“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me” (Ezekiel 3:17 KJV)
God has called each member of the church to be a watchman.
When there is danger coming, it’s our job to warn others of what is coming so that people will get ready. This same principle applies to us in these last days because there are people in the church and in the world who are not spiritually ready for what is soon to come upon this world as an overwhelming surprise, and God has given us a duty to warn others about what is soon to take place in these last days.
God has given us a present truth message for these last days, and that message is Jesus is coming again and it’s time to get ready. Our role as watchmen is to prepare a people to meet their God when He comes again through the clouds to save His faithful remnant people.
The watchmen are called to warn others in the church and in the world of what is soon to come. They are to blow the trumpet and awaken others out of their slumber so they can get ready for what’s coming. As God’s people, we are to witness to people around us and evangelize to people the gospel of Jesus Christ so they can be saved in the kingdom of God. With everything that we see happening in the world today in light of Bible prophecy, we are to do our part, as watchmen, in getting people ready for the crisis that is soon to take place, and to get people ready for the second coming of Jesus.
The reality we face today is that a majority of church members are not sounding the alarm as we should be. So many folks in the church are fast asleep and caught up in sin and worldly pleasures that we don’t make time for God through personal devotion and doing the work that he has called us to do in these last days. We don’t see our need for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we should in our personal lives to finish the work that God has called us to do. It is the goal of Satan to get many of God’s professed people distracted with worldly things to the point we won’t spend time with God and witnessing to souls around us. If we are not careful of this, we will eventually grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
The only way we can truly overcome this reality is only through prayer and fasting. We need a revival and reformation in these last days so we can be empowered by the Holy Spirit to finish this work and hasten the second coming of Jesus Christ. God wants to save us and is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Every one of us has a role to be watchmen on the walls of Zion and to get people ready for the second coming of Jesus. It’s time to get ready and to stay ready, “For yet a little while, And he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Hebrews 10:37 KJV).
In the book of Ezekiel 3:17 the Word of God says,
“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.”
This text is saying that God has made every member of the church a watchman in the house of Israel, which would be the church today. Many people in the church are fast asleep and are not aware of what is taking place in the world. Prophecy is being fulfilled right before our own eyes all over the world, and we are to warn people of what is soon to take place and get people ready for the second coming of Jesus before the close of human probation. In volume 4 of the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Ellen White says,
“God has called every member of the church to be a watchman on the wall. We are to preach the everlasting gospel to those in the church and in the world, proclaiming that Jesus is soon to come and it’s time to get ready. Bible prophecy is being fulfilled all around the world and it’s all showing us that we are nearing home. If we don’t warn people of the times that we are living in now, many people will be lost. It’s time for us to be watchmen in our churches and schools, preparing a people for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ellen G. White ~ Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 4).
Every believer is called to be a spiritual watchman to some degree in his or her prayer life. It may be a watchman upon the walls of your family, or the walls of your church or your city, or God may entrust you with being a spiritual watchman on the walls of the nation. Some may have a more advanced calling in this aspect of their prayer life.
A spiritual watchman is one who has been uniquely equipped by God to see. In Matthew 13 God says that every believer has been given eyes to see and ears to hear. But a watchman has to be equipped by God to see what others do not see and he has a unique capacity to see when the enemy is invading. The enemy comes disguised, but a spiritual watchman is very alert and blows the trumpet and gives a sound so that family members can be quickly warned and not destroyed. Or he may be given spiritual eyes to see something that is happening in the life of the church. The watchman suddenly realizes that something has come in and there is turmoil and dissension and conflict.
A watchman doesn’t just see and observe or hear. A watchman blows the trumpet. The watchman sounds the note: the enemy is approaching! or the enemy has slipped in! In history, the watchman on the walls carried with him the safety of the entire city. The city could sleep at night knowing the watchman was on the wall. If they, with the uniqueness of their sight and hearing, noticed that the enemy was creeping up to the wall, they could blow the trumpet, or the Scripture in Joel says, "lift up the ram’s horn" and let the sound go out and give the warning so the people could ready themselves and not be taken unawares.
The question we must ask ourselves is where are the Nehemiahs, Joshuas, and Elijahs today? God needs people, including young people, who will sound the alarm and warn people of the times we are living in, showing them that we are living in the end of time. It’s time to get ready! Get ready! Get ready! Our time here on this earth is not very long. Very soon Jesus is coming in the clouds and the question is are we ready? And are we, as watchmen, getting other people ready for the second coming of Jesus? Are we going to our neighborhoods and communities, sharing with people the good news (the gospel) of Jesus Christ?
God has always had His watchmen in every generation who have borne messages of warning to the culture of their day. This is how God works. It is no different today. In every age, God has always had a message for both the church and the world in times of crisis.
How did the King of Nineveh and his immoral subjects come to repentance? It was through the preaching of Noah, who warned of coming judgments because of their great wickedness (Jonah 1:2, Jonah 3:4). How did King Ahab and the disobedient nation of Israel turn away from their idolatry? It was through the strait testimony of Elijah who fearlessly declared that the nation had rebelled against the commandments of the Lord (1 Kings 18:17, 18).
How was King David confronted with his grievous sins? Sins that he thought had escaped notice? Sins he committed against God and man; how where these sins made known to him? Did King David read about them in the National Enquirer Magazine? No. God sent David a message though the prophet Nathan and laid open his secret sins (2 Samuel 12:7, 9). There is a God in heaven who will not remain silent forever. God will never allow sin to go unreproved and unpunished, even if pardon is eventually granted to the penitent.
But what is happening today? The watchmen are not fulfilling their divinely appointed duties. Too many preachers don’t realize the sacredness of their holy office. Sins go unreproved and the disobedient are not warned. The faithful voice of rebuke is no longer being heard. The watchmen have become men-pleasers, self-indulgent and ease-loving; crying “Peace, peace” when the Lord has not called for peace (Jeremiah 6:14).
“His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb (mute) dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter”( Isaiah 56:10, 11.)
If the watchmen are not going to stand up for righteousness and speak the words of God that alone can pierce the hard hearts of men, arouse their conscience and bring them to their knees – then who is going to do it? Who is going to speak out against infidelity and against the fashionable sins of our times?
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My name is Musa Nkosi. I’m a graduate from Southwestern Adventist University, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications. I serve in media ministry, personal ministries, and communications at the Baytown United SDA Church in Houston, Texas. My goal and desire is to use my talents for the Lord’s cause in the finishing of the work.
