The Faithfulness He Defines
Jesus “set His face to go to Jerusalem”[1] – a concrete decision, “set” for all eternity; is it unusual if his servants are like-minded? The Watchman is ardent to pursue the objects to which he has been called, heroic in endurance, daring in Divine pursuits, patient in tribulation, constant in adversity. We read disappointing things in the Bible, like Paul’s lament, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world”,[2] but not the Watchman. He remains faithful following his course. He gives “diligence to make his call and election sure” through the night until the dawn. He knows how to “Endure hardship as a good soldier”.[3]
Too often men acknowledge everything but apply nothing. A torpid, inert faith is at best a fallacy. The testimony of vital faith is continuous action. Jesus showed the way; He stepped out of the cradle and walked without stopping into the throne-room of God. The Watchman realises that he must “labour…..for the meat that endureth”[4] that “everlasting substance” encountered through Christ. Even as he stands amid the gathering gloom he takes note of the transient conditions. Applying himself to the promises of God, he takes on the immortal character of the immortal seed. Once rooted it grows apace until it brings forth the fruit of faithfulness.
The Encouragement He Speaks.[5]
The Revelation He Distils – “To distil” means “to let drops fall.” This is the function of the Watchman. We see “through a glass darkly”[6] now, but then face to face. Until that time of fullness, when perception becomes perfect, we are encouraged in “the way.” The Watchman interprets to us the growing dawn. When at the point of despair he shouts to us, “The morning cometh!” and fresh strength flows into ebbing souls. The Watchman was watching for the captivity tribulation to finish, ready to speak those longed- for words.
When Joseph was in prison there came a day when two men – a butler and a baker – had dreams. Both were troubled by these images in the mind, but when Joseph came to the cell in the morning he revealed to them that their dreams were to become their destinies. Do we see things that are difficult to understand?
The Redemption He Depicts – Our salvation is not yet complete. God has not brought us out of bondage to see us in confusion. Whereas the Old Testament saints hardly had a dawn, we are living in the morning rays of revelation. “The path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”[7] Our salvation is one deliverance after another. The Watchman points out to us that the final deliverance is yet to be. Do you not hear his cry, “It is coming” – “to wit, the redemption of the body”? Every day is a triumph with God, but one day the final trumpet will be blown and life will be swallowed up in life.
The Israelites at the Red Sea moaned at God. Pharaoh said that “the wilderness had shut them in”8 and they were encamped before “Baalzephon”.[9] But God moved and in the morning they went across the dry river bed. Would the God who prevented even the dogs curling their tongues at His people let them perish under the sword in the wilderness? Of course not! When we are tempted to be like them and grumble at the providence’s of God let us bend our ear to the Watchman and remember that our redemption draws near!
The Resurrection He Desires – With the morning comes a new beginning with aspirations and attempts at new heights. The failures of yesterday are forgotten in the possibilities of the new day. The wrongs of past defeats righted in the glory of the rising sun. There is more than hope ringing in that Watchman’s voice. He is convinced that man is to be formed of dust once again as God’s breath breathes into the stubborn sod on that resurrection morning. He has noted the time and realises that it is almost upon us.
The Watchman delivers the whole counsel of God. “The morning cometh and also the night;” for some sunshine, for others darkness. In Genesis the butler was lifted up to the throne, the baker to a scaffold. To the one it was a new day, to the other an eternal night. God has set the Watchman in the Church so that all may hear. “He that hath ears let him hear.” [10]
[1] Luke 9:51
[2] 2 Timothy 4:10
[3] 2 Timothy 2:3
[4] John 6:27
[5] Isaiah 21: 11,12.
[6] 1 Corinthians 13:12
[7] Proverbs 4:18
[8] Exodus 14:3
[9] Exodus 14:2
[10]Revelation 2:7
