Sunday January 10, 2021
Wait-Watcher
Most of us know the Christmas song “Go Tell It On the Mountain.” But did you know there was another version? It is an African-American spiritual, said to date from the early 1800s. The second verse has a very interesting and peculiar line in it: “He made me a watchman upon a city wall, and if I am a Christian, I am the least of all.” A watchman? What are we supposed to be watching?
Throughout history, God has appointed watchmen, those who warn of approaching enemy, to alert His people of impending danger (2 Kin.9:17). They are our examples. A watchmen is one who carefully watches, defends, guards, and preserves those under his patrol. (See WORD WISDOM for a deeper study of example)
In the book of Second Timothy, Paul warns us that “in the last days, perilous times will come” (2 Tim.3:1). The word perilous means, “harsh, savage, painful, and grievous.” We are in the last days, and we are living in the perilous times. Um, I think those days are here. So what are we to do? What is our obligation to God while we wait for His return? We are to be watchmen on the wall, warning the world.
Isaiah declares that his watch was continual, on the watchtower by day and at his post by night. What are our watchtowers and stations? Our jobs, our families, our churches, and our world. We are to stand as a trumpet of alarm against an enemy who seeks to destroy those on our watch. The prophet Habakkuk writes,
I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected. (Hab.2:1)
It is not just telling but in the hearing. We must place ourselves in a position to hear His voice as we watch and pray. Isaiah 62:6 reminds us that “the appointed watchman…will never keep silent.” We must be relentless in our cries and shouts of alarm. If we keep silent and do not warn the unbelieving world that Christ will soon come and judge sin, their blood will be on our own hands.
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. (Ezek.33:6)
That is how serious God’s call is.
We are to be His watchman. But first, we must be His. When we become His, we become vessels for His use. It is through us that He guards those whom He calls. Solomon writes,
Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (Ps.127:1)
Without His power, without His sovereign knowledge, without His holy wisdom, a watchman is useless. It is time to take up our posts and boldly declare, “NOT ON MY WATCH will Satan have any victory.” We will stand guard!
One final thought…being a watchman can be very lonely. Being a watchman can put us in harm’s way. But being a watchman is honored by God. The great poet, Edgar Albert Guest wrote: “Whoever stands his post, no matter where, believing God must need him there, although the lowly toil it be, has risen to nobility.” Amen, and amen.
