Visions of the Day and Night
Isaiah 21:11-12
The burden of Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?


The great beauty and power of the Word of God lies in this, that it is never obsolete and never out of date.

I. THE QUESTION in our text. Night is the emblem of ignorance, sorrow, sin, crime, danger, and disaster; as in the natural night there are different degrees of light and shade, of gloom and darkness, so it is with the spiritual night.

II. THE ANSWER. "The morning cometh."

1. To nations.

2. To individuals. It comes to the awakened and accepted sinner in the form of pardon and deliverance from the power and burden of sin and guilt. It comes to others in the form of deliverance from some secret, instinctive, but crushing sorrow, which has pressed the poor heart down for years; which has made them, some from physical and some from spiritual weakness, walk for a long period in gloom and darkness, crying, "Oh! when will it end?"

3. The morning cometh to others in declining years; to the aged, the afflicted, the dying.

4. "And the night cometh," when the long-abused love and compassion, and patience of God shall be at length exhausted; when the plea of mercy shall be exchanged for the penalty of justice, and the shield of the Advocate give way to the sword of the Avenger. It cometh to nations; it cometh to individuals.

(G. Davenport.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?

WEB: The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?"




The World's Interrogation and the Church's Response
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