watchman

Ezekiel 3:16-4:17 ESV

And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.

notice that everyone is responsible for and will answer for their own actions, but the watchman will also be held responsible if he does not sound the warning…

God’s people

Concerning Israel and the Jews.  On one hand they are supposed to be God’s chosen people, yet of all people groups throughout history, they seem to be the ones singled out for suffering and hatred from all nations.

There are promises of God to Israel that are unconditional. For example God’s covenant with Abraham was “one-sided” meaning that God contracted with Abraham such that God would maintain the covenant and there was nothing Abraham had to do to keep it and nothing Abraham could do to break it. (Genesis 15)

God has preserved Israel through the ages so that He can keep His covenants, regardless of the faithfulness of the people of Israel.

On the other hand, there are also promises of God to Israel that are conditional.  For example: 

Blessings and protection from the enemy for obedience:

If you follow My statutes and faithfully observe My commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit… Leviticus 26:3-13

Cursing and loss of God’s protection for disobedience:

But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it… Leviticus 26:14-39

Restoration for repentance:

If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land… Leviticus 26:40-46

In all cases, God does exactly what He says He will do.

Additionally, the ‘father of lies’ has sought throughout history to wipe out the children of Israel. 

Some reasons why include:

1) They are the bloodline of the Messiah  

2) If they are wiped out, then the as yet unfulfilled promises of God to Abraham, David and the nation of Israel would never be fulfilled making God a liar and give the enemy a ‘win’ over Him.

3) They were also the preservers of God’s Word and the preservation of the Jews and existence of Israel is proof of the validity of Scripture.

4) God still has plans for Israel, both for the current ‘secular’ state of Israel that has gathered together in unbelief, as well as for the future nation of Israel that He will gather together and establish when He returns (Rev 19-20).  God has not forgotten them, in Revelation we see that He sends two witnesses who are able to perform miracles similar to Elijah and Moses (Rev 11:3-12), and also 144,000 sealed servants who share the Gospel (Rev 7:3–8 ), and an angel to proclaim the Gospel (Rev 14:6-7). 

Ever since the first promise of the Messiah to crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15) the enemy has sought to corrupt and/or destroy the bloodline of the Messiah.  Examples include:

The slaying of Abel (Genesis 4:5-10), the incursion of fallen angels corrupting all flesh (except Noah, his wife and his sons) before the flood (Genesis 6:9-12). 

Tempting Abraham and Sarah to continue the bloodline through their own fleshly solution of the Egyptian hand-maid and Ishmael instead of waiting on God’s plan of Isaac.

Pharaoh slaying of all Hebrew male children and Herod slaying of all children in the vicinity of Bethlehem 2 or younger.  Not to mention all the times that various tribes and empires have attempted to stamp out or starve out the children of Israel.

Even in more recent history we have examples of the pogroms in Russia and the Holocaust during WWII.  Antisemitism continues to this day in every country.  Also, the Arabs and Islamists maintain their hatred for Israel, Jews, and Christians.

So we see that God has a covenant to PRESERVE Israel through the ages to fulfill His plan but at the same time they are subject to the consequences of having rejected Messiah until such time that they repent and receive Him.

monster

This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 1John 4:3


he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads; And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.  Revelation 13:14-18 

In gematria, hebrew letters also represent numbers.  The hebrew letter vav (“v” or “w” in latin characters) represents the number 6.
This symbol has appeared in esoteric symbolism
Note that this symbol is conspicuously presented in the Monster energy drink logo.
Note that the word translated “beast” in Revelation is from the Greek word Therion meaning “wild animal” and often associated with a rending, tearing creature and can also be translated as “monster”. 
Monster’s motto is even “Unleash the Beast!”

You can even wear this logo on your hand and forehead.

And if that isn’t explicit enough you can even get 666 “Lucifer’s Lemonade” and “Virgin Sacrifice”




This all serves to communicate idea that you can gain “energy” from taking on and internalizing the beast and his mark.  It also mocks scripture and popularizes the mark, making it something to be desired to make one “cool”.

Instead of drinking in the vain spirit of the antichrist, we need to take in and internalize the true Living Water and Bread of Life.  

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 6:35


law of the land

Many people quote “law of the land” as if it was in the Bible…

I have yet to find it…

It seems to come from the Latin lex terrae (or legem terrae in the accusative case). It refers to all of the laws in force within a country or region, including both statute law and common law.

The usage that appears to be the foundation of our modern understanding in English speaking countries likely comes from the “law of the land clause” in the 1297 Magna Carta:

No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land.[1]

Some “Christians” will cite the “law of the land” as if it was a Biblical concept that establishes the “divine right of kings”, that every form of Government and every leader is hand picked by God, that everything they do, they do as God’s servant, and that everything Government does, it does as the Hand of God and we should comply and go along with it no matter what.  They then pull Romans 13 out of context to support their presupposition and promote an erroneous belief that civil government must be submitted to regardless of how evil or immoral its laws might be making them de facto slaves and worshippers of the state.

Blind support of government is a hazardous thing.

Note that the atrocities carried out by Nazi Germany were all perfectly and even meticulously “legal” and supported by laws put into effect by democratically elected representatives.

The laws were of course immoral, but the government sponsored church of the time said that since God instituted government, then we should follow whatever the “law of the land” was without question.

This left even “christians” without the moral grounding to say “no” to things that were clearly against God’s law because they were “legal” according to man’s law.

As did Germany’s pastors and Christians in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, America’s pastors and Christians suffer from a  fallacy leads them to believe that by serving the state, they are serving God. In their minds, one cannot be “right with God” if they are not totally submissive to the state.

Here are several scriptural examples of nations and kingdoms that are out of God’s will.  If the nation was sovereignly controlled by God, then why would the nation be acting outside of God’s will?  Scripture demonstrates that the level of corruption in government and its leaders actually reflects the level of corruption in the nation.

“The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,”if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.”And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,”if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.” Jeremiah 18:7-10

[[TODO: add more examples here]]

Scripture reveals the role and place of government in God’s plan.  Due to sin in the world and the hardness of people’s hearts God has established the concept of governments in order to protect life, liberty, and property of earth dwellers.  While authority of governments ultimately comes from God, and certainly God steers even the most corrupt and evil governments to accomplish His plan, the balance of scripture shows that governments can create and enforce laws that are contrary to God’s Law and that not everything a government or leader does is an expression of God’s will.

While the phrase “law of the land” does not appear in the Bible, there are scriptural examples supporting the concept of “civil disobedience” in instances of believers -vs- the laws of men in cases where the laws of men are contrary to the Law of God.

In Exodus 1, the Egyptian Pharaoh gave the clear command to two Hebrew midwives that they were to kill all male Jewish babies. The midwives disobeyed Pharaoh and “feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live” (Exodus 1:17). The Bible goes on to say the midwives lied to Pharaoh about why they were letting the children live; yet even though they lied and disobeyed their government, “God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them” (Exodus 1:20–21).  I would suggest that God’s favor to the midwives was not necessarily due to their lying but in spite of it and more for their fearing God and preserving the lives of the children.

In Joshua 2, Rahab directly disobeyed a command from the king of Jericho to produce the Israelite spies who had entered the city to gain intelligence for battle. Instead, she let them down via a rope so they could escape. Even though Rahab had received a clear order from the top government official, she resisted the command and was redeemed from the city’s destruction when Joshua and the Israeli army destroyed it.

Another example of civil disobedience in keeping with biblical submission is found in 1 Kings 18. That chapter briefly introduces a man named Obadiah who “feared the Lord greatly.” When the queen Jezebel was killing God’s prophets, Obadiah took a hundred of them and hid them from her so they could live. Such an act was in clear defiance of the ruling authority’s wishes.

In 2 Kings, the only apparently approved revolt against a reigning government official is recorded. Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, began to destroy the royal offspring of the house of Judah. However, Joash the son of Ahaziah was taken by the king’s daughter and hidden from Athaliah so that the bloodline would be preserved. Six years later, Jehoiada gathered men around him, declared Joash to be king, and put Athaliah to death.

Daniel records a number of civil disobedience examples. The first is found in chapter 3 where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the golden idol in disobedience to King Nebuchadnezzar’s command. The second is in chapter 6 where Daniel defies King Darius’ decree to not pray to anyone other than the king. In both cases, God rescued His people from the death penalty that was imposed, signaling His approval of their actions.

In the New Testament, the book of Acts records the civil disobedience of Peter and John towards the authorities that were in power at the time. After Peter healed a man born lame, Peter and John were arrested for preaching about Jesus and put in jail. The religious authorities were determined to stop them from teaching about Jesus; however, Peter said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19–20). Later, the rulers confronted the apostles again and reminded them of their command to not teach about Jesus, but Peter responded, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

One last example of civil disobedience is found in the book of Revelation where the Antichrist commands all those who are alive during the end times to worship an image of himself. But the apostle John, who wrote Revelation, states that those who become Christians at the time will disobey the Antichrist and his government and refuse to worship the image (Revelation 13:15) just as Daniel’s companions violated Nebuchadnezzar’s decree to worship his idol.

Some summary points can be drawn from scripture as follows:

• Christians should resist a government that commands or compels evil and should work nonviolently within the laws to change a government that permits evil by prayer, by sharing the Gospel, by spreading truth, by appealing to lawmakers, by campaigning, by voting, by training up the next generation to think Biblically and critically, etc…

• Civil disobedience is permitted when the man’s laws or commands are in conflict with God’s laws and commands

• Civil disobedience is permitted to protect the lives of the innocent and God fearing

• If a Christian disobeys an evil government, unless he can flee from the government, he should be prepared to accept that government’s punishment for his actions.

• Christians are commanded to pray for their leaders and for God to intervene and have government fulfill its role of protecting life, liberty, and property so that we can carry out our commission to share the Gospel of salvation: “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1–4).

To sum up in one statement:


We must obey God rather than men – Acts 5:29

consequences of taking a stand

there are times to take a stand

there are times for “civil disobedience”

when man’s laws conflict with God’s laws

we should obey God rather than men

however, do not be surprised or dismayed when taking a stand comes at a price

there are consequences for disobeying the laws of the enemy’s “kingdom”

for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednago it was being thrown into a fiery furnace, but the Lord was in the furnace with them

for Daniel it was being thrown into a Lion’s den, but the Lord was in the furnace with them

for the Apostles, first century Christians as well as the majority of the remnant of true Christians throughout history it has been betrayal, imprisonment, torture, and execution.

that ye may put difference between holy and unholy

And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying,
Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;
And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.
Leviticus 10:8-11
The LORD made a rule for the priesthood not to drink strong drink before attending or leading public meetings and ceremonies.  This was because it could impact their ability to differentiate between holy and unholy and clean and unclean.

Judgments in the earth

“For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Proverbs 26:9b)
God’s judgments in the earth are a mercy, they are to wake up the hard hearted so that they turn to Him.  Even the seemingly ‘harshest’ judgements are preferable in comparison to an eternity burning in Hell.  

He loved us enough to put us ahead of Himself.  He suffered the penalty in our place so that we don’t have to bear the wages of our sins in death.  Because of Him we can have life and life eternal.