BLUF: The Lord appointed ‘watchmen’ to be both vigilant and to be a prophetic voice for the sake of the unit/people/nation.

Context, Context, Context: Ezekiel 33 is the passage under discussion. In it, God calls Ezekiel to be a watchman, a vigilant scout and prophetic voice.

Text: So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. (Ez 33:7-9)

Teaching: God has called individuals throughout redemptive history to be prophetic voices and spiritual scouts. With what aim? To warn. To speak truth to power. To reclaim. To educate. To encourage. The list could continue.

Questions for Reflection:

• How do we distinguish between authentic truth-tellers and charlatans?
• How might we train our tools of discernment?
• How can we leverage the wisdom of the authentic truth-tellers in our midst?

Encouragement: There is no paucity of noisy voices competing for our attention. Therefore, it is wise to know what we should heed and what we should ignore. God has continually graced us with watchmen like Ezekiel throughout the historical plan of redemption. Will we listen to the wise watchmen in our day?