The Sword of the Lord

Series on Ezekiel

I. The Fall of Jerusalem

L. Fateful Lightning of His Terrible Swift Sword, Text: 21:8-32

Title: The Sword of the Lord

Introduction

Oracles or prophecies may be organized around a particular theme rather than given chronologically. There are judgments pronounced here against Israel and Ammon. it is God’s sword no matter who wields it. But although the judgments on foreign nations are found in chapters 25-32, there is one here against Ammon. The reason is that the theme around which this prophecy is organized is the sword. God’s sword will punish all his enemies, domestic and foreign, Israel or other nations. “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” from which our title is taken was written by Julia Ward Howe at the time of what we call the Civil War. The Northern states made war with the southern because they seceded from the Union. 625,000 men died on both sides in the Civil war. The number of casualties far exceeds those of the first and second World Wars and every other war we have ever been in. World War II was the closest with 405,400. World War I is next with 116,500 and Vietnam and Korea together cost 96,600 lives. The present losses in Iraq and Afghanistan total about 5,500. You can see that the bloodiest and most costly by far was the Civil War. So when Julia Howe wrote, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord , He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,” but however awful that was it cannot compare to the sword of the Lord in the prophecies of this chapter.

I The Sword of the Lord

The entire first part of this Scripture, verses 1-17 is reminding us that the Lord will draw his sword from the scabbard (verse 3) and cut off both the righteous and the wicked. The prophet is told to groan because of the awfulness of the judgment. Then in verses 8-17 we have a song of the Lord’s sword; it is a bloody spectacle and the song or poem is designed to inspire terror. Hear just verses 14-17 to get the flavor, So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike twice, even three times. It is a sword for slaughter-a sword for great slaughter, closing in on them from every side. So that hearts may melt and the fallen be many, I have stationed the sword for slaughter at all their gates. Oh! It is made to flash like lightning, it is grasped for slaughter. O sword, slash to the right, then to the left, wherever your blade is turned. I too will strike my hands together, and my wrath will subside. Ezekiel starts it, but God finishes it. The song almost sounds like a sword dance, and we wonder if Ezekiel wielded a sword with this prophecy and demonstrated the slashing. Some people rush to judgment to find somebody to blame in every disaster, but, on the other hand, most people are reluctant to even consider why God might be behind it and why it may have been sent. In this case we know after the fact, but the people were reluctant to believe that God would punish them in this way. In fact according to verses 10 and 13 in some translations, we read, Shall we rejoice in the scepter of my son Judah? The sword despises every such stick… Testing will surely come. And what if the scepter of Judah, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the Sovereign LORD. They were still trusting in the strength of Judah.

II The Secret of the Lord

Often in Scripture we read about historical events and persons without seeing what is going on behind the scenes. We should realize, as Paul says in Ephesians 6, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against, principalities and powers, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Behind the scenes of earthly kings both Satan and God are working. In this case God is working, and the secret is that the sword in the hand of the Babylonian monarch is really God’s sword. In verses 18-27 we are told a story of the king of Babylon. The road out of Babylon forks and one way goes to Ammon and the other to Jerusalem. Verses 21 and 22 reveal the real reason for his choosing Jerusalem, For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He will cast lots with arrows, he will consult his idols, he will examine the liver. Into his right hand will come the lot for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to give the command to slaughter, to sound the battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp and to erect siege works. Proverbs 16:33 says The lot is cast into the lap but its every decision is from the Lord. In other words, God is the one who sends the sword to Jerusalem first because even pagan divinations are controlled by Him. Listen to what God says about it in verses 25-27, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose time of punishment has reached its climax, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Take off the turban, remove the crown. It will not be as it was: The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low. A ruin! A ruin! I will make it a ruin! It will not be restored until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs; to him I will give it. Although the Jews believed that the alliance with Babylon would save them, Zedekiah had already betrayed that trust. There was no hope, and God describes the destruction in the most awful way, “ruin, ruin, ruin.” Recall how in Isaiah 6 the cherubim around the throne sing, “holy, holy, holy?” In Hebrew this threefold repetition is a way of expressing the utmost, totality, perfection. God is infinitely holy. Thus Jerusalem will be perfectly destroyed. Yet the final word is promise and grace for we read, It will not be restored until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs; to him I will give it. That is the kingdom will not be revived until Messiah, the true and rightful heir of the house of David, Jesus, comes. In Him it will again prosper, and you will remember that Jesus taught His disciples, The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low.

III The Salvation of the Lord

In the final section, verses 28-32, the judgment of the Ammonites finally comes. This too is a promise of salvation and an encouragement. Not only will God judge His people, but He will destroy their enemies. The survival of Israel for generations had depended on the destruction of their enemies. Deuteronomy 30:4-8 anticipates all of this history, Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you. There is a restoration, but it is not fully and finally fulfilled until the coming of Messiah. Ammon the arch-enemy is mentioned in Judges, the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, Nehemiah, and by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zephaniah. Their destruction was good news mixed in with a host of bad news. There is light at the end of the tunnel. It will not be restored until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs; to him I will give it. You live in the time when the kingdom has been restored and the scion of David sits upon an eternal throne. Whatever our trials here below, He will reign, and no matter how dark the hour, there will be light again.