In Bible times, cities would often build towers to watch the gates to avoid dangers looming from without (Isaiah 21:8). Watchmen would take turns watching the gate. These watchmen were responsible for sounding a trumpet should any danger appear (Ezekiel 33:6). The apostle Paul in his writings applied a spiritual application to this literal act of being a watchman. Just as cities needed men willingly staying awake and alert while others slept or were busy in their daily routines, churches need believers sober and watchful while others might be cumbered about with the cares of this world. Today’s watchmen must use their voices like a trumpet to sound the alarm when danger nears.
There has never been, nor ever will be, a book like the Bible. Unfortunately, some people who desire to learn its contents simply take the wrong approach. It cannot be studied like a textbook or read like a magazine or novel. It must be approached prayerfully with the help of God’s Spirit with total dependence upon Him for illumination. According to today’s passage, an unsaved man cannot fully understand the word of God because he lacks the spiritual discernment necessary to grasp its full truths. No one can approach the Bible with a fleshly mindset; it must always be approached with faith, believing that it is truly God’s word. Only then can the student with the Spirit’s help rightly discern the things intended to be understood. An improper approach has led many people to believe the Bible, like all other books, contains contradictions and errors. God graciously affords man the necessary spiritual discernment increasing a man’s faith leading him to take God at His word. When man rejects discernment, he increases his darkness.
