Page 1309 - The MacArthur Daily Bible

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DECEMBER 23
5 “Look among the nations and watch— And burn incense to their dragnet;
Be utterly astounded! Because by them their share
For I will work a work in your days is sumptuous
Which you would not believe, though it And their food plentiful.
were told you. 17 Shall they therefore empty their net,
For indeed I am raising up the And continue to slay nations without
6
Chaldeans, pity?
A bitter and hasty nation
Which marches through the breadth of 2 I will stand my watch
the earth, And set myself on the rampart,
To possess dwelling places that are not And watch to see what He will say to me,
theirs. And what I will answer when I am
7 They are terrible and dreadful; corrected.
Their judgment and their dignity 2 Then the LORD answered me and said:
proceed from themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than “Write the vision
leopards, And make it plain on tablets,
And more fierce than evening wolves. That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed
Their chargers charge ahead;
time;
Their cavalry comes from afar; But at the end it will speak, and it will
They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.
not lie.
9 “They all come for violence; Though it tarries, wait for it;
Their faces are set like the east wind. Because it will surely come,
They gather captives like sand. It will not tarry.
10 They scoff at kings, 4
And princes are scorned by them. “Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
They deride every stronghold, But the just shall live by his faith.
For they heap up earthen mounds
and seize it.
Then his mind changes, and he
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transgresses;
He commits offense, 2:4 the just shall live by his faith. In contrast to
Ascribing this power to his god.” the proud,the just will be truly preserved through
his faithfulness to God. This is the core of God’s
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Are You not from everlasting, message to/through Habakkuk. Both the aspect
O LORD my God, my Holy One? of justification by faith,as noted by Paul’s usage in
We shall not die. Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11, as well as the
O LORD, You have appointed them for aspect of sanctification by faith, as employed by
judgment; the writer of Hebrews (10:38),reflect the essence
O Rock, You have marked them for of Habakkuk; no conflict exists. The emphasis in
correction. both Habakkuk and the New Testament refer-
13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, ences goes beyond the act of faith to include the
continuity of faith.Faith is not a one-time act,but a
And cannot look on wickedness. way of life.The true believer,declared righteous by
Why do You look on those who deal God, will persevere in faith as the pattern of his
treacherously, life (Col.1:22,23;Heb.3:12–14).
And hold Your tongue when the
wicked devours
A person more righteous than he? 5 “Indeed, because he transgresses by wine,
Why do You make men like fish He is a proud man,
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of the sea, And he does not stay at home.
Like creeping things that have no ruler Because he enlarges his desire as hell,
over them? And he is like death, and cannot be
satisfied,
15 They take up all of them with a hook,
They catch them in their net, He gathers to himself all nations
And gather them in their dragnet. And heaps up for himself all peoples.
Therefore they rejoice and are glad. 6 “Will not all these take up a proverb
Therefore they sacrifice to their net, against him,
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