The prophet Habakkuk began his divinely inspired message with a complaint about the way God was dealing with the Jews’ sin. Habakkuk asked, “Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?” (Habakkuk 1:3). Habakkuk thought God was indifferent to his situation, but discovered he had a plan in motion that was going to result in a much more severe punishment than Habakkuk expected. God explained, “For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not there own” (Habakkuk 1:5-6).

Habakkuk thought it was wrong for God to punish the Jews using a nation that was more wicked than they were. The thing that Habakkuk wasn’t considering was that God had a plan that went beyond the Jews immediate situation. God was preparing his chosen people for the role they were expected to play in the birth of his Son, Jesus Christ.

A critical piece of God’s plan of salvation was its dependence on faith. God’s plan was initiated based on Abraham’s demonstration of faith and required all who followed in his footsteps to demonstrate that same belief in God. It says in Genesis 15:6 that Abraham “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Righteousness is the result of being justified by God. It says in Romans 3:24 that believers are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Paul explained justification by faith in his letter to the Romans. Referring to Abraham believing God and it being counted to him as righteousness, Paul said, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the LORD will not count his sin'” (Romans 4:4-8).

Living by faith means that we don’t try to get to heaven on our own merit. The only way a person can avoid the penalty that must be paid to God for his sin is to accept the free gift of salvation that Jesus made available to everyone by dying in our place on the cross. Justification is the acquittal of a guilty person. Paul said, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:1-5).

Paul linked faith to the gospel and indicated it was the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16-17). Paul said in the gospel, “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). Paul’s citation of Habakkuk 2:4 made it clear to everyone that the gospel existed prior to Jesus’ birth. God used Habakkuk’s message to ignite the faith of the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem after being exiled in Babylon.

Jesus set the example for living by faith through his perfect obedience to his Father’s will. It says in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Jesus told his disciples shortly before his death, “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me” (John 16:16). Jesus wanted his disciples to know that his resurrection was certain because of his obedience to his Father’s will.

Paul explained in his letter to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul’s statement connected living by faith to a believer’s union with Christ. Living by faith is not something that believers can do on their own. It is through the filling of the Holy Spirit that we are able to obey God just as Jesus did.