We're all familiar with Habakkuk 2:14 "The glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the water covers the sea." Only that's not exactly what it says. Here's how it reads, literally:
For the earth will be filled with the KNOWLEDGE of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
That SUBSTANTIALLY changes how we should comprehend what this verse is saying. We've always simply assumed that God would pour out His glory in a mighty end-time move. And in context this verse is, indeed, exclusive to the end-times. Verse 3 of that chapter sets the context for that:
For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and it will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it: it will certainly come and will not delay.
However, Hab 2:14 is not speaking of an end-time outpouring, but rather an end-time revelation! We should come to realize its not God's glory that would fill the earth in the last days...it is an international KNOWING (literally: to know, to perceive, to be skillful in) His glory.
We can be encouraged that our yearning to intimately know the Lord and His glory is not "our idea." Rather, it is a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy and evidence we are living in "the end." It is a revelation from God reserved for the end-times according to Habakkuk. This is the Lord's doing, not ours!
