Are you watching for Santa or are you a watchman hired by God? Or maybe you are watching your eyelids because it’s getting late.
Ezekiel 33:1-11
Once again a message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, give your people this message: ‘When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman.3 When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people. 4 Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die. 5 They heard the alarm but ignored it, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives. 6 But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.’
7 “Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. 8 If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. 9 But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself.
10 “Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ 11 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?
We are the Watchmen.
It’s on us. It’s on us to tell people, to warn people. YES!
There are times this hits me so hard and I just want to go out in the public boldly speaking out and telling everyone I know about Jesus. I want to go everywhere and proclaim it so loud. But then I think, people will think I am crazy, and no one listens to a crazy person. Then 2 Corinthians 5:13 comes to my mind. “If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God.”
If people don’t listen to us, it’s on them. But if we don’t tell, it is on us when they die in their sins..
There are other times where I don’t want to be so bold. I want to go into a hibernation hole. I’m sitting in my hole and I know I need to crawl out and say something, but I’m too timid and I don’t know what to say. I need to get it through my head that “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7) and trust that God, through the Holy Spirit, will give me the language and the words to say.
It’s on us to tell people.
Romans 10:14 But how can they call on him to save him unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
Not everyone will welcome the Good News. But that’s on them.
I have a question. If the watchman knew enemies were coming but didn’t warn the people, does this make the watchman a wicked man? So if we are the watchmen, and if we don’t warn people, are we wicked?
Why? Why am I not as bold as my mind thinks? When will my physical self catch up to my spiritual self? The spirit is pushing. This reminds me of when Jesus went to pray at Gethsemane and he came back to find the disciples sleeping and he said, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?… For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
How much more urgent would we share the Gospel if we were on watch and saw the enemy coming?
The enemy is already here.
You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. Hebrews 3:13
