A watchman is a guard. In alliance with several other watchmen they form a protective patrol. The Hebrew word for ‘watchman’ is ‘šāmar’ and means ‘to tend, guard, watch, safeguard, mind, care for, protect’.

 

 

Adam was the first person entrusted by God with the task of watching, because he was to take care of the garden in Eden (cf. Genesis 2:15). This garden was the territory of relationship with God.

 

Genesis 2:15:
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Note: Hebrew, ‘šāmar’).

 

The first angelic beings entrusted by God to watch were the cherubim who carried the flaming, flashing sword, guarding the way to the tree of life in the garden in Eden (cf. Genesis 3:24).

 

Genesis 3:24:
24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard (Note: Hebrew, ‘šāmar’) the way to the tree of life.

 

God’s nature or character is one of tending/shepherding, and the watchmen appointed by Him act on earth in this nature (cf. Genesis 28:15.20; Numbers 6:24; Psalm 37:28; Psalm 121:4).

 

Genesis 28:15.20:
15 I am with you and will watch over you (Note: Hebrew, ‘šāmar’) wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me (Note: Hebrew, ‘šāmar’) on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear …

 

Numbers 6:24:
24 The LORD bless you and keep you (Note: Hebrew, ‘šāmar’); …

 

Psalm 37:28:
28 For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected (Note: Hebrew, ‘šāmar’) forever. …

 

Psalm 121:4:
4 … indeed, he who watches (Note: Hebrew, ‘šāmar’) over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

 

The LORD’s tending/shepherding nature is represented by His eyes of who range throughout the earth (cf. 2 Chronicles 16:9a i.c.w. Proverbs 15:3; Psalm 101:6).

 

2 Chronicles 16:9a:
9a For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth …

 

Proverbs 15:3:
3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

 

Psalm 101:6:
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to me.

 

 

The wall is the foundation for the watchman, and his seat of government is the ward or watchtower (cf. Isaiah 62:6 i.c.w. Isaiah 21:8; Habakkuk 2:1).

 

Isaiah 62:6:
6 I have posted watchmen (Note: Hebrew, ‘šāmar’) on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, …

 

Isaiah 21:8:
8 And the lookout shouted, “Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower (Note: Hebrew ‘ẓippîjāh’); every night I stay at my post.

 

Habakkuk 2:1:
1 I will stand at my watch (Note: Hebrew ‘mišmärät’, derived from the word ‘šāmar’) and station myself on the ramparts (Note: Hebrew ‘māẓôr’); I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

 

The vineyard of the LORD also has a watchtower in it; this underscores the importance of prophetic protection (cf. Matthew 21:33).

 

Matthew 21:33:
33 Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower (Note: Greek ‘pỵrgos’). Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.

 

=> A ward is a spherical division or territory connected to a panoramic view. It is a place of watching, guarding, caring, or holding prisoners in custody.
Prophets are assigned spiritual territories which they are then responsible for and resemble old wards in general (cf. Isaiah 21:8; Habakkuk 2:1). <= (Note: Text marked ‘=>’ is based on a definition of the word ‘ward’ from the ‘Prophet’s Dictionary’ by Paula A. Price, PH.D.; page 576)

 

Prophets who are entrusted by God with the task of a guard are also called watchmen.

 

 

Prophetic watchmen are instructed to recognize spiritual movements (Note: positive as well as negative) and to draw attention to them. Their gift of the discerning of spirits is well developed, and they cooperate with the watchman-angels of the LORD (Note: Aramaic ‘iyr’) who are only mentioned once in the Word of God in the book of Daniel (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:10 i.c.w. Daniel 4:13).

 

1 Corinthians 12:10:
… 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

 

Daniel 4:13:
10 In the visions I saw while lying in bed, I looked, and there before me was a holy one, a watchman (Note: Aramaic ‘iyr’) coming down from heaven.

 

By their decrees, i.e. their authorization or prohibition according to Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 5:37 i.c.w. Daniel 2:21 and Daniel 4:17, watchmen are permitted by God to influence the political and governmental area on earth to see God’s plan established in the natural realm.

 

Matthew 16:19:
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind (Note: disallow) on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose (Note: allow) on earth will be loosed in heaven.

 

Matthew 5:37:
37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

 

Daniel 2:21:
21 He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

 

Daniel 4:17:
17 The decision is announced by watchmen (Note: Aramaic ‘iyr’), the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm

Occasionally, as we seek the Lord in worship, we may encounter spiritual resistance in the atmosphere set by the enemy to stop us from experiencing the presence of heaven. Jesus experienced a similar situation during the time frame of Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. John 7:1-3 i.c.w. Leviticus 23:33-36.39-43).

 

John 7:1-3:
1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him.
2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, …

 

3.Moses 23:33-36.39-43:
33 The Lord said to Moses, 34 “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord’s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.
35 The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work.
36 For seven days present food offerings to the Lord, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present a food offering to the Lord. It is the closing special assembly; do no regular work. …
39 “ ‘So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest.
40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees – from palms, willows and other leafy trees – and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.
41 Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters 43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

 

 

Based on the biblical passage from John 7:1-2 it is revealed that there can be resistance by the enemy at the appointed times of God. The enemy tries to stop the increase of the glory of God.
During the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus stood in a personal resistance directed against Him. At that time the enemies of Jesus were about to kill Him.

 

Jesus was aware that He was in the appointed time frame of His Heavenly Father and could not be prevented from doing His will. Jesus used the days of Sukkot to reveal the instruction of His Heavenly Father to men in a very special way. He knew that the days of the Feast of Tabernacles, also associated with the increase of glory, implied special revelation for the people surrounding Him.

 

 

From Jesus’ approach at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles we can see an important instruction from the Lord at this time helping us to deal with resistance or temptation when we encounter them in the midst of a time of celebration.

 

In the midst of this time the brothers of Jesus sought to lure Him out of His relationship with the Father by inviting Jesus to show His works publicly. They had only one purpose, and that was to glorify themselves before men through the works of their brother Jesus.

 

The brethren of Jesus had no true spiritual relationship with Him and His Heavenly Father because they did not believe in Him! This is one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles did not respond to the call of His brethren (cf. John 7:3-9).

 

John 7:3-9:
3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do.
4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”
5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do.
7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.
8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.”
9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

 

 

Jesus, by remaining in Galilee, said to His brothers that identity or recognition does not come through other important persons, nor through their works, but only from the relationship with His Heavenly Father (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:16-18).

 

2 Corinthians 10:16-18:
… 16 so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory.
17 But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (cf. Jeremiah 9:24)
18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

 

Jesus decided to refuse what His brothers asked Him to do. He did not associate Himself with their unbelief, nor with their desire to receive any glory of men, but Jesus was after the glory of the one who had sent Him (cf. John 5:41 i.c.w. John 7:16-18)!

 

John 5:41:
41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, …

 

John 7:16.18:
16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. …
18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

 

Jesus secretly went up at the Feast of Tabernacles to Jerusalem and this had a great effect, namely that many people began to search for Him in order to find Him (cf. John 7:10-11 i.c.w. Isaiah 55:6; Matthew 7:7)!

 

John 7:10-11:
10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.
11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?”

 

Isaiah 55:6:
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

 

Matthew 7:7:
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

 

 

Jesus went up for the Feast of Tabernacles to the temple in Jerusalem with the power of the revelatory teaching from His Heavenly Father in order to direct the people in the middle of the days of glory to the center of His Heavenly Father. He did it without seeking His own honor (cf. John 7:14-18)!

 

John 7:14-18:
14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.
15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”
16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.
17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

 

 

If even Jesus Christ did not seek His own glory on the feast of glory/Sukkot, but only the glory of Him who sent Him, how much more is it our duty not to respond to the desire of people who may define themselves about us or by our anointings/works/ministries, but exclusively respond to His direction and to do and speak what He says.

 

At the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus mysteriously brought the revelatory light of wisdom and knowledge to the high place designated by the Father in order to be a light to those who stayed in the midst of peace. And to also be a light to those, who entered the center of the Father, since Jesus was in the temple (Note: symbol of the sons of God in the midst of the Father’s house; cf. Revelation 21:22) in Jerusalem (Note: means ‘foundation of peace’; cf. Matthew 5:15-16 i.c.w. Colossians 2:2-3).

 

Revelation 21:22:
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

 

Matthew 5:15-16:
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

 

Colossians 2:2-3
2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

 

 

After Jesus effectively used the center of the time of glory in the will of His Heavenly Father, the power of God increased for those who listened to Jesus and believed Him according to the Word, so that for them a new spiritual ‘riverbed formation’ came about through the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 7:37-38).

 

John 7:37-38:
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

 

This means for us at this present time that the Holy Spirit wants to flow through us in a new way, so that the hidden treasures in Jesus Christ for this time will come forth in a similar way as they came forth from the rivers that flowed out of the garden (Note: symbol of relationship with the Heavenly Father) in the region of Eden (cf. Genesis 2:10-14).

 

Genesis 2:10-14:
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)
13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm