Audio Download

Ezekiel 23:26-49  Aholah and Aholibah, Part 2

[Study Aired July 15, 2024]

Introduction

In order to understand the study for today, we have to go back to the earlier verses to understand the context. There were two sisters – Aholah and Aholibah. Aholah was the elder, and she played the harlot with Assyrians who invaded the ten tribes of Israel. As we indicated in the previous study, the two sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, represent the church of the Lord in different dispensations. Aholah represents the church when it was under the law of Moses, and Aholibah signifies the church after the coming of Christ. That is to say that Aholah represents our walk when we did not know Christ and walked in the churches of this world (Aholah) according to the law of Moses. Aholibah signifies our walk when we were still in the churches of this world when Christ started coming to us. The Assyrians represent the false apostles who come in the name of the Lord but are wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 

The ten tribes of Israel representing Aholah, or Samaria, who were taken into captivity by the Assyrians is a warning to the Lord’s elect represented by Aholibah that if she also played the harlot, she shall suffer the same fate. 

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 
1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 
1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 
1Co 10:5  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 
1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 
1Co 10:7  Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 
1Co 10:8  Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 
1Co 10:9  Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 
1Co 10:10  Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 
1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Unfortunately, Aholibah became worse than her sister in terms of her whoredom both with the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Spiritually, both the Assyrians and the Babylonians are the same. In summary, the abominations being committed by the church of the Lord (Babylon) of which we were part, are not different from the rebellion of the people of the world against their creator, the Lord. Today’s study continues with the sins of Aholibah, the younger sister who represents the churches of this world of which we were part during a certain period of our walk. We committed whoredom in the churches of this world or Aholibah or Babylon before Christ came to us with His judgment. Today’s study also shows us how the sins of Aholibah give the Lord the occasion that He is seeking to come and judge her.  

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 
Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 
Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

The Consequences of the Sins of Aholibah

Eze 23:26  They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. 

Verse 26 tells us that the Babylonians shall strip Aholibah of her clothes and take away her fair jewels. Garments or clothes spiritually signify righteousness. This implies that when we were part of the physical churches of this world or Babylon, we were stripped of our righteousness in Christ as the truth of the word of the Lord represented here by our fair jewels were taken away by the lies or false doctrines of the adversary.

Eze 16:17  You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.
Eze 16:18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 

Eze 23:27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. 

In verse 25 in the previous study, the Lord stated that in view of the whoredom of Aholibah, He shall deal with her in His fury. That means that the Lord will judge us, His elect, for our sins. 

Eze 23:25  And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. 

Verse 27 therefore shows us the outcome of the Lord’s judgment. Our lewdness or filthiness shall cease, and we shall stop our whoredom which we have carried along from the world even though we have come to know Christ. Our whoredom refers to our propensity to serve another Jesus through the false doctrines we imbibe. Through the judgment of the Lord, we shall cease from serving another Jesus as we come to know the Lord. In other words, through the suffering that we go through, we shall cease from sin as we learn righteousness. 

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. 
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Eze 23:28  For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated: 
Eze 23:29  And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
Eze 23:30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

Verse 28 informs us of the Lord’s judgment of our old man, and in verse 30, we are given the reason why we are being judged. That is, we had gone whoring after the heathen, and as a result, we had been polluted with their idols. Whoring after the heathen means being enticed by man’s wisdom and tradition. As a result, we end up having idols of the heart which prevent us from knowing Christ and His words. 

Mar 7:13  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. 

Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? 
Eze 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 

In verse 28, being delivered into the hand of them whom we hate and into the hands of them from whom our minds are alienated is the same as being handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. 

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
1Co 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

In verse 29, the evil one shall take away everything we have worked for. As we are aware, before the Lord came to us, we were serving Him in the power of the flesh. All our labors in the flesh regarding the kingdom of the Lord shall be destroyed through the Lord’s judgment. In Isaiah 60:5, we are told that during our early walk with the Lord when the glory of the Lord has risen upon us, we are helped in our walk with the abundance of the sea and forces of the Gentiles which refer to our flesh as it aids us in our initial walk with Christ. This was what happened to Abraham when the Lord first called him. He was helped by His father who brought him to Haran, just short of the promised land of Canaan. It was after the death of Terah, Abraham’s father, that Abraham was able to answer the Lord’s call appropriately by leaving Haran to enter Canaan. In verse 28, we are assured that through the Lord’s judgment, the labors of the flesh shall be destroyed as we mature in Christ. 

Isa 60:5  Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

Gen 11:31  Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, wife of his son Abram. They set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came as far as Haran, they stayed there. 
Gen 11:32 Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran. 

In verse 28, we are also told that through the Lord’s judgment, the shame of our nakedness shall be revealed. This implies that we shall come to see clearly our inability to stop sinning while the man of sin is still on the throne of our hearts and minds. 

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

We Shall Drink of Our Sister’s Cup

Eze 23:31  Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. 
Eze 23:32  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
Eze 23:33  Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
Eze 23:34  Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 23:35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. 

The fate of Aholah has painstakingly been written for our admonition. However, we did not pay heed to what happened to her but rather played the harlot more than our sister. As a result we shall suffer the same fate as our sister in terms of her judgment as we drink from her cup which is deep and large as shown in verse 32. Drinking from a cup deep and large means that our judgment shall be thorough and shall accomplish exactly the Lord’s agenda for our lives.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Being filled with drunkenness and sorrow in verse 33 means tasting of the evil experience of the Lord’s judgment. Drinking from the sister’s cup and sucking it out in verse 34 signifies receiving the full package of the Lord’s judgment which was meted out to Aholah. As indicated, the judgment shall be thorough such that the Lord’s purpose for our lives is accomplished. Breaking into pieces and tearing our breasts off our bodies means coming to our wits’ end as we go through the Lord’s judgment.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

Again, in verse 35, we are given the reason for the Lord coming to judge us. It is because we have played the harlot and have cast the Lord behind our back. The Lord is always looking for an occasion to come and judge us as His elect. Our sins therefore give the Lord the occasion He is looking for to come into our lives to turn us around.

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 
Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Eze 23:36  The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations; 
Eze 23:37  That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. 
Eze 23:38  Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 
Eze 23:39  For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. 

In verse 36, the Lord was asking a rhetorical question about Ezekiel judging the sisters Aholah and Aholibah.  Ezekiel here represents the Lord’s elect, and since we shall judge the world as the Lord’s elect, the Lord here was reminding us of our role as judges. 

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?   

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 

Before we are given to judge the world, we must know our sins. In verse 36, the Lord was asking Ezekiel to declare to the sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, their abominations. It is after we come to realize our sins that judgment follows. Knowing our sins is therefore a prerequisite before we are judged by the Lord. In this life therefore, the Lord is seeking for an occasion to cause us to know our abominations so He can judge us. Judgment therefore is a privilege the Lord is bestowing on us, His elect as we come to know our sins in this life. 

Verses 37 and 38 shows us our sins which gave the Lord the occasion to come and judge us. Although we say we are married to Christ, we committed adultery with another Jesus and therefore played the harlot. We also had blood on our hands for the way we treated the Lord and His elect sent to us. It is when the Lord comes to open our eyes and ears to understand the word of the Lord in spirit instead of the letter of the word that we come to know the sins of the church that we were part of and thought of it as the true bride of Christ. As our eyes are opened, we become aware that Babylon or the churches of this world was the one causing us to commit adultery with another Jesus and killing those sent to us. We have therefore stained our hands with blood.

Rev 17:3  And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 
Rev 17:4  The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 
Rev 17:5  And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 

Luk 11:49  Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 
Luk 11:50  so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 
Luk 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

As if that was not enough, the churches cause us to offer our children to pass through the fire. That is to say that through false doctrines, we make those who have just come to know the Lord worse off or spiritually dead. 

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

In verses 38 and 39, we are told that we defiled our sanctuary and profaned our sabbath. We defiled our sanctuary when we had our man of sin or our old man sitting in the throne of our hearts and claiming himself to be God through the false teaching of man having his own will. 

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

Through the same false teachings of man having his own will and that we make our own decisions, we profane the Lord’s sabbath as we do not come to know how to rest in the Lord. 

Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Eze 23:40  And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments, 
Eze 23:41  And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil. 
Eze 23:42  And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 
Eze 23:43  Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them? 
Eze 23:44  Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women. 

In our quest to influence the world, we brought in the multitude to worship with us in the churches of this world. In verse 40, the multitude are described as men from afar. Verse 42 also refers to these men as carefree multitudes, men of common sort and drunkards from the wilderness. The multitude refers to ungodly men who crept into the churches of this world secretly as prophesied by Jude as follows:

Jud 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jud 1:8  Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 
Jud 1:9  Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 
Jud 1:10  But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 
Jud 1:11  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 
Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 
Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. 

Apostle Paul warned us of these multitudes during his farewell speech to the elders of Ephesus as follows: 

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 

In verses 40 and 41, washing herself, painting her eyes, decking herself with ornaments, sitting on stately beds and having a table set before her with incense and oil are the church’s way of making herself attractive to the people of the world who come in as sheep in wolves’ clothing to devour her. This is what the Lord says about the churches making themselves attractive:

Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 
Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 
Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

In the final analysis, the churches of this world, represented by Aholah and Aholibah, become worse off as they indulge in harlotry, leaving behind the simplicity that is in Christ and go after another Jesus through the agency of these multitudes or false apostles.

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 
2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.   

Eze 23:45  And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 

Here in this verse, we are assured of the elect, represented here as righteous men, judging the churches of this world in an age to come. 

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Eze 23:46  For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled. 
Eze 23:47  And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 
Eze 23:48  Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. 
Eze 23:49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 

Inwardly, Babylon within us shall be destroyed through the judgment of our old man. This judgment is qualified in verse 47 as a company coming to stone us with stones, dispatching us with the sword, slaying our sons and daughters, and burning up our houses with fire. As we are aware, according to the law of Moses, the sin of adultery is punishable by death through stoning. Being stoned with stones is therefore to remind us that the judgment we are going through for our adulterous lifestyle against our Lord is to put our old man to death. 

Joh 8:4  They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 

The sword as an instrument of judgment refers to the negative words spoken against us which is one of the tools that the Lord uses to cause people to speak bitter words to us, His elect. 

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Jdg 7:22 And the three hundred [men with Gideon] blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host [of the Midianites]: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

The slaying of our sons and daughters refers to the destruction of our false doctrines in our hearts and minds through the hail of the Lord or the truth of the word of the Lord.

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 

Our houses being burnt with fire means the destruction of our old man or flesh through the word of the Lord such that we can offer our bodies (houses) as living sacrifices to the Lord. 

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

In verses 48 and 49, we are made aware that the result of our judgment is to cause our lewdness to cease and to know who the Lord is. That is to say that through judgment, we learn righteousness as we get to know the Lord better. In summary, this is what the Lord is doing in our lives:

Psa 107:9  For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. 
Psa 107:10  Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 
Psa 107:11  Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: 
Psa 107:12  Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. 
Psa 107:13  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:14  He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. 
Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

May His name be Praised. Amen!!