(Isaiah 21:11b-12; 62:6-7) “Watchman, what is left of the night?” The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask: and come back yet again… On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night.”
Introduction:
In a time of war a watchman would be on the walls of a fortified city keeping a sharp eye out for the enemy. The watchman would stay alert especially at night and remain vigilant at all times and not fall asleep because the enemy might creep in unseen. Every few hours the watchman would be relieved by another one to take his place. He would also have a trumpet to blow in order to warn the people of the city.
The watchman knew that the light of day would come after the long night however vigilance was to be maintained because another night lay ahead. The watchman had a duty to warn the city of the enemies approach so that the inhabitants of the city could be prepared to meet the enemies attack.
Many in that city might ask the watchman when the attack might come. He would tell them the day would come after the night and to be prepared because the time of night would come again. They were to stay alert!
It is interesting to note that the phrase “come back again” means “to repent” and the spiritual application is that once the watchman had warned of the attack the people had to prepare to stand and fight and to divest themselves of anything that would hinder them during the fight. It was their choice. The watchman had done his assigned duty.
The diligent watchman would warn the people to prepare for the attack, while the slothful watchman asleep at his post would not be able to warn the people of the advance of the enemy.
In Israel in Old Testament times God’s watchmen primarily were the prophets who heard from the LORD and passed on to His people His messages to them. These watchmen were summoned and invited by the LORD and called and commissioned by Him, and endowed by His Spirit to proclaim His message.
Added to this, the apostles and those who were faithful leaders within the wider Body of Messiah in the first century were also watchman, seeking the spiritual welfare of God’s people. Down through Church history God has had His watchmen in every century, faithful men who did not compromise on the Word of God.
The word “watchman” in the Hebrew describes one who “keeps, who guards others, who watches over, who protects and who saves lives, to observe, to be on one’s guard, to pay heed to one’s vigilance and to keep oneself from slumber or casualness in what they were to say as watchman.”
In spiritual matters today God’s watchman are His designated “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (and the elders), who have the responsibility to equip or prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the Body of Messiah globally might be built up, until it reaches the unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature (in spiritual matters), attaining to the full measure of the fullness of Messiah and no longer susceptible to spiritual deception, doctrine and false prophets and teachers (Ephesians 2:11-14). It needs to be said this is not referring to the New Apostolic reformation (NAR) now rebranded as the International Coalition of Apostolic Leadership (ICAL- A separate issue).
The word “night” in scripture metaphorically often describes a state of spiritual darkness. In John’s gospel we are told that when Judas went out to betray the Lord Jesus that it was “night.”
In the Greek text the word “night” not only meant literally at night, but metaphorically describes that Judas was walking away from the light of life into the realm of spiritual darkness. It was spiritually dark in his soul. He was walking away from the Word of God Himself, the true light of the world, and stepping out into the clutches of the evil one of darkness.
When you look at the messages of the Hebrew prophets, the Lord Jesus and the apostles and God’s faithful messengers down through Church history all of them told men and women to first repent before they could receive seasons of spiritual refreshing from the presence of the LORD in heaven and be saved! (Acts 3:19)
Watchman, that are faithful to God’s Word declaring the whole counsel of God, will first give men and women the law of God and the consequences of violating it before they give them the grace of God in order that people might repent and be thoroughly saved from sin’s power and from Hell and ultimately from the lake of fire.
In spiritual matters God’s watchmen then, like Ezekiel, are to warn both the righteous and the unrighteous, knowing that as watchmen themselves they will have to give an account to the LORD for what they say in His name or fail to say. The prophet Ezekiel was such a watchman. Our text for this study from God’s Word is found in the Book of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 3:16-21
(Vs.16) “And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: (Vs.17) “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give them warning from Me.
(Vs.18) “If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. (Vs.19)” But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
(Vs.20) “Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. (Vs.21)” But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”
Ezekiel was God’s watchman. The Hebrew word describes a watchman as one who “is a lookout, one who looks about being aware of his surroundings, a spy and one who watches closely the movements of others.” He was to warn those who were spiritually backslidden to amend their way and repent, as well as warning those who were spiritually sound to keep walking by faith but also capable of backsliding. Let’s now look at our text…
(Vs.16-17) “And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give them warning from Me.”
Whenever we see the number seven in scripture if points to a finished and completed work of God, something that had the divine seal and approval of God upon it. After seven days as Ezekiel sat waiting for the LORD to speak he received God’s message.
As God’s watchman and spokesman he was only to speak what he was told to speak and not to add anything to it or take away anything from it. This is God’s mandate for all who would speak and teach His Word including myself on this website.
Ministers of the Word of God, whether prophet or teacher, must only declare and announce and teach what God has said in His revealed Word the Bible. It is a completed canon. There are no more scriptures to be written.
No minister or theologian or so called ‘apostle’ or prophet’ has any authority to add to or to take away from scripture, and those who do God will deal with most severely (Proverbs 30:5-6) (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32) (1 Corinthians 4:6) (Revelation 22:18-19).
Added to this, a faithful minister of God’s Word will preach and teach the whole counsel (will) of God, not just pick and choose those passages of scripture he wants to (Acts 20:27).
Sadly, many ministers within wider Christendom today avoid preaching to their congregations about repentance, hell, sin, holy living, the coming judgement, the end-times and the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus because they do not want to ‘offend’ anyone, and in so doing avoid the offense of the cross. So Ezekiel was to proclaim all that God said to him.
And then we read to whom the Word of the LORD was addressed.
(Vs.18) “If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”
Today the preachers in the seeker friendly, seeker sensitive evangelical camp are hesitant to emphasize the seriousness and eternal consequences of unrepentant sin. They want people to feel welcome and affirmed and many are told that if they just say a prayer with their hands over their heart asking the Lord Jesus to come into their lives that they will be saved.
Many do this having never truly repented because they were not confronted with Biblical repentance neither with the spiritual depravity of their own hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) (Romans 3:9-18). Those preaching ‘a watered down’ gospel do not want people to feel too bad about themselves if the truth be known.
Of course the unsaved need to hear about the love of God and that the Lord Jesus has died for their sins, however, if they do not see their need to repent they cannot be saved (Ezekiel 18:30-32) (Matthew 4:17) (Acts 17:30) (Luke 13:3).
As we read in the prophet Isaiah; “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).
If those of us who are entrusted by the LORD to preach the Word of God holding nothing back, if we compromise our message, or avoid the more ’unpleasant’ parts of scripture and people are not really saved then God will hold us to account.
Today in many churches it is ‘unfashionable’ to preach about sin, repentance, hell and judgement and the need to live godly lives so that one might be prepared and ready to meet the LORD Jesus when He returns (2 Peter 3:3-12).
So through Ezekiel the LORD was warning those within Israel who were not really saved even though they were in the religious assemblies, to get saved. If Ezekiel held back because he feared their reaction then God would still judge the unsaved but hold Ezekiel accountable for their blood.
And then we read what else the LORD said to Ezekiel.
(Vs.19) “But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.”
Ezekiel as God’s spokesman and watchman and the one responsible to declare the whole counsel or will of God to Israel was to warn the wicked about his wickedness and the need to turn away from it. The words “to warn” describe one who “admonishes, teaches, one who shines by sending out light and to be a shining one in the darkness.”
As the psalmist writes; “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130). The simple are not those who are intellectually impaired but to those who respond to God’s Word with the simplicity of a child like trust in Him (Matthew 18:3).
Even if the wicked do not repent after having heard the whole counsel of God the watchman will have delivered his soul. The word “delivered” is a very strong word. It describes one “who snatches away, rescues, strips, recovers, plucks out and strips off” that which will condemn him before God. It is a very serious matter for God’s watchman to deliver His message in the way He wants it to be delivered and this is only possible when His messenger is truly filled with the Holy Spirit and grounded in the Word of God (Micah 3:8).
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and not doctrinal error (John 16:13-14). Any preaching and teaching, no matter how it may affect people emotionally and get them to respond, will in no way save their soul if it is not the truth and according to God’s Word. As it is written; “the sum (the entirety) of Your Word is truth” (Psalm 119:160).
Many false prophets and teachers abound within wider Christendom these days that give hyped up purpose driven motivational talks they call ‘sermons’ laced with scripture verses here and there and usually out of context.
In many pulpits and at lecterns in auditoriums the Bible is merely a prop. In these churches if you can call them that, there is a lot of noise, music and praises with an emphasis on miracles, signs and wonders, but no solid exposition of God’s Word.
In most cases those ‘prophets’ and so called ‘pastors’ ‘performing’ on stage cannot rightly divide the Word of God! They want to be popular if the truth be known.
Not only are they placing the souls of their ‘audience’ in jeopardy but also their very own souls as well. Indeed as it is written those of us who teach will be judged with a greater strictness (James 3:1).
False prophets and teachers are an infestation today within the western Body of Messiah as foretold by the apostles that would be a conspicuous feature of the last days (1 Peter 2:1-3) (1Timothy 4:1-3) (2 Timothy 3:1-9).
And then we read there is a warning for the righteous, those who are walking with God.
(Vs.20) “Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.”
This is a very sober warning for those who are walking by faith and are declared to be righteous before God. In the Word of God we see that there were those who walked with God but turned away from Him through embracing sin once again. Israel’s history speaks volumes on this matter. King Saul rejected God’s Word. Demas forsook Paul because Demas loved this world. King Solomon started out well but ended his life in despair and depression.
Both Peter and Jude speak about those who are “twice dead” being those who were spiritually dead but made spiritually alive by the Spirit, but then, who rejecting the Spirit and God’s word, became spiritually dead again and unable to repent (Jude 1:12b) (Hebrews 6:4-6).
If then the righteous man refuses to repent then God will bring a stumbling block into his life that will inevitably end in spiritual death if he does not repent. God will do everything in His power to save the spiritual backslider from spiritual shipwreck and hold out His spiritual power to that man to find cleansing in the Messiah’s blood; however God will not do the repenting for him.
God of course is not willing that any should perish but that all might come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
Within wider Christendom there is both the unsaved and the saved. There is the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, and the good fish and the bad fish in the net. This is why the watchman must proclaim the whole counsel of God in His Word without leaving anything out.
If a righteous man turns away from God and apostatises after he has been warned the works he has done will be null and void. If the watchman has not warned him then that watchman will be held accountable to God. That man’s blood will be on the hands of the watchman.
In scripture we see certain events and words repeated. They are repeated because they are vitally important. You have four gospels which all focus on the Lord Jesus and what He said and did yet each gospel writer adds some things that others leave out. It is much like separate cameras all focusing on the same events but from different angles.
God reiterates His call to Ezekiel calling him the watchman in Ezekiel 33:1-21. The details are enlarged but it is the same warning God gave to Ezekiel in chapter 3.
The watchman who stays spiritually alert standing at his post blows the trumpet when he sees the enemy advancing and he will not be held accountable for the blood of those that do not change their ways neither obey the Word of God. The sleeping or slothful watchman that does not blow the trumpet when he sees the enemy approaching will be held accountable for the blood of those he should have warned (Ezekiel 33:1-9).
Epilogue:
The Messiah our Lord Jesus told this parable and it is applicable to this day and age as we see His Second Coming approaching.
(Matthew 24:44-51) “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Vs.45) “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?” (Vs.46) “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” (Vs.47) “Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.” (Vs.48) “But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ (Vs.49) and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, (Vs.50) the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know (Vs.51) and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
There are several things to notice that relates to those watchman or shepherds who have the responsibility to be overseers of the Body of Messiah.
The master is the Messiah our Lord Jesus and He relates this parable in light of His Second Coming which will be when He is least expected, and that those who follow Him must be ready to meet Him when He returns and be found faithful to what He has called and gifted them to do in his absence.
The wise and faithful servant is that watchman the Lord Jesus the chief shepherd has put in charge of the other servants in His house being the Body of Messiah. He has set faithful watchmen over His Body the faithful Church to feed them the nutritious grain of God’s Word at the proper time in season and out of season.
This servant of the Messiah is the faithful watchman who rightly handles or divides the Word of truth. He serves them but does not lord over them. It will be good for that faithful watchman to be found doing what he has been ordained to do by the Lord Jesus when He comes back.
After the Lord Jesus has come back He will give that faithful watchman a much bigger task in the millennial kingdom (Luke 19:11-19). This faithful servant or watchman proclaims the whole counsel of God to his fellow servants under his leadership knowing that his eternal reward is coming.
However, the wicked servant is the one called to be a watchman but becomes careless in the things of God and does not concern himself with the fact that the Lord Jesus is coming back.
This slothful and disobedient so called watchman begins to heavy shepherd the flock and to introduce laughter, merriment and spiritual drunkenness such as we saw with the laughing revival under Rodney Howard Browne who called himself ‘the Holy Ghost bartender.’
Acting as if drunk he promoted all sorts of uncontrolled manifestations of one sort or another and the people followed suit including many pastors. As for any solid and sound exposition of God’s Word it was absent to say the least! This man was abusing his fellow servants and leading them into a kind of spiritual drunken stupor.
Many false prophets and teachers infest the wider Body of Messiah these days and by their false and spiritually seductive un-Biblical doctrines and manifestations are perpetrating a spiritual abuse on those who follow them.
The sheep are being fleeced from their hard earned dollars by these so called (profits) prophets and teachers profiteering on the blood of the Lamb. Just watch them ply their wares on the internet. Instead of being watchmen they are wolves in sheep’s clothing not sparing the flock from their covetous and idolatress greedy agenda.
When the Lord Jesus comes when He is least expected He will deal with these false prophets and teachers who are not His watchman. They have not prepared themselves spiritually but have deliberately put the Messiah’s Second Coming on the backburner and in most cases not even on their radar.
When the Lord Jesus comes back He will cut them to pieces and assign them a place with all Hypocrites (actors or stage performers wearing masks to hide their true face), where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And so we read “Watchman, what is left of the night?” The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but also the night.”
The night of the Great Tribulation is coming when no man shall be able to preach the gospel freely. While we still have the freedom to do this in the western democracies the time is rapidly approaching when preaching the Word of God publically will be outlawed.
During the Time of Great Tribulation the Gospel of the Kingdom will still be preached but in the midst of great adversity and spiritual darkness. We are to work while we have the light to work because when the night comes we will not be able to work as we do now (John 12:35).
Even today watchman on the walls are being jailed in Great Britain, censured on the streets of Europe and in Canada and in Australia, and marginalised within wider Christendom.
Today more than ever as we see the Day of the LORD approaching we need watchman on the walls of God’s living temple being the wider Body of Messiah. Satan does not care about the unsaved as they belong to him. The ones he goes after are those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:17).
Those who warn both the unrighteous and the righteous are the watchmen on the wall who will herald and proclaim the whole counsel of God being the Bible in its entirety, both to the righteous and the unrighteous within the rank and file of Christendom, especially in the western democracies traditionally associated with Biblical Judeo Christianity.
Those who are watchman must continue to faithfully serve the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made them overseers and heralds of God’s Word and when the chief watchman or shepherd appears these faithful watchmen will be rewarded and that abundantly by the master, the Messiah our Lord Jesus. They will hear Him say “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your LORD!”
These constitute “the Watchmen on the Wall.”
