“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.”
– Ezekiel 3:17
Ah. This picture in Ezekiel chapter three picks up on Ezekiel chapter two and God’s call and Ezekiel’s life to proclaim His Word. And here in Ezekiel chapter three, we see this powerful image that we see at different points in the Bible. God is saying to Ezekiel, “I have made you a watchman.” And one of the primary responsibilities, if not the primary responsibility of a watchman was to be on the lookout, to stand on the wall, to look out and see when an enemy is coming or when anything is coming that the people inside the walls need to be warned about, which is why God says, “I’ve made you a watchman, Ezekiel. Whenever you hear a Word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.”
Ezekiel 3:17 Provides a Sobering Warning
God’s Word, get the picture here, is a warning. God gives warnings all throughout His Word. And for those who hear those warnings, we are watchmen on the wall to warn others based on what God has said. So this just takes what we were praying, according to Ezekiel 2, in the previous podcast episode to a whole other level. That we are surrounded today by people who are on a road, this is what the Bible clearly teaches, in their sin, apart from Jesus, on a road that leads to eternal everlasting suffering in hell, never, ever ending.
If there was ever a need for a warning, this is it. Not just an army is coming that could take your life today. No. Eternity and suffering is coming. It will take your life forever. This is warning that people need to hear. And God has given this Word of warning to you and me. We know this. Every one of us who is in Christ knows this. And we’re surrounded today, this week, by people who don’t know what’s coming.
Ezekiel 3:17 Reminds Us of Our Responsibility
And we have been given a responsibility. We are watchmen God has set up, put in people’s lives, to be a warning to them. Who do you need to warn today? Who do I need to warn today? And who do we need to warn this week that judgment for sin is coming, and that salvation is possible. That God loves us, that He’s made away in Jesus to be saved from all of our sin, to be saved from eternal, everlasting suffering in hell, to experience eternal, everlasting life now and forever in heaven.
God help us to faithfully give this warning to people around us today, to people around us this week. God help us not to be silent on the wall. We pray that you’d help us to be faithful watchmen, that when we hear this word from your mouth. That we give others a warning from you. God, that our lives would be a picture of your warning and your pleading and your loving voice that wants to bring salvation.
God Desires All to Experience Eternal Life
We know 2 Peter 3:9, you don’t desire anyone to perish, but all to experience eternal life. God, we pray that you would give us that desire, a desire that overcomes our timidity, our fear, just anything that would keep us from going to people today and to people this week and proclaiming your Word as a warning, as a good needed warning.
And God, we pray this for the nations. We pray for the Bhotiya people of India, also way up in the Himalayas. God, we pray that someone would go and warn the Bhotiya people, these Tibetan Buddhist people, God, that someone would warn them that judgment for sin is coming but that salvation is possible in Jesus. God, please send somebody.
And use our lives and our families and our churches to give this warning to billions of people and thousands of people, groups who need to hear this warning and need to hear your love for them through the proclamation of your Word to them, this warning from you. God, help us to be faithful to deliver it to them, to people right around us, to peoples around the world. We pray for this in Jesus’ name, according to Ezekiel 3:17. Help us to be faithful watchmen. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
