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Ezekiel, part 11, Responsibility of a Watchman

Ezekiel’s call as a watchman is described beginning in Ezekiel 3:18, 19,

¹⁸ When I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. ¹⁹ Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered yourself.

If Ezekiel withholds the warning, God holds him responsible for that failure. If he warns faithfully and the hearer refuses, the hearer bears responsibility for that refusal. Ezekiel is accountable to deliver the word, but he cannot compel repentance. This protects him from both negligence and the attempt to control those he serves.

God’s Will and Plan

Paul expresses a related sense of responsibility in Acts 20:26–27, where he declares himself innocent of everyone’s blood because he did not shrink from declaring the whole purpose of God.

²⁶ Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. ²⁷ For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose [boule] of God.

“Purpose” translates the Greek boulē, meaning counsel, plan, or deliberate intention. The KJV renders it “all the counsel of God.” Here, “counsel” means God’s settled plan, rather than merely advice that someone might choose to follow. The same word appears in Acts 2:23, where Jesus was delivered over according to God’s predetermined plan, and in Ephesians 1:11, where God works all things according to the counsel of His will. These passages associate boulē with God’s purposeful direction of events.

A similar word with practically the same meaning is boulema. Acts 27:42, 43 illustrates how closely it overlaps with boule. The soldiers’ plan to kill the prisoners is called boulē in verse 42; when the centurion prevents that same plan in verse 43, it is called boulēma. The words describe the same intention. Human plans bearing these names can be frustrated.

The word boulema is used in Romans 9:19, where Paul discusses God’s plan in hardening Pharaoh’s heart—a plan which seems to contradict His own will (thelema), which was to “let My people go” (Exodus 5:1). Paul comments, saying,

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault [with Pharaoh]? For who resists His will [boulema]?”

We see, then, how Pharaoh resisted God’s thelema but was unable to resist His boulema. The difference between the will and the plan is Time. The will of God will be fulfilled ultimately, but the plan of God is to provide resistance until His appointed time. Hence, thelema plus time equals boulema.

The law of God teaches His thelema, as we see in Romans 2:17, 18,

¹⁷ But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will [thelema] and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law.

Instruction from the law of God is “essential” to know sin from righteousness, because “through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). For example, Paul writes in Romans 7:7, “I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’.” However, if we limit our teaching to the thelema of God, we will probably fail to comprehend the whole boule/boulema of God. “The whole purpose” places God’s will (thelema) within His larger intention (boule/boulema).

This explains his statement in Acts 20:26 that he is innocent of everyone’s blood. Like Ezekiel the watchman, Paul had faithfully communicated the larger purpose that God entrusted to him. His responsibility was to declare God’s purpose and plan.

Personal Experience

I recall an incident that happened to me in February of 1986, where a prophet walked into my office in Arkansas where I was working. He came to give me a word from the Lord: “Declare the whole counsel of God.” This was from Acts 20:27. I took this as a heavenly mandate to teach not only the will of God but also the plan.

God then illustrated this to me within a few months. I had signed up with the Net of Prayer in 1981 when God issued a “call to arms,” asking people to engage in spiritual warfare for five years. My time in that prayer army ended in 1986, after which time my training was theoretically complete, and I was to embark my own ministry.

In June 1986 God instructed me to leave the NOP, but I refused. This put me into 3 cycles of 414 days (“Cursed Time”) for being in a calling that was no longer mine. Hence, my ministry independent of the NOP was delayed. I left the NOP on October 16, 1989, and God gave me time to recover from the consequences of disobedience. On May 28, 1991 a group of us were led to establish the new ministry which I call God’s Kingdom Ministries. Our first prayer campaign was launched in November 1993.

The point is that the thelema of God instructed me to begin this ministry in 1986, but the boulema of God added Time—a delay of five years to 1991. The delay, of course, had been built in from the start. In 1982 God had already revealed to me that my training would take 12 years. The full 12 years ended fully on November 12, 1993, and our Jubilee Prayer Campaign began nine days later on November 21.

This long delay provided me with a foundational personal example of the manner in which thelema and boulema functioned together. Knowing the will of God is good, but knowing the plan of God provides us with the broader understanding of the mind of God. In my personal case, my mandate was to declare the whole counsel of God, and, to the best of my ability, I have done so.

I am reminded of Habakkuk 2:3,

³ For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay.

This seems contradictory, because “it tarries” but “it will not delay.” The fact is that the “vison” (i.e., the promise/word of God) often “tarries.” Hence, we must patiently “wait for it.” But “it will not delay” beyond the appointed time in the plan of God established before the foundation of the world.

When the Righteous Turn Away

Ezekiel 3:20 says,

²⁰ Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle [mikshol, “stumbling block”] before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.

This shows a reverse repentance, where a man repents of righteousness and turns to iniquity. God calls watchmen to give warning. The fact that God can “place an obstacle before him” is an idea that is developed more fully in Ezekiel 14. It is a chapter that is seldom taught from the pulpit, because few people truly believe that God would do such a thing. But God says plainly that He can do so, and if we study the law, we can discover that He does all things lawfully.

Past righteousness does not excuse present rebellion. God describes a righteous person who turns away from righteousness and commits injustice. In that situation, his former righteous deeds will not be remembered as grounds for escaping the judgment. The point is that past obedience does not purchase permission to practice evil later. God judges the person’s turning: the righteous must not presume upon yesterday’s faithfulness while choosing rebellion today.

Ezekiel develops the same principle in Ezekiel 18:21–24. There it works in both directions: a wicked person who turns from sin may live, while a righteous person who turns to wickedness faces judgment. God’s warning leaves room for repentance; it also removes grounds for presumption.

It is therefore best understood here as a judicial action, rather than God enticing an innocent person into sin. The image suggests an occasion of stumbling or downfall through which judgment overtakes the offender. The verse does not identify the obstacle more precisely. Yet the law itself says in Leviticus 19:14,

¹⁴ You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block [mikshol] before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.

We are prohibited from taking advantage of men’s deafness and blindness. But as a judicial event, the Judge sentences people according to the measure of their sin, as in “eye for eye.” When men refuse the word of God, He blinds them to that word, so that they will not be able to understand its meaning (Isaiah 29:10, 11). If a man commits premeditated murder, the judge sentences him to death, and the judge cannot be charged with murder.

We must also recognize that all judgment for sin is limited in God’s law. Misdemeanors carry a maximum sentence of 40 lashes (Deuteronomy 25:3); theft is proportional to the value of the stolen property and is limited by the law of Jubilee; murder carries the death penalty, which is limited by the resurrection of the dead. God’s law stands in stark contrast with church law, which demands never-ending punishment.

In other words, the will of God demands righteousness as set forth in the law; the plan of God, however, adds Time to God’s will, resulting in a delay of the promise until the restoration of all things. In the end, all things will be put in subjection to the authority of Christ.