HOW GOD DEALS WITH A WAYWARD NATION LESSON 2

1. HOW GOD DEALS WITH A WAYWARD NATION LESSON 2 JoLynn Gower Summer 2019 217-493-6151 jgower@guardingthetruth.org

2. VERSE FOR THE JOURNEY • Habakkuk 3:2 LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. • What happens when God’s people neglect His Word? • What happens in a nation when men run from knowing God? • God gives warnings through His people/prophets • God gives physical warnings • God even uses people who don’t know Him—and in the case of Cyrus, prophesied him by name 150 years before he was born • God does exactly what His Word says He will do, whether people know/believe it or not

3. GOD ANSWERS HABAKKUK • Habakkuk 1:5-11 "Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs. They are dreaded and feared; their justice and authority originate with themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour. All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand. They mock at kings and rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress and heap up rubble to capture it. Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god."

4. Earlier prophecy of REVIVAL • Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah and Josiah • 1 Kings 13:1-2  Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. He cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'" • This prophecy was given around 930-915 BC concerning Josiah, who would rule Judah around 600 BC • This is another time that God prophesied someone by name before they were even born • GOD SHOWS HIS OMNISCIENCE THROUGH PROPHECY

5. DID IT HAPPEN? • 2 Kings 22:18-20  "But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the LORD thus shall you say to him, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "Regarding the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORDwhen you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares the LORD. Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place." So they brought back word to the king.

6. JOSIAH TOOK ACTION • 2 Kings 23:15-16  Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah. Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. • He destroyed the things that had come into Israel from the Babylonian cult worship • The people who would destroy Judah were the people who originated the false gods worshiped in Judah!

7. BABYLONIAN CULT WORSHIP • Took items dedicated to Baal and Asherah from Temple; burned them; took ashes to Bethel • Got rid of idolatrous priests who burned incense/high places • Got rid of priests who burned incense to sun, moon, etc. • Broke down houses of male cult prostitutes in the temple and women weaving for Asherah in the temple • Stopped people from sacrificing children to Molech • Took away from the temple horses dedicated to the sun • God rid of pagan altars in/around the Temple • Cut down sacred Asherim pillars • Demolished the altar at Bethel, burned the bones of the men buried nearby as per the prophecy • Began observing the passover which had not been observed since the time of the judges (over 500 years)

8. WHERE DID THE CULTS ORIGINATE • Genesis 10:8-11 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, • Noah Ham Cush Nimrod • Nimrod eventually became worshiped as Ba’al (master) • His wife, Semiramis, became worshiped as Inanna and later called Ishtar; her father was Sin, the moon god • Abraham was from this part of the world: Ur and Harran • Joshua 24:2 Joshua said… "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely,Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.

9. BRUGEL’S “TOWER OF BABEL”

10. REPRESENTATIONS Before Mohammed, there were 360 idols associated with the Kaaba (Arabic for “cube”) Mohammed changed it to the worship of one god, “al-ilah” (the god) shortened to Allah The son/husband of Ishtar was Tammuz (Dumuzi;) he spent part of the year in the underworld and reappeared in the spring at one of the “gates of hell” His birthday was December 25

11. ARE THERE PARALLELS? • Sacrificing children (to guarantee health and sufficient finances for future children) • Homosexual activities, including prostitution; even the priests had allowed this in the Temple and proclaimed it to be OK • Heterosexual activities as worship in the Temple • Worshiping sun, moon, earth; • Sacrificing to idols: sacrifices involved time and money • Because of sin, God was going to punish Judah by allowing the people to be overtaken by Babylon, the source of the gods they were worshiping • Babylon was a cruel, evil nation • Habakkuk 1:7 “They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves.”

12. BY WHAT STANDARD? • Israel was sinful, but not nearly as evil as Babylon • 1 Peter 4:17  For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if itbegins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? • God’s standard is not, “We are better than they are.” • God’s standard is, “Are you doing what I told you to?” • God has established His righteous standards • The Ten Commandments clearly reveal God’s expectations of righteous people • Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.” • Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”

13. OTHER STANDARDS • Habakkuk 1:12-13  Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct. Youreyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they? • Habakkuk knows God’s unconditional promises to Abraham, so he knows that they will not be completely annihilated • But he is having trouble with wicked people winning in the short term