Living by Faithናሙና

God’s Righteous Response to Evil

God’s wondrous plan that Habakkuk could not believe was to raise up the Chaldeans against Judah to carry out His divine justice. The Chaldeans were a new power in the near eastern geo-political realm. They swiftly rose to prominence by their conquests and quickly became a feared name. They were a bloodthirsty, warmongering people who delighted in destroying kingdoms. Their army was ruthlessly efficient. Their cavalry regiment swept through the battlefield with devastating force. Now they had been summoned by the God of Israel to punish His people. 

God, being absolutely holy, demands holiness from His people (Leviticus 11:45). He will not let violence and injustice go unchecked. He burns with anger at sin (Psalm 5:4-5, 7:11, 11:5). Thus in righteous judgement, God moves to purge the sins of the people of Judah. God as an impartial judge and a righteous King cannot tolerate even an iota of sin. The judgement of God upon sinners is dreaded and fearsome. 

The Bible informs us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and deserve nothing less than death; for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). All humanity deserves to be condemned like Judah for their treason against the King of kings. The only way we can escape this judgement of God is through Jesus. The dreadful, fearsome wrath that was to fall upon God’s children fell upon Jesus on Calvary. He was punished in their stead that they might not be destroyed. Thus His children are saved from condemnation, for their punishment has been borne by Jesus. However, for the rest of the world the wrath of God remains. All sin is either punished in Jesus or will be punished for all eternity in hell. This is God’s righteous response to evil.