Passing Under the Rod: Text: Ezekiel 20:33-44
Introduction: A Sovereignty We Despise
We live in a soft age that worships a soft god. The god of modern evangelicalism is a celestial consultant, a divine therapist, a well-meaning but ultimately powerless deity who wrings his hands on the sidelines of history, hoping we will make good choices. He offers suggestions, not commands. He makes requests, not decrees. His central attribute is a sort of squishy, sentimental niceness. And he is, to put it plainly, a pathetic idol carved from the dead wood of our own democratic and egalitarian sensibilities.
The God of the Bible, the God who reveals Himself here through the prophet Ezekiel, is altogether different. He is not running for office. He is not asking for our vote. He declares, with terrifying force, that He "shall be king over you." And He will accomplish this rule, He says, "with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out." This is not the language of persuasion; it is the language of conquest. This is not a god who is trying to win our affection with pleasantries. This is a God who will have His people, and if He must drag them out of their idolatrous brothels through the fire of His own wrath, then that is precisely what He will do.
This passage is a bucket of ice water in the face of our therapeutic age. It describes a divine dealing that is severe, violent, and utterly gracious. It is a picture of God's love, but it is a holy love, a consuming fire that will not tolerate rivals. It is a love that purges and disciplines and sifts. It is a love that saves His people not just from their enemies, but from their own treacherous and whorish hearts. And it is a love that does all of this, not because we are so worthy, but because His own name is at stake. This is the hard, sharp, glorious edge of the gospel.
The Text
"As I live," declares Lord Yahweh, "surely with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you. And I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you," declares Lord Yahweh. "And I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh."
"As for you, O house of Israel," thus says Lord Yahweh, "Go, serve everyone his idols; but after this you will surely listen to Me, and My holy name you will profane no longer with your gifts and with your idols. For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel," declares Lord Yahweh, "there the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land; there I will accept them, and there I will seek your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things. As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered; and I will prove Myself holy among you in the sight of the nations. And you will know that I am Yahweh, when I bring you onto the ground of Israel, into the land which I swore to give to your fathers. And there you will remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves to your own faces for all the evil things that you have done. Then you will know that I am Yahweh when I have dealt with you for My name's sake, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel," declares Lord Yahweh.'"
(Ezekiel 20:33-44 LSB)
The Inescapable King (vv. 33-36)
God begins with a solemn oath, "As I live," which is the strongest possible affirmation. What follows is not a possibility, but a certainty grounded in the very being of God.
"As I live," declares Lord Yahweh, "surely with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you." (Ezekiel 20:33)
God's kingship is not a proposal. It is a declaration of fact. He does not say, "I would like to be king." He says, "I shall be king." The language here, "strong hand and outstretched arm," is the exact language used to describe the first exodus from Egypt. But there is a terrifying addition: "with wrath poured out." In the first exodus, that wrath was poured out on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. In this new exodus from Babylon and the nations, the wrath is directed at His own rebellious people. He is going to save them, yes, but He is going to save them through judgment. He is going to deliver them by disciplining them.
He will bring them out from the lands where they are scattered and bring them into "the wilderness of the peoples." This is a second wilderness experience. The first one was in a specific geographical location, the Sinai Peninsula. This one is different. The "wilderness of the peoples" is a picture of the church age, scattered among the nations, yet distinct. It is a place of testing, a place of sifting. And there, God says, "I will enter into judgment with you face to face." This is not the impersonal judgment of a distant magistrate. This is a covenantal lawsuit, a face to face confrontation between a husband and His unfaithful wife. God refuses to be indifferent. His love is too holy to simply let them go. He will confront them, judge them, and purify them.
The Scepter and the Covenant (vv. 37-38)
This process of judgment has a specific goal: purification and covenant renewal.
"And I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me..." (Ezekiel 20:37-38a)
The image of passing under the rod is rich. First, it is the image of a shepherd counting his sheep. As they pass through a gate, he lowers his rod and claims each one as his own. "This one is mine. This one is mine." It is an act of sovereign claiming. But second, the rod is also an instrument of discipline. God is going to claim His people, and He is going to chasten them. The goal of this claiming and chastening is to bring them "into the bond of the covenant." He is restoring the broken relationship, binding them to Himself once more.
But this restoration requires a purge. Not everyone who is ethnically an Israelite is a true Israelite. God is going to sift His people. He will "purge from you the rebels." Notice the tragic end of these rebels: "I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will not enter the land of Israel." They get to participate in the first stage of the exodus, the liberation from Babylon, but they will not enter into the final restoration. They are like the generation that left Egypt but whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. This is a sobering reminder that there is a great difference between being in the visible church and being in the invisible church. Judgment begins at the house of God, and God Himself is the one who separates the sheep from the goats.
Holy Sarcasm and Effectual Grace (vv. 39-41)
What follows is one of the most stunning examples of divine sarcasm in all of Scripture. God, having declared His unbendable will to purify His people, momentarily gives them a different command.
"As for you, O house of Israel," thus says Lord Yahweh, "Go, serve everyone his idols; but after this you will surely listen to Me, and My holy name you will profane no longer..." (Ezekiel 20:39)
This is not permission; it is a taunt. It is as if God is saying, "Go on. Have your fill of your worthless lovers. Binge on your spiritual adultery. Get it all out of your system. Because I am about to perform a work of grace in you so profound, so deep, that you will be permanently cured of your idolatry." He is not giving up on them; He is declaring the absolute certainty of their future repentance. He is going to break the back of their rebellion so completely that they will never again profane His name with their syncretistic worship.
And what is the result? A purified people, the "whole house of Israel," will serve Him on His holy mountain. Their worship will no longer be rejected. He says, "there I will accept them." They will be a "soothing aroma." This is the language of acceptable sacrifice. And this restoration will be a public spectacle. He will "prove Myself holy among you in the sight of the nations." God's reputation is bound up with the salvation of His people.
Grace-Fueled Repentance (vv. 42-44)
The passage concludes by describing the ultimate purpose of this entire ordeal and the psychological state of the restored people.
"And there you will remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves to your own faces for all the evil things that you have done." (Ezekiel 20:43)
Pay very close attention to the sequence here. When does this self-loathing occur? It is not before their restoration. It is not a prerequisite for their acceptance. It is after they have been brought back to the land, after they have been accepted, after they are secure in God's grace. "And there," in the land of promise, "you will remember... and you will loathe yourselves."
This demolishes every form of works-righteousness. We do not clean ourselves up to make ourselves acceptable to God. God accepts us, and the result of that acceptance is that we begin to see our sin for what it is and hate it. True, godly repentance is not a bargaining chip we use to get into heaven. It is the fruit of a heart that has already been conquered by grace. When you truly understand what God has saved you from, and what it cost Him, the only sane response is to loathe the sin that made the cross necessary.
And why does God do this? The final verse is the foundation of it all.
"Then you will know that I am Yahweh when I have dealt with you for My name's sake, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel," declares Lord Yahweh.'" (Ezekiel 20:44)
God does not save us because we are good. He saves us because He is good. He does not act according to our merits, but for the sake of His name. If God dealt with us according to our evil ways, we would all be in Hell. But He deals with us according to His covenant promises, His character, and His glory. Our salvation is not about us. It is about Him. It is a cosmic display of His righteousness, mercy, and sovereign power. He saves sinners in order to put His own glory on display for all eternity.
The Rod of the Cross
This entire chapter is a magnificent portrait of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We, like Israel, were scattered, rebellious, and idolatrous. We were spiritual adulterers, chasing after every worthless idol. And God, in His mercy, determined to make us His own.
He did this through a new exodus, led by a new Moses. He brought us out from the bondage of sin and death "with a strong hand and an outstretched arm." And He did it "with wrath poured out." But in this ultimate exodus, the wrath was not poured out on us. It was poured out on His Son. On the cross, Jesus Christ passed under the rod of God's perfect judgment. He was counted as the rebel, and He was purged from the land of the living so that we, the true rebels, could be brought into the bond of the New Covenant.
Because of Christ, God accepts us as a "soothing aroma." He has dealt with us for His name's sake, not according to our corrupt deeds. And now, living in the security of that grace, the Spirit works in us that true repentance. He causes us to look back at our old ways and to loathe them. This is not morbid introspection. It is the healthy, honest response of a soul that has been rescued from the pit by a love that is as violent as it is gracious. God is king, and He will have His people. Thanks be to God that He rules not with indifference, but with the strong arm of a Savior.