Ezekiel 20:49-Ezekiel 21:13--The LORD Has Drawn His Sword

Ezekiel 20:49-21:13
English Standard Version

49 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not a maker of parables?’”

The LORD Has Drawn His Sword
21  The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel 3 and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am against you and will draw my sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. 4 Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. 5 And all flesh shall know that I am the LORD. I have drawn my sword from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.

6 “As for you, son of man, groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes. 7 And when they say to you, ‘Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that it is coming. Every heart will melt, and all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming, and it will be fulfilled,’” declares the Lord GOD.

8 And the word of the LORD came to me: 9 “Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord, say:

“A sword, a sword is sharpened
    and also polished,
10 sharpened for slaughter,
    polished to flash like lightning!

(Or shall we rejoice? You have despised the rod, my son, with everything of wood.) 11 So the sword is given to be polished, that it may be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished to be given into the hand of the slayer. 12 Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people. It is against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Strike therefore upon your thigh. 13 For it will not be a testing—what could it do if you despise the rod?” declares the Lord GOD.

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I missed the last verse of chapter 20 yesterday, so I'll include it in our discussion today.  Ezekiel delivers the message to the elders of the people and because they do not like the clear meaning of the message, they claim that Ezekiel is speaking to them in parables that have a hidden or deeper meaning.  Though the LORD said He was going to speak to the prophets through visions and dreams that would need interpretation and not like the face-to-face conversations that He had with Moses, sometimes, the LORD makes His message heard with no interpretation necessary.  This is especially true when the hearts of the people He is speaking to are hard and are going to reject the message He gives them.  He wants them to reject the clearest of messages so they are without excuse in the day of judgment.  They cannot say that they rejected the message because they did not understand it, but they will have to honestly say they rejected the message because they did understand it and refused to accept it or apply it to their lives.

This leads us into the next message given to Ezekiel where the LORD pictures Himself as a king leading His warriors into battle.  The interesting thing here is that the LORD has command over not just the armies of Israel and the angelic armies, but the armies of Gentile nations.  Babylon will be His agents to make war against the people of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah.  He promises to make war against the righteous and the wicked alike.  Though single group will be safe (though there will be a remnant that is preserved).

Ezekiel is to groan, mourn, and weep for the people of Israel and Judah that it has had to come to his.  The LORD knows this is exactly what these proud people need to break them and once again put them in a posture of humility, contrition and submission.  They have despised the rod of correction and will now have to deal with the sword of judgment and wrath.  The LORD is ready to give permission to Babylon (the slayer) to go after His people.  The time they wait now is only the time that the sword is being sharpened and made ready.  This will not be a trial exercise, but it will be the real deal when it happens.  "This is not a drill."