Motivation For Men – Keeping It PureSample

“Watchmen on the Wall”

Ancient Jerusalem had watchmen assigned to provide security to the temple, to the city streets and to the walls surrounding the city. The watchmen on the walls served as sentinels on the lookout for foreign attackers, and they were also responsible for repairing the walls after a battle. The responsibility of a watchman on the wall was compared to that of the prophet Ezekiel, in that both had the responsibility to sound the alarm in response to impending threats.

One might think that a watchman's duty at night was a rather quiet one, but as described here, the watchmen never kept silent. The watchmen actually maintained an elaborate ritual for addressing each other, at times even sounding the trumpet, to announce the passing of each watch. This may have been done partly to keep each other awake, alert and on task. The passage in Isaiah quoted here compares the responsibility of a watchman on the wall to the responsibility of an intercessor, where the latter is to give each other and the Lord Himself no rest until Jerusalem is everything she is supposed to be.

The purpose of this Bible study is to encourage us as individual men to fortify our self-control so we could stand strong against Internet pornography and similar temptations, but it's clear that God has loftier goals for us as well. God wants to remove the reproach from His church, His bride, and bestow upon her the glory that she is supposed to have. For that to happen, not only must her walls be rebuilt, but she must have true watchmen, intercessors entreating the Lord to fully establish His church.