Ezekiel 21:18 says, The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying, Ezekiel got another message from God, and we as Christians need to continually be listening for God’s word to us.
Verse nineteen adds, Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city. Ezekiel was to draw two ways that the king of Babylon might go when he reached a certain point in his attack. There always seems to come a point at which people can choose to go one way or the other, but in this case the choice was not to be for the good of those in the way chosen. We should present two ways to go spiritually to unsaved people today, but only one choice, to follow Jesus Christ, is the way that is good for them.
Verse twenty continues, Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. The point where these two ways diverged would represent the way to Rabbath of the Ammonites or to Jerusalem in Judah, which was a fenced in, or walled city. Rabbath would have seemed to be the easiest to defeat, and today lost people may feel safe because they are in a more powerful nation than other people, but if they are depending on anything other than God to keep them safe, they are not so powerful that they cannot be defeated.
Verse twenty-one states, For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. When the king of Babylon reached the point where these two ways separated, he would use some form of divination to determine which way to go. Whatever the method, it was based on the thought that his god would lead him the right way. People today are still looking for false gods to show them the way to go when confronted with a choice in life.
Verse twenty-two adds, At 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 mount, and to build a fort. God said that this divination would point him to the right, which was toward Jerusalem, and he would begin to make plans to take it by force, even preparing battering rams to knock down the gates. They were to set up a fort, or to lay siege to the city, ready to stay as long as necessary to bring Jerusalem down. As followers of Christ, our enemies may batter us with their attack against us spiritually, but they will also be ready to fight against us long term if they are not successful at first.
Verse twenty-three continues, 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. The people of Jerusalem were to be made aware that it was because they followed false prophets who told them that they were going to be safe that they were now in this position. God had sent His word to them calling on them to repent and put their faith in Him once more or they would be defeated, but they chose to listen to false prophets instead who said they would not be defeated. If we find ourselves in danger of being defeated spiritually, it will be because we have not been listening to God. Of course, if we begin to listen to the people of the world instead of God’s word, even if they tell us that we will be okay if we don’t follow God’s commandments, we set ourselves up to be defeated in this life, even if we are forever saved spiritually by having accepted God’s gift of salvation.
Verse twenty-four concludes, 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. God said it was because of the iniquities of the people of Jerusalem that they were going to be defeated. They had chosen to listen to false prophets who promised them success without repentance instead of listening to God’s true prophet who said that they were now going to be defeated. They had become God’s chosen people in name only and believed that this would keep them safe, but God said that since they had not repented of their sins and started to follow Him again when called on to do so that they had lost His protection. We may call ourselves a Christian nation, but if we are not being obedient to God’s word, we will not have His protection. We cannot claim to be a Christian nation if we do so many things that are not in accordance with God’s word.
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