King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Wednesday, September 02, 2026
Chapters: Ezekiel 21-22
Lesson: Ezekiel: Sword of The LORD
Hello My Friend,
There are two truths that I will forever keep in my heart, for they remind me that while every soul, saved or lost, will give an account to Jesus for the life lived in the body, the judgments that fall upon the redeemed end the moment they see Him face to face. First, no one who sincerely receives Christ as their Saviour can ever turn from their faith, for they are His, and He keeps His own. And second, once we depart from this earth, God Himself removes all pain and sorrow, and the former things pass away, [John 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.]
The children of Israel prided themselves in being the people whom God had called His own, and even now many hold to the belief that they will be saved simply because they are Jews. Yet in this moment of judgment, God was no longer coming to their aid. He knew the true condition of their hearts and had no intention of turning away from their abominations. This is why the greater part of them were sent into Babylonian captivity. As we continue in the reading of Ezekiel, God, instructs Ezekiel to turn his face toward Jerusalem, and tell them their fate.
[Ezekiel 21:2-6 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, 3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. 4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: 5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more. 6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.]
Why did God want Ezekiel to sigh for Jerusalem? Because He wanted them to see just how serious this was. The very City of God was about to become a war zone. The righteous by the way, would be carried away to safety while the wicked will judged. God, goes on to say that a sword shall be upon them.
[Ezekiel 21:9-13 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: 10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree. 11 And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh. 13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.]
This was a grievous judgment indeed, for the rod or scepter, the emblem of Judah’s king and his royal house, signified the continuance of David’s lineage. Yet God has removed the scepter and it shall not rest again in the hand of one from David’s lineage, until the Messiah Himself appears.
[Ezekiel 21:24-27 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. 25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, 26 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.]
I keep reminding myself that all these visions Ezekiel received were unfolding before Nebuchadnezzar ever seized Jerusalem. Ezekiel, stood as the middle man or intercessor between God and the Jews in Babylon, declaring to them what was about to take place back home. God, still has intercessors today declaring what is about to take place on the earth when our Messiah returns, [Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.]
The prince of the wicked, Satan himself, has taken hold of the world for a season, but the day is coming when the true Prince, the Lord Jesus Christ, will overturn all his power. He will destroy him, and all evil with him, once and for all, [Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.]
This is the scene in Babylon, Ezekiel, acting out the burden of the LORD before the gathered crowd, first sighing, then breaking forth into crying and howling. God’s judgments are inevitable, and both the righteous (saved) and the wicked (unsaved) feel the weight of them when they fall. Yet God, goes on to declare that He will one day overturn the wicked one who stands behind all false divination, and bring his schemes to nothing.
[Ezekiel 22:2-5 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations. 3 Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. 4 Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries. 5 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.]
Boy, if this is not the state of America, and so many other nations, right now. I have long seen America as a mirror to Israel: a nation once marked by light, now bearing reproach before its enemies. Oppression against Christians is growing more rapid by the day, and the spiritual climate reflects a people who have turned from the God who once showed them great mercy. The parallels are sobering, for when a nation drifts from the LORD, the weight of that departure is felt in every corner of its life, [Psalms 33:10-12 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. 11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.]
While Satan is the prince of all evil, he still cannot force anyone to sin any more than God can force anyone to obey Him; every soul remains accountable for its own deeds, and we will answer for all sin committed in the body. Ezekiel, God, describes their wicked acts and what He is about to do.
[Ezekiel 22:7-8,12-13,15, In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. 8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. 12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD. 13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee. 15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.]
As you read through the chapters of Ezekiel, you begin to feel the pain that God Himself expresses as He describes the state of Israel, how He could no longer bear to watch them destroy the land He had given them through their abominations. The City of Bloods was the name given to Jerusalem because of her crimes: murder, idolatry, the sacrificing of children, abominable acts of the flesh, dishonoring parents, oppression, extortion, and profaning the sabbath. Now, God pronounces the sentence. He would not only sift them as wheat; He would remove them as the dross separated from silver.
[Ezekiel 22:18-20,22 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. 22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.]
We should all come to understand that Jesus will sift His people like wheat and put them to the fire to remove the dross from us as well, [Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.]
Every nation is subject to the judgment of God, especially a nation that once knew His favor and has turned away from Him. This is why His anger burned so fiercely against Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s day, it was not just he common people, it was the priests and prophets as well.
[Ezekiel 22:26-28,31 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.]
Pretending to have visions from God, when what they see, or claim to see, is nothing but vanity and emptiness, mere delusion, is the very sin God condemns. They prophesy good things, peace and prosperity, when it is all falsehood. Their voices sound religious, but their visions are hollow; their prophecies bear the form of truth, yet contain no breath of God. And God will recompense upon their heads all the souls they led to hell with them, [Titus 3:8-11 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. 9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; 11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for the great sacrifice that You made in sending Your Son, to be the payment for us to be saved from judgment. It is only by Your mercy that we are not consumed on the spot, and it is only by Your grace that we are not given the punishment we truly deserve when we fully accept Your Son as our Saviour. You allow Satan to sift us as wheat, but You do that to keep us accountable and that we might come to You for the cleansing of all our sin. Lord, As our relationship with You grows, give us Your love, mercy, grace, and strength to remain faithful to You, no matter who or what tries to get between us. Give us Your power, wisdom, and guidance to fear You, and never let us forget just how much You love us and want only the best for us. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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