EZEKIEL 21 A SWORD OF JUDGMENT2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezekiel 21 A Sword Of Judgment

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010. Ezekiel chapter 20, we didn't quite finish the chapter last week, so we're picking it up in verse 45, and then we'll be going through Ezekiel chapter 21 this evening.

Let's read together the end of chapter 20 and verse 45. It says,

And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all the faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it. All flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it. It shall not be quenched.

Then I said, Ah, Lord God, they say of me, does he not speak parables? Here as we finish up chapter 20, God is now dealing with the nation of Judah. He's addressing the nation of Judah. He's been going through and proclaiming that the nation of Judah is going to receive judgment as a result of their rebellion.

Ezekiel is from Judah, but right now he is a captive in Babylon with some other Jews. They were taken there by King Nebuchadnezzar. But back in Jerusalem, back in the land of Judah, the nation continues to rebel against God as well as rebelling against King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

And so Ezekiel is there and he's prophesying, he's sharing on behalf of God that Jerusalem and Judah are going to be conquered. And so as we close out chapter 20, looking at verses 45 through 49, this is a prophecy against the

the nation of Judah, which was the southern kingdom of Israel. At one time, Israel was one nation, but it had been split in two. The northern kingdom was called Israel, and they were taken captive by the Assyrian Empire many years before. But the nation of Judah was the southern part of the kingdom. It was still left, but it was about to be destroyed.

And so God describes this destruction as a fire. He tells Ezekiel to preach against the south or to preach against the land of Judah. And he relates to it as a forest fire. It's going to be set on fire. And the green trees and the dry trees are going to be set on fire.

are going to be consumed. The point here is that it's going to be an absolute destruction. It's not just the old dead trees that are going to be burned and some of the newer, fresher, live green trees will be preserved. No, the idea is that all the trees, all of Judah, everything is going to be destroyed and devastated.

Historically, we can look back and we can see this is exactly what happened. The nation of Babylon came against Jerusalem and leveled it. It took all the survivors captive or put them to death. The walls were knocked down. The city was burned. And so verses 45 through 49 were fulfilled exactly as God spoke through Ezekiel. This blazing flame went through and completely demolished Jerusalem.

And now as we head into chapter 21, we have some insight a little bit on how that took place and what method God used to bring that destruction upon the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. And so we pick it up in chapter 21, verse 1, it says, And the Lord said to him,

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, preach against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 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 both righteous and wicked from you.

Verse 2.

Here God is now directing his attention to the city of Jerusalem and he's speaking through Ezekiel. He says, I want you to prophesy against the holy places and prophesy against the land of Israel.

The land of Israel was given to God's people. As He brought them out of Egypt, He set aside this land for them. He said it's a land flowing of milk and honey and He gave it to the nations.

But the nation has been in constant rebellion against God ever since they went in. They had times of revival where they turned back and got right with God. But as a whole, overall, they were on a downward spiral of rebelling more and more against God. And they rebelled against God to the extent that now God is proclaiming, I am against you. There in verse 3. Now God has...

He is the God who led them out of Egypt. He was for them, not against them. He was for them. He led them out of Egypt with mighty works, all kinds of miracles. He provided for them in the wilderness. He was for them. He brought them into the land of Israel.

Went before them and drove out their enemies. He was for them. But now he's in a position where he says, I am against you. What does it take for God to be against you? Well, we see throughout the history of the nation of Judah that what it takes, what brings you to a place where God would say, I am against you, is persistent rebellion. Where you continue, where you continue

Do not repent. And as God speaks to you, as God warns you, you continue down the path of rebellion, disobeying God, disregarding God's Word. Paul tells us in Romans 8, verse 31, If God is for us, who can be against us?

And for you and I as believers, that's a very comforting verse. It brings powerful comfort to us, knowing that, hey, if God's on our side, who can be against us? Who can fight against God? Nobody. Nobody can fight against God. We have God on our side. He is for us. But there's a warning here that we need to pay attention to and to take heed to. And that is that if we turn against God, we are putting ourselves in a position where

But He will be able to say, I am against you. If we persist in disobedience, if we continue to disregard what God has said, we put ourselves in a position where God says, I am against you. God didn't change. What changed was we went from one side of God where we said, we want to follow you, Lord. We want to walk with you. We want to obey you. But then we turned and we said...

Never mind, I'm going to go this way. And so now we're on the other side of God. We moved, He didn't move, He didn't change. He would still be for the nation of Judah if they would repent. We saw that through the book of Jeremiah. Up to the very, very end of the destruction that Ezekiel is prophesying about here. Up to the very end, God is giving them opportunities and chances to repent and to get right with Him.

But they refused. And so God says, I am against you. We take comfort in the verse, you know, if God is for us, who can be against us? But if you inverse that, the place where the nation of Judah was, if God is against you, well, who can be for you? Who can help you if God is against you? And the answer, of course, is no one can.

And so it's very important that we keep ourselves in a position where God is for us. And we do that by obedience to Him. Not by good works. Obedience to Him begins with relationship with Him. Where He calls us to believe in Him in order to be saved. To trust in Him and to walk with Him.

To have a relationship with Him. That's the beginning of obedience. The rest of our obedience flows out of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And so it's important for us to be in a position where God is for us. Because if He is for us, no one can be against us. If we put ourselves in a position where God is against us, no one can help us. No one can save us. God is the only one.

Here we understand that God desires for His people to glorify Him or to bring Him glory by the way that they live. But if they will not glorify Him by the way that they live, that is, if they will not live in obedience to Him, then He will glorify Himself

And so he says here in verse 5, well in verse 4 he says, I'm going to cut off both the righteous and the wicked. My sword's going to go out. You see God unsheathing his sword. He's whipping out his sword. He's saying, I'm coming with judgment. I'm bringing judgment. But the point is, or the objective is in verse 5, that all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath. He is saying,

you have not glorified me by your life, and so now I will be glorified by your judgment, by how I deal with your rebellion and with your sin. And so this is a prophecy against the land of Israel. And God is declaring that He is bringing out His sword. He's bringing His judgment against the nation. Verse 6, He goes on to say, Sigh therefore, son of man,

Verse 2.

Here as we go on in verse 6 and 7, we have this sighing that Ezekiel is commanded to do. He's commanded to sigh with a breaking heart. And why is he commanded to sigh? Well, because what God is pronouncing through him is terrible news. It's horrible news.

What God is sharing through Ezekiel. This is not something that God is excited about. This is not something that God is happy about. The fact that He is against them. That's not something that God takes joy in or that brings pleasure to Him. God does not get joy from judgment. Maybe if you were God, you might get joy from judgment, right?

If I was God, I might get some joy from judgment. There might be some certain people that I'd like to kind of, you know, get a little bit and it'd make me smile. But God loves people. He really does, unconditionally, without exception. He loves everyone. And for a person to experience His judgment is not something that brings him pleasure or joy.

As God commands Ezekiel to sigh here with a breaking heart, with bitterness, He's calling Ezekiel to demonstrate, to model for the people the heart of God. He's calling Ezekiel to demonstrate for the people this is how God feels about these words and about what is going on. And so Ezekiel here is commanded to sigh with a breaking heart, a sigh of bitterness, a

What is it that causes you to sigh with a breaking heart? What is it that would cause you to sigh with such bitterness as God is calling Ezekiel to do? You know there's different kinds of sighs, right? There's like the happy sigh or like the, ah, that's good, right? And then what's the sigh of bitterness?

I'm not going to try to demonstrate that. But Ezekiel had to. He was commanded to demonstrate the sigh of bitterness. It was a brokenness, a turmoil. This was upsetting news, terrible news. The worst news they had ever received. And so Ezekiel's sighing here is to model God's heart. It's interesting as you look at the sorrow that is expressed by God's messengers throughout the scriptures.

Ezekiel here is sighing and broken. You remember Jeremiah, he was known as the weeping prophet because of the tragic news that they had to bring, that God was calling them to bring. As God was pronouncing the judgment, understand it was always an opportunity for the people to repent. But it was tragic news because the people would not repent.

You remember Jesus as He was coming into Jerusalem in those final days. He looks over Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and He weeps for Jerusalem. He weeps because He knows what's going to happen as Jerusalem, this is many years later, but Jerusalem is going to be destroyed again, this time by the Romans. And so He weeps over Jerusalem. He weeps over what's going to take place. We see a lot of weeping.

And sorrow in the hearts of those who are God's messengers. I think it's important for us to consider what causes you to sigh with a broken heart. What brings you sorrow? Do you sorrow in the way that Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Jesus sorrowed? Do you sorrow over the lives that are lost? Do you sorrow over the judgment that is coming? We don't like sorrow.

Especially me, I don't like crying movies, I hate to cry, it's a terrible feeling. And so we prefer not to sorrow. That person laughing the loudest, that was my wife, by the way. She knows. We don't like to sorrow, and we try to protect ourselves from sorrow. But there's a danger there that we become hardened and callous to those who are lost, those who are hurting, and those who are going to experience judgment, and those who are going to experience

Because they continue to rebel against God. Listen, I think it's really important for us to take this to heart. To pay attention here as God calls Ezekiel to sigh with a breaking heart. It's important for you and I as believers to have breaking hearts over the lost and over the results of sin. And we like to kind of gloss over and ignore because then we don't have to feel that pain. But it's an important part.

of walking with God because it accurately represents the heart of God. As Jesus wept for Jerusalem, He was accurately portraying how God felt for the city of Jerusalem. It was something that was important. Now, Jesus weeping over Jerusalem didn't change anything. He was still crucified there. The people still rejected Him and the city was later conquered by the Romans. It didn't change the events

They happened, but it was still important for him to weep over Jerusalem, to represent God's heart. Ezekiel sighing and breaking heart here in chapter 21 didn't change things. It didn't change the outcome. The city of Jerusalem at that time was still going to be conquered. The people around him were still disregarding God and living in rebellion. But it was important. God told him, sigh with a breaking heart.

Ezekiel, you need to have a sensitive heart. You need to be hurting for the lost because that's how I feel. Because God loves people. And He's not willing that any should perish. And so He sighs with a breaking heart. We also see the Apostle Paul and his agony, his broken heart over the nation of Israel that refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. And he wanted desperately to reach out to the nation, but God sent him to the Gentiles.

But at the same time, He was brokenhearted for His people.

For those who were lost, for those who rejected Jesus Christ, you and I, we try to avoid the breaking heart. We kind of hold ourselves back. It's like, you know, you touch a flame and it hurts and so then after that you kind of hold yourself back. You don't touch the flame any longer. In the same way, we get close and we care and then we see the effects of sin. We see what happens and so then we hold ourselves back because, well, we know that hurts.

And it brings weeping and it brings sorrow. And so we try to protect ourselves from that. But I want to encourage you to kind of remove those barriers. You know, those barriers keep us from reaching out and sharing the gospel with those who are hurting. Because we're afraid of getting hurt. Because we're afraid of sighing with a breaking heart. We need to remove those barriers. We need to remove those buffers. And come in direct contact with the loss. With those who are hurting.

And not be afraid of experiencing the sighing with a breaking heart. Because it's part of the heart of God. And it may not change them. We may come close and we may get hurt. We may draw near, we may reach out and we may get hurt. Because those that we reach out to continue to reject Jesus Christ. But that doesn't mean it wasn't worth it. We're to accurately represent God's heart.

Even if it doesn't do much for them, it's important for us to have a breaking heart. A breaking heart over judgment accurately represents God's heart. And so Ezekiel here is commanded to sigh with a breaking heart. Then we go on in verse 8.

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 is sharpened and also polished. Sharpened to make a dreadful slaughter. Polished to flash like lightning. Should we then make mirth? It despises the scepter of my son as it does all wood.

Verse 12. Verse 13.

And what if the sword despises even the scepter? The scepter shall be no more, says the Lord God. Here in verses 8 through 13, God now further describes this sword. The sword is sharpened and the sword is polished. Over and over He declares that. Emphasizing that the sword is ready for battle. It's ready to be put to use.

It's ready to be put into action. This sword that he's referring to, as God describes, he's brought his sword out of the sheath. This sword is a reference to the nation of Babylon. Babylon is God's sword. He's using the nation of Babylon to accomplish his purposes. He's using the nation to bring judgment upon his people. So he's saying Babylon is ready. The sword is sharpened. It's polished. It's ready.

And so again, he calls Ezekiel to cry and wail. Again, we see this. He wants Ezekiel to be brokenhearted and to demonstrate the heart of God, to let the people know this does not bring God joy. This is not exciting for God. Don't get so excited when people around you fall, when they're hurt, when they get what's coming to them. You and I as believers, we need to accurately represent God. His heart is broken.

As people experience judgment. And so there's an opportunity, there's a time for us to cry and wail. He says, because it's against my people, against the princes of Israel, that this sword is coming. And he says, well, what if the sword despises even the scepter? He says, the scepter will be no more. The scepter is a reference to the king, King Zedekiah at that time.

And what he's saying is that that king will be no more. That's going to be the result. In fact, as Zedekiah is conquered by Babylon, the Lion of David does not sit on the throne again until Jesus Christ.

And so it's an end of an era. It's an end of the line of David on the throne as king until the Messiah comes. And he'll make reference to that later as well. Verse 14.

He says,

Ah, it is made bright. It is grasped for slaughter. Verse 16, Swords at the ready. Thrust right. Set your blade. Thrust left. Wherever your edge is ordered. I also will beat my fist together and I will cause my fury to rest. I, the Lord, have spoken. Here in verses 14 through 17, God is continuing to describe this judgment that is coming as this sword has been brought out. He says, This time...

Verse 14, it's the third time. He says, let it do double damage. This is the third time that Babylon has come against the nation of Judah. This is the third time that Babylon has conquered Jerusalem. And he says, this time it's going to be for good. This time it's going to do double damage. This time Babylon is going to utterly wipe out the nation. There will not be inhabitants left in the land of Israel.

And so he says the sword is going to slay great men. It's going to enter their private chambers. There's not going to be people that are untouched. There's not going to be places that are untouched by the nation of Babylon. It's all going to be impacted. It's all going to be conquered. He says the sword is going to be against their gates. Their hearts are going to melt. There's going to be a great slaughter.

God says, I'm going to beat my fist together and cause my fury to rest. He's going to bring full judgment. He's not going to hold back. His fury is going to be brought to rest. They're going to experience the judgment that they deserve so that there's no fury left. That it's all been let out as the nation of Israel is dealt with for their rebellion against God. Verse 18.

Verse 2.

Verse 2.

to set up battering rams, 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. And it will be to them like a false divination in the eyes of those who have sworn oaths with them. But he will bring their iniquity to remembrance that they may be taken.

Here as we continue on, God again speaks to Ezekiel and he says, appoint for yourself two ways. And what we get here, what we have here is God is calling Ezekiel to kind of map out the roads to Jerusalem and the road to the nation of Ammon where Rabbah was their capital.

So Jerusalem was the capital of Judah. That's where all the people were. That was the last stronghold. And then there in Ammon, there was another city called Rabbah. And that was their capital. That was where their stronghold was. And you get the picture here, the visual, that King Nebuchadnezzar's at the fork in the road. And one goes to Jerusalem and the other goes to Ammon, to Rabbah of the Ammonites.

And so he's there, Nebuchadnezzar's there, Babylon's on the way, and they're trying to determine which one do we go attack, which one do we conquer, which one do we demolish. Now King Nebuchadnezzar is described here as doing some divination. They're pagan practices, they're things that were not of God, but they were trying to make a decision. And he took his magic eight ball and he said, should I go to Jerusalem?

The things that they practiced, they had arrows, they would cut open the liver, and they would use those types of things to try to make a determination on what their gods were telling them to do. King Nebuchadnezzar, he was not listening to God. He was following his own gods. He was seeking his own ways. And in that, God was still using

Those decisions, those processes, God was still using that to accomplish His purposes. And so He tells Ezekiel to map it out and put a sign here, this way to that way. And then what's going to happen is that He tells Ezekiel ahead of time, Jerusalem is going to be chosen. And His right hand is going to be the divination for Jerusalem.

Some describe it this way, that they would have two arrows. They would put them in a bag. On one they would write the one way and the other they would write the other way and then they'd reach in. So in his right hand is the arrow that says Jerusalem and so they knew we got to go to Jerusalem and our gods want us to go and conquer the city of Jerusalem. And so they're going to do a siege, camp around the city. They're going to build siege ramps. They're going to attack the city and bring a great slaughter.

Now they end up going to both, as we'll see later on in the chapter. But Babylon chooses to go to Jerusalem first. God is directing. And that's what's important, I think, about this portion. Nothing is outside of God's control. Nebuchadnezzar thinks he's consulting his gods. He thinks that there's some spiritual thing behind it. But God knows what's going to happen. He's in control. Oh, there you go. And...

And he could accomplish it however he wanted to do. He was on the throne. He was in control. You know, that's important to consider as we look at the circumstances of our community and of our nation and of our world. Sometimes it can be a little bit, well, freaky. It can be uncomfortable as we look around. But to remember that God's on the throne. And no matter what the nations are using, no matter what the kings are planning and plotting, God's in control.

And He knows what's going to happen and He's orchestrating it all. And He's using this nation. This nation doesn't know that God's using them. This nation doesn't say, Oh, okay, great. God, we're going to serve you and we're going to do your bidding. They're accomplishing their own purposes. They have their own ambitions. And God is just using this nation to accomplish His will and bringing judgment upon this nation that has rebelled against Him. Verse 24 says,

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because you've made your iniquity to be remembered and that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear, because you have come into remembrance, you shall be taken in hand.

Now to you, O profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end. Thus says the Lord God, Remove the turban and take off the crown. Nothing shall remain the same. Exalt the humble and humble the exalted. Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown. It shall be no longer until he comes whose right it is, and I will give it to him.

Here God is directing His words specifically to King Zedekiah, the king of Judah, who is there in Jerusalem. And King Zedekiah was a wicked king. He turned against God. He would not listen to God. We saw that all throughout Jeremiah. God had given him many opportunities, but he refused to pay attention to God. And so as he has rebelled against God, God says...

You've made your iniquity to be remembered and your transgressions are uncovered. This is a terrible place to be. To be in the place where your transgressions are uncovered. In Psalm chapter 32, David writes and he says, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

It's in a blessed place to be when your sins are covered. It's in a terrible place to be when your sins are uncovered, when your transgressions are uncovered. What does it mean for His transgression to be uncovered? Well, it means it's out in the open and it's ready to be dealt with. His sin is exposed. He's been measured by God's righteousness, by justice. He's been revealed as wicked.

is not measuring up because his transgressions are not covered. Are your transgressions covered? Are your sins covered? It's in a tragic place if, it's tragic rather, if you're in that place where your sins are not covered. Listen, sin is not covered when there's no repentance. 1 John 1.9 tells us that if we confess our sin, that Jesus is faithful forever.

to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, to forgive us our sin, to take care of that issue. Here's King Zedekiah. His sin is not covered. And so he is about to experience judgment. Those who do not have the sin issue taken care of will experience judgment. For you and I today, that sin issue is dealt with by Jesus Christ. It's accomplished at the cross today.

And there our sins were paid for. There our sins were taken care of. But it requires repentance. It requires that we come to Him to confess our sin, to agree with Him about sin, so that we can be forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness. And so King Zedekiah has this pronounced against him. His

Iniquity is remembered. His transgressions are uncovered. And so in verse 25 it says, Your day has come and your iniquity shall end. This is it. Your day has come. Your days are up. And now he's going to be demoted. There in verse 26 it says, Remove the turban, take off the crown. Nothing shall remain the same. Exalt the humble and humble the exalted. Zedekiah exalted himself and now he is going to be humbled. He exalted himself against God.

saying, God, I don't need to listen to you. I don't need to follow your word. I don't need to keep your commands. I don't need to listen to what you say. That's exalting yourself. And now he's going to be humbled as a result. His transgression is uncovered. It's not taken care of. It's going to be overthrown now. He is the last king in the Davidic line until the Messiah comes.

He says there in verse 27, I will make it overthrown. It shall be no longer, notice, until He comes whose right it is and I will give it to Him. Who has the right to the throne of David? Jesus Christ, the Messiah. He's in the royal line of David, a descendant of King David, a descendant of the kings of the house of David.

He is the one whose right it is to sit upon the throne. And as we've been talking about in the book of Revelation on Sunday mornings, He's coming again to establish His kingdom and to set up His throne. And it's at that time that it will be given to Him and it will be restored. But at this time, Zedekiah is it. This is it. Jerusalem is going to be conquered. It's going to be demolished as a result of their rebellion and their sin. Verse 28 says,

And you, son of man, prophesy and say, thus says the Lord God concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach and say, a sword, a sword is drawn, polished for slaughter, for consuming, for flashing.

Verse 30, Verse 30,

Now God directs his attention to the Ammonites, to the nation of Ammon, which was a neighbor of the nation of Judah. And so he says, Again, same thing.

Same symbolism being used. The Lord's drawn His sword. He's telling the Ammonites, don't think that you're going to escape because Nebuchadnezzar chose to go down that road and attack Jerusalem. Don't think that you're getting away with your rebellion. The Ammonites as well were in rebellion against God. They disregarded His Word. They would not pay attention to Him. They would not turn to Him.

All the while, in verse 29, it says there's false visions and they're dividing lies and saying, hey, you're not going to be conquered. You're going to be fine. Nebuchadnezzar is not going to be successful. Just like the false prophets in the land of Judah were saying. But God says, I'm not returning the sword to the sheath. I'm going to judge you in the place that you were created. I'm going to judge you in the place that you were created. Unlike the nation of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, where...

There were a lot of people who died in the battle, but there were also those who were taken captive and taken back to Babylon to be with Ezekiel who was already there. The Ammonites, on the other hand, God says, you're going to be destroyed right there on the spot, right where you were created. You're not going to be taken off to a different place. You are going to be utterly wiped out right there in your own land. He says, I'm going to pour out my indignation. I'm going to pour out the fire of my wrath.

You'll be fuel for the fire. He's prophesying, he's pronouncing a great judgment against the Ammonites, against the nation of Ammon. And so again we see judgment. That's what we see over and over again here in the book of Ezekiel. As we were in Jeremiah, we saw that as well. As we were in Isaiah, we saw that as well. Because these pronouncements of judgment are opportunities for repentance.

God pronounced it ahead of time so that the people would have a chance, an opportunity to hear what His plans were, to hear what was going to happen, so they would stop living that way, so that they would turn back to God. As we consider these things this evening, I want to encourage you. Repent. If you're continuing in your life, if you are involved in sin, you need to repent. Don't put yourself in a position where God is against you.

He doesn't move, but by rebelling against Him, you move to the wrong side. Listen, now is not the time for us to be playing around. As Ezekiel was prophesying these things, the days were drawing close for them to be fulfilled. I think it's about five years after this announcement that these events actually take place. Why did God give them five years? Because He was giving them time to repent. You know, for you and I today, we don't know how much time we have.

We don't know if we have five years. We don't know if we have five days. We don't even know if we have five minutes. Because Jesus Christ could return at any moment, at any time, to rapture the church, for the church to be caught up to meet with Him in the air. We need to make sure we're on the right side of Him, that we're walking in relationship with Him, in obedience to Him. Let's not persist in rebellion like this nation did.

We're seeing some events take place in the world right now that, well, they're good indications that Jesus is returning soon. You may have seen the headlines, you may have heard about Russia and their plans to help Iran with the nuclear power plant. It's scheduled, it's set to go online the 21st, this Saturday, which makes it very interesting right now because...

Well, the nation of Israel has held the policy that its enemies should not have nuclear power because nuclear power is another step in the direction of nuclear warheads. And in the case of Iraq, in the case of Syria, when they were working towards nuclear power, Israel went in, they did a preemptive strike and took out that nuclear power plant.

Now everybody's wondering. Iran is in a similar situation as Iraq was, as Syria was. Will Israel do the same thing? If they're going to do the same thing, we don't know if they will or not. But if they are, they have a very, very short time frame to do it. In fact, the next couple of days, they would have to

take out that power plant within the next couple of days if they're going to do it. Because once it's loaded, once it's set, well then the fallout, the radiation from an attack on it would be too great, it would be too destructive. And so their opportunity to take it out is before it's active, before it's beginning really to produce.

Now that's not the only way and it's not a guarantee that if they have a power plant they'll have nuclear weapons but it's a step in the direction. And so...

Israel's quiet. Nobody really knows for sure. We don't know what's going to happen, but we're living in uncertain times. There's a lot of what ifs. There's a lot of scenarios that you could play out in your head. If they attack Iran, what's Iran going to do back? What's the U.S. going to do? Is this going to start World War III? We have no idea. Is this going to be a fulfillment of Ezekiel 38 and 39?

The invasion that takes place. Another thing that's going on in Israel right now is they've just discovered, they discovered they had natural gas a while back. Now they're discovering, they're learning. They have probably about 1.5 billion barrels of oil. They're beginning to look even more attractive to the nations around them that hate them and want them off the face of the earth anyways. We're living in uncertain times. Listen, these things that the Bible tells us about,

These issues that are taking place in the Middle East are just right in line with what the Bible says. It's a further indication. It could happen today. Jesus Christ could come back right now. Now's not the time to play around with sin, to continue on in rebellion. The worship team's going to come up and lead us in some worship. And as they do, I would ask you to consider these things that we've learned from chapter 21 here in Ezekiel.

to not persist in rebellion, to use this as an opportunity that God is calling us to repentance. But the second thing I would ask you to do as we worship the Lord together is let's ask God to give us a heart that breaks, a heart that breaks over sin, over judgment, over rebellion, a heart that breaks for the lost. Let's ask God to help us have His heart toward the world around us,

That we wouldn't be so caught up in our day that we're just mad at the person who cut us off because it interfered with our day, but that we would have the heart of God where we would have genuine concern and love for even those who do us wrong, for even those who harm us, for even those who hurt us. That we would have a broken heart for those who are perishing. So let's worship the Lord together as we do. If you're in rebellion, listen, if you need to get right with God, now's the opportunity.

Take some time. Seek Him. Pray. If you need help, if you don't know how to get right with God, ask someone next to you. They'll be glad. They'd love to help you get right with God. Let's take this time also to ask God to change our hearts, to help us to be sensitive, to not be afraid of the sorrow, the hurt that comes. Because it's the way that God is. And He's called us to be like Him. Let's worship the Lord together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.