The Watchman (Ezekiel 3:16–21)

Swanwick conference unites intercessors for Britain’s future

Earlier this week, over 100 watchmen and watchwomen from all around Britain gathered at The Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire, united by a fervent concern for the state of the nation and a desire to be strengthened in understanding, intercession and action.

The two-day conference of discussion, prayer, worship and seeking the Lord was not intended to be an overly structured event dependent on front-led sessions with leaders and experts, but was planned in such a way as to emphasise Body ministry and the unique contribution of each member of the ‘ekklesia’ of God.

Plenary sessions with corporate worship were led by Dr Clifford and Mrs Monica Hill and supported by the Issachar Ministries and Prophecy Today UK teams. Prophetic songs were brought and each morning the shofar was blown. But the richness and depth of the gathering was really established in smaller groups, where time was spent praying together and sharing wisdom and insight.

Surprise Speakers

Surprise additional speakers were Andrea Williams of Christian Concern and Syd Doyle of Nations Light Ministries. Andrea updated those present on the state of the nation, forthcoming legislation and current issues facing Christians in the workplace. Apparently, the Christian Legal Centre are dealing with four or five new enquiries each week from Christians regarding workplace issues.

Andrea Williams speaking at The Hayes, Tuesday 19 March 2019. Photo: Prophecy Today UKShe also agreed with Clifford and Monica Hill that Christians are “living in Babylon” and that believers will need to begin to form their own businesses and schools to provide employment and education, which will provide safe environments for them and their children. Chiming with this assessment, the Hills’ Living in Babylon book and workbook were recommended particularly as a resource for prayer and study groups.

Syd Doyle encouraged conference with exciting stories of outreach to Muslims and others in various places. He was also moved and encouraged to hear Clifford’s word about the “jewel in the crown” role of the DUP in the Brexit negotiations, full details of which are in our Editorial this week and have been sent in a letter to the Prime Minister.

Perhaps most importantly, time was set aside to seek the Lord in quietness, after which prophetic words and pictures that had been received were shared with the whole group. It was during this session that Clifford received the word about the spiritual significance of the DUP.

Though the programme was a full one, time was made for fellowship over coffee and meals, allowing those present to establish and strengthen their own personal connections. Clifford and Monica took the opportunity to reminisce with stories about their 50 years of ministry, some of which appear in The Reshaping of Britain. One story that didn’t make it into Clifford’s latest book was his and Monica’s first meeting, over 60 years ago – on a tennis court at The Hayes Conference Centre!

A Way-marker

As the time progressed, the sense of the Lord’s presence and leading seemed to become more palpable. Those who came expecting quick-fix answers to the national situation will have been disappointed, as the long-term, complex nature of our spiritual battle was brought into view and the responsibility of each individual to seek the Lord for their own understanding and response was emphasised. This was not a gathering to hype up expectations of revival (which will not come without repentance in any case, as Clifford pointed out) – but collectively to face up to reality and “strengthen feeble arms and weak knees” for the task ahead (Isa 35:5; Heb 12:12), putting all things in the context of the nature and purposes of God.

As such, it was not an end-point or a culmination, but a starting-point for some and a way-marker for others. Some found Dr Hill’s session on Jeremiah 30-31 especially significant, as a way into developing our understanding of how Brexit and God’s plans for Britain might fit into his overarching covenant plans for Israel and his purposes for the whole world.

Others were inspired particularly by Andrea Williams speaking about the socio-cultural and political battles being fought in the nation – the worldly face of our underlying spiritual conflict. Still others were galvanised by Syd Doyle reminding us of our collective responsibility to make disciples, including amongst Muslims – “the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35).

We trust that the Holy Spirit will have reached and ministered to each delegate in a unique and special way. Each person was encouraged to think about how they could develop their own witness and ministry in their area, in unity with other believers. It is hoped that in the future, Issachar Ministries will be able to play a part in connecting up believers locally.

Edmund Heddle unpacks the connection between the prophetic ministry and the metaphor of a watchman.

It is a long time in this country since the watchman made his way around a city at night, calling out the hours and declaring all was well (Song of Songs 3:3).

However, we still have those who watch over our safety by day and by night. The Royal Air Force provides a radar screen over our airspace, coastguards seek to prevent dangerous drugs from being landed, police protect our property, and doctors and nurses, firemen and ambulance crews are on the alert to provide us with immediate assistance should we need it.

Together with others too numerous to mention, they maintain the defence of the realm and the well-being of its inhabitants.

Prophetic watchmen

But our country also needs to be protected from evil practices and powers that can wreck our national and family life and this, according to the Old Testament, is the responsibility of the prophets. These individuals were regarded as watchmen.

Just as our military and emergency service maintain the defence of the realm and the well-being of its inhabitants, so prophets are responsible for protecting people spiritually."

God spoke to Ezekiel and said, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel" (Eze 3:17, 33:7). In his commentary on the prophecy of Ezekiel, Dr A B Davidson said, "The appointment of Ezekiel as a watchman was not a change upon his original appointment as a prophet, it is only a more precise definition of it".

Picture a tower set in a commanding position with the watchman climbing to the top of this look-out, from where he can see all that is happening and is able to sound the alarm immediately he sees danger approaching (Isa 21:6-7). This is the responsibility laid upon his prophets by the Lord both then and now (Jer 6:17; Hos 9:8; Acts 20:28-31).

Hebrew words describing watchmen

There are at least ten words in the Hebrew Old Testament that are translated into the English words watch/watchman/watchtower. One of these, which occurs twenty-eight times, means to lean forward, to peer into the distance. This word is used in Ezekiel 3:17 and 33:7.

A second word, also occurring twenty-eight times, means to hedge about with thorns, that is, to act as a deterrent to would-be invaders. This is the word used in Isaiah 62:6. The third word, occurring nine times, means to keep alert, to be sleepless on the watch. This word is used in Jeremiah 31:28 to describe God's watching.

The fourth word, used only four times, means to protect and preserve. It is used in Jeremiah 31:6.

A study of these words shows that the prophetic watchman requires a penetrating vision, an unsleeping alertness and an undiminishing concern if he is adequately to protect those for whom he has been made responsible.

The Hebrew words used for 'watch' and 'watchman' depict prophets as needing a penetrating vision, an unsleeping alertness and an undiminishing concern."

Watchmen must watch

The watchman's first responsibility, having found the best position for observing all that is going on, is to keep his eyes open so as to gain as accurate a picture as possible of the situation (2 Kings 9:17). We need watchmen today who are not afraid to open their eyes to the seriousness of the situation in our country.

Britain is flaunting God's law in the matter of homosexuality (Lev 18:22, 20:13), while the media continues to fill our eyes and our ears with ever more violence. In some of our schools the minds of little children are being corrupted whilst older children are indoctrinated by teachers determined to overthrow the forces of law and order. Meanwhile so many of the churches show no real concern and carry on as though we had all the time in the world, their only real objective being their survival and personal happiness. The situation is so like that in the days of Isaiah who said, "Israel's watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs that cannot bark" (Isa 56:10).

Watchmen must warn

It is not enough for the watchman to see the danger approaching; he is on his watchtower for the express purpose of warning the people. This is why an essential part of the equipment of a watchman is his trumpet. God explains this to the prophet in Ezekiel 33:3, 6. The watchman "sees the sword coming and blows the trumpet to warn the people...but if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people...I will hold the watchman accountable."

Watchmen are responsible for keeping their eyes open to the situation and warning the people."

Already our streets with their muggers, rapists and child molesters reflect the situation described in the book of Lamentations (4:18) where it states: "Men stalked us at every step, so we could not walk in our streets." The calamity that could totally overwhelm our country if today's watchmen fail to deliver the strongest possible warning is nothing less than the total breakdown of law and order.

Watchmen must weep

When Jesus contemplated what was going to happen to the Jerusalem of his day he wept over it (Luke 19:41). And so will all true prophet/watchmen. As they like Ezekiel sit where the people sit and contemplate their despair they too will be 'overwhelmed' or to quote the Jerusalem Bible rendering, they will be 'like a man stunned' (Eze 3:15).

As the watchman warns of coming danger, he can prevent his words sounding harsh and judgmental only if his hearers know that his own heart is breaking. This is the thought behind the Lord's instruction in Ezekiel's day: "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it" (Eze 9:4).

How much genuine weeping for the nation is there in our churches and fellowships? Why is there an almost total absence of serious, informed prayer for the nation and those who govern it (1 Tim 2:1-4)? When will we care enough to pray through the hours when we might be sleeping? Twice in the New Testament there is mention of Paul's 'watchings oft' (2 Cor 6:5, 11:27). A number of modern versions render this as 'sleepless nights' and William Barclay comments "At all times Paul was willing to be the unsleeping sentinel of Christ." Are we?

Watchmen must wrestle

God does not always do things the way we think he should, and Habakkuk was neither the first nor the last prophet that had to wrestle with such problems. "Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?" (Hab 1:13). Ezekiel also felt he must object to what he saw God was about to do. "Ah, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel?" (Eze 9:8).

When we face the apparent contradictions in God's ways in human history we need to learn patience. It was seven days before the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, and Jeremiah had to wait ten days. God does not always give us instant answers (Eze 3:16; Jer 42:7). But we need his answers before we can be certain we are making the right reaction to the situation that faces us. God's strategy for Jericho was different from that for Ai. Twice David sought guidance as to how to deal with his Philistine enemy, and God's strategy differed each time (2 Sam 5:18-25).

Watchmen must care enough to weep for the state of their nation, and to wrestle with God for answers."

Watchman's watch

Prophets/watchmen are not self-appointed. It is the Lord himself who stations them where he wants them to be. "I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem" (Isa 62:6). No one prophet could maintain continuous intercession night and day. He could do no more than take his turn to watch.

This method of working has given the name WATCHmen. The Jews divided up the night into three vigil periods which were called first, middle and morning watches (Lam 2:19; Judges 7:19; Ex 14:24). The Romans divided the night into four watches. The watch was the period when the watchman was on duty and it was only by co-operating with other watchmen that the whole twenty-four hours could be covered.

At the heart of this ministry was the necessity for co-operation, and today it will be only through churches working together that an effective warning can be given to the nation. That warning will fail unless all we do is in obedience to the Lord's strategy and in dependence upon his superior power. "Unless the Lord watches over the city the watchmen stand guard in vain" (Ps 127:1).

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 3 No 1, January/February 1987.

In this second installment on the ministry of prophecy, Edmund Heddle looks at how prophets are called and equipped by God.

Neither in the Old Testament times nor in the New Testament Church did the prophets appoint themselves. Only a false prophet would dare to take that office upon himself (Jer 23:21).

Prophets did not inherit the calling from their fathers, nor did they receive it by human appointment. It was by God himself that they were chosen and called. The initiative in making a prophet rested with God alone and all true prophets received a specific and personal call from him.

The Prophetic Call

The prophetic call might come to men and women at different points in their lifetime and in a variety of personal situations.

No prophet is self-appointed: all are called and equipped by God alone."

• Moses, already an ageing man, received his call as he turned aside to contemplate a bush that blazed with flames and yet did not burn away (Ex 3:1-4, 17).
• The young Isaiah saw a vision of the thrice-holy God that humbled him to confess his sinful speaking. After cleansing his lips God challenged him to undertake the work of being a prophet, Isaiah gave a glad answer in the classic response: "Here am I; send me!" (Isa 6:1-9).
• For Hosea it was through the sad experience of his own unhappy domestic life that he came to realise that God was calling him to prophesy. God called him first to experience in his home circumstances the continued unfaithfulness of his wife before he was ready to proclaim the continuing love and the unwearying patience of God towards his unfaithful people (Hos 1:2, 11:8-9, 14:4).
• Jeremiah was still only a youth when God's call came, to which he responded with protestations that he was far too young for such responsibility. God replied by telling him that he had in fact been called even before his birth! God, however, reassured him by promising that he would be given the very words that he wanted him to speak (Jer 1:4-9).
• Many years before, another young man, Samuel, had heard the voice of God one night calling him to be a prophet. Like Jeremiah he also had been given a message he did not want to pass on (1 Sam 3:1-21).
• Amos, working as a herdsman in his native Judaea heard God calling him to leave those pasture lands and go to Israel to challenge the sophisticated priests and rulers in the religious centre at Bethel (Amos 7:12-15).
• Scripture does not tell us when and where Micah was called to prophesy but he tells how the anointing Spirit had come upon him, enabling him to speak God's word to both Israel and Judah (Mic 3:8).
• Ezekiel shared being in exile with God's people in Babylon, sitting where they sat and becoming overwhelmed by what he saw until in the fourth month of the fifth year of their captivity he was called to the prophetic ministry (Eze 2:3-7, 3:14-15).
• There were a number of prophets who were reluctant to pass on the message they had received, but only Jonah tried to escape from the prophetic call by running away. Only after alarming experiences did the persistence and mercy of God give his disobedient servant a second chance (Jonah 1:1, 3:1).

Not all the prophets of the Bible give details of their call, but we can be certain that none of them were self-appointed. They were speaking because they had to; they were speaking what they spoke because, having heard what God had to say, they were obliged to pass it on (Jer 20:9).

Today throughout the world there are still men and women who must speak out, because they too have heard what the Lord God has to say."

The Task of the Prophet

The nature of the work which the prophets were called to perform may be seen by a study of the Hebrew words which were used to describe them and their prophesying. In 1 Samuel 9:9 there is an editorial note to the effect that "he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer". Such a verse as this and 1 Chronicles 29:29 appear to use these words with a discrimination that is not sustained throughout the rest of the Old Testament. However, there is a distinction between their meaning.

Ro'eh (translated 'seer') is an active participle of the verb 'to see' and chozeh (also translated 'seer') is a similar part of the verb 'to gaze at'. Both words indicate that a prophet was someone who saw things to which other men were blind. The ability to see was not to be attributed to their own insight, neither had it been discovered by an occult means similar to heathen divination; it was the result of illumination by the Spirit of God. Samuel was a 'seer' to whom people turned when they wanted to know of God's will or sought direction in national, local or personal affairs (1 Sam 7:3-4, 9:3-11).

In contrast to these two words translated 'seer', which together occur a total of not more than thirty times in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the word 'nabhi' (translated 'prophet') occurs over 300 times. The derivation of this word has occasioned considerable debate, but it is widely believed it can be traced to an Akkadian root 'nabu' meaning 'to call'. The choice in understanding lies between the prophet as being one who is called by God; or the prophet as being the one who calls, either to men for God or to God for men, ie by intercession.

The prophet is a person who is called to see what God is showing and to pass on its significance to his fellow men."

It seems better to understand 'nabhi' not in the passive sense of the one who is called i.e. the recipient of the vocation; but in the active sense of an announcer or messenger ie the one who is charged with carrying out the vocation. The prophet is a person who is called to see what God is showing and to pass on its significance to his fellow men. Today the world situation as never before underlines our desperate need of seers who can see with God's eyes and prophets who can speak forth his authoritative word.

Description of a Prophet

There are a number of significant phrases in the Old Testament which tell us yet more about the prophet and his calling. The prophet is called:

1. A man of God (1 Sam 9:6), implying that as a man of righteous character he was more closely in touch with God than other men. From the time of Moses down to the time of the monarchy the phrase was in use (1 Kings 13:1, 2 Kings 4:9).
2. The servant of the LORD. This is another description going back to the time of Moses (Josh 1:2) and it became the standard way of referring to all later prophets, especially when they were referred to collectively (2 Kings 17:13 and 23, Ezra 9:11, Jer 7:25). A prophet's primary task is to serve God and to do all that is expected of him, however strange God's orders might be (Isa 20:3).
3. The messenger of the LORD. This phrase found in the post-exile prophets shows that the particular service which the prophets rendered was that of passing on messages from God (Hag 1:13, Mal 3:1). 'Malachi' means 'my messenger'.
4. The man of the Spirit (Hos 9:7). This description draws attention to the fact that the source of the prophet's inspiration and power is nothing less than the Spirit of God himself (2 Chron 15:1-2, and 24:20, Neh 9:30, Mic 3:8).
5. My anointed one (Ps 105:15). It is clear that this phrase from Psalm 105 refers to the patriarchs and attributes their ability for hearing God's voice to the anointing of God's Spirit upon them. In Isaiah 61:1 the prophet claims that he had been anointed by the Spirit of God; an experience which years later Jesus declared had been fulfilled in his own experience (Luke 4:17-19).
6. A watchman. This word draws attention to the awesome responsibility the prophet has of first keeping his eye on what is happening and then not failing to issue the appropriate warning to the people (Hos 9:8, Eze 3:17 and 33:1-9).
7. A trumpet-blower. Closely associated with the duties of the watchman is that of blowing the trumpet (Jer 6:17). The prophet's word must be loud and clear so that there can be no mistaking the urgency of his message (Isa 58:1, Jer 4:5, Hos 8:1, Joel 2:1 and 15, Amos 3:6).

Reluctance

We have seen that it is God who chooses and calls individuals to serve as prophets. The first reaction may be one of unworthiness, unfitness or even total unwillingness. But with that call comes the deepening conviction that it is their eyes through which God's view of the human situation is to be perceived; it is their heart that is to sense and share his feelings about that situation and it is their lips that must patiently and courageously pass on what he has to say about it.

When God calls, first reactions are often feelings of unworthiness, unfitness or total unwillingness. But with his call comes deepening conviction..."

They may feel unfitted, as herdsman Amos did when he confronted the sophisticated ecclesiastics of Bethel. They may, like Jonah, try to run as far as possible in the opposite direction. They may even get to the lengths of accusing God of taking advantage of them (Jer 20:7-8).

Prophetic Imperative

But the 'goodly fellowship of the prophets' shares one common obligation; they must pass on what God has revealed (Amos 3:8b). This message may not be what the majority of people want to hear with their unending pursuit of peace and the 'smooth things' that false prophets promise (Isa 30:10). It may not even be the kind of message that the prophet himself likes passing on. In that case the prophet must put aside his own ideas, feelings and prejudices. As a watchman he must watch carefully; as a seer see clearly; as a trumpeter alert people effectively to their danger; so that as a true prophet he may faithfully pass on God's word.

Prophetic messages may not be what people want to hear, or what prophets like passing on. But those who God calls, he also anoints and equips to be faithful by his Holy Spirit."

No prophets could ever meet such demands from their own resources. It is essential to the carrying out of their calling that the anointing of the Spirit has come down upon them (Zech 4:6). All we have discovered about the prophets of the Old Testament applies equally to those whom God is calling to the ministry of prophecy today.

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1985.