“The Earth shall be Filled with the Knowledge

of the Glory of the Lord” — Habakkuk 2:14

Habakkuk 2:12 is a pronouncement of certain wrath upon all false freewill/works religion. — “Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!” Habakkuk uses that which the Lord God did to the physical city of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:58) as a picture of that which God shall do to all false religion (spiritual Babylon).

The name of the city here condemned, as it is given in Scripture, is “that great city Babylon” (Revelation 18:2, 10, 21), “which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt” (Revelation 11:8). It is a city, a religion, built with blood and established by iniquity. She is drunk with the blood of God’s prophets, his saints, and the souls she has damned by her poison (Revelation 18:24). The damning poison of Babylon is freewill/works salvation.

Horrible as the religion of antichrist is, it shall never prevail. — “Behold, [is it] not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?” (Habakkuk 2:13) Yes, even this is according to the purpose of God, and is used by our God for the eternal salvation of his elect and the everlasting glory of his own great name (1 Corinthians 11:19; Psalm 76:10).

Our great God, in his infinite wisdom and sovereign goodness, providentially overrules the wicked designs of the devil and his servants, the preachers of freewill/works religion, to separate his wheat from the tares. He takes Satan's devices and uses them for his own defeat and to accomplish the very thing the devil tries to prevent, the everlasting good of his people!

When the dust of all heresy settles, those who are true followers of Christ will be made manifest. They may waver in the confusion; but God's saints will not be moved away from the hope of the gospel. When all the sowers of heresy have had their last fling, the cause of Christ will not be hindered, and believers will still cling to Christ with stronger faith than ever before.

Satan seeks, more than in any other way, by the delusions of will-worship, by the delusions of false religion, to overthrow the purpose of God in the salvation of his elect. The fiend of hell seeks, in all things, to rob God of his glory. But, blessed be the name of the Lord, Satan shall not prevail! Babylon shall fall and “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (v. 14).

How are we to understand this marvelous declaration? — Are we to believe that even in the midst of such base darkness and corruption as we see in the world around us God is accomplishing his purpose of grace toward his elect? — Are we to believe that even in the midst of all the idolatry and satanic will-worship religion of this age God is filling the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Triune God and making himself an everlasting and glorious name? That is exactly what Habakkuk here declares (Isaiah 63:11-14). So let us proclaim the glory!

Don Fortner

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