Scripture referenced
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Habakkuk 3:1-4 read aloud together as the primary opening passage about God's coming and splendor
1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.
2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the middle of the years. In the middle of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.
4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Isaiah 35:1-8
read aloud together as a second passage to find thematic connections with Habakkuk 3
1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
2 It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon’s glory will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see Yahweh’s glory, the excellence of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong. Don’t be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.
8 A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Habakkuk 3:5-19
read aloud to show the complexity surrounding the events of the Lord's return, ending with rejoicing in God as strength
5 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.
6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.
8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?
9 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.
14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.
16 I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.
17 For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:
18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Matthew 24
cited as Jesus commanding believers to know the season of his return, not just that no man knows the day or hour
1 Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.
2 But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”
3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray.
5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.
8 But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
9 Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.
10 Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.
11 Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray.
12 Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.
13 But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.
14 This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
15 “When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house.
18 Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes.
19 But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!
20 Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath,
21 for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.
22 Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
23 “Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There,’ don’t believe it.
24 For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
25 “Behold, I have told you beforehand.
26 If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it.
27 For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28 For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.
29 But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
31 He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
32 “Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.
33 Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished.
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36 But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 “As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,
39 and they didn’t know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left.
42 Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.
43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
44 Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.
47 Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.
48 But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,
50 the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it, and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,
51 and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Psalms
referenced to distinguish that Israel knew God's ways but Moses knew his character
Keep this verseRecap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Brian continued a series on clarity and complexity, picking up from the previous week's message about simplicity. Using Habakkuk 3 and Isaiah 35, he walked through what those two prophetic passages say about the return of Jesus, and then drew a direct line from that to how people can find clarity in the middle of whatever they are facing right now.
What was said
Brian opened by restating the word he felt the Lord gave him for 2024: that this year would bring an exponential increase in complexity, but that for people who have eyes to see and ears to hear, there would be a simultaneous increase in clarity. He described Israel as a people who knew God's acts, while Moses knew God's character, and said the goal for the Tribe fam is to be people who respond to complexity the way Moses did, by leaning into who God is rather than being swept along by circumstances.
He had the congregation read Habakkuk 3:1-4 and Isaiah 35:1-8 together, then opened it up for observations. People in the room noticed connections around the physical response of the earth to God's arrival, the language of splendor and glory appearing in both passages, the theme of a highway or pathway through the wilderness, and the tension between God's vengeance and his mercy. Brian said he gets things from the congregation that he would not have seen on his own, and he meant it.
The group landed on the conclusion that both passages describe the second coming of Jesus. Brian noted that the text itself provides the clues: in Isaiah 35:4, God "will come" with vengeance and salvation, which points to an event still ahead. He also pointed to Habakkuk's description of rays of light flashing from God's hands as something that has not happened in recorded history.
Brian then pressed into the specific manner of Jesus' return described in these passages, a procession moving up through the desert wilderness, with the land itself blooming and singing in his wake. He connected that image to the geography of the Exodus route, from Egypt through the Sinai, up through what is now Jordan and southern Israel, and into the promised land. He argued that multiple Old Testament prophecies picture Jesus returning along a similar corridor, accompanied by rescued Israel and the saints, before setting foot on the Mount of Olives.
He then brought in something he said is currently in the news: Benjamin Netanyahu's announced proposal to connect northern and southern Israel by high-speed rail, with further plans to extend an overland trade route through Saudi Arabia. Brian showed a map and pointed out that the projected route follows almost exactly the path described as a highway through the wilderness in Isaiah 35. He was careful to say no one knows the day or the hour of the Lord's return, but he cited Matthew 24 to argue that Jesus commands his followers to know the season, and said each time he looks at developments like this, his confidence grows that this is that generation.
He then widened the frame back out to Habakkuk 3:5-19, where pestilence, plague, shaking nations, and trembling mountains accompany the Lord's coming. His point was that the second coming will be unmistakable but many people, including people in the church, will be confused by it, because they will only see the complexity and not the clarity running alongside it. He said this is exactly why growing in maturity through the word and the Holy Spirit matters now, so that when the wheels are falling off, there is a company of people who can hold steady.
The practical application Brian landed on was this: clarity comes through worship. He pointed back to verse one of Habakkuk 3, where the prophet turns his prayer into a song, and to Isaiah 35's language of singing and praise erupting across the hills. He said that stopping to worship, rather than grinding harder on the problem, is what positions a person to receive clarity. He acknowledged that God might not address the specific issue at hand, but that even a glimpse of who God is would be worth it. He closed with a picture of Lissa's windshield wiper failing in a storm on the way back from Idaho Falls, and said the Lord's word to anyone in reduced visibility right now is to stop, come into his presence, and let him fight the battle.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Brian talked about clarity and complexity showing up together, like roses and thorns. Where have you seen that pattern in your own life, where a hard season brought unexpected understanding?
- The congregation pulled out several connections between the Habakkuk 3 and Isaiah 35 passages. Which of those connections stuck with you most, and why?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,594 words
Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.
Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.
Good morning. I'll give you a few extra moments to get there. But if you have your bible, would you find and click on the book of Habakkuk or Habakkuk, depending on what church you grew up in.
Thank you.
How many of you come from a Habakkuk church? How many of you come from a Habakkuk church? How many of you come from a church that didn't ever read from that book? Fair enough. How many of you don't come from church?
Glad that you're here today. I usually find the book of Matthew and then I hang a left. But don't ever be afraid to go to that table of contents at the front of your bible to look it up. I think that's great. Habakkuk chapter three.
We're gonna be in we're gonna read a few verses together, And I'll I'll wanna give you just really quick background on where we've been and what we're gonna talk about today. And if you if you were here last week or the last couple of weeks as we get into January 2024, I feel like the lord put a word on my heart as the primary communicator from the stage at Tribe, the lead pastor of Tribe, a word on my heart for our Tribe family. And I don't presume to to to say that I hear from the Lord to speak for broader than just this beautiful gathering of people. But I do think that it has greater and broader implications than just for our tribe family. So I would expand this to say this word is for whomever has ears to hear.
And last week, we talked about how I feel like the Lord put on our heart for 2024 that this would be the year of an increasing, an exponential increase of complexity just with the world. And everybody said, great. But simultaneously, an an increase in clarity. And I mean that at the macro level and also at the personal micro level. Maybe there's maybe there has been like some like some fog or some haze or, you know, when your windshield is not quite clean yet, but you gotta get in the car and go anyways.
I know nobody here would ever drive like that, but you know other people. And you're just you're you can't quite see, but you can see well enough. Well, as the world gets increasingly more complex, I believe in the deepest place of my heart that simultaneously, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, that there will also be a one for one increase of clarity in your life, an increase of clarity of the gospel, an increase of clarity of, like, tribe's purpose, mission, vision, and increase of clarity of things that you have been chewing on, maybe even just in your own personal study? And wouldn't it be great if we could just get the clarity without the complexity? How many of you remember that that cartoon?
I don't know if it was just in the Sunday funnies. Oh, who remembers the Sunday funnies? The funny papers. What was the family circus? Family circus and you know, like the the son has a flower and he's like, ouch.
I know they they weren't the first to say it, but he's like, ouch. And he's holding his finger and he's like, man, why do these roses have to have thorns? And then the mom who's always just so amazing, she's like, aren't you so glad that these thorns have roses? Like, just because of the world that we live in, you get roses, but there are also plenty of thorns out there. And for the clarity, it usually comes in the midst of complexity.
Why does God do that? We could talk a lot about that, but it's part of just the way that he operates and rolls. The Bible says that the people of Israel knew God's ways. Like whenever they would get hungry and they would complain and he would feed them, when they get thirsty and then their parched throats grumble and complain against Moses and Joshua and Aaron, and then he would provide water out of a rock of all places. The Bible says in the book of Psalms that Israel knew God's ways, but Moses knew his character.
And as we experience greater complexity in 2024, I want us to be a community of people that instead of throwing their hands up or giving up or or or being swept along with the tide of complexity of whatever that may be. I want us to be people who have sobriety of mind to be able to say, oh, I I'm experiencing increased level of complexity in my life around the world. That must mean that there is some clarity in here somewhere. So last week, we talked about we talked about clarity in the midst of complexity. And then we ended by talking about, well, how can we maintain that clarity?
And last week, we said, we we talked about the principle of just simplicity. That as we as life gets busier, we need to find more bandwidth. As things accelerate, we need to slow down. And as we simplify, it helps us to clarify in the midst of complexity. And honestly, I thought I was going to be done last week, but we have part two this week and I think there's gonna be a part three.
And everybody said Yay. Okay. Is it good? Really good to the to the person up here. Speaking of being good to the person up here, wasn't worship awesome this morning?
Oh, so good. Thank you worship team. Must have been that boom you brought. The boom. The holy spirit can't resist that boom.
Here's a quote from AW Tozer. I don't have it on the screen, so just have to listen. Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. Simplicity.
So that's what we talked about last week. This week, we're gonna continue the conversation and we're gonna look at another example of a a story or a time in the Bible where there was complexity and we're going to look to see we're going to look to see the clarity in the midst of that complexity and I told you to turn to what book? Habakkuk. So we're gonna read just a few verses to start, and we have a microphone in the room. Does Kat have that?
Alright. Kat has the microphone, and one of the things that we like to do here at Tribe, we like to read God's word together, not like simultaneously. That sounds that feels like way too churchy. But we take turns, we read the Bible. We also try to foster a an environment of dialogue instead of just a monologue up here.
And so Phil, I love to hear your questions, comments, connections. If there's something that that you feel like is like germane to the topic of what we are are discussing, all you have to do is put your hand up and Kat with their eagle eyes in the back of the room will get the mic to you. And the reason why we use the mic is it does help in this room, but we have a lot of families that tune in regularly to the livestream and it allows them to hear and better participate with what's going on wherever they're watching the livestream from. So that's why we do the mic. But would you start us off in verse one, and we're only gonna read to verse four.
I guess you could tackle the whole thing. Three one through four, please.
Okay. This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk. I have heard all about you, Lord. I am filled with awe by your amazing works. In this time of our deep need, help us again as you did in years gone by.
And in your anger, remember your mercy. I see God moving across the deserts from Edom, the holy one coming from Mount Paran. His brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with his praise. His coming is a brilliant is as brilliant as the sunrise. Rays of light flash from his hands where his awesome power is hidden.
Oh.
If you don't have that one, underlined, bracketed, starred, that's a good one to chew on and meditate. There's so much to mine and pull out of there. But what I'd like to do is go to one more additional passage that helps provide some depth and relief and not necessarily contrast as in conflicting, but add some contrast so that the subject of what we're talking about stands out in greater relief. Are you picking up what I'm putting down? So what we just read, keep that spun up, and let's turn to the book of Isaiah.
So hang a left. These two passages are related. And as we read this next passage in Isaiah, here's what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to read it looking for thematic connections or similarities or elaborations on a theme, like what sort of themes what kind of connections can you make between the two passages? Alright.
How does this passage connect with that passage? There could be some grammar, it could be themes, or something else. So do you have your investigator glasses on? Let's read Isaiah chapter 35 verse one through eight, and you can hand the mic off. Isaiah chapter 35 verse one through eight.
Kate's got it.
The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the lord, the excellency of our god.
Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful hearted, be strong, do not fear. Behold, your god will come with vengeance. With the recompense of god, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there and a road, and it shall be called the highway of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray.
Would you read that last sentence? Who Yeah.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray.
Boy, I feel like boy is really preaching to me. Even though you're dumb dumb, he not gonna let you get too far in the ditch. Whoo. And all the dumb dumbs in the room said, thank you, Lord. Alright.
I knew I was in good company.
I thought I would just share that, yeah, this morning at the coffee shop. I was reading Isaiah 35 and, yeah, wrote down eight through 10.
So Are you serious?
Yeah. So Woah. But Not too significant, but
Oh, yes. Okay. Okay. We got something going here. Is that in between Surfer Magazine articles, Mark?
Alright. Alright. Okay. Now it's time to think and consider. There is there there there there is a place that I'm going for that I am looking for, but don't try to answer this question in terms of what do I think pastor Brian wants to hear.
I'm I'm not interested in a Sunday school answer. Right? What I'm interested in is to see what you pulled out of those two passages that you can connect. There is some similarity. There is some some thematic similarities and connections, and I and I wanna see if you can see where I'm going.
So consider these two. Look at them, and what do you see? While you're thinking, I even see some chin scratching. You know that that's deep thinking. Let me give you just a really quick peek behind the curtain, the method to my madness.
Remember in the Wizard of Oz where the man pulling the levers did not want to be exposed behind the curtain? And he said, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain because little Toto goes back there. In in think there's a lot of mysticism, like like the guy up here is like supposed to be like better than anybody like out there. You all know that's not me. But here's the method to my madness.
I want you sitting there to see what happens up here and be like, oh, I can see that. I I could do that. I want you to feel empowered and that's also why I invite you to participate. So that so that maybe cumulatively for the season that the Lord has you at tribe, whether that's just at the end of the ski season or longer, that that somehow, someway your needle would be moved to think that guy, he's he's not that special. I could do what he could do and maybe you would even say I could do it better than he could do.
Great. Fantastic. I'll splash you with anointing oil and you I I do mean this, like, really honestly, like, I wanna get behind you, celebrate you, cheer for you, and you go start your own fellowship, church, whatever, like, go. That would just be that would like that would just be awesome. Have you ever sat under a pastor that was so brilliant, you were like you walked out saying, that was so brilliant, I could never do that.
They're very gifted, but that but but I want to empower you to go and do. K. That was the end of the little mini sermon. Yeah? Yeah?
Go and do. Go and do. Go and do. What thematically are you seeing? What connections between these two passages are you seeing?
Just raise your hand and Kat will get you the mic. How about Amanda up here?
Thank you. The connection I see is with the physical earth. In let's see. In brilliant splendor fills the heavens and the earth is filled with his praise. And then we see in Isaiah, it's like the earth itself is preparing a way for the Lord by what it's doing.
So I just picture all the beauty of the natural earth and how it itself is not human, yet it prepares. And there's other scriptures too, but that's what stuck out to me. Woah.
This is the other reason why I like to do this because I get stuff from y'all that I would not have seen on my own. So there is a physical reaction from the planet Earth when what happens? In preparation for you just just tell me, Amanda. In preparation for the Lord's coming. Okay.
Alright. That's really good. What else do you see similarities, maybe thematically or or grammar or concept?
Yeah, I mean Habakkuk, verse six says Is
that better? There we go.
Yeah, verse six. The end it says His ways are everlasting. Then as Isaiah talks about a highway shall be there and I just see the connection God's ways in the highway and there's an invitation to walk that highway and sometimes it is actually a physical walking out and sometimes it's metaphorical but I think there really is a physical action we need to do. We reference what you are talking about. When the complexity, there is a simple path we can walk through and that leads to everlasting.
Oh, that's so good. A physical reaction of planet Earth and a a pathway for traveling.
I'm I'm pretty excited to see the display of his glory. The splendor, both verses in verse three. In Habakkuk, it says his brilliant splendor fills the heavens. Yes.
Oh, that that is so good. Splendor and glory.
Yeah. And then in Isaiah, it says, will the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God. And something in that just make makes me think. I mean, I know I'm reading into this, but it just must bring him such joy to do that. Like, thinking about what it's like for him preparing to do that.
His heart in that.
I love that. Can I turn it to you? Yeah. You're on it. You're on it.
Good job, Kat.
So I'm a I'm a physical therapist and I was in school, and we had this little meeting once a week so we could all try to survive. We try to get in the word, and I don't know. I think I just stumbled across this, but it's the it's Isaiah thirty five three. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way. We're just talking about like, that's PT, you know?
Like, that's PT but I think the scripture is encouraging us and then it says, be, you know, tell tell people with fearful fearful hearts. Reach out to people with physical needs, reach out to people with fear. And so the the word encourages us and then we can go encourage the world around us to get ready for Jesus because it's awesome. Yes.
Yes. Because it's awesome. Kate back there. And then, Ketan, I think. Boy, I love this.
What's what's sticking out to me is in Isaiah four, it says, behold, your god will come with vengeance with the recompense of god. But then it goes on and says, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf. And in Habakkuk, it talks about, Lord, in your wrath, remember your mercy. And just that idea that though we might see, as you're talking complexity or things that we don't understand around us, like that God remembers mercy in the midst of his wrath, and that he will come with the healing, and he will come and make the road straight, and make a pathway for us to walk on.
That's that's a huge difference. Being able to see that in scripture and then being able to look for it and see it playing out, that I would say is a huge mark of maturity that distinguishes an immature Christian from a mature Christian. We are all children of God, but it's only the sons and daughters of God that will inherit the kingdom. And when we're able to reach that place of maturity, it positions us to be men and women who are able to transmit peace and wisdom and confidence and authority. And in a world of complexity, people desperately need those.
So mine's actually the same passage as her, but the when it says God comes with a vengeance, I just find it encouraging that we serve a God who's not, like, passive. He really has a lot of power and he cares about us and he's he's coming for us.
Okay. We've said this a couple of times, but these these two passages, they're they're from prophetic books of the bible. And as these guys were writing, some of the things that they were writing, they were they were foretelling of future events. But as we read them now today, some of those events have already unfolded. Does that make sense?
Some of these events that they wrote about twenty five, thirty five hundred years ago have yet to unfold. So this and I've heard you touch on it, but let's just all get on the same page. These two passages are in reference to what event? The Lord's return. Okay.
Cool. How do you know? What do you see in the text that gives you some measure of confidence that this a, has to do with the return of the Lord, and b, that hasn't happened yet? Lanisha's got her hand up, and everybody else was like, phew.
In Isaiah 35 verse four, what was just read. Say to them that are a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. There you go. And he came first for salvation.
He didn't come with vengeance just yet.
There you go. Beautiful, beautiful analysis of the grammar of the text. Yes, that is great. How about in Habakkuk? Oh, Sarah being brave.
In verse four, it says his splendor was like the sunrise, raised flash from his hand where his power was hidden. So it's like alluding to, like, he was and is coming again.
Ah, he was and is coming again. Now in the New Testament, in the Gospels, have we got to see rays of light flash from his hands physically? No. Because that would make him thank you. Leave it to the mother of all boys.
I was looking for Hux to help me out with that, but you're busy navigating.
What did she say? Iron man.
Iron man. Well, there goes my voice. We have yet to see physical rays of light coming from his hands, where his power is hidden. But there are if you read carefully, there are numerous clues that these two passages reference the second coming of the Lord. Now here's what I saw that was common, and Amanda touched on it.
Ian touched on it. This idea of the second coming of the Lord, but the manner and way in which he returns. And what is that manner or method or way that he returns? Yes, we know. Behold, he comes riding on the cloud.
You know? Yes, we know that. But we have some additional color and detail in these two passages. What do you see? Okay.
Yes? I still heard fame. Oh, fame? Fame? Oh my gosh.
Verse Verse two. I have heard all about you, Lord. I am filled with awe by your amazing works. But yours says fame.
Mine says, Lord, I have heard
your fame.
Yeah.
Says, Lord, I have heard your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them on your day. In our time, make them known. In wrath, remember mercy.
Wow. So fame. Okay. So these things will accompany him. I'm I'm trying not to give it away, but I wanna I wanna lead you along.
The the manner or method in which he returns.
If his glory is being displayed in the heavens, it suggests he's coming. So it's referencing when it talks about Jesus' return, he says, when he leaves, he says, you'll be coming I'll be coming the same way as when he left. So he ascended, which means he's coming back from the heavens. That's his glory filling the heavens.
Yes. Okay. Yes. You are correct. But we want to get a we want to ring a few more beautiful details out of it that's in this passage.
You're on the right track.
What was standing in in his coming is that in, Isaiah 35 towards the bottom half there, verse two. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. Yeah. There will be no mistaking. Before the servant of the Lord did not come in the fullness of his glory.
Oh, yes. But when he does return this time,
you don't know.
Everyone going to know. There will be no mistaking that the king of Zion, the eternal everlasting God, is here.
Verse three of Habakkuk is a big clue.
I was just going to tag onto that. Either I made this up or I did a study one time, but it's beautiful. I hope it's true. In Isaiah thirty five two, when it says, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy, I think there's like a deep dive of that word, which means the day of reversal. So it's like us getting to be with the Lord and while he at the millennial reign, and we get to restore the earth.
And so, again, like this physical beauty it talks about, like the joy that's there is the anchor for what's to come. And like the little glimpses my brain goes to the little glimpses of beauty and joy we see here on this earth are incomparable to what we'll see. But it's just like, it's an anchor that we get to hang onto. Like the Holy Spirit is a promise of what's to come, But also, God is so good and loves us so much and cares about so much detail. He brings us actual joy.
And I see it as an anchor for what's to come.
Oh. I love that. I love that. Here comes Schueller.
So, bouncing off of what Amanda's saying. Sing about the joy and the beauty and the earth responding. I think of Song of Solomon, and the bride, and her groom, and the earth. If you read Song of Solomon, it's like the oils, the hills, they're dancing, they're leaping creation. It's flourishing, the fragrances, all of it.
Yes. It is like a shadow of this absolute
marriage. Marriage. Two two yes and two significant corollary themes that I see. Number one, the manner in which he returns. Look at verse three.
I see God moving across the deserts from Edom, the holy one coming from Mount Peran. We read that, and we think that it's only prophetic symbolism. But what if there was a layer of physicality to the actual return of Jesus? Similar to Song of Solomon. Who is this coming up out of the desert leaning on her lover?
Numerous places throughout the Old Testament prophecies. We see a picture of Jesus returning. We all know that the manner in which he left is the manner in where he will return, and he'll set foot on Mount Of Olives. I believe it says in either Ezekiel or or Zechariah that he'll set foot on the Mount Of Olives. But what if him setting foot on the Mount Of Olives is not his first touchstone back to planet Earth?
What if his arrival captivates the attention of all of Israel because his arrival mirrors the way that God appeared to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai, and that there will be a royal procession of Jesus coming up through the desert with rescued Israel, saints that have died, those that are alive when the Lord returns and get their resurrected bodies, and they join Jesus as he is the head of the commander of the armies of the Lord accompanied by the saints, sweeping in through the desert. Read verse three. I see God moving across the deserts of Eden. We see this again in Isaiah. Even the wilderness and the desert, oh, ding ding ding, will be glad in those days, that phrase, in those days, in that day, in the great day, in the great and terrible day, all of that is is literary connections that should create a hyperlink in our brain to the great and terrible day of the Lord, the day of the Lord's return.
There is a moment of the Lord's return, but then there's also a season and a procession of the Lord's return. Yes. There will be an abundance of flowers of singing and joy. Imagine for just a second as Jesus marches up I don't know. Will he be riding, like like, with his little head poking out, like, of a tank?
Will he be on a white horse? Will he be walking? I I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
But it says that as in his wake, flowers are blooming, the hills are singing and rejoicing, The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the Plain Of Sharon. The parched ground will become a pool, springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land, marsh grasses and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived. And a great road will go through that once deserted land, and it will be named the Highway Of Holiness. Let me show you, a map of what we're talking about. There's a map.
Okay. Everybody oriented? You know where we are? Nod your head like this. Okay.
Good. So prophetic passages talk about when Jesus returns that he comes up sweeping up through the desert. We can see Egypt. We know more or less the route that they took when they left Egypt. Let me walk over here.
Can I have the mic? If you're listening to the if you listen to the audio podcast, you won't get the benefit of this. This is like the Mainland Of Egypt here. This is what's known as the Sinai Peninsula, but it is also a part of Egypt. Israel in the Exodus, they left.
They came down through here. They crossed at the Nueba, which is in the Gulf Of Aqaba into Saudi Arabia. Mount Sinai is over here, and then they traveled up through here and into the promised land. If you're with me, say I'm with you. I'm with you.
Okay. Good. Now these passages, the wilderness of Peran up through the desert, this sweeping give me the arrow In a similar way in a similar way that Moses led the nation of Israel up through the wilderness after a quick forty year detour. The Bible prophesies that when Jesus returns, he very well may appear in the clouds, poof, where airplanes live and and and set foot right there on on the Mount Of Olives. Maybe.
I mean, that's that's indisputable. That's what the text says. But there are a lot of prophecies that say that there will be more of a procession of Jesus with captives and Israeli refugees that have fled from intense persecution, that have sought shelter out in the wilderness of what is the country of Jordan and down near Elat in Southern Israel, that that whole area right there. But what about this pathway or a highway of holiness? Like, does that exist right now?
A little bit of a trick question. Has anybody heard of the One Israel Project? You have heard of the One Israel Project? The One Israel Project was announced by Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu's prime minister of Israel. He wants to connect the North Of Israel down with Elat, the Southern Israel by high speed train, so that you can get from the North to the South in under two hours.
Woo hoo. Great. But as he was it's a 100,000,000,000 shekel project. This is in the news, like you can Google this, y'all. But in his announcement, he also said that they're in talks and making plans with the country of Saudi Arabia to connect Riyadh in places in Saudi Arabia all the way up through Israel into Tel Aviv for a port for an overland trade route so that things aren't restricted just to the the gulf in the Red Sea.
What is that? What is that what is that canal called? Yes. You're right. So you wanna see where that railway is projected to go?
Mhmm. Do you have the next picture? A highway through the wilderness. Thirty five hundred years ago, Isaiah, Habakkuk, others saw a highway, a pathway through the wilderness leading back to Israel. In the history of the world, there has there have been like trade routes and like camel routes and little dirt two tracks, but not a highway.
In the history of the world, this has never been thought of or proposed, but it is literally in the works now. And some would suggest that that that that Abraham Accord and the normalizing of relationships between Saudi Arabia and Israel that other Arab League nations have sought to disrupt the progress and advancement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and so they kicked up some dust with October 7. I shared this with you to illustrate the fact that what when you read in the Bible may seem as who knows when the Lord is going to return, and it could be a hundred years from now, it could be a thousand years from now, it it could be. And yes, the bible says no man knows the day or the hour of the Lord's return, but Jesus right on the heels of that in Matthew 24 commands us to know what? The season in which he returns.
If if you've held on to that like, well, no man knows the day or the hour, you need to abandon that and educate yourself. You need revelation from the Lord because he commands us to know the season. And each time I say it, I grow in a little bit of confidence by saying that I believe that we are in the generation of the Lord's return. And this just gives me that much more confidence. Highway is being constructed.
Happens to be a railway, but can you blame Isaiah or Habakkuk? Like, they didn't know. Clarity. We see clarity, shouts of joy and singing and praise. The Lord's return, Spring flowers blooming.
Woo hoo. Unmistakable, unrecognizable. But clarity usually comes in the midst of what? Complexity. So we need to go back to Habakkuk and see the aperture open up a little bit, and I want you to see we've been talking about the clarity, clarity, clarity because I want you to see that.
But now let's see the greater context of complexity in which these events unfold. Back to Habakkuk. And with the mic, would somebody read verses five through 19?
Pestilence marches before him. Pause.
We all like the clarity. Ain't nobody likes the complexity. Pestilence marches before him. Pestilence. What is pestilence?
Disease. Disease, calamity, like chaos. Let's keep reading.
Plague follows close behind.
Keep going.
When he stops, the earth shakes. When he looks, the nations tremble. He shatters the everlasting mountains and levels the eternal hills. He is the eternal one. I see the people of Cushan in distress and the nation of Midian trembling in terror.
Was it an anger lord that you struck the rivers and parted the sea? Were you displeased with them? No. You were setting chariots of salvation. You brandished your bow and your quiver of arrows.
You split open the earth with flowing rivers. The mountains watched and trembled. Onward swept the raging waters. The mighty deep cried out, lifting its hands in submission. The sun and the moon stood still in the sky as your brilliant arrows flew and your glittering spear flashed.
You marched across the land in anger and trampled the nations in your fury. You went out to rescue your chosen people to save your anointed ones. You crushed the heads of the wicked and stripped their bones from head to toe. With his own weapons, you destroyed the chief of those who rushed out like a whirlwind thinking Israel would be easy prey. You trampled the sea with your horses in the mighty waters piled high.
I trembled inside when I heard this. My lips quivered with fear. My legs gave way beneath me and I shook in terror. I will wait quietly for the coming day when disaster will strike the people who invade us. Even though the fig trees have no blossoms and there are no grapes on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields lie empty and barren.
Even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes me as sure footed as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.
Why do you need to be sure footed unless the trail is rocky and the terrain is complex. You said a moment ago that his second coming will be unmistakable, and you are totally right. However, many people will be confused by it. They will see pestilence and plagues and tremors and shaking. It will be unmistakable, but even those in the church will be confused.
This is why I feel like the word of the Lord is for us today to learn how to identify and to get clarity in the midst of complexity. We must grow in maturity so that when the world around, the wheels are falling off, and even for those in the church when the tendency will just be to throw up the deuce and be like, that's it. I'm out. There will be a remnant. There will be a a company of people of men and women who have trained themselves through the study of the word and revelation from the holy spirit to be able to say, whoo, it's getting real complex out here.
And at the same time, there's increasing clarity in their hearts because you are right, Shuler. The second coming of the Lord will be unmistakable, but many will be confused by it because they will only see Habakkuk three five through 19. Okay. How does this apply to our life Monday morning as we start to land the plan? Alright.
I'm I'm not gonna be on the the, like, the planning commission for the railway. I don't even wanna be a part of the homeowners association in my neighborhood. Like, the railway is coming. We'll be built within our lifetime. But what does this have to do with my life today?
Remember I said that I see two common themes. The the the first one is those those the the pathway, the manner in which he travels to return. That was the first one. The second, and we touched on it a few different places. The two the second common theme is found in verse one of Habakkuk chapter three and verse two of Isaiah 35.
You can go back and look at it. And this is the takeaway for today. Isaiah takes his prayer and he sings it. That's what he says in verse one of Habakkuk chapter three. Isaiah chapter 35 verse two talks about singing praise, and the hills will erupt in praise.
What is the Monday morning takeaway application for whatever complexity that you might find yourself in? Clarity comes through worship. Clarity comes through worship. I don't know how I can see a way out of this. Maybe you should stop or pause all your figuring and scheming and plotting and and spreadsheets and crunching the numbers has its place.
I would suggest to you that of greater value would just be to stop and to praise him. And watch if clarity doesn't begin to emerge. Now listen. Listen. Listen.
Listen. Here's what I don't want you to to do. Okay. I'm in this trouble. You know, I'm trying to figure out, wrap my brain around something.
Either something you've got yourself into or something that has been handed to you. I'm not saying that if you just, like, you know, turn on some, like, Maverick City worship and you give it two songs on volume 10, that all of a sudden a brilliant solution to your problem will come. What I am saying is this, when the Lord speaks to you, it might not have anything to do with your current issue or problem. And in fact, that's usually how I've seen the Lord work in my life. He's like, oh my goodness.
You've you've taken a few moments to stop worrying about you, you, you, you, you've come to me and asked what's on my heart. Here's what I wanna talk about. That's what happened to Habakkuk. He's all he's like all been out of shape about what Israel was doing in his day and age, and he turns to the Lord in prayer. Lord, these people of yours, and then God says, oh, let me show you.
And he takes him 3,500 into the future for events that haven't even unfolded in our day. The worst case scenario, when you take time to enter into worship with him, the worst case scenario is that he won't show you a thing about what it is that you're going through, but he will give you a beautiful glimpse into who he is. And that's not even the worst. That right there is is beautiful and satisfactory. Clarity comes through worship.
Last little anecdote, and then we're gonna see if the holy spirit will help us to make that 18 inch drop from our thinker down to our knower, what we've talked about today. Recently, Lyssa had to make an IF run, and on our way back, bad storm, like, yeah, it's winter around here, but they happen.
Can you see how much sympathy I got?
Should've gone in December when it was so dry. But on the on the truck, one of the windshield wipers, like, decided, like, to stop working. And, like, her visibility, like, got rare or, like like, down to, like, really small. And as I was preparing this message, I felt like like that is a picture of what somebody could be going through. Normally, you are accustomed to or you operate with with clear windshield full of visibility.
And today, you find yourself maybe in the midst of a storm, but you've got reduced visibility, and you're kind of, like, hunkered over and and you're looking through. And you in the midst of the complexity of your situation, you are looking for clarity. The holy spirit would say to you, instead of trying to drive with your foot on the gas at 60 miles an hour and your hand out on the windshield working the ice scraper that's not what Lissa did. Close. Stop.
Stop. And just come into my presence, the Lord would say, and sit at my feet and just worship me. Quit swinging your sword to fight your battles, But make much of my name and of my fame, the Lord would say, and watch how I will fight your battles for you. And I feel like the Lord would even say right now, in spoiler alert, I might fight the battle, do the thing, bring the resolution, and you might not even have clarity hindsight until it's after all said and done. I can't give you that clarity right now because, baby girl, I know you, and you'll mess it up.
Let me just go ahead and do this for you. And then in hindsight, I will give you clarity, and you will see my hand throughout all of this. But clarity will come through worship. Would that be alright if I prayed for you? And just before I pray, I wanna let you know that at the table at one of the booths right back there, Lee and Colleen, would you wave your hands?
And Kate and John Micus, wave your hands. They would and Lanisha, they would love to pray for you. If there's anything that you need prayer for, they would love to pray for you. Now I'm gonna pray for you. Alright?
Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us. Thank you for being committed to us as a good father. You love us as children, but you invite us to this place of maturity where we can be sons and daughters, entrusted with the inheritance of the kingdom, to be people of clarity in the midst of complexity. I pray that over our tribe fam, in regionally and globally, in the body of Christ, and also in people's own personal lives. Jesus, as they press into you and worship you, would you release clarity into their life?
I pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. Thank you guys so much for being here, sharing a part of your weekend with us. I love you. And, Huxley, remember, you got this.
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