of God’s people according to Habakkuk 1:6.

The first trip that I made to Australia was in 1988. While I was there I got a piece of paper with some handwriting on it. Handwriting is very interesting. Just a very short note. I do not remember who signed it, or if he actually did sign it, because it would have been very dangerous to do so. He sent this short message to a radio station in Australia from Great Britain. The message read something like this: I am a member of the Society of Jesus. I am teaching in a school for the Church of England. Now that should not be surprising, because if you study the history of the Jesuits, they infiltrate whatever organization they want to influence, they become one of them so they can become atheists, communists, Muslims, Hindus, or any type of Protestant faith that they are asked to become a part of, and infiltrate that organization. This man said, I am teaching school, but this is the interesting part of the short note that he wrote. He said, There is a church described in Revelation 12:17 and 19:10 [Do you know those texts? Do you know what church that might be?] He continued, We have thoroughly infiltrated that church. He signed SJ.

We have thoroughly infiltrated that church. We do not have the faintest idea of what is going on. We read these prophecies, most of the time people talk about these prophecies as something that is going to happen in the future—when we land in prison then we will think it is happening, but as long as we are free we think it is in the future. Of course, one of our greatest dangers, as Christians, is that what we think is in the future is in the past and the present, and all of a sudden the future will take us by great surprise.

There will be an overwhelming surprise for the world, but there is going to be an overwhelming surprise for Seventh-day Adventists also. People are looking for something to happen in the future and it has already happened. We cannot comprehend, when we give hospitals away to Rome’s control, that we are not infiltrated. We cannot comprehend that, and the Review and Herald does not see any problem with it. I used to live near where those institutions are, and let me tell you, the Adventists have invested millions of dollars in those institutions and now we are just giving them away to Rome’s control. Babylon is marching through the land.

We ask their leaders to come to speak to our young people at our colleges. We have done that several times—at Union College, at Pacific Union College—Babylon is marching through the land. Babylon is preaching in our church. We have clergy from Babylon come to talk to us. I want to tell you, friends, when Babylon marches through the land; they are not marching through the land as a parade. This is a battle, this is not a parade. Ellen White said that our world is not a parade ground, but a battlefield. Do you believe that? Babylon knows that it is a battle, and it is time for you and me to recognize that we are in a spiritual battle and it is on! Look at what is happening. "They gather captives like the sand." Verse 9. We think that this will be in the future when we are in a cave or a prison somewhere. Let me tell you, they probably have their great majority in the Adventist Church right now.

You see, the battle first takes place in the mind. If you accept their theology, if you accept their philosophy, if you accept their teaching, they gotcha! Excuse the English. They take captives like the sand. Well, how many captives are they going to take? Do you know what Babylon thinks today? They think that they are going to take us all over. They really believe that. Habakkuk saw that they believed that. See verse 10: "They scoff at kings. Princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold." They think that they are going to be able to totally take over Adventism. The very few, the two or three here or there who do not accept them, they are willing to get rid of them. Put them in prison. But before they do that they are going to get control mentally of the vast majority.

Habakkuk could not figure this out. Can you figure it out? "Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? Why do you look on those who deal treacherously and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?" Habakkuk 1:12, 13. How can You allow, how can You watch what is going on and not do anything to solve this problem? We are in trouble! Babylon is walking through the land and they have already taken captives like the sand, and they intend to take every single one of us captive. They intend to overcome every stronghold of Israel and Judah. They expect to take it all. Lord, how can you allow this?

In other words, everything seems to be happening opposite to the way we think it should happen. Have you been in situations like that? It just seems that everything is happening just opposite to the way you think it should happen.

Before we go on studying what the Lord told Habakkuk, I want to take an aside with you to think through a few things, to try to understand a few things if we can, just a little bit from God’s perspective.

There are many stories in the Bible given to help us understand a little bit about God’s problem. Solomon recognized this problem. You can see it in the story of the Song of Solomon. Solomon wanted a wife, but Solomon had a problem. Not only was he the king, but he was very good-looking. If a man is very rich or very powerful, do you know one of the questions that he always has on his mind when trying to select a wife? The question he has on his mind is, does this person really want me, do they really love me, or do they just want my wealth, my money and my power. Who or what do they really want. Actually, God has this problem in a superlative degree, more than any human being.

God says to us, I can take away all of your sickness, I can take away the problem of death, I can take away the problem of pain, I can take away the problem of sorrow, and we say, "That is what I want! Lord, I am going to follow you. Lord, I love You. I want to do whatever You want me to do." The Lord says fine, we will see if you love Me or not, if you really love Me more than anything else, whether you want to do My will more than anything else, and He allows things to happen so that it is not popular to follow Him. God deliberately allows things like that to happen.

In fact, Ellen White says that in every generation God has set a testing truth, and those who accept it are despised. She says that has happened in every generation. It happened in Martin Luther’s day, it happened in Paul’s day, it happened in Habakkuk’s day, and more than ever before it is happening in our day.

There are a lot of people who want to follow the Lord when it is popular, and they say, We are going to go out and we are going to finish the work. Really? Are you going to go out and finish the work if it is not popular? When the drums are not banging, the bands are not playing, and when instead of the enthusiasm and the excitement it looks like you are going to be crucified instead, are you still going to go out and finish the work?

Look at the problem that Jesus had. Remember the multitudes used to just flock to Him. So He gave them a little test (see John 6.) He said, Look, what I want to give to you is not power over Rome, that is not it. I want to deliver you from your sins. They did not want that. That was a battle they did not want to fight. They wanted to fight the Romans, and even after most of those people left Him in Galilee, He still had the problem again. When you look at the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, what happened? Oh, multitudes followed! They were singing and praising God and saying, Hallelujah! And the disciples were so excited. They thought in a few days Jesus is going to be sitting on the throne and we are going to be delivered from all the past, all the poverty, all the sorrow, all of the trouble. It is going to be wonderful! In less than a week from that time, they saw Jesus hanging on a cross.

Oh friend, it is one thing to follow Jesus when the bands are playing and the drums are beating, and everybody is shouting hallelujah! But it is something else to follow Jesus when all you can see is Babylon marching through the land, taking captives like the sand, and it looks like they are going to take every stronghold that there is! Why? Why does God allow that?

I am just a human being, I am not even a prophet, so I do not claim to know all the reasons, but I know one reason why God does it. It sorts out the people who really love Him from the people who are just in it for some other reason.

Friend of mine, do you love Jesus enough that you want to follow Him enough, even when He leads you up to Calvary, and it is not popular? Do you really love Him when it looks like Babylon is going to take over every stronghold? When they have gathered captives like the sand and they are marching through the land, the law is powerless, there is no justice, there is strife, violence and contention among God’s professed people and you cannot see how the Lord is ever going to turn this thing around?

We have to have the same faith that Habakkuk had. I hope that as you study Habakkuk, you realize that you and I have to have the same kind of faith that he finally had to develop. The Lord told him in chapter 2:4, "The just live by faith." What does that mean—the just live by faith? That is a text, of course, that turned Martin Luther’s life around and changed the whole world in the days of the Reformation. What does that mean? It means that when it looks like everything is going wrong, nothing is turning out the way you thought it would, and it looks like the wicked are winning and the righteous are losing and that the wicked are going to take over everything, the just live by faith.

Was God still in control when Babylon was marching through the land of Judah? Was He? He was! It did not look like it to them, and it did not look like it to Habakkuk, but He was. Friends, God is still in control today, and we have to trust Him when we cannot figure out what is happening or why, and we cannot answer the question, why? We have to trust Him anyway.

In commenting on Habakkuk, Mrs. White says; "We must cherish and cultivate the faith of which prophets and apostles have testified, the faith that lays hold on the promises of God and waits for deliverance in His appointed time and way. [Is the Lord going to deliver His people? Oh yes, that is a matter of Bible prophecy, but the time and way are of His choosing, not mine. The time and way that God is going to deliver His people is of His choosing, not mine. Then she gives this encouraging sentence;] The sure word of prophecy will meet its final fulfillment in the glorious advent of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords." [Is He coming and is He going to deliver His people? Yes He is. There is no question about that. But we do not know the time and the way that He is going to work this all out. We cannot explain that. Habakkuk could not explain it. He said, Lord, how long is this going to go on? Why do I have to look at this? How can You watch this? He could not explain it and we cannot explain it, but we have to learn to trust the One who is in charge when we cannot explain.] The time of waiting may seem long; the soul may oppressed by discouraging circumstances [we do not need to ask for any hands on that. I see Adventists all over the world who are oppressed by discouraging circumstances and I talk to them on the telephone, and they write me letters all of the time. This is happening.] Many, in whom confidence has been placed, may fall by the way. [Has that happened? That has happened as many in whom confidence has been placed have fallen out by the way. And when it says many, that can be the majority, by the way.] But with the prophet who endeavored to encourage Judah in a time of unparalleled apostasy [Are we in an unparalleled apostasy today? I have said for several years, and I still believe it, that today we are in the worst apostasy that there has ever been in 6,000 years. I believe that. Habakkuk was in a time of unparalleled apostasy.] Let us confidently declare, ‘The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him. Habakkuk 2:20." Prophets and Kings, 387.

Perhaps there is someone reading this, and you have been very oppressed, maybe discouraged because you cannot explain why God allows these things to happen in the world. Why does God allow these things to happen in the church? Why does God allow Babylon to go march through the land of God’s people and allow them to take captives like the sand, and it looks like they are going to take over the whole thing—why Lord? We cannot explain all of the whys, but we know if we live by faith, if we trust in God’s promises, we must learn to wait for deliverance in His appointed time and way. We know that the sure word of prophecy is going to meet its final fulfillment with the glorious return of our Lord and Saviour as King of kings and Lord of lords. It may seem long. The Lord has told us, by the way, that when we get to heaven we will realize that it was not really long, it will seem short then.

There is coming a time when we are gathered about the throne, and we look back to this world—Ellen White talks about this—there will be some people, I do not know if they will actually weep before the throne of God or not, but they will wish they could have their lives to live over again down here in this world so that they could do more for the Lord. We do not want to be in that situation. We want to be doing everything we can for the Lord now, because while the time seems long, it is actually short, and when we get to eternity we will realize that the time that we had here to get ready was very, very short.

Friend, if the devil has been tempting you to become discouraged because you cannot explain why, you are going to see a lot more things between now and the coming of Jesus that you cannot explain why. You are going to see a lot of things. But, if you live by faith, you know that God is going to bring us out of this and He is going to deliver His people if you do not give up and turn your back on Him. If you keep trusting in Him, if you commit your life to Him, if you are willing to fight the fight. Remember Paul said to Timothy, "Fight the good fight of faith." You have to be willing to fight the fight. But if you are willing to fight the fight, if you are willing to follow, if you are willing to live by faith, you know, just like Habakkuk knew—he could not explain why and we cannot explain why either, and we do not have to, we can trust in the Lord and live by faith and walk by faith and we know, as He says in the third chapter, He is going to bring us out, He is going to deliver us if we live by faith and trust in Him.