It’s one of those passages that will stop you dead in your tracks; especially if you have ever pastored a church, taught a Sunday School class, or led a small-group Bible study. You’ll find it in Ezekiel 33, and it’s where God communicated to the prophet these words:

“If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity;; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand… So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. ” (33:6-7)

That might be why James cautioned ‘wanna-be’ teachers not to be in such a rush to do so… pointing out how “we shall receive a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1)

And please let the record show that God makes it known through Ezekiel there…”As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?” (33:11)

Which is why Peter would later point out how God is “long-suffering towards us, not willing that any perish but that all would come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Don’t forget that Jesus issued similar warnings Himself, pointing out how people who were suffering and dying back then were not doing so because they were ‘worse sinners than anyone else’, then making it clear: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5).

I can’t say for certain that I know this to be true, but I have a suspicion that many of the things I share here regularly are not ‘mainstream’ teachings that you hear being taught in most churches today. My goodness…when a pastor has maybe 30-40 minutes a week to reach the majority of their congregation…where do you even start? It’s like you have to tailor a ‘one size fits all’ kind of message that hopefully will encourage the people so they leave uplifted (and then come back the following week). I mean really…who’s got time or interest to want to hear about all these ‘warnings of sin and swords and wrath coming-kind of messages’, right? “Tell us things that will make us feel better about ourselves and how we can live good, productive and prosperous lives.” (Isa. 30:9-11; 2 Timothy 4:1-4)

I won’t lie…I experience, at times… these waves of heaviness when sharing the type of messages I have been called to share here these past five years. I can so relate to what Jesus must have been feeling when He ‘lamented over Jerusalem’….there in Matt. 23:37, as He pleaded: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” He certainly would have known that in just a short span of time, the Roman Empire would march in and destroy the city and the temple. But it wasn’t just the ‘natural/physical realm’ of destruction that He lamented over.

I would not be surprised if the occasional or casual reader drops in here from time to time to read some random post of mine and then wonder to themselves: “What Bible is he reading from?” I can understand that, honestly. It reminds me of how years ago, as we became more polarized and divided as a country, especially in the area of politics…I would from time to time open the app on my phone to scan the headlines on CNN’s page, and then Fox News’s page and would ask myself if we were living in an alternate universe. IYKYK

Friends…I’ll say it again: the ‘sword is coming…and is here already’. And this should not come as a surprise or shock to anyone who ‘has ears to hear’ and is examining scripture on a regular basis, as we are admonished to do. That is an interesting word picture that Jesus uses there in Matt. 23…regarding a mother hen spreading her wings to gather in her baby chicks. Do you know when a hen in prone to doing that? When a storm, or danger is approaching.

But then look at the assurance we are given when reading Psalm 91, the promise to those who ‘dwell in the secret place of the Most High…and abide under the shadow of the Almighty…for He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings you shall take refuge.” (1-3). Take a moment and read through that often quoted Psalm; but please make note that this idea of ‘abiding’ means a little bit more than just showing up at church weekly and reading your Bible as you await for the ‘rapture’ to come and whisk you out of here before things get bad.

If you want a sense of what is coming, read through Proverbs 1:20-33, but then underline that last verse where we are told: “But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.” (33). Then flip back over to Ezekiel 33:30-33 and read the indictment made against God’s people back then who came regularly to ‘hear the word of the Lord’.

Oh, but you prefer to ‘camp out’ in the New Testament since we now have Jesus to trust and need not worry about all that serious stuff they harped on back then? Well, you might ask what was John the Baptist referring to when he warned of the ‘coming wrath’, in Matt. 3:7-12, and how an ‘ax is already laid to the root of the trees’, and that there better be visible ‘fruits of repentance’.

This would be the same ‘wrath of God’ that Paul announced was presently ‘being revealed today… against all unrighteousness and ungodliness…. In Romans 1:18. And it’s this idea of it being ‘revealed’…that we will touch on tomorrow, Lord willing. But please know that before storms come…God always makes a way of escape for His people …who will listen to Him.