The Sword of God

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:17.829 Chapter Twenty, verse Forty Five Is Echiel Twenty, verse Forty Five, and 2 00:00:17.989 --> 00:00:42.929 all read through Chapter Twenty one. Let's give our attention to God's holy word 3 00:00:45.049 --> 00:00:48.450 and the word of the Lord came to me, son of man. Set 4 00:00:48.530 --> 00:00:52.920 your face towards the south land, preach against the South and prophesy against the 5 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:57.600 forest land and the Negeb. Say to the forest of the Negeb, hear 6 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:00.640 the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, God. Behold, 7 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:06.310 I will kindle a fire in you and it shall devour every green tree in 8 00:01:06.469 --> 00:01:11.310 you and every dry tree. The blazing flame shall not be quenched and all 9 00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:17.030 faces from south to north shall be scorched by it. All fleshes else shall 10 00:01:17.269 --> 00:01:19.980 see that I, the Lord, have kindled it. It shall not be 11 00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:25.900 quenched. Then I said, Ah, Lord God, they are saying of 12 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:30.420 me. Is He not a maker of parables? The word of the Lord 13 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:34.250 came to me, son a man. Set your face towards Jerusalem and preach 14 00:01:34.329 --> 00:01:40.329 against the sanctuaries, prophesy against the land of Israel and say to the land 15 00:01:40.409 --> 00:01:44.890 of Israel, thus says the Lord, behold, I am against you and 16 00:01:44.969 --> 00:01:48.879 I will draw my sword from its sheath and I will cut off from you, 17 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:53.040 both righteous and wicked, because I will caught up cut off from you, 18 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:57.200 both righteous and wicked. Therefore, my sword shall be drawn from its 19 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:02.189 sheath against all flesh, from south to north, and all my and all 20 00:02:02.310 --> 00:02:07.469 flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn my sword from 21 00:02:07.469 --> 00:02:10.830 its sheath. It shall not be sheathed again. As for you, son 22 00:02:10.909 --> 00:02:16.460 of men, grown with breaking heart and bitter grief, grown before their eyes. 23 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:20.580 And when they say to you, why do you Groan, you shall 24 00:02:20.659 --> 00:02:23.699 say because of the news that it is coming. Every heart will melt in, 25 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:28.659 all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will 26 00:02:28.659 --> 00:02:32.409 be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and it will be fulfilled, 27 00:02:32.610 --> 00:02:37.409 declares the Lord God. And the word of the Lord came to me, 28 00:02:37.810 --> 00:02:40.770 son of man, prophesy and say, thus says the Lord, say 29 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:46.879 a sword. A sword is sharpened and also polished, sharpened for slaughter, 30 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:54.840 polished to flash like lightning. Or shall we rejo voice? You have despised 31 00:02:54.919 --> 00:03:00.229 the Rod, my son, with everything of Wood. So the sword is 32 00:03:00.310 --> 00:03:02.949 given to be polished that it may be grasped in the hand. It is 33 00:03:04.150 --> 00:03:08.789 sharpened and polished to be given into the hand of the slayer. Cry Out 34 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:13.379 and Wail, son of man, for it is against my people, it 35 00:03:13.539 --> 00:03:16.900 is against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword 36 00:03:17.020 --> 00:03:22.139 with my people. Strike, therefore, upon your thigh, for it will 37 00:03:22.219 --> 00:03:27.650 not be attesting. What could it do if you despise the Rod, declares 38 00:03:27.689 --> 00:03:31.370 the Lord God. As for you, son of man, prophesy, Clap 39 00:03:31.449 --> 00:03:36.569 your hands and let the sword come down twice, yes, three times, 40 00:03:37.009 --> 00:03:39.770 the sword for those to be slain. It is the sword for the great 41 00:03:39.810 --> 00:03:45.639 slaughter which surrounds them, that their hearts May Melt and many stumble, and 42 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:50.560 at there at all their gaits. I have given the Glittering Sword Ah. 43 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:55.030 It is made alike lightning. It is taken up for slaughter. Cut sharply 44 00:03:55.150 --> 00:03:59.870 to the right. Set yourself to the left, wherever your face is directed. 45 00:04:00.590 --> 00:04:03.710 I also will clap my hands and I will satisfy my fury. I, 46 00:04:04.030 --> 00:04:08.430 the Lord, have spoken. The word of the Lord came to me 47 00:04:08.550 --> 00:04:11.620 again. As for you, son of man, Mark Two ways for the 48 00:04:11.740 --> 00:04:15.579 sword of the King of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come from 49 00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:19.740 the same land and make a sign post. Make it at the head of 50 00:04:19.819 --> 00:04:24.889 the way to a city mark away for the sword, to come to Riba 51 00:04:25.050 --> 00:04:30.850 of the AMMONITES and to Judah into Jerusalem. The fortified for the King of 52 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:33.810 Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of two ways 53 00:04:34.370 --> 00:04:40.680 to use divination. He shakes the arrows, he consults the Tariffeme, he 54 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:46.079 looks at the liver. into his right hand comes the divination for Jerusalem, 55 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:49.399 to set battering rams, to open the mouth with murder, to lift up 56 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:54.589 the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast 57 00:04:54.629 --> 00:04:58.709 up mounds, to build siege towers. But to them it will seem like 58 00:04:58.829 --> 00:05:02.790 a false divination. They have sworn solemn oaths. But he will bring their 59 00:05:02.870 --> 00:05:08.459 guilt to remembrance that they may be taken. Therefore, thus, as the 60 00:05:08.579 --> 00:05:12.139 Lord God, because you have made your guilt to be remembered, in that 61 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:15.819 your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds, your sins appear, 62 00:05:16.699 --> 00:05:20.379 because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand. 63 00:05:20.379 --> 00:05:27.009 And you, oh profane, wicked one prince of Israel, whose day has 64 00:05:27.089 --> 00:05:30.889 come, the time of your final punishment. Thus, as the Lord God, 65 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:35.240 remove the Turban and take off the crown, things shall not remain as 66 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:40.639 they are. Exalt that which is low and bring low that which is exalted. 67 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:45.279 A ruin, ruin, ruin, I will make it. This also 68 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:49.029 shall not be until he becomes the one to whom judgment belongs, and I 69 00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:55.149 will give it to him. and You, son of man, prophesy and 70 00:05:55.269 --> 00:05:59.829 say the says the Lord God concerning the ammonites and concerning their reproach. Say 71 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:03.579 a sword. A sword is drawn for the slaughter, it is polished to 72 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:10.819 consume into flash like lightning, while they see for your for you false visions, 73 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:15.660 while they divine lies for you to the to place you on the necks 74 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:19.170 of the profane wicked, whose day has come, the time of their final 75 00:06:19.250 --> 00:06:26.329 punishment. Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, 76 00:06:26.569 --> 00:06:30.170 in the land of your origin, I will judge you and I will 77 00:06:30.170 --> 00:06:33.240 pour out my indignation upon you, I will blow upon you with the fire 78 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:38.600 of my wrath and I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men skillful 79 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:42.920 to destroy. You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be 80 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.680 in the midst of the land. You shall be no more remembered, for 81 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:53.110 I, the Lord, have spoken. May God bless his word to us. 82 00:06:58.509 --> 00:07:02.459 We have a section here in is equel that centers very much around a 83 00:07:02.660 --> 00:07:08.259 sword, doesn't it? The sword is brought up in in many ways. 84 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:13.860 We begin with a sword of fire, in which lightning and the sword word 85 00:07:13.899 --> 00:07:17.930 are are connected to one another. Then we come to a section which we 86 00:07:18.009 --> 00:07:23.610 might call the song of the sword. We heard it in beginning in twenty 87 00:07:23.689 --> 00:07:26.930 one, verse eight, and then again here, just at the end. 88 00:07:27.050 --> 00:07:30.879 This a sword, a sword is drawn for the slaughter it is Polish to 89 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:35.279 consume and flash like lightning. After this song of the sword, we then 90 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:42.279 have three sections, the sword of Babylon against Jerusalem, the sword of Babylon 91 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:47.509 against the ammonites and then the sword of Babylon against Babylon. And each of 92 00:07:47.550 --> 00:07:53.509 these things we see the strength of the Lord, his judgment against sin, 93 00:07:54.269 --> 00:08:01.100 his fury and his righteousness. What I'd like to do this evening is walk 94 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:05.660 through these different sections and then finish with a couple points of application. Let's 95 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:11.980 begin with the Sword of fire, twenty, chapter, twenty, verse Forty 96 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:16.970 Five. He begins, the Lord, that is the Lord, begins by 97 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:20.930 speaking to his Zekiel, as he does throughout in these different sections, and 98 00:08:22.009 --> 00:08:24.850 we have this this opening. The word of the Lord came to me, 99 00:08:26.050 --> 00:08:28.319 son of man, or the word of the Lord came to me a son 100 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:33.080 of man. Prophesy and say thus as the Lord God. And in this 101 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:37.320 opening section, which I'm calling the sword of fire, we have a parable 102 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:43.110 in a way, and is equels to command about a fire that is set. 103 00:08:45.389 --> 00:08:48.909 He says, son of Man, set your face toward the south land. 104 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:52.909 This is speaking of Judah in the southern part of Israel. Preach against 105 00:08:52.950 --> 00:08:58.179 the south and prophesy against the forest land. I will kindle a fire and 106 00:08:58.299 --> 00:09:03.259 it shall devour everything. It takes green and dry. It scorches the faces 107 00:09:03.299 --> 00:09:09.139 of the people throughout the land. Ian Do good, a commentator whom I 108 00:09:09.259 --> 00:09:15.009 very much enjoyed reading on this this book. He notes that the fire, 109 00:09:15.409 --> 00:09:18.570 this wildfire, though not wild, directed by the will of the Lord, 110 00:09:20.809 --> 00:09:24.639 is consuming in three ways. He notes that it's caught, it's an all 111 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:30.200 consuming and its content we see, but both the green and the dry trees 112 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:37.320 are destroyed, both the righteous and the wicked are destroyed. The geography is 113 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:41.590 all encompassing as it moves from south to north, and the temporal scope of 114 00:09:41.669 --> 00:09:46.350 it is also income all encompassing. It says that the fire is kindled and 115 00:09:46.429 --> 00:09:50.950 will not be put out. In other words, is the word of the 116 00:09:50.110 --> 00:09:56.100 Lord, and his judgment comes upon the land in the shape of this fire. 117 00:09:56.620 --> 00:10:03.220 It is the end of these things, and this very much corresponds to 118 00:10:03.259 --> 00:10:07.570 all everything that we've been reading up to this point. JERUS LUM has sinned 119 00:10:07.730 --> 00:10:11.970 and send and stand and stacked or sends up to heaven, and the time 120 00:10:13.090 --> 00:10:20.049 of judgment has come. Everyone will know that it was the Lord who set 121 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:24.480 the fire. Right, when we have wildfires and fire seasons, sometimes we 122 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.360 ask how did it get set right? Was it an electrical thing? Was 123 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:33.200 it a lightning strike, or was there a person who set it? What 124 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:35.029 is Equel says here, by the word of the Lord, is that then 125 00:10:35.110 --> 00:10:39.710 everyone looks at this fire, they will know exactly who said it, exactly 126 00:10:39.789 --> 00:10:45.830 who kindled it. In Verse Forty Eight, all Flesh Sall see that I, 127 00:10:46.110 --> 00:10:50.379 the Lord, have kindled it. It shall not be quenched. The 128 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:58.500 response to this is typical of the responses of Israel and her princes and her 129 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:03.620 elders, that is equal has frequently been getting. As he proclaims these prophecies, 130 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:09.570 they say, is he not a maker of parables, he's He's speaking 131 00:11:09.610 --> 00:11:15.210 in parables and as if this was somehow excusing them. In some way it 132 00:11:15.330 --> 00:11:18.639 doesn't excuse them. The parable, like Jesus, is parable, is meant 133 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:24.440 to both convey information, to express these things, but also, in a 134 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:28.360 way, to hide the truth and hard in the hearts of those who do 135 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:31.320 not have ears to hear it, and we see them responding in that way. 136 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:37.309 Another response that we see comes at the beginning of Chapter Twenty one, 137 00:11:39.389 --> 00:11:43.870 where God calls Ezequel to do one of these things that we've talked before is 138 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:48.980 like sign acts, some sort of thing, a physical act that is eqil 139 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:54.940 does to either make known a truth or to express it or confirm it in 140 00:11:54.100 --> 00:12:00.299 some way. The thing the Lord calls him to do is to grown, 141 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:05.889 to sigh and to Groan with a broken heart and bitter grief. It's one 142 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:09.690 of the interesting places, one of just as a side no one, of 143 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:16.720 the interesting places in scripture where we see emotions being commanded. Emotions in some 144 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:22.080 ways are a reaction to things around us. Right they just sort of happen, 145 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:26.600 but we also see that in some ways they can be controlled, that 146 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:31.629 we are called to feel certain ways at certain times, and his equal here 147 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:35.470 is being called to sigh and to Groan, and not just outwardly, but 148 00:12:35.629 --> 00:12:41.750 with a broken heart and bitter grief. He is to think about this destruction 149 00:12:41.909 --> 00:12:45.700 that's coming and to grieve it, and this, of course, expresses the 150 00:12:45.820 --> 00:12:52.539 Lord's own heart. God is not rejoicing and happy and really excited or having 151 00:12:52.539 --> 00:13:00.370 a fun time. He is destroying his people and it breaks his heart, 152 00:13:01.450 --> 00:13:07.649 brings him grief and he wants his prophet to express that as well. And 153 00:13:07.809 --> 00:13:13.799 when the people ask, right, when the people ask, he shall respond. 154 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.799 How shall he respond when they say, why do you Groan? In 155 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:24.039 verse seven, he says because of the news that it is coming. Every 156 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.350 heart will melt and all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and 157 00:13:28.389 --> 00:13:33.269 all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and it 158 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:41.779 will be fulfilled, declares the Lord. I think there's an opportunity for us 159 00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:46.860 to grieve our own lack of grieving when it comes to the judgment of the 160 00:13:46.980 --> 00:13:52.340 Lord. The Lord promises that judgment is coming in a way that is even 161 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:56.649 greater than is expressed here in is Eqil, that on the last day, 162 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:01.450 when the Lord Jesus returns the mountains will shake, the hills of the rocks 163 00:14:01.570 --> 00:14:07.289 will fall on the sky will be rolled up like a scroll and the Lord's 164 00:14:07.730 --> 00:14:16.120 Flaming Sword of Judgment will come down upon the world. That will be a 165 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:22.840 hard day and a difficult day and a terrible, terrifying day for many. 166 00:14:24.629 --> 00:14:28.629 That should make us grief. It should make us concerned for the loss of 167 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:33.350 people who reject it and who laugh at it, who despise it and who 168 00:14:33.350 --> 00:14:39.259 aren't listening, who aren't paying attention to the news. It should also make 169 00:14:39.379 --> 00:14:45.019 us passionate about sharing the good news of the Lord's salvation, passionate about telling 170 00:14:45.139 --> 00:14:48.940 people about the Lord and what he is doing, about the salvation that he 171 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:54.649 offers. From that very day, the news of the word of the Lord 172 00:14:54.250 --> 00:15:01.409 should affect our hearts well. Next we come to the song of the sword, 173 00:15:01.450 --> 00:15:07.159 as and calling it, beginning in twenty one eight, the word of 174 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:09.679 the Lord came to me, son of man, prophesy, and say, 175 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:13.879 thus say us, thus says the Lord, a sword. A sword is 176 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:20.919 sharpened and also polished, a sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning. 177 00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:26.750 And here is why, earlier I called that passage the sword of fire, 178 00:15:26.789 --> 00:15:33.909 right even though a sword wasn't mentioned directly in that that earlier passage, 179 00:15:35.269 --> 00:15:39.019 this lightning, in this flashing is connected with the sort of judgment here, 180 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:46.779 as we sing this song of the sword, this this poem that is here. 181 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:50.090 He the you, you hear, you see the image right. The 182 00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:54.610 sword is being prepared, it's being ready, it's being clean and it's going 183 00:15:54.610 --> 00:15:58.129 to be polished so bright that the glint of it, the flash of it, 184 00:15:58.289 --> 00:16:03.169 is like lightning just flashing in your face, making you close your eyes. 185 00:16:03.210 --> 00:16:07.879 A terrifying thing, as the sword is sharpened, is the sword is 186 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:12.879 polished, as the sword is ready. What is the purpose of this sword? 187 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:18.320 Why is it given to be polished? Verse Eleven. The answer is 188 00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:21.710 that it may be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished to 189 00:16:21.750 --> 00:16:26.470 be given into the hand of the slayer. What is the effect of this? 190 00:16:27.789 --> 00:16:33.500 Melting hearts? Cry Out, verse twelve. Cry Out and Wail, 191 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:36.620 son of man, for it is against my people, it is against all 192 00:16:36.659 --> 00:16:41.500 the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. 193 00:16:42.940 --> 00:16:48.370 He then calls is equal to clap his hands. In verse fourteen, 194 00:16:48.450 --> 00:16:55.889 and perhaps another sign act like the groaning were and the sorrow we heard before. 195 00:16:56.250 --> 00:16:59.370 He says in Verse Fourteen, Clap Your Hands and let the sword come 196 00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:03.840 down twice, yes, even three times. I'm not sure exactly what the 197 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:08.200 clapping hands means. Perhaps it's confirmation of the message, or maybe it's something 198 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:14.200 like pounding the table to make the point. Perhaps it's getting their attention and 199 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:19.430 an announcement in some way. But whatever it means, it's clear that what 200 00:17:19.589 --> 00:17:26.509 the Prophet represents there he represents again the Lord's own actions. He speaks on 201 00:17:26.589 --> 00:17:30.740 the Lord's behalf, because we read, as we go on later in the 202 00:17:30.819 --> 00:17:36.740 Prophet in in the prophecy, in verse seventeen, it says I also will 203 00:17:36.859 --> 00:17:42.740 clap my hands and will satisfy my fury. Again we see that the prophet, 204 00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:47.009 he's not just acting on his own, he's not just saying these things. 205 00:17:47.490 --> 00:17:51.809 Notice how that's emphasized over and over again, how he speaks the word 206 00:17:52.049 --> 00:17:56.609 of the Lord. When we hear these words of Ezekiel, we are hearing 207 00:17:56.289 --> 00:18:00.960 the word of God. And so we have this parable to begin with, 208 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:06.920 this flashing lightning that goes throughout the land. Than it is connected with this 209 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:11.359 sword. In this second section in which we hear what it is to do, 210 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.349 to slaughter in the hands of the slayer, causing people, of course, 211 00:18:15.670 --> 00:18:22.829 to die in their hearts to melt. Then we get into three specific 212 00:18:22.069 --> 00:18:27.900 instances of judgment. First Jerusalem, than at the AMMONITES, and then Babylon. 213 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:36.140 So first the sword of Babylon against Jerusalem. We call it the sort 214 00:18:36.220 --> 00:18:40.299 of Babylon, even though it's already been identified as the sword of the Lord, 215 00:18:40.460 --> 00:18:45.970 because Babylon is his slayer, Babylon is his executioner that he has called 216 00:18:47.609 --> 00:18:51.089 and so in a way the sword does belong to Babylon, even as it 217 00:18:51.529 --> 00:18:56.160 belongs to the Lord, and this is an important point, as will come 218 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:00.960 to see in a moment. In first eighteen through twenty seven we see exactly 219 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:07.759 how the sword of God will be wielded, that the executioner is Babylon. 220 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:11.509 In the way this is expressed is in another sign act. Ezekiel is to 221 00:19:11.910 --> 00:19:17.670 in this case actually make a sign. He is to create a sign post 222 00:19:17.910 --> 00:19:22.589 on a road that splits in two ways. So you might imagine a road 223 00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:29.579 coming down out of Babylon and then splitting right, going into directions. One 224 00:19:29.700 --> 00:19:33.259 Direction it goes to Jerusalem and in one direction it goes to the ammonite. 225 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:38.410 So you can imagine, right the Lord's executioner, the Lord's the Lord's Judge, 226 00:19:38.730 --> 00:19:42.730 coming with his sword in his hand down the road and then he comes 227 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:49.490 to this crossroads. Will he go to Amman? Will he go to Jerusalem? 228 00:19:51.769 --> 00:19:55.200 And the king there is described as making this choice. And what's very 229 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:00.640 interesting is he does not inquire of the Lord, but he uses lots something 230 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:06.480 with arrows, he's looking at a liver, he's using all of these things 231 00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:11.990 of pagan divination, of Pagan idolatry, to decide which way to go, 232 00:20:12.230 --> 00:20:18.869 and he will lie through this divination discover that it is to Jerusalem first that 233 00:20:18.990 --> 00:20:25.140 he will go. However, we know very clearly from the prophecy that is 234 00:20:25.220 --> 00:20:27.700 being spoken of ahead of time, from the work that God is doing, 235 00:20:27.779 --> 00:20:33.740 the one that he that is directing all these things, that it's not Nebuchadnezzar's 236 00:20:33.299 --> 00:20:41.329 gods or fate that is causing him to go to Jerusalem. It is Yahweh. 237 00:20:42.049 --> 00:20:45.130 The Lord is the one who's directing them. The Lord is the one 238 00:20:45.490 --> 00:20:52.319 who is sending him here. We see an irony in a way, and 239 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:59.319 and and a sort of sweet justice, as we sometimes say, and which 240 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:06.349 the Lord is using the very means by which Israel has gone astray to bring 241 00:21:06.470 --> 00:21:11.549 about their destruction. They're chasing after false gods, they're chasing after idolatry and 242 00:21:11.630 --> 00:21:18.430 divination. It is there undoing in a number of ways. They're running after 243 00:21:18.549 --> 00:21:25.180 Babylon and all her gods. There are accepting of false worship and and these 244 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:30.779 sorts of things. They are there. It is our undoing. So just 245 00:21:30.980 --> 00:21:36.450 as God uses the foreigners whom Israel sought after for their own destruction, he 246 00:21:36.490 --> 00:21:44.250 will also use these foreign religious practices as a means to their end. Finally, 247 00:21:44.289 --> 00:21:49.000 in this section of Judgment Against Jerusalem, we see that is the king 248 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:56.559 of Babylon goes to Jerusalem, that this punishment is both for Prince and people, 249 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:00.470 and do good makes another helpful note here. He points out that it's 250 00:22:00.509 --> 00:22:06.069 not merely Zeedekiah who is going to be judged at this moment. He's not 251 00:22:06.190 --> 00:22:11.549 even named here. He's simply called unworthy prince. It is the all, 252 00:22:11.710 --> 00:22:18.180 ultimately the whole office of the King in Israel that is being judged. As 253 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:22.940 dug it puts it, a divine reordering of society in which the Lord will 254 00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:27.740 exalt the lowly and bring down the exalted. This reminds us, beloved off, 255 00:22:27.779 --> 00:22:33.609 one of the central problems that has been happening in Israel. She doesn't 256 00:22:33.690 --> 00:22:37.769 have a king where she has a king, but not one that she needs. 257 00:22:37.490 --> 00:22:42.970 She has kings that continually swing her to idolatry, that lead her into 258 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:49.640 false practices and adultery. Under the Lord, the Kings have, over and 259 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:56.359 over and over again, failed and not been shepherds to their sheep. And 260 00:22:56.519 --> 00:22:59.589 the Lord is going to bring all that to an end. All the corruption, 261 00:22:59.829 --> 00:23:03.430 all the false judgment, all of the money, all of the power. 262 00:23:03.950 --> 00:23:11.430 It's over. It's over and, as he says, as the Scriptures 263 00:23:11.509 --> 00:23:15.660 say, the sword of Brat Babylon, as it comes on the Prince and 264 00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:21.180 the people, will bring nothing. But this is verse twenty seven. Ruin, 265 00:23:21.859 --> 00:23:33.049 ruin, ruin. I will make it the beginning. Earlier, in 266 00:23:33.690 --> 00:23:37.009 Verse Nineteen, we read about the sword of the King of Babylon to come, 267 00:23:38.049 --> 00:23:45.319 and then here at the end of this section, we read that this 268 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:51.759 ruin will come as as this king comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, 269 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:59.670 and I will give it to him. That said, as we will 270 00:23:59.750 --> 00:24:03.589 soon see, the King of Babylon, though he exercises the will of the 271 00:24:03.750 --> 00:24:06.910 Lord. Though he is used in a tool of the Lord, he will 272 00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:11.859 not stand forever. Nebuchadnezzar, it doesn't have any of this in mind. 273 00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:17.900 Nebuchadnezzar thinks he's a great king conquering nations. He thinks that he is accumulating 274 00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:21.980 wealth and power for himself, and in some ways he is, but he 275 00:24:22.140 --> 00:24:26.170 is blind to the fact and prideful to the fact that it is God who 276 00:24:26.210 --> 00:24:34.329 establishes these things. He will not stand forever, as is obvious from the 277 00:24:34.369 --> 00:24:41.519 fact that he is not our king today. The King Jesus is, praise 278 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:47.759 be to God. God, our king, may use humans to do his 279 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:53.549 will, but that doesn't make them gods under themselves. He can overturn them 280 00:24:55.269 --> 00:25:00.349 as easily as he lifts them up, which should remind US never to fear 281 00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:10.980 men more than God. Having come to Jerusalem in Verse Twenty Eight, then 282 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:17.180 we see the sword of Babylon going to amm the to the AMMONITES, Verse 283 00:25:17.259 --> 00:25:21.849 Twenty Eight, these wicked neighbors of Israel. We read that and you, 284 00:25:22.089 --> 00:25:25.210 son of man, prophesy and say thus, as the Lord God, concerning 285 00:25:25.250 --> 00:25:29.930 the ammonites and concerning their reproach. And then we have this song again. 286 00:25:30.410 --> 00:25:33.730 I'm calling it a song a sword. A sword is drawn for the slaughter. 287 00:25:33.890 --> 00:25:45.200 It is polished to consume and to flash like lightning, and Salem the 288 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:49.190 other headed to am and now, having destroyed Jerusalem, Babylon takes the other 289 00:25:49.269 --> 00:25:53.869 road and they will march and they will destroy the wicked and the profane there 290 00:25:55.069 --> 00:26:03.539 as well. But with that happening, then we see a judgment coming against 291 00:26:03.779 --> 00:26:08.539 Babylon, as I said, the sort of Babylon against Babylon. How do 292 00:26:08.660 --> 00:26:12.940 we see this? I think we see it in verse thirty, though Babylon 293 00:26:14.019 --> 00:26:18.849 is not mentioned. We read, we do read this. Return it to 294 00:26:18.089 --> 00:26:22.930 its sheath in the place where you were created, in the land of your 295 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:29.170 origin, and I will judge you, I he will judge, in other 296 00:26:29.210 --> 00:26:33.559 words, the sword itself, the judgement, will judge the judgment, and 297 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:37.519 the one who brings that judgment. This sword that is brought, that is 298 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:44.200 unsheathed back in twenty one five, is now sheathed. And there might seem 299 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:47.269 to be a little contradiction there, because in twenty one five it says it 300 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:51.789 will never be sheathed again, and then later on we read that it is 301 00:26:52.029 --> 00:26:55.910 sheathed and I think the way that we ought to understand that is that this 302 00:26:56.509 --> 00:26:59.950 sheathing in the beginning, in the end, they're different in a way, 303 00:27:00.750 --> 00:27:03.660 and the continuity is the judgment of God. In other words, when he 304 00:27:03.740 --> 00:27:07.740 says the sword will be unsheathed, he means that the judgment of God will 305 00:27:07.779 --> 00:27:12.740 continue and it will not stop until it's complete. And in a way we 306 00:27:12.900 --> 00:27:18.369 see that even in its sheathing, right at the end, not that the 307 00:27:18.410 --> 00:27:22.730 judgment stops, but that now it returns on the people to from from which 308 00:27:22.730 --> 00:27:32.079 it began. The sheathing is not an end of judgment for Babylon. Now, 309 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:36.640 without her weapon, a weapon supplied by God, Babylon will come under 310 00:27:36.680 --> 00:27:41.559 judgment herself. We read that in verses thirty, thirty one and thirty two. 311 00:27:42.039 --> 00:27:47.190 I will judge you, God says. I will pour out my indignation 312 00:27:47.349 --> 00:27:49.630 upon you, I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath. 313 00:27:49.910 --> 00:27:55.589 I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men skillful to destroy. You 314 00:27:55.789 --> 00:27:59.579 shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of 315 00:27:59.660 --> 00:28:03.579 the land. You shall be remembered no more, for I, the Lord, 316 00:28:03.259 --> 00:28:11.299 have spoken. So this takes us through our passage. We see the 317 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:15.690 opening parable of that, this lightning going forth. We see the lightning connected 318 00:28:17.490 --> 00:28:19.890 with the sword and the grief that is to come over that. We see 319 00:28:19.970 --> 00:28:26.599 the sort of Babylon going against, first being the the work of the Lord, 320 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:32.359 the judgment of the Lord, first against Jerusalem, then the ammonites and 321 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:37.839 then against Babylon herself. So what are we to take from this passage about 322 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:45.390 God's wrath and God's judgment through his sword? I'll mention just a couple things. 323 00:28:45.390 --> 00:28:48.630 I think there's a lot to think on and reflect on and be humbled 324 00:28:48.630 --> 00:28:56.220 by. One thing to remember is that God is the one who is sovereign, 325 00:28:56.220 --> 00:29:00.180 and that's a kingly term, isn't it? A sovereign it means he 326 00:29:00.539 --> 00:29:07.859 is the one who exercises all power and authority over all his creatures and over 327 00:29:07.099 --> 00:29:18.289 all their actions, to an extent that we can't even really begin and kind 328 00:29:18.569 --> 00:29:26.799 can accumulate. For itself is the tiniest, most infinitesimal, smallest thing compared 329 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:33.160 with the infinite power of God. When we forget that, we go astray 330 00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:37.559 so fast. We think we can control God, we think we can be 331 00:29:37.710 --> 00:29:41.230 God's for ourselves. We can do our own way, we can worship whom 332 00:29:41.269 --> 00:29:45.069 we want and where we want, we can do the things we want. 333 00:29:47.029 --> 00:29:49.430 We think that when we're strong and powerful, that those things will save us. 334 00:29:49.869 --> 00:29:56.099 Whether we've got money or fame or relationships or whatever, we think that 335 00:29:56.220 --> 00:30:00.180 these are the things that hold us secure. Nebuchadnezzar thought thats. He goes 336 00:30:00.259 --> 00:30:03.500 and he stands and he looks out on all his land. He's look at 337 00:30:03.539 --> 00:30:08.609 all that I've accomplished. Not that much longer he's eating grass and a field 338 00:30:11.130 --> 00:30:18.769 and not much longer after that, giving praise to God. We must remember, 339 00:30:18.970 --> 00:30:22.240 no matter how great we may become in this world or how small we 340 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:27.720 may feel in this world, that there's really only one ruler, there's really 341 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:36.950 only one king, and to him all honor and glory and allegiances do no 342 00:30:37.150 --> 00:30:44.230 matter what, no matter what, and this king is a very powerful king. 343 00:30:45.910 --> 00:30:48.670 A lot of times we minimize the power and the strength and the glory 344 00:30:48.750 --> 00:30:52.460 of God. We think of him and small ways, and the world, 345 00:30:52.500 --> 00:30:56.740 of course, is constantly tempting us to do this, distracting us, minimizing 346 00:30:56.819 --> 00:31:03.740 him, these kinds of things. But a passage like this is it sets 347 00:31:03.779 --> 00:31:07.809 in our minds and in our hearts hopefully forces us not to do that. 348 00:31:08.970 --> 00:31:15.289 It unlock something in us that goes Oh, I remember now. He's that 349 00:31:15.609 --> 00:31:21.359 kind of God. He deserves to be feared, he deserves to be honored, 350 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:27.920 he deserves to be obeyed. This is very important. God is sovereign, 351 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:33.430 not people, not swords, not even the bearers of the sword, 352 00:31:33.430 --> 00:31:45.470 God and God alone. Related to that point is this when the Lord Jesus 353 00:31:45.670 --> 00:31:52.220 comes, the sword and the fire of God do not go away. They 354 00:31:52.339 --> 00:31:57.259 don't go away. Jesus says in thirty five he comes not to bring peace 355 00:31:57.380 --> 00:32:06.170 to Earth, but a sword. In Luke forty nine, a parallel passage, 356 00:32:06.210 --> 00:32:08.809 he says I have come to bring fire on the Earth, and how 357 00:32:08.970 --> 00:32:15.839 I wish it were already kindled. And do you remember those pictures of the 358 00:32:15.920 --> 00:32:21.039 Lord Jesus the beginning of his Ekiel? Do you remember him riding upon his 359 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:27.119 chariot, flashes of lightning, surrounded by a Chaer of Beam and various angelic 360 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:35.750 beings, a great war chariot rumbling through through creation, the Lord on the 361 00:32:35.829 --> 00:32:37.750 War Clath, the Lord in his fury, the Lord Jesus. Do you 362 00:32:37.789 --> 00:32:43.710 remember the pictures of him and revelation, a sword from his mouth, a 363 00:32:43.869 --> 00:32:52.819 flaming fire when Jesus comes, he does not the the sword and image, 364 00:32:52.019 --> 00:32:57.819 the imagery of sword and fire are they act of judgment does not go away. 365 00:32:59.089 --> 00:33:02.089 Sometimes people want to say that God and the Old Testament is a god 366 00:33:02.170 --> 00:33:06.930 of War and judgment and that the God and the New Testament does not. 367 00:33:07.329 --> 00:33:14.119 They pick God against himself, but he is the same. Now there is, 368 00:33:14.200 --> 00:33:17.799 of course, another sense in which Jesus does bring peace. He says 369 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:22.720 it himself, the angels declare it right, when he's born, peace on 370 00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:25.920 earth. Right, Jesus sells us to come into him, and I will 371 00:33:25.960 --> 00:33:30.789 give you rest on the one of the gifts of the his spirit that he 372 00:33:30.869 --> 00:33:37.390 gives to us is peace. But the peace he brings, the peace he 373 00:33:37.549 --> 00:33:46.740 brings, is by fulfilling judgment, not by ignoring it or a ball or 374 00:33:46.940 --> 00:33:51.980 denying it and saying, oh, that was bad stuff back then. Now 375 00:33:52.140 --> 00:33:57.769 I'm a nice guy. No, Jesus comes and he does bring peace, 376 00:33:57.890 --> 00:34:07.650 but he brings it by fulfilling judgment. Jesus brings the judgment of God against 377 00:34:07.170 --> 00:34:14.599 the sins of the world. But he does that in two stages. The 378 00:34:14.760 --> 00:34:20.079 first we've already seen and the second we're waiting for. The first stage in 379 00:34:20.119 --> 00:34:23.989 which he does it. He brings the judgment of God against sin on himself. 380 00:34:27.309 --> 00:34:32.309 He goes to a cross, he is despised and shamed, he goes 381 00:34:32.389 --> 00:34:39.179 through all kinds of pain and he hangs there as a sacrifice. For what? 382 00:34:40.099 --> 00:34:45.699 For Sin. The judgment of God is poured out on him. Jesus 383 00:34:45.780 --> 00:34:52.329 doesn't ignore or abolish or ignore or skip over punishment in some way. He 384 00:34:52.610 --> 00:35:00.250 endures the punishment. He endures the judgment of God everything that we see here 385 00:35:00.889 --> 00:35:06.530 and more, because it in the punishment that he receives is not the one 386 00:35:06.730 --> 00:35:13.880 time punishment for just this time in this place, but for all time, 387 00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:17.440 a complete judgment, a final judgment. That's the first stage in which the 388 00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:24.030 Lord Jesus brings judgment into the world. He brings it, but he brings 389 00:35:24.070 --> 00:35:30.269 it on himself. He takes it on himself. The second phase of Jesus's 390 00:35:30.349 --> 00:35:36.699 judgment is for all those who do not receive him in his first stage, 391 00:35:37.699 --> 00:35:42.260 for those who have refused to look to the salvation of God that is offered 392 00:35:42.340 --> 00:35:46.699 through Jesus on the Cross. That judgment that he took on himself will be 393 00:35:46.860 --> 00:35:52.050 experienced by them, not through him or under his protection, but just all 394 00:35:52.130 --> 00:36:00.969 out in the open, just them all by themselves. Revelation Nineteen fifteen says, 395 00:36:01.010 --> 00:36:06.599 from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nation's 396 00:36:07.320 --> 00:36:09.360 and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the 397 00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:15.800 winepress of the fury, of the wrath of God the Almighty. That's Jesus. 398 00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:22.590 Revelation two thousand and fourteen says. Then death and hades were thrown into 399 00:36:22.630 --> 00:36:25.869 the lake of fire. This is the second death the lake of fire, 400 00:36:27.349 --> 00:36:30.670 and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he 401 00:36:30.469 --> 00:36:37.139 was thrown into the lake of fire. And so when we read this passage 402 00:36:37.139 --> 00:36:43.380 in Ezechiel and passages like it, we have to remember this. Our hope 403 00:36:43.619 --> 00:36:49.650 is not in the fact that God judged Jerusalem, Amin and Babylon and not 404 00:36:49.809 --> 00:36:54.489 us. Right our whope is not, wow, glad I wasn't living back 405 00:36:54.530 --> 00:37:00.210 then. That's not the thing that saves us, because a judgment is coming, 406 00:37:00.289 --> 00:37:06.159 a greater judgment is coming, a judgment that these things are pointing to. 407 00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.519 So our hope is not in the fact that we weren't there. Our 408 00:37:10.599 --> 00:37:14.800 hope is also not in the fact that the god of the New Testament is 409 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.789 love, where the God of the Old Testament is wrath because, as we've 410 00:37:19.789 --> 00:37:24.309 seen from the Scriptures, God is God in his wrath and his fury and 411 00:37:24.469 --> 00:37:31.539 also in his love and in His grace. Our hope is in God, 412 00:37:34.539 --> 00:37:39.860 the God of love and Justice in the Old Testament, who came in the 413 00:37:39.980 --> 00:37:46.289 new and fulfilled all of these things in himself on the cross for us. 414 00:37:47.690 --> 00:37:53.210 In Love, he took judgment on himself, he took our sins on himself 415 00:37:53.250 --> 00:37:59.360 so that we would not have to endure these kinds of things and worse. 416 00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:08.280 That's where our hope is. The point about the princes of the people and 417 00:38:08.480 --> 00:38:14.949 pointing us to a king, point us to Jesus. When Jesus came as 418 00:38:15.030 --> 00:38:19.469 our King, he came in righteousness, he came in holiness, he came 419 00:38:19.590 --> 00:38:23.309 in power, a power that the world decided to put on the cross, 420 00:38:23.909 --> 00:38:30.539 but a power that nevertheless resurrected from the dead and now rules and reigns at 421 00:38:30.539 --> 00:38:32.699 the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, and who will come to 422 00:38:32.860 --> 00:38:39.539 judge, come again to judge the living and the dead. So let's put 423 00:38:39.579 --> 00:38:45.090 our hope in him, the God who has the power to judge, the 424 00:38:45.250 --> 00:38:49.809 God who has the power to save and who, right now is offering us 425 00:38:49.849 --> 00:38:55.840 a salvation from our sins. I simply receiving that through faith in Christ. 426 00:38:55.880 --> 00:39:00.719 Let's pray. Lord God, we ask that you