A Word in Season: The Watchman (Ezekiel 33:7)

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God's servants are given various names and titles in the scriptures, many of which refer directly to particular roles and responsibilities that they have in terms of the duty that they discharge toward God.

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Some of these are more direct, others of them are images that carry something of the sense of the work that these servants of God do.

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So for example, you will hear them described as overseers, those who watch over God's people and take regard for the things that they need.

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Or they are shepherds, pastors, those who care for the flock of Jesus Christ under the

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Great Shepherd, the ones who guide and guard and provide for the sheep at the direction of their master.

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Or they might be stewards in the household of God, responsible men who are discharging that which has been put in their care in order that the household of God may be well -ordered, well -provided for and well -governed.

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One of the other images that we might draw on is that of the watchman. It's found, for example, in Ezekiel and chapter 33, not the only place in that prophecy where we come up against it, but there in verse 7, the

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Lord says to Ezekiel, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me.

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And the context is of a watchman who is keeping guard on the walls of a city.

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He is keeping guard on the borders of a land. And there is a danger that is coming in.

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If an enemy arrives and the sword is drawn, then it is the watchman's duty to make known to people that danger is upon them.

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If those people then neglect that warning, reject it, have nothing to do with it, and the sword comes upon them, then it is not the fault of the watchman, but the fault of the people.

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And the blood of the people will be on the heads of the people. But if the watchman fails to sound the trumpet, if the watchman gives no warning, then the blood of the people is upon his own head.

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He is responsible for discharging his duty effectively and faithfully.

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And so Ezekiel is made to be a watchman for the Lord with regard to the house of Israel.

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And in a similar fashion, God's servants today are to be watchmen. There's something of this echoing out in Paul's declaration, having faithfully discharged his ministry, that his hands were free from the blood of all men.

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The apostle Paul was sent not just to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but he was sent to be a preacher to the

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Gentiles, to the nations of the world. And again, there's a similar sense for God's servants today.

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His pastors, those who go out making the word of God known, the evangelists in the work of the kingdom, those who declare the righteous judgments of God and point toward the saving provisions of Christ, are to be faithful and responsible men.

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The judgment of God is coming. And it is the task of the watchman to make known that that judgment is near at hand, but also that there is a way of escape.

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And if the watchman does that faithfully, then there is no blood on his hands, no blood on his head.

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And that is one of the tasks that a faithful preacher of the gospel will still discharge today.

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So when you hear the word of God preached, expect at times in its proper place and proportion and depending on the circumstances, perhaps much more prominent and much more persistent than in other times and places.

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Expect to hear the note of warning. Expect to hear the watchman sound the trumpet in order that sinners might know that a holy

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God will bring judgment down upon the head of the wicked. The watchman himself has a duty to be responsible to the people for whom he is caring and to be faithful to the

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God who has put him in that position. And so he must warn.

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He must let people know that the wicked will die unless they turn from their ways.

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God in his mercy has sent watchmen to warn us, to turn us away from our sins, to turn us back to God in Christ Jesus.

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So pray for their faithfulness, pray for the responsible discharge of their duty, heed their words and their warnings when they come, that your blood may not be upon your head any more than upon theirs.