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Ezekiel Chapter 21
- Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of
the LORD came unto me, saying,
- 2 Son of man, set
thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy
places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
Even the holy places are to be
destroyed because they were not used to worship the real God but
idols.
-
Ezekiel 5:11 Wherefore, as I
live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my
sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine
abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall
mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
God doesn't bring judgment without reason.
All His laws and commandments are to protect, save and bring peace
but still people choose their own way even if it brings more
disease, bondage and war.
- Ezekiel 21:3 And say to the
land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee,
and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off
from thee the righteous and the wicked.
- 4 Seeing then that
I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore
shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from
the south to the north:
- 5 That all flesh
may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his
sheath: it shall not return any more.
- 6 Sigh therefore,
thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with
bitterness sigh before their eyes.
- 7 And it shall be,
when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt
answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart
shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit
shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it
cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.
Why do so many fight against God? Why
do we resist His word and forget His power. He has the power to save
or to destroy. He has power over life and over death. When He
speaks, it is done. When He sends judgment, it will come. There is
only one thing that will stop it. National repentance.
Sometimes even that may be too late.
Remember the words He spoke before in chapter 14, that if Noah,
Daniel, and Job were in the land, they would be delivered but the
rest would not. God preserved the human race through Noah. All
the others were wiped out. Through Noah the human race was able to
start populating again. God had a plan to save as many as possible.
Why does God send a sword? For idolatry
which leads to violence, fornication and other sins which destroy
the righteousness of many nations. The worship of idols is in
reality worshiping devils. Evil spirits are present when the worship
of idols is going on. It leads to destruction of souls through all
eternity. Every cruel thing man does to man is caused by evil
spirits within us. Yet, God had a plan to save as many as would
hear, believe and receive His plan of salvation.
- Ezekiel 21:8 Again the word of
the LORD came unto me, saying,
- 9 Son of man,
prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is
sharpened, and also furbished:
This means the sword is polished and
shined, ready to do battle.
The rod of my son is the scepter of
Judah. They were to be the tribe of the kings or rulers but will be
cut off.
-
Ezekiel 21:11 And he hath given it to
be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened,
and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.
The king of Babylon is the slayer that
God allowed to come and bring judgment to Israel even though Babylon
was also an evil country.
-
Ezekiel 21:12 Cry and howl, son of
man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the
princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon
my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.
The terror and horror will cause them
to be weak, feeble and fainthearted.
-
Ezekiel 21:13 Because it is a trial,
and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more,
saith the Lord GOD.
- 14 Thou therefore, son of
man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword
be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the
sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their
privy chambers.
Remember that Ezekiel is one of these
people. He is part of them. How it must have grieved his spirit to
see this coming upon the people once called the children of God and
the apple of God's eye. They could have ruled the world and brought
salvation to all mankind but their disobedience delayed that until
another era. When the one who brought salvation eventually came, He
was despised and rejected, the gospel then went to the Gentiles
until these latter times when it returns to the Jews once again.
- Romans 11:15 For if
the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what
shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
- 16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be
holy, so are the branches.
- 17 And if some
of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive
tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the
root and fatness of the olive tree;
- 18 Boast not
against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the
root, but the root thee.
- 19 Thou wilt
say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted
in.
- 20 Well;
because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by
faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
- 21 For if God
spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare
not thee.
They were cut off in 70 AD but they
will be grafted in again when they mourn for the one their ancestors
pierced. The gospel went to the Gentiles, many of whom received
Jesus as Lord and savior. Paul warns though that we are not to be
highminded but stay humble and thankful, looking forward to the day
when the natural branches would wake up and recognize the one who
their ancestors had crucified, was the one that God sent to save
them.
- Zechariah 12:9 And it
shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all
the nations that come against Jerusalem.
- 12:10 And I will
pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they
shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn
for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in
bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn.
- 12:11 In that day
shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of
Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
- 12:12 And the land
shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of
David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of
Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
- 12:13 The family
of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of
Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
- 12:14 All the
families that remain, every family apart, and their wives
apart.
- 13:1 In that day
there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
- 13:2 And it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will
cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall
no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and
the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
Yes Israel will come to know Jesus
Christ. Praise God for that day is coming.
- Jeremiah 31:33 But
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in
their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be
their God, and they shall be my people.
- 34 And they
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more.
What a day that will be when Jesus they shall
see, when they look upon His face, the one who saves them by His
grace. I rejoice to see this day come when all Israel shall be
saved.
- Ezekiel 21:15 I have set the
point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may
faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it
is wrapped up for the slaughter.
- 16 Go thee one way
or other, either on the right hand, or on the left,
whithersoever thy face is set.
- 17 I will also
smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I
the LORD have said it.
- 18 The word of the
LORD came unto me again, saying,
- 19 Also, thou son
of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of
Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land:
and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the
city.
- 20 Appoint a way,
that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to
Judah in Jerusalem the defensed.
- 21 For the king of
Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two
ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted
with images, he looked in the liver.
- 22 At his right
hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to
open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with
shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a
mount, and to build a fort.
- 23 And it shall be
unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that
have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity,
that they may be taken.
- 24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be
remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that
in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye
are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.
Just as Israel turned to divination and
idolatry, the king of Babylon will use divination and image worship
to come against Israel.
- Ezekiel 21:25 And thou,
profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when
iniquity shall have an end,
- 26 Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall
not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is
high.
The king of Israel lost his crown and
was to be overthrown.
- Ezekiel 21:27 I will overturn,
overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come
whose right it is; and I will give it him.
- 28 And thou, son of
man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the
Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The
sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to
consume because of the glittering:
The Ammonites thought they would escape
the king of Babylon but they did not escape. Nebuchadnezzar used
divination and destroyed Jerusalem first then proceeded to destroy
the Ammonites.
-
Ezekiel 21:29 While they see vanity
unto thee, while they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon
the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is
come, when their iniquity shall have an end.
The Ammonites thought the divination to
be false but was taken by Nebuchadnezzar as was the Jews.
- Ezekiel 21:30 Shall I cause it
to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where
thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.
- 31 And I will pour
out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the
fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men,
and skillful to destroy.
- 32 Thou shalt be
for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the
land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have
spoken it.
It is Ammon that is not to be
remembered, not Judah for we see Israel re-gathered in these latter
days. Ammon is forgotten. They once dwelt where modern Jordan is located.
We see from these studies that the sin
of idolatry is not ignored by God. All these nations had idolatry
but when Israel followed after the ways of other nations and got into idolatry,
it was like slapping God in the face.
Since the coming of Jesus Christ,
idolatry is less prominent. It is still in some places but most of
the earth no longer use images in worship. It is being revived
however, and when we read Revelation we see a great surge of
idolatry in the last days which will cause the wrath of God to be
poured out during the tribulation.
Idolatry caused the ruin of Israel and
is the ruin of any nation who practices it. It is evil, not just
because it is a direct affront to God but because along with it are
evil spirits which deceive people and lure them into sexual
immorality, theft and even murder. When whole nations get into this
type of sin, it does lead to destruction.
We've had the gospel for 2000 years now
and life has improved tremendously for nations that have embraced
the gospel but we see in these latter days that many are turning back
to heathen ways and ignoring the word of God.
It gets worse until the man of sin is
revealed and the wrath of God is poured out. Jesus returns to save
Israel and then rules from Jerusalem. That day will awesome to see.
DC
Ezekiel 22
Ezekiel Index
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