Ezekiel 3:21, commentary and pictures

God sets His servant as a watchman to hear the word from His mouth and to raise the warning openly when His people are in peril and darkness. That charge requires warning even the righteous to keep him from sin and its consequences, whether he listens or refuses. If the one warned heeds and does not sin, he shall live because the warning has kept him from death. The one who warns faithfully fulfills his duty and frees his own soul and garments from blame and bloodguilt for the other's death. Withholding the warning leaves the silent watchman guilty and chargeable with loss and ruin, with no excuse in the straying of the sheep.

Watchman's Commission to Warn

God appoints His servant Ezekiel as a watchman unto the house of Israel to hear the word at His mouth and give them warning from God. The commission makes the watchman responsible to hear from God and to carry that warning to Israel. If he warns the righteous man that the righteous sin not and the man heeds and does not sin, the man shall surely live because he is warned, and the watchman has delivered his own soul from bloodguilt.

Ministers are made faithful watchmen over souls, watchmen on the walls of Zion and shepherds to the flock. Their work is to watch for evil and every danger and to give warning, lest the sheep be harmed and destroyed and devoured by wolves. They must not suffer the flock to stray from the true pasture and be torn and scattered, but must care for the sheep and bring them back as they stray from the right and wrong path. When a watchman sees a righteous man in danger of losing his soul, he must warn him of his sins and faults. The gospel minister as watchman upon the walls of Zion is answerable for the souls of the people, and his life is a solemn reality.

The charge requires warning even the righteous man that he sin not, to keep him from sin and its consequences. That care protects the righteous as well as the wicked, whether he listens or refuses to listen. If the person is warned and does not sin, he will live because of the warning. By so warning, the watchman fulfills his duty and delivers himself from responsibility for the person's blood, death, fate, and blame for failing to warn.

When peril threatens and the people are in danger they are to know it and not be left in darkness. Therefore the voice must be raised in warning openly when they are in danger. The watchman must tell righteous men when peril is upon them so they are not left in darkness, warning the righteous to sin not.

Life Through Heeded Warning

If the righteous man is warned to sin not and he heeds the warning and does not sin, he shall surely live because he is warned, since the warning keeps him from sin and from death. The warning is to be raised openly when danger threatens so that the people know their peril and are not left in darkness.

The one who faithfully gives that warning has fulfilled his duty and has delivered his own soul and his own life from bloodguilt and blame and from responsibility for the other's death and blood. His soul is freed and his garments are freed from the blood of souls. To warn the righteous so that he does not sin, and thereby to live free of guilt himself, belongs to the work of the watchman on the walls of Zion and the shepherd of the flock.

To see the poor sheep torn and scattered and give no warning leaves guilt upon the silent watchman as an unfaithful watchman accountable for injury to the cause, with scattering and ruin resting heavily upon him. That guilt is especially heavy if he fails to discern evil, waits for fanaticism to develop instead of acting with haste, and stands in the way of faithful watchmen who can discern the evil. A shepherd cannot excuse suffering the flock to stray from the true pasture and be torn and scattered and devoured by wolves by pleading that the sheep led him astray and led him out of the way, for such a plea only proves him unfaithful and unfit and unworthy of confidence to watch over and care for the sheep and to bring them back from the wrong path. If the watchman withholds the warning his own soul becomes chargeable with the other's sin, and neglecting work that could have warned or saved others leaves the negligent person responsible for souls lost through that failure. The verse gives no encouragement to the worker unfaithful in his labors.

Faithful Warning in Practice

Ezekiel 3:21 makes warning a personal duty to plainly confront a brother with his danger and tell him that the wages of sin is death, refusing to suffer him to continue in sin. Reproofs, warnings, admonitions and advice are to come home to the heart to hew and square rough stones for God's building, shaping them after Christ's pattern with changed heart and character and keeping the way of the Lord. The warning must be given plainly even when it is dreaded and painful to give, and even when the one reproved feels mistreated. It extends to reproving overbearing temper and unsanctified words, thoughts and actions, and lack of home religion in one seen to be in danger of losing his soul if he dies as he is.

That work cannot be done as it should be done unless the warner's own soul is right before God. Heeding God's warning means examining self and faithfully using entrusted abilities rather than hindering the work or jealously scrutinizing others, and refusing to trust in men and make flesh an arm. Neglect of work that could have warned or saved others leaves the negligent accountable for souls lost through that failure. The verse is a call to Elder Place to study Ezekiel 3 in light of his conduct.

The warning is to be raised now, openly and not leaving the people in darkness, for the people of God in these last days. The gospel minister is a watchman upon the walls of Zion answerable for souls, and his life is a solemn reality requiring reliance on God's strength, a sense of the worth of souls and of the responsibility devolving upon him, seeking opportunities to present truth to individuals, and pastoral labor involving a cross with Jesus and righteousness as themes. He must live a life of prayer with his life linked with God, act from principle and not impulse, be balanced and regulated by the Spirit, be strengthened, established and settled in faith, and experience an entire change with the old man crucified with its affections and lusts before he can be entrusted with God's work. He must not dwell upon self and magnify trials and divert minds from the truth and the Pattern to be copied, lose opportunities that could decide souls, refuse the burden, follow pleasure and inclination, trust his own strength and wisdom when he must meet not men alone but principalities and powers, or engage in matters of minor consequence, for to do so is to do God's work negligently, to place truth and the cause in jeopardy, to peril the salvation of souls, and to bring sadness to watching angels, lest he sow to the flesh and reap corruption.