Watchman, What of the Night?
by John Brahmall
Isaiah 21:11-12
“The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night.”
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES WARN OF JUDGMENT
In this Scripture, Dumah is Edom. Dumah means “silence”, the silence of death. Isaiah, the watchman received an inquiry, repeated twice— “How far on is it in the night?” The answer is: Though morning is coming, night will yet envelop it.
The Millennial day is coming for Israel and the world, but before this the Day of the Lord will come in judgment, and they will pass through the night of the Great Tribulation (Mt. 24:15).
The believer is to be a “watchman” who listens to God’s Word and His counsels, and looks for the event, standing upon the watchtower in fellowship with God (Ezek. 3:17; Hab. 2:1-2; Mk. 13:35-37).
The Sign of Israel. Proof that the Bible is the Word of God is found in one word— Jew! The history of Israel, past, present, and future, is clearly written in the Bible. The life of Jacob is a perfect type: Jacob in the land, exiled from the land, and returned again to the land (Gen. 27:35). Universal peace will not be known until the nation of Israel is restored under God. The Bible affirms, “Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26). The time of great tribulation, called the Day of Jacob’s trouble, will come, “but he shall be saved out of it” (Jer. 30:7). No matter what her enemies say, Israel will not be destroyed.
The Sign of Wars and Rumors of Wars. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isa. 57:21) and the Lord Jesus plainly foretold that as the time approaches for His return to earth, “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars” (Mt. 24:6-8). With wars there will be “famines, pestilences, earthquakes.”
The Sign of Lawlessness. The way of the world today points to the coming of the Antichrist— “the man of Lawlessness” (2 Thess. 2:3-12). It is a predominant sign, the rejection of all restraint.
We cannot help but note that there is a growing spirit of discontent among the populace at large, as to their position in society and their circumstances. There is a general unwillingness to submit to any kind of control. There is a growing opposition to civil authorities in many lands. This often results in violence in order to accomplish selfish purposes. The true God is denied; the terrible claim is perpetrated that man is the only god there is. Therefore he deserves to live by the laws of his own base nature. This is the very spirit of Antichrist!
We cannot help but note that there is a growing spirit of discontent among the populace at large, as to their position in society and their circumstances. There is a general unwillingness to submit to any kind of control. There is a growing opposition to civil authorities in many lands. This often results in violence in order to accomplish selfish purposes. The true God is denied; the terrible claim is perpetrated that man is the only god there is. Therefore he deserves to live by the laws of his own base nature. This is the very spirit of Antichrist!
The Sign of the Christian Profession. Every diligent student of God’s Word knows that each period of history relating to God’s people has ended in failure. It is evident from the teachings of Paul, Peter, John, and Jude that it will be the same in Christendom at the end of the Church Age. In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we are clearly told of the failure of the Christian profession. Paul prophesied of the time when men shall stray away from the truth (2 Tim. 2:18). They will “resist the truth” (2 Tim. 3:8) and “they shall turn away their ears from the truth” (2 Tim. 4:4). The prophetic words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 18:8 are not to be forgotten, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
The believer is to be a watchman by the Lord’s command, “Watch therefore: for ye know not in what hour your Lord doth come” (Mt. 24:42), and “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Lk. 21:28). Let us in our day “look up and lift up our heads” for, praise God, the rapture of the saints will take place before the Great Tribulation falls on Israel and the world. Maranatha! The Lord is coming! Watch!
The believer is to be a watchman by the Lord’s command, “Watch therefore: for ye know not in what hour your Lord doth come” (Mt. 24:42), and “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Lk. 21:28). Let us in our day “look up and lift up our heads” for, praise God, the rapture of the saints will take place before the Great Tribulation falls on Israel and the world. Maranatha! The Lord is coming! Watch!
Printed originally in the November-December 1998 issue of Counsel Magazine
