Concerning God’s judgment on the Chaldeans.

Or, That he who reads it may run.

This word, quoted three times in the New Testament by the apostle Paul (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38), unveils God’s eternal salvation given to sinners. According to the background of this book, both Israel (God’s elect) and the Chaldeans (the nations) were under God’s judgment. Under God’s judgment all sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, are destined to die (Rom. 6:23). The unique way for sinners to escape God’s judgment and obtain God’s eternal salvation is to believe in God’s embodiment, Christ, that they may become righteous and be justified in order to have life and live (John 3:16-18). God’s eternal salvation is to save our entire being — spirit, soul, and body — for eternity (1 Thes. 5:23). The way for us to receive such a salvation is to believe in Christ so that we may be justified by God and thus be qualified to have the eternal, divine life, and live by that life (Rom. 3:24; 5:1-2, 10, 17; Eph. 2:8). This is the New Testament gospel in an Old Testament prophetic book.

Christ is the factor that links the books of Micah, Jonah, and Habakkuk. According to Micah 5:2, Christ as the eternal One, whose origin is in eternity, has gone forth by being born as a man in Bethlehem (see note Micah 5:2^1b). Then, the type in Jonah 1:17 reveals the continuation of Christ’s going forth in His death and resurrection (see note Jonah 1:17¹). In the book of Jonah, Jehovah’s salvation was brought to Nineveh, an evil city of the Gentiles, through the preaching of the prophet. Today, God’s salvation, which was prepared, completed, and consummated by Christ’s going forth, has come to us through the preaching of the gospel. The way to receive and apply this salvation is by faith, as mentioned in this verse.

Here, to live means to have life and live. See note Rom. 1:17³.

See note Matt. 11:23^1d.

This plundering of Babylon by the nations, as God’s recompense on Babylon, took place a little more than eighty-five years after Habakkuk’s prophecy (see Dan. 5).

While the peoples were toiling for vanity (v. 13), something particular, something mysterious was happening on earth: the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as water covers the sea.

Lit., your.