Context for Ezekiel 20:45-21:32
God told the people of Judah and Jerusalem for generations of prophets that His chosen instrument of discipline against them would be the army of Babylon. Yet, even as Ezekiel preached in exile in Babylon itself, the people of Judah and Jerusalem still would not listen. Their rebellion was complete and their judgment was at hand.
The sword is a metaphor used often throughout the Bible, a metaphor with a powerful purpose. One might say that the metaphor of the sword reveals intent, and in these verses of Ezekiel, God reveals His intent to use Babylon to carry out His wrath against idolatrous and rebellions Jerusalem.
Another way the metaphor of the sword is used is in describing God’s Word. In Ezekiel’s prophecy we see subtle use of that meaning of that metaphor as well. Not only was the king of Babylon to be the sword by which God carried out His judgment, that king was also proof of God’s word to the Jews through generations of prophets.
Indeed, it is the latter use of the metaphor of the sword that applies to us today. Like the king of Babylon was to God in Ezekiel’s day, so the Word is to God with us today. That is, it is a tool of specific purpose designed to do His bidding in His time.
What is that bidding? To pierce our hearts with the knowledge of our own rebellion against God so He can fill that wound with the knowledge of His grace-that is, faith. Further, God wishes us to take up the very sword that pierced our own hearts and wield it as a weapon against the devil, the world, and our own sinfulness for the sake of our own faith and as a testimony of that faith to others.
Therefore, take notice when our God speaks of swords, because it is at that moment that we know He intends to do something with His people.
