'Watchmen on the Tower'

"Jehovah-sabaoth" The Lord of Hosts

 *Isaiah 5:16, "But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness."

"Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in '75; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town tonight, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a signal light--One, if by land, and two, if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country folk to be up and to arm," Then he said, "Good night!" and with muffled oar Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore . . ."

If you grew up in America, when our history was still fresh in our minds, the poem of "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" might suddenly creep into your mind when thinking of a watchman.

During the course of our life we need a watchman to oversee what we are doing and what is going on around us; however, over a period of time, just like this poem, the words of the watchman suddenly grow to whisper and, then, to a low din compared to what we believe is the loud roar of the norm. We begin to forget where we came from, where we are going, and how important it is to be watchful of our steps.

The watchman each one of us has been provided with is our conscience. Something we all need to listen to throughout our life. It is what keeps us on course flowing in the right direction, knowing right from wrong. When that conscience becomes weak, however, we need another voice to keep us on track. One that stills the silence and brings us back into balance when everything seems to be out of kilter or focus. When all that we see and hear seems to be wrong, but, to the individual who has been living in that condition, it is normal.    

*I Kings 21:17-25, "And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up."

In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

When Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and killed all his brothers and also the princes of Israel with the sword. So he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like the house of Ahab, because the daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Jehoshaphat had made affinity, a marriage, with Ahab. Jehoshaphat took Athaliah, Ahab's daughter, to be his son's wife.

Jehoram made high places in the mountains of Judah and made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to worship false gods. Then Elijah the prophet wrote to him saying, "Thus says the LORD God of David, your father, 'Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring like the house of Ahab. Because you have slain the brothers of your father's house, behold, with a great plague will the LORD strike your people, your children, your wives, and everything that you possess. You shall be diseased in your bowels, until your bowels fall out."

According to the word of the prophet, the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians and they came to Judah, and broke into it. They carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house. They took his sons and his wives. There was not a son left him except Jehoahaz, the youngest. After all this, the Lord struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease. He reigned in Jerusalem eight years and departed without being desired.

After the death of Joram his son Ahaziah began to reign. He was twenty-two years old when he began to reign and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel. He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the Lord because he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. The sons of Athaliah broke down the house of God. They took the dedicated things of the house of the Lord and bestowed them upon Baalim because Athaliah stirred them up.

In one year's time Jehu destroyed all the house of Ahab, all except Athaliah. When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah knew that her son was dead, she rose up and destroyed all the royal seed, but Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, or Jehoahaz, the son of Ahaziah, from among the king's sons which were killed and they hid him and his nurse in the bedchamber from Athaliah. So they hid him in the house of the Lord for six years, and Athaliah reigned over the land.

Joash was raised for six years in the house of the Lord where he was nurtured in the ways of the law of God. After six years Jehoiada, the priest, made a covenant with all the people that they should be the Lord's people and make Joash their king. When Athaliah heard the noise of the people praising the king, she came into the house of the Lord. She saw the king, the princes, and the trumpets by the king. All the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, "Treason, Treason." Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds that were set over the host, and said to them, "Take her to the ranges and, everyone who follows her, let him be slain with the sword." So they took her and killed her at the entering of the horse gate by the king's house

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba and Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

V

As Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem throughout Galilee, He went into the synagogues teaching the kingdom of heaven. Then all the publicans and sinners drew near Him to listen and the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

Then He spoke a parable saying, "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and goes after that which is lost until he finds it? Then when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my sheep which was lost.' Likewise, there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents more than over ninety-nine just persons which do not need repentance."

He turned to His disciples and spoke a parable saying, "There was a certain rich man, which had a steward and they accused the steward of wasting his goods. So he called him and said to the steward, 'What is this that I hear you have done? Give me an account of your stewardship because you are no longer steward.' Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? My lord has taken away my stewardship. I cannot dig and I am ashamed to beg. I am resolved what to do when I am put out of the stewardship so that they might receive me into their houses.' So he called every one of his lord's debtors in and said to the first, "How much do you owe my lord?" He said, 'An hundred measures of oil.' Then he said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' Then he said, 'An hundred measures of wheat.' Unto him he said, 'Take your bill and write eighty.' Then the lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely, because the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the money of unrighteousness so when you fail, you will be received into everlasting habitations."

"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. He that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters because he will either hate one and love the other, or else, he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."

When the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all this they derided him. Then Jesus said to them, "You are the ones which justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts because that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached and every man presses into it. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail.

Then He told them this parable: "There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen who fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who was full of sores, which laid at his gate desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. To make matters worse, the dogs came and licked his sores. As time went by, the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. The rich man, being in hell in torments, lifted his eyes and saw Abraham in the distance with Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am tormented in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Son, remember in your lifetime you received good things and Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented. Besides this, there is a great gulf fixed between us and you so that no one can pass from here to you and neither can they pass to us.'

Then the rich man said, 'Therefore, I implore you father, that you would send Lazarus to my father's house because I have five brothers. Let Lazarus testify to them, or they also will come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' The rich man said, 'No, father Abraham, but they will repent if one went to them from the dead.' Then Abraham said, 'If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded even though one rose from the dead."

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he was cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: if your brother trespass against you, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespasses against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to you saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."

Then His apostles said, "Lord, increase our faith." Jesus said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamore tree, 'Be plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea;' and it should obey you.

Everywhere Jesus went He taught, but not all believed Him. Not because of Who He said He was or the works that He did, but because of the words which He spoke. Words which convicted and pierced the heart because the Word of God is sharper than any two edged sword dividing the soul and the spirit, the bone and the marrow. Words which fell on deaf ears of those who were dull of hearing. Servants who chose not to do their duty.

*Titus 1:15 tells us, "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." Conscience is that faculty of the mind, or inborn sense of right and wrong, by which we judge the moral character of human conduct. It is common to all men and, like all our other faculties, it has been perverted by the sin of Adam. The conscience has been given to us by God to discern good from evil and right from wrong, but what it does not do is discern truth from false, fact from fiction.

The world is full of diversities. It has a multitude of imaginations to offer us. A multitude of religions, philosophies, and theories including cults, idolatry, astrology, scientology, psychic phenomenon, witchcraft, voodoo, demonology, evolution, and atheism. All ideals cultivated in societies where each is considered normal; however, ideas that stem from imaginations culminate from a defiled conscience. A conscience that truly cannot discern right from wrong in a moral sense.

Each one of these ideals is a belief, something in which the individual has enough faith to defend; however, not all of them are truth. Athaliah was the daughter of Jezebel, a woman of Zidon who served Baalim. A woman who could not discern right from wrong, good from evil in a moral sense. She controlled through fear. Athaliah followed in her mother's footsteps destroying anyone who stood in her way. In the end both were destroyed just as Elijah had prophesied. A prophesy both of them had heard but chose to ignore.

The prophets of God were often referred to as "the watchman." Watchmen of God that kept the nation of Israel on track, but far too often they chose to ignore the warnings of the true prophets of God to follow the false who cried peace, peace when there was no peace. Refusing God as their true king, they chose to follow men, who they declared as king, back into the bondage of Egypt and into the idolatry of the countries who God chose to remove from the land.   

The offenses Jesus warned about were false teachings. They come with a strong warning, "Woe to him through whom offenses come." Where do you put your faith? Is it in what you believe is normal or what you believe to be true? What fellowship has darkness with light?  We cannot serve two masters because either you will hate the one and love the other or else, you will hold to the one and despise the other.

There isn't a person on this earth that can follow God and serve another ideal without loosing faith in the truth. If the word that is being spoken does not agree with the word of God there is no truth in it. One of the greatest gifts the believer has is the Word of God. It is a living word that produces fruit. A word that has withstood the test of the ages. Each word has come true and continues to serve the plan of God in both heaven and earth. It never fails.

False religions, philosophies, and theories that stem from the imagination fail. They may appear to work for a period of time but over time they change. They are added to and detracted from because they do not produce fruit. The only thing they can produce without fail is death, and with death comes fear.

God has not given us the spirit of fear but the spirit of power, love, and of a sound mind. Power to overcome sin and the world. Love to reveal the love of God given to us and, through us, to the world. A sound mind, a clear conscience that tells us, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," *Romans 8:1.

We do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit of life which lives in us through Jesus Christ.  Not following imaginations with an impure conscience but following the Holy Spirit that moves us according to the living Word of God. The Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth and keeps us on the straight and narrow path.

We, who are in Christ Jesus, are able to discern right from wrong, good from evil, true from false, fact from fiction because we are more than conquerors we are over comers through Christ Jesus our Lord. We have a pure conscience purged from dead works. Other ideas may promise liberty but they are servants of corruption and, "of whom a man is overcome, of the same he is brought into bondage," *II Peter 2:19.

Jesus said, if we see a brother trespass, rebuke him and if he repents, then forgive him. Therefore, let us be good watchmen as well. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching," *Hebrews 10:22-25. In like manner we are the world's watchman. If we know the truth speak the truth and those with ears to hear will believe.

The Spirit of God is our Watchman Who will never leave us nor forsake us. Listen to the Spirit. Every word that He speaks comes from the throne of God and every word is contained in the living Word, the word of truth. It will never fail. In the world many offenses will come but we who are in Christ Jesus have overcome the world because greater is He Who is within you than he who is in the world.

P Ahab and Jezebel left destruction in their wake. Destruction of everyone who they were associated with and everyone that was born of their lineage. But the covenant of salt that God had established with David would keep the tribe of Judah flourishing even in their darkest hours. God continued to watch over them, keeping them as the apple of His eye.

*September 17, 2005