"TO THE CHIEF SINGER ON MY STRINGED INSTRUMENTS"
“[p. 223] TO THE CHIEF SINGER ON MY STRINGED INSTRUMENTS”
Habakkuk speaks of faith. His statement, “the just shall live by his faith”, Habakkuk 2:4 is cited three times in the New Testament, and may be taken as a text for Christianity. Paul speaks thus, “God’s dispensation, which is in faith”, 1 Timothy 1: 4. Faith takes account of what is not seen yet. It is the “conviction of things not seen”, Hebrews 11:1 and so it is not governed by current public events. The godly ones among the Jews in the last days are to be guided by public events. The word to them is, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place ... then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains”. Matthew 24: 15,16. In the Lord’s discourse in Matthew 24, in answer to the disciples’ questions about the temple, He outlined the events that should occur in Jerusalem, and which should afford a guide for the faithful as to the time of His coming. While the enlightened Christian knows that Jerusalem is the centre of God’s ways on earth, he regards “Jerusalem above” as the centre of the dispensation of grace, and that it is the only divine metropolis now; for the moment it is the true Hephzibah, the true Beulah; see Isaiah 62. Faith looks steadfastly on what is in heaven; there can be no change prophetically until Christ rises from His present seat.
Habakkuk takes full account of oppression and woe current in his day, but he says, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me”. Habakkuk 2:1. He is thus in a position to get light; he receives answer from the Lord. “The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it [p. 224] tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry”. Habakkuk 2:3. Finally he says, “the just shall live by his faith”. Habakkuk 2:4. Thus the prophet is enlightened, and set on right lines; he is assured of the ultimate triumph of God; he sees, however, that in reaching His purpose God has to discipline His people. Habakkuk says, “The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him”. Habakkuk 2:20.
In chapter 3 the prophet begins with prayer and ends with a note of triumph to the “chief singer”. Habakkuk 3:19. It encourages one in these days to be assured that the highest note may be struck even now. Our chief singer causes such a note to resound. David ordained singers, chief and subordinate, so that the songs in the house of God should be acceptable to Him. In order that a song be acceptable to the divine ear it must be sung to suitable music; hence the need for a chief singer. Christ is our Chief Singer; He sings in the midst of the assembly. Habakkuk begins with a prayer, his heart evidently pressed and variable, and ends with joy. He says, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation”. Habakkuk 3:18. The heart pressed by the state of God’s people and other things, turns to God in prayer; the believer thus gets near to Him and becomes restful. God Himself, and what He is to us in Christ, takes the place of the pressure. The heart is restful, triumphant, worshipful. “The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places”. Habakkuk 3:19. Hinds’ feet and high places go together; the former refers to the power of resurrection realised in the Spirit, the latter to our heavenly calling. What victory over the world is assured, and what pleasure for God in our walk and ways!
Our high places are well defined. In the historical books of the Old Testament much reference is made to high places. They were not those to which Habakkuk refers. The high places in Israel were not [p. 225] ordained of God. High places abound today all about us. The name of God is connected with them but they are of human origin. They existed, indeed, before Christianity was introduced, as did those in Canaan before the Israelites took possession of the country. Modern high places are out of keeping with Christ, although many of them bear His name; their steeples and stained glass windows, their organs and choirs do not comport with, or bear testimony to a rejected, crucified Saviour. The flesh takes pleasure in these products of “man’s art and imagination”, Acts 17:29 but the man of faith looks elsewhere. Habakkuk speaks of the high places of faith. The epistle to the Ephesians presents these to us. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, and we are raised up and seated together in the heavenlies in Christ. The high places of men are intended for the material eye and ear, they belong to seen things; the high places of God are beyond the range of mere human vision. They are seen by the believer by the power of the Spirit of God.
The Spirit’s power has “ope’d the heavenly door”. Here Christ is all. The note of triumph and joy is to the Chief Singer, and thus the dispensation continues unchanged, and it is marked by faith: faith appreciates all the advantages vouchsafed. It particularly fixes its view on that which is special to the time. The epistle to the Philippians sets before us the exercises and experience of a spiritual man. The writer speaks of “one thing” that occupied him. “I pursue, looking”, he says, “toward the goal for the prize of the calling on high in Christ Jesus”, Philippians 3:14. The calling on high in Christ Jesus is the great feature now, but Jerusalem on earth shall be in the future for those who take a place in testimony for Christ after the assembly is translated to heaven, May each one of the saints have this before him till the end!