The message to Habakkuk, regarding when the Kingdom of God would come, wasn’t just for his day, but for ours. It would be at the same time a global oppressor arises, just like Babylon… “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; behold it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul (Antichrist) which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith” – Habakkuk 2:2-4.
These same verses are requoted in Hebrews but point directly to Christ’s return… “For yet a little while, and HE that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith…” – Hebrews 10:37,38.
The ending of Habakkuk’s prophecy reveals how “the just shall live by faith,” and became a song: “Though the fig tree does not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines; the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls: yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places.”
The Nubian Ibex of Israel’s mountains are the “hinds” described in this verse. God made them with cloven, rubber-like, hollowed out hoofs that act like suction cups on the cliffs. No enemy can match their agility, speed, and endurance on these heights. God “made them” to overcome. They can leap over 6 feet vertically from standing still. They are as at home on the steep, mountainous terrain as they are in the field. And He has “made us” to overcome by faith.
What a beautiful picture of triumphant faith that overcomes the world - until our Savior appears. God told Habakkuk, “Write the vision and make it plain (easy to read) upon tablets, that he may run (with the news) who reads it.” That’s us. Jesus is near.
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