Turn with me to the book of Ezekiel
chapter 21. Now the title of the message this
evening is The Rite of the True King. The Rite of the True King
and that comes from two verses. Verses 26 and 27 which hopefully
I'll get to tonight as we read through a lot of this chapter,
but I actually want to start off in Ezekiel 20 beginning at
verse 45 because that section of scripture really goes with
what follows in chapter 21. But the right of the true King.
And basically I'm going to talk about not only the right, which
means the rightful place, the rightful position, The authority,
talked about that when we read the Great Commission. Christ
said, all power and authority is given unto me. And that's
his right and his right alone. We have no rights. We got rid of our rights when we
fell in Adam. And so we have no rights, but
he has all rights. And so we're gonna talk about
that and then we're gonna talk about the righteousness of the true
king also. But Ezekiel had been prophesying
of God's promise to gather his people by the gospel through
the power, through the goodness of the Messiah to come, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He'd promised, God had promised
that Israel would be saved. I dealt with that a little bit
this morning in Romans 9. Now, however you think of Israel,
whether you think this is spiritual Israel, which I have a tendency
to lean towards as I read the scripture more and more, or whether
you think it's even the nation Israel, whatever God's going
to do in gathering them together, it's going to involve the power,
the goodness, the mercy, and the grace of God in Christ. It's
not just a political thing or a political movement. It's not
just attaining real estate or getting gathered back into some
so-called holy land. But it has to do with the salvation
of God's people by His grace and mercy through Christ. Because
anytime the prophecy of the future restoration of Israel Whoever
it's talking about, it's talking about people, sinners, being
brought into the kingdom that'll last forever, a spiritual kingdom,
under the grace of God and the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It won't be anything like what they call, as I mentioned this
morning, the Judeo-Christian ethic. It's not works mixed with
grace. It's all of grace. And he'd been
talking about that. Well, these people in this day
and age that Ezekiel is preaching to, they had to be taught concerning
the reality of God's promise against their situation. Oh,
now wait a minute, Ezekiel. Here we are in captivity. You're talking about God's blessings.
You're talking about a bright future, a glorious future. And
here we are being punished. And of course, You had false
preachers back then who outnumbered God's preachers, just like they
do today. Telling people that everything
was okay, everything was fine. You're just a victim of circumstance. You're not really here because
of any fault of your own. You might blame your fathers
before you. Remember we talked about that, the parable, you
know, the fathers had eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
are set on edge. And God said to Ezekiel, you're
not going to say that anymore. That parable, That saying's gonna
go out the window. And yet, they're saying, well
now, how can you say this, Ezekiel? Well, Ezekiel tells them here
in verse 45 of chapter 20. He says, now look, now, Jerusalem
is gonna be destroyed. There's no doubt about that.
You're gonna get what you deserve in that sense, the nation. That's
why they were in captivity. They were going to stay there
70 years. And he says in verse 45, he speaks of the fire of
God's wrath. Listen to it. Moreover, the word
of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward
the south, and drop thy word toward the south. That's Judah.
And prophesy against the forest of the south field. Now this
forest of the south field is an emblem of Judah. Like a forest. And say to the forest, verse
47, of the south, hear the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord
God, because I will kindle a fire in thee and it shall devour every
green tree in thee and every dry tree. Now the green tree
is an emblem of life. And I believe what he's talking
about there is true believers. I believe he's talking about
the remnant there. of those who truly knew the Lord
by the grace of God. People like Jeremiah, and Ezekiel,
and Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There's life there. You see, we're born, we fell
in Adam, we're born dead. So if there's life there, if
there's spiritual life there, what does that tell you? They've
been born again by the Spirit, isn't that right? They have eyes
to see, ears to hear, hearts, minds to know and understand
the glory of God in Christ. And yet God says he's going to
devour them? Now hold on now. He says I'm
going to devour every dry tree. That's the dead. And he says
the flaming flame shall not be quenched. This is not going to
be stopped. This is God's purpose. God working all things after
his own counsel and his own will. And he says on all faces from
the south to the north shall be burned therein. They're going
to be subject to this. And all flesh shall see that
I, the Lord, have kindled it. They're going to know this is
the work of God, even though he's using human means, Nebuchadnezzar
and the army of Babylon. But they're going to know that
this is the work of God. It shall not be quenched. And
then said I. Now here's what Ezekiel says
at the end. Then said I, O Lord God, they
say of me, doth he not speak parables? Isn't he just telling
stories? So here's this certain destruction
of Judah and Jerusalem. And what we're learning here
as we go through, Ezekiel, is when we talk about this bright,
glorious future, it's not wrapped up in an earthly city of Jerusalem
or an earthly nation of Israel. That's going to be destroyed.
Now granted, the walls are going to be rebuilt, the temple is
going to be rebuilt, but nothing like what it was before. Nothing
like what you read in the days of Solomon. David and Solomon,
how glorious it was there. Well, that all was destroyed.
The Shekinah glory of God will leave and never come back. That's
the ark of the covenant. That's the mercy seat. That's
after, at this time, when Nebuchadnezzar brought through the third wave
of his wrath, God's wrath rather, that Ark of the Covenant was
gone and is never to be returned. That glory departed. And so,
what is he telling us? Well, this bright and glorious
future that the prophet speaks of is not wrapped up in the nation
or the earthly cities and The people, it's not wrapped up under
the old covenant even. You remember God said it in Jeremiah
31. I'm going to do all this. I'm
going to give them a new heart. I'm going to give them a new
spirit, a new mind. I'm going to cause them to walk
after my statutes. I'm going to cause them to submit
and I'll remember their sins no more. Remember what He said
about all that? He said, but not according to
the covenant that I made with their fathers. What's happened
to them according to the covenant that God made with their fathers?
Right here it is, they're being destroyed. They're being put
in captivity. What's that tell us? Tells us
this, that man, sinful man, cannot be saved based upon the terms
of a conditional covenant if that covenant is conditioned
on him. So what is this bright and glorious
future? Well, it comes with the coming of Christ. That's it. It's all by the grace of God
in the Messiah. But then he says, well, the green
tree, the living, the regenerate, they're going to be punished
too. That's true. The dry tree, the
dead, the unregenerate, they're going to be punished. All of
them are. Why is that? Well, understand something. Let's
take a guy like Jeremiah or Ezekiel. Let's take those two men. Now
here are two children of God. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. justified based on the blood that would be shed in the future,
the righteousness that would be established in the future. But they're still part of that
nation. And they're still under that old covenant as they are
citizens of that nation. They, Ezekiel, he went into captivity
too. God didn't come down there and
say, now I'm gonna just keep the ones whom I save in Jerusalem
and the rest of them I'm gonna take. No, it rains on the just
and the unjust in this life, folks. Now, to a man like Ezekiel, who
was a true child of God, a sinner saved by grace, it was a chastisement. To those who die in their sins,
it's eternal damnation. It's an emblem of God's wrath. So you understand that? So even,
you know, when all the children, the children of Israel in all
of their dealings under that old covenant, all of the punishments
went upon all, when they, listen, when they were blessed in the
days of Solomon, the unregenerate were blessed just like the regenerate
in temporal ways. So like I said, it rains on the
just and the unjust. So don't let that throw you.
You see that outward circumstance? You know, anybody under that
old covenant, they didn't keep the terms of the old covenant,
they were punished as a nation. And that's how God dealt with
them, as a nation under that covenant. But don't we thank
God that our salvation is not according to the terms of that
covenant. That it's not by works, that
it's by grace. Well, they didn't understand
the message, verse 49, the natural man He received not the things
of the Spirit of God. They don't have ears to hear.
They don't have eyes to see. So what did they say? Well, doesn't
he just speak in parables? What they're saying there is
that the prophet is just making up stories. He's just making
up stories. That's all he's doing. They didn't believe it. That's
the unbelief. That's total depravity right there. Unbelief. So he
carries it through in chapter 21. And here where he ended chapter
20 with the emblem of fire, as the emblem of God's wrath. He
carries on in chapter 21 with a sword. The sword of God's wrath. And it's a sword that's been
unsheathed. It's not in the scabbard. It's
out. It's ready to work. And listen
to what he says. Verse 1, The word of the Lord
came to me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem,
drop thy word toward the holy place, and prophesy against the
land of Jerusalem. God's against it, not for it.
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." There
it is again. Under the old covenant. See, again, God dealt with them
as a nation. Most of them were unregenerate.
Most of them were dry trees. Most of them were wicked in the
sense of not knowing the truth. But there was always a remnant.
There was always a Jeremiah, a Daniel, and Ezekiel. They were
punished along with the whole nation, but under the terms of
the old covenant now keep that in mind as you read through these
and Again, it's still a great testimony that you know even
now as sinners saved by grace We still cannot be saved or made
righteous by our works Our salvation starts by grace it continues
by grace, and it'll be culminated by grace it All of it, justified
in Christ. We cannot be righteous by our
works. So he goes on, he says, he says in verse four, seeing,
then 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, that all flesh may know that
I, the Lord, have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath. It
shall not return anymore. You can't put that sword back
in. It's here. Sigh therefore. Now that sighing
is a sigh of sorrow. Thou son of man, with the breaking
of thy loins, that is, you can't hardly walk, with the bitterness
sigh before their eyes. This is not a happy time. This
is not a time to rejoice. This is a time of sorrow, God's
wrath against sin. And it shall be, verse seven,
when they say unto thee, wherefore sighest thou? Why are you so
sorrowful, Ezekiel? That thou shalt answer for the
tidings. There's news here, but it's not
good news. Because it cometh and every heart
shall melt. All hands shall be feeble and
every spirit shall faint. All knees shall be weak as water.
Behold, it cometh and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord. There it is. And then he continues
on giving details. Now listen to this. He says,
again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man,
prophesy and say, thus saith the Lord, say, a sword, a sword
is sharpened and also furbished or polished. Bright, shiny sword. It is sharpened to make a sore
slaughter. That's a grievous slaughter.
It's furbished that it may glitter. In other words, this is not hidden.
Should we then make mirth? Should we have a party? Well,
it contemneth the rod of my son as every tree. Now what does
that mean? I believe that word rod is related
in the context to the word Shiloh that we will see later on, which
is an allusion to Genesis 49.10 and he's talking about the scepter,
he's talking about the throne, talking about the king, the rod,
the rod of rue. And here's what he's saying,
this shiny, polished, furbished sword, the wrath of God, holds
in contempt the rod of God's Son. What is that? That's the kingship of Judah.
Now what's going to happen to the kingship of Judah? Well,
all the kings are going to be removed. There's not going to
be any more human kings in Judah. They're gone. And we talked about
that a couple of chapters ago, how the last two kings, how they
despised the Lord, how they didn't lead the people in the ways of
God and God removed them. And then Nebuchadnezzar set up
the last one, Zedekiah, who was of the tribe of Judah, but who
was not really in line to be king. And he was just a puppet
king, a puppet of Nebuchadnezzar, so he really didn't yield, or
wield rather, the scepter of the kingship. And it's gone.
In other words, what God is telling them is, listen, this wrath,
the sin of Israel and Judah is so bad that the rod of His Son
is going to be held in contempt and removed as every tree. Just like He is going to get
rid of every green tree and every dry tree. That is how that throne
is going to be removed. Now I want you to understand
something though. Now we're going to see just in a moment. God
hasn't gone back on his promise now. God hasn't failed. The scepter still shall not depart
from Judah until Shiloh comes. Here's the point. No human king
is going to wield the scepter. That's what he's saying. Oh,
it's not going to depart. It's still there. You know how
I know it's there? Because God keeps it there and
God says it's there. And Christ has not yet come yet
in this day and age, but though no human king will wield the
scepter. And look at it, verse 11. He
says, he had given it to be furbished that it may be handled. This
sword is sharpened and it's furbished to give it into the hand of the
slayer. Cry and howl, son of man, for
it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes
of Israel. tears by reason of the sword
shall be upon my people, smite therefore upon thy thigh. That's
the largest part of the body that gives man his power in walking
and running, in attacking, retreating. In other words, it's all going
to be gone, all power. Because it is a trial, what if
the sword contempt even the rod, the throne, even the rule? It shall be no more, saith the
Lord God, no more human kings on the throne of Judah. Now,
some theologians argue that Zerubbabel, who comes later after the captivity,
that he was the king. Well, he was a type of Christ
kingship, but he himself was not a king. He was a governor
under the Medes and the Persians, and he did not sit on the throne.
He did not wield the scepter. But he was in his office as governor
representative or symbolic or a type of the kingship of Christ. But he didn't fulfill, he didn't
mess up this prophecy here. He didn't mess up God's work
here at all. Verse 14, thou therefore son of man prophesy and smite
thine hands together, clap your hands. Now back in that culture,
clapping your hands didn't always mean joy or something you were
pleased with. It also meant something that
you were just in despair about. And he says, and let the sword
be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain. Remember
how many times Nebuchadnezzar come through? Three times. It's
the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into
the privy chambers. I've set the point of the sword
against all their gates. They can run and they can hide,
but it's not going to last. That their heart may faint, their
ruins be multiplied. Ah, it is made bright. It is
wrapped up for the slaughter. That means sharpened. You see
that in your concordance. This sword is sharpened for the
slaughter. Verse 16, go thee one way or other, either on the
right hand or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set. I will also
smite my hands together, I'll clap my hands, I'll cause my
fury to rest. I, the Lord, have said it. You
know what that means. Done deal. This is a done deal. Sad time for Judah. Sad time for Jerusalem. But he
kind of adds a little bit of fuel to the fire here by showing
how contemptible the people of Judah and even the king were
in the sight of God. And he does it in a very interesting
way. Look here in verse 18. The word of the Lord came unto
me again saying, Also thou son of man, appoint thee two ways
that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Both twain,
both two shall come forth out of one land, and choose thou
a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city, appoint
a way that the sword may come to Rabba of the Ammonites." Nebuchadnezzar
came through the capital of the Ammonites, which was Rabba. He
came through there down on Jerusalem. And then to Judah in Jerusalem,
the defense. He had another route which was
straight into Jerusalem. That's the two ways that he came.
So God is being very precise here. You can't mistake this. This is history. This is God
declaring the end from the beginning right here. But look what happens,
verse 21. For the king of Babylon stood
at the parting of the way. Now he's at the fork of the road
here, which way is he going to go? He had armies that went both
ways, but which way is he going to go? Because you know the king
of Babylon, he had to go the way that would get him the most
glory, get him the most publicity. So he's standing here
at the parting of the ways, at the head of the two ways, to
use divination. You know what divination is,
that's superstition. That's idolatry. Divination. Now that's how King Nebuchadnezzar
is going to figure out which way he should go. And he did
it three ways. He made his arrows bright. Now
that's the same as casting lots. What he did is he shined up the
arrows and then he threw them down in whichever way they point,
that's the way he goes. And it's like casting lots. And
then he consulted with images. You've heard the word in the
Old Testament, especially the book of Genesis, the teraphim.
Remember Laban, Rachel took Laban's teraphim with her when she left
with Jacob and all that. Those were little household idols,
little images. And so here's Nebuchadnezzar,
he casts the lots, he throws down the heirs, and then he consults
his teraphim, his little household or palace gods. And then it says,
he looked in the liver. He looked in the, you've heard
of, you've probably seen in history the old custom that some of these
so-called witches or sorcerers had of taking the entrails of
a goat and laying them out and looking at them and trying to
tell the future. Well, they thought the liver was the seed of all
life. Not very wrong there. I mean, you can't live without
a liver. That's why they call it a liver maybe, I don't know.
But anyway, that's what he's doing. Three ways of idolatry. And look at verse 22, look what
happens here now. And his right hand was the divination
for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter,
to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against
the gates, to cast a mouth, that's to build a hill outside the wall
so they can climb over it, and to build a fort, and it shall
be unto them as a false divination in their sight to them that have
sworn oaths, but he will call to remembrance the iniquity that
they may be taken. Now what he means by that is
this. The false preachers were telling
the people of Jerusalem that this idolater who was using this
divination was not going to hurt them, that they're fine. Remember,
that's the prophets that Jeremiah had to come up against who were
crying, peace, peace, when there was no peace. And they'd say
stuff like that. They'd say, well, look at him.
He's out there with all that junk, all that idolatry. We're
the people of God. How in the world is he going
to come to us and defeat us? God says he will call to remembrance
the iniquity that they may be taken. And verse 24 says, therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, because you have made your iniquity to
be remembered, and that your transgressions are discovered,
so that in all your doings your sins do appear, because I say
that you are come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand.
You know what that means. That means that Nebuchadnezzar,
he's going to be successful. even with all his idolatry. God's
still using Nebuchadnezzar to bring judgment down on Judah.
Even though Nebuchadnezzar didn't know God, didn't believe God,
he was an idolater who used divination. Well, what's happening here?
Well, God's overruling all of that sin to do what? To accomplish
His purpose. And Israel was going to get what
they deserve. So He says in verse 25, Thou
profane wicked prince of Israel whose day has come when iniquity
shall have an end. Now listen to this, verse 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. That's the wicked
kings of Judah. The diadem is the crown. All of that there, and take it
off. And you're going to exalt him
that is low, that's the humble, abase them that are high. But
look at verse 27, I will overturn, overturn, overturn. You see that? In your concordance you might
have the words perverted. And what he's saying, what God
is saying is that his judgment upon the diadem and the crown
and the throne is a perversion of what it was originally commanded
to be. In other words, all these kings
had perverted it. And he's going to overturn it.
The reason it's repeated three times is that's a Hebrew way
of emphasizing something that is a done deal and it's not going
to be taken back. But this last line is what gives
us hope. Look at it, verse 27. Now all this is going to take
place, that overturning of that diadem and crown, the perversion
of it that they do, until He come whose right it is, and I'll
give it to Him. That's Christ the Lord, the true
King. All this is going to be happening.
All of it is going to be changed. That's the perversion. No human
king on the throne of Judah And it's going to be just like that
until somebody whom God has appointed before the foundation of the
world, somebody whom God has promised in tight picture and
prophecy, somebody whose right it is to take that throne, to
sit on that throne, not an earthly throne though. And he said, I'll
give it to him. And that's exactly What happened? This is fulfilled only in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. The true Messiah. God in human
flesh. Descended from the race of the
kings of the house of Judah. The seed of David according to
the flesh. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. Declared to be the Son of God
with power. And it is His right. And His right only. And that's
it. He's the only one that has that
right. Now how did he get that right? Well turn with me to John
chapter 17. Now there's a distinction that
I think is important to be made here. And that's this. And we have to be careful. We
have to stay with the scripture on this. The right that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God has to take that throne, that scepter, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. And again, it's
not talking about that earthly throne. It's talking about the
heavenly. It's talking about Jerusalem
which is above. It's talking about spiritual
Israel. But the right that Jesus Christ has as God-man to take
that scepter and ascend to that throne is an earned right. Now what do I mean by that? Well,
as God absolutely considered, He always had all sovereign authority. He never relinquished that. Even
on earth when He walked in His public ministry, He commanded
the elements, He raised the dead, He healed the sick. Bill read
about it in John chapter 5 there where He healed a lame man. And
they accused him of breaking the Sabbath. First of all, he
didn't break the Sabbath there by healing that man. And that
man didn't break it by taking up his bed. Boy, that's an act
of necessity. And those were never forbidden
on the Sabbath. But as God-man, as the Redeemer of his people,
he had to earn the right. Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, look at John 17 once. These words spake Jesus, and lifted
up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hours come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given
him. Remember the words back there
in Ezekiel 21. He said, I will give it to him.
All right. He says, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh. Now, as God absolutely considered,
he always had power over all flesh, and he never gave it up.
But as God-man, as the Redeemer, as the Lord our Righteousness,
this authority and power was given him by the Father, look
at it, now look at verse 2, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. That's his right. And he earned
it. Now how did he earn it? Well,
look at verse 3. John 17, this is life eternal that they might
know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou sent.
Verse four, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. That's it. He finished
the work. What was that? He says in verse
five, and now, oh father, glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. What
did He do? Well, He stood in our place as
our substitute and put away our sins completely. He suffered
and bled and died on that cross to satisfy the justice of Almighty
God and establish the only righteousness whereby God could be just to
justify the ungodly so that when He He was given this scepter,
this throne, it was a scepter, it is a scepter of righteousness. So that not only He has the right,
He has the righteousness of the King. And that's the righteousness
in which we as sinners saved by grace stand before God as
we know and look to Christ. We're a child of the King. That's
what he's saying back there. Over in John chapter 5 that Bill
read, the reason I had him read this is right here. You know, when he said that God
was his father, they accused him of blasphemy, saying, you
make yourself equal with God. Well, he is equal with God in
his deity. And then he shows his submission
to the Father as the servant of the covenant. But he says
in verse 21 of John 5, he says, for as the father raiseth up
the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom
he will. Now remember what he said in
John 17, that I should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given me, not all without exception, but to his sheep, his people,
his brethren, he calls them. Verse 22, for the father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the son. That's
part of his kingly office, that judgment that was given to him. And here's the way the judgment
goes. Look at verse 23, that all men should honor the son,
even as they honor the father. He that honoreth not the son,
honoreth not the father, which is sinning. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, now this is the words of a king. He that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
life unto death. until he come whose right it
is and I'll give it to him. Now in the last part of Ezekiel
21, those last verses, God says he's going to bring judgment
on the Ammonites because they, you know what happened to them,
we'll look at that later on in Ezekiel 25. When God accomplished
his purpose through Nebuchadnezzar to bring judgment upon Judah
and to destroy the human Descendancy to that throne the Ammonites
rejoiced they didn't sorrow they said aha and They rejoiced what
should it have done should have brought him to repentance. Oh
Lord, don't give me what I did. I got what they deserve. Oh Lord.
Don't give me what I deserve Lord if thou shouldest mark iniquity
who would stand? Oh, I need mercy I need grace. I need Christ. Amen.