Remembering my friend Seth in prayer this morning. Thinking of Jason and grateful for my friend Art, Cody, and two others who joined me in going over Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life. This week in Rooted we encouraged each other to share the Gospel and our testimony. My new friend Jason is getting baptized this Easter and it's great seeing the Lord work in our church. I had a great connection with Ryan who is on fire, newly married and had a similar background as me (but I'm twenty years ahead :). At the end our time we went to WAR (Worship, Admit, Request). I'm loving the journey I'm on, reconnecting with Dave who got to enjoy the wizard of oz at the sphere this weekend while Kim and I went to Les Miserables at the Orpheum. Life to the full!
"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." - Habakkuk 2:14
In the book "are we living in the last days" Bryan Chapell created pictures that illustrate the four main perspectives and major events. I tend towards this perspective:
"Major conflicts and crises of the twentieth century then carried into the twenty-first with wars in the Middle East, new Russian and Chinese aggressions, African famines, worldwide pandemics, energy crises, economic woes, natural disasters, and mass migrations of refugees. All have served to further extinguish the religious optimism that most churches embraced at the beginning of the twentieth century. We struggle to remember that the predominant perspective of Bible-believing churches through most of America’s history was that the world would get better and better under the influence of Christ...Proponents of this view believe that Christ will return after the influence of his church has spread across the world, improving the human condition both spiritually and materially. As Christianity progresses, Postmillennialists expect there will also be inevitable and accompanying forces of righteousness, wisdom, and love that will culminate in a so-called golden age of peace and prosperity for a thousand years. Most believe that time frame is a figurative expression for Christ’s millennial kingdom. Still, the idyllic features of this millennium that God promised in the Old and New Testaments are expected to dominate this golden age. After this millennium, Jesus Christ is expected to return to an earth populated mostly by Christians, who through their faith and obedience have prepared for him (ushered him in) by removing most of the world’s evils. That’s why Postmillennialists expect the world to get better and better and why advances in culture, economics, and technology (especially in Western societies) seemed to confirm these church leaders’ anticipation of a better tomorrow."
Though I grew up in culture with this prominent perspective:
Context: A Promise Inserted Into Judgment
This verse sits in the middle of God's five "woe" oracles against Babylon (2:6–20). That placement is theologically intentional. Habakkuk has been wrestling with a deeply troubling reality — why does God use a more wicked nation to judge a less wicked one? The prophet climbs his watchtower (2:1) and waits for an answer. What he receives isn't merely an explanation of Babylon's fall; it's a vision of what lies beyond all human empire. Verse 14 is the hinge — the reason the Chaldean's labor will ultimately amount to nothing more than fuel for fire (v. 13). No earthly power can occupy the space that belongs to God's glory.
Unpacking the Key Terms
"The earth will be filled" — The Hebrew verb tim·mā·lê (Niphal imperfect) is passive and future-pointing. God is the implied agent. This is not a human project but a divine achievement. The fullness is total — not a partial awakening in some regions but a comprehensive saturation of creation. It echoes the Aaronic promise of Numbers 14:21 ("as surely as all the earth is filled with the glory of the LORD") and anticipates Revelation 11:15 ("The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord").
"The knowledge" — The Hebrew da'at is relational, covenantal knowing — the same word used for the intimate knowledge between persons (Genesis 4:1; Jeremiah 31:34). This is not encyclopedic information about God but personal, experiential acquaintance with Him. Jeremiah 31:34 uses this exact concept to describe the New Covenant: "They will all know Me, from the least to the greatest." The fulfillment of Habakkuk 2:14 and the New Covenant are inseparably linked.
"Of the glory of the LORD" — Kāḇôḏ (glory) literally means weight or heaviness — that which has substance and significance. God's glory is the radiant outward manifestation of who He is in totality: His holiness, justice, mercy, faithfulness, and power (Exodus 33:18–34:7). Isaiah's seraphim declared it already fills the earth in seed form (Isaiah 6:3), but Habakkuk's promise speaks of a future fullness that will be unmistakable and universal. Paul identifies the ultimate locus of this glory: "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Christ is the glory of God made visible and accessible.
"As the waters cover the sea" — This simile is borrowed almost directly from Isaiah 11:9, which places it in the context of Messiah's reign. The image is one of total, unresisted saturation. Water doesn't merely touch the sea floor — it fills every contour, every depth, every space. There is no part of the seabed not covered. The comparison says that no culture, no language, no human heart will remain untouched by this knowledge. Depth as well as breadth is implied — this won't be a surface-level religious veneer but a penetrating, transforming reality.
The Theological Arc
Habakkuk 2:14 stands at the intersection of several major biblical themes:
Judgment and Hope — The verse arrives as both rebuke and promise. Every empire that builds its glory on exploitation (v. 12) is building for fire. But God's glory cannot be destroyed, diminished, or displaced. What men labor for temporarily, God accomplishes eternally.
The Missio Dei — This is not an isolated prophecy. It is the heartbeat of God's redemptive purpose running from Genesis 12:3 ("all peoples on earth will be blessed through you") through Isaiah 49:6 ("I will make you a light for the Gentiles") to Matthew 28:19–20 and Revelation 7:9 — every nation, tribe, people, and tongue gathered before the throne. Habakkuk 2:14 is God staking His claim on the whole earth, not a remnant of it.
Already / Not Yet — The New Testament holds this promise in creative tension. We already see the glory of God in Christ (John 1:14; 2 Corinthians 3:18). The Spirit is already filling the earth with witnesses (Acts 1:8). The gospel is already being proclaimed to every nation. Yet the fullness of what Habakkuk sees remains eschatological — a consummation, not merely a process. The church lives between the pledge and the fulfillment, participating in what God will ultimately complete.
Summary
Habakkuk 2:14 is God's sovereign declaration that no human empire can compete with His glory. The earth is not destined for Babylonian darkness; it is destined for the saturating, transforming, covenantal knowledge of Yahweh Himself. That knowledge is already breaking into the world through the face of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of the gospel. One day it will fill every space as thoroughly and completely as water fills the deepest trench of the sea leaving nothing, and no one, untouched.
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