Ezekiel 3:16-21, The Watchman

When I was in my second or third year as a Christian I was familiarized with the Campus Crusade for Christ booklet called The Four Spiritual Laws. Crusade had also created a survey questionnaire that could be used as a lead into the Four Spiritual Laws. So I went to every home in my neighborhood (Poplar Estates) and the neighborhood next door to it, asking if they would take the survey and then offering to present the Four Spiritual Laws. You might say I warned everyone in my neighborhoods about the potential for judgment if they did not receive Christ. Is that what God calls us to do?

16 At the end of seven days the word of Yahweh came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself. (Ezekiel 3:16-19)

Ezekiel has been transported to Tel Aviv (not the Tel Aviv in modern day Israel, but an ancient city in Babylon) after his stunning vision of Yahweh and the living creatures. He has sat in “great distress” for seven days when Yahweh’s word comes to him and tells him he has been appointed as a watchman for Israel to warn them of judgment from God. He tells Ezekiel that when He, Yahweh, communicates to Ezekiel that a wicked person will die for his or her sin, Ezekiel is to warn them. They may heed the warning and turn from their wickedness and not die, but even if they don’t, Ezekiel is not held accountable for their death because he warned them. However, if he fails to warn them, God holds him accountable for their blood. In other words, Ezekiel is counted guilty of murder and must die.

20 “Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 21 But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.” (Ezekiel 3:20-22)

Again, if Ezekiel fails to warn the righteous person who has turned to sin that they will die for their sin, God will hold Ezekiel accountable. If Ezekiel does warn the righteous person but they do evil and stumble on God’s stumbling block, even if they do not repent and die for their sin, Ezekiel will live because he warned them.

The death predicted here seems clearly to be physical death. Does this physical death penalty mean the person is not saved eternally? Or could they be eternally saved and yet turn from righteousness and become subject to a judgment of death? Wouldn’t the truly saved Israelite not turn from righteousness, but continue or persevere in righteousness? If this is the case, the “righteous” person Yahweh is speaking of here, who turns to sin and does not repent at the warning of Ezekiel, was not a truly saved person, but one who temporarily lived by God’s righteous standards only to reveal his true nature and abandon righteous living.

Do believers today have the responsibility to warn all unbelievers of judgment if they fail to receive Christ? Paul says to the Ephesians, “I have gone about among all of you, preaching the Kingdom of God. And now I know that none of you will ever see me again. So I solemnly declare to you this very day: if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible” (Acts 20:25,26). But Scripture never says that to any follower of Jesus. We may extrapolate from what God tells Ezekiel that this is the case, but that seems to be going beyond the clear teaching of Scripture. Hence, McDonald says in his commentary, “However high the responsibility of God’s messenger is, Christians should not take this as teaching that they ought to cram the gospel down every throat, or witness in every elevator.” Of course, we don’t have to “cram” the gospel at all to make an adequate warning. But it seems wise to acknowledge that making this kind of warning to any and everybody without having some relation to them or platform before them for explaining the gospel makes little sense and should expect few positive results. Perhaps it is better to listen to the Lord, the way Ezekiel did, as to whether we should engage someone in any situation. (See, Helping Non-Christians Cross the Threshold of Faith)