Ezekiel 21

CHAPTER 21THEME: Babylon removes last Davidic king until Messiah comesIt is important to study the Book of Ezekiel because it is so often neglected and its message is very pertinent for this hour in which we are living today. Although the words of Ezekiel were spoken many years ago, it was the Word of God as he has almost monotonously repeated: “The word of the LORD came unto me, saying.” Since it is the Word of God, it has an application for us in this day and in this nation. The liberal argues that, like the Book of Revelation, the Book of Ezekiel cannot be understood and does not have a message for us. Ezekiel’s visions are tremendous, and I do not propose to have the final word on their interpretation. I just stand in awe and wonder. But in this section of the book we are down to the nitty-gritty where the rubber meets the road, and I am sincere when I say that Ezekiel is not difficult to understand and he is very practical for us. Chapter 21 is one of the most important chapters in the Book of Ezekiel as it makes it very clear that the king of Babylon is going to remove the last king of the Davidic line until Messiah comes.

Ezekiel 21:1

Ezekiel will repeat this three times in this chapter. There is only one alternative for you: either you agree that the Lord said this, or you take the position that Ezekiel is lying. I believe that the Lord said this to him and that Ezekiel is not giving his viewpoint. I do not think that Ezekiel’s feelings entered into his message very much. Jeremiah was overwhelmed by his feelings; they entered into every word he spoke. I do not think that is true of Ezekiel.

In the beginning of his ministry when God gave Ezekiel his commission, He told him that he was going to speak to a rebellious and hardheaded people. God also said at that time He would make Ezekiel’s head harder than theirs. I think maybe a little of that hardness got down to his heart, and so he could really lay it on the line to these people. You actually love the man for this, for, if his feelings had entered into it, this man would have been crushed by the message that he had to give.

Ezekiel 21:2

Judgment is impending and apparently now is inevitable. Up to this point, the mercy of God has been extended, but now judgment is coming and there is no alternative. “Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee.” This is the first time He has said this about His city of Jerusalem. “And will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.” This sounds strange, does it not? Who are the righteous? The ones who say they are righteous? In our day they are the ones who are church members but are not saved at all, the ones who go through the ritual, who are religious. A great many people have the band-aid of religion over the sore of sin. They need to pull that old band-aid off and get that sore lanced before it destroys them. It’s a cancerous sore, and you simply do not cure cancer by putting a band-aid over it. Neither do you cure sin by becoming religious. God said, “I’m cutting it off now; I’m moving in with the sword, and I intend to destroy the city.”

Ezekiel 21:4

He is going to draw out the sword from its sheathall the way from the south to the north.

Ezekiel 21:5

“It shall not return any more"the time for judgment has come.

Ezekiel 21:6

God asks Ezekiel to do something here, and I am not prepared to say whether Ezekiel’s feelings are in it or not. He didn’t do it naturallyGod told him to do itso I would say that he is acting the part. However, in doing so, he is revealing the heart of God. The people have complained about Ezekiel’s giving parables to them. In Eze_20:49 we read, “Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?” In effect, they were saying, “We don’t get his message.” They didn’t want to get it; they didn’t like to be told that things were wrong. We sometimes think that the parables of the Lord Jesus are obtuse and difficult to understand. They are not, if you want to understand them. The religious rulers in His day understood what He was sayingthat is the reason they hated Him. They understood He was speaking judgment against them.

Ezekiel 21:8

Just in case you didn’t get the message, Ezekiel repeats it again.

Ezekiel 21:9

God is going to judge the city. This is a frightful and fearful word which comes from the lips of God, the One who had yearned over Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus, too, wept over Jerusalem because He loved the city: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Mat_23:37-38). If you want to know how terrible that judgment was, read what happened when Titus the Roman came in A.D. 70 and leveled that cityjust as Nebuchadnezzar is about to do in Ezekiel’s time. God makes it clear what He is going to do, and the message is not a brand new one by any means. In the Book of Isaiah we find: “For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many” (Isa_66:16). And again we read, “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth” (Isa_24:17). Ezekiel is to sigh because of the judgment that is coming. The Lord Jesus said of the day that is still coming, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken” (Luk_21:26). Ezekiel is to sigh and weep because God has now drawn the sword of judgment.

Judgment lies ahead in our day, my friend. That is not a popular message, just as it was not in Ezekiel’s day.

Ezekiel 21:18

Believe me, he will not let us forget this!

Ezekiel 21:19

In other words, Nebuchadnezzar wanted to decide which way he was going to come to Jerusalem. Now, do you think he’s going to turn to the Lord? No, he is pagan. He is going to use divination and necromancy:

Ezekiel 21:21

These are methods which were used in that day and are actually used today also. “He made his arrows bright” would be better translated as, “he shook his arrows to and fro.” This was sort of like rolling dice or looking at tea leaves. He dropped his arrows down to see which direction they pointed to determine which direction he should take to Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar was entirely a pagan and heathen king. God, however, will overrule his actionsthat is important to remember.

Ezekiel 21:25

“Thou, profane wicked prince of Israel"he is speaking of Zedekiah. “Whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end"the time for judgment has come; this is the end time. Scripture has a great deal to say about the end of this age. The correct translation of Ezekiel’s phrase would be, “in the time of the iniquity of the end.” Daniel also used this expression, “… the time of the end …” (Dan_11:35). The disciples asked the Lord Jesus, “…Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Mat_24:3), and the Lord answered that question for them. Paul also spoke of it a great deal in 2 Thessalonians. This man, Zedekiah, then is a picture of that future wicked prince, the false messiah, the Antichrist, who is coming at the time of the end.

Ezekiel 21:26

Zedekiah is to be brought low, and there will not be another king to sit upon the throne of David “until Shiloh come,” until the Messiah comes.

Ezekiel 21:27

This is a remarkable prophecy. “Until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him,” that is, the Lord Jesus. From Zedekiah down to the Lord Jesus there has been no one in the line of David who ever sat on that throne. Ezekiel is saying that no one would ever be able to do so. The Lord Jesus is the only One who will. Right now He is sitting at God’s right hand, waiting until His enemies are made His footstool when He comes to this earth to rule. This remarkable prophecy began back in Gen_49:10, when Jacob was giving the prophecies concerning his twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel. He said there: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” “The sceptre” means the king. The Hebrew word for “until He come” is very similar to the word, Shiloh. It speaks of the Lord Jesusthis is the way He was introduced in Scripture. This is the reason that John the Baptist said, “…Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat_3:2). Why? Because it was “at hand” in the Person of the One who had come, the One of whom all the prophets had spoken.

Ezekiel 21:29

Ezekiel is speaking of the judgment of the Ammonites, but we also have again the expression, “when their iniquity shall have an end,” suggesting the end of this age. In 2Th_2:8 Paul writes: “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” The Lord Jesus Christ will put down this enemy in the last days.

Ezekiel 21:31

Ezekiel’s generation was going to go into captivitythat would be the end as far as they were concerned. It would be their children who would return back to the land of Israel.