The Sword is Coming
Ezekiel 21:4 – Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone from the south to the north. 5 – Then everyone will know that I am the LORD, who drew my sword from its sheath – it will not be sheathed again!
verse 6 – “And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart and bitterness; groan before their eyes. 7 – When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone will faint and every knee will be wet with urine.’ Pay attention – it is coming and it will happen, declares the sovereign LORD.”
Ezekiel was instructed to demonstrate appropriate grieving emotions to warn Jerusalem of an impending future. He was told to grieve in public where everyone could see him and ask ‘why?’
Jesus did something similar to Ezekiel. At the death of His friend Lazarus there was a lot of grieving going on. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed. He asked, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They replied, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. Thus the people who had come to mourn said, ‘Look how much he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘This is the man who caused the blind man to see! Couldn’t he have done something to keep Lazarus from dying?’” – John 11:33-37.
Couldn’t He have done something to keep His friend from dying? There was something about Jesus grieving that was different from the grief being displayed by the others. Everyone was grieving for a man who died. Jesus was grieving for a lost nation. Jesus would wake up Lazarus, but there would be some who would wake up to ‘shame and everlasting abhorrence.’ – Daniel 12:2.
Who can picture God’s grief over the loss of His creation? What about we, who are called by God to deliver His final end-time messages, are we demonstrating appropriate emotions for the time? Do our hearts ache for the lost like Jesus? How often have we heard the reports? How often have we repeated them? Have the warnings become so commonplace that we’ve become callous to the emotions attached to them? A time of trouble is coming and only those whose names that are found written in the book will escape – Daniel 12:1. There is still time to sound the warning. There is still time to live in such a way so people ask ‘why?’ A sword is coming! Are you ready?
From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.” – Revelation 19:15-16.
Where two are gathered 