The prophet Habakkuk vividly demonstrates to us how intimately we can talk to the Lord. He asks questions and the Lord answers them. We, the authors, also experience it almost daily. The last big question that occupied us was: from where did the prophecy of Enoch come that Jude mentions in his letter. Days later, although we were working on a completely different subject, God gave us the answer. We feel and hear it again and again, God speaks in a mysterious way, without a sound, without a voice, not even an image or a vision. In intimate contact with His Word, it often takes only a tiny fingertip - massa - from Him and we rejoice.

Verse 1: I will stand on my watch and on the tower, and I will peep to see what he will speak to me, and what I shall say in answer to my complaint. Everyone could experience this, if he, like Habakkuk, climbed up to the lookout, to peep on the lookout, to hear what the wind, um, the spirit says to the churches.  

Verses 2 and 3: Write down the vision, and engrave it in tablets, so that it may be read with familiarity, for the vision still goes on to the appointed time, it strives for the end of days - and very importantly - it does not lie. https://youtu.be/PeXBw3Dfqfo Text and melody: Erika Meinhard-Wenzel When it passes away, wait; for it will come, it will not fail. Jesus once expressed the fact in this way: But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption draweth nigh. Luke 21:28 and in verse 31 he repeats in essence our future prospects: So you also, when you see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand. Two things we are to do: Look up and recognize!  Look up to our Lord Jesus Christ, because salvation is very near, and recognize that the time of the Kingdom of God is not far away.

Our Lord speaks truth, because he is the truth and he wants to guide us into all truth. And because He is faithful and keeps His promise, He explains things to us as we study the scriptures. Habakkuk 2:4 is rightly considered one of the famous verses of the Old Testament, though this should apply only to the second part. We now quote it in full: Behold, puffed up, not upright is in him his soul. But the righteous shall live by his faith. The second part is quoted not only in the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, but, what a surprise, again in Acts 13, though in a somewhat modified version (according to Luther) verse 39: "But he who believes in this, is just." and now in conjunction with verse 23: "But he who believes in this - Jesus, of the people of Israel's Savior - is just."

Let us return to the first part of the verse: Behold, puffed up, not sincere is in him his soul. Of whom is God speaking here? Of the other who sets himself up as the chief priest. Verse 5 allegorically describes the high priest, here as a boisterous man who gets drunk on wine by opening his maw wide, just like the Sheol (realm of the dead) and pouring the cups down on ex. The wine forms the metaphor for blood, which he tips down his throat as if intoxicated. The image corresponds with the deeds of the Whore of Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18, who is drunk with the blood of Jesus' witnesses.   

We should not be surprised that we find the mystery of Babylon described once feminine and once masculine. The masculine speaks mainly of personal responsibility and the feminine of dependence and the totality of all who make up the corresponding entity. The father of the whore is Satan, also the wanton man is his son, both belong to the seed of the serpent.

Verse 6 begins with the question: Will not these make a saying and a mocking speech, riddles upon him? Here God calls it a riddle, in Revelation it is called "Mystery Babylon" the great, she is the mother of harlots and: she is the abomination of the earth. Next it says: And further it will be said: Woe to him who heaps up what is not his! For how long? And who piles up on himself the burden of pledge. Modern slavery leads to the tyranny of total mammon. Its usury becomes life-threatening for many. His exploiters are also descendants of the serpent and consequently belong to the synagogue of Satan, against whom Paul warns his "real" child: The love of money is a root of all evil. 1. Tim. 6:10   

Let us learn from Jesus, who vividly explains the difference between real and fake: you cannot serve two masters, you can only love one, consequently you will hate the other. Jesus speaks of himself and his counterpart, The Mammon. Blessed is he who loves the Lord Jesus.

Verse 7: Will not suddenly rise up those who will bite you and wake up those who will scare you away. Who are those who rise up and who are those who wake up? The latter form the remnant of Israel, described in the Epistle to Sardis and in the 2nd Epistle of John. Most of the people from Sardis are still asleep, but the Lord will wake them up with a loud roar, metaphorically represented by the trumpets, which again stand for God's unmistakable speaking. Those who rise are those who will be raised from the dead, at the seventh trumpet. Together, the resurrected and the raised will bite and shoo away the adversary.

The biting recalls the words of God in Genesis 3. He said to the serpent that he will bite the heel of the Messiah.  At the seventh trumpet (i.e. during the seven bowls) there will be biting back. The Hebrew word for bite literally means to strike with a sting or spike. We read exactly how this will happen in Judges 5:27: Between her (Jael's) feet he bent, fell, lay there; between her feet he bent, fell; where he bent, he fell overcome. Jael the Kenite took a tent plow and drove it across the temple into Sisera's skull so that he writhed and writhed and writhed and died. (A reference to snakes.) Now let's look at the word shoo away. It literally means to shake off (like dust, and recalls the serpent's food). Barnabas and the apostle Paul also shook off the food of serpents from their feet in Acts 13 as a testimony against the godless Jews, the brood of vipers. The nest of the serpents is in Babylon today.

Verse 8: For you, you have robbed many nations; and so all the nations that are left will rob you because of the blood of men and the violence to land and city and all their inhabitants. The verse, like the verses before it, can be applied to Satan as well as to the Antichrist. It also applies here: As to the Father, so to the Son.   

The question of justice has occupied mankind since the beginning of its existence. Already in the Garden of Eden, if one wanted to see it after all, it is answered by God himself. The Lord slaughters an animal, takes the hide after tanning it and clothes Adam and Eve with it, who are now righteous again in the eyes of God. But because the poison of sin continues to be effective, murder occurred already in the second generation. The traces of blood run through the entire history. Up to our days the murder continues and it will reach its cruel zenith shortly, namely then, when within shortest time over 2 billion humans are murdered relentlessly and without mercy (later another 2 billion die.) Why does God watch, although he cannot see evil at all, Habakuk even expressly emphasizes that God's eyes are too pure to look at evil?

We now fully solve the riddle in Habakkuk. With the help of the eschatological interpretation of our commentary on the Epistle of Jude we recognized, also the prophet Habakkuk orients himself at the historical course of the seven churches, only that we move on the postal route of Asia Minor in the opposite direction. From Laodicea, omitting Philadelphia, we go to Sardis, then on to Thyatira and in the end we end up in Pergamos. This results in the following division: the first woe is directed to the end-time church of Laodicea, which includes the other three, the second woe is directed to Sardis, the third woe to Thyatira, and the fourth to Pergamos. We recall that Sardis, Thyatira and Pergamos describe the end-time ecumenical triad. Furthermore, we recall that from Sardis (?) comes the Antichrist, in Thyatira the harlot does her mischief and in Pergamos the false prophet rises. Whether our conclusions are correct?   

Preliminary remark: According to our understanding the rapture has happened, Laodicea remains behind. It forms as a whole the end-time church, divided into three groups: Sardis, Thyatira and Pergamos, the ecumenical triad.

Verse 9: Woe to him who makes evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to save himself from the hand of calamity - actually from the hand of evil! The evil profit describes the fraudulent procedure to come to the money and property of the others, for the own house. This can be interpreted on religious systems, as for example the former money collections for St. Peter's Basilica or for a temple, but also for the own home and this includes the own family. Evil gain stands for all the fraud a person can commit to increase his wealth. Now the house is metaphorically compared with a nest, in which the own brood is raised. This can be interpreted in many ways. While in the private sphere the nest can be understood for one's own home, the nest also stands for educational institutions of all kinds, here in particular nests for religion and economy are mentioned, which grow together more and more in the antichristian system. It is also called the reason for the house or nest building: To save oneself from the hand of misfortune. Of which misfortune may be spoken here? As already pointed out above, literally in the Hebrew the word evil is written. It can be used both as an adjective and as a noun. Because evil is not specified, we can use all sorts of bad things for the Hebrew word Ra'ah. People have felt for a long time that something is coming.

Verse 10: God's judgment with reason: You have counseled shame, Hebrew bosheth, for your house, the extermination of many nations, and have forfeited your life. It is repeated again that he (she, it) has forfeited eternal life by murderous activity on the many peoples. The Hebrew word for extermination also points to an idol. Those who worship idols are in debt and forfeit their lives in the same way as those who seduced them to do so. In Revelation 3, the Lord tells Laodicea that she is wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. The Greek word for miserable is talaiporos and means: continual trial. After every trial: miserable, miserable, miserable. How is it tested? The word root talanton explains it to us, it is a scale. And what is tested with the scales? The word talanton also explains this, because it can also be translated as talent, which is a unit of weight for gold and silver.   

One talent of silver is approximately equal to 6000 denarii. A denarius was the daily wage of a worker. Accordingly, the test takes place every day. Another root, the word "peira", means test. What is tested now? In the subroot it is written: "peran" and means to pierce. The silver or gold of Laodicea does not seem to be genuine. On the figurative level, it indicates that the sacrifice of Jesus is not considered sufficient, but one adds one's own gold and silver, which are one's own righteousness and one's own works of atonement. Typical religion.

Another misery of the end-time church is its striving for as high and secure an income as possible. Economically, however, Laodicea has speculated wrongly and religiously she has strayed. Both things have pierced them. In the eyes of God, they are worthless, indeed, downright miserable. The Greek word for pitiful literally means pitiable. The word root reinforces the idea: Eleos and means: pity. It is true that the word pity is not very high in the German-speaking world, but it is with God. Now we ask ourselves, how do we recognize a pitiful Christian, Jew or Muslim? He is definitely poor, not materially. But if he considers himself spiritually poor, then he can, indeed must, be helped.   

Let's take a closer look at the Greek word ptochos. Ptochos describes a beggar, but not an ordinary one, but a cripple who lies down unable to move. Such a beggar begged Peter and John at the beautiful gate. One wishes we also had a Peter and John today, who say: Look! We don't have gold and silver, but what we have we give you, so that we can reach out and lift up one or another of the poor.

If Jesus gives the advice to buy gold from him, then we must absolutely go to the specialized department for gold in his department store. Only in the Roman store is there the breastplate of righteousness. The prophet Isaiah must have known the store and observed a customer trying on the breastplate of righteousness. Is. 50,17 The Epistle to the Romans is the key to the abundant gold reserves of God and the Epistle to the Galatians offers everyone the best protection device against the theft of the precious metal once acquired - Jesus - our righteousness.

Verse 11: The witnesses: For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the rafter out of the timber shall answer it. The stone that cries out from the wall belongs to the wall of the heavenly Jerusalem, they are the overcomers of the 12 tribes of Israel. They are mentioned in Rev. 6-9-10: And when it opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the testimony they had. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying: Until when, O Ruler, who art holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? The rafter also points to Israel, while the wood serves as a metaphor for people, living witnesses who guard the gates.

Verse 12: Woe to him who builds cities with blood, and founds cities with iniquity! The Evangelical Church of Germany wants to establish its acronym EKD as a brand. https://nbc-jakob-tscharntke.de/images/pdf_dokumente/041-Konzern-statt-Kirche-Stellungnahme-zum-Impulspapier-der-EKD-2006.pdf

Its blood guilt must be understood primarily in a figurative sense, because it has strayed far from the foundations of the Bible. Sarde's immorality, propagated under the guise of responsibility and charity, leads people straight to the bed of the harlot. Have you not read that the harlot and those who go to bed with her will be judged by God? Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that nations toil for the fire, and nations toil in vain?

God has delivered them up because they have rejected his word, though they know God. God purifies the earth. Everything unclean will be removed from it, and then: the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, just as the waters cover the bottom of the sea. After God removes the unruly, the sincere will see the beauties of the Lord in abundance.

Verse 15: Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor by mixing in your anger, and also makes them drunk to look at their nakedness! Things like this are already being bandied about on the Internet. But here, too, it is necessary to focus on the spiritual level. In the figurative sense, the neighbor is instilled with easy to swallow things that confuse his understanding, but then make him drunk by the quantity. When he is completely filled with the spiritual intoxicant, he no longer knows what is above and below, and then follows the loss of control. Unabashedly exposed in this state, it becomes clear he has no sound spiritual foundation. The loud and beguiling speeches numb the senses and make him completely mediocre and helpless. In this situation, her anger erupts, which she takes out on the drunkard.   

When it says: to look at her nakedness, the word look at actually describes the palpation of a person and that with anger. The English term is: to scan. Is it not the case that today we are already being extensively scanned by means of computer technology? The transparent human being is nothing more than another metaphor for being naked. The scanning is not done with human love, but with anger. This prophetic word then comes as an unpleasant surprise to us, the author. The mobile phone has already captivated all of us, and the more we drink of its spirit, the more we become confused. Even with the knowledge that they are stripping us, we keep going. In the end, we will feel their wrath on our own bodies.

God's judgment: Verse 16a: You have satisfied yourself with shame instead of honor: drink also you and show your uncircumcision. In our estimation, the harlot from Thyatira will comply with the request in the place of abomination, for she herself is "the abomination of the earth." With her shame, the word denotes shame, idol and the female shame, she has satiated herself with it and not with honor. How heavy may the harlot be that she has fed mainly with shame? The question must be asked to determine the counterbalance. The word honor, on which she should have fed, is literally translated "with weight." This points to King Belshazzar, of whom the mysterious writing on the wall spoke, Daniel 5:25: Weighed and found too light. Literally, it reads "Mene, mene, tekel upharsin": counted, counted, weighed, splintered. The harlot Belshazzar has pierced himself so many times that in the end he (she, it) is only chaff, which then completely crumbles to dust. Of the chaff it says in Psalm 1: The lawless ones are like the chaff, which the wind drives away. And of the dust it says: For dust you are and to dust you will return. And forever he (she, it) is perished. Shame has zero weight on the scales of justice.   

Verse 16b: The cup of the Lord's right hand will turn to you, and shameful disgrace will come upon your glory. Add to this from Revelation 18:6: Recompense her as she also recompensed, and double to her according to her works; in the cup which she mixed, mix it twice. The cup, also called the chalice, the Lord will hand to her and now in turn force her to empty the cup, but not just once, nor twice, but four times.

Verse 17: For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid: because of the blood of men, and the violence of the land, and of the city, and of all the inhabitants thereof. What good is a carved image that its maker carved it? A cast image, and what lies does it teach that the maker of its image trusts in it to make dumb idols? What is this act of violence on Lebanon? We, the authors, heard that it meant the violence to the nature, but there one did not read exactly. Lebanon describes, first of all, the mountain range north of Israel, about 170 km long. Its name means white. In this form it stands metaphorically for the uncountable multitude coming out of the great tribulation, murdered by Babylon. From the context it is clear, the act of violence is directed against people who do not participate in the fornicating idolatry, but turn to Jesus, the true high priest, only these represent Lebanon, who stands as a metaphor for the overcomers walking in white clothes. Lebanon has the testimony of Jesus.

The destruction of animals speaks of the destruction of herds of cattle, which in turn stands as a metaphor for the flock of God. Jesus is their good shepherd, the other is the foolish shepherd of Zechariah 11. The second part of verse 16 repeats what was said earlier to bring clarity to the interpretation. The killing of the people refers to the violent act on Lebanon. The act of violence on the city and the land refers to the flock of the good shepherd living together in both the city and the land. The act of violence to Lebanon is the same act of violence committed to the city and the country. The word used in Hebrew for act of violence is: Chamas (חָמָס) and literally means to mistreat. You can't mistreat nature, but you can mistreat people. Also we speak colloquially of the destruction of nature, but never of its mistreatment, if that were so, then one would have to conclude that the speaker speaks the word of pantheism.

Verse 18: What good is a carved image that its maker carved it? A cast image, and what lying teaches that the maker of its image trusts in it to make dumb idols? There is no end to the image-makers in Thyatira, their idols are so numerous that their number can hardly be counted, and yet they are and remain mute gods. But soon, in the near future, comes the total seduction, described in the next verse.

Verse 19: Woe to him who says to the wood, Awake! To the silent stone: Awake! He should teach? Behold, he is covered with gold and silver, and there is no breath in him at all. In this verse, the false prophet, Rev. 13:11-18, is warned, but he throws the warnings in the wind and instead deceives all who dwell on the earth by asking them to make an image to the beast, which has the wound of the sword and lives. And now comes the corresponding part to Habakkuk: It was given to the false prophet to give a spirit to the image of the other beast, that of the Antichrist, so that the image would speak and cause all to be killed who did not worship the image of the beast.    

There are deficiencies in the translation, but they are not due to a lack of knowledge of the Hebrew language, but from the ignorance that existed at the time. Two different terms for awaken are used in the verse. If the wood is to wake up, then a sudden waking up from the sleep is indicated with it and if the stone wakes up, then it opens the eyes. The stone must therefore not be described here as silent, but as not seeing. The word silent thus belongs to be deleted from the translation. Further it says correctly: He teaches. No question is asked, but a statement is made. Further it is then said: He manipulates, superimposes, handles and that unjustified. What does he manipulate and handle in an unjustified way? The gold and the silver, the righteousness and the daily forgiveness of sins. This is exactly what this priest is doing, manipulating righteousness to require people to do works to add to righteousness in order to be saved or to shorten the time in purgatory. These teachings are teachings of demons who will soon suffer punishment in the fire of eternal damnation, even for this evil teaching. We repeat, the sum of the Epistle to the Romans is: He who believes in Jesus is just.

The silver represents the richness of his forgiveness. A sincere person realizes that he still sins, and this weighs him down. Through the silver it becomes concrete, both the sin and the forgiveness. I may unload the burden of individual sin to Jesus and for this individual sin I may claim forgiveness, for God is rich in forgiveness and how rich, we read in the first letter of John: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Without another mediator, I may bring my guilt to Jesus personally and he forgives and he gladly forgives. Blessed is he who is rich in such silver.   

In Habakkuk 2:17 it is said that in the idol there is no breath within it, but in Revelation 13 it is said that it was given to the false prophet to give breath to the image. Now is this a contradiction? The term breath is related to life that God gave, as told in Genesis 2:7: And Yahweh God formed man, dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The breath is, as it were, part of us, without it we would not exist at all. In the case of the idol it is different, it is and remains without spirit. But in the image or out of the image someone speaks, therefore there must be a spirit. Also the picture of the Antichrist possesses in itself no breath of God, particularly since the false prophet lets it be made by humans, made by many humans, a joint work of the computer scientists. Who actually speaks is Satan. The false prophet practices occultism, which we expressly warn against.   

The second chapter ends with the verse: And the Lord is in his holy palace - be silent before him, whole earth.

Berlin, June 13, 2023