Work Shop 3, Saturday 12 noon
Watchman, What of the Night?
I.
“The
Alarm Clock is Ringing”
A message for this 'crisis time'
in which we live is found in Romans 13:11-14. It
reads:
“And
that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for
now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the
day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us
walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts
thereof.”
Here we have a pattern for action spelled out
for pastors and churches, which are called upon to meet the challenge of society
in crisis. This is the situation in which we find ourselves
today. Paul is writing to the infant church at Rome. Roman society and
civilization at that time were in a sad state of decline. The Empire was
beginning to break up. In earlier history it had had a relatively high
standard of law and order, of political integrity, of moral behavior, and of
civil obedience. But now the seeds of decadence, the seeds of lawlessness, the
seeds of permissiveness, the seeds of self-indulgence, the seed of greed, and
the seed of ambition had taken root and sin was rampant in the society at that
particular time. Edward Gibbon, the famous historian who wrote the classic,
The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire, made that famous remark that the
decline of the great Roman Empire came not because of opposition without but because
of corruption and decay within.
This was the kind of society that this infant church was cradled in.
They were living in times of social, political, economic, domestic, and moral
crisis -- very much like the day in which we are living at this particular
time. In verse 11 we read, “And
that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for
now is our salvation nearer than when
we believed.” The Apostle Paul uses the word “time” twice “And
that, knowing the time, that now it
is high time…” and in the
original text these are two different words. The first word
“time” – means it is a special occasion,
it is seasonable. It is not the usual or the normal word used for
time. Literally it means a period marked by untoward ness or emergency
circumstances, crisis times. Williams in his New Testament translated like
that – “knowing the present
crisis.” It is an emergency
situation, not just a normal, usual setting.
The second word, “Now
it is high time to awake our sleep…”
means it is the moment for action; the moment
has arrived. There is a sense of urgency, a sense of pressure here.
The hour is late – in what he is trying to get across. It
is now high time. It is a call to action. Lenski in his commentary suggest
that what Paul is saying here is “The alarm clock is ringing!” as he
writes to these Christians in Rome. These are crisis days, emergency days, and
the Apostle writing to the believers in the church at Rome says, “it is high
time; the time is late; this is an emergency situation. It is a call to
action. He gives us more details with regard to the situation as we read on.
In verse 13 he says, “Let us walk
honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying.” That is not a complete list,
obviously, of the sins of that society. What we have here is a summation. They
cover the whole range of iniquities. The sins of men in that day may be
classified into three categories: word, thought, and deed; body, sense and
mind. Sins of the flesh, world, and the devil had taken over the lives of
people.
We look upon our day with the same crises and sense of emergency. The condition and picture of the Roman Empire just before her fall is an exact replica of our times. Their condition was seen so clearly to the early church as a judgment of God upon a society where its sins were at a saturation point. God’s judgment could not be delayed. Are we not in a similar situation today? Is it not that the Spirit of God is grieved over the affairs of men in our nation and the world? Will God tolerate sin forever? Can we judge from God’s dealing with men and declare an alarm clock is ringing? Is not this is a moment for action? It is high time to awake out of spiritual sleep? These are crises days, emergency days. The time is late! An emergency situation exists to seek the Lord while He may be found!
“For
thus saith the Lord unto me, Go, set a watchman,
Let him declare what he seeth” (verse 11) “Watchman,
what of the
Night…”
(Isaiah 21: 6,11). As a
people, a nation and the world, we are at the end of the rope.
The world has a 50/50 chance of survival. Our survival is in the hands of the sanity of political leaders. “This is an insane period.” Today, we are living in a very turbulent world. People everywhere are sensing the pulse of our day. It is frightening and terrifying. We would all have to be blind, deaf, and robbed of our mental faculties not to see, feel, and be aware of the conditions around us. We face situations at this present minute that no civilization in the past has ever had to face. The pressures upon us are beyond our abilities to handle.
The tools of prayer, seeking God, commitment to God, holy living, renewal and dedication is our greatest need. Meet us in the 3 am prayer hour at the Mother Church!
II.
A call for the women of prayer; Jeremiah / Call in the day of trouble Ps 50:15