Ezekiel the Watchman

The employment I found while I was in my twenty’s was as an Operator in a petroleum refinery. Refining petroleum into useful consumer products involves chemical and physical processes that use complicated mechanical equipment. On a daily basis one of the primary tasks was to keep a close watch on the mechanical integrity of the equipment. I was essentially a “watchman” over the process. As a watchman I had to be on a constant lookout for danger in failing equipment and had to use my five senses to detect problems. If there was a problem detected I had to alert others so that proper defenses could be put in motion.

This is very much like a watchman in a military sense. A watchman will pace his walk looking and listening for signs of intruders or enemies. If one is found the watchman must sound the alarm to warn others.

The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel was also a watchman. Ezekiel was an ordinary person just like you and I. He happened to be in the family of Levi which meant that the caring of the temple fell to his family and by employment he performed the duties of the priest; taking care of the altar, the table of showbread, the candlesticks, maybe even caring for the animals brought into the temple for sacrifice. He performed the dailies of the temple life, just like we take care of the dailies of Temple Baptist Church. He was just an ordinary man doing an ordinary job in the temple. The time in which Ezekiel was thirty years of age he was a captive of the Babylonian Empire. Because of the sin of idolatary the nation Israel the Lord gave the nation over to the Babylonians for a season. Babylon carried away captive 10,000 of Israel’s best: the educated ones, the nobles, the craftsmen, the wealthy ones and all the treasure of the country. Ezekiel was one of these 10,000.

Ezekiel was an ordinary man living in a refugee camp for five years when an extraordinary thing happened to him. As he was sitting on the riverbank the very presence of God came upon him and God Himself opened the windows of heaven where Ezekiel could see God in his glory and things in heaven! There are only two other recorded instances when a person was permitted to look into heaven and see God! This is a very significant event. All of a sudden, God, heaven and all the things of the temple took on a reality that Ezekiel had not had before; he discovered that what he had been taught was not just a myth but reality! What a shock! Can you imagine what must be going on in Ezekiel’s mind? It was so shocking that after the window into heaven closed Ezekiel just sat there on the riverbank for seven days digesting what hat just happened. Who knows what he was thinking!

After seven days the presence of God came on Ezekiel again but this time God gave Ezekiel a new job. “Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” Ezekiel 3:15-17. After Ezekiel’s close encounter with God he had a new job, a new perspective, and a new command. He was given the job of being the “Watchman” of the nation’s souls.

His new job consisted of two separate commands: he was to “hear the word at my mouth” and then to “give them warning”. God was going to tell Ezekiel of the right way to live and then it was Ezekiel’s responsibility to tell those he was watchman over what the Lord said. So long as Ezekiel did this he was absolved of their blood. It was then up to the hearer whether to obey or not. It was up to Ezekiel to tell.

This is very much like it is today. I am an ordinary person, living an ordinary life, doing ordinary things. One day I had a close encounter with God, I accepted him as my savior and He came to indwell me. My life was forever changed. I have a new perspective, a new command and a new job. I too am a watchman over the souls of those that God brings across my path. I too have a command to hear God’s word; I too have a command to warn others.

If you have ever accepted Christ as your savior, if you have His Holy Spirit dwelling within, then you also have this same command to hear His word and to be a watchman over the souls of others. You have circles of people that you are watchman to. You have your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, and those that you meet on occasion. God has warned the saved person “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” Ezekiel 3:18

My brother or sister let not the blood of your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers or brief encounters be upon your hands. Be a faithful watchman over their souls.