I woke up on Sunday with the following question on my mind: What happens when watchmen sleep? As I thought about the question, my attention turned to Ezekiel 3:17, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.”
We need to understand that Ezekiel was not the only watchman in Israel when God called him. We read about many other watchmen in Israel as, for example, in Isaiah 56:10: “Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.”
The prophetic calling of Ezekiel by God made him a watchman for the house of Israel and as such his job was to warn the people of Israel from God. Warning the people was his primary task or what his calling as prophet was all about, like dogs are expected to do in the night whilst everyone else is sleeping.
What happens when watchmen sleep? I found the answer in the New Testament. Matthew 13:24-26: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.”
It is interesting to note that the word devil actually means enemy. Accordingly, 1Peter 5:8 exhorts and warns, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
Obviously the enemy can only succeed in planting weeds in a wheat farm “while everyone [including watchman] is sleeping” or in the absence of watchmen, which is not possible in regards to the people of God. God would not have his people without watchmen as long as the enemy is out there.
Sadly, there were watchmen in Israel when God called Ezekiel and made him a watchman but Isaiah described them as mute dogs who lie around and dream and love to sleep. He went further saying, “They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough…; they all turned to their own way; each seeks his own gain.” (Isaiah 56:11)
As I read Isaiah’s words, it felt like an indictment of nowadays churches with the phenomenon involving an increasing number of “prophets” drawing huge crowds to themselves and making substantial financial gains in the process whilst failing to fulfil the primary task of a prophet, namely, to warn the people as watchman. Such prophets would not warn people from God lest they are labelled “prophets of doom”. They promise blessings without repentance but this kind of blessings often come with sorrow so that in doing so these prophets cause more spiritual harm to the people than Good.
However, the blessings that follow repentance come without sorrow. This kind of blessings is for the people to enjoy, using Apostle Paul’s expression.
Listen to God speaking to Ezekiel: Ezekiel 3:18, “When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die, and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” Again, Ezekiel 3:21, “But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning and you will have saved yourself.”
God’s warnings are always for the good of his people, that is, in order to save lives, to secure their blessings, to keep the devourer and thief (devil) from sneaking into their lives.
What happens when watchmen sleep? The people of God will have no one to warn them so that they would be at the mercy of the enemy… and perish, which is not God’s will.
Lord in your mercy call and send watchmen to your people especially in these last days, and grant us the grace to listen in Jesus Christ’s names!
