Ezekiel 21:18-23
The word of the Lord came to me again: “As for you, son of man, mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come from the same land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to a city. Mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, into Jerusalem the fortified. For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults the teraphim; he looks at the liver. Into his right hand comes the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth with murder, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build siege towers. But to them it will seem like a false divination. They have sworn solemn oaths, but he brings their guilt to remembrance, that they may be taken.
Tag: The Sovereignty of God over the Affairs of Man
The above passage is a perfect example of how God works in the lives of non-believers to accomplish His will in the lives of believers. God is going to punish the nation of Israel, His chosen people. God is going to use the country of Babylon to punish His chosen people. But, the Babylonians are not people who seek God. God will use them but they will not be the pursuers of God. God, therefore, instructs Ezekiel to put up an actual sign so that King Nebuchadnezzar can see where to go: Either toward Jerusalem or to Rabbah, the capital city of the Ammonites. Like all Babylonia leaders, Nebuchadnezzar was addicted to divination. He would look at all the "omens" before going to war. God will use the non-believers "system" to direct his path to do God's will. Nebuchadnezzar would see the "sign" that Ezekiel put up pointing to Jerusalem. The King would see the "sign" as a "sign" to attack Jerusalem, God's intended target. The Babylonians would be used by God to accomplish God's will. The Babylonians would think that their own will and the "gods" were directing them. But, it was THE GOD of the universe who was using the system of the world to move King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in the right direction. God sends people to whisper and to drop hints and to give clear direction to the unsaved world in order to accomplish His tasks for those who are His children. Nebuchadnezzar would think that these omens are giving him wisdom. In reality it was the God of creation sending a prophet to make a sign to put in the path so that the king would do what God wanted done. God is sovereign. He rules over ever aspect of His creation to accomplish His will. He is not limited to the walls of a church or the halls of a Christian institution. God can use and does use all types of people (even wicked people ... see Job 1) to accomplish His tasks for His glory.
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