Monday, January 26, 2015

God Draws His Sword (Ezek. 21:1-7)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2015 10:37 PM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  God Draws the Sword

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ezekiel 21:1-7

            Message of the verses:  “1 And the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2  "Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and speak against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel; 3  and say to the land of Israel, ’Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am against you; and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4 “Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword will go forth from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. 5 “Thus all flesh will know that I, the LORD, have drawn My sword out of its sheath. It will not return to its sheath again."’ 6 “As for you, son of man, groan with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan in their sight. 7 “And when they say to you, ’Why do you groan?’ you shall say, ’Because of the news that is coming; and every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes and it will happen,’ declares the Lord GOD."”

            As we look at this chapter we see that the word sword is used nineteen times in this chapter alone, and this speaks of the invasion of the Babylonians in Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is the city of our great God, and yet because of the sin that was committed by His people that city had to be destroyed.  This will not be the only time when devastation will come upon this city.  “Mt 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”  These are the words of our Lord and in 70 AD Jerusalem was destroyed again, this time by the Romans under Titus.  Next look at these verses:  “Re 11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”  This verse will take place near the end of the Tribulation Period, and when you look at what will happen to Jerusalem during that time you will see that there will not be much left, however when we get to chapters 40-48 we will see how great the city will be when the Lord returns as spoken of in Revelation chapter nineteen.  Now that is not the end of Jerusalem, although the city of Jerusalem that Christ rules from will be destroyed when the entire universe is “un-created” as seen in the third chapter of 2 Peter.  However the book of Revelation tells us that there will be a New Jerusalem that is built by the Lord and it is 15,000 miles in height, width, and length and this will be the place where those who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will live forever.

            Now we know that the Lord used the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem as we read in these verses from Ezekiel that it is “My Sword” indicating Him as the destroyer of the city. 

            We see another of Ezekiel’s action sermons in verses six and seven.  The Lord tells Ezekiel to weep and lament over the destruction of Jerusalem, and I am sure that this would have not been an act for Ezekiel, but real feelings for what was going on in Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was finally destroyed on August 14, 586 BC.  The false hope that was nurtured by the exiles was gone after that.

1/26/2015 10:54 PM

 

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