A Warning Given

A Warning Given

Ezekiel 33:3-5

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-egtJBTubwE

When it comes to warnings, here in America we have a whole bunch of systems designed to warn of impending danger. We have what is known as the public alert and warning systems. There is our Defcon Level Warning System that warns us of the potential of nuclear attacks. There is also the North Warning System, which is an early-warning radar system for the air defense of North America.

In fact, today, we’re hearing warnings for just about every sector of our society.

• We have health warnings, like those surrounding the current pandemic that has swept across the globe, and of other potential outbreaks around the world.

• We also have a variety of weather and natural disaster warnings like earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, flash floods, tsunamis, excessive heat, and excessive cold.

• There are also various warnings around the world alerting people of potential wars, terrorist attacks, along with potential nuclear and biowarfare warnings.

• And there are economic warnings as well, things like inflation rates, a bull or bear market, international geopolitical relationships, trade or supply deficits or surpluses.

And while all these helps protect us from physical and economic harm, what about our spiritual lives, what sort of warning system is there that helps protect us from the ravages of sin and Satan?

Now, just so you don’t get discourage, God has set up a warning system, and He has set up His prophets to get the word out, which comes directly out of His word, the Bible. These are warnings so that we can get our lives right with God, but also, we have in God’s word what we might call “end-of-the-world” warnings as well.

Now, if I could give a summary statement about what we’ll be talking about, it would be, “A Warning Given,” “A Warning Taken,” and “A Deliverance Achieved.”

The Bible records many warnings throughout its pages. Those who heeded these warnings were spared the predicted consequences and achieved the deliverance they promise.

Consider Noah. God warned Noah and his family of the coming flood and directed them how to prepare the Ark to survive it.

The warning God gave to Noah was to make for Himself an ark for the saving of His family and all living creatures saying, “Behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.” (Genesis 6:17 NKJV)

And just so everyone may know, so they don’t just chalk this up to some fairy tale, today there is geological proof that such a flood happened, and is found around the globe.

Noah listened to God, took the warning to heart and “did according to all that God commanded him.” (Genesis 6:22 NKJV)

And because Noah listened to the warning and obeyed the command of God, He and his household, along with a remnant of every living creature on the earth, survived the flood waters that covered the earth. It says, “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark.” (Genesis 8:1)

Look how the writer of Hebrews describes this event.

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (Hebrews 11:7 NKJV)

But even further, this story of Noah reveals God’s warning for the End Days as well. It was this very warning that Jesus gave for those in the last days and the consequences to those who ignore the warning until it is too late.

“For as in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.” (Matthew 24:38-39 NKJV)

And so, throughout God’s word we see time and again where God warns people of the coming judgment, and basically it is up to every person as to whether or not they will hear it, prepare for it, and then look forward to either God’s deliverance in and through it, or far worse experience the consequences that are associated with disobedience.

However, the area of Scripture that got me thinking about this was God’s call for His people to be watchman, and when they see trouble coming, when they see the enemy advancing, that they were to blow the trumpet to warn the people, and it then was up to the people to either believe or not.

What got my attention was what the Lord said to the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 33.