Last month was a crazy month for me. After nearly a quarter of a century in the city, this country boy packed up and left. There wasn’t time for anything. I only got to say goodbye to a handful of people. And I only wrote one thing in my journal.
On December 22nd I read Ezekiel 21 again. I had been thinking about the second part of my last post, Behold a Pale Horse, and found myself back where it all began, in this chapter about God’s sword coming on his people.
Those of you who are spiritually awake will know a battle has been raging around us for some time. That battle has been intense, and some of it has been mirrored in the natural realm. Until now, that battle has been largely about where Christians will put their trust. It’s been a battle over making a choice: God’s way, or the world’s way.
The time of peace we have had for making that decision is coming to an end.
This is the passage God spoke to me on December 22nd
The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same country. Make a signpost where the road branches off to the city. Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites and another against Judah and fortified Jerusalem. For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He will cast lots with arrows, he will consult his idols, he will examine the liver. Into his right hand will come the lot for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to give the command to slaughter, to sound the battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp and to erect siege works. It will seem like a false omen to those who have sworn allegiance to him, but he will remind them of their guilt and take them captive.
And this is the one thing I wrote in my journal.
We’re in the moment of decision. The King of Babylon – God’s sword – is now at a crossroads, casting lots, looking for omens, consulting idols.
Which way will the king of Babylon take? Will the sword come against us, or against our enemies?
I don’t know the answer to that question. I only know we must pray.