Ezekiel : The Lookout Man

While Ezekiel was living in Babylon and working beside the rivers, one of the things God told Ezekiel was that He wanted him to be a lookout-man. Do you know what a lookout-man does?

A lookout-man stands on the edge of the land and he watches for any sign of danger or enemies. If he sees danger coming, a lookout-man will yell and blow a trumpet to warn the people. “Danger! Danger! Danger!” He would yell and blow his trumpet as loud as he could — Dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo!

Then people would JUMP to attention and be ready for the danger. They would not get hurt because they heard the — Dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo! — and so they were ready.

But if some people heard the sound of the lookout-man’s trumpet warning, and decided NOT to listen — if they just kept on playing or sleeping or eating — then the danger would come and hurt them. But it would not be the lookout-man’s fault that those people got hurt. When they heard the — Dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo! — those people should have jumped up.

But what if the lookout-man saw danger coming and he did not blow the trumpet to warn the people?

Maybe he got scared and ran away to protect only himself.

Or, maybe he wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see the enemy coming.

Or, maybe he just blew on the trumpet a little soft blow because he didn’t like the noise of a loud trumpet.

Or maybe he never learned how to play the danger warning on his trumpet because he only liked playing “happy” music.

Do you know what God told Ezekiel about that? God said THAT lookout-man would be in big trouble, because when the danger came, the lookout man didn’t do his job. He didn’t blow a loud and clear — Dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo! — on his trumpet, so the people didn’t even know the danger was coming. If someone got hurt from that danger, God said it would be the lookout-man’s fault.

Then God told Ezekiel, “Ezekiel, I have made you a lookout for My Chosen Family, to warn them about the danger of sin and disobeying. Whenever I tell you something, you must warn the people for Me. Your words need to be like a loud trumpet blast — Dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo! Don’t let people get hurt and it be your fault because you didn’t warn them. Please, be sure to do your job!”

Think about it…

Have you noticed that prophets don’t always talk “nice”? God sometimes had them say and do things that were actually shocking, embarrassing, or gross.

They shouted in streets, howling like wolves and moaning like owls. Isaiah walked around barefoot and without clothes. Hosea married a running-away, unloving woman. Ezekiel cooked his dinner over a pile of cow poo. Why would God have His special prophets, His Heaven-seers, act so crazy or shocking or sometimes even offensive?

Well, it was NOT for the purpose of being rude. And they certainly did not think it was funny. It was because they needed to give people a clear trumpet warning about their sin — Dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo-to-dooooo!

Most people think of themselves as pretty good people, so they need a little jolt or a wake-up call to take sin seriously.

Most people think, “I do more good things than bad things,” or, “Well, there are people who are worse than me, so that makes me a pretty good person.”

With everything that you’ve learned so far about God, do you think that is how God is going to judge people on that Final Day? No. Not at all.

So we often need some help seeing how far away from God we really are on the inside. Sometimes that might just involve hearing or saying some hard, or shocking, or seemingly embarrassing things.

God says through His Seers things like, “You’re naked! You’re heart is as dirty as if you had poop on your face. You are a runaway, unloving woman.”

God does that so that the people who wrongly think, “Hey, I’m a pretty good person” now have a chance to really consider how their sin separates them from God.

It’s God’s way to help people see, “Your ‘little sins’ are not just little mess-ups or mistakes — they are crimes against Me. A little selfishness here and there is just as much a crime against Me as stealing or murdering. And it’s hurting My relationship with you.”

So if you’re wanting to be close to God yourself and help others to be close to God… then you have to do 2 things. 1 - Be willing to hear and respond to the trumpet calls to see sin in your own life. 2 - Be willing to blow that trumpet loudly and clearly to help others see sin from God’s view, too. The person who does those two things is a friend of God.

“And one more thing: When you talk to the people, also tell them, ‘I don’t want to hurt you. I just want you to change. Don’t worry about yesterday. You are not safe because you did good things yesterday, and you are not still in trouble because you did bad things yesterday. Today is the day that matters. Come My direction. Come toward Me. Today.’“