Visions Of God

by NEELY, E. | Category: Getting To Know God Through Ezekiel | Mar 2007

Ezekiel's ministry was to be a difficult one. Already Israel had been carried away by Assyria, and now the flower of Judah's nobility had been taken captive into Babylonia. Yet Judah took no warning to cleanse their ways. Instead, they steeped themselves more deeply in their idolatries and vices, a true fulfilment of Jeremiah's prophecy (ch.24) about the good and bad figs: the ones that were left in the land and shortly to be taken were very bad indeed. All, in the land and in Babylonia, believed that they were impervious to God's judgement through Nebuchadnezzar - in spite of Jeremiah's teaching. To preach to such, required special strengthening, and that was given by the heavens being opened and visions of God being given to God's servant.

Three things are evident in the vision that Ezekiel saw: What is seen is only the appearance of the likeness of what is represented. The primary vision is one of fearful impending judgement coming from the north, from Babylon. And the intricacy of the lower part of the actual vision, the living creatures and wheels, stands in contrast to the vagueness of what is represented as seen in the likeness of the appearance of the One who inhabits the likeness of the throne that stands above it all. That part of the vision is purposely hidden. No man can see God and live (Ex.33:20). He is the One whom no one has seen nor can see (1 Tim.6:16). Physical shapes here represent Him so that Ezekiel could behold Him at all. Thank God that the Old Testament representation of the likeness of Him has been far superseded by the New! The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has 'exegeted' Him, told Him forth (John 1:18). He is the fullness of the glory of God, the impress image of His substance (Heb.1:3). "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Christ incarnate and Christ revealed through the Word form the prism through which the believer can behold the blinding light of heaven. We see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining in the face of Christ (2 Cor.4:6). But first and foremost in Ezekiel's vision God is viewed as a God of righteous judgement. Flashes of fire whirl and catch each other in a lightning-swift whirlwind as the vision approaches from the north. And from the midst of the inferno there is an amber glowing like the glowing of molten metal - the presence of the Lord. Yet His presence is at first detected in His servants. Their character is representative of Him. It is through the clear delineation of them that we behold something of the One whom they serve. The likeness of the Master should always be clearly depicted in the character of the servant (Mat.10:25). Cherubim are living spirit beings, without physical bodies which our eyes can detect. They obviously are not equipped with the visible members that physical bodies possess: hands, feet, heads and wings. These are words, symbols used to represent the character of those holy beings that inhabit eternity, symbols so that we can picture in our feeble minds what is unseen by our eyes. What, then, can we take from Ezekiel's vision?

Four living creatures, each with four faces, four wings, four hands, are called cherubim in Ezekiel 10. Cherubim appeared in Eden, guarding the way to the tree of life; they are represented again in the book of Revelation (e.g. ch.4) in the midst of and guarding the throne of heaven. So careful is Ezekiel to let us know that their depiction is only a likeness that he uses the expression fifteen times. First, each had four faces - the face of a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle, perhaps signifying that each had strength, an ability to serve, intelligence and a heavenly character. Seemingly, though hard to visualize, each could see in every direction with each face, a clear picture of the all-knowing character of the One whom they represent and serve. The wings and hands show their ability to fully serve. They moved directly forward, never turning, shadow-less in the prosecution of the will of their God. Like burning coals of fire they illustrated the holiness of God; their swiftness to do His will is seen in their flashing to and fro like lightning. The wings of each of the four are joined together, demonstrating the unity so delightful to God (Ps.133), and the sound of their movements is like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the voice of God Almighty. The cherubim fully demonstrate the attributes of the servant of God as well as those of God Himself. The marvel of it all is that God also allows us to serve, who fall so far short in every direction! It is noteworthy that the character of Christ who is the image of God is likewise seen in the fourfold face represented by the writers of the four Gospels: Matthew, the Lion, the King; Mark, the Ox, the Servant; Luke, the Man, the Intelligence; and John, the Eagle, the One who soars above the heavens, the Son of God.

Beside each of the cherubs stood a wheel on the earth (Ez.1:15), a wheel whose rim, whose height, was high and lofty, unswerving wheels within wheels moving with the balance and surety of gyroscopes, wheels full of eyes round about, wheels keeping pace with the living creatures, led by the Spirit. These were able to move forward in any direction without turning, whirling in tremendous rapidity. And the whole, a representation of the omniscience of God, governed what must happen on the earth. In the immediate situation there was to be divine judgement on Judah. The things on earth merely shadowed things going on in the heavens, as both Daniel 10:13ff and Ephesians 6:12 clearly demonstrate. Running to and fro on earth, the wheels move with heavenly power, wheels of divine government, all-seeing, all-powerful through the Spirit of the living creatures within them.

Above and beyond the vision of cherubim and corresponding wheels, is the structure above in the firmament, and from there issues a voice that causes the movement of the wings of the cherubim to cease. God speaks; let all else be still and listen! There, on the likeness of a sapphire throne, sits the likeness of a man, a likeness wreathed in fire with a central glow of molten metal described as amber, and around about a brightness of unapproachable holiness and glory. This is the likeness of the appearance of the glory of the Almighty. Ezekiel, recognizing it for what it is, says, "I fell on my face." Could any demonstration of the glory of the LORD cause any other human reaction? Would that we were more often on our faces beholding the divine revelation in our own day!

But there was something else that Ezekiel and we must see in connection with the judgement to follow, something most essential for his preparation to be a servant and prophet of the Lord and ours to appreciate. The appearance of the radiance of majesty around about the throne was the appearance of a rainbow that appears in the clouds on a rainy day. This was the likeness of the glory of the Lord. Well might the realization that the fearful judgement of God was tinged with all that the rainbow on a rainy day represents (Gen.9:13ff) cause worship on Ezekiel's part and on ours who have seen the mercy of God so clearly surrounding the whole indescribable judgement of Calvary.

Ezekiel had to learn, as do we, that as this world deteriorates into conditions predicted for the last days, when �some will fall away from the faith (1 Tim.4:1), when difficult times will come when men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers ... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God� (2 Tim. 3:1-4), that there is above and beyond all the throne of One who is in complete control, and about that throne is the radiance of a rainbow in the day of rain! The merciful character of God shines through all His judgements.

We live in a day of events that stagger, of natural catastrophe of Biblical proportion, of weaponry and evil that when combined might easily shatter the peace of heart we have in Christ, when consummate evil and its expression have reached unparalleled depths. God's city of the future will be called, "The LORD is there." God's people of today should rest in a similar realization. In the place to which God has called and brought us, Jehovah shammah, the Lord is there!

NEELY, E. | Mar 2007
Getting To Know God Through Ezekiel