Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
The word “warning” above is the LORD instructing Ezekiel, in Ezekiel 3:17, as a pattern of the coming son of man, to warn the wicked of the self-destruction their wickedness is provoking. As we’ve seen in previous posts, Ezekiel, before in chapter 1, sees and describes the wheel within the wheel, which we know is the living (life producing) word of God, written and sent forward in time, an event described as the river Chebar (kebar). We know it’s sent to then and there be understood by the LORD’s leading and enlightening, to give warning of the moment and to guide the way forward for those who listen and heed His instructions. When this understanding comes it brings life to those before as good as dead in the darkness without any understanding, which is what has just occurred in Ezekiel 3. When life comes, by this manifestation of His word and His understanding (light), it is evidenced by what are, in reality, His presence (glory) realized and His voice heard.
As we’ve seen in recent posts, and as Ezekiel 10 later plainly states, this manifestation is the LORD above the cherubims, the two opposing voices, one straying into apostasy and the other arguing the LORD’s correction. This is the point of the LORD self-generating His obvious presence (face to face) into the moment, to correct, save, and deliver those who will return to Him in spirit and truth.
As we’ve also seen, those who refuse to return are those He describes in Ezekiel 28 as the devil (sa’iyr), the misleading he-goat, the fallen star, who are as the king of Tyrus. The name describes them as the false rock from which flows the misleading words and ways, in which the fallen, in vain, put their trust.
Ezekiel 3
1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll [the word of God sent forward to him], and go speak unto the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get you unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. [This is what is referred and more descriptively defined by John when he received the same word, recorded in Revelation 10.]
5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened unto you.
7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces [the face to face cherubims], and your forehead strong against their foreheads [the LORD’s ideas and words against theirs].
9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house [as you are].
10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto you receive in your heart [make them the foundation of all your thoughts], and hear with your ears.
11 And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the LORD God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice [qowl – the LORD’s voice realized to be His] of a great rushing, saying, “Blessed be the glory [presence] of the LORD from his place.”
13 I heard also the noise [the qowl – the opposing voices] of the wings of the living [the voice of those that have the LORD’s word and those who come to life by being corrected and receiving it] creatures that touched one another, and the noise [qowl – the voices] of the wheels over against them, and a noise [qowl] – the voices] of a great rushing.
14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness [see Revelation 10:9 & 10 below], in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib [where new life is springing from the earth], that dwelt by the river of Chebar [by the word of God sent for this moment – which is spoken by the cherubim], and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished [as an astonishment they don’t understand] among them seven days.
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me [I urge all to receive the warning, and all who receive it must pass it on as received].
18 When I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak 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 your hand.
19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness [the fallen churched should hear this warning], and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.
21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul.
22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain [in plain sight – so they will see I am in you speaking], and I will there talk with you.
23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory [presence] of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar [as the presence I realized when I ate, found, the word to which He led me]: and I fell on my face.
24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut yourself within your house.
25 But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:
26 And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.
27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
This ending is speaking of the finality of the same thing Isaiah says in Isaiah 28:19. Now, it’s the point we’ve reached when the explanation has ended and people either hearken (hear and heed) or they don’t.
Isaiah 28
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and d there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
Revelation 10
1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head [the sign of the correction of the willing, and not the destruction of all in this flood], and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices [the voices of understanding, the sound that comes from the seven colors of the rainbow, the product of the rightly divided light, after the latter rain].
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. [Because they have been kept back, for this time when they are spoken as “prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”]
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And swore by him that lives forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that THERE SHOULD BE TIME NO LONGER:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he has declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spoke unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 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; and it shall make your belly bitter, but it shall be in your mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11 And he said unto me, You must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Friends, the word above, in verse 7, rendered “finished” is the Greek word teleo, meaning “to end, i.e. complete, execute, conclude, discharge (a debt).” It is the word used in the gospels to tell of the LORD finishing His work on the cross. It is speaking of the time I now declare unto you, when the LORD has through me freely given all and moves on into victory over the enemies (their perdition). Amen!
Acts 13
29 And when they had fulfilled [teleo – finished] all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher.
30 But God raised him from the dead:
31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
33 God has fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you.
34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
35 Wherefore he says also in another Psalm, You shall not suffer your Holy One to see corruption.
36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
41 Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
I plainly and without equivocation tell you I am the son of man, which the Father has declared in the fuller texts of the above quotes (which here follow).
Psalms 2
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Isaiah 55
1 Ho, every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew not you shall run unto you because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.
6 Seek you the LORD while he may be found, call you upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Psalms 16
1 Preserve me, O God: for in you do I put my trust.
2 O my soul, you have said unto the LORD, You are my LORD: my goodness extends not to you;
3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: you maintain my lot.
6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
7 I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
10 For you will not leave my soul in hell; neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
The word in the title rendered “warning” is the Hebrew word zahar, meaning “to gleam; figuratively, to enlighten (by caution).” It is the word in Daniel 12:3 translated “shall shine” in describing the people who now rise from the dead, awaken from the dust (ruin and ashes) of the earth, becomes as the stars of heaven, shine as the brightness of the firmament, and turn many to righteousness.
Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael [who is like God, created in His likeness] stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine [zahar] as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
4 But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by him that lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my LORD, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up [put in God’s place], there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days [as we know, these numbers and the times formula above tell us it is the time beginning Abram’s deep sleep {Genesis 15:12} and the awakening now – the end].
13 But go you your way till the end be: for you shall rest, and stand in your lot at the end of the days.
Friends, all, be warned, there is a great sword coming upon the land, because when the LORD called none answered.
Jeremiah 23
17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD has said, You shall have peace; and they say unto everyone that walks after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, and has perceived and heard his word? who has marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it perfectly.
21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.
25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
Ecclesiastes 12
8 Vanity of vanities, says the preacher; all is vanity.
9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished [zahar – warned]: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Ezekiel 33
23 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24 Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.
25 Wherefore say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land?
26 You stand upon your sword, you work abomination, and you defile everyone his neighbor’s wife: and shall you possess the land?
27 Say you thus unto them, Thus says the LORD God; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.
28 For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.
29 Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.
30 Also, you son of man, the children of your people still are talking against you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the LORD.
31 And they come unto you as the people comes, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness.
32 And, lo, you are unto them as a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice [qowl], and can play well on an instrument: for they hear your words, but they do them not.
33 And when this comes to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.
Psalms 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament [the rightly divided word] shows his handiwork [the work of His hand].
2 Day unto day utters speech [His voice], and night unto night shows knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice [qowl] is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is your servant warned [zahar]: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his [own] errors? cleanse you me from secret faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
