The Watchman's Burden: On Speaking and Bloodguilt Text: Ezekiel 3:16-21
Introduction: The High Cost of Silence
We live in an age that prizes niceness above truth, and comfort above confrontation. The modern evangelical church, in many quarters, has traded the sharp, two-edged sword of the Word for a soft, sentimental pillow. We have become masters of evasion, experts in the art of not giving offense, and in so doing, we have become derelict in our central duty. We want to be liked. We want our neighbors to think we are reasonable. But God has not called us to be popular; He has called us to be faithful.
The passage before us in Ezekiel is a bracing tonic for our timid times. It is a bucket of ice water thrown on the sleepy face of a compromised church. Here, God commissions the prophet Ezekiel for a task that is anything but nice. He is appointed as a watchman, a sentinel on the wall of Israel. His job is not to soothe, but to shout. His task is not to affirm, but to warn. And the stakes could not be higher: the lives of the people, and the bloodguilt of the prophet himself.
This is not some dusty, irrelevant job description for an Old Testament prophet. This is a paradigm for the responsibility of every preacher of the gospel, and in a broader sense, for every believer who has been entrusted with the truth. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation, which necessarily includes the ministry of warning. To speak of grace without speaking of judgment is to preach a cheap, flimsy, and false gospel. To speak of Heaven without speaking of Hell is to offer a crown without a cross, a destination without a journey. It is to lie to people about their eternal destination, and God takes that kind of malpractice very seriously.
The central issue in this text is covenantal responsibility. We are not isolated individuals, responsible only for our own little patch of ground. We are bound together. The prophet is responsible for the people, not for their response, but for his warning. This passage draws a sharp, bright line between faithfulness and consequence. Our task is the former; the latter is in God's hands. But if we fail in our task, we become complicit in the consequence. This is a terrifying and sobering thought, and it is meant to be. God is impressing upon Ezekiel, and upon us, that silence in the face of wickedness is not neutrality; it is complicity. It is consent. And it has a cost.
The Text
Now it happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, I have given you as a watchman to the house of Israel; so you will hear a word from My mouth, and you shall warn them from Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”
(Ezekiel 3:16-21 LSB)
The Divine Commission (v. 16-17)
We begin with the appointment itself:
"Now it happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 'Son of man, I have given you as a watchman to the house of Israel; so you will hear a word from My mouth, and you shall warn them from Me.'" (Ezekiel 3:16-17)
After a week of stunned silence, overwhelmed by the vision of God's glory, Ezekiel receives his specific charge. God appoints him, makes him, a "watchman." A watchman in the ancient world had one primary job: to stand on the city wall, scan the horizon, and sound the alarm at the first sign of an approaching enemy. The safety of the entire city depended on his vigilance and his voice. If he fell asleep, or if he saw the enemy and kept quiet for fear of being wrong or causing a panic, the city would be overrun, and the blood of its citizens would be on his hands.
Notice the chain of command. Ezekiel is not to generate his own message. He is to "hear a word from My mouth." He is a messenger, an ambassador, not a freelance opinion columnist. His authority comes not from his own insights or eloquence, but from the one who sent him. He is to "warn them from Me." The warning is not his own. He is not the source of the threat; he is merely the herald of it. This is a crucial distinction. The modern preacher who softens the hard edges of Scripture for fear of offending is acting as though the message is his own to edit. He is putting himself above the Word, which is a place of great peril. Our job is to say what God has said, to deliver the mail, not to rewrite it.
This is a corporate, covenantal appointment. He is a watchman "to the house of Israel." God still deals with His people as a people, as a corporate body. We are not a loose collection of saved individuals. We are a church, a body, a household. And the health of that body depends on faithful watchmen who will warn the whole house, from Me.
Warning the Wicked (v. 18-19)
Next, God lays out the first scenario, which deals with the openly wicked.
"When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself." (Ezekiel 3:18-19 LSB)
The message is stark and unambiguous: "You will surely die." This is the fundamental warning of the law. The wages of sin is death. This is not a suggestion or a possibility; it is a divine declaration. The watchman's job is to relay this exact message, without apology. The goal is explicit: "that he may live." The warning is an act of grace. It is a merciful alarm bell, intended to wake the wicked man from his suicidal slumber so that he might turn and find life.
Here we see the terrible doctrine of bloodguilt. If the watchman is silent, the wicked man still dies for his own sin. He is not an innocent victim. He perishes "in his iniquity." But God holds the silent watchman accountable. "His blood I will require at your hand." This is the language of legal reckoning. The watchman becomes a participant in the man's destruction through his negligence. This should cause every pastor, every elder, and every Christian to tremble. When we see a brother caught in a wicked way, when we see our culture celebrating what God condemns, our silence is not golden. It is blood-red.
But verse 19 provides the watchman's deliverance. If he is faithful to warn, and the wicked man refuses to listen, the outcome for the wicked man is the same: "he shall die in his iniquity." But the watchman is cleared of all charges. "You have delivered yourself." Your responsibility is not to convert him, but to warn him. You are responsible for the proclamation, not the reception. We are called to be faithful, not successful. The results are God's department. Our department is obedience. This is a great liberation. We are free to speak the truth boldly, without being crushed by the burden of results that we cannot control.
Warning the Apostate (v. 20-21)
The second scenario is, in many ways, more sobering because it deals with the man who once appeared righteous.
"Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.” (Ezekiel 3:20-21 LSB)
This addresses the terrifying reality of apostasy. This is a man who was, by all external measures, "righteous." He was part of the covenant community. He did the right things. But he "turns away." His previous righteousness is nullified. "His righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered." This is a direct refutation of any theology that relies on past decisions or experiences for eternal security while ignoring present reality. The faith that saves is a faith that perseveres.
Notice the startling phrase: "and I put a stumbling block before him." This is a hard saying. When a man sets his heart to turn from God, God will often facilitate his rebellion. He will give him over to his sin (Romans 1). He will harden his heart, like He did to Pharaoh. God is sovereign even over the apostasy of men. He uses their rebellion to accomplish His purposes, and part of that is to test and reveal what was truly in their hearts all along.
Once again, the watchman’s duty is clear. He must warn the righteous not to sin. He must preach the warnings of Scripture, the calls to persevere, the exhortations to remain faithful. If he fails to do so, and the man falls away, the man dies "in his sin," but his blood is required at the watchman's hand. How many churches today are filled with people who believe they are secure because of a prayer they prayed thirty years ago, while their lives are a complete contradiction to the faith they profess? And how many watchmen are silent, failing to warn them that their righteous deeds will not be remembered if they turn away? This is pastoral malpractice of the highest order.
But again, faithfulness brings deliverance. If the watchman warns the righteous man, and he takes the warning to heart and does not sin, he lives. And the watchman has once again delivered his own soul. The warning is the means God uses to preserve His true saints. The warnings of Scripture are not threats to the elect that they might be cast away; they are the instruments by which God keeps them from being cast away. They are the guardrails on the narrow path.
Conclusion: The Sound of the Trumpet
This charge to Ezekiel is our charge as well. The church is the pillar and buttress of the truth in a world that is perishing in its iniquity. We are a city on a hill, and on the walls of that city, God has stationed watchmen.
The message has not changed. To the wicked, to a culture that celebrates sin and calls evil good, we must say with clarity and compassion, "You will surely die." The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. But this warning is always coupled with the glorious news of a refuge. The trumpet blast of warning is followed by the silver trumpet of the gospel. Turn from your wicked way, and live! Christ has died for sinners. He has satisfied the justice of God. Repent and believe, and you will be saved.
And to the righteous, to those within the church, the watchman must also sound a clear note. Do not grow complacent. Do not trifle with sin. Do not presume upon the grace of God. Flee from evil. Pursue righteousness. The one who endures to the end will be saved. These are not words of doubt, but words of life, the very means God uses to keep our feet on the path.
We must not be afraid of the world's scorn. We must not be afraid of being called intolerant, or hateful, or unloving. What is truly unloving is to stand by silently while a man walks off a cliff. What is truly hateful is to possess the cure for a fatal disease and refuse to share it. We have been entrusted with the word of life and the word of warning. If we are faithful to proclaim it, we deliver our own souls. But more than that, we honor our King, and we become the instruments through which He graciously delivers many others from the bloodguilt of their own sin.
May God give us the courage to be faithful watchmen, to hear the word from His mouth, and to speak it boldly, for His glory and for the salvation of many.