“Watchman, What of the Night?”

1. Read: Isaiah 21:11, 12

2. About the Text:

1) Isaiah speaks concerning the burden of Dumah.

2) We would normally think of Dumah as some kind of place, but not here.

3) One commentator said this “The name as it stands here is symbolical, and without any demonstrable topographical application. Dumah is deep, utter silence, and therefore the land of the dead.” (Keil and Delitsch).

4) We have then, the burden of the land of the dead.

5) What is that burden?

6) It is that of one who is calling out of the nearby mountain range of Seir which was in Idumea.

7) They cry out, “What of the night?” or “How long the night?”

8) Contextually, the Edomites were looking for deliverance from the night of the Babylonian threat.

9) The duplication of the expression may represent the intensity at which they felt the pressing of the night.

10) And so they cry out to the prophet, Isaiah, “Watchman, what of the night?”

11) The reply: “The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.”

12) Both morning and night are coming.

13) For whom comes the morning and for whom comes the night?

14) Contextually, the morning was coming for Israel and the night for Edom.

15) Spiritually, the morning came for those who inquire and repent, the night for those who do not.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. He is God’s messenger.

1) Here it is the prophet Isaiah who is God’s watchman.

2) We also note Ezekiel 3:16-21

2. He must give the message, whether good or bad. To do this he must not…

1) Be a respecter of persons.

a. Romans 2:11 “there is no respect of persons with God.”

b. Acts 10:34 “God is no respecter of persons.”

2) Seek to please men, but to save them.

a. Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.”

b. James 4:4 “Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.”

3) Compromise his message.

a. His attitude is that of Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:14 “As Jehovah liveth, what Jehovah saith unto me, that will I speak.”

b. Galatians 1:8-9 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema. As we have said before, so say I now again, if any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.”

c. Acts 20:26, 27 “Wherefore I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God.”

3. Today, we are the watchmen.

1) We are not of the night, but of the day. 1 Thess.5:4, 5 “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness;”

2) Acts 26:18 “to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.”

3) Will we do the work of the watchmen or stand idle as souls around us die in sin?

1. The night is dark and uncertain.

1) One cannot see when it is dark; how can we know the way?

a. Proverbs 4:19 “The way of the wicked is as darkness: They know not at what they stumble.”

b. John 12:35 “…and he that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”

2) One cannot find his way when he is uncertain. – John 11:10 ” But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.”

3) The word of the watchman illuminates.

a. Psalm 119:105 ” Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And light unto my path.”

b. John 8:12 “Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

2. The night is dangerous.

1) The enemy holds the night.

a. Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

b. Colossians 1:13 says that the lost are in “the power of darkness.”

2) The blindness of night brings hazards.

a. Isaiah 56:10 states, “His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.”

b. At night we are blind: Luke 6:29 “And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?”

3. The world is in the night.

1) They are in the night of sin.

a. John 3:19 ” And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.”

b. They have no hope and are without God. Ephesians 2:12 “that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

c. 1 Thess.5:7 “For they that sleep sleep in the night: and they that are drunken are drunken in the night.”

2) There are millions crying out, “What of the night?”

3) What will we tell them?

1. The morning comes.

1) There was going to be restoration for Israel.

2) The morning is coming for the faithful.

3) 2 Peter 1:19 “And we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts:”

4) Revelation 22:16 “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.”

2. But also the night.

1) There was going to be continued night for Edom.

2) The night remains for the wicked.

3) 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;”

4) 2 Peter 2:17 “These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.”

3. Inquire and turn.

1) Edom was exhorted to inquire concerning the Lord’s message and repent.

2) So also today, we are exhorted to heed the Lord’s words and repent.

a. 2 Peter 3:9

b. Acts 17:30, 31

3) What will our attitude be toward the message of the watchman?

1. “Watchman, what of the night?” Let us remember…

1) The Watchman

2) The Night

3) The Message

2. Invitation