 Yeah, I think we have the recording now, so we can begin. So we're starting off with the book of Nahum Nahum basically is a judgment made against the city of Nineveh Now if you remember when we were looking at Obadiah, Obadiah was a judgment against whom? Let's see if anyone is awake When we did the book of Obadiah that was a judgment against The Edomites so now here Nahum is actually a judgment being spoken against The city of Nineveh last week when we were looking at the book of Jonah We saw that God actually wanted to give them a chance to repent I know come into his kingdom be a part of his people So he gave them that chance and for a few years Many of the Ninevites did turn to the living God But then majority of them went back to their old ways is what we are assuming because You know, Tiglath Pileser is able to Defeat them and they no longer have Yahweh support at that point of time So we assume that most of them must have gone back to their idolatrous ways some of them However, do remain in the kingdom of God because Jesus talks about how there will be people from Nineveh who will stand up during the judgment time and Ja and speak judgment against the people who are refusing Jesus Because Jesus is a greater prophet than Jonah if those people were willing to listen to Jonah and Come to the living God Then these cities in Jesus time have no excuse because Jesus is a greater prophet than Jonah and The people of Jesus day were still rejecting him So this is the background which we saw regarding Nineveh last time when we covered You know the book of Jonah So today we will look at what happens to Nineveh later And the and the judgment which came upon them when they returned back to their idolatry. All right, so This prophet Nahum is a contemporary of Zephaniah and Jeremiah So around the time that Jeremiah and Zephaniah were having their ministries At that time you have even Nahum prophesying But his concern is not so much about the destruction of Jerusalem, which is going to happen soon his Prophecy is concentrating on how Nineveh also will be destroyed one day So just to know a little bit of background regarding the time of Nahum We see that he was doing his ministry At the time of Josiah the good king Josiah So if we could have any one person read out for us Nahum chapter 1 verse 15 Let us look at what God has to say regarding this time of Josiah Nahum chapter 1 verse 15 We hold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings Who proclaims peace O Judah keep your appointed feats Perform your vows for the weak one self. No more pass through you. He is eternally cut off All right, so here we see God telling the people celebrate your festivals Judah and fulfill your vows No more will the wicked invade you So this is during the time of the good king Josiah who has tried to bring about a spiritual revival He is trying to follow the ways of God. And so at this time for a little while the Kingdom of Judah is allowed to have peace because these are people who are trying to come back to the Lord Trying to walk in the Lord's ways So even though judgment is going to come down for a few years During this time of Josiah the Lord allows the kingdom to enjoy peace because the people have turned their hearts Towards him. So we see that this is the setting in which Nahum is giving a prophecy against Nineveh Now in 722 is when Assyria had Destroyed on the northern kingdom at that time if you remember even the cities of the southern kingdom Some of the cities were also attacked. Some of the cities were also taken over That would that was in 701 BC. So around that time these Events had taken place the Assyrians had shown how powerful they are and So now God speaks a judgment against them and says yes, it is true that you were able to come and destroy the northern kingdom Yes It is also true that you came a few years later and Attacked the cities of the southern kingdom during the time of Hezekiah at which time you did have a lot of success So yes, you are powerful, but this is what I the Almighty one is selling that you Nineveh will also fall when your time of punishment comes. So that is what God is declaring over here And so it is in 612 BC that Nineveh completely falls. So Nineveh as we know is the capital of the Assyrian kingdom It was not the capital during the time of Jonah, but then now 150 years have passed by and now at this time Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian kingdom and This is God's prophecy against it Looking to look at the structure of the book of Nahum there are only three chapters and we see in the first chapter that God talks about his Great power and he talks about the judgment which he is capable of bringing and then in the next two chapters You have details about how Nineveh will be attacked how Nineveh will be Destroyed so maybe we can have Maybe we can look at maybe one verse from chapter one which talks about the awesome great power of the living God If we could have someone read out for us Nahum chapter one verse five. Yeah, Nahum one five And the earth keeps at his presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it Here it's using poetic language It's talking about how the mountains will literally shake when God comes in his anger to judge And this is a statement made at the end of this verse where it says the world and all the inhabitants in it You know, they are the ones who will be completely Judged so The Lord is saying when I come to bring my judgment it doesn't matter how powerful Nineveh is going to be it will be brought down and So this is what God says specifically regarding Nineveh in Chapter three verse seven God talks about complete destruction of Nineveh so if we can have someone read out for us Nahum chapter three verse seven Now Nineveh was a powerful capital. So it had a lot of allies All the other kingdoms wanted to be To partner with it to be friends with it because it was in a powerful state But God says I will reduce it to a state where nobody will want to even come near you You will no longer have any supporters. You will no longer have anyone even Feeling sorry for the destruction which you have undergone. So God says that that is what I will do to Nineveh one day And so the verse says Nineveh is devastated. Who will grieve for her? Where will I seek comfort us for you? Nobody will even want to come forward and help Nineveh in the time of destruction So this is the kind of destruction that God speaks against a powerful nation which has attacked northern The Northern Kingdom which has also Successfully taken over many of the southern Kingdom cities and these are God's words against it Now just to look at a little bit of background If you remember we talked about how 150 years previously when Jonah was asked to give a word of judgment to Nineveh at that time Nineveh was just a provincial center It was not the capital city and moreover the dynasty that was ruling at that time The Assyrian dynasty that was ruling at that time did not have many powerful rulers There was a person named Shamshi as a adad on the throne and then after him his three sons They come none of them are powerful So the the at that time all the provincial centers are trying to break free from the Assyrian control Things were like that. But then after that, we you know, we talked about it last time Tiglath Pileser's dynasty comes and his dynasty is very powerful and that's basically when you have The Assyrian Empire regaining its strength. It becomes strong once again. So During the time of Tiglath Pileser It's when you have a series of powerful rulers one of them being Sargon the second around the ending of his reign he and Senna Sherib they come They destroy the northern kingdom take away all the israelite people from there as slaves And so the Senna Sherib He becomes one of the most powerful rulers and so while some people say that Tiglath Pileser made Nineveh the capital Many other historical records. They say that it was actually Senna Sherib who expanded Nineveh and made it his capital city So he builds for himself a very grand palace in Nineveh and he in fact builds a palace even for his son and he builds a large fortification wall around Nineveh and it's told that that City now had some 1850 acres, so it was supposed to be a large City, he expands the city makes it bigger grander He puts in a lot of gardens and all of that and then one of his descendants Ashur Bani Pal He's another very very powerful Assyrian king. So he also, you know Constructs many palaces and all of that so Nineveh becomes a very grand city and people look upon it as a successful Place they don't think about it as a weak place But God says even though you have become such a grand and powerful city I will bring you down when the time comes What we learn about this last dynasty of the Assyrians is that they are They were they were a very cruel people the Assyrians were a violent nation Their soldiers always were violent But this last dynasty is especially very very cruel and heartless Because in the historical records which are available We see some of the very evil things which they did in fact in Nahum chapter 3 verse 1 When God is describing the city he calls it city of blood Maybe someone could read out Nahum chapter 3 verse 1 Nahum 3 verse 1 It says that this is a city of blood. It's full of blood. It is full of lies. It is full of Exploitation and plunder. It's always constantly attacking its victims That is the description which is given for this city of Nineveh and this was the city to which God reached out his hand and said if you will repent I would like to take you under my covering But now the people have gone far away from that repentance and this is what they have become They have become a city of blood. So not only did Nineveh backslide It has now gone to a stage where it is completely No way connected to Yahweh anymore. That is what has happened to Nineveh under the You know rule of this third dynasty under the rule of this powerful third dynasty and so During the time of Sargon the second and Sena share it when northern Israel is being conquered This is what they do to Manasseh. This is how Manasseh is dragged away If someone could read out the description of how Manasseh is defeated and how he's taken away You know when northern when the northern kingdom is falling Second Chronicles chapter 33 verse 11 second Chronicles 33 verse 11 Upon then the captains of the RV of the king of Assyria who took Manasseh With hoops bound him with bronze feathers and carried him off to Babylon it talks about how they put a hook in his nose and Dragged him off like as if he is an animal. The idea is that The you know Assyrian kings are saying look once upon a time you were a king But now we have reduced you to the level of an animal We have reduced to the level of a beast the same way we we carry I know we we drag cattle by putting a hook in their nose in that way We are putting a hook in your nose and they are dragging you away to our kingdom So in this manner they would humiliate the kings whom they were Conquering now they didn't exactly have any surgical instruments nor surgical procedures In those days so you can imagine how violently that Metal hook would have been placed in a human nose and a person is actually dragged Using that so it is brutal. No sense of mercy or kindness You know, so that's the kind of record that we see even in the secular writings regarding the Assyrian third dynasty In fact, we also see in the historical records mentioned being made that When they would capture the kings and the and the powerful officials of the of the different kingdoms They would put them on the ground, you know Facing with the face downward on the ground and then they would slice the skin along the back So that they can peel off the entire thing like as if it's one single, you know layer That was the level of cruelty. I mean when the person is still alive They would start peeling off his flesh so that they can display this flesh Which they have taken of off from the person, you know, the same way you would do with animals where animal the way the animal is Skin is carefully cut open and sliced open so that you know, the whole thing comes open like one single piece and That is what they used to do to the people whom they have to some of the powerful officials and kings whom they have captured now When God finally destroyed this city, he promised he said that it will be Devastated that it will be so completely destroyed that nobody will even live in that place anymore. That was the promise that God made and Just according to that prophecy, you know, nobody ever lived in that area any longer after the destruction of Nineveh and it was only in the mid 1800s that archaeologists even discovered that there was such a city existing, you know under the ground So when they began to do explorations in that excavations in that particular region, that is when in the mid 1800s they discovered this large Grand city they began to excavate all the palaces which were there and then they saw how grandly those palaces were constructed they had this huge large Stone slabs, you know in the palace on which they would carve out Their history they would make carvings about how they defeated enemies how they tortured the enemies All these are shown in the carvings which they You know did in on those large wall slabs So that's in fact available in some museum somewhere. I'm not sure where So those things are still displayed up to this day and if when you look at those Carvings, oh, you know, which have been taken from the palace walls Then you will see the level of their cruelty. They were proud to advertise that this is how they treat their enemies So you in fact you have one carving in which You know, it's it's that that particular carving is celebrating the victory which they had at which they had one at Elam and so you basically have a sure bunny par and his wife sitting over there Along with all the officials and they're having a huge banquet They're all feasting and drinking wine and all of that and then in the corner you have from the tree the head of the Elamite King hanging Like a decoration piece So they wanted to show off in their drawings, you know in their carvings how great they were and how they have reduced everywhere all the other Kings to you know, nothing and so that was the kind of Cruelty that we see in this Assyrian dynasty and God says to them that he will Bring them down and that when the destruction comes nothing will be able to save them Maybe we can look at some details about The actual attack Which are mentioned in poetic language in the Bible and then we can compare it to the historical records that we have about Actually, how Nineveh fell So if we could maybe first read out the scripture passage Now home chapter 2 if someone could read out verses 4 5 and 6 now home chapter 2 Versus 4 5 and 6 The gates of the river are open and the palace is dissolved So in these verses you have poetic language being used to talk about how Nineveh is going to fall one day Okay, this is the prophecy that is being given. It has not yet happened But here in this prophecy God describes this is how I will bring about your destruction And when we read these wordings, we don't quite understand what is being talked about over here But then when we compare this with what the Greek historian Cyculeus wrote down in his historical record then we begin to understand what these verses are saying So there was this Greek historian named deodorus cyclus S-i-c-u-l-u-s that was his name and he wrote something called the bibliotheca Historia and so in his history book, you know that word bibliotheca Historia literally means history book. So in his history book, he talks about the capture of Nineveh and how Nineveh falls it is basically the The Medes and the Babylonians who come and attack the city and this is actually what happens Um Sena Sherab we saw Build expanded the size of the original city and he built a new fortification wall So earlier when Nineveh was there in the time of Jonah, they had a city and they already had a fortified wall around it But then he expands the city. So he makes the city much bigger in size So the original fortification wall stays inside But now the city has become much bigger in size extending beyond those Fortification walls and so now you have an other outer fortification wall So Nineveh now basically has two levels of walls You have the wall which is inside the original wall and then you also have an outer Wall which is at a much many many kilometers away because now that entire Circumference of the city has increased and so they had two levels of fortification walls and when the when the Medes and the Babylonians come to attack They find it very very difficult to break through the outer walls because you know the soldiers who are attacking from inside who are standing on the walls and Fighting are in a strong position and the Medes and the Babylonians on that day when they first come and make their attack They're not able to have any success. In fact, they're quite badly defeated the Nineveh soldiers who are standing on the battle meant, you know walls, they throw arrows at them. They throw Huge rocks at them. And so the enemy is unable to come inside those outer fortification walls This is the what is recorded in Cyclops, you know a writings. This is what he says about the first attack So that night, there's a great celebration inside the city of Nineveh because the enemy was unable to get inside The people were able to you know, the soldiers were able to defeat the Medes and the Babylonians so that night they have a huge celebration and Cyclops writes that they all got very drunk So when they were in that drunken state At that time in the night the Medes and the Babylonians take advantage of the situation and Secretly during the night, they're able to make an opening in one portion of that outer wall and they are able to enter inside along with their chariots through that broken portion because all the Officials and all the commanders of the army everyone is drunk on the inside and they are not alert So this is what basically is talked about over here in Nahum chapter 2 verse 4 Where it talks about how the chariots are storming through the streets They are rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches They dart about like lightning. Those are the wordings that are used in the scripture in chapter 2 verse So it's basically talking about how the chariots have now broken through the outer wall They have entered into Nineveh and now the chariots are moving around in the sunlight and when the Ninevites wake up in the morning They are horrified to see these chariots moving about and it says they look like flaming torches You know because these chariots are made of metal and they are shining in the sunlight and so when they are You know passing by it looks like as if you know The the the metal is catching fire because of the sunlight which is falling upon it and so poetic language is being used and then What is Nineveh? What do the what do the soldiers do verse 5? It says Nineveh summons her picked troops yet they stumble on their way They dash to the city wall the protective shield is put in place So now all the soldiers realize that the outer wall has been breached So now they start rushing towards the inner city wall And so they put up defenses around the inner city wall Hoping that at least they can now protect what is left of the actual main inner city So it talks about how the protective shield is put in place in chapter 2 verse 5 so Um The outer wall has been broken through and now the Meads and the Babylonians need to attack the inner wall And now the soldiers are completely on their guard. The Ninevite soldiers are completely on their guard And it will not be very easy now for the enemy to attack So now they come up with another plan and that gets described in verse 6 where it says the river gates are thrown open And the palace collapses. What is it talking about over here? The river Tigris Passed through one small portion of the city of Nineveh So in one corner of the city you actually have the river Tigris going through the city So they are the inner wall was constructed in such a way that the waters go under the um They go under the city wall into the city at one particular portion and During the rainy season, you know, the rivers tend to become Over flooded and so to prevent flooding inside the city In the outer area of the city Sena Sherib. He constructs You know dam gates the way we have today in our, you know, current water dams where you can open the Gates to allow the water to flood, you know with all of its power or you can close the gates Where I know that they are called sluice gates the dams have something called sluice gates When you close the gates the water flow reduces when you open the sluice gates the water flow increases so They were controlling the flow of water into the city using these sluice gates So basically what the enemy does once it comes inside inside the outer wall, you know Once they make the entry through the outer wall They open up the sluice gates and the waters rush into the inner city And as the waters are rushing into the inner city, there's one portion of the wall which is weak Which is supposed to be on the north the north eastern side And that portion of the inner wall collapses and all the enemy goes in through that broken portion and Once they go inside The king who is there, you know inside the in his palace when he hears that the inner wall has also been broken down He burns down the entire palace with the entire royal family inside His idea is that they have humiliated so many other kings and nations Now the enemies are going to do that to them and he doesn't want to face that humiliation So he literally burns all his wives his children everyone inside the palace He sets it on fire so that the entire palace Just burns and collapses and the enemy comes and takes over the entire city So these are some some of the details that we find in the writings of syculus who records the downfall of Nene way So just as god prophesied the river gates are opened just as god prophesied the palace collapses So all these things god predicts even before these events take place And it's about only 600 years later after the fall of nene way that syculus writes down these details in his historical record all of this shows That we truly have a living god who looks into the future and tells us beforehand what is going to take place So this is not a god that you know the nation should take lightly. This is the living god who knows the end from the beginning and so The nations must actually you know pay attention So all of these prophecies were given so that the nations will realize that Yahweh is All powerful. He's aware of future events when he makes a prophecy of judgment It shall come to pass in his perfect timing. So these are all facts which The prophets were trying to convey, you know, whenever they proclaimed these prophecies Um, so these are some of the details that we see regarding the fall of nene way So when we look at the poetic language in the book of nahum, we don't get We don't get all the historical details But when we back it up with what syculus has written we see that god Made this happen when you look at just the historical writing which syculus wrote He writes as if the meads and the Babylonians were powerful enough to do this on their own But it's actually a living god who allowed them to do this to nene way He's the one he's the power behind these meads and Babylonians who are able to you know bring judgment on nene way So when you just look at the historical books, it looks like a series of events powerful people rise powerful people fall But it's actually the live god who is controlling these powerful people and allowing them to rise and causing them to fall In his time according to his you know a plan And so even as we see some of the things which are happening in the world today, you know in the When we look at the international scene and we look at the wars which are going on I don't want to mention any names But we can see the things which are happening right now and there are people in power today And they think that they are very powerful and untouchable But there's a living god behind all of this He decides who's going to rise to power when how long they will stay in power and when they are going to fall The nations even though they think that they are very great Actually have no control over what they are doing in the sense when the time comes for them to fall They will fall because the living god decides What should be done when and he knows how to watch out for his people and protect them So even though you know so much Our destruction had already started in the land of juda During the time of josea god protects the people god takes care of the people because during the time of josea The people repented and came back to him and so during that time God speaks to them these words of hope and says you know what mineveh came and attacked your cities But you know what mineveh is going to fall one day and when it falls its destruction will be complete Is what the lord, you know assures them. So this is what we see from the book of nahum Let's move into the book of haba cook Now haba cook was Written Also approximately around this time. So nahum zephanaya jeremaya Haba cook all of these people were doing their prophesying around approximately the same time Haba cook the book of haba cook is mainly known for the questions which haba cook asks god If you look at most of the prophetic books, it's basically the prophet Proclaiming and saying to the people, you know, you have sinned God is going to bring judgment upon you Even now there is time if you repent the lord will turn back. So that's that's the basic Format which we see in most of the prophetic books But here in the book of haba cook haba cook is not even talking to the people He's not even giving any prophecies to the people Haba cook is mainly a conversation between haba cook and god where Haba cook asks god questions and in return god gives him a set of prophecies All right, so that's basically the format which we see here in the book of haba cook so If we were to look at the structure of the book of haba cook chapter one Up to chapter two verse five Is where you have the first Conversation So haba cook one Up to chapter two verse five is where you have haba cook asking a question and god giving an answer So that's the first portion And then after that You have haba cook chapter Two verse five onwards where you have a second question which haba cook is asking and god gives an answer to that as well and then In the last portion of chapter two god talks about five things which he will do to the Powerful nations which are not following him including Babylon. Okay, so there are five judgments given That is in the in the second portion of chapter two And then finally you have chapter three in which haba cook makes a prayer of submission to god So you can basically divide this book of haba cook into three portions The first portion is where haba cook asks questions god answers the second portion god says don't worry I will bring judgment upon all these powerful nations, you know, which are opposing me and and are not submitting to me And the third portion haba cook just submits himself to god in prayer. Let's look at the questions which haba cook asks Um, this is in the first portion So if we could have someone read out for us haba cook chapter one verse two haba cook chapter one Verse two Haba cook starts off with a question of frustration He says lord i've been crying out to your help And you are not listening He says I cry out to you violence But you do not save because there's so much injustice happening or lord in this in this land of juda So lord, why don't you bring justice? Why don't you do something for the people the poor are being exploited? The rich are becoming more and more arrogant They think that nobody's going to judge them and so they're doing whatever they want But lord i'm crying out violence violence and lord you're not doing anything So he asks god lord When will you help us when are you going to you know save us? And when he asks that question This is what the lord says the lord says to him. Don't worry. I'm raising up the Babylonians The Babylonians they will come and they'll attack and they'll bring judgment So haba cook was hoping for some kind of divine solution. Maybe god will you know, uh punish the evil people Who are oppressing the poor and establish justice? But god is saying I'll bring the Babylonians over here and they will Um act out the justice which I want to bring So haba cook was very shocked and he raises the second question He says lord those Babylonians are worse than our people Yes, it is true that I have been complaining and saying that you know, the israelite Officials are evil and they are oppressing the people. I'm saying that the judges are, you know unjust They are not giving justice. Yes, I have been complaining about these things And I admit that they are evil But lord you're saying you're going to use somebody even more evil To come and bring justice How lord how is this going to work because he says this about the character of god um He says, uh, you are you're not a god who looks at injustice. Wait, let me find that particular worse Habakkuk chapter one was 13 if someone could read out habakkuk one 13 You are a prayer eyes then to be hold evil and cannot look on big necks Why do you look on those who deal Treasures me and hold your tongue when the big diverse person more righteous than he So so god says don't worry. I know what's going on. I have heard your prayers. Yes violence is going on But I will punish the people who are doing injustice I will bring the Babylonians the Babylonians will come and attack and they will be destroyed So now immediately habakkuk says but lord, you're such a pure and holy god. You cannot even look at impurity So lord, why would you use somebody as evil as the Babylonians? People who are even worse than the Israelite people. Well, how are you going to use them? Such a dirty instrument, you know such evil people How a lord who can you use somebody evil like that? To bring up what pure justice Is what habakkuk asks and uh, this is what he says In habakkuk chapter one versus 14 to 17. He talks about how evil these Babylonian people are He describes them and so his basic question is how can you use somebody so rotten? For your holy purposes You're a god of holiness. You're a god of righteous justice How can you use something unclean to bring about good justice? So he talks about the Babylonians and how evil they are in habakkuk chapter one versus 14 to 17 If someone could read out that portion and look at the details which he uses Look at the poetic language the images which he uses to describe these Babylonian people and the evil which they are doing Uh, habakkuk chapter one versus 14 to 17 Why do you make men like fish of the sea like creeping things that have no ruler over them They take up all of them with a hook. They catch them in their net and gather them in their Dread net therefore they rejoice and are glad therefore they sacrifice to their net and Burn incense to their dread net because by them their share Is sampath house and their food plentiful shall they therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations with without pity Habakkuk says lord when you created people you created them like the fish in the sea they were meant to you know Swim around the entire ocean and be free and to enjoy The life which you have given them so people were meant to be like the you know sea creatures Because the sea creatures don't have any government. They don't have any cruel king controlling them. You know, they're free So habakkuk says when you created people or lord, that's the way you wanted people to enjoy But then what did these Babylonians do? They are like, you know, he's using the image of fish. So he says these Babylonians They pull pull pull up the people with their hooks They gather them up with their drag net. He's using the, you know, language of fishing He's talking about how these Babylonians came along and he took this free people and he began and and this Kings began to hook them the way you hook fish They began to throw their net and collect all the people as captives You know the same way we capture the fish in a net So he says this is what the Babylonian people have done and they don't even acknowledge you Rather than saying the living god has allowed us to have victory. What are they doing? They're making sacrifices to their drag net, you know, like as if the net has brought them the victory Like as if their their weapons have brought them victory But it's actually you the living god was allowing it and they don't even acknowledge that Lord, how can you allow people like that to continue destroying? You know is the question which he asks and so he says in habakkuk chapter two verse one I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts I will look to see what god will say to me and what answer I am going to give to this Complaint, so habakkuk is very very troubled by what god has said He wants to know how god can use evil things To bring about good and so he says, you know, I'm literally going to stand on the city walls Of course, he's using metaphoric language You know, he's saying it's like, you know, I'm going to stand on the city walls and I'm going to wait No, the way or the way, you know the During times of battle the king waits on the battle wall to see, you know If any messenger is coming to bring news about what's going to happen So he says I'll wait. I'll wait on the city walls and see what answer god is going to give me for my question And this is what the lord Says this is what the lord replies Now before we look at the reply which god gives It's a question which, you know, many of us might have raised in our own lives Where we say lord the evil are getting stronger The wicked people are prospering But we who are following you, you know, we are undergoing so much suffering Why lord a holy god like who whose eyes are pure and who does not like to look upon evil Why lord are you permitting these things? It's a question which many of us have asked And so like this Habakkuk, we are standing on the city wall waiting eagerly to see whether god will give some reply Whether god will give some answer to our to our very honest Desperate question And this is the answer which god gave to Habakkuk And this is the answer which god gives even to us believers today Let us look at what god says. So if someone could read out for us Habakkuk chapter two Verse two up to verse four Habakkuk two two to four Then the lord answered me and said let the wisdom and make it plan on tablets That he may learn who leads who reads it for the vision is yet for an appointment time But at the end it will speak and it will not lie Though it terrifies me for it because it will surely come. It will not tell you we hold Proud his soul is not upright in him, but just shall life live by his faith God says the answer which i'm giving is a true answer No get the tablets ready because when i'm going to give you the answer It's going to be an answer which will really you know be genuine So, you know get ready to write it down and send it to all different places with messengers Because who knows how many people are waiting on their city walls waiting to hear what god is going to say regarding this So it's like you know all this is poetic language, which he is using to talk about god is trying to say Where there are people waiting Who are waiting for an answer from me? Because we believers are asking and saying lord why so much injustice lord when are you going to do something good or lord When will you set your people free or lord? You know people are crying out So he says write it down write it down on tablets and send the messages to give the Message which i am conveying and this is the message which i wish to convey and this is what god says um For the revelation awaits an appointed time It speaks of the end and will not Prove false god says the things which i'm going to do they will happen in the end time And when they happen in the end time every word that i'm saying will take place Not one word which i'm saying will be proved false All that i have promised i will do i will bring it to pass And he goes on to say though it linger Wait for it it will certainly come and will not delay So god says in my timing i will grant justice In my timing my people will receive the help which they require in my timing You know even though it looks like as if it is getting delayed He says though it linger wait for it It will certainly come and will not delay in my perfect appointed time Without delay. I will do the things which i am promising for my people So this is these are words which are very important not just you know for the people of haba cooks time They are for us as well and this is what it says in verse 4 Where god says the enemy is very puffed up his desires are not upright But the righteous person will live by his faith You know and it says in in some versions by his faithfulness So we will look at this in greater detail You know when we come back from our break because what god is saying over here is very very important for our christian walk All right, so um we can go for our break now. Yeah