ODJ: As Water Fills the Sea

February 5, 2018 

READ: Habakkuk 2:2-20 

As the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord (v.14).

The day’s news was discouraging. There was another terrorist attack. Two countries squabbled about a rogue nation’s nuclear weapons. A large Christian denomination divided over differences on marriage, while another split over how best to counter poverty and racism. Conflicts like these aren’t just discouraging, they’re exhausting. They persist—showing no signs of resolution.

But they will be resolved. God promises that though the end may seem “slow in coming . . . it will surely take place” (Habakkuk 2:3). Right now the proud and powerful can exploit the poor and get away with it (vv.4-12). But the tables will turn when Jesus returns. Then the “wealth of nations will turn to ashes” and the whole “earth will be filled” with the knowledge of God, “as the waters fill the sea” (vv.13-14).

Just as every square millimetre of ocean floor is covered by water, so everything on earth will be saturated by “the glory of the Lord” (v.14)—His majestic presence. And God will establish a new covenant with His people: “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts.” “And they will not need to teach their neighbours . . . saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already” (Jeremiah 31:33-34).

The fulfilment of these ancient prophecies is envisioned in the final chapters of Scripture, which describe a redeemed earth with no sun, for the divine Son floods the New Jerusalem with His blazing glory. “The nations will walk in its light” and “will bring their glory and honour into the city” (Revelation 21:22-26). Every face will glow with the glory of God, “as the waters fill the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

—Mike Wittmer

365-day plan: Exodus 6:1-13