Habakkuk 2:3

"For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay."

"For the appointed time ..." This terminology indicates that the prophecy here has references to, "the last times (Daniel 8:17,19; 11:35), the Messianic times, in which the judgment would fall upon the power of the world."[5] This rather surprising truth is most significant, because the conditions and sins immediately described in this chapter were current in Habakkuk's time and, in fact, perpetual throughout history, the profound meaning being that when sin and rebellion on the part of humanity have run their full course, the final judgment will fall upon the world. In the meanwhile, neither Habakkuk, nor anyone else, should be upset or perplexed because one wicked and ruthless state follows another with monotonous certainty, God using each in turn to punish the sins of the predecessor. This does not mean that God approved any wicked state. All are under the judgment of God; and, in his own time, God will settle his account with sin in this world. This was THE ANSWER, written for Habakkuk and for all people.

That there are indeed overtones of the Eternal Judgment itself in this verse is perfectly apparent when it is compared with Hebrews 10:36-38 -

"For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise. For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry, But my righteous one shall live by faith: And, if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him."

Thus, the very terminology of this passage was applied by the writer of Hebrews to the Second Coming of Christ. Both in Habakkuk and in Hebrews, "The reference is to the certainty of the event."[6] "Paul, as well as Habakkuk, is speaking of our Lord's second coming."[7]