Watchman, What Is Left Of The Night?

At a funeral I am able to offer great words of comfort to family members, some of whom haven’t been in church for years. They might even say to themselves, “I need to get back to church.” But that would cause a change in routine. Jesus works for some temporary comfort, but that is all.

Here’s another example. I’m always excited when people want to take the Bible Information Class. But a part of me worries when it is done with the encouragement that the parent will get a discount on tuition. Now I realize that motives will never be pure without faith. But I hope that through the process of the class the desire for the true light of Christ will come. The same could be said of someone who joins just for the sake of a spouse or a fiance. Why are you joining a church? Is it simply to say, “I’m a member of church.” Is it because you think that by joining a church you will get special treatment from God? Or is it because you found Jesus and the light of salvation here? Why are you seeking the light?

12 The watchman replies,

“Morning is coming, but also the night.

If you would ask, then ask;

and come back yet again.”

When the Assyrian army came crashing through the northern kingdom, they got all the way to the walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, and the LORD delivered them by putting 186,000 Assyrians to death with the angel of death in one night. The LORD also then spared the Assyrian army from heading further south into Edom. Morning came, the problem was solved, but Isaiah said the night would be there too. Eventually roving bands of raiders would head into Edom and make it a Dumah too - a silent land of death. So the light of morning didn’t save them eternally. It only prolonged the inevitable.

If you only come to Jesus to seek your temporary problems, to fix your marriage or help with your finances, sooner or later the darkness will come again. You are only prolonging the inevitable, because you live in a dark and dying world. If you don’t seek salvation from God’s wrath through faith in Christ you will only end up in the eternal darkness of heaven.

But what did Isaiah encourage the Edomites to do as he spoke this cryptic message that was hard to understand?

If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.”

In the Hebrew his message is very short and concise. Ask. Return. Come. If you are seeking true answers, then come back and ask more questions. That’s what the disciples did when Jesus spoke in parables and they didn’t understand what He was saying. They asked more questions. They sought clarification, and Jesus gladly answered their questions! They wanted MORE, especially when they didn’t understand. It proved to Jesus they were SERIOUS about learning. This is what God told the Israelites as well in Deuteronomy 4:29, Seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. God wanted the Israelites to go to the Word of God and find answers. Isaiah wanted to reveal more to the Edomites. He wanted them to seek the LORD. This is what God wants us to do as well, especially when we have questions.