Ezekiel 3:16-21 (NKJV): Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When 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, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”
What does it mean to be a watchman to you? Some would say that this describes a security guard. This is a good description but, when we look at this passage, it would seem to mean more than that.
When we understand the context used here, we see that God was encouraging Ezekiel to point out to Israel, at this particular time, where they are falling short and that they need to turn things around before it’s too late. As we can also gather from this passage, is he does warn them and do not address their sins, he would not be held accountable. He would be if he did not follow God’s direction to him. This meant he carried a great responsibility to those he served. Basically, as a watchman, he needed to be an alarm to his people to help steer them back on a path of righteousness.
Did Ezekiel fail to make a difference in this time? No, he didn’t. Change requires that there needs to be someone who points out what needs to change. Then it is up to the other(s) to follow through. If, the watchman so to speak, does their job correctly, they have started with the change, they did not fail. They accomplished what they were to do. You do remember the adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but, you can’t make it drink.” This is what Ezekiel did in this account.
You may be asking, “What does that have to do with the times we are in now?” There are many who point out our current situation. They spend time in prayer and studying, to bring God’s Word to an understanding for others to hear. They talk about what will happen if we don’t make changes to our current situations. Basically, they are the watchmen of today.
We look around and see our current state of affairs. Many are sick, impoverished, and do not have hope. We see our servant leaders, in governmental offices, making decisions, as if they are dictators. Our debt to income ratio continues to increase, as many are spending more than they have. Basically, our economy seems to be in trouble the more we go into debt.
We see many panic during this crisis. They are hoarding things that have nothing to do with this crisis, because of their unsurety of future events. We see many who put their trust in things of this world, although, these are things we know will certainly deteriorate.
Let us all be watchmen and keep pointing to the cross. Let’s be encouragers to those who are lost or who lost hope. Let’s remind everyone Who it is we can turn to, even if they don’t listen.
(Dedicated to Pastor Dewey, whom, I believe is one of our watchmen of the times. He has not failed in making a difference in today’s world)
