Sounding The Alarm

A year and half prior to the prophecies of Ezekiel 33, the city of Jerusalem was captured and burned by the Babylonian army. They didn’t have TV, telephones or internet in those days. The swiftest forms of transportation were horses and camels. So, it was a year and half after the event when a survivor of Jerusalem told Ezekiel what happened. It was in this context, that the Lord gave to Ezekiel a word about being watchmen who sounds the alarm.

“Again the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand. So, you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a Word from My mouth and warn them for Me.” Ezekiel 33:1-7

In the US Army, the maximum penalty for guard who falls asleep while on duty during wartime is the death penalty. The watchman is responsible to sound the alarm if he sees life threatening circumstances materializing. The Lord called Ezekiel to watch out for people’s souls.

“When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” Ezekiel 33:8-9

There is a greater life to protect than the biological body. It is the soul. The only One who can transfer our souls from this temporary world to the eternal kingdom of God is God Himself. Everyone needs a personal relationship with the Lord.

“Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” Ezekiel 33:11

The Lord says in 1 Timothy 2:4 that He wants all people to be saved. In Matthew 22:9, He says, “Go into the highways and byways, and invite everyone you find to the wedding feast.”

“When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die.” Ezekiel 33:13

One of the devil’s devious deceptions is to convince sinners to trust in self-righteousness. That if they do certain good deeds and don’t do certain bad deeds, they are righteous before God! Jesus illustrated self-righteous faith in Luke 18:11-12, He said, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’” He prayed “thus with himself” – “God.” Yes, he was a god, but a false God. Jesus said that the Pharisee was not just before God. He assumed that he did not need Jesus Messiah as much as the worst tax-collector or prostitute did. To God, one sin is unacceptable. We must all confess that we are sinners in a need of Christ to save us fro our sins.

“Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right... he shall surely live.” Ezekiel 33:14, 16

The lawful and right deed to do is to repent of self-righteous faith and to ask God to be merciful to you and to impute to you His righteousness via faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Luke 18:13-14, “The tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you; this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

“And it came to pass in the 12th year of our captivity, in the 10th month, on the 5th day of the month, that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been captured!” Ezekiel 33:21

The above passage gives us the context and time frame of this prophecy. What better time to talk about being faithful watchmen than immediately following the destruction of a society due to watchmen who did not do their jobs?

“Then the Word of the Lord came to me, saying: son of man, they who inhabit those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.’ Therefore, say to them, thus says the Lord God: you eat meat with blood, you lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land? You rely on your sword, you commit abominations, and you defile one another’s wives. Should you then possess the land?” Ezekiel 33:23-26

There always seems to be someone who has a word from the Lord that does not require God’s people to repent of sin and to be transformed by God. The word that was going around in Ezekiel’s day reasoned like this, if God saved one Abraham, how much more would He not save many Abraham’s. They thought that since they were Abraham’s descendants, God would save them just as God saved their forefather. But Abraham did not eat meat with blood in it. He didn’t worship idols. He didn’t rely on his sword and murder. He didn’t commit adultery. No, God was not going to save them when they behaved like that.

“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the Word is that comes from the Lord.’ So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Ezekiel 33:30-33

The Lord revealed to Ezekiel that people were speaking well of him besides walls and in the doorways of their houses. Neighborly chats! His listeners were inviting others to come and hear him speak. His words sounded like beautiful music to their ears. The problem was that no one was acting on his words. With mouths they expressed love, but in hearts they were still greedy.

Did their inaction discredit Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry among them? No, the Lord assured Ezekiel that he was a prophet to them.

Ezekiel was like the prophets who proceeded him, of which the Lord said in 2 Chronicles 36:15-16, “And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.”

In Matthew 23:37, Jesus lamented over those who kill the true prophets of God, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

Concerning the prophecies that Jesus Christ has given our generation, He says in Revelation 1:3, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” The Lord is sounding the alarm. Are His words only beautiful music to our ears? Or are we heeding them and making efforts to warn those around us of them to saving of their souls? May God by His grace and by His Spirit help us to do so!