Again God instructed Ezekiel to "set his face toward Jerusalem, and preach against the holy places and say to the land of Israel, 'I am against you, and I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off both the righteous and the wicked from you. Because I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you, therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north, that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword out of its sheath; it shall not return anymore” ’ (Ezekiel 21:1-5).
God was going to remove the righteous and the wicked from the land with His sword, which He will not return to its sheath anymore. His purpose was so that all flesh may know that He, the Lord, had done it.
Though the immediate meaning is a warning to Judah that the Lord was going to remove them from the land with the sword, I wonder if there is a secondary meaning. We know from the New Testament that His sword is His word. His word will be unsheathed and will go to all people throughout the world, cutting them to the heart, and they will know that it is His word. He will not return it to its sheath, and therefore His word will no longer be concealed. Isaiah said that His word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11).
If He is saying that His word is going to go out to all people throughout the world, we also know from the New Testament that Jesus is the Word made flesh. So it is possible that along with the destruction that was going to come upon Jerusalem in the not so distant future, that Ezekiel was prophesying of Jesus and the gospel that will go throughout the world at a much later time in the future.
Ezekiel 21:6-7
God instructed Ezekiel to sigh with a breaking heart and with bitterness in the sight of Israel. When they asked him why he was sighing, he was to tell them,
‘Because of the news; when it comes, every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass,’ says the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 21:7)
God's judgement was coming, and when it does, their hearts will melt, their hands will be feeble, their spirits will faint, and their knees will be weak.
But why? Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and other prophets had been telling them that this was going to happen if they did not repent. So, what would cause them to respond this way when it did happen?
The answer is, unbelief. As we saw earlier in another chapter, Israel did not believe that the negative message that Ezekiel and the other true prophets was delivering to them was true. There were false prophets who were telling them that everything was going to be just fine, so they chose to believe their message that gave them false hope, over the true prophets' message of destruction.
Today's church is not very different from Israel. There is a big misconception, especially in the American church, that God does not allow bad things to happen to those who believe in Him. It is widely believed that God is going to remove His people from the earth before the anti-Christ takes over, sparing them from all harm.
But if we look at the history of God's people in both Israel and the church, we can see that God does not remove His people from terrible situations in order to protect them from harm. On the contrary, often we see that God is the one who is behind the harm of His people, as we have seen over and over in Ezekiel and the prophets. And often we see that God places His people in harmful situations to test how they will respond in that situation - to test if they are loyal, devoted, and committed to Him
Escaping tribulation is widely believed by American Christians because we are safe and comfortable, and have been for hundreds of years. We have not had to worry about persecution or suffering for our faith in Christ. But if we look beyond ourselves, we will see that many of God's people who reside outside of the United States do suffer and are persecuted, and they have for thousands of years.
So how does that square with the common belief among Christians, that God does not allow His people to go through tribulations? Well, it doesn't. The prophets, the kingdom of Israel, Jesus, the apostles, and many others of the church throughout history suffered terribly, and were persecuted. Many Christians still are today.
Jesus said, "You will have tribulation in this world", and "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." Paul said, "Whoever desires to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
So the Bible teaches that God's people have and will suffer persecution and have tribulation in this world. Furthermore, it is evident that it is true when looking at the history of God's people. So why do so many Christians not believe it?
One of the answers is, for the same reason that Israel did not believe it when Ezekiel delivered God's message. There are teachers who are teaching their students a false message that was concocted just a couple hundred of years ago, that is contrary to what the Bible and history teaches, and Christians are choosing to believe this message that gives them false hope over God's message of tribulation and persecution for His people.
Because they choose to believe the false teachings, there will be many Christians who will be in the same condition as the Israelites of Ezekiel's day would be, when tribulation came upon them. When tribulation and persecution comes to many American Christians, their hearts will melt, their hands will be feeble, their spirits will faint, and their knees will be weak. They will be utterly stunned, and many will fall away from the faith because they believed that God was going to protect them from these events. Because He didn't, they will think, "How can a loving God allow such bad things to happen to me?". This should be very concerning for the church.
Ezekiel 21:8-12a
The remainder of chapter 21 is a description of "the sword " that will come against God's people, Israel. It is "sharpened to make a dreadful slaughter", and "polished to flash like lightning" (Ezekiel 21:10). It was to be "given to the hand of the slayer" Babylon (Ezekiel 21:11).
God instructed Ezekiel to "cry and wail" because He was giving the sword into Babylon's hand to come against His people. "Terrors including the sword will be against My people" (Ezekiel 21:12).
The imagery God uses is not rainbows and unicorns. He doesn't mince words, or take precautions to speak the truth in love. He doesn't put things delicately because He's afraid that people are going to accuse Him of being judgemental, prejudice or antisemitic. God was holding Israel accountable for their wickedness, and though it grieved Him tremendously, it was necessary.
Though previously mentioned, it bears repeating because very few Christians are aware that this event even happened. The messages of the prophets are usually only given when teachers are speaking about "the end times", or they will be used as an example of what God is going to do to pagan nations. The fact of the matter is, as God's word and history shows, that the suffering of Israel by the hand of Babylon was utterly devastating. The description of the sword and the terrors coming against Israel are used to make that point. God did not want to destroy them, but they continuously refused to repent even after numerous opportunities to do so.
So, though we may be inclined to feel bad for Israel for their terrible suffering, we need to accept the fact that these were wicked people, and that God's ways are just. In God's perfect judgment, He brought the sword against them. We as followers of Christ have to trust God in all His ways, even if we don't like them or they don't make sense to us.
Ezekiel 21:12b-27
As a sign to Israel of the terrors they would experience, including terrors of the sword, God instructed Ezekiel to "strike his thigh" (Ezekiel 21:12b).
The calamity that was coming was going to be a testing of Israel's faithfulness (Ezekiel 21:13).
If the sword despises the scepter, the scepter shall be no more (Ezekiel 21:13).
A scepter is the staff of a king or sovereign, used as a symbol of authority. Here it used to symbolize the king. Even the king of Judah would not be immune from the sword that was coming.
God instructed Ezekiel to prophesy and to strike his hands together, the third time letting the sword do "double damage" (Ezekiel 21:14).
The striking of the hands together was a sign of anger or judgment (Ezekiel 6:11; 21:17; Numbers 24:10).
The sword enters the private chambers of great men, and slays them (Ezekiel 21:14).
God set the point of the sword at all of their gates, so that their hearts would melt in fear and many would stumble (Ezekiel 21:15).
The sword is made bright, and grasped for slaughter (Ezekiel 21:15). Swords are ready for battle (Ezekiel 21:16).
God will beat His fists together and cause His fury to rest. "I, the Lord, have spoken" (Ezekiel 21:17).
God instructed Ezekiel to make a road sign for the "the sword", the king of Babylon, and to put it at the fork in the road. One direction would point to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and the other would lead to Judah into Jerusalem (Ezekiel 21:18-20).
The king of Babylon would stand at the fork of the road, consulting his gods, and using divination he would see a vision of Jerusalem: the setting up of battering rams against the city's gates, a call for slaughter, voices lifted in shouting, a siege mount heaped up, and a wall of armies built around the city (Ezekiel 21:21-22).
Those of Israel who allied with Babylon would think it is a false divination, but God would cause them to remember their sins against Him, and they would be taken by the sword (Ezekiel 21:23-24).
God speaks of King Zedekiah, ordering him to take off his turban, and to remove his crown, indicating that his kingship has been taken from him because their will no longer be a kingdom for him to rule over, because He is overthrowing it. It will no longer exist until "He comes whose right it is. And I will give it to Him" (Ezekiel 21:25-27).
This last part of verse 27 is referring to Jesus who would later inherit the kingdom and be appointed King over it.
Ezekiel 21:28-32
God instructed Ezekiel to prophesy the destruction of the Ammonites. God's wrath by the sword was also coming against them in judgement, but they were going to be totally destroyed and not remembered. "I, the Lord, have spoken" (Ezekiel 21:28-32).
God ordered Jeremiah to prophesy against all the nations of the earth, including Ammon. The sword was also coming against them. Apparently they thought that they were going to go unpunished for their wickedness, but God said, "I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by my name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished for I shall call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth" (Jeremiah 25:29). They would drink from the cup of the fury of His wrath.
Though God's judgement of the nations listed in Jeremiah 25:19-26 have already taken place, Jeremiah's prophecy of God's judgement of the nations, seems to also be describing the judgement that will take place when Jesus returns to reign on the earth.
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