THE WATCHMAN

So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel . . . (Ezekiel 33:7).

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 man is taken in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand (33:6).

And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (Hebrews 9:27-28).

It is certainly a Biblical principle that those who know of danger are required to warn those who are ignorant of it.  After the warning has been given, it is for each individual to decide what he will do with the warning; whether to heed it or disregard it.  If the warning is disregarded, at the very least, the blood of the warned will not be required of the watchman.

A Christian does not need to be an expert on the "end times" to know that judgement is certainly coming--it begins at our personal death.  One of the reasons the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news is that it is only through Him that we will find commendation rather than condemnation in judgement and escape eternal destruction.

One of the responsibilities of each Christian is to be a watchman.  Christians tend to talk so much of God's love that they do not speak much of God's justice.  We know, of course, that there is no love if there is no justice and justice requires judgment. 

Are you being faithful as a watchman?  When we were vacationing in Keystone, South Dakota, some Christians had placed on a billboard a verse from the prophet Amos, PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD (4:12). Many people were seeing it--I wonder how many were heeding it and making preparations.  Perhaps you could do something like the Christians of Keystone.

Our Father's Blessings,
Tom