“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (Isaiah 62:6-7)
This isn’t the first time Isaiah has used watchmen in his prophecy. They are typical of a messenger, someone who looks out onto the horizon and reports what is coming. A watchman doesn’t just foretell the danger on the horizon but forthtells, lifts up his voice like a trumpet, and sounds it in the ears of the slumbering people that it is high time to awake out of sleep. Death is on the horizon for us this morning, it may seem far away today but rest assured it is coming nonetheless. Judgment is on the horizon, if not today, tomorrow! Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, and many others were the watchmen of this day and they fulfilled their roles, they foretold of the good and the bad. They could see the destruction coming for the judgment of sin and yet they could see a light coming as well, hope, the Messiah, and they sounded the minor notes along with the major and gave us a prophecy of things to come both hopeful and horrible.
There have always been these sorts of men on the earth at any given time, and I believe there always will be. Notice who sets these men on the wall and how often they will watch, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night.” There has never been a midnight so dark that God has not set watchmen along the wall to blast the trumpet. Nor a day so bright that they were not needed. In the midnight of the Roman Catholic Empire, God raised up men like Wycliffe, Huss, Tyndale, Bunyan, and countless others to sound the alarm, to lay down their lives to warn the people of the Heresy and Dogma. In the bright days of the Great Awakening, he was faithful to endue watchmen with the power of God to preach the gospel and not only reform churches but nations. At any point in history, there have been these sorts of figures, and it has been God who has put the voice of the trumpet in their mouth, the fire of God in their hearts, and they have foretold and forthtold, and they will never hold their peace night or day.
There is also a practical application to us watchmen of this hour, that we should never hold our peace night or day. It is easy to walk the wall and sound the trumpet at noon, but at midnight will we be found sleeping with the rest of God’s people? God forbid! We must pace the walls with our fellow watchmen in the midnight hour lest the darkness ushers in an enemy unannounced. I would remind you that we “watch for souls.” We must forthtell of death, of judgment, of the return of Jesus, of the coming kingdom. When it is received and when it is rejected, in the night and daytime never ever hold your peace or keep silent! Sound the trumpet with the minor notes of coming judgment and the major notes of Christ return. If we keep silent, we will give an account for the souls that were overtaken under our watch.
This is tiring work and hated work. You would suspect people would appreciate the man who watches for their soul, but sadly, many hate the man who disturbs their sleep. Many watchmen have laid down the trumpet because their blowing wasn’t well received, some have laid down in the midnight hour and joined the slumbering population that they were called to watch for. There is an appointed time of rest coming, but not today. When can we lay down our trumpets of warning? “Till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” There is one last thing on the horizon, and when He comes our work of warning will be over. Jesus will come back and bring all the things ever foretold to pass. All our warnings will then be reality, some will be caught unaware and unprepared, don’t let that be you, friend. On that day our armor will be exchanged for a garment of praise, He will have brought judgment and therefore peace not only to the church but to the new world. We will live in harmony, all things made new, sin has passed away, death has passed away, hell cast into the lake of fire, we will no longer have anything to warn of, all the dangers have passed and the only thing on the horizon of eternity is more of eternity with our Lord ruling and reigning. Until that day: “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
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