A Vigilant Watchman..

https://www.pcog.org/articles/1548/a-vigilant-watchman

Jeremiah was given a huge job: God ordained him a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). In his lifetime he only preached his warning to Judah; he never went to Israel. So we know that if we don’t get his message out to the nations in this end time, he will have lived in vain! That’s why he wrote the message in a book.

Jeremiah could have said, this doesn’t make sense to me—why warn Israel when they’re already in captivity? But God showed him what would happen in this end time.

“Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it” (verses 11-12). As I wrote in our Jeremiah booklet, the “rod of an almond tree” could be described as “a vigilant watchman.” This prophecy shows that a vigilant watchman would come on the scene in the end time. In sending this watchman, God is giving the nations a chance to repent. God gives him a “rod,” or the authority he needs to do the job. Then he is expected to do as God tells him.

Jeremiah knew God would have to send someone to deliver His message in the end time. And that watchman must have the most important job on Earth, because we’re about to face the worst catastrophe ever, just before Christ returns!

This prophecy does not apply to Herbert W. Armstrong as specifically as it does to me. Here is why: “And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north. Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land” (verses 13-14). This seething, boiling pot—the king of the north, or the European Union—is about to spill over all Israel. That description dates this prophecy specifically: The vigilant watchman will arrive when the pot is about to boil over. Look at Europe today, and you see a boiling pot ready to spill over at any time! It was never boiling when Mr. Armstrong was around. What he warned about all those years is really boiling today!

“And I will utter my judg­ments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands” (verse 16). This too is dated: Only God’s people can forsake Him. You can’t forsake God if you never knew Him. The world has never known Him, but God’s Church has. God’s own Laodicean Church forsakes Him just as the pot is boiling—at a time when they are most needed! So God will utter His judgments against these Laodiceans. How? Through His watchman.

Ezekiel 33 tells us that this watchman is also a prophet. Under the leadership of one man, the pcg has been warning the Laodiceans about their actions for over a decade. God rebukes them because, not only are they failing to warn the world about the boiling pot, they are adding to the workload by having to be warned ­themselves!

Though Mr. Armstrong understood a great deal of the book of Jeremiah, there was also a lot that couldn’t be revealed until after his death. That is when this watchman came on the scene.

Again, because of the time element, we can deduce that this watchman is the same individual as “that prophet.”

God says, “I will utter my judgments against them.” How will God do this? He will do it through that prophet—with the help of God’s very elect.

Arise and Speak

God gives this instruction to Jeremiah, but it is also directed, in principle, to that end-time prophet: “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dis­mayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them” (Jeremiah 1:17). Confound comes from a Hebrew word which means “break in pieces.” God says, I’ll tell you what to speak, and you must speak it, or I’ll break you in pieces! Does that sound like a serious respon­si­bility? That warning is directed specifically to that watchman, that voice—that prophet. It is not primarily directed at the Church mem­bers; not even the mini­stry. The people urgently need to back that one man and support him in his commis­sion.

In delivering God’s mes­sage, we will face fearsome situ­a­tions. If we run as Jonah did, we will face God’s wrath. He forces us to choose: Face them, or face me.

God promises to give the watchman the strength he needs. “For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee” (verses 18-19). God’s watchman not only must be a pillar—he must be an iron pillar! And his supporters must be iron pillars. God’s enemies will not prevail against the watchman and his supporters. We are destined to win this war because God is with us; but we will only win after many intense battles.

Again, God ordained Jeremi­­ah a prophet to the nations (verse 5). Jeremiah only went to Judah. God also ordains this end-time watchman a prophet to the nations. He must deliver Jeremi­ah’s message. The Laodiceans turn away, and God raises up a watchman to give the full message of Jeremiah, to warn them and the world of the pot about to boil over and scald all of them. All of God’s ministers and Church members are called solely to back and support that office.