Sermon Resources - Dr. Toby Holt
Habakkuk began his book demanding answers from God. By chapter 3, he had received them — and his response is one of the most breathtaking declarations of faith in all of Scripture. The prophet who once cried out in bewilderment now writes a song: "Though the fig tree may not blossom...yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." In this closing sermon of the Habakkuk series, Dr. Toby Holt examines how Habakkuk moved from complaint to worship, what his vision of God coming in power reveals about the nature of genuine faith, and why a man who received no easy answers ended with a trust deeper and steadier than anything he had started with.
0:00 — Introduction how completely Habakkuk has been transformed between chapters 1 and 3
4:10 — Habakkuk's great prayer-song and God appearing in cosmic terrifying glory
10:30 — The wrath of God unleashed against the nations on behalf of His covenant people
17:00 — Habakkuk's honest trembling in the vision — and his courageous resolve to trust
20:15 — "Though the fig tree does not blossom" — the incomparable declaration of defiant faith
24:00 — "The Lord God is my strength and my song" — Habakkuk's triumphant conclusion
25:45 — Summary of the entire Habakkuk series faith under fire and what it produces
Questions This Sermon Answers:
1. How does Habakkuk chapter 3 differ in tone from chapters 1 and 2?
Chapters 1 and 2 are a dialogue — a complaint and an answer. Chapter 3 is a prayer-psalm, marked as a composition for the choir director in the style of Shigionoth (a musical term suggesting passionate, irregular expression). By chapter 3, Habakkuk is not asking questions — he is responding to what he has seen of God. The change in tone from complaint to worship is the theological climax of the book.
2. What does Habakkuk see in his vision of God in chapter 3?
Habakkuk sees God coming in theophanic glory — fire, brilliance, plague, pestilence, shaking mountains, flooding waters. The imagery draws on the Exodus tradition: God parting the Red Sea, conquering Pharaoh, delivering His people. This is not a gentle God. This is the Warrior-King of Israel who has never lost a battle. Seeing God's power and faithfulness in the past gives Habakkuk confidence about the present crisis.
3. Why does Habakkuk tremble in Habakkuk 3:16?
"I heard and my body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered my bones" (Hab. 3:16). This is a physical response to encountering the living God. Habakkuk has seen God's coming judgment — and it is terrifying even when you are on the right side of it. This honest description of the fear that accompanies genuine encounter with God is a corrective to shallow religion. The fear of the Lord is not a metaphor in Habakkuk — it is visceral.
4. What is the meaning of Habakkuk 3:17–18 — the great "though" passage?
"Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls — yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (NKJV). This is total material loss — every agricultural resource gone, complete economic collapse. Habakkuk says he will rejoice anyway. Not because circumstances improved, but because God is his salvation regardless of circumstances. This is the definition of faith under fire.
5. How does Habakkuk 3 relate to the theme of "the just shall live by faith" from chapter 2?
Chapter 3 is the living demonstration of chapter 2's principle. Habakkuk 2:4 told him what to do — live by faith. Chapter 3 shows him doing it. His faith is not theoretical or comfortable. It is exercised in the face of imminent devastation. The Babylonians are coming. The crops will fail. The livestock will be gone. And Habakkuk rejoices in God. This is what the righteous life of faith looks like when tested to its limit.
6. What does Habakkuk 3:19 — "He will make my feet like deer's feet" — mean?
"The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills" (NKJV). This echoes Psalm 18:33. The deer navigates mountain terrain with sureness and agility — it does not stumble on steep or dangerous ground. Habakkuk ends the book with the confidence that God will give him footing in impossible terrain. Whatever the Babylonian invasion brings, God will enable him to navigate it.
7. How does Habakkuk 3 serve as a model for Christian prayer in suffering?
Habakkuk's prayer moves through three stages: remembrance of God's past acts, honest acknowledgment of present trembling, and deliberate choice to rejoice in God despite circumstances. This is the biblical pattern for lament that does not end in despair. The Psalms follow the same arc. Reformed pastoral theology has always understood that genuine faith is not the absence of grief or fear — it is the decision to trust God through them.
8. What does the book of Habakkuk as a whole teach about faith and suffering?
Habakkuk teaches that faith is not the absence of questions, but the willingness to bring questions to God and wait for His answer. It teaches that God's sovereignty does not eliminate suffering — it gives suffering meaning and a frame. It teaches that the righteous life is not one of comfortable ease, but of steadfast trust in a God who is always at work, always just, and always faithful — even when His methods are incomprehensible to us. WCF 5.1 and the doctrine of providence provide the theological framework Habakkuk lived inside.
Key Theological Points:
1. Theophany and the Fear of the Lord
Habakkuk 3 describes a theophany — a visible manifestation of God in power and glory. The prophet's physical response (trembling, quivering lips, rottenness in bones) models the appropriate human response to genuine encounter with the living God. The Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 4 asks what God is, and answers: "God is a Spirit, in and of Himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection." Habakkuk has seen a glimpse of this infinite glory — and it unmakes him before it steadies him.
2. Joy in God as Independent of Circumstances
The "though…yet" construction of Habakkuk 3:17–18 is one of Scripture's most theologically precise statements: joy in God is not dependent on material wellbeing. This directly counters prosperity theology and any view of faith as a means to temporal blessing. The Westminster Shorter Catechism Q1 — "What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever" — finds its sharpest Old Testament illustration here. Habakkuk enjoys God when there is nothing else left to enjoy.
3. Providence as the Foundation of Endurance
Habakkuk can rejoice in chapter 3 because he understands, from chapter 2, that God governs all things — including Babylon. WCF 5.1: God "upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least." Spurgeon writes: "God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken, and when you cannot trace His hand, you can trust His heart." Habakkuk cannot trace God's hand in the Babylonian invasion — but he has learned to trust His heart.
4. The Text: Habakkuk 3:17–19 (NKJV)
"Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls — yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills."
Continue studying: explore the full Book of Habakkuk sermon series, or browse the complete Reformed Sermon Archive.
About The Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt serves as the third President of New Geneva Theological Seminary (Colorado Springs, CO), founded 1993. An expository preacher with over 1.9 million sermon downloads on SermonAudio.com, Dr. Holt brings over 17 years of pastoral experience to his verse-by-verse Bible teaching. New Geneva offers fully online, Westminster Confessional theological education — M.Div., Th.M., D.Min., and other degrees.
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