Bible Study: November 6, 2024

Okay, so tonight we're gonna be going through Ezekiel 21, but since it's been a while since we've had a Bible study, let me just refresh your mind on where we were in Ezekiel 20.

You'll remember in Ezekiel 20, God pretty much takes Israel and us as well, because these verses, these chapters are written to us that live in the end time as well, to task on a couple of things where his people, he says, just did not hallow his name.

One of them was in the keeping of the Sabbaths.

The first part of chapter 20, he talked about they didn't hallow his Sabbath, they didn't keep them holy. We talked about that, how important the Sabbath is to God, and what a gift it is that he has given to us, and that we need to continually be, as we look at it, never looking at it as a burden, but always looking at it and asking God to keep it in the manner that he wanted, he signed it for us, and to derive the benefits and the closeness to him that we should have as we go through that Sabbath each week. It's a weekly reminder of who we are, what he's doing, that he will return, and that one time all the world will be at rest when Jesus Christ is on earth. The other part of Ezekiel 20 was the idolatry that he took ancient Israel to task for. We talked about the idols that could be in our lives and the necessity to get the little gods that may be between us and the true God, God the Father and Jesus Christ, out of our lives that we learn more and more to trust and rely on him, less and less on self, and on the things of this world that we may have become reliant on during the time.

So as we went through Ezekiel 20, God talked about the punishment that he would bring upon Israel for those ways in which they defiled him. You'll remember he were profane and defiled his Sabbath and his name, but then at the end there was the hope, the restoration. He would restore Israel again and he would bring them back to the promised land.

We finished the last Bible study in verse 44 of Ezekiel 20, and you might remember that I said then verses 45 to 49 changed the subject, and so we were waiting until now, until this week, to do that because verses 45 to 49 of chapter 20 really are more in tune with chapter 21. In fact, the commentaries say that in some version of the Bible in the past, those four or five verses were part of chapter 21. Let's pick it up in verse 45, and it sets the tone you can see. We go from a sleeve of restoration as we end the basis of chapter 20 here into a time of warning again as we get into chapter 45. Again, as God is going to be talking to, we're going to see the people of Judah. We remember that Ezekiel, as he gives these prophecies to Ezekiel, he was in the second exile.

Judah hadn't yet completely fallen to Nebuchadnezzar, and what we're going to look at tonight is a prophecy that pretty much details what is going to happen with Judah as they completely fall to Nebuchadnezzar in the ensuing year. Verse 45 of Ezekiel 20 is where we are.

There it says, Furthermore, the word of the Lord came to me, me of course being Ezekiel, came to me saying, Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land the south, and say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the Lord.

So we'll pause there for a moment because, you know, God is saying, Go to this land to the south.

As you look at the Bible, where he's speaking from is from the context of Jerusalem, or the location of Jerusalem. The land of the south is Judah, basically. The Bible interprets itself, you know, we often say. As we get into chapter 21, we're going to see, you know, verse 2, it specifically says, Set your face toward Jerusalem, and to the land of Judah there.

But otherwise, other places in the Bible that refers to this land of the south as well. So why don't we take the time to just kind of look at that. So again, we can see how the Bible interprets itself, specifically, this phrase where it talks about say to the forest of the south, because God has a way of talking. You'll remember when the temple was built, and we always, we hear of the cedars of Lebanon. They were kind of like the royal, I guess the premier trees. They were just, they were used in the temple. And God often will even refer to the royalty of Jerusalem as the cedars of Lebanon. So if you keep your finger there in Ezekiel 21, let's turn back to 1 Kings 7, and see where again, it talks about the south and the forest of the south, and how that relates here to what Ezekiel is being told. 1 Kings 7, in verse 2, let me turn the light on here so I can see better. 1 Kings 7 and verse 2.

Yeah, I'll pick it up. Then verse 1, talking about King Solomon here says, But Solomon took 13 years to build his own house. You remember that it took him seven years to build the temple of God, but it took him 13 years to build his own house. So he finished all his house. He also built the house of the forest of Lebanon. Its length was 100 cubits. And it talks about the four rows of cedar pillars, cedar beams on the pillars. Here's this forest, the tree part of that whole building process. And there God talks about the, you know, this forest, he built the house of the forest.

The same thing is referred to in chapter 10, the first Kings. 1 Kings 10 and verse 17.

Again, talking about King Solomon and some of his building and things that he constructed.

In verse 17, it first keeps 10, it says, He, again, referring to Solomon, also made 300 shields of hammered gold, three minas of gold went into each shield. The King put them, these shields that he made into the house of the forest of Lebanon. It's a direct thing of what we're talking about in Ezekiel 20 here, when it talks about the forest of the South. So when God is talking about this, when he talks about here, as we're in Ezekiel 21, he is referring to Jerusalem. He's going to talk about the fall of Jerusalem we're going to see in a few minutes. So let's go back. Well, let me say, I got one more verse here. Yeah, Jeremiah 22. Let's look at Jeremiah 22 I have written down here.

Jeremiah 22 and verse six. Jeremiah 22 verse six, thus says the eternal to the house of the King of Judah. You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon, yet I will surely make you a wilderness, he says, cities which are not inhabited. I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, they will cut down your choice cedars and cast them into the fire. They're going to cast down the things that you have built these cedars of Lebanon, these these palaces that you built, these things that you identify with the house of the forest of the South. And so we see that referred to as God works with the kings of Judah there. And as we're here in Ezekiel, Ezekiel's, you know, over over in a land where he's been taken captive and away from Judah. But the people know what he's talking about, because these were common references to what was there in Jerusalem.

So going back to Ezekiel 20, we're going to establish it, we're going to see it established in 21. But this is these are the words that God gave Ezekiel to give to the people to the people of Judah. Preach against the South, say to the forest of the South, verse 47, hear the word of the Lord, thus says the Lord God, here's the fire that we just read about in Jeremiah 22. Behold, I will kindle a fire in you. It will devour every green tree and every dry tree. He's talking about, you know, referring to the people as trees and literal trees, I suppose as well. But the young and the old, it will devour everything this fire that gets set on that gets set in Jerusalem. I will kindle a fire you in you. It will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The blazing flame shall not be clenched and all faces from the South to the North shall be scorched by it. The punishment that God is going to exact on Judah for their failure to remain loyal to God, for their defile, defilement of the Sabbath, for the profanity of the idols that they have put in place of God. As he does that, everyone is going to feel the effects of it. The cedars of Lebanon, the royal cedars, the royal family is going to feel the effect of it, just as the common man and the poor man is going to be. When God sets the fire, it is to purge and it is to, so that they will reap the consequences of what their actions have been. Again, as we read so many times in Ezekiel, remember he says it, he does this not just because he wants man to suffer, but because they have to understand that they have to come to know his name. If he says it, we do it. And if he says these are the consequences, if you don't, his name is honored. He cannot allow, he cannot not have us suffer the consequences. And when we suffer and when people suffer, the humility comes in, is the plan and hope and the repentance along with it.

So he says all the faces from the South to the North will be scorched by it.

All flesh, all flesh, he says, verse 48, shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it. They'll know it's God's hand. It is him who has brought this upon them. All flesh shall see that I have kindled it. It shall not be quenched. And then Ezekiel says, ah, Lord God, they say of me, does he not speak parables? What are you trying to say? Why are you talking about it in this way?

And it's interesting that the word parable shows up there. We saw it again a few chapters before the word parable show up as God gives Ezekiel the words to speak. And we're reminded of Jesus Christ when he spoke in parables. And he said, well, they spoke in parables so that you will understand, not for them to understand right now. But then when you look in Matthew and you see the parables and the disciples would ask, well, what does that mean? He gave them. You think about the parable of the soil, the sower and the seed. And he explained exactly what those things were.

And so here as we end chapter 20, verse 49, they're speaking in parables. What does it mean?

And so in chapter 21, he explains what it means and what these symbolism of the words that God is saying here, what it means to the people of Judah. So in chapter 21, we go on when Ezekiel asks this, it says, the word of the eternal came to me saying, son, a man, set your face, toward Jerusalem. Well, here's the house of the forest, the state of the forest of the south, the south, set your face to Jerusalem, preach against the holy places, prophesy against the land of Israel. This is a prophecy for them. The people have disrespected God. They have disobeyed God. They haven't followed his way. And now, despite all the warnings, all the prophets that he sent to warn them, turn back to God, turn back to God, they've ignored it all. And so now the time has come for the consequences to be paid. Son, a man, set your face toward Jerusalem, preach against the holy places, prophesy against the land of Israel. Now, as we go through chapter 21 and into chapter 22, we're going to see five, I believe it's five, maybe it's four times that we see God say, set your face toward Jerusalem and prophesy to them. And he's going to talk about what is going to happen with them. The first one is about a sword. And as we go through those things, we see God talking about those things and I'll identify for them each time that we come across them. Here's the first one when he says, set your face, preach against the holy places, and say verse three to the land of Israel. Thus says the Lord, behold, I'm against you.

Words we never want to hear God say to us, right? Behold, I am against you. And I will draw my sword out of its sheath and cut off both righteous and wicked from you. So we have the land of Judah, we have God's people, we have Jerusalem, they are his physical people. And he goes, the land is going to be punished. The green tree, the dry tree, as we read in the last verses there in chapter 20, both the wicked and the righteous are going to be cut off. They're going to suffer the righteous in the land as well as the wicked that are there. And you know, God, when a nation sins, the nation is punished. And God is saying, this is what's going to happen. As we look toward the future, what is between now and the return of Jesus Christ, we have the prophecies where God lets us know what is going to happen to this land. There's the, you know, or the time where the four horsemen are riding right now, and their ride will intensify as time goes on.

Life will get tougher and tougher as time goes on. And then the great tribulation will come.

And we may well feel the effects of the great tribulation along with all the people in the land who have disregarded God, a nation that continues to turn away from God. And I'm talking about not just about America, but all of the English speaking nations and the Israel, modern day nations of Israel, will feel those effects as well. Will feel those effects as well as we're here, just as if a, you know, if a famine comes upon the land, we would suffer along with the people as the rest of it, because the nation, the nation has sinned. And that's what God is saying here. I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you. Verse four, because I will cut off both righteous, and he says it twice, because I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you. Therefore, my sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from South to North. Everyone's going to feel the effect of it. You know, we read back, oh, I want to say it was like around Isaiah 56, 57, somewhere in there, where God would say, and maybe even earlier than that, in the book of Isaiah, that, you know, when nations fall, it's not the elite who are going to be exempt from all the pain and suffering. Sometimes they want to set themselves up and think, well, the rest of the land will suffer, but not them. But God says, everyone is going to suffer. And that's what he's going to say. This is what he's saying here. When my sword goes out, out of its sheath, it's going to be against all flesh from South to North. That again, why? Verse five, that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn my sword out of its sheath, it shall not return anymore. They will know it's God. What happens to the ears because of what we have brought upon ourselves and because of what we do, not because God is an awful God and just wants to see people suffer, but because we need to learn lessons in the nation and the people that he has so richly blessed over the years that turned from him need to learn the lessons of what it is they've done, how they have disregarded God, offended God, sinned against God, turned against God, and have to come back to him. Remember when we talk about Israel and the modern day nations of Israel through the book of Isaiah, I think even in Ezekiel, God said, I created you. The modern day nations of Israel, remember, God created them. There were the miracle births, the children of promise that came from Abraham, Isaac, who it was past any childbearing age that Sarah had that baby. Then also the miracle from Isaac and the twins that they had, and then Joseph and Rebecca and the barrenness that she had. God created Israel. They are his people and he's very much aware of them, very much loves them. Even though they turned against him, he's still very loyal to them and will bring them back to the promised land when Jesus Christ returns. They will turn to him, but unfortunately, they have to suffer along in the process here. Again, that all flesh may know, when it happens, it'll be like they're God. God did this.

God did this to them. He's exacting this vengeance on them. Verse six, we see the word psi. Here we have this word psi. We've seen it before in Ezekiel. Here God is going to punish Israel and punish its people. He says to Ezekiel, psi therefore, psi therefore son of man, with a breaking heart and psi with bitterness before their eyes. Remember that often God would have Ezekiel go out, he would give a message, and then he would act it out. He's saying, well, when you talk about it, psi. No one is going to be celebrating when we see people suffering, when we see blessings taken away, when we see lands that become desolate and cities laid waste, and all the things the Bible says will happen as a result of the sins of the nation. No one's going to take glee at that. Psi. We go back, I think, to just kind of a hallmark of the many hallmark persons in the Bible. We turn back in the book of Ezekiel. We talked about it in Ezekiel 9, if you want to turn back there for a moment. He says in Ezekiel 9 and verse four, here he has a man going among them and making a mark on the forehead of those who follow God.

He says as you go through the city, spare them to have a mark, the people who are still with God.

Verse four, it says, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem. Here we have this prophecy about Jerusalem and Judah. Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. Go through there and the ones who are mourning for what has happened, who aren't taking delight in what's happening, who aren't saying, man, you deserve this, and it's good to see you get your comeuppance or whatever the term is.

Sigh and cry, be mournful that people have to go through these things and learn their lessons the hard way. And so as we look at Ezekiel 20 again, as he's now going to say, these are the things that are going to happen to your city because of what you've done. You brought this upon yourself.

Sigh, Ezekiel, let them know that no one wanted this to happen. They brought it upon themselves.

Sigh, verse six. And as we look to the future and as we know these things will come whenever it is that God wants. And I'll say something here that I'll probably, probably, well, I won't regret saying, but we live in this time, in this aftermath of what's happened in the last day in America with the selection. And I know, I know in the office yesterday, we were talking about, wow, whoever, whoever wins, what will tomorrow that is today be like? Will there be violence? Will there be rioting? Will there be whatever is going on? What is going to happen? And it has been strangely just quiet and peaceful. And, and that's very gratifying. That's very nice to see no one wanted any of that to happen. But you know, I do hear a lot about, as I listen to the news about peace coming, hear about safety returning to there. I'm reminded of 1 Thessalonians 5 where it says, when they say, when they say peace and safety, sudden destruction comes. Doesn't mean that tomorrow or whenever that means, whatever God is, but there is that verse in the Bible and we live in a time where it would be very easy for us to fall asleep, think things are okay. And when I, when I saw the news this morning and heard it, I thought, you know what we need to do? This is God is giving us time to get out and get the gospel preached, get the gospel preached in the way that He wants so that people are warned about, warned about the sin that still is in the nation and what His gospel, what He wants done and the way He wants it done. But just remember that verse as we go forward there, because sudden just means they never saw what was coming. It looked, everything looked fine. And then all of a sudden everything fell apart. And we know there are still forces in the world who, you know, very much would like to see the demise of America and, and, you know, there's still, there's still that those forces in the world that are that way. So anyway, as we look at this here in verse six, and we see sigh therefore, because Ezekiel, it's going to be bad what happens to Jerusalem when they fall. Sigh with a breaking heart, sigh with bitterness before their eyes. And it shall be, verse seven, when they say to you, why are you sighing that you answer?

Because of the news. When it comes, every heart will melt. All hands will be feeble. Every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass, says the Lord God. This is talking about the time ahead in Jerusalem at the time that they fall finally to Nebuchadnezzar. But as we look toward there, we have God saying the same thing about our time. It is going to come when it happens. It is going to be a terrible time. We go to Jeremiah 30 where you see, you know, God says, why is every man bent over like he's in labor and these pains?

Why do they all look pale? What is going on? It's because they didn't see it coming. But God says, as surely as he exists, as surely as you and I are on this Bible study tonight, it is coming. We don't know when, but ours to stay close to God, grow closer to God, and be ready and not allow ourselves to fall asleep. So that's what Ezekiel answers. Verse 8 again. So that's the first kind of like set your face against Jerusalem and warn them about what is going on here. We come down to verse 8 and we see a phrase we're going to see as I talked about these kind of swords and these things that are going to come upon Jerusalem happening. In verse 8, we see the second one.

Again, again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophesy and say, thus says the Lord, say, when God gives words to be spoken, say them exactly the way he says it, right? A sword, you know, this is war, war, military, a sword, a sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished. It means it is ready. It is ready to destroy. Someone has prepared the the artifacts of war, the weapons of war. They are ready. They're prepared to go in and conquer.

A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished, sharpened to make a dreadful slaughter, polished to flashlight lightning. You can kind of just picture what God is saying here. The, what is going to happen is absolutely prepared. Prepared because what you've done, this is what's going to come upon you. It is not by accident. It is something that has been absolutely planned that they are ready. Should we then make mirth? Should we be all happy knowing that this is coming?

Will we going to just take it lightly? Right. Remind you when Jesus Christ talks about all those things in Luke 21, then he talks about, you know, this is going to happen and this is going to happen. And there'll be a time unlike any time before in man's history. And he says, and he says, no, don't get caught up in the crowsing of the world. Don't be, don't be caught up in the revelry and the drunkenness of the times. Don't be making merry. Keep your eyes open. Watch therefore and pray always. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have a good time. Doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy life, but keep your eyes open. Should we make, should we then make mirth? Should we be happy? It despises, he says, this slaughter that's coming, this sword that's going to come upon them.

It despises the scepter of my son. It has no respect for the scepter of his land.

I don't know that we need to turn to Genesis 49 and verse 10, but, you know, God says of Judah, back in Genesis 49 when he's giving the prophecy to Jacob as Jacob is looking at his sons and he says, this is what's going to befall you in the latter days. And of Judah, he says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. Kings will come from him. And he makes promises that the kings that come from Judah will be there until the return of Jesus Christ. And we'll talk about that a little bit more here, but this is the scepter he's talking about in verse 10. Remember, this is a prophecy for Jerusalem. At this time, there is still a king in Jerusalem as Ezekiel is there. We've talked about those kings that were there at the end of Jerusalem where it falls to Babylon. We'll get, we'll get to them again and remind you of their names here in a minute. This sword despises, it has absolutely no respect for the scepter and the kings, the royal line of Judah. It despises the scepter of my son as it does all would. It despises Judah. It despises everything about them.

No respect for king, commoner, poor, man, young, old, wicked, or righteous. And he has, and he, God, verse 11, he has given it to be polished that it may be handled. The sword is sharpened and it is polished to be given into the hand of the slayer. God gives it to him. God prepared it.

God gives it to the slayer. Now we might say, what is the slayer? You know, we can look just ahead in the same chapter here in verse 19. And we'll see who that slayer is. We'll just go there for a second. He says, in son of man, in verse 19 of Ezekiel 21, appoint for yourself two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to go. So we know what, who it is here that he's talking about.

The hand, the sword is going to be put into the hand of Babylon. He will be the slayer to be given into the hand of the slayer. We'll come back to that in a minute, but let's go back to verse 12. Let me look at my notes here and make sure I'm not overlooking some verses I wanted to turn to. Yeah, okay. Verse 12. Again, he reminds him, you know, this is an awful time that's coming, Ezekiel, cry and wail, he says, cry and wail. Don't make light of this. Be sorry for what's going on.

Let them know this isn't what God wanted. This is what they brought upon themselves.

Cry and wail, son of man, for it will be against my people, against all the princes of Israel.

Terrorists, including the sword, will it be against my people? Therefore, strike your thigh, he says.

And if you look in the commentaries, it was a saying back then, if you struck your thigh, you were in deep anguish. Just a terrible time, a terrible time of mourning and terror of what is going on. So again, he tells Ezekiel, tell him what's going on, but you cry and will you wail for them of what's going on because you're feeling the emotion of what is happening to God's people that he doesn't want to do it. He has to do it for his name's sake and for their sake that they turn back to him, but it is a terrible time. Therefore, strike your thigh.

Verse 13, because it is a testing, kind of like a time of trial. It's a time that you have to go through. And what if the sword despises even the scepter? The scepter will be no more.

And what that, if you look at the, tear those words apart and everything like that, the commentary, even our UCG Bible commentary says, it is like the purpose of what is going on in the hands of the slayer will be that the scepter will be destroyed, that the scepter will be no more.

But that's not what God says there with a scepter, the scepter of Judah, the kings that come from Judah, that line will remain until the return of Jesus Christ. I talked about Genesis, Genesis 49, I think it was verse 10. But you know, he makes that promise to David as well.

So let's go back and just, you know, let's just look how that for the record so that it's in our minds that back in Psalm 89, Psalm 89, we have God, we know we have God making a promise to David.

And, and, you know, David was a man after God's own heart. He certainly made mistakes. But when, when he recognized those mistakes, he acknowledged them, he repented deeply to God. We have his prayer repentance in Psalm 51. And he turned to God with all his heart, mind and soul, soul and just yielded to him. And God saw his heart. And he said that that the line of David would continue until the return of Jesus Christ. Psalm 89. And verse three and four. Well, verse three. Yeah, verse three, Psalm 89. I've made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to my servant, David, your seed, I will establish forever and build up your throne to all generations. That's quite a promise from God.

When he said to David, you know, your, your seed is going to exist through all generations to the rest of the time of mankind, a physical mankind, there will be there in Luke one, Luke one, when Christ is born, it talks about him inheriting or taking that throne.

Luke one, let's see what chapter that is. Luke 152.

Yeah, yeah. Luke one 32. I see it now. Luke one 32. As Christ is born, it says in verse 32 of Luke one, he will be great. He will be called the son of the highest and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. Well, God didn't give Jesus Christ the throne of David when he was on earth the first time Jesus Christ died without receiving that throne at that time. He was resurrected. He's now up at the right hand of God and God will send him back to earth. He will take that throne of David when he returns and he will be called King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

If we believe the Bible, now we do believe the Bible. We know that the throne of David still exists today because God said it would. The scepter will not depart from Judah. There will be a descendant of David on that throne and when Jesus Christ returns, he will take that throne. We'll get to that a little bit here later in the chapter as well when God talks about that throne and he talks about how it moves from Jerusalem over to where it is today. We talked about that, if you remember, back in Ezekiel 17 when it was talking about the transfer from the lower house to the from the higher house to the lower house of things and how God moved the throne from Jerusalem over into Britain as we talked about Zedekiah, the kings of the daughter, the daughters of the king and Jeremiah moving them out when Jerusalem fell. We're going to see that again as God repeats it here in chapter 21, but I'm getting ahead of myself so let me get back here to where we are in chapter 21 because Nebuchadnezzar is going to come and he's going to think that he's going to wipe out the throne of Israel or the throne of Judah. He thinks he's going to destroy the people that are there. It's a trial and it may appear to him that he does wipe out that scepter but not with God because God made the promise and that that throne continues to exist. So if we go in back to here to Ezekiel 21 and continue this line of prophecy that God has, you know we were in verse 13, the slayer will want the scepter to exist or God asks basically will the scepter be no more?

Well no, the answer is the scepter continues. The line continues. Verse 14 then says, you therefore, I'm in Ezekiel 21, you therefore son of man, prophesy, strike your hands together the third time let the sword do the double damage. Now if you look in the Bible commentaries they will talk about a number of things but what does this mean the third time? What are the three times that that the sword will do things and what happens the third time when it does double damage?

You know there were three elements of the three sieges, I guess you will, of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem and on the third and on the third siege of Nebuchadnezzar, Judah fell. That's when he came in, destroyed the temple, took away everything from the temple, took it off to his land and everything else like that. It was done at that point.

Under these three kings is when Nebuchadnezzar struck. First against Jehoiakim, that was one, Daniel and his group would have been taken away captive during that first siege or conflict or whatever of Jerusalem. The second one was against Jekoniah, the next king that was there.

That would have been when Ezekiel was taken away captive to where he is and the third one was under Zedekiah and Zedekiah you'll recall violated an oath. I remember back a few chapters ago we talked about how God talked about this oath that Zedekiah did and over and over again God said, don't when you make an oath in my name you keep it. You don't violate it and he took Zedekiah to charge and Zedekiah lost his life. Remember he was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, all the sons of the king were put to death in his face and his eyes were put out. He died there at the hands of Zedekiah so it would appear that the line of David, the throne of Jerusalem, the scepter was cut out. But Jeremiah was there and the Bible does talk about the daughters of Zedekiah, the same bloodline that left with Jeremiah and moved off to another area we'll talk about here in a little bit. But we have these three things so when you look at the third time, let the sword do double damage, we see what happens. One, two, three and Jerusalem falls and the third time everything is taken away. The temple is destroyed, people are taken away, all the treasures of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar has in his stead. The same thing we can look at really maybe in another set as well. We have the fall of Judah, there's three times Judah falls and the temple does. The fall of Judah, we have that temple that falls at the time of Nebuchadnezzar.

In Christ time in 70 AD that second temple is destroyed. It's laid to rest, never to have been rebuilt to this day yet. The third temple would be in the time of the millennium. And then we have the time of Babylon where it's falling as well. So if we look at Revelation 18, we see these three falls that occur and interestingly in Revelation 18 when you get into the fall of Babylon in verse 6, it says, it says, render to her just as she rendered to you and repay her double, double according to her works. In the cup that she was she has mixed, mixed double for her. So is that perhaps God also saying there's these three major falls and then Jesus Christ returns? I don't know. We do know that this prophecy we're talking about was about the fall of Jerusalem probably has prophetic significance for the time ahead of us as well. Interesting though that in Revelation 18 we have that word double.

Repay her double for what she has done.

Okay, let's go back to 21 again then.

I'm going to read 14, 21, 14 again. Here we have the conquest if you will of Zedekiah and it's talking here about the time that he's going to be, you know, he's going to be, well actually that's the next section. Forget what I said. Let's just let's finish 14 through 17 then we'll get into specifically about King Zedekiah and his time.

So 14 again, youth, air force, son, and man, prophesy. Strike your hands together the third time.

Let the sword do double damage. The sword, this is the sword that's placed in Babylon's hands as we saw in verse 19. Let it do double damage. Complete the process of you will. It is the sword. It's the sword that slays the sword that slays the great men that enters their private chambers. What it's talking about there, there's no place to hide. You may hide yourself from whatever you think. You may try to hide yourself from God. He will find you. The punishment will come. The sword that enters their private chambers. I've set the point of the sword against all their gates. It's pointed toward you. God says the sword is against you. He's designed it for you. I have set the point of the sword against all their gates that the heart may melt and many may stumble. Ah, it is made bright. It is grasped for slaughter. So Ezekiel, cry and sigh. Cry and sigh. It's going to be a terrible time, but it's what they have brought upon themselves. And there will be that terror when the time for the just reward or just punishment for what men have worked against God comes to there. It is a time of trouble. It's a time of fear. Heart may melt. Many may stumble, but that sword is bright and it's grasped for slaughter. And God says in verse 16, swords at the ready, thrust right, set your blade, thrust left, wherever your edge is ordered.

You can kind of see as Ezekiel is telling, warning Judah, this is what's going to come.

This is what's going to come. God says this is what's going to happen. Verse 17, God says, I will also beat my fists together and I will cause my fury to rest. I have spoken.

He will exact it. The punishment will be there and it will be done. And what will happen to Judah and Israel as they all lose everything will be exactly what God has said. And they will be as the people of Judah were taken out of their land, carried away to a land of captivity.

The same thing that God prophesies for in time, Israel and Judah. So we have, we have set your face and say to them, one, you know, this is what's going to come.

Sigh and cry because of what's going to happen to you to the sword is going to come. The sword is going to come and your end, Jerusalem will come upon you. And verse 18, we have this third, this third sword or saying of God where he says, it says the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel again, saying son of man, appoint for yourself two ways for the sword of king of Babylon to go.

This sword, right? The sword that he has, that he's going to come in, he's going to conquer Judah with. He's got a choice of what to do here. And in a second, I'm going to put up a little, a little, a little, I guess, chart that I found online that kind of illustrates pretty well.

Versus 18 to 23 here of Ezekiel 18 to show you what God is talking about here. But let me read through it first and then it'll come even clearer when you see this. Well, you know, while I'm at it, let me just go ahead and put it up while, while I'm there, you should be able, you should be able to see, um, says the map with two rows. Is everyone ever able to see that? And this is kind of like, just kind of like the visual of what God is talking about here in the next five, six verses of Ezekiel 18. Son of man, appoint for yourself two ways, right? Two ways for the sword of gate, of the king of Babylon to go. Both of them shall go from the same land. So you see, you know, um, make a sign, put it at the head of the road to the city. So you see it's numbered one through nine here. I think it goes one through 10 if I go down further, but you see Ezekiel draws a map of two roads and that's the brown that's there. You have the king standing in the middle. He comes to a fork in the road. Well, what does he do? He says, make a sign, put it at the head of the road to the city. Appoint a road for the sword to go to Raba of the Abadise. There's a choice. Either he's going to go to Ammon or he's going to go into fortified Jerusalem. And you can see that that the road start from the same country, but as he comes there, he has one road that leads to war against Judah with number five there on that chart, or the other road goes toward the Ammonites. He has reasons to be against Ammon and God to bring the king of Babylon against Ammon as well, which is at the end of chapter 21. Um, therefore the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road. He's got this choice to make the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road at the fork of the two roads to use divination. He shakes the arrows. He consults the images. He looks at the liver. Those are all kinds of foreign things to us. But as you, as you look into the commentary, he's like, what is that talking about? What is Nebuchadnezzar doing? And it talks about, he talks about divination. He talks about looking at the livers and he talks about these things. And it says that as kings back then would conquer other nations, they would look at some of the things that they did. What were the sign of the gods, the divination, you know, we kind of know what divination is. What is, which way does God want me to go? Not the true God, but what would these nations, how do they use that? And kings of the world at that point would, would exact some of those things from lands that they conquered signs of the liver as they did these things. What does the liver say? You know, don't know exactly what they were looking for, but what it was, we see a way of the world. What did the gods do? When I conquer a land, what about their gods? And we see that, we see that even in the history of Israel, you know, Deuteronomy 12, God tells his people, when you go into other lands, don't look at the way that they honor their gods.

Don't look at the practices that they have. You're not going to honor me that way. Don't adopt their practices. And so when you read this and see what the king of Babylon does and see what the commentaries say, you can see why God said that. Because the way of the world was when we conquer another God or when we conquer another love, let's see what their God does. In second Kings, I think it's second King 17, it's not second Kings, it's first kept, first King 17. It talks about when Babylon does conquer Israel and a king comes in and Israel is carried captive. And then they have the wild beasts that are there. And the king says, wait a minute, we need to find out what does the God of the land want? So they can't, they get, bring some of the people back from Israel and saying, what does your God want? And so they kind of honor God in a way. They don't give up their gods, but they kind of mix. So we get this mixture of religion that we have in the world today. Let's adopt from them, add it to God. And you had this mixture of religion that we see beginning there in first King 17, it's a Babylon. It's of the man that we have standing here, you know, depicted here in this road from us. He's picked up these foreign things along the way. And he honors his God in a mixture of things. And so it's called mystery Babylon religion at the end of time in revelation, because it's a mixture of all these things. We'll do everything that God says, sort of like what the Catholic church today does. They go out and they'll conquer other lands and, hey, we'll just put our name on it. But, you know, we'll take Saturn, Aotearoa, we'll take these other things and we'll call them holy as well and just mix. And so we see that happening here is Babylon. He looks at the fork of the road, but he used divination to shake my arrows. I'm going to consult the images. I'm going to look at the liver. How do we make these things happen?

What is it that he is supposed to do is what he's looking for. Verse 22, in his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem. Should he go right or should he go left to set up a battering ram to call for a slaughter, to lift the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to heap up a siege mound and to build a wall. So here's the choice. If I go to Jerusalem, this is what I'm going to do. When you read verse 22, should remind us of Ezekiel 4. If we go back there, you know, you remember early on in the book, God would have Ezekiel act out these prophecies. Sometimes he would speak, but other times it's like, okay, they're not listening to words. So let's act out what it is. And maybe they'll pay attention if you act out some of these things. In Ezekiel 4 and verse one, you'll remember this. He says, you man, you also sono man, take a clay tablet, lay it before you and portray on it a city Jerusalem, the very city we're talking about, lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, keep up a mound against it, set camps against it also and place battering rams against it all around. Picturing the conquest of Jerusalem by Babylon. The very thing that we read here in Ezekiel 21 verse 22 is Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar is looking, where do I go? Am I going to go to Jerusalem and do all these things?

Which is exactly what Ezekiel had prophesied to them would happen. And that prophecy that he gave to Judah back then. That's one of his choices. That's one of the forks in the road that Nebuchadnezzar is going to make a choice to them. And verse 23, if we go back to Ezekiel 21, we see what the response of Jerusalem is. They know apparently what's going on. It will be, verse 23, it will be to them like a false divination in the eyes of those who have sworn oaths with them. Well, no, he's not going to come against us. We've sworn an oath with him.

He's here to protect us. And so no, that can't possibly, he's not going to come against us.

We think that we fooled him by making these promises to him. Again, if we think back to chapter 17, the oaths of Zedekiah made to Nebuchadnezzar. But then behind Nebuchadnezzar's back, he was working with other nations against there, and Babylon learned about it. And Babylon made them pay dearly for that treason. And God held Zedekiah in account too for making that oath in God's name that they would honor and that they would follow Babylon, but behind their back, they turned against them and were looking to follow them. But as in verse 23, we see Jerusalem is kind of asleep. Oh, oh no, they're not going to come against us. We've made an oath.

We've made an oath. They're our alliances. They like us. They're not going to do anything to us.

So again, they're thoroughly asleep. They're not watching what's going on.

It'll be like a false divination in the eyes of those who have sworn oaths with them.

But he, Babylon, will bring their iniquity to remembrance that they may be taken. He reminds them, you committed treason against me. You betrayed me. I have marked here in my Bible, Ezekiel 17 verse 18. We don't need to turn there, but let me just read what 1718 says here.

It's talking about Zedekiah, right? Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact gave his hand and still did all these things, he shall not escape. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, as I live surely my oath, which he despised and my covenant, which he broke, I will recompense on his own head. And in verse 20, God literally calls it treason. What is there?

So Babylon, Jerusalem said, Oh, no, no, not us. You're our ally. We like you. You like us, right? We're in agreement with you. But Babylon says, Oh, no, no, no. Let me remind you what you did. Your king committed treason against me. You were going behind my back. You were making alliances with other people. You were looking to overthrow me thinking that I was completely unaware of what you were doing. Verse 24 of Ezekiel 21. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because you have made your iniquity to be remembered in that your transgressions are uncovered. So then in all your doings, your sins appear here. God is showing that, you know, we may think we're getting away with something. We may think that, you know, we're doing something behind everyone's back and, and where, you know, no one is the wiser, kind of what Jerusalem thought here.

Nebuchadnezzar doesn't know what we've done. We've made these oaths with him. But here, God makes it clear. Here's your sins. They've been exposed. You haven't repented of the sins. You haven't turned from your wicked ways and turned to God with a heart that is dedicated to him.

You just keep going and thinking that you're fooling people. And God says here something we need to remember as well. He is going to reveal our sins to us. He will, he will let us know what we need to do. We need to repent before God. We need to be aware. We need to acknowledge when we are not right with him, when we have done wrong, when we are playing games behind his back or playing games with each other and don't have our hearts in exactly the way God wants us to be, because we are here to learn his way and overcome the ways of human nature and the ways that may be in our heart on how we play games or think we're getting away with things. Because Jerusalem thought they were getting away with something here. God says no. And he goes, your transgressions are uncovered so that in all your doings, your sins appear because you have come to remembrance and you shall be taken in hand. God will give us the opportunity to repent. God will give us the opportunity like he did David to turn to him. But if we continue in, if we continue in sin, if we continue to just not acknowledge what we do, if we continue in our ways, there will come a time because God is very interested in what you and I are doing. He has plans and purposes and in mind for us and his will is that we become blameless and useful in his eyes. And that includes very much repenting and turning to him and acknowledging our wrong and turning and burying that old way and adopting his way of life. Verse 24, because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand. Verse 25, you know, now to you, O profane, he's talking to Zedekiah here. Now to you, O profane, that's referring to Zedekiah, the last king, the one who was murdered, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end, thus says the Lord God. So we've got the day of reckoning, if you will, for Zedekiah. He's played the games, he's sworn oath, he hasn't followed what God says, hasn't honored his word at all. God says your day has come. An interesting way for him to put it, whose iniquity shall end, thus says the Lord God. And then he says in verse 26 and 27, something that really changes the course of history. Things change at this point. Remove the turban, remove the turban and take off the crown. Zedekiah, you were king, take it off. You will no longer be king. Zedekiah will fall.

Take off the crown, nothing shall remain the same. The king has been in Jerusalem all these years.

That's where the throne has been. It has been the bloodline of David. That throne has been there.

But now nothing shall remain the same. Things are about to change. Exalt the humble and humble the exalted. So Zedekiah would have been the exalted. He's the king. Before him it was Joachim. Before him it was Shekaniah. These kings of Israel who were the exalted ones, the royal princes, the cedars of Lebanon, the royal ruling family. But he is going to be humbled. He has sinned. He has disappointed God. He has led the people into sin and to the point where God is going to punish them and everything is going to change. Jerusalem is going to fall. The temple is going to fall.

The throne will no longer be in Jerusalem. Exalt the humble and humble the exalted. The men, the kings were there. But then you had the daughters of all the kings of Zedekiah were killed. Zedekiah was killed. But the daughters were not considered so highly. They were the humble. And yet that was going to be the ones that Jeremiah was going to take as they fled from Jerusalem. He took the daughters of Avalon. And I did not write down. Let me see if I can find real quickly here in my notes where that is. Where the daughters of Jerusalem are. Anyway I can get that for you rather than taking a lot of time here to do that. You don't remember that. We talked about that in Ezekiel 17.

So you probably have some scripture references back there.

And maybe I have it there as I look back in my Bible here.

Yeah in Ezekiel 17 verse 22 it talks about a tender one. A tender one. I don't have the scripture.

I don't have the scripture reference there from Jeremiah. Anyway talking about the daughters.

We talked about that in a prior Bible study. Exalt the humble and humble the exalted. And then in verse 27 it says overthrown overthrown I will make it overthrown. You know the old King James it says overturn overturn overturn. Three times overturned. Now God the context here God is talking about the throne. Oh I you know okay let me stop the share here for a moment. Talking about the throne. The throne of David. He's talking about the throne that is going to be. And he says overturn it overturn it overturn it. Nothing is going to be the same again. And so we have remembering the throne is going to exist until the return of Jesus Christ. That's the throne that he is going to take. God is going to give him that throne at the return of Jesus Christ. But the throne is going to be overturned overturned overturned. Three times. Now I think Dave Pramark and can correct me if I'm wrong. I think back in Ezekiel 17 we also put up somewhere a study paper or a paper that the church has United Church of God has on the throne the throne the throne of Judah. And it talks about the movement of the throne of Judah from Jerusalem over into from with Jeremiah over into the British Isles. And as you read through that paper that I won't take the time you'll see that with Jeremiah the throne it went over to Ireland. That was overthrowing it one or overturning it one time moving it from one place to another. Then from Ireland to Scotland. That's the second overturn. And then from Scotland to England where the throne is today. And God says overthrown or overturn overturn overturn overturn. I will make it overturn. It shall be no longer. And if you look at our Bible Bible commentary it shall be no longer overturned. Once it's there it stays there until the return of Jesus Christ. And so the throne is in England today as that paper will document. And it's a very interesting read if you haven't if you haven't read it. And if it's not up there we will find it and post it on on that home office website not the home office ucg.org but the home office. It's there Mr. Shaby. Is this there. Okay.

Yes sir. Yeah it's under the Bible study from September 11th for Ezekiel 17 the riddle in a world changing prophecy. It's the supplemental reading the phone of Britain its biblical origin and future. Very good very good. Okay so it's there if you want to read the detail of it rather than me going through it there. You can read through that if you have any questions on it we could always talk about that at another time. Now in context with this verse so overturn overturn Jerusalem to Ireland Ireland to Scotland Scotland to England where the throne is today and will remain until Jesus Christ returns.

If we look back at Jeremiah remember Jeremiah is the one who who is who is the prophet there at that time as they leave Jerusalem he will take the king's daughters and he will he will move them out of Jerusalem and they will be transported over over to to that area of the world but in Jeremiah 1 as God calls him he gives them and tells him this is what this is what you're what you are going to do as prophet and Jeremiah 1 let's just read verses seven to nine seven to ten because God just like when he called Isaiah he told Isaiah what he was going to do and he said you're going to prophesy Isaiah to Israel until the time of the return of Jesus Christ until the cities are laid waste your words are going to be there.

Jeremiah 1 verse 7 the words of Jeremiah the Lord said to Jeremiah don't say I'm a youth for you shall go to all whom I send you and whatever I command you shall speak don't be afraid of their faces for I am with you to deliver you says the eternal and the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and said to me behold I have put my words in your mouth see I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant you will be instrumental in moving building pulling down destroying throwing down overturning building and to plant where I tell you to go what I show you to do things as he says in Ezekiel same time frame that Jeremiah is alive as God is talking about these things and giving this prophecy to Ezekiel this is what's going on nothing will be the same again things change Jerusalem will fall it will no longer be there the temple will no longer be there but the throne will exist it will just be in another place from that time forward overturn I will make it overturn it shall no longer I'm in verse 27 be overturned until he that's Christ comes who's right it is and God says I will give it I will give it to him so again the second time we have this prophecy of God this is what's going to be this is what's going to happen it's going to it's going to move from one place to another but God always gives where it will be and the prophecies as he said have are established and they happen exactly the way that he said I think looking at the time let's end there the rest the rest of chapter 21 talks about Ammon and you remember from that that prior graphic that I put up there there were two two forks in the road Nebuchadnezzar chose to come to Jerusalem first he took the throne he took the road to the right first five or whatever the number five is there road leads to war against Jerusalem the king will cast lots consult idols examine an owl's liver as we read he will set up battering rams and Jerusalem will fall but when that happens they're still Ammon they're still Ammon has to has to be dealt with because they too have exacted or have deserved God's vengeance on them and the rest of chapter 21 talks about that so it says there in verse 28 you know the sword is drawn son of man prophesy again and say here's the fourth time of this throne this sword that's going to come across there and this time is for this time is for Ammon let's let's stop there because that's a whole other subject that will begin there next week and then move on into chapter um chapter 22 so let me end there but if there are questions comments or anything you want to talk about the floor is yours