Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S23 || The Day God Drew His Sword || Ezekiel 20:45 - 21:17 || Session 23
Ever wonder how long God's patience lasts? Ezekiel chapters 20-21 reveals that pivotal moment when divine patience reached its limit with ancient Israel.
The imagery is striking—God drawing His sword against His own people after centuries of disobedience. "Behold, I am against you," He declares, words that stand in stark contrast to His earlier promises to be with them. This reversal marks one of the most significant turning points in biblical history.
We explore the vivid metaphors God uses to communicate His impending judgment: a consuming fire in the forests of Negev and a polished sword "flashing like lightning." These aren't just poetic figures but prophecies that found literal fulfillment. The once-lush landscape described in Joshua's time as "flowing with milk and honey" transformed into the arid desert we see today—physical evidence of divine judgment that has endured for millennia.
Most significantly, this judgment permanently altered Israel's national identity. The Babylonian captivity ended the line of Jewish kings, and even after their return from exile, they would never again enjoy true independence under their own monarch. The scepter departed, fulfilling ancient prophecies and setting the stage for the future Messiah—the only one who can legitimately claim David's throne.
This episode challenges popular notions of God's character. Yes, He is loving, merciful, and patient, but these passages reveal He will not tolerate persistent rebellion forever. When judgment finally comes, it arrives with the speed of lightning, comprehensive and inescapable.
What does this mean for us today? God's patience remains vast but not endless. His love doesn't negate His justice. This sobering reality calls us to examine our own lives and recognize that, sooner or later, all accounts must be settled with the divine King.
Thank you for listening!! Please give us a five-star rating to help your podcast provider's algorithm spread RTTB among their listeners.
You can find free study and leader resources at the following link - Resource Page - Reasoning Through the Bible
Please prayerfully consider supporting RTTB to help us to continue providing content and free resources. You can do that at this link - Support RTTB - Reasoning Through the Bible
May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
If you were with us last time, on Reasoning Through the Bible, we were teaching through Ezekiel, chapter 20, and God, through the prophet Ezekiel, has been giving a strong condemnation of the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people and the nation Because of their disobedience over many centuries. God has finally decided. Now is the time he will act Over these several chapters. He's quite graphic and quite blunt what he's going to do. At the end of last time, if you were with us, god made a series of directives to the Jewish people. He was speaking through the prophet Ezekiel to the remnant that was taken to Babylon. God said in chapter 20, I will be king over you said a series of I wills. I will bring you out of the lands that you've been scattered. I will bring you into the wilderness. I will enter into judgment with you face to face. I will make you pass under the rod. I will bring you into the bond of the covenant we talked about that. He said he would take part of them and make a covenant with them and the other part would be cast out. The one with the new covenant would go back into the land. He says that quite specifically.
Speaker 1:We talked about how the bringing back to the land did not fit during the intertestamental period, simply because he says in verse 40 that the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve me in the land and that never happened in between the Babylonian captivity and the time of Christ. In fact, it never really happened at all in all of Jewish history so far. When he says there twice for emphasis, all of them will serve me, this has to be a future time we also talked about. It can't be symbolic of the church simply because it mentions so many times that he is taking them back to the specific land, the land that I swore to give to your fathers. Says that in verse 42. We'll pick up today in verse 45. Steve, can you read there to the end of?
Speaker 2:chapter 20? Now the word of the Lord came to me saying Son of man, set your face toward Taman and speak out against the south and prophesy against the forest land of the Negev and say to the forest of the Negev hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I'm about to kindle a fire in you and it will consume every green tree in you as well as every dry tree. The blazing flame will not be quenched and the whole surface, from south to north, will be burned by it. All flesh will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it. It shall not be quenched. Then I said Ah, lord, god, they are saying of me. Is he not just speaking parables?
Speaker 1:Now this section. He speaks of the land of the south, the Negev, and he talks of it having a forest there that God is going to burn down. I would take it that the Lord there is both literal and figurative, that he is having a figurative or a spiritual burning of the people because of the disobedience. He's going to take away all of the lushness that is in the nation. Every green tree, it says. I also take it to be quite literal simply because Babylon was going to come in and destroy the whole region. What's really interesting is that there's again a forest there.
Speaker 1:If we remember all the way back to the time of Joshua and the time of Moses, moses sent in the 10 spies to the land. It was very lush, very green, very productive. It's described as a land flowing with milk and honey, so productive that what the 10 spies brought back one cluster of grapes that was so big it had to be put on a pole that's carried by two men. So this was a very lush, very green, very productive part of the land. Yet if you go there today, it's very dry, almost a desert.
Speaker 1:So what happened? Well, what happened was this judgment right here in Ezekiel, chapter 20. God sent in his judgment. He burned the entire land in a spiritual sense and a literal sense. We find it today to be very, very desolate. It's a very dry place. In the millennium, we'll find that there's going to be a river flowing out of Jerusalem and we'll return the land to a very lush, productive land. We're going to see that before we get out of Ezekiel, when we get to Ezekiel, chapter 47. Steve, that just seems to me to be a very amazing series of prophecies that have been literally fulfilled.
Speaker 2:It is, and it's also, I think, a depiction that it's not just Jerusalem that's going to be destroyed, it is going to be Judah proper. That southern nation of Judah includes Jerusalem. The capital is going to be completely done away with, and this is the final part of God's discipline on that nation. Judah will cease to exist as a nation itself. Now, when they do come back from exile in Babylon, the area there is referred to as Judah once again, or Judea, but it's never its independent nation of itself. This is depicting the last throes of the nation of Judah.
Speaker 1:That brings us to Ezekiel, chapter 21. This is a continuation. We still have another two or three chapters of God condemning the land, the people from Judah, specifically Jerusalem. He's over and over again giving why he's condemning them and what he's going to do to condemn them Again. Very graphic, very descriptive language here In chapter 21, he's going to talk about really four things God is going to draw his sword, he's going to sharpen and polish his sword and then he's going to use his sword against two people.
Speaker 1:He's going to use it against Jerusalem and he's going to use it against Ammon. With that, he's going to use it against Jerusalem and he's going to use it against Ammon. With that, we'll go ahead and pick up the first five verses of Ezekiel, chapter 21. It says this 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. 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. 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, steve. What lesson can we draw from those?
Speaker 2:verses. Well, I guess the basic one is that this is another depiction of God reaffirming that this is going to be the end of the people there living independently in the land. He's going to use Babylon as a nation of judgment against the Israelites. Another factor is that he does refer to the land of Israel, even though it's going to be going up against the nation of Judah Once again. We've talked about this before that there's some theories out there that the northern kingdom of Israel, once it was taken off by the Assyrians, those 10 tribes, really were assimilated and they ceased to exist altogether and all that was left were the two southern tribes of the Judah, and that the modern day Jews that we have today are all really from the two southern tribes. But we see, and God is done dealing with the northern tribes altogether, but we see here that God is using the term Israel. Even though he's talking about the southern tribe of Judah, he's still talking about the nation of Israel itself. They're still all under judgment, even though it's down to the southern nation of Judah.
Speaker 1:Again, god is fed up with the disobedience and the sin. He says here that he's going to draw his sword. It reminds me of back in Joshua, chapter 5,. Yahweh appears to Joshua in the form of a man with a drawn sword and Joshua goes up to him and says are you for us or for our enemies? He basically says I didn't come here to take sides, I came to take over because he has at times drawn his sword and used it. Here God says I'm drawing my sword and I'm going to use it, and we need to remember that God will at times use his sword. Steve, look at the end of verse 3. Who does God say he's going to remove?
Speaker 2:from the land. Well, he specifically says he's going to remove the righteous and the wicked from the land. But let's go to the first part of 3, even talk about it. He says the land of Israel. So, as I just depicted a while ago, this is talking about all of Israel and, glenn, I think it's interesting too there that he also says behold, I am against you. That's a complete opposite as to when they first went into the land, he told Joshua and all the others I will be with you. Here it is at the very end of the arc of them going in to take over the land of Israel. At the very beginning, he was with them. Now, in its final stages, he's saying I am against you.
Speaker 1:He does say he's against them. And what's interesting here is he says he's against both the righteous and the wicked. Well, we take that to be the self-righteous and the wicked simply because, if you were with us in earlier chapters, they went out trying to identify those that would actually follow and put their faith in the Lord and they found none. They've already been weighed and evaluated and found wanting. When he says here, the righteous and the wicked, this is the people who think they are righteous, the people who hold themselves to be righteous but really are not. Simply because remember the history of the Jewish nation.
Speaker 1:It had been many centuries where he had given them laws. He had given them the consequences of violating the laws. He had sent many prophets to give God's word to them on how they were falling short and they were all ignored or killed or otherwise found to be useless by the people. The people insisted on praying before statues, worshiping idols and chasing after other countries. In verse 3, god says he's going to draw his sword and use it in the land of Israel. I am against you simply because of all the centuries of disobedience, god is very serious about punishing the disobedience of the people in the land. Let's read the next few verses and we'll find out what God does next. Steve, can you start at verse 6 and go down to verse 13?
Speaker 2:As for you, son of man, groan with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan in their sight. 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, again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, prophesy and say Thus says the Lord say A sword, a sword sharpened and also polished.
Speaker 2:Sharpened to make a slaughter, polished to flash like lightning. Or shall we rejoice the rod of my son despising every tree? It is given to be polished, that it may be handled. The sword is sharpened and polished to give it into the hand of the slayer. Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people, it is against all the officials of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh, for there is a message to the prophet Ezekiel, and tells him to go out and give this message to the Jewish people.
Speaker 1:Verse 6, he tells him to go and groan with a broken heart. And when people ask him, why are you groaning? He is to say because of the bad news that's coming. And of course this bad news was literally fulfilled. The false prophets had said good news was coming, but the true God says no bad news is coming. Look at such descriptive language here. Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will be as weak as water. People think that we're very strong, very self-sufficient, but when God actually shows up, we become as weak as water. Repeatedly in the scriptures. People think they're okay, but when God or any heavenly being actually shows up, people become weak, fall down or hide their eyes. When the angel showed up to Daniel, it made him sick for days. That's what I find interesting here. The other thing I find look at verse 10. It says he has pulled out his sword and now he has sharpened it and polished it. What does it say, steve? For what reason is he sharpening and polishing his sword?
Speaker 2:He said he has sharpened it and polished it in order to give it into the hand of the slayer. So God has prepared this sword of judgment against Israel.
Speaker 1:He has sharpened and polished his sword for a slaughter. He will cause this slaughter by giving God's sword to the slayer. Of course, the slayer means Babylon. Babylon is going to be God's instrument to go and punish the people of Israel for their disobedience. The Lord is being extremely clear about his intentions. He's going to use a weapon to slaughter the disobedient people of Jerusalem. God will end the pagan idol worship once and for all. God is very clear, very blunt, very powerful. Steve, what can we conclude about the nature of God from this?
Speaker 2:As we've mentioned many times before, he will only put up with so much. He only has patience for so long, and I almost said that he only has mercy for so long. But really he is a merciful God. He does have mercy, he also has grace, but he's not going to be mocked. He's described Israel as being obstinate and stubborn people. He's described them as being harlots going after other gods. He has also said I've turned away from you, I'm turning my back on you.
Speaker 2:Now he is fulfilling this final judgment on them and if you remember, as we've also talked about going back to Deuteronomy, he said if you follow my ordinances and statutes, you'll have blessings and you'll be able to live long in the land, but if you don't follow my ordinances and statutes, then there'll be curses upon you and you won't live long in the land. Well, this is it. They're no longer going to be able to live in the land anymore, at least for this 70-year period. But it's never really the same. Even after they come back from the Babylonian exile not all of them come back and they're still under occupation, and they remain occupation even up until the time whenever Jesus comes, the Messiah. This is a watershed moment for the nation of Israel and for the land that God had promised to them. He said enough is enough, and he's going to follow through with the things that he said if they didn't follow him.
Speaker 1:This section says exactly that. You said a watershed moment. It's a great turning point in the history of the Jewish people. Right here is where God says things are going to change. Right now. I will do these things.
Speaker 1:If you look at the end of verse 10, the Hebrew there in our English translation is a little awkward, but what he's actually trying to say is that some of the other English translations make it a little more clear what God is saying. Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? Well, no. The sword, the sword of slaughter, despises every such wooden symbols of authority. That's what he's saying is that the sword of slaughter that he's going to give to Babylon to go in and destroy things are not going to be lost, intimidated by, they're not going to recognize any symbols of authority, such as a scepter of a king or a ruler. God is merely saying his punishment is not going to stop merely because of the symbol of kingly authority in Israel. Look at verse 13. It says it mentions a testing and a rod. A rod here is the scepter, a symbol of authority.
Speaker 1:After the Babylonian captivity, the time of the Jewish kings was over. That's why we say it's a watershed moment. It's a changing of the entire nation. You remember when Israel came out of Egypt, god set them up under judges and said just look to me and I will guide you. Well, they didn't have faith in that. They wanted kings. Most of the Jewish kings were bad. There was a few good ones with a long series of bad ones. So here, after all these centuries of bad kings, god says it's over.
Speaker 1:I'm giving my sword. It's drawn, it's polished, it's sharpened. I'm giving it to Babylon. They're going to come in. They're not going to recognize any authority of any kingly scepters. The line of the kings are going to stop here. After they came back from the Babylonian captivity, the kings were not there, they were gone. If we look at the genealogies at the beginning of the Gospels, the only one that could stand up today and claim to be of the kingly line is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the message here. Such a great lesson that's buried back here in these wonderful sections of Ezekiel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when we get to the New Testament, the first century of the birth of Christ, we have Herod, but he's not of the line of David, he's not from the kingly line of David, he's actually an Edomian and he's serving at the behest of the Roman government. So you're exactly right, glenn, that the lineage of the line of David Jesus fulfills that lineage of the line of David Jesus fulfills that, and we're going to see him rule over the house of David in the millennial kingdom whenever he returns again and sets up that earthly kingdom.
Speaker 1:The Jewish people had been in sin for so long and God was so long-suffering and so patient, but he finally says it will stop. Right here I'm drawing my sword and I'm not going to recognize any of the leaders, and we're going to stop this sin right now. And he did so. I think the lesson for us is not only the big picture with Israel, but we need to take God's character into mind. In our day, I may think I can get by with my sin and I may fool you and I may fool the people around me, but I'm not going to fool God. He knows what my sin is, my friend, he knows yours and sooner or later, if we continue in it, if we don't repent, he will pull out his sword and he'll stop it. This is a great lesson for us. Is that, yes, god is loving, yes, he is patient, yes, he is long-suffering, but he will eventually deal with sin. And we need to come clean right now, both you and I. Let's continue reading in chapter 21, starting in verse 14. We're going to see what happens.
Speaker 1:The glittering sword Ah, it is made for striking like lightning. It is wrapped up in readiness for slaughter. Show yourself sharp, go to the right, set yourself, go to the left, wherever your edge is appointed. I will also clap my hands together and I will appease my wrath. I, the Lord, have spoken, steve. He sounds very resolute, does he not? He?
Speaker 2:is resolute, glenn. To us we're reading these chapters and verses, one right after the other, but this is taking place around 591 to the 588 time period. The fall of Jerusalem wasn't until 586. These things that Ezekiel is still saying to the people, that God is having him say to them and even act out in front of him. A while ago, he said moan in front of them, in their sight, so that they can see you. When they ask you, you tell them directly.
Speaker 2:This is God depicting something that's still yet to happen in the future of Ezekiel's time, and everything that we've been reading in this session does take place there, in the 586 BC time.
Speaker 2:But he is resolute and it's telling these people that are in exile, they're having to come to grips that their nation is gone and, yes, they might be able to go back, but it's not going to be the same when you really think about it. They're not going to be independent anymore, they're not going to have their own kings anymore, and it's just going to be different. God is really telling them how it's going to be and giving them knowledge as to what it's going to be different. God is really telling them how it's going to be and giving them knowledge as to what it's going to be, and he had to say it multiple times and in multiple ways through Ezekiel, to get it through to the people that he is resolute, that this is it and this is how it's going to be. But remember, throughout all of those sessions that we've talked about and verses that we've read scattered through there, he has given them hope that there's going to be a restoration of the nation itself, albeit that it's going to be sometime in the future.
Speaker 1:In verse 14, he says let the sword be doubled. What he means there is let it strike twice as many times. He's saying this sword is going to get used, but let's double the amount of times that it gets used. God is piling on the punishment, emphasizing the death and destruction that will happen Again. God had told these people, his people, all the way back in Deuteronomy, when he first gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. He told him what would happen if they disobeyed. Yet here they are, a thousand years or more later. God had been long-suffering and patient, but now he is promising to act Again. Been many centuries, but look at verse 15. It tells us there how quickly he will act, steve, when God's sword of punishment finally strikes, how fast will it?
Speaker 2:act? It's going to act like lightning and of course lightning strikes very quickly, very bright for a little bit and very thunderous. You hear that loud clap and rumble that happens after it.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a very quick, decisive strike and it says in the next verse, verse 16, that it's going to strike everywhere, to the right and to the left, wherever it is appointed to go. This is a very sobering lesson and very severe lesson, Steve. I think we need to take it to heart for today.
Speaker 2:We do need to take it to heart today. What we need to take out of it, I think, glenn, for our time, is that God is patient, but there is going to come a time whenever His patience runs out for people and you don't want to be in a situation, like he said earlier in our session here, that he's against them. That kind of goes against the grain of some of the teaching that is in our day and age that God is an all-loving God and that he is for everybody and he is merciful and he is forgiving. He is merciful and forgiving, but if you're disobedient from him and doing sinful things, then he can also be against you. And I don't know about you, Glenn, but I don't want to be on the other side of God and have him against me.
Speaker 1:I do not either, so we probably should stop here for today because of time, but come back next time. We're going to see one of the most powerful men in the world resort to using occultic divination to make major decisions with people's lives, so we'll see that next time.
Speaker 2:On Reasoning Through the Bible Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.
