Spiritually Blind Watchmen

Isaiah 56:10-12 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

10Israel’s watchmen are blind,

they are all oblivious;

they are all mute dogs,

they cannot bark;

they are dreamers lying around,

loving to slumber.

11Like ravenous dogs,

they are never satisfied.

They are shepherds with no discernment;

they all turn to their own way,

each one seeking his own gain:

12“Come, let me get the wine,

let us imbibe the strong drink,

and tomorrow will be like today,

only far better!”

 

Biblical Israel

 

Who is biblical Israel today? Jesus Christ is Israel. And ever since Jesus died on that cross to put our sins to death with Him, so that we might now die to sin and obey God, He created for Himself one new humanity out of the two (Jew and Gentile), reconciling both of them to God through the cross, i.e. making them one people of God by faith in Christ. All Jews who rejected Jesus Christ were cut out of Israel while all believing Gentiles were grafted into Israel, the Israel of God, not the physical political nation called “Israel.”

 

Biblical Israel today is all people of faith in Jesus Christ who have, by faith in the Lord, surrendered their lives to Christ, dying with Him to sin, and now walking in obedience to His commands, by the grace of God, in the power of God. And all Jews who do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah are no longer a part of biblical Israel, the Israel of God, God’s chosen people. So, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise God spoke to Abraham and to his seed, that is Christ.

 

Israel Today: [Matthew 21:43; John 8:18-19,38-47; John 10:16; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:4-8,25-28; Romans 11:1-36; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:1-6; Colossians 3:12-15; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; 1 Peter 2:9-10,24; 1 John 2:22; Jude 1:5; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9; see also Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19]

 

Israel’s Watchmen

 

So, Israel’s watchmen today are people of faith in Jesus Christ who have been appointed by God to teach them the truths of the biblical gospel and to warn against sin and wickedness of any kind, and of deceiving spirits, so that they do not fall into the temptation to sin and fall away from their pure devotion to Christ as their Lord and Master. But sadly, so many who are serving in these positions are not serving Jesus Christ with their lives, but they are serving themselves and the lusts of their own flesh, instead.

 

So many pastors, elders, and overseers within the gatherings of the church (or what is falsely being called “church”) who are to be the watchmen for the church, the body of Christ (the body of people of faith in Jesus Christ today), they are self-serving, fleshly, hypocritical, and worldly people who have altered the message of the gospel to make it less offensive and more acceptable to human flesh and to the ungodly of the world. For they want to draw in large crowds of people from the world into their worldly gatherings.

 

But married men, especially those with children, who also profess faith in Jesus Christ, are also to be watchmen of God for the protection of their wives and children from what is evil and sinful. But so many of them have bought into the altered gospel and into worldliness, and so they are not leading their families spiritually to walk with the Lord. For so many of them have fallen captive to particular sinful habits and worldly living, and so they have become spiritually lazy and unconcerned about obedience to God.

 

So many of these “shepherds” of the people, whether they are government officials, pastors, elders, missionaries, evangelists or just husbands and fathers, who profess faith in Jesus Christ, are not leading the people by example as to what it means to be a Christian and to follow Jesus with our lives, for they are lacking in spiritual discernment because they are choosing to go their own way, and not God’s way. And, sadly, in our world today, so many of them are being taken captive to sexual immorality and adultery.

 

God’s Ways

 

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

 

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

 

Callings of God

 

And so the Lord is calling out anyone whose life is committed to following Jesus Christ, including some women, to be His shepherds and watchmen in sharing with the people the biblical gospel of our salvation from sin, warning the people who profess faith in Jesus against falling into temptation to sin, and showing them the way of deliverance from addiction to sin so that they can serve God with their lives in obedience to His commands. And I am not promoting that women should be in any positions of authority over men.

 

All of us whose lives are committed to serving the Lord Jesus can be His witnesses in taking the message of the gospel, as taught by Jesus, to all people via the internet, or via writing letters, or via doing video talks or any means in which we can serve the Lord as His messengers and as His watchmen without usurping any authority over men. But where there are no biblically qualified men to serve as pastors and elders, and you have godly women among you, let the spiritually qualified share the Word of God.

 

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 9:23-26; John 4:31-38; John 10:27-30; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 10:14-15; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9,21,24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

 

Spiritually Blind Watchmen

An Original Work / August 13, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

As the Deer

 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

 

As the deer panteth for the water

So my soul longeth after You

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship You

 

You alone are my strength, my shield

To You alone may my spirit yield

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship You

 

[A Prayer of Devotion to God Alone]