November 3, 2020: Day 73 – Ezekiel 21

We are being dragged, it seems, back and forth across the oracles and this chapter contains, once again, a sense that God will not hold back his hand in order to bring wrath upon Israel.  the chapter before we read how God did prevent his hand from falling, or to use this imagery, the sword from falling, because he wanted his people to save face so that he would also save face.  But here there is none of that.  The sword falls and the people perish and are taken into captivity.  I know that this oracles reflects more of the current situation than a prophecy of the future, but we are able to catch the ebb and flow of God’s words which remind us that God is full of grace, but there is also a time for wrath.  

Babylon remains the protagonist, in some sense, because in many ways even without it knowing it, it is being used as God’s agent to bring about judgment.  We see that later in Romans 13 where Paul says that we are to respect the authorities, even while those authorities are even looking to destroy complete any Christians who might be in the land.  Paul says that even the most brutal of rulers can be used for God’s purposes.  It is not that they know they are being used, but simply that God is able to use all things, even the most brutal ruler, to bring about God’s purposes.  Even Babylon is able to be used to bring about God’s purposes.  That’s a hard pill to swallow.