A very difficult prophesy.
Hearken back (a phrase I've never used before) to I Kings 8 and II Chronicles 6–7. David spent his entire reign setting the stage for Solomon to build the Temple for the express purpose of blessing his people with a place to experience the presence of the Lord. A privilege their forefathers lost. Solomon spends much of his life actually building it. Then it culminates in I Kings and II Chronicles. Solomon dedicates the Temple and the people did, in fact, get to experience the direct presence of the Lord.
That had to be spectacular. We are tremendously blessed to be indwelled with the Holy Spirit, for which I am unspeakably grateful. Yet, I can only imagine the Temple on the day of the dedication.
Solomon speaks a truly remarkable prayer. Here's a passage from near the end of the prayer:
“When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47 if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’; 48 if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and pray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name; 49 then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their [z]cause... I Kings 8:46–49 emphasis mine
I hearken us back to this beautiful and sacred moment in Israel's history to make this point. The Temple was an peak moment. It is was exquisite and perfect. We received a stunning a visible place to meet the Lord and even a place to return to, even just in our mind, if we found ourselves in sin—and even in captivity.
With that shining moment of God's glory and hope, we read this horrific command from the Lord to Ezekiel:
Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and speak against the sanctuaries and prophesy against the land of Israel... Ezekiel 21:2
God commands Ezekiel to curse His Holy Temple.
Take a moment to reflect on just what a horrific and permanent sentence the Lord is pronouncing on this final generation of Judah and Israel in this era.
He is not speaking just against the people, not just the land, but His own Holy Temple. The place He would meet them. The place they could face to pray. the place they could count on in their time of trouble, repentance, and captivity.
Hope destroyed. Door closed. Chapter finished.
He's basically saying, don't ever call Me again. I'm trashing this phone and changing My number.
We know there's always hope with God and there is much more to happen, along with a happy ending. But this chapter is the culmination of the Ezekiel watching the Lord leave the Temple and now pronouncing a curse on it.
It's one small verse, but don't lose just how significant it is.
I actually sat with these two verse all day yesterday and even while I was awake in the middle of the night. That Temple was always for us, for the people. David wanted it for his people to experience the Lord. Solomon dedicated it to the Lord for the people to use as a permanent light house. Priests engaged in the physical labor of sacrifices for the people to stay connected to God.
It was His Temple, but destroying it didn't cause loss for Him, anymore than Moses tossing the first set of tablets or the loss of the Ark of the covenant in the times of judges. These were all gift FOR US. They all pointed to our hopelessness without Him. These artifacts of God all served a logistical purpose in the short run; but were mileposts along the way to the Cross. At the cross another Temple would be destroyed, but rebuilt after three days.
At a townhall at work recently a co-worker stated that the altar always meant sacrifice, which always meant death. For the captives watching from Babylon, they saw the death of their civilization; but God left a bruised reed from which life will eventually flow.
Thank you Lord for Your Plans, Your Forgiveness, and our eventual good. We could not save ourselves.
Alright...back to the text, verse 3. As you can imagine, what He has to say after cursing His own Temple...is not good:
...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. Ezekiel 21:3
In verses 4–5 He promised to use the sword from the south to the north; and He is not putting it back in its sheath.
In verse 6 He commands Ezekiel to groan with broken heart and grief. this is breaking the Lord's heart. We hurt Him when we sin. From his groaning, Ezekiel signals to his community the bad news and they will understand and be afraid. The Lord goes on the describe the sword in detail. The Ryrie Study Bible footnote names Babylon as the sword. In this case, I think God is saying that He took care to prepare Babylon to achieve His specific objectives and nothing in His past relationship with Israel is going to save them. they often counted on past victories and miracles from the Lord as a promise that they could do whatever they wanted and still count on Him. He's letting them know that He's using Babylon in this conflict and they cannot counter Him. This will appease His wrath.
The Lord has Ezekiel draw two roads to show the routes from Babylon south. Nebuchadnezzar will use a divination technique at the crossroads to decide which way to go. Then Nebuchadnezzar will prove them wrong who thought Jerusalem was safe. the Nebuchadnezzar will punish the leadership.
And, there will be no king again until the Messiah comes:
A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it. This also will be no more until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.’ Ezekiel 21:27
And even though Nebuchadnezzar choice the path the Jerusalem this time, and not Ammon, it will be worse for Ammon in the long run because there is no promise of restoration or a Messiah. The Lord has the sword sheathed and he seems to say, He'll just pour out His wrath and never remember them again.
In that light, even the brutal destruction by the sword can be seen as a refining fire for His people, since he plans to redeem them, but forget than Ammon ever existed.
He keeps His promises. He delivers wrath. He disciplines those He loves. He is faithful and true and has a plan to get us all home. He is a mystery; but He is good.
Amen.