Question: Habakkuk 2:1 appears to be teaching that “watching” is the equivalent to listening to what God is saying from the Bible; and that as we are watching, God will reprove us. Could this be pointing to our day, as God is correcting our doctrine?
Chris: In Habakkuk 2:1, it says:
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
This is a good point. Several times, the Bible tells us to watch, “watch therefore.” Let us just look at a couple of references here. In Matthew 24:42-44 we read:
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
And there is other Scripture. In the next chapter, in Matthew 25:13, it says:
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Some people say that to watch means just that you are to be saved. You should be saved. If you are saved, then you are watching. And that is what it means. But, actually, no to watch does not mean to be saved.
For instance, when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, it is when He went to pray that He left the disciples to watch. Then He came back after prayer and He found them sleeping and said, “Could you not watch with Me one hour?” And then He did it again.
Those disciples were Peter, James, and John, I think, if I remember right, and they were saved; they were true believers. But Christ was indicating that their sleeping was a failure to watch, so that means that it is not salvation that God has in view.
I think that you are right concerning what it means in Habakkuk where it says:
I will stand upon my watch…
What Christ is saying concerning watch in the Bible is, “Keep your eyes open in the Scripture because there will come a time, the time of the end, when I will open up the Word and reveal truth to you, and so keep that steady watch; keep reading; keep studying; keep comparing Scripture with Scripture.” If you continue to do this, then at the perfect time, at the right time, in God’s timetable, He will reveal truth.
We know that this is the context of Habakkuk 2, as it goes on to say in Habakkuk 2:2-3:
And JEHOVAH answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables…
The word “vision” is language having to do with the Bible. Prophets receive visions of God. Isaiah’s book is called “the vision of Isaiah.” A couple of other books also refer to a “vision.” It continues:
…make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it (He) shall speak…
It says “it” in the King James but it should have been translated “He.” It is talking about the Holy Spirit.
…and not lie: though it (He) tarry, wait for it (Him); because it (He) will surely come, it (He) will not tarry.
So we do see “watch.” Watch, because at the end, God will speak. That is what is happening today as God is not speaking audibly, not from Heaven, but He is speaking through His Word. 1 Corinthians 2 explains that when we compare Spiritual with Spiritual, the Holy Ghost teacheth; and when you teach, you speak.
God does not tell us to use sign language, even though we could, but normally we speak and the Holy Spirit is speaking to us today through the Bible as we follow that God-ordained methodology of comparing Scripture with Scripture and making sure that our conclusions harmonize, that they fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
Jesus teaches us to harmonize when He is being tempted by the devil and the devil is quoting Scripture. Christ is responding with Scripture to show that what the devil is saying does not fit; it does not harmonize with all of the Bible, “What you are saying, yes, it is a Bible verse, but you are wrongly applying it.” That is what many people do in the churches today. They wrongly apply what the Bible is saying.
Question and Answer from April 5, 2009's Fellowship Hour