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Ezekiel, why are you groaning? Itís the report that is given concerning the future. It will come to pass. It cannot fail for it is the Word of the Lord. It will be a time of fear such as never has been felt by mankind. The courage of the very bravest will fail them and become like liquid. The hands of the strongest will become completely useless. The strong in spirit will be totally weak. The knees of all will become like water. Eze. 21:7 Jesus spoke of a time in the end of the age when the conditions of the earth and the universe would suddenly begin to show the signs warning of the last days. He said, the hearts of men would fail them for fear as earthly and celestial signs are displayed. Luke 21:26
This introduced a period of several prophecies given to Ezekiel. The sword is prepared, it is sharpened and highly polished until it will gleam and flash like lightening. Eze. 21:9-10 Meaning that it will be highly active. It is sharpened and polished that it might slaughter many. Is it a time for mirth, for lightness and frivolity? The end of the age is a time of seriousness. To those who are unsaved it will be so because of the uncertainty and fear in their lives. The spiritual, because it is the time of the fulfillment of the marriage between Christ and His church. The sword of judgment makes no difference between the extremely ungodly and the very purest of men, the Lord Jesus. It is to strike out at Him as well. He is the rod, the scion, the son. The fellow, the companion of the Lord against whom the sword was to make warfare and smite the shepherd. Zech. 13:7 He was smitten for all and raised from the dead by the glory of the Lord and now rules eternally.
The one appointed to be the destroyer has received the sword. The hour of the enactment of the prophecy has come. Therefore, cry out and wail for it was to be on the people of the Lord and upon all the princes (the kings, the leaders) of Israel. Terror laying hold upon the leaders because of the sword. Smite the thigh with the hand. The clapping of the hand or as in this case the thigh, was a sign of grief. The placing of the hand upon the thigh, was used as a sign of a sealed covenant, as Abraham did with his servant. Gen. 24:9 This is a call to recognize the conclusion of the old covenant, broken because of the disobedience of the children of Israel. The Lord, because His is eternal when making covenant made it from an eternal standpoint and would never break it. However it takes two to make a covenant, Israel, the other party of the covenant, did not maintain their part of the covenant. Thus it was broken. Heb. 8:9 Now, a this time, all must come to Him through the new covenant. Heb. 8:13.