“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; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand” (Ezekiel 33:1-6).

 This is a general statement about the role of a watchman on this earth, and it contains many important lessons.
 - A watchman must be appointed and qualified (Eze. 33:2). Wise people choose a watchman who is qualified for that job. They don’t choose a blind man, a drunkard, a dreamer, a sluggard, or even someone who is often distracted by too much talk. They don’t choose a mere hireling who is interested only in making money and cares not for the job itself. Likewise, God has high qualifications for watchmen in the churches. The qualifications of the pastor are emphasized in 1 Ti. 3 and Tit. 1. Biblical ordination is man’s recognition of God’s call, and God’s Word warns about haste in ordination (1 Ti. 5:22).
 - A watchman looks for danger (Eze. 33:2). In this present life, there are many dangers, many enemies, not only of nations, but also of homes and churches. A good watchman watches for every advance of the enemy. He doesn’t wait until the enemy is in full-scale attack. He sounds the alarm when the enemy is near and when danger approaches even from a distance.
 - A watchman is needed (Eze. 33:2). It is a very important job. If there is no good watchman, the people will be destroyed (Eze. 33:6). It has been said that “everything rises and falls on leadership.” Churches absolutely must have good leaders if they are to stand and grow and prosper.
 - A watchman is desired by wise people (Eze. 33:2). It is the foolish person who doesn’t think he needs a watchman and who despises the work of a watchman. Israel in Ezekiel’s day did not want a watchman, and a great many individual Christians and churches are just as foolish. Proverbs teaches that character is demonstrated by one’s attitude toward godly reproof (Pr. 9:8; 10:17; 12:1; 13:1; 15:5; 17:10; 19:25).
 - A watchman must be alert (Eze. 33:3). He must be a man who isn’t lazy, doesn’t sleep on the job, doesn’t get drunk, doesn’t get distracted. “The watchman should be every moment braced up to duty, and no indulgence permitted that will impair his faculties. The greater the peril, the more urgent and unmistakable should be the alarm” (Preacher’s Homiletical Commentary).
 - A watchman must be courageous (Eze. 33:3). When he sees the sword coming, when danger is imminent, he must not flee away to save himself but must remain at his post and sound the alarm. “The excavations at Herculaneum, buried by an eruption of Vesuvius more than eighteen hundred years ago, revealed the figure of a sentinel who remained immovable at the post of duty till swathed and suffocated with the molten lava” (Preacher’s Homiletical Commentary).
 - A watchman must be educated and prepared. He must know how to watch. He must know how to stay alert. He must know the signs of the enemy (Eze. 33:3). He must know how the enemy thinks and acts, how the enemy disguises himself, how the enemy feigns friendship, how the enemy is stealthy. A great many pastors are blind watchmen who aren’t properly educated about major dangers facing the churches. They are ignorant of important issues such as the Bible text issue, music, and separation, and are content in their ignorance.
 - A watchman must sound the alarm loudly and clearly (Eze. 33:3). He must not fear alarming the people or waking them up or offending them. His very job is to alarm, to shock, to awaken! Likewise, the churches need the trumpet sound of reproof that awakens the people out of their spiritual lethargy and brings them to repentance. Warnings against false teaching will involve the naming of names of chief proponents of error and compromise, after the fashion of the apostle Paul (1 Ti. 1:19-20; 2 Ti. 1:15; 2:16-17; 4:10, 14-15).
 - A watchman is not responsible for whether the people heed the warning (Eze. 33:4-5). If he sounds the warning in a timely and right manner, his responsibility is finished. Each individual is responsible to act on the warning, and if he does not, “his blood shall be upon his own head.”
 - A watchman is accountable to God (Eze. 33:6). Even secular positions in this world are God’s appointments (Ro. 13:1-4). How much more the office of elder/pastor (Jas. 3:1).

 “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. 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. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul” (Ezekiel 3:16-21).

 Here we see lessons on Ezekiel as a watchman.
 - He was appointed by God (Eze. 3:17). Spiritual watchmen over God’s house must be called by God. It is God who distributes gifts and ministries (Ro. 12:3-8).
 - He was to be a watchman by preaching God’s Word (Eze. 3:17). He was to hear God’s Word and preach it faithfully. Compare 2 Ti. 2:15; 4:2. He was not to preach his opinions or other men’s opinions or human tradition or philosophy or the latest liberal theology. He was not to pamper the people or entertain the people or build up their self-esteem. He was to preach the eternal Word of God to dying people.
 - He was to be a watchman by warning the wicked of God’s judgment (Eze. 3:18). There must be reproof and rebuke (2 Ti. 4:2; Tit. 2:15). There must be preaching of the law, the purpose of which is to show men their sin and God’s holy justice against sin, which is eternal death (Ro. 3:19-20). It is such preaching that brings conviction to sinners and conversion of the soul. “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul” (Ps. 19:7). His business as a watchman is to give warning to sinners of their misery and danger by reason of sin. God has said, The wicked man shall surely die. Unless he repent, he shall be cut off from God and all comfort and hope in him, shall be cut off from all good. He shall fall and lie for ever under the wrath of God … The righteous God has said it, and will never unsay it, nor an all the world gainsay it, that the ages of sin is death” (Matthew Henry).
 - He was accountable to God for being a watchman (Eze. 3:18, 20). A preacher can escape his duty in this present life, but he cannot escape his accountability before God at Christ’s judgment seat. Compare 1 Co. 3:13-15; Jas. 3:1; Heb. 13:17.
 - He was to be a watchman by urging the wicked to turn from his wickedness (Eze. 3:19). Repentance was the message of John (Mt. 3:7-8), Christ (Lu. 13:3-5; 24:47), Paul (Ac. 17:30; 20:21), and Paul (2 Pe. 3:9). Preachers who don’t preach repentance loudly and clearly are not Bible preachers.
 - He was to be a watchman by warning the righteous not to turn to wickedness (Eze. 3:20-21). Compare 1 Co. 15:58; Php. 3:13-14; Heb. 10:23; 12:1-2; 2 Pe. 3:17-18; Re. 2:25; 3:11.
 - He was not responsible for how people received the Word (Eze. 3:19). Each individual is responsible for his sin against God and cannot blame his sin and judgment on anyone else. “It will not serve impenitent sinners to plead in the great day that their watchmen did not give them warning, that they were careless and unfaithful; for, though they were so, it will be made to appear that God left not himself without witness. For though the watchman did not do his part, yet the sinner might have taken warning from the written word, from his own conscience, and from God’s judgments upon others” (Matthew Henry). (8) The only soul that the preacher can save for sure is his own (Eze. 3:21).

 Applications of the watchman:
 - The watchman applies to gospel work (2 Co. 5:20). Every believer is appointed an ambassador for Christ to call men to salvation, and if we fail to do this work we will be held accountable at the judgment seat of Christ. Every sinner is responsible to seek God (Ac. 17:26-27), and every sinner has the light of creation and the light of conscience and therefore has no excuse (Ro. 1:20; 2:12-15). But it is God’s will that every sinner hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and God has put that great work into the hands of His people (Mr. 16:15).
 - The watchman applies to government leaders. They are God’s watchmen over society (Ro. 13:1-4). They are to reward good and punish evil. In contrast, we think of rulers who are distracted by covetousness, fornication, drunkenness, and such, so that they care only about themselves and do not care for the people they should be shepherding. “One man may be of public service to a whole country. Princes and statesmen are the watchmen of a kingdom, that are continually to employ and, if occasion be, expose themselves for the public safety” (Matthew Henry).
 - The watchman applies to fathers (Eph. 6:4). Fathers are the overseers and watchmen of their homes. They are to love their wives and watch for the souls of their children. They are to nurture and care for them. They are to admonish them. They are to pity them, which means to have tender compassion and mercy on them (Ps. 103:13). They are to discipline them (Heb. 12:9; Pr. 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15).
 - The watchman applies to pastoral work. Paul applied the language of watching to his ministry (Ac. 20:26). Pastors are appointed to watch for the souls of the flock, and they will give account to God for this solemn work (Heb. 13:17). The pastor watches by feeding the flock (Ac. 20:28), by reproof and rebuke, both public and private (Col. 1:28), by intercessory prayer (Eph. 6:18), by knowing the enemy (2 Co. 2:11; Tit. 1:9-11), and by knowing the people and what is happening in their daily lives. A vast number of pastors are not watchmen. They fear the people more than God; they care more for their jobs than for the souls of men. Likewise, the people must heed the warnings that of their preachers, but a great many are lukewarm, carnal, disobedient, dull of hearing.
 - The watchman applies to every Bible teacher (Ro. 12:7). Every teacher is to contribute to the work of “perfecting the saints” and protecting the saints from “every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:11-14). The Sunday School teacher is a watchman. The Bible Institute teacher is a watchman.
 - The watchman applies to every church member (Heb. 10:25). Every member is to be an exhorter. Every member is to help watch over the flock to protect it from spiritual danger. Every member is to become skillful in the Word of God so as to have spiritual discernment and practical wisdom in Christian living (Heb. 5:11-14). Every member is to learn of spiritual and moral dangers, including false teachings and the ways of the world and the leaven of worldly things such as contemporary music, so as to help protect himself and his fellow brethren. Every member should be interested in being educated about such things for the sake of being a watchman. Every member should grow from infancy to maturity so as to be able to restore the weak (Ga. 6:1).