When I was in college, all the freshmen men were assigned to guard the campus from Friday evening after dinner to the start of the football games on Saturday. It was customary back then for the visiting team to send people out to “paint the campus” of the home team. This involved finding any flat surface that was visible to the masses and writing pep slogans for the visitors. Our job was to make sure this didn’t happen. When the guards were gathered on Friday, we were always given the charge: “Don’t let it be said that our campus was desecrated on your watch.”
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.
Ezekiel 33:1-6
God has been telling Ezekiel the fate of His people and all the nations surrounding them – and it is not a pretty picture. Ezekiel knows that he is prophet to a doomed nation. God has given them chance after chance to turn back to Him, but they have ignored His call and laughed at His prophets. An invading army will soon come to destroy the cities and take captive those people who survive the battles.
In this passage, God reiterates Ezekiel’s mission to God’s chosen people. The word is out that a mighty army is coming to plunder and destroy, so it is time to deploy the watchmen. In time of war or threat of war, the cities of Ezekiel’s time would increase the duties of the watchmen posted on the walls of the city. Instead of just watching for strangers entering the area, these guards were now responsible for keeping a lookout for the approach of the enemy armies. From their high vantage point, these watchmen could identify troop movements when they were still miles away. This advanced notice could give the people in the city time to complete preparation and increase their chances of fighting off the attack. Without this time, the enemy would be at the gate with their battering ram before the city knew what hit them.
God’s message to Ezekiel was – you are My watchman. As watchman, Ezekiel could not fight off the attackers, but he could warn the people. It was his job to make sure that the Israelites were aware of the danger they faced in time to take action. Like Ezekiel, we are watchmen. The enemy is constantly probing, looking for weaknesses to exploit. We must sound the alarm! A good watchman does not make one announcement from his tower and then run and hide. He continues to warn the people until there is no more time left. In doing this, the watchman may put himself at risk.
Sound the alarm! If we are obedient in our duties, at the end of the battle our Commander will recognize our service. If we fail to sound the alarm as long as there is breath in us, we share in the responsibility for the fate of our people. When the commander asks if the people were caught sleeping we want to be able to say – “Not on my watch!”
We serve an awesome God!!!!!
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.
Ezekiel 33:1-6
God has been telling Ezekiel the fate of His people and all the nations surrounding them – and it is not a pretty picture. Ezekiel knows that he is prophet to a doomed nation. God has given them chance after chance to turn back to Him, but they have ignored His call and laughed at His prophets. An invading army will soon come to destroy the cities and take captive those people who survive the battles.
In this passage, God reiterates Ezekiel’s mission to God’s chosen people. The word is out that a mighty army is coming to plunder and destroy, so it is time to deploy the watchmen. In time of war or threat of war, the cities of Ezekiel’s time would increase the duties of the watchmen posted on the walls of the city. Instead of just watching for strangers entering the area, these guards were now responsible for keeping a lookout for the approach of the enemy armies. From their high vantage point, these watchmen could identify troop movements when they were still miles away. This advanced notice could give the people in the city time to complete preparation and increase their chances of fighting off the attack. Without this time, the enemy would be at the gate with their battering ram before the city knew what hit them.
God’s message to Ezekiel was – you are My watchman. As watchman, Ezekiel could not fight off the attackers, but he could warn the people. It was his job to make sure that the Israelites were aware of the danger they faced in time to take action. Like Ezekiel, we are watchmen. The enemy is constantly probing, looking for weaknesses to exploit. We must sound the alarm! A good watchman does not make one announcement from his tower and then run and hide. He continues to warn the people until there is no more time left. In doing this, the watchman may put himself at risk.
Sound the alarm! If we are obedient in our duties, at the end of the battle our Commander will recognize our service. If we fail to sound the alarm as long as there is breath in us, we share in the responsibility for the fate of our people. When the commander asks if the people were caught sleeping we want to be able to say – “Not on my watch!”
We serve an awesome God!!!!!
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