Where Are The Watchmen?
Where Are The Watchmen?
“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen, All the day and all the night, Continually, they are not silent.” O you remembering YHWH, do not keep silence for yourselves…”
Isaiah 62:6 (LSV)
The literal Hebrew translation carries a sense of compulsion and a distinct warning to those who have been called thus.
“do not keep silence for yourselves”
In other words, do not keep silent for fear of the rejection of men, do not seek to be popular nor accepted, but “cry aloud” continuously, regardless of the consequences. Do not spare yourselves or compromise the call to find favor with others. Faithfulness to Him will always bring rejection and dishonor.
Years ago in prayer, the phrase came to me:
“Those who bear His Word
must bear His reproach”.
It is one thing to share pleasant things from His Word; good things that can be readily received, where the edge of the sword is blunted, the blow of the hammer is softened, and the Will of God is reduced to the words of men. God’s Word, apart from His Spirit, lacks the fire and the intensity of Him.
Jesus declared the Words He speaks “They are spirit and they are life”.
Fire is essential in the vessel who would be faithful to Him. It is the element of His Word. He who is a consuming fire breathes His Holy flame into those who would faithfully bear it. Those who would bear this Word cannot do so with any sense of pride or arrogancy, for in touching His fire they intuitively know their own unworthiness. They have seen Him in some measure and in so doing have seen themselves.
Words without fire are words without His Life
Paul well knew the passion of this call.
“Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years
I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears”
Acts 20:31
There is a cry that wells up in the Spirit of God: Where are MY watchmen? Where are those who feel angst over the condition of the Church of Jesus Christ? Where are those who are broken over the lukewarm and apathetic response to her plight? We have become so desensitized in our culture that it has robbed us of the “fear of the Lord” and the overwhelming sense of His Holiness. We have presented a gospel that lulls His own to slumber. We have separated faith from His works. We have promoted professional ministry to diminish our need to know God for ourselves.
Isaiah cries out:
“we have turned every one to his own way”
Isaiah 53:6
Whenever His people lose the sense of His presence, they fail to warn and exhort others. They become as Cain with his brother.
“Am I my brother’s keeper?”
This phrase typifies a spirit of apathy and slumber. I do not want to get involved. I do not want to bear the reproach of my Master. I choose Barabbas over Jesus. I will walk on the broad path rather than the ever-narrowing one.
Paul declares to Timothy the purpose of the God-given Word:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…”
2 Timothy 3:16
WHY?
“that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:17
Do we really comprehend the declaration of the Spirit in these verses? If the Word we speak does not culminate in the people of God being “equipped” for their own work of the Lord, then the Word being ministered is NOT BREATHED OF THE SPIRIT!
Let us consider our ways, the words we speak, the lives we live, and the accountability we bear (continuously) before Him.
The Word of the Lord to Haggai, the prophet and watchman of the Lord:
“Ye have sown much, and bring in little…
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways”!
Haggai 1:6-7
Apathy and Expectation
When apathy reigns there is no expectation of God moving in our midst. Sunday after Sunday, week after week, in the multitude of words that go forth there is no corresponding expectation of radical change. (Expectation is the fruit of faith). It is in this environment that God speaks His Word to us:
“Thus Saith the LORD,
Consider your ways”!
Related Post: Our Church or His House
Brian Troxel
