Rank Holds No Place When God Judges

Ezekiel 7:27 (ESV) … “The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

The king - Zedekiah. The prince - Every magistrate. Despair - Hang down, and melt away. What can men contrive or do for themselves, when God is departed from them? All must needs be in tears, all in trouble, when God comes to judge them according to their deserts, and so make them know, that he is the Lord, to whom vengeance belongs. [1]

In this verse is contained, the effect which must always follow God’s judgment. No rank, no state, no condition of man is exempt. When the sword is without, and the pestilence within, both the king and the beggar fall under the sweeping visitation. Grace only makes a difference, when the Lord comes to discern between the righteous and the wicked; between him that serves God, and him that serves him not, Malachi 3:18. [2]

[1] Wesley, J. (1765). Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 2303). Bristol: William Pine. [2] Hawker, R. (2013). Poor Man’s Old Testament Commentary: Ezekiel–Malachi (Vol. 6, p. 28). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.