Isa 21:6   This is what the Lord says to me: "Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees.

       

The prophetic call to place lookouts is a call to be alert to watch to see what God is going to do. This chapter in Isaiah started with the prophet sensing an invader coming to destroy from the south. Perhaps it was in the Spirit but it utterly devastated him the way it came, with such intensity. He sensed that the people in his vision were idly eating and drinking (v.5) apparently without any sense of what was about to happen. There is ease and indifference in their sense of security.

 

The prophet was instructed here to post a lookout because obviously there would soon be news to report. God doesn't ask us to watch unless there is soon to be something to see. First the lookout simply declares that he is there as always (implied) but then his tone changes for now he sees a chariot coming, obviously bringing news. When he is challenged he shouts back the news, Babylon has fallen! It has happened at last! The great and powerful people have been vanquished.

 

The lesson is clear. Babylon did not fall by accident. It was an act of God and God wanted them to realise that. That was why He warned beforehand that it would happen; that is why He instructed lookouts to be placed, that was why He gave the prophet the vision. This great people fell because it was God's will. In their arrogance they thought they were impregnable – but not against God! The big point here is that because God says get ready and watch, He was putting the prophet on alert so that when the news came through he would know that the end result was the work of God, not some mere chance. When we pray, as He prompts us, we put ourselves on alert so that when answers come we glorify God as we see and know that the answer has come from Him and is no mere chance or accident.