Ezekiel 21:1-7

It should seem that this was but a continuation of the preceding chapter, where the Lord had commanded the Prophet to set his face toward the south, and prophecy. For, as the Prophet complained that the people would only deride him, and say it was but a parable, the Lord bids him to show that it would be a dreadful reality, in which the very loins of the hearer would tremble and be loosened, like a woman in travail. So awful would be the visitation, that the sword of the Lord would slay both the righteous and the wicked. And though the eternal safety of all His redeemed ones in Christ could not be affected by this visitation, yet in temporal things the inhabitants of Jerusalem would all partake alike in the dreadful slaughter, like mariners in the same vessel, which, if it founders at sea, all the crew are drowned. And the Prophet is commanded to tell the reason, Behold I am against thee, saith the Lord; as if the Lord had said, You are groaning because the King of Babylon is against you, but what will ye do when the Lord of Hosts is against you? Reader! pause and consider the awfulness of such a state! The Apostle saith, If God be for us, who can be against us? But we may add, if the Lord be against us, of what avail is it who is for us? Romans 8:31.