Introduction.
In Isaiah 62:6 we read: I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence.
If we go back a couple of hundred years, it was common for cities and towns to have watchmen who walked the streets at night and made sure that nothing happened. Every time, for example, a fire started, the watchman notified the town’s residents.
We also have watchmen in our time, and it is the soldiers who in times of peace look after the presidents and royal families and guard the borders, and who in times of unrest and war make sure that foreign soldiers do not invade the country.
In ancient times, as we see in Isaiah 62:6, there were watchmen who walked day and night on the city walls and guarded the cities against enemies and accidents.
Even though Isaiah wrote to the people of Israel and Judea before Assyria conquered Israel and Babylon conquered Judea, large parts of Isaiah’s book deal with the end times. It is not unusual for a prophecy to have two target groups, the people of the prophets contemporary, and the people of the end times.
The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary vol. 4, explain the word watchmen like this: It is the duty of the watchmen on the walls of Zion to guard its people against danger. In the ancient Orient danger constantly threatened, and it was necessary for watchmen to be ever on the alert. Every spiritual leader is a watchman, whose duty it is to stand guard upon the walls of Zion.
Who are the watchmen of today who correspond to the watchmen on the walls of Zion?
Ellen G. White write in Testimonies for the Church vol. 9; 19.1 the following: In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import – the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.
What is the meaning of the word watchmen. The Hebrew word (shamar) shaw-mar’ means properly to hedge about (something – as with thorns), to guard; generally to protect, attend to, to beware, be circumspect, take heed, keep, observe, and several other meanings – at least 20 different meanings.
But what characterise the watchmen of today?
The watchmen of today preach the end time message.
The watchmen of today are on duty and keep watching.
The watchmen of today are walking the walls of Zion, waiting and scouting for the second coming of the Lord.
In Ezekiel 33 we find a passage called The Guardian and His Message (also called Ezekiel as Israels Watchman) and it begins as follows (verses 1 to 3): Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people.
Why should we be watchmen?
To become watchmen is a task imposed upon us by the God of heaven. In the book of Ezekiel we find this several times and in chapter 33 verse 7 we see that God says to Ezekiel that He has made Ezekiel a watchman over God’s people: So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me.
In Ezekiel chapter 3 we see in what way God called Ezekiel. This chapter is a type of an event that on the timeline comes around the transition from prophetic times to the end times, which we call the antitype. Let’s look at some of the verses in Ezekiel chapter 3, and what we find of antitypes elsewhere in the Bible.
Type 1:
Ezekiel 3:1-2: Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
Eating a roll is the same as absorbing the contents of the roll through thorough study. When Ezekiel had eaten the roll he was given a special mission.
Now there are many who want to protest and say that Israel is Israel and Abraham’s carnal descendants. This is true until the cross. After the cross, all who believe in Jesus are Abraham’s descendants and constitute spiritual Israel.
We find a similar story in Revelation chapter 10, which is written from the time when the Advent movement arose at the beginning of the 19th century.
Antitype 1:
In Revelation 10:9 a) it says: And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take [it], and eat it up; … …
What happened was that William Miller began to study the Bible shortly after the British-American War, or the War of 1812, which was fought in the years 1812 to 1814. When he studied the prophecies in the book of Daniel, he understood the message that Jesus was coming soon back. This happened in 1818, and he believed then that there were only 25 years left until this event. No wonder the book was sweet in his mouth.
We see from the text in Ezekiel 2,3 that the prophet received his mission, and what it entailed. It says: And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, [even] unto this very day. Notice especially that God says the prophet will go to 1) to the children of Israel, then 2) to the Gentiles who are also called rebels. We will see further down that the Advent movement was given exactly the same mission, expressed like this: … Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings, (Revelation 10:11). That is, everyone who has rebelled against God.
Type 2:
Ezekiel 3:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat [it]; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
When Ezekiel had eaten the scroll, that is, acquired what was written in the roll through thorough study. For Ezekiel, the roll he ate was sweet in his mouth. This means that Ezekiel was filled with joy when they discovered what the message was, and what he had learned from the roll opened his eyes to a joyful truth. We can also say that the roll brings comfort to God’s people in a dark time.
Antitype 2:
We find a parallel to this in Revelation 10. For Miller, too, the book he ate was sweet in his mouth, and the truth he discovered was joyful for him too.
In Revelation 10:9 b) it says: … …(and it shall make thy belly bitter), but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
What Miller did now was that he went out and began to warn the whole world, peoples, nations, tongues and kings, by preaching repentance and the return of Jesus. This was the start of an interdenominational movement where members from all denominations at the time gathered around Miller and embraced the message he preached, and the advent movement was born.
Type 3:
Ezekiel 3:4: And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
In this verse, together with Ezekiel 2:3 we find the very reason why God raises up watchmen. They will go out first to God’s own people, then to the Gentiles, that is, those who do not belong to God’s people, and both groups rebel against God. Ezekiel was also supposed to comfort the exiles from the tribe of Judah, those who had rebelled against the Lord, that is, the Jews who were captives in Babylon.
Antitype 3:
In Revelation 10:11 we read what the angel said to John, who was a representative of the church of the end times: And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Miller was commissioned to preach the good news of Jesus’ second coming to the whole world. It is implicit in the mission Miller received that he was set as a watchman for 1) God’s people and 2) the wicked, which is clearly shown in thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
The nature of the mission also appears in verses 17 and 27 of Ezekiel 3.
Ezekiel 3:17: 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 3:27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they [are] a rebellious house.
That God calls the children of Israel a rebellious house is due to the deep apostasy they had undergone. Almost everyone from the kings of Judah to the lowest slave was involved in the apostasy, with the exception of a few people some of whom are mentioned by name in the Bible, such as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Now we do not find such an order from God in the case of Miller, but he underwent an experience which is in principle similar to the order Ezekiel received. The story is like that.
When Miller had discovered the truth, he began to tell family, friends and acquaintances about it. One day he was challenged by his wife to start preaching this message he had found. Miller wouldn’t, because, as he said, he was just an old farmer that nobody would listen to. He added so that his wife would not nag him daily about this that “if anyone invited him to speak in a church he should do so”, convinced that no one would invite this old farmer to give a speech. This was a Friday. The next day, when they were having breakfast, there was a knock on the door and there was one of their nephews. He came in and presented his errand, and said: «Uncle, the priest in our church is sick and we wonder if you can come and tell us about what you have discovered in the Bible”. Miller ran out of the house and into a forest clearing shouting no, no, no … as his own words thundered in his ears … «if anyone invites me I will speak.» In the end he had to surrender to a power infinitely stronger than a human being, and he placed himself entirely in God’s hands. The next day, on Sunday, he left for the neighbouring village and gave his first speech about his discoveries.
The main reason why we should be watchmen is to protect the church from the enemy’s attacks. But, also among the guards there are two types. We have real watchmen and fake watchmen, and it is crucial to be able to distinguish between the real and the fake. However, there is always a biblical way of distinguishing between the real and the false, between those who are God’s faithful remnant and the ungodly. For the watchmen, we find three characteristics by which we can measure them.
Real watchmen …
1) … proclaiming the coming judgment, repentance and they walk the walls and when necessary they blow the trumpet to warn of dangers. We find this in these verses:
And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee, (Acts 24:25).
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn [yourselves] from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations, (Ezekiel 14:6).
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, (Isaiah 62:6).
2) …live a life of sanctification. We find this here:
Having, then, these promises, beloved, may we cleanse ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God, (2 Corinthians 7:1; Young’s Literal Translation).
3) … are brave. We find this here:
and Joshua continued, Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged. Be brave and strong. This is what the LORD will do to all your enemies, (Joshua 10:25; Contemporary English Version).
False watchmen …
1) … Proclaims peace and satfy. We find this in these verses:
hen they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape, (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
2) … lives a life of sin. We find this here:
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law, (1 John 3:4).
3) … are cowards. We find this here:
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death, (Revelation 21:8; New International Version).
How is the situation in our days?
We know that the church as a whole has difficulties. Ellen G. White warn us against these difficulties in her book Early Writings under the heading Church Difficulties. There she writes: As error is fast progressing, we should seek to be awake in the cause of God and realize the time in which we live. Darkness is to cover the earth, and gross darkness the people. And as nearly all around us are being enveloped in the thick darkness of error and delusion, it becomes us to shake off stupidity and live near to God, where we can draw divine rays of light and glory from the countenance of Jesus. As darkness thickens and error increases, we should obtain a more thorough knowledge of the truth and be prepared to maintain our position from the Scriptures, (104.2).
If we go to Ezekiel 8:16 we find a text which is rather scaring.
It reads: And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary vol. 4, says this about this verse: The significance of the number is not clear. Some have conjectured that it referred to the high priest and the heads of the 24 courses, thus representing the whole body of the priests. They were standing between the altar and the Temple, in a most sacred part of the court. There, turning their backs upon the Temple of the Lord, they worshiped the sun. The adoration of the sun, Shamash, was early practiced by the Canaanites and had found its way into the worship of the kings and people of Judah. If they were the special guardians of true religion, their sin was a most flagrant insult to God. Thus, it was marked as the greatest of the abominations.
This is a typological story, and what happened in the time of Ezekiel is the type of a future event. The question is whether we see the contours of the antitype, and whether the idolatry outlined in Ezekiel has already begun to creep into the SDA. We know for sure that this are the case in the fallen churches.
Is this only about the members of the fallen churches who worship gods other than God the Creator, or does it also include the SDA?
When these 25 men in Ezekiel 8:16 worship to the east, they worship another god, they worship the sun god, and they do so from somewhere inside the temple of God. At the same time they turn their backs on the temple of the Lord, and while they have turned their backs on the ark of the testimony and the altar of the Lord, they all stand with their faces lifted to the east, and as the sun rises, they bow in humble worship to the sun-god. Openly and brazenly they turn their backs on God and clearly show that they despise Him – they have their faces turned towards the sunrise because they have the sun in their hearts. In their thoughts and in their prayers they are busy worshiping a strange god! And these are claimed to be the watchmen of Israel!
We also see how all the fallen churches, and the world at large, has developed in the last centuries, at least from the time when modern «speaking in tongues» came into vogue at Bethel College, Kansas, USA January 1st, 1901: We see an exponential increase in all types of deception that Satan is behind after this event on January 1, 1901. One of the reasons for this is that Satan wants to block the influence of the advent movement, because after 1844 the Adventists have found back many of the forgotten truths in the Bible, truths that were forgotten and hidden away when the Catholic Church was dominant.
Another reason, and the biggest reason of them all is that Satan knows he has little time left, and he uses all the means at his disposal to deceive, if possible, the whole world.
If it was necessary to have watchmen in ancient times to guard Gods people against danger, it is even more important and necessary today to have watchmen, because the dangers that threaten Gods people today comes not only from outside “Zion”. It comes even from within the “city”, from people that belong to our church community SDA in general.
Fortunately, there are some who stand guard on the walls and uphold God’s word. It is about these watchmen that God says the following.
In Isaiah 62 we read:
Verse 6: I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence.
Verse 10: Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
Verse11: Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward [is] with him, and his work before him.
Verse 12: And they shall call them, the holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
Now, when the greatest event in history is about to take place, it is nothing but right and reasonable that the watchmen who walk the walls and scout for the second coming of Christ blow their trumpets to announce that the Lord is coming; Behold, the bridegroom cometh … (Matthew 25:6).
What about us, the seventh-day Adventist in the middle of it all?
As a movement, we are raised up and set in the world …
… to be different from the world,
… to separate ourselves from the fallen churches
… to uphold the Word of God,
… to keep all Gods Ten Commandments,
… to have the faith of Jesus,
… to have the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy,
… and we are called to be watchmen and light bearers.
Where do we stand as a church community and individual members in relation to this, and what must we do?
1) We still live in the world, but we are not of the world, so we must not follow the customs and practices of the world but keep ourselves pure before the Lord.
2) There is relatively heavy ecumenical cooperation between the world’s denominations. Here the SDA are observers and justify this by saying that we can then influence the other denominations with our teachings. We see the result of this ecumenism in our church as we have changed radically and come closer to the fallen churches after we became observers. Those who participate and are eager for the ecumenical cooperation will be shaken out of God’s end-time church on the day the shaking hits the end-time church with full force.
3) It is an impossible exercise to maintain God’s word pure and unblemished as long as we approach the fallen denominations through ecumenical cooperation. We therefore have to distance ourselves from ecumenical cooperation. Just look at what it says in Amos 3:3: Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?
4) Over time it will also be difficult to keep all of God’s ten commandments as long as we flirt with the enemy. The Bible is absolutely clear that there is only one way to keep the commandments, and that is how the Bible describes it. The fallen denominations choose to keep the Pope’s Ten Commandments, which are a counterfeit of God’s Ten Commandments. How long will it be before our top leaders kneel before the Pope and accept the teachings of the papacy? God’s Ten Commandments are as eternal and unchanging as God himself. Therefore, we must hold God’s Ten Commandments in high regard.
5) It is not enough to believe in Jesus, the demons also do that according to the letter of James 2:19. But these demons will not be saved for that reason. We must believe in Jesus, and we must believe that Jesus is our only Savior. The Catholic Church, which is the driving force behind ecumenical cooperation, says that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church, and that this church’s seven sacraments are decisive for salvation. The Catholic Church also says that Jesus’ blood does not save us, but His good works together with Mary’s works and the works of all the saints. This is the wine of Babylon! We must have the faith of Jesus, the same kind of faith that Jesus had, the faith that led Him to the cross. In other words, we must have the same faith that the Savior had, and follow Him in faith wherever He goes, whether it is to a cross or a stake.
6) God’s end-time church also has Jesus’ testimony today, which is the spirit of prophecy. This was given to the Advent movement in 1844 when God gave the first visions and revelations to some of the movement’s members. God also raised up his end-time prophet in 1844. Since then, the spirit of prophecy has helped lead our church community back to the old truths that were hidden from church members in the Middle Ages when the Catholic Church was all-powerful.
7) Our calling was given to us through William Miller when he was raised up by God to preach the truth. We have continued this calling, and we shall awaken everyone and the whole world, if possible, through our preaching of «the present truth».
Let us unite in prayer to God and pray that He will bless us and guide us in the task He has given us. Let us pray that God’s will be done, and that He will pour out the latter rain on His faithful people in the end times so that they can complete their important task. Therefore, let us be the watchmen the Lord speaks of here in Isaiah 62:6:
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem,
[which] shall never hold their peace day nor night:
ye that make mention of the LORD,
keep not silence.