Isaiah 21:11-12
11 The burden against Dumah:
He calls to me out of Seir,
“Watchman, what of the night?
Watchman, what of the night?”
12 The watchman said,
“The morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
Return! Come back!”
Who is Dumah? The nation of Edom, the children of Esau. Dumah means “silence like death”. Dumah represents a place that is filled with loneliness and emptiness, death. This world is not much different from Dumah. This world is more concerned with material things than with the things of God, just like Esau, who chose to sell his birthright for a cup of soup.
Who are watchmen? What do they do? They watch their town and pray for their town. They watch over and pray for the children of God, for the church to boldly speak the truth. They preach God’s message, the message of truth and holiness, to wake up this world.
Why does God appoint watchmen? Because a time of darkness (nighttime) always comes. The children of God have enemies. The watchmen are those who sound the alarm. It’s the watchmen’s job to sound the alarm when there is danger. Watchmen must stand up for Jesus in our nation. The watchmen must be aware of what is happening and speak the truth. They must not compromise with sin, but speak the truth. They must protect the church and godly morals. They must comfort those who are hurting. Watchmen must pray and work with the government and politicians. In the Bible, every powerful king had a powerful prophet standing next to them, working with them.
There are four different kinds of night. One is natural, when the sun goes down. Second, when people lose their conscience, they go through a moral darkness. Third, when people lose the fire of God, they go through a time of darkness, like that of the church during the dark ages before men of God like Luther brought reformation and light. Fourth, when we let Jesus go, we will experience a time of personal darkness in our lives.
Isaiah 59:9-10 speaks of a time of spiritual darkness. Our land is in a time of spiritual darkness. When you live in the night, you lose joy. Don’t let spiritual darkness overtake the light in your life.
God is commanding us to be His watchmen, to be His light. To do this, we must be qualified. We cannot be spiritually blind or deaf or asleep. We cannot have fellowship with the enemy (this world), but must know how to protect ourselves from sin. Let Jesus’ light shine through you, to bring light to this nation and this world.
God bless you!
Pastor Sun Hui East
I have always loved the way the Lord refers to us as “watchmen” in the Bible. It is as though He truly expects this of us, that He is displeased when we hide ourselves away with our own families and avoid involvement in all that goes on around us. Thank you for this teaching Pastor Sun Hui East. This really confirms what the Lord has shown me for years. ( I am in leadership in an international ministry & spend a lot of time faced with the reality of what Satan is doing in this world.)
This was a beautiful teaching. I really enjoyed reading this today, thanks for posting Pastor Sun Hui East!
I did too, I think this was post was exactly what I needed to hear today
loved it too, thanks Becky for directing me to this blog
I liked this analogy of evenings/darkness, it helps me understand about spiritual ideas in the Bible. It helps with old Testament teachings and new ones. Thank you for your in-depth studies Pastor Sun Hui East, I always read whatever I can find of yours.
I also read whatever I can find that Pastor Sun Hui East has written.
I have only read one of her books, but it had a huge impact on my walk
Anyone who has relationship with God can see that we are in a time of deep darkness. I like the way you describe it Pastor Sun Hui East, I think that we need our eyes opened.
I had not ever read that passage in the Bible, thank you for posting this Pastor Sun Hui East. I realy enjoyed it and gave me a perspective that I wouldn’t have had if I had read it cold. God bless
I also wouldn’t have gotten all of that out of those passages with out this guidance.
I understand what you are saying about the “watchmen” and have read about it many times in the Prophets… its intimidating to realize that the Lord is still asking that of His people, but it makes sense. Times are so very dark now and sin is rampant… I guess we have to stay aware and watch for the Lord!
If not us, then who will?
Wow, that was an intense post Pastor Sun Hui East, almost depressing! I do understand your teaching however and know that we must change, as a nation (repentance) if we are going to get out of the darkness that has taken over (financially, spiritually and in our relationships).
It is true that people are consumed with this world & the things in it, instead of being fixated on the Creator of all things! Crazy, when we think about… He holds all that we want & more, right in His hand, He holds eternity … and yet, we look elsewhere for comfort, attention & solis. Good post Pastor Sun Hui East. May God always bless you & your ministry.
Time and time again, the Lord shows us that He does want us involved and watchful of His church. It is so easy and lazy to keep to ourselves (partly because we don’t want to get hurt in our relationships so we avoid taking that extra step to love someone that the Lord would have us love). We need to follow your example Pastor Sun Hui East and help that that probably will hurt us in the end to be obedient to God.
This post about “the night/darness/evening” is kind of scary… but I do appreciate you teaching us all of this. My spiritual understanding has so increased since I began learning from you!
Yes, agreed, this nation, and truly, the whole world is in a terrible time of spiritual darkness and things are getting worse. Thank you for your guidance and prayers in the kingdom Pastor Sun Hui East.
Really enjoyed this post Pastor Sun Hui East, I had not understood this passage before and had actually been reading through it recently. I appreciate you
If I knew then, what I know now, I would had done a much better job Pastor Sun Hui East.
I saw something different when I had studied these passages, thank you for the different perspective Pastor Sun Hui East.
We do need to watch out for one another Pastor Sun.
Very rich teaching! This message causes me to evaluate myself in every area to make sure I am not spiritually asleep, or in darkness. In order to impact this world for Jesus I cannot be blinded by compromise and I cannot lose fire for God.