Ezekiel 3:20
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
A righteous person can turn away from righteousness to commit sin and die in that sin, and none of his former righteousness will be remembered. When he so turns, God lays a stumblingblock before him and he shall die. If he is warned and turns from his sin and does not commit it, he shall surely live. The watchman is appointed to hear the word at God's mouth and give plain and faithful warning that sin ends in death, not leaving people in darkness or telling the sinner it shall be well with him. By giving that warning he delivers his own soul, but if he fails to warn, the one who dies unwarned dies in his sin and his blood is required at the watchman's hand, leaving blood upon his garments.
The Righteous Who Turns
A man who is righteous can still turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and if he does so he shall die in his sin. When he so turns, God lays a stumblingblock before him, and he shall die. None of the righteousness which he did before his turning shall be remembered to save him. If the righteous man is warned so that he is turned from sin and does not commit it, he shall surely live.
The Watchman's Duty to Warn
God appoints a watchman to the house of Israel to hear the word at His mouth and give warning from Him. When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, with a stumblingblock laid before him, he shall die in his sin and his former righteousness shall not be remembered, and if the watchman has not warned him his blood is required at the watchman's hand. These solemn words speak to each one as a watchman under that appointment.
The watchman must warn the righteous man that he sin not, and if being warned he does not commit sin he shall surely live. He must raise the voice in warning when danger threatens, so that those in peril are told and know their peril and are not left in darkness. Reproof, warnings, admonitions and counsel are needed to correct and shape hearts and characters after Christ's pattern and lead them to keep the way of the Lord.
The warning must be plain and faithful, making the person aware of his danger and pointing him to the only One who can save. No one may suffer a brother to continue in sin unwarned, nor say to the sinner that it shall be well with him, but must warn him of his danger and tell him that sin ends in death and the wages of sin is death. A faithful watchman who sees a righteous man in danger of losing his soul if he dies as he is must warn him of the sinfulness of his thoughts and the offensive character of his works before God, for withholding needed reproof leaves the watchman chargeable with that sin. Those who were never warned may afterward testify that they expected professed Christians to alert them to their peril.
The chapter is to be studied as instruction for God's workers, calling them to take the entrusted warning seriously and deliver it. Workers must depend wholly on God while faithfully doing their appointed part, for God is the instructor and the source of the work's power, yet He uses human agents who hold the truth in righteousness to proclaim His message. God's warnings must be given even when people may refuse to hear, so that they may be saved from sin and discouragement.
By giving the warning the watchman delivers his own soul, and if he warns the righteous person and the person turns from sin and avoids it, the man will live and the warning preserves life. Failure to warn leaves the watchman accountable, with the blood of the one who dies unwarned required at his hand. Neglect of this warning work shows the watchman's own soul is not right before God and gives no encouragement to the unfaithful worker.
The warning also calls each person to examine and guard his own character rather than scrutinize or hinder fellow workers, for God keeps a record of each soul and judges accordingly. The same principle makes a person accountable for good he could have done but neglected, including faithful use of entrusted abilities and warning others, and persistent neglect and unrepented sin lead to death.
Blood Guilt for Silence
Silence toward backsliders and sinners leaves blood on the garments of ministers who profess a divine call yet feel no burden for souls around them. Such indifference shows they are nearly asleep, without a sense of the work of a gospel minister as spiritual physician with skill to minister to souls diseased with sin. Neglect to warn, weep over and plead with sinners leaves many past all cure, and those who die in their sins will confront in the Judgment with reproaches of guilt those who might have saved them but did not, bringing retribution upon the unfaithful.
Very many who make high profession yet feel at ease and free from responsibility are guilty of wonderful negligence and accountable for death when perishing souls wanting light and knowledge are left unwarned. Having come in contact with them, never to warn them, never to pray with or for them, and never to make earnest efforts to present the truth to them makes the indifferent answerable. Those given the truth work for time and for eternity, with heavenly angels commissioned to cooperate for the conquest of souls, and must make more earnest efforts to establish the truth in various localities. The truth for this time must be given to souls ready to perish with no phase of the message covered up, for to hide the truth in any way dishonors God and brings the blood of souls upon the garments.
Parents who do not restrain and correct their children are unfaithful, and the curse rests upon them while the blood of their children's souls rests upon them. False sympathy and blind love that excuses faults and passes them by without correction leaves children lost. The lost will rise up in judgment to condemn their parents and charge their destruction upon them, when unfaithfulness is met as judgment sits. A guardian who fails to warn one in his care is likewise accountable for that spiritual ruin, with the blood required of him, as in responsibility to recognize and correct a harmful home influence turning Lena against the truth and leaving her unconverted.
A minister appointed to warn the world of coming Judgment bears accountability far greater than a common workman, because eternal things are of more consequence than temporal. If he yields to inclination rather than duty and indulges self at expense of spiritual strength, moving indiscreetly, the blood of souls will be found on his garments and those souls will rise in the Judgment to condemn him for unfaithfulness. Being fitful, impulsive and unconsecrated, building up then tearing down, and disheartening, distressing and discouraging the very souls converted through his truth so they lose confidence, brings that blood-guilt whose result will never be fully understood until he sees as God sees. A gospel minister is a watchman upon the walls of Zion answerable for souls, entrusted with the work of God as a solemn reality, who must feel the worth of souls and the responsibility of his office. He must make Jesus and righteousness his themes, seek opportunities to present truth to individuals, and engage in pastoral labor involving a cross instead of dwelling on self, magnifying trials, diverting minds from the Pattern to be copied, spending energy on matters of minor consequence, and following pleasure and inclination while trusting his own strength and wisdom.
Doing the work negligently when clear thought and earnest prayer and wisdom are required to meet not men alone but principalities and powers, Satan and his angels, perils souls and the cause, for carelessness may leave a soul unwarned unto perdition. Angels watch his impressions, fruits and general influence upon believers and unbelievers and veil their faces in sadness at such neglect. Before he can be entrusted an entire change must take place: settling into God, moving from principle rather than impulse without due consideration, training the mind, crucifying the old man with affections and lusts, being balanced and regulated by the weight of God's Spirit, becoming steadfast rather than uncertain, not doing and undoing and building up and tearing down and kindling an interest then quenching it for lack of consecration and divine wisdom, living by faith and prayer and linking life with God so as not to sow to the flesh and reap corruption.
Those who know the way, the truth and the life are accountable to warn associates who are not disciples, and those who have received spiritual light are accountable to warn people facing destruction, so that unwarned blood is charged to those who knew but failed to act. If from indifference or inclination they fail to do the good they had ability to do when consecrated to God because inclination did not lead that way, they must render an account. Choosing pleasure and following the bent of their own mind instead of serving God with the whole heart leaves them weighed in the balance and found wanting and shuts heaven against themselves. Their course becomes a stumbling block aiding others to do the same and standing in the way of sinners, so blood is upon their garments. Leaders responsible for others must give earnest, thorough testimony and make the way straight with faithful warning and reproof, for making crooked paths and causing the vulnerable to stumble leaves the blood of souls on their garments.
Those more desirous to teach than to learn, never able to come to knowledge of the truth, bear in their garments the blood of souls. They stand directly before the wheels of the car of truth and salvation instead of pushing it on, as murmurers and accusers of the brethren who open a door for the enemy's temptations by tempting him to come in and control them, and God will reward all such according to their works. One who turns from righteousness and leads others toward sin faces death, and the watchman who fails to warn is accountable for the resulting blood. The image of blood on garments applies both to one whose sinful influence harms others and to those who accept false testimony and unjustly criticize those serving God.
Those who believe the truth are faithful sentinels on the watchtower who must warn of dangers and perils thickening about the remnant in the last days, perils revealed from 1845 down to the present. Great scenes are soon to open, the Lord is coming with power and great glory, and Satan knows his usurped authority will soon be forever at an end. He is making his most decided final efforts with his last opportunity to gain control of the world and accomplish destruction of its inhabitants. Unfaithful sentinels let Satan suggest specious reasonings and give utterance to opinions that betray sacred, holy trusts, and in his last work of rebellion with enmity against good manifested more and more, every soul not fully surrendered to God and kept by divine power will form alliance with Satan against heaven and join battle against the Ruler of the universe.