Shabbat shalom chaverim and welcome to this second part in our series on The Way of Faithfulness. I am glad to see most of you back again so the virus has still not been conquered yet! May Yahweh show us grace today so that we can hear His Davar (Word) and learn more about His incredible ahavah (love).

Last week we in essense responded to the original apostles' request to "increase our emunah (faith)" (Lk.17:4, NIV) when they understood how serious and tough the Saviour's torah (law) on forgiveness was and what it would mean for them if they failed to do so. They understood that they needed spiritual empowerment to live such a radically new lifestyle, one that would be much more difficult than the Old Covenant way of doing things had been. Then we plunged into the situation faced by the navi (prophet) Habakkuk and in seeing his confusion and perplexity saw something of our own too. We learned that the solution to dealing with life's complexities and injustices is to follow the davar (word) given to him: "the just shall live by his faith", that is to say, "the righteous live by their faithfulness" (Hab.2:4, NRSV), or better still, "the righteous will attain chayim (life) through trusting faithfulness" (CJB).

Today I want to first of all spend a little more time with Habakkuk by looking at the words right before the sublime statement about the just or righteous that we talked about last week. Let's look at the King James Version first:

"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith" (Hab.2:4, KJV).

"Note this: Wicked men trust themselves alone [as these Chaldeans do], and fail; but the righteous man trusts in Me, and lives!" (LB).

In this verse, Yahweh is showing us that there are only two possible attitudes in life - emunah (faith) or unbelief. Our outlook is either based on trusting Him, or denial of Him, and these two philosophies of life are diametrically opposed. The first is that of the proud. Other translations use "swollen" or "puffed up", which is a graphic picture of pride and self-sufficiency. That is one philosophy of life - proud, puffed up, swollen, self-sufficient.

The other philosophy is that of the 'just' - the 'righteous', the 'meek', or the 'humble' - those who have a sense of certainty in spite of adverse circumstances, and who walk through life with confidence and poise.

This is what Dr. Martun Lloyd James described as "the great watershed in life" - and all of us are on one side of it or the other. Life, when stripped to its irreducible minimum, consists of one or two attitudes only: we take what Yahweh says and live by it, or else we do not. This is the lesson that the navi (prophet) Habakkuk learned as he was sitting in contemplation, and it is one that we must learn before we can move on and make any real progess in life.

So what have we learned so far? We have learned that Yahweh's answer to a perplexed and confused navi (prophet) - the righteous shall live by their faithfulness - was, and is, the revelation of the basic principle of human life. You can't get more foundational than this! Either we live by emunah (faith), which is pleasing to Elohim (God), or we do not live at all - 'live' in the sense of possessing any real spiritual life that transcends time and space, as opposed to the temporary life that is attached to mortal flesh.

This phrase, found in the Book of Habakkuk, is repeated on three different occasions in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament), and each one has an immense and deep significance. It's as if Yahweh plucks this jewel out of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and holds it up in the New Covenant Light, slowly turning it facet by facet, so that we can take in even more more of its emet (truth) and beauty.

The first time it appears in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) is in Romans. Why Romans? Because Romans is the letter in which Paul deals with the great truths of salvation, showing how Elohim (God) has accomplished the task of justifying sinners and making them appear as if they had never sinned. Let's go to chapter 1 and verse 1, and read the first 17 verses that climax in Habakkuk's statement (Hab.2:4) - we'll use the New King James Version (NKJV) since that's what everyone has here today:

"Paul, a bondservant of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), called to be an apostle, separated to the Besorah (Gospel) of Elohim (God) which He promised before through His nevi'im (prophets) in the Qadosh (Holy, Set-Apart) Scriptures, concerning His Son Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) our Master (Lord), who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of Elohim (God) with power according to the Ruach (Spirit) of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the emunah (faith) among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Chris)t; To all who are in Rome, beloved of Elohim (God), called to be qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones):

"Grace to you and shalom (peace) from Elohim (God) our Father and the Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Lord Jesus Christ).

"First, I thank my Elohim (God) through Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) for you all, that your emunah (faith) is spoken of throughout the whole world. For Elohim (God) is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Besorah (Gospel) of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of Elohim (God) to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established -- that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual emunah (faith) both of you and me. Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the Besorah (Gospel) to you who are in Rome also.

"For I am not ashamed of the Besorah (Gospel) of Messiah, for it is the power of Elohim (God) to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Juddean (Jew) first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of Elohim (God) is revealed from emunah (faith) to emunah (faith); as it is written, 'The just (righteous) shall live by [his] faith[fulness]'" (Rom.1:1-17, NKJV).

As with the Habakkuk passage which we studied last week, so here with Paul in Romans, the setting is a Court of Law - in this case, a Heavenly one. Returning to Habakkuk's inner agony, let's remind ourselves how the navi (prophet) appeals to Yahweh as the Judge who ought to be settling a lawsuit because of all the evil things going on:

"Your eyes are too pure to behold evil,
and You cannot look on wrongdoing;
why do You look on the treacherous,
and are silent when the wicked swallow
those more righteous than they?" (Hab.1:13, NRSV).

To understand what Paul is saying, first we have to be sure we understand that "more righteous than..." phrases in the Tanakh (Old Testament) or Hebrew Scriptures aren't a moral contrast -- he's not saying, these 'good' Israelite people have more credit in the moral bank than those pagan ones because this is a lawcourt scenario. Elohim (God) is supposed to be the Judge, and if the case came to court, he would - no, He must! - find in favour of us, the beleaguered and the oppressed, and hence against the treacherous and wicked. Like Habakkuk, we confidenly expect a positive verdict and they, the enemy, can be sure of a negative one.

That is the key element of Habakkuk's complaint, and it's not at all unlike the complaining we do too when bad things happen to us because of others who are being mean. What does Habakkuk want? He wants justice - he wants a just court ruling, he wants justification - that is, he wants the case to be decided in Israel's favour. And the righteous Judge, Israel's Covenant-Elohim (God), is under obligation to settle the case that way - Israel's way. If and when Yahweh acts in covenant-faithfulness, then, His people, will be vindicated: in other words, the 'righteousness' of Elohim (God) will result in the 'righteousness' of His people. They are 'made right'. We call this forensic or judicial righteousness. And that is how we must read Habakkuk in the context of Paul.

Now I am telling you all of this not to confound you with theology but to make you aware of the kind of language that Habakkuk and Paul are using. You also need to know how this kind of language looms large in Protestant theology, with all its complicated terminoloy, and why there are so many disagreements between Protestants. The importanmt thing to realise is that this is a court room scenario.

So, to be absolutely clear, when we read of the "just" living by emunah (faith), what we mean by "just" is those declared to be righteous in a court of law, in this case, Yahweh's own Heavenly Court. This is the whole emphasis of Romans - on "the just" or "justified ones" because the Judge, who operates on the basis that Torah-Justice which He Himself created and wrote in the Tanakh (Old Testament), is that which declares us to be "right" or "righteous", as in someone winning a case.

But let us remember something else about Habakkuk that is very important, so that we don't go and misread Paul, remembering that He can be easily misinterpreted by those not familiar with his kind of legalese talk (2 Pet.3:15-16). When a New Testament writer quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures, we must always go back and be sure we properly and thoroughly understand the background of the book that is being cited, in this case by Paul.

What is the Book of Habakkuk about? Eschatology, or the final events in history pertaining to Israel. Yet is it immensely personal and has the distinction of containing no oracles for Israel and, like the Book of Job in some respects, is a dialogue between the navi (prophet) and Elohim (God). Romans too is about eschatology and the nation of Israel, as I pointed out in the last series, The Kingdom Road. In other words, the primary salvation theme has to do with the nation - first of Old Covenant Israel, and now (through Paul) of New Covenant or Messianic Israel. Always keep that in mind.

"The just (righteous) shall live by faith" - what does that mean personally for you and me? It means, quite simply, that those who believe and accept the fact of Yah'shua's (Jesus') substitutionary death on Calvary - taking our place for the punishment we deserved - stand in Yahweh's presence just as if they had never sinned.

As a family we are lovers of Charles Dickens. Recently we rewatched Pickwick Papers (first published in 1836) and you will recall how Mr.Pickwick found himself in a Debtors' Prison. While there he came across an old adversary, the strolling actor and confidence trickster, Alfred Jingle (along with his manservant, Job Trotter) who had himself fallen on hard times. When Mr.Pickwick paid Mr.Jingle's debt, the latter was set free. He was 'justified', dis debt 'made right' by the payment of a substitute, Mr.Pickwick, and quite undeservedly so. Mr.Pickwick showed the charlatan much grace and gave him a fresh start in the West Indies which he did not at all deserve.

Yah'shua (Jesus) has shown to all of those who trust in Him that He is a cosmic fountain of grace - of undeserved loving-kindness. Mr.Pickwick is a pale reflection and yet enough of Elohim (God) is reflected in Mr.Pickwick's generous and forgiving character that we can get a glimpse of the ahavah (love) of Elohim (God) through him. Dickens has lots of characters like this, a reason I think we are so drawn to his stories. We are reminded each time of what the Saviour has done for us. We don't know from the story what happened to Mr.Jingle and his servant but in our hearts we all would want him to turn over a new leaf and start a new, honest and hard-working life. Pickwick set him free to do that, if he chose to, just as Yah'shua (Jesus) has set us free to begin a new life in Him if we choose.

Selwyn Hughes tells the story of a bank manager's little son who was standing by his father's desk. Where he stood, a shaft of sunlight was shining directly on him, and he said, "Daddy. I'm standing in the smile of God." The father said wistfully, "I wish I could stand in the smile of God." I think we all want to do that. The Good News - the Besorah or Gospel - is that when we stand in Messiah, we stand in Elohim's (God's) smile. So many feel they are standing in Yahweh's frown but all they have to do is to move over into Elohim's (God's) smile. That's justification. We are accepted, in spite of our crooked past of sin, because of the payment in blood made on our behalf by His Son. We've been set free from the condemnation and punishment we deserve.

By the grace of Elohim (God) there will be time for another part in this series before I am carted off to the chopping table. Until then, may the grace of our Master Yah'shua (Jesus) attend you and bless you. Amen.