PROPHETIC WATCHMEN (4)

“WATCHMAN, what of the night? WATCHMAN, what of the night?” – Isaiah 21:11b

The roles of PROPHETIC WATCHMEN include not only communication with the Lord, but also knowing the times: “WATCHMAN, what of the night? WATCHMAN, what of the night?” (Isa.21:11b).  Earlier in verses 5 and 6, the instructed had proceeded: “Prepare the table, SET a WATCHMAN in the tower, eat and drink. Arise, you princes, anoint the shield! For thus has the lord said to me: “Go, SET a WATCHMAN, let him decare what he sees.”  Against the backdrop of war, turmoil, and an attack upon the nation of Israel, God commanded Prophet Isaiah to assume the role of a watchman – Watch and Warn – look to the prophetic future and tell the people what he saw approaching.

Similar to Isaiah’s account in today’s meditation text, God said in Jeremiah 6:17, “Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.” Again, when the prophet Habakkuk decided to take an elevated stand on his Prayer Watch, the Lord responded promptly: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it” (Hab.2:2b). Knowing the times in order to activate the right visions, is therefore one of the most important functions of Prophetic Watchmen. As the Church proceeds toward the end of the age, timing will become increasingly critical in all Kingdom mandates. Believers must pray, trusting God to raise up the likes of “sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to what Israel ought to do” (I Chr.12:32). All their brethren were at their command!

We would do well to ask the same question that Job asked: “Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, why do those who know Him see not His days? Some remove landmarks; they seize flocks violently and feed on them” (Job 24: 1-2). The rest of Job 24 reads almost like a commentary on the present condition of much of the Body of Christ. When people fail to see the timing of the Lord, even their spiritual boundaries become blurred. In Psalm 74:9 for example, the psalmist desperately lamented for his nation under siege: “We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, nor is there any among us who knows how long” (Psa.74:9).

God wants His people to know when He moves, when judgment is coming, and when the enemy threatens. These essential aspects of the prophetic ministry must be recovered and rightly repositioned, lest we continue to suffer unnecessary defeats. God has used the ministry of prophetic watchmen to deliver local congregations of Believers from the enemy’s attempts to thwart divine purposes. Others have been used to save congregations from some long-term problems which would have resulted if the enemy had been able to gain a foothold or build a stronghold in certain ministries within the church. Prophetic watchmen are critical to God’s emerging moves and Divine Agenda for the Body!