The righteous shall live by his faith and the NT
Hab 2:4; Rom 1:16-17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:32-39 The study of this famous verse, ‘The righteous will live by his faith’ (Hab 2:4) would not be complete without a reflection on how this line is used in the NT, most…
How can we know God’s power in us? (Eph 1:18-23; Psalm 110)
Eph 1:18-23; Ps 110:1-7 A common greeting at Easter is the jubilant little exchange of ‘He is risen!’ answered with ‘He is risen indeed!’. But why does the resurrection matter at all? Is not the cross and atonement for sin…
The need for cleansing: Healing our blind spots
Matt 21:12-17 Some years ago, Transport for London put out a short ad for their awareness test, a humorous whodunnit, to alert drivers to the dangers of not noticing what they do not expect to see. I won’t give the…
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem: The unexpected way of salvation
Matt 21:1-11 As I mentioned elsewhere on this blog, my father was barred from entering university by the Communist regime back in 1950s’ Hungary. Every year for fifteen years, he sat the entrance exam with success but failed in the…
Who is Messiah: Jewish and Christian expectations
Isa 9:2-7; Zech 9:8-10 As we are approaching Easter, I am interrupting our study of Habakkuk to engage with questions relating to what Jesus came to achieve and the various expectations around it. As Christians, we look to Jesus as…
How to live through catastrophe
Hab 2:1-4 During a summer outreach to international students in the UK, I met a Russian girl on the team, who was particularly excited about the work and seemed to have aptitude for it. The mission that organised the event…
Wrestling to understand God’s ways
Hab 1:12-17 Where you stand determines what you see. It is self-evident in a physical sense that perspective is dependent on location, but it is equally true in a more abstract sense when we think of our context (intellectual, emotional,…
God’s surprising involvement in the world
Hab 1:5-11 One of the most common questions that seekers of truth ask in a Western context is ‘If God is good, why is there so much suffering in the world?’. Suffering and pain are seen as the worst enemy…
Our heart’s concerns and what they say about us
Hab 1:1-4 Recently, a pastor friend shared how upset he felt about a new building of a sect and the false teachings about God that the members there are advocating. While a group of us gently teased him about getting…
Habakkuk intro
The person of the prophet Little is known of the prophet Habakkuk. He is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, though the reference to his stringed instruments at the end of the book (Hab 3:19) suggests to some scholars that…