How long have you been waiting for Jehovah’s day to rid the earth of wickedness? How long are you willing to wait for it?
HOW long have you been waiting for Jehovah’s day to rid the earth of wickedness? How long are you willing to wait for it? Meanwhile, what attitude and resulting actions will mark your life? Clearly, your answers will differ from those of churchgoers who are living just as they please, waiting to go to heaven.
While you are awaiting that great day, the books that the 12 prophets wrote can be of significant help. Many of those prophets lived when a judicial intervention from God was impending. For instance, Micah served when the punishment of Samaria at the hands of the Assyrians in 740 B.C.E. was approaching.
Later in the stream of time, but just as certain, was the day of Jehovah against Judah. Since Micah did not know exactly when God would act, did he conclude that he should just sit and do little, hoping that God would act soon? Here are Micah’s words: “As for me, it is for Jehovah that I shall keep on the lookout. I will show a waiting attitude for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” (Micah 7:7) Yes, confident of what was coming, Micah was like an active sentry on a watchtower.—2 Samuel 18:24-27; Micah 1:3, 4.
Next, locate Zephaniah and Habakkuk on the time line. Note that these two served in a period closer to the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. Still, they could not know whether God’s execution of judgment was right at hand or decades away. (Habakkuk 1:2; Zephaniah 1:7, 14-18) Zephaniah wrote: “‘Keep yourselves in expectation of me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘till the day of my rising up to the booty, for my judicial decision is . . . to pour out upon them my denunciation, all my burning anger.’” (Zephaniah 3:8)
And what about Habakkuk, who lived soon after Zephaniah? Habakkuk wrote: “The vision is yet for the appointed time, and it keeps panting on to the end, and it will not tell a lie. Even if it should delay, keep in expectation of it; for it will without fail come true. It will not be late.”—Habakkuk 2:3.
The contexts of the pronouncements at Zephaniah 3:8 and Habakkuk 2:3 are revealing.
At a time when certain Jews were saying, “Jehovah will not do good, and he will not do bad,” Zephaniah proclaimed “the day of Jehovah’s anger.” On that day both enemy nations and wayward Jews would feel God’s displeasure. (Zephaniah 1:4, 12; 2:2, 4, 13; 3:3, 4)
Do you imagine that Zephaniah was fearful of God’s denunciation and anger? On the contrary, he was to keep himself “in expectation.”
‘What of Habakkuk?’ you might wonder. He also was to “keep in expectation of it.” You are right to conclude that Zephaniah and Habakkuk were not casual about what lay ahead, carrying on as if they thought things would never change. (Habakkuk 3:16; 2 Peter 3:4) As noted, though, a significant point that these two prophets had in common was that both were to “keep in expectation.” And you know this: What those two prophets expected became historical fact in 607 B.C.E. So their keeping “in expectation” proved to be the course of wisdom.
“IN EXPECTATION” OR “SATISFIED”?
After God’s people entered the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, they enjoyed considerable prosperity. How did they react? Hosea conveyed Jehovah’s words: “According to their pasturage they also came to be satisfied. They became satisfied and their heart began to be exalted. That is why they forgot me.” (Hosea 13:6) Centuries earlier, God had warned his people of that very danger. (Deuteronomy 8:11-14; 32:15) Nonetheless, by the days of Hosea and Amos, the Israelites succumbed—“they became satisfied.”
Amos gives us specific details. He notes that many had luxurious furnishings in their houses, and some families even had second homes. They had the best of foods, drank fine wine from select vessels, and applied “the choicest oils” to their skin, perhaps as scented cosmetics. (Amos 3:12, 15; 6:4-6) You likely recognize that none of those aspects of life were improper in themselves, but giving them too much importance was clearly wrong.
Granted, not all in the northern kingdom became prosperous and “satisfied.” Some were poor and had to struggle to make a living and feed their family. (Amos 2:6; 4:1; 8:4-6) The same is true today in many parts of the earth. Did God’s counsel found at Hosea 13:6 apply to even the poor in ancient Israel, and does it apply today? Yes, indeed. Jehovah was showing that whether a true worshipper is prosperous or not, he needs to guard against becoming so focused on the material aspects of life that he ‘forgets God.’—Luke 12:22-30.
It is appropriate, then, to repeat Habakkuk’s assurance, which certainly applies in our time: “The vision is yet for the appointed time, and it keeps panting on to the end, and it will not tell a lie. Even if it should delay, keep in expectation of it; for it will without fail come true. It will not be late.” (Habakkuk 2:3)
Even if from a human standpoint it might seem that Jehovah’s great day has delayed, his day will without fail come on schedule. Jehovah promises us that. Thus, those who have served God for years and those who have taken up his worship recently can move forward together with confidence like that expressed at Micah 4:5: “We, for our part, shall walk in the name of Jehovah our God to time indefinite, even forever.”
*** jd chap. 12 p. 152 par. 1 “Keep in Expectation of It” ***
Photo Credit: suvodeb
