What is it in the world that
brings us to silence? Silence can be unsettling, and those who have
experienced any length of time in it will testify to its daunting
experience. The Chaldeans have just been chastised and promised by
God that they will be judged by the Creator of the universe, and
their reliance upon their gods has proved futile. Habakkuk has
recorded God's words, and now in the final verse of chapter two
Habakkuk tells us the effect of God's powerful judgment. He wrote in
verse twenty:
But the LORD [is] in
his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
Regardless
of whether people trust in unreliable gods or not, God stands alone
as “the LORD is in his holy temple:” God is holy, and He
dwells in holiness. Where others may try to prove themselves
righteous and holy, God already possesses this trait. He is in His
holy temple, and the effect of false gods or graven images have power
against Him.
As a
result of the LORD being in His holy temple, Habakkuk wrote, “let
all the earth keep silence before him.” No one will dare say a
word that will have impact upon Him. Not one can challenge Him with
any authority, and all men and women throughout the Earth have
nothing to say in His presence. God is righteous, holy and without
sin or error. He is perfect, and His judgments are perfect whether a
person believes it or not.
What
does this mean for each of us? The book of Hebrews records in chapter
nine and verse twenty-seven:
And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
What
will it be like to stand before a Holy God? No one is holy in His
site, (“there is none righteous, no not one.” Romans
3:10), and when we stand before Him some day, not one of us will be
able to stand on our own. The only hope we have is that Jesus Christ
was Holy and perfect when He lived on this Earth. The only person who
can stand before a Holy and Just God is Jesus. He lived a holy life
and then died in our place on the cross. No other sacrifice or god
will be accepted, and only Jesus could pay the price for us. All the
Earth will be silent as they watch the only acceptable sacrifice
stand in our place, and when we believe in, rely upon, trust in and
cling to Jesus as the only holy sacrifice for our sin, we will be
spared from the judgment we deserve.
Today we
will consider all the Earth silent as the LORD is in his holy temple,
and if we are wise, we will appropriate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
as the substitution for our unworthy manner of living. Otherwise we
face this Holy God alone.
Next
time we will begin a new chapter in the book of Habakkuk, so read
ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites,
www.amazon.com
; www.barnesandnobles.com
; download
to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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