RTW 2023

Once again a message came to me from the LORD: “Son of man, give your people this message: ‘When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman. When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people. Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die. They heard the alarm but ignored it, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives. But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.’

“Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself.“Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?

Ezekiel 33:1-11

The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 3,023. Then in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year he took 832 more. In Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year he sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who took 745 more—a total of 4,600 captives in all.

Jeremiah 52:28-30

• The call to Ezekiel to be a watchman is a reminder of Ezekiel 3:16-21.
• In Ezekiel’s original call, he was told that he would speak to resistant people.
• Here the duties of a watchman are laid out.
• God establishes Ezekiel as a watchman.
• Because of this, God is taking a direct concern for the safety of the house of Israel.
• God is also the one bringing the threat.
• Ezekiel’s life hangs upon his obedience to the task that God called him to.
• The house of Israel lives with a sense of futility.
• There is hope, if they will turn back to God.
• The great tragedy is the house of Israel refusing to repent.
• Ezekiel bears responsibility to God for warning the wicked.
• Ezekiel also bears responsibility for the wicked people he is warning.
• Acts 20:28; Hebrews 13:17
• The wrath of God in judgment is approaching.
• We graciously sound an alarm so that people escape.
• The love and grace of God’s will is that the wicked repent and escape.
• Be on watch!

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Be a watchman for my generation!